Russian Reset, Redux

Peter Baker at the NY Times gives us the account of the state of the Obama-Putin relationship and discovers at this point, there is none.

Even as the crisis in Ukraine continues to defy easy resolution, President Obama and his national security team are looking beyond the immediate conflict to forge a new long-term approach to Russia that applies an updated version of the Cold War strategy of containment.

Just as the United States resolved in the aftermath of World War II to counter the Soviet Union and its global ambitions, Mr. Obama is focused on isolating President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia by cutting off its economic and political ties to the outside world, limiting its expansionist ambitions in its own neighborhood and effectively making it a pariah state.

Mr. Obama has concluded that even if there is a resolution to the current standoff over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he will never have a constructive relationship with Mr. Putin, aides said. As a result, Mr. Obama will spend his final two and a half years in office trying to minimize the disruption Mr. Putin can cause, preserve whatever marginal cooperation can be saved and otherwise ignore the master of the Kremlin in favor of other foreign policy areas where progress remains possible.

No, this isn't good news.  "Minimizing the disruption" Putin can cause in a 20th century containment strategy is a massive step backwards.  Putin however seems to have not given President Obama much of a choice.

The manifestation of this thinking can be seen in Mr. Obama’s pending choice for the next ambassador to Moscow. While not officially final, the White House is preparing to nominate John F. Tefft, a career diplomat who previously served as ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania.

When the search began months ago, administration officials were leery of sending Mr. Tefft because of concern that his experience in former Soviet republics that have flouted Moscow’s influence would irritate Russia. Now, officials said, there is no reluctance to offend the Kremlin.

So yes, Russia is now our enemy and we're basically back to the Cold War.  We're to the point where we're now actively working to damage Russia's financial interests and political ones.  That's got to be something of a shock to the Millennials, who have always known Russia as our ally and frenemy at best.  Hell, it's a shock to us younger Gen X folks.  I was in middle school when the Berlin Wall fell, Germany reunited, and we had to get used to calling the Soviets "Russians" again.  For most of my life, the Russians have been "the guys we won over".

How things change.