Russia is ahead on points

Stratfor has an article, Russia's Strategy that gives the devil his due.  Russia is no longer on the ropes.  They are not where they want to be, but their strategy is sound.  That strategy is to keep the US distracted.  It seems to be working.  Well, maybe.

We seem to be pretty good at keeping ourselves distracted.  Okay, we left Iraq in a huff because they wouldn’t give us a status of forces agreement that treated us as gods.  Still, we found a way to get involved in Libya and are trying to get into the Syrian mix.

Stratfor sees that it is the Russian goal to keep us tied up so we can’t un-distract ourselves.  With all due respect, to the very well informed fellows at Stratfor, the Russkies have several years, if ever before we de-distract.  Oh, maybe sanity could attack and a sensible rapprochement between us and Iran could occur, but that will take awhile.  Then again, Romney has promised to up any Obama ante so that’s a problemo there.

An interesting point made by Stratfor is that the Russians, either as empire or union was economically always a loser, but imperially, more often than not, a winner.  

The last paragraph recaps well enough.

Russia has come far from where Yeltsin took it. The security forces are again the heart of the state. Moscow dominates Russia. Russia is moving to dominate the former Soviet Union. Its main adversary, the United States, is distracted, and Europe is weak and divided. Of course, Russia is economically dysfunctional, but that has been the case for centuries and does not mean it will always be weak. For the moment, Russia is content to be strong in what it calls the near abroad, or the former Soviet Union. Having come this far, it is not trying to solve insoluble problems.

Even if we don’t do stupid on Iran, as long as we are bugging China, we are distracted from Russia.  The Russkies may not have forever, but they do have time.

Russia is the most successful loser ever.