Russia Could Be a Partner

The Washington Times had an interesting opinion piece entitled: What Is Best for America - Russia as a Friend or a Foe?  

Here is a quote from that article:

Let’s put this into a not-so-distant historical perspective. For the past 30 years, under Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvedev, and Putin again, the Russians have been knocking on Washington’s door asking to be accepted as a friend and ally, only to be constantly rebuffed. For voluntarily dismantling the Soviet empire, throwing communist ideology out the window, liberating the captive nations, helping to defeat the Taliban, and doing their share in the war on terror they got in return the abrogation of the ABM treaty, “regime change” and “color revolutions” in the neighboring countries, bombing Serbia, vicious media demonization, an avalanche of sanctions, emplacement of “defensive” missiles in Eastern Europe, and successive rounds of NATO expansion (“RUSSIA WANTS WAR! Look how close they put their country to our military bases!”)

While I agree with this quote, I wonder who selected the title of the piece. It seems unlikely that Russia and America will ever be friends. When asked about this Putin said he was not a friend, that he was president of the Russian Federation, and it was his job to represent the interests of those 146 million people. 

No, friendship should not be the goal, Instead each country should focus on their own national interests and help each other when those interests overlap. 

I don't think anyone knows how big the overlap of American and Russian interests is. It might be quite large. But in any event Russia, and really no country, wants friends. They want partners that will focus on areas of mutual interest. That is why Russia constantly refers to the West as partners not friends.

Should Trump pursue a partnership with Russia? Absolutely. This is one reason Trump is so reviled. The Military Industrial Complex does not want a partnership. Neither does the CIA. They want hegemony.