Putin Rebuilding the Soviet Union: Why Ukraine Has Become Important

It appears that Putin has a plan to rebuild the Soviet Union and has been engaging in "Russification" of prior territories. You can gain more in the CNBC article Putin Lashes Out. With some of the movements in the area, speeches and the way they are trying to re-navigate the socio-economic culture I would say there may be a few things going on.

1.)Putin trying to create a hard split between West and East (He likely sees it as a long term strategy).

2.) Pitching the U.S. as the unipolar global leader (This is more propaganda stuff to rally their base and those with grievances).

3.) Reaching out to any other nation that wants to do business with them (Trying to place themselves in a leadership position and gain resources.)

4.) Winning in Ukraine is their primary strategy (If they win in Ukraine they will have regional superiority i.e. Black Sea). There are likely political and economic strategies to this acquisition for shipping and regional influence.

5.) Putin calls for investment in an effort to draw new capital and create allies. 

6.) Ukraine is likely a launching site for a much bolder plan that is not specifically military but likely has military components. 

7.) Resocialzing people to the Russian lifestyle is an attempt to recreate the cultural iron curtain that will go along with the economic curtain. 

Here are a few ideas I encourage our leaders to do.......

1.) End the small time political squabbles and solve problems in a bi-partisan manner. 

2.) Move on from the Trump situation and find a new leader for conservatives and work with Democrats. (I personally think Pence would be a good choice for conservatives. Its not personal against Trump but there would be significant issues with him managing the entire country and maintaining that support.). We must end the toxic nature of extremism (It seems to be hyped by foreign influence along with far right manipulation. I'm an "Old Guard" Republican that believes in our institutions and Constitution.).

3.) Develop our military capacity and industry through innovation systems. That will mean moving away from the "connected" to get things done and often done in new ways (I would think a type of split % to ensure new thoughts and ideas bubble up.)

4.) Develop our infrastructure for shipping and plug and play energy (I had a plan for a Delta County regional shipping center.)

5.) Develop Rapid Innovation systems to ensure we innovate our industries and return much of the manufacturing back to the U.S. (An unfinished theory. I have lots of other things going on so it not finished and hard to find the time to finish it. Its theory structure and basic tenants are valid.) 

6.) Universalize our American values so they apply to everyone in a way that ties us to our essential beliefs. 

7.) We must continue to build our international coalitions and support with other nations. This is why integrity and focus on higher principles in leadership is necessary (We can't play games with politics or each other. It reflects negatively and gives the wrong signal. The world is watching. Let us be smart on how we solve problems and interact with others.)

8.) There are so many things like education, resource use, etc... that would make a difference. It would be hard to list them all. However, people need to think about national competitiveness. We must ensure our people are competitive and that requires human capital development.

I think our leaders have a responsibility to make the most competitive nation they can. We will have to wait to see if they can overcome their challenges and focus on solutions. I think they can but they may end up waiting until the general population is fed up with lack of solutions over important issues (A third pressure that impacts both parties.). Fingers crossed they focus on the bigger picture. This is more of a sociological viewpoint more than personal opinion. Something can change and it changes everything else. Some of the problems stem from not understanding their bigger role in creating the context for our next level in development. We adapt or we risk further divisions. I like to understand things and see if there are potential solutions and how those turn out in history. (...and yes I do have a Muslim sound name but that should not be associated with perceptions of patriotism. Patriotism is more than surface symbols. If the two are still associated you might still have some issues.)