Trump constantly embarrasses the US on the world stage. But that is nowhere as true as when he acts as Putin’s lap dog. This was on full display at the Group of Seven meeting last weekend. He not only begged to let Russia back into the group publicly, he did it in private too.
To our friends overseas, it must seem as though Americans elect presidents randomly. Sure, we occasionally elect someone like Obama, but that’s more than countered by the election of people like Trump. And Bush Jr. And Reagan. And Nixon. Really, you have to go back to Eisenhower to find a Republican president who isn’t an embarrassment for one reason or another. (Bush Sr wasn’t a fool; but he was a spook.)
Russia Isn’t a Major Economic Player
But it got me thinking. Why was Russia ever in the Group of Eight? China isn’t. And I think there’s a much better case to be made for China. The Group of Whatever is about economic development. China is the second-largest economy in the world. (The largest if you look at the economy based on purchasing power.) But I get why China is not included. I just don’t get why Russia ever way.
Let’s look at some economic data of the G7 along with Russian:
| Country | GDP Total (trillions) |
GDP Per Capita (thousands) |
| USA | $19.5 | $59.9 |
| Japan | $4.9 | $38.2 |
| Germany | $3.7 | $44.7 |
| UK | $2.6 | $38.2 |
| France | $2.6 | $39.8 |
| Italy | $1.9 | $32.0 |
| Russia | $1.6 | $10.8 |
There are three countries not in the G7 that have higher GDPs. Of these, India has a very low per capita GDP. But both China and Brazil have per capita GDPs that are roughly the same as Russia’s. So why not them? I can’t determine any reason why Russia would be allowed in while these two wouldn’t. Must be a nuclear power? Then why not India or China? Must be a “free market” economy? Then why not India or Brazil (and let’s face it: China)?
It’s clear from the table above, that Russia really doesn’t fit into the Group of Whatever. It makes far more sense to include China.
Why Was Russia in the G8?
It seems clear that Russia was only allowed into the G8 because Boris Yeltsin was being rewarded for all his neoliberal changes to the Russian economy that screwed over the vast majority of Russian citizens. And given that this is partly to blame for the rise of Vladimir Putin, it makes a certain amount of internal logic to let Russian back in. But just because the Group of Whatever is a sham neoliberal project designed by the most powerful countries to keep everyone else down doesn’t mean the rest of us need to go along with it.
Russia is a two-bit economic power that only matters because of their nuclear arsenal. The group itself serves no ethical purpose as Russia’s previous inclusion shows.
This is stupendously good: I’d never have been capable of writing it.
My suspicion is that America and Russia are locked firmly in an abusive relationship. We represent the most horrific form of capitalism; Russia had the most horrific form of socialism. As each of us mistreated our citizens, we told them that living in the other country would be worse. They died in terrifying numbers to win WWII; we paid for it. (England, sorry, you didn’t win more than two ounces of that shit.)
Now, to the best of my knowledge, our relationship with Russia is based entirely on Putin’s cruelty towards LGBT citizens and our fundamentalists approving of this. Again, a mutually abusive connection.
(No writer I’m familiar with has called Trump out on his worship of Russian cruelty towards the LGBT population, which is supported hand in fist by his fundamentalist American admirers. That’s the #1 reason they like him, and I’m astounded that nobody’s picked up on it. Seems fairly fucking obvious to me.)
And then
Thanks — although absolutely not true.
I have an idea about the LGBT thing, though: we swap all our anti-LGBT people for all their LGBT people. It’s clear the Christian Right will be happy in any country as long as it oppresses their enemies more than it does themselves.