While we are on the subject of Georgia, after reading hundreds of stories in the past week, I can’t help but feel like there is a lot of misconceptions towards Russia and its people. I don’t believe the Russian government or the people are interested in escalating any conflicts but it will respond harshly if provoked. Russia isn’t a democratic country yet but it is far from the cold war days of USSR. Conflict is bad for business. The reporting about Russia really needs to turn a new page, I read somewhere that “many Russians” are upset about how the cold war ended and want round two. Thats simply not true. The cold war ended without firing any nuclear weapons, thats all anyone really cares about. Russian media spun the story and said that Russia ended the conflict in its favor. US media spun it and said that they won the cold war. Very few people in Russia actually know or care what the US media says, CNN doesn’t play on Russian TV screens. I think most Russians and Americans are actually just glad the cold war is behind us. 

Simplifying today’s Russia through the Russophobic lens from the cold war is like reporting about Canadian political affairs as if its still a British colony. Lets move on from all the cold war talk, even McCain agrees.