The perception of Russia as a factor of rift between the U.S. and Western Europe

The current perception of Russia in the West is divided , sharply , into two strands : one against the former great power, trying to resume his old role as violating international law and that, mainly coming from the right, conservative and even reactionary , favorable to Moscow , because it identifies the Russian action in the defense of traditionalist values ​​. This is not a definition trivialized , Putin is becoming truly a champion of the defenders of the moral values ​​of the right. This fact is absurd if one remembers that the Russian president is a former leader of the Soviet secret service , which he uses as justification for the invasion pro-Russian Ukrainian People's Defence by the fascists in Kiev. But what makes it possible to gloss over the lack of respect for international law in the European right is setting policy that Putin gave his government , which focuses inward in a very close agreement with the church hierarchy , in the name of defense of the values ​​so-called Christians and traditionalists, anti-gay , freedoms and civil rights , but , at the same time , maintains close ties also with what are described as the oligarchs , who have the personality of wealth management , both natural and financial , country , often determining , on the political side , the fortunes or otherwise, for those who oppose , misfortunes . The attitude often paternalistic , see the amnesty granted on the occasion of the recent Winter Olympics , completes the picture. The portrait is that of a man so strong , classic fetish to the right , able to attract the sympathies of the conservative European countries. This rating is not recorded throughout the West , the U.S. Republicans are stubbornly averse to criticize Putin and Obama for being too soft with the Russian president , but in the U.S. confrontation with the USSR , which is identified with Russia present, it is still too vivid a memory . Not so in Western Europe , as opposed to the eastern one, naturally distrustful of Russia for the domain took place during the Warsaw Pact . In the west this similarity between Communist Russia and present-day Russia has vanished and opponents of the Soviet historians are now the most ardent defenders of the reasons the Kremlin. Yet the invasion of Prague was a violation of international law as it is the current behavior of Moscow. The similarity is perhaps exaggerated , but if the Czechs were fighting for freedom because they do not recognize that the Ukrainians fighting for their country? Even taking rightly into account all the peculiarities of the Ukrainian , Russian interference can not disturb the supporters of international law , which can not be different depending on the case . Even the Israelis fail to not side with the Russians, the Ukrainians as identifying the descendants of their persecutors during the Nazi era and the Russians as their liberators , forgetting the actions of Stalin against the Jews , but here we are in a different series yet . But the opposite attitude in Western Europe is more nuanced for economic reasons and partnerships in investment. These reasons , which are perhaps the ones that matter most in the decisions of the attitude to be adopted for any penalties, are those prevailing in the ruling classes . The impression is that the Russian attitude arouses a conflict that stops at the sentencing minutes , but that is not particularly acute because of the interests at stake. In this right , especially out of the decision-making process , it seems more genuine, but only because it is far from the centers of power. The fact remains that the perception of the Moscow government in the West fails to be totally contrary , it seems like it should be for a state that violates international standards , going to create dangerous precedents . It seems to be this perception , which indicates the distance between the U.S. and the countries of Eastern and Western European countries ; precisely this discrepancy prevents an action unique to the West as a whole , which ends up favoring Putin , as the measures taken can not be completely effective. If you then connect the growing European populism at Russian , appreciation, by far Russia can only grow, going to be a very disturbing sign for democracy.