The Cold War Red Menace syndrome

Many of us just can't get over the "cold war" and "red Russia" mentality although it's plain to see that the new Russia is nothing like the old repressive regime. It all goes to show that the American political view of other countries is somehow also adopted by America's allies without question.  It's not just individuals who don't think for themselves... entire block of countries suffer from the same kind of  senseless behaviour when they follow the leader blindly and faithfully. 

Below is an article worth reading in full.

Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman writing at Reuters:
Ukraine: Obama must escape  the ‘Cold War syndrome’
When it comes to the mounting crisis in Ukraine, President Barack Obama is stuck playing an old role. Since World War Two, U.S. presidents have steadfastly held to the same course when it comes to Russia.

Obama is but the latest interpreter of the Truman Doctrine, which pledged the United States “to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.”

When President Harry S. Truman threw down that challenge to Congress in 1947, he didn’t use the phrase “Cold War.” He didn’t name the Soviet Union. But everyone knew what he was talking about.
Today, the communist “bloc” has vanished. The nuclear-powered rival that was determined to “bury” the West is no more. Russia competes cannily and strenuously with other nations, but has no economic, political or territorial interest in upending the world system. The United States needn’t — and shouldn’t — turn local struggles into a test of its own credibility and strength.....

.....Ukraine is an old nation, but an infant state. It attained sovereignty fewer than two decades ago. Its people have little experience of self-government, and they are internally divided. Some want closer ties to their Slavic kin. Some want closer ties to the glamorous West.

Welcome to Eastern Europe. This cultural tug-and-pull is as old as dirt. The Ukrainian national anthem ends on the words, “we, brothers, are of the Cossack nation.” Historically, the Cossacks ranged from Kiev to Kamchatka. Their horsemen were the tsar’s special forces from the 16th century to the 20th. Kiev was the first capital of Russia, centuries before Moscow.

Ukrainians alone can determine where they stand between east and west. Their neighbors on either side will remain keenly interested. We should expect that.

What might the United States do to ease the path of nations whose struggle for identity, coherence and reform has turned violent — and happen to be neighbors of Russia? Should Washington issue threats to make them “behave,” lest it look “weak?”

The first thing Americans can do is to stop making........