Stake in the US election: Russia is wounded but can still bite

World News Rudolph Rodriquez
http://stocknewsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Stake-in-the-US-election-Russia-is-wounded-but-can-still-bite.jpg

Whoever wins the US presidential election, on 8 November, will have to have to deal with an assertive Russia, even arrogant, with a president who likes to take risks and who makes Europeans fear grow as days are passing.

Russia today, aggressive, is a paradox, writes Washington Post in an analysis on the international context in which the elections are happening on Tuesday.

Whichever way you look, in many respects, Russia is in decline: It has a floundering economy, undeveloped technology and a declining population. Corruption is present in almost all sectors. The fall of the USSR is still an open wound and many Russians believe that the US took advantage of them during the years of decline.

And yet this poor Russia is displayed as a street fighter, a feared gang member. Wearing a controversial war in Syria, another one in Ukraine and even a cyber-war, with a total disregard for the US power, the American newspaper analysis also shows.

According to James R. Clapper Jr., the Director of National Intelligence Service, Russian hackers are doing everything possible to interfere in the US elections.

Dimitri Simes, who directs the Center for the National Interest (formerly Center Nixon), who was the adviser to President Richard Nixon, thinks that this behavior of Putin, which involves taking risks, has become increasingly bold.

According to the analyst, Russia is no longer sensitive to sanctions, considering them as minimal, Putin thinking that whatever they do, these will be taxed on his country anyway.

The one that will win the presidential election will have to find a way to change the behavior of Russia, but without a direct military confrontation, writes Washington Post. This issue is perhaps the most important of those related to national security, one of the stakes of this election.