Russia ends support of democracy aid - what took them so long?

The Russians have told the U.S.A.I.D. agency to pack it up. Now one might wonder why the US spends $50 million (a trifle according to the NY Times) in Russia. Russia seems to be doing fairly well as an economic power. You would think that the cold war was over - but it is just played out on a different field. [Russia Demands U.S. End Support of Democracy Groups - NYTimes.com].

The NY Times ignoring the past activities of the agency - it was a front for the CIA - notes that agency supports pro democracy groups. It is "a potentially devastating blow for groups that came to rely on foreign money as domestic controls over politics tightened."

The NY Times doesn't recognize that there is no reason to believe that the agency has ceased it role as a CIA front. Now while we might consider funding democracy as American as apple pie - for the Russians, certainly not the Russia government, apple pie doesn't get it. Neither do "allies like Egypt and Pakistan, which have objected to outside groups telling them how to run their affairs."

The simple fact is that the US is spending money in an effort to undermine the Russian government and install more amenable and malleable leadership. But there may be a back story. Checkout this Brookings opinion - A Bill that Cracks Down on Russian Corruption.

It is the cold war chess game. It seems it will never end until the United States remakes the world in its image.