The Pentagon and State Department consistently underestimate the Russians, a habit picked up during the chaotic post-Soviet phase when Russia floundered like a hapless colossus. According to Kathryn E. Stoner, since 2012, Russia “appeared to outfox the west at every turn” in a comeback from the Crimea to cyberspace. Rather than outright confrontation with the west, the Stanford academic argues that none of this would have happened without Vladimir Putin playing a high-stakes game of “Make Russia Great Again.” While conceding that some of Putin’s aggressive policies spring the offended dignity of NATO expansion and loss of the Cold War, Stoner maintains that Putin is primarily concerned with rallying his citizens around the idea that their nation—under his leadership—has regained its status as a world power.
