So, Obama put sanctions on Russia, ostensibly for interfering in American elections.
The argument has been made that keeping them under these sanctions “disincentivizes” Russia interfering in other countries’ elections.
Okay.
I think this falls to the level of schoolyard ethics.
Russia should stand down when the US stands down. The US has interfered in multiple elections, and recently helped the Maidan overthrow of the elected Ukrainian government in a coup.
As for electronic spying, what is known is this: Americans were tapping the German Chancellor’s phone.
There is nothing that Americans want Russians to stop doing that they themselves do not do, with the possible exception of annexation. (And there’s a strong argument that the US still annexes what it wants, de facto, if not de jure.)
The schoolyard bully telling others, “Only I get to hit people” doesn’t go across really well.
It is simply impossible to take the US seriously on any form of “don’t spy,” “don’t fight,” or “enforce human rights.” Just impossible. Of course Russia will try to get friendly governments elected when the West has it under economic sanctions. Of course Russia will try and get friendly governments in power: Just like America does.
Two wrongs may not make a right, but people who unilaterally disarm and refuse to fight get a lot worse done to them than having their faces shoved in the dirt.
America supported a coup that overthrew a democratically elected government. There is no question about this. Then, when the Russians intervened in the Ukraine, they insisted on punishing the Russians.
Think this through a little.
At most, Russian interference in the US election involved the selective release of real, true, information.
The rest of the world wishes American interference stayed at that level.
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