It has its own miserable history and has never behaved better than what we are witnessing now, unless it has been incapacitated.

SLATE readers are themselves incapacitated, so they should recognize the feeling.

Wow, perhaps REALITY CALLS, you would condescend to us that are feeling incapacitated, by reviewing Russia's miserable history that leads us today to what you think we are witnessing?

Start with the Mongol withdrawl from Russia that left them feudal and go forward from there - thank you.

For a history of Russia, try George Vernadsky, as cited by the Encyclopedia Britannica.

For a history of American weakness, try almost any SLATE reader, when they aren't too busy surrendering.

REALITY CALLS:

It has its own miserable history and has never behaved better than what we are witnessing now, unless it has been incapacitated.

SLATE readers are themselves incapacitated, so they should recognize the feeling.

wow. and the fact that you are posting this exempts you from that demographic... how?

"Let's not play dense, gentlemen."

I suspect that you're not playing dense.

Hello REALITY CALLS. A good seminal source, I started with the late professor's The Mongols in Russia myself. You'll note I was baiting you a little. : - )

Not everyone is surrendering, I think many are frustrated that our administration miscalculated and Russia read our temporary weakness and our inability to respond. That does not of course, justify Russia's overwhelming use of force.

Perhaps the next administration will conduct statecraft instead of diplomacy without diplomacy.

Agreed. But just as in life, boundaries are required. When America or any nation gives Russia the idea that force is preferable, Russia will use force. It is their historical outlook.

People who've lived and worked in Russia have nothing good to say about how things are going there, and things will only get worse.

The fact is that Russia is not going to tolerate a country on its borders that it considers a threat: Any more than the US did in Grenada.

However, considering the amount of oil money that is flooding into Russia, Americans can take comfort in the knowledge that their gasoline dollars are paying not for two, but for three occupations now: Iraq, Afghanistan AND Georgia.

Moral equivalence between Russian xenophobes and American consumers is typical of the lazy thinking on SLATE.

John Adams and Leon Trotsky aren't interchangeable.