A new Cold War?
Worse than that:
McFaul: Many people say we are in a new Cold War with Russia. I wish it was true. But it’s much worse.
What we have now is the potential first great power war in Europe since WW2, with annexation and nuclear threats from Putin. Worse than Cuban crisis.
McFaul: China is significantly more powerful than they were 30 years ago. Russia is significantly more powerful than they were 30 years ago.
Relative to them, USA is weaker. And when you have such great powers, they tend to clash.
McFaul: Authocrats are still threatened by our ideas of freedom, liberty, democracy, and rule of law.
It’s true for Putin and Xi.
Democratic revolutions in Russia’s neighborhood threaten Putin’s legitimacy.
McFaul: Putin himself told us and says that to his people that Russia is not a part of the liberal LGBT-West. They are a sepparate civilization.
He said “because we look like you, you think that we think like you. But we don’t”
McFaul: Putin says Ukrainians are just russians with the accents.
He said his goal is to unite slavic nation. That was one of his “reasons” to invade Ukraine.
But since Ukrainians are practicing democracy and free markets, they are a threat for his argument.
