The hate spewed towards Russia by some in the GOP is mind boggling. Yes Vladimir Putin is Authoritarian, but he is a man of the Right. Russia defends Christianity, has a 13% flat tax and a private social security system. Hence it boggles my mind the hatred poured on this nation. There is more open anti-Russian sentiment than there is anti-Islamic sentiment, which also boggles my mind. Always being a voice of Reason, Sen. Rand Paul calls to end the “coldwar” mentality with Russia and have a relationship based on respect.
“Some on our side are so stuck in the Cold War era that they want to tweak Russia all the time and I don’t think that is a good idea,” Paul said on Tuesday, in an interview with The Washington Post.
[….]
Paul, however, said those recommendations are misguided, given the culture and history shared by Ukraine and Russia, and the damage such gestures could cause to U.S.-Russian relations.
“The Ukraine has a long history of either being part of the Soviet Union or within that sphere,” he said. “I don’t think it behooves us to tell the Ukraine what to do. I’m not excited about saying ‘hey, let’s put the Ukraine in NATO’ to rub Russia’s nose in it.”
Republicans need to remember that Russia remains a geopolitical and military power, Paul added, and that hostile rhetoric has consequences.
“We still need to be conscious of the fact that Russia has intercontinental ballistic missiles,” he said. “Though the Cold War is largely over, I think we need to have a respectful – sometimes adversarial – but a respectful relationship with Russia.”
“I think we should have trade and relations, criticize them if they have human rights violations,” he said. “But for the most part, we should be very glad that we’ve gotten beyond such a tense situation that we’re worried that any minute we could have a nuclear war. We ought to be, I think, proud of where we’ve gotten with that relationship, and even when we have problems with Russia, realize that we’re in a much better place than we were once upon a time.”
Rand Paul nails it. Where the US and Russia can agree, cooperation should be the goal. Where there are differences, there should be disagreements based on respect. Sadly some on the Right love Russia as a bogeyman and say nothing on Islam. Its based on cowardice and fear of Islam in my opinion.
Tags: Rand Paul
