Has George W. Bush "weakened the West" to the point that Americans don't even know what Russia is doing?

Question

“Decoding the Kremlin's exact intentions is as tricky now as it was in the days of the Cold War of the 1960s and 1970s. But the outlines are clear. Russia wants to recreate a "lite" version of its old Soviet empire in eastern Europe and to neutralise the rest of the continent. Unlike in the old Cold War, military action today is a last resort: for the most part, it is banks and pipelines, not tanks and warplanes, that do the dirty work.

This may sound strange, given what has happened in Georgia. But it is vital to realise this was not the beginning of a new Russian push, but part of something that began in the mid-1990s. Russia has nobbled Belarus -- the only other country, apart from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, that is ready to recognise the statelets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It props up the narco-state of Tajikistan, cossets the dictatorship in Uzbekistan and woos the benighted despots of Turkmenistan. It has a cautious alliance with China, in the form of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation; it has stitched up energy deals in North Africa; it flirts with Iran and sells weapons to Hugo Chavez, the America-hating windbag of Venezuela. And by using energy, diplomacy and divide-and-rule tactics, it is stitching up Europe, country by country, from Cyprus to the Netherlands.

And it works. Over the crisis in Georgia, Europe has shown astonishing softness. The leaders of the EU have been all but invisible. Where is the supposed foreign-policy chief, Javier Solana? Or the foreign-affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner? Meanwhile, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has been humiliated by the Russian breaches of the ceasefire agreement he negotiated.

Europe's weakness is the result of multiple forms of soft-headedness and short-sightedness. Partly it is simple anti-Americanism: if Vladimir Putin is making life difficult for George Bush, he must be a good guy. That attitude lies behind astonishing opinion polls in countries such as Germany. There is also a mistaken belief that Russia is an ally in the struggle against globalisation.

Although the Kremlin makes life difficult for Western oil companies and tightly restricts foreign investment in any industry it dubs "strategic'' at home, it is another story abroad. Russia delights in the possibilities of the global economy. If regulators in New York are sniffy about listing stolen companies on the stock exchange, there is always London. And if you fail even London's undemanding test, Dubai, Bombay and Shanghai await with open arms.”

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/weak-west-letting-putin-punch-above-his-weight-1467241.html

Answer 1

NO

Answer 2

I didn't read your entire question.  Too long for a silly forum like this.

HOWEVER:

I do agree that Bush has overcommitted our troops to places he shouldn't, which, combined with the all voluntary armed forces, means we can't engage Russia as perhaps we should, and that's a bad thing.  Bush has not done a good job as President, and everyone, including him, knows it.

Answer 3

Due to the fact that America is dumbed down and more concerned with "christian values," spying on "terrorists," banning books, and kicking the c**p out of those Iraqis, why is this surprising?  Corporate America has us right they want us...ignorant and uncomprehending.