Have you seen a map, the size of Russia 500
years ago? They entire course of their history since then has been imperialist expansion.
They are like a black hooe, anything near must be swallowed.
That was their plan un Afghanistan.
When it comes to militaristic expansion, they did have excellent teachers, if you look back a bit further than 500 years. They certainly could never have conquered the Mongol Empire, but as the Mongol Empire collapsed all by itself, the Russians moved in to grab whatever they could - just as other empires were doing. Maybe they were bad people for doing so, but it was a long time ago.
Who wishes to give up what they once claimed?
It can happen. It's happened before, when multiple nations renounced and withdrew their claims on many colonial territories. There are some people in America who might be happy to give up California, Texas, or New York - depending on what their political inclinations might be.
China and Russia are big enough to satisfy any but imperialist powers.
Whether US politicians posture or not, what I said above is so, including about who gets to
announce what it is acceptible to say.
The posturing of U.S. politicians seems to be done primarily for domestic consumption, even if it sometimes seems a bit reckless when brought to the international stage.
Regarding who gets to announce what is acceptable to say, I don't think anyone has any formal claim or monopoly on that. I'm well aware that US public opinion is distinct and separate from that of other countries, although geopolitics, just like domestic politics, has its share of corruption, duplicity, hypocrisy, greed - along just plain incompetence. But the court of world opinion is a more diverse audience.
Just the same, US politicians are elected by US voters, and they seem to be attempting to appeal to a certain xenophobic element within the electorate, which seems to have become more intensified and exacerbate in recent years. I was listening to the Republican candidate for US Senate in my state, and he didn't really have a lot of nice things to say about China. He all but painted his opponent as some kind of Chinese agent who was in the direct employ of the CCP. They say the same things about Biden. Things are kind of getting out of hand over here, as you might have gathered.
What can I say? We're a country full of sanctimonious, self-righteous, judgmental loudmouths, from the bottom on up. Right or left, conservative or liberal, the underlying belief is that, as Americans, it is our sacred duty to right all the wrongs of the world. Some believe we have been blessed by God and charged with a sacred quest, to make the world safe for democracy. (We'd have an easier time finding the Holy Grail.)
