Many principled American patriots are realists and non-interventionists who want friendly engagement with Russia, but it doesn’t mean they are capitulating to a Moscow narrative as Russian agents.

I have occasionally been criticized by some in academic circles that I move within for publishing my geopolitical ideas in a Russian venue. I face criticisms similar to those leveled against Colonel Douglas Macgregor (Ret.) of being too conciliatory to the Russians, of promoting “Moscow narratives” or “Russian information,” or accusations of being a “Russian agent,” “apologist for Putin,” or some other smear that plays well in Western corporate media but has no real basis in fact, just not as loudly, as frequently, or from those as noteworthy as Colonel Macgregor’s critics because he has a much higher profile.

If we consider Colonel Macgregor, he fought for the USA as a soldier in our army, yet he adopts positions his critics call ‘pro-Russian.’ I don’t believe Colonel Macgregor would compromise his obligations and duties to the USA any more than I would be willing to, not even to benefit a nation such as Russia, which we may admire and appreciate. We are American patriots; we are not looking to burn our own nation down to help another nation. With that said, my position is that the best service I can provide the USA is to identify the genuine core national interests and help pursue the securing and maintaining of those interests.

This means I am directly at odds with the liberal interventionists who see the American military as a mechanism by which to expand American influence through poorly defined nation-building exercises and attempts at ‘spreading democracy,’ which are clearly insincere and disingenuous aside from being unnecessary.

Peaceful commerce and mutual cooperation on economic matters do not require uniformity of belief and conformity to a standard set of supposed international norms in a ‘rules-based order.’

Likewise, just because I have an affinity for the Russian culture, history, people, and nation, and I admire their philosophy and ideas in the modern era, it does not mean that I would throw the USA under the bus to bolster a Russian position or that I would smuggle blueprints to Russians. Although if the US administration authorized and ordered me to engage in some trade with Russian, to trade blueprints, to go to Russia with a team of military contractors working on a project, to train alongside a comparable Russian team, to compare notes, to learn from the Russians what they have been developing on their end, and to share our notes of what we had been learning, I would not have to be told twice; I would promptly obey, and I would gladly participate in such an exchange. I would not object to privately........

© New Eastern Outlook