“Spengler” proposes a grand bargain with Russia: trade the “dubious self-determination of Ukraine” for “Russia’s assistance in the Iranian nuclear issue.” This is probably less provocative than his talent as a writer makes it sound, and pretty close to the conventional wisdom of America’s permanent foreign policy apparat at the State Department. But if we’re going to play chess, let’s play chess. Why should Russia help us contain nuclear proliferation in the Middle East? A truly chess-playing Russia would probably provide lip service to Western containment policies against Iran while continuing to give Iran technical and moral support for the completion of its nuclear program. Russia knows that the U.S. and Israel, as well as some other countries in the West, would not be able to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, and therefore would, when push comes to shove, resort to military force to prevent that from happening. The Russians, at that point, would “deeply deplore” the U.S. and/or Israeli action (while inwardly applauding it), and then pose as the defenders of Islamic self-determination against the U.S. Hegemonist and the Zionist Entity. In other words, Russia has no real incentive to help us on nuclear proliferation, while it still has every reason to try to Finlandize its near neighbors.
