Chuck Spinny: Russia & the West – 3 Books Reviewed by Tony Wood

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Chuck Spinney

The attached book review in the London Review of Books is well worth reading, if you are interested in learning more about the origins of the new cold war and the absurdity of starting an arms race with Russia, given the current imbalance of power between Russia and the West.

Russia and the West

Eat Your Spinach

Tony Wood, London Review of Books Vol. 39 No. 5 · 2 March 2017, pages 9-12 | 4636 words

Bottom Line:

What, then, is Russia’s place within the US-dominated international order, and what role will it play in the future? Despite its brevity, Trenin’s book has the most to say about what might lie ahead, and his judgments are level-headed. Though there is still plenty of potential for conflict, he argues that many of the most widespread anxieties about the Kremlin’s intentions are unfounded. Russia, he writes, has

  • no resources and no real will to re-create its Eurasian empire …
  • it has no ambition to conquer neighbouring EU/Nato member states, thus risking a war with the US;
  • its brand of authoritarianism is a domestic, not an export product;
  • its state-dominated economic system is not a model for others to emulate;
  • its ideology is nationalistic, not international;
  • and its capacity to infiltrate Western societies is very modest.

Read full essay.

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