American Foreign Policy Toward Russia.

         It's been about 26 years since the Soviet Union broke up.  The Constitution of the Soviet Union said that any Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union had the right to secede.  Finally, after seventy years of Communism, eleven of the twelve Soviet Socialist Republics had had enough, and seceded from the Soviet Union, leaving Russia, the physically largest member of the former Soviet Union.
        After the time of Yeltsin, the Russians now have former KGB Colonel Putin as their leader.  Premier Putin brags about his missiles that he has pointed at America and new technology Russia is developing to make a surprise attack on America more lethal.
        What to do?
         Some of the British used to joke about Russia as "Upper Volta with missiles."  Of course, Upper Volta would not be able to inflict much damage on the United States nor the West. 
         Russia has slipped somewhat in its economic might compared with other nations.  Britain, France, and Germany have edged ahead of Russia in GDP and economic capability.  Of course Britain, France, and Germany are NATO allies of the United States, so their economic and military might are helpful to the United States.  I believe that Japan has a greater GDP that Russia, but Japan was forced to renounce violence at the end of World War II.
         Anyway, our situation with Russia is similar to Rome's situation with Carthage at the end of the Punic wars.  Finally, after bringing Carthage to its knees, Rome finally destroyed Carthage--a North African Empire.  Hannibal was from Carthage, and ran amok in Italy with his army of people and elephants.  A great Roman General--perhaps Roman's greatest--advised that if the Romans invaded North Africa, the North African power would order its troops and Hannibal to withdraw from Italy.  This is what happened.  The destruction of Carthage came later.
        Anyway, America has always taken the position that our struggle is against the rulers of adversary countries, and not the people, themselves, of such countries.
         A more generous immigration policy concerning the Russians would be helping ordinary Russian people, while reducing the power of the Russian government.  Congress should increase the quotas of Russian immigrants to the United States, while standing firm against the Russian oligarchy which poisons people and their daughters who try to escape Russia.  Containment was a good policy concerning the Communists, and it is a good policy to follow concerning a resurgent nationalist Russia.  Welcoming technologists, scientists, and engineers from Russia, to relocate to America would bolster the American economy, and perhaps reduce Russia to having a smaller GDP than Italy.  If Russia had a smaller GDP than Italy, we need not lose sleep worrying about their submarines, missiles, and spies.  The Russian Bear can be shrunk, by welcoming their intelligentsia to the United States. 
          Kenneth Stepp, a Democratic candidate for the United States Congress in the Kentucky Fifth District, if elected, would support a policy of draining top technologists, scientists and engineers from Russia, while standing guard against undue force used by the Russians against American NATO allies such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland which were formerly militarily occupied by the Soviet Union.  When Russia becomes a leading advocate of human rights, perhaps America can relax more.