Dictators can only be stopped when faced by a credible and more potent opposition. Deep down they are cowards.

The Soviet Union was only deterred from grabbing the rest of Europe and Asia because NATO was mightier.

Hitler was encouraged to start war by the weakness of the surrounding countries, the appeasement policy of Chamberlain’s government and the strong isolationism of the US.

The US attack on Syria is commendable. It is the only language Assad and Putin understand. Had Obama done the same years ago, thousands of lives might have been saved.

Ah.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20c8b6c65d44979f3f4f257b155b83e065a3b031c5f33f1d969fd88c64795c18.jpg

In 1939 Molotov and Ribbentrop signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact dividing the territories of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Romania into German and Soviet spheres of influence, and promising not to aid or ally themselves to each other`s enemies. That pact held until Operation Barbarossa was launched by the Nazis in 1941.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/wwii/jb_wwii_stalin_1_e.jpg

You are seeing what you want to see, which is Russian influence everywhere, or what back in the day we used to call “reds under the beds”, except that now Russia is not even Communist any longer.

Federica Mogherini is not an extreme right winger and two years ago she published a discussion paper on how the EU should approach a rapprochement with Russia. The Socialist Party in Germany (which might very well win this year’s election) is not an extreme right wing party and it has been calling for friendlier ties with Russia for years. Late last year, Italy (under a Socialist prime minister) criticised calls for further sanctions on Russia and, despite the sanctions, France (under a Socialist president) resisted cancelling Russia’s orders for two warships until the very last minute. Cyprus and London have been flush with money flowing in from Russia for years and they are not run by extreme right wingers. In short, Europe has always had Russia sympathisers and, very often, they came from the left side of the political spectrum.

The Leave campaign in Britain did not need any Russian help. With Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage leading the charge, and David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn weakly bringing up the rear, we can squarely lay the blame for the Brexit mess at Britain’s feet.

To be sure, Russia is badly run and authoritarian but it is not running the Western world. This latest bout of Russia hysteria was fired up by the Democratic Party in the United States, which last year ran one of the worst electoral campaigns in living memory and lost, so it wanted a scapegoat. The idea has spread and now everyone is blaming Russia for everything.

Ironically, blaming America and the West for political own goals and imaginary coups is a classic strategy of Russia, Venezuela and other quasi-dictatorships. But the Democratic Party had been steadily losing state elections since 2010, although nobody noticed as long as Barack Obama remained in the White House. The Democratic Party now finds itself virtually wiped out from coast to coast and Russia had nothing to do with it.

Stop looking for tenuous Russian connections and start utilising Occam’s Razor.