"The Russia question."

The Scrum's James W. Carden converses with Thaddeus Russell.

DECEMBER 28—Shortly before Christmas I conversed for nearly two hours with Thaddeus Russell, the historian, podcaster, and author (A Renegade History of the United States, Free Press, 2011). The YouTube recording of our exchange is here:

Russia was the focus of our conversation, in the course of which we covered Trump’s foreign policy legacy and what to expect from the Biden administration. We also discussed, at length, U.S.–Russia relations and the roots of our current predicament, which run back to the 1990s and the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. 

American expectations and hopes to transform Russia economically, politically, and culturally during the Yeltsin years were met with disaster: In the 1990s Russia experienced the largest economic and demographic collapse ever recorded in peace time. The failure of that project still rankles American foreign policy elites such as Michael McFaul, ambassador to Moscow during the Obama presidency, and high- profile journalists such as the Washington Post’s Fred Hiatt and The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser and David Remnick, who invested enormous hope in the American project only to see it come crashing down by the time Yeltsin handed over power to the former KGB operative and politico from St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin.  Russell and I also try to get at the roots of the current mania with regard to Russia and discuss the series of missteps and misunderstandings (on both sides) that have led us to the current moment. 

We also touch upon the influence of foreign lobbies and foreign interventions in American politics, the direction of foreign affairs the Biden administration is likely to take, and the failure of our media to inform the American public on matters relating to war and peace. 

All of us at The Scrum urge readers to delve in. And we wish all our subscribers a fine new year.

—J.W.C.