Russia Looks to Rebuild its Empire With U.S. Corrupt Leadership Help

A summary from “The Trouble with Russia” by Massimo Calabresi and Simon Shuster in Time Magazine.

Russians planned a coup in Montenegro on its election day last October, which was foiled by the police. Why Montenegro? If the tiny country joins NATO, then that organization would control nearly every Mediterranean port north of the Bosporus. Russia desperately needs such a port in order to regain competitiveness in the current low-priced oil market.

Russia runs on oil, and with oil prices low, Russia’s economy has fallen to less than Italy’s. Looking west and north to rebuild its empire, there have been renewed attacks in Ukraine this year. Military threats are joined with propaganda and government destabilization in Serbia, Estonia, and other Eastern European counties. And they are fomenting unrest in Germany, France and Hungary. Britain and the U.S. too? Yes.

Closed door debates in the U.S. center on whether to trade Eastern Europe to Russia in return for help against ISIS and China, and our dealmaker president is said to be interested. This is already making an impact: the EU is crumbling, Moldavia and Bulgaria are leaning toward Moscow, nationalists are emboldened. The international order put in place after World War II is in danger. Read more here.