Daniel Depetris Has No Clue.

Which is a defining feature of the US so called "journalist corps". In his utterly delirious piece in the American Conservative he waxes geopolitical and continues to spread all kinds of beaten to death cliches about Russia. For starters, he repeats a tiresome Wall Street claptrap about Russian economy. 

Trump’s desire to get along with Putin was not a bad idea at its core. Russia may be a weakling compared to its Soviet ancestor (its GDP is about $400 billion less than recession-threatened Italy), but it remains a major power in Eurasia. 

Obviously because Depetris is an American "journalist" and it automatically means that he has no tools for operating with facts on the ground and it can come as a surprise to him that Russia's GDP actually dwarfs that of Italy and is already larger than that of Germany. Even IMF agrees on that, not Depetris, of course. Somebody forgot to inform Depetris about this teeny-weeny fact but, be patient, Depetris is not alone in his economic delusion--he is, actually, very typical of US punditry whose defining characteristic is ignorance. 

But by far the most astonishing in all this is Depetris' delusions is the title of his piece:

With Mueller Done, Now is the Time for Better Relations With Russia

You see? So simple! OK guys, it is over now let's get better relations. He even proposes:

The report is also a plus for the country—not only because Washington won’t be consumed with a constitutional crisis anytime soon, but also because it provides the Trump administration with its first opportunity to settle on a Russia policy without the risk of an extreme political backlash.

Life is so easy, you see? Of course, I have news for optimistic (a euphemism for delusional) Depetris:

1. Yes, Trump Administration "settled" Russia policy will be (already is) all out, short of hot, war on Russia and this war is already proceeding in earnest. Things will get even worse, much worse, than they are now. This is not to mention the fact that Trump is not very smart geopolitically and his "team" of foreign policy "experts" is a laughing stock of the world--a bunch of aggressive exceptionalist neocons.

2. Patrick Armstrong yesterday when posting his Russia SitRep provided this astonishing piece of data. Just think about it for a second:

SANCTIONS. A sentence from Awara’s latest struck me: “Russia’s imports from China (26% of total) are now three times bigger than those from Germany (7.8%). Total imports from the EU now make up only 30% of all Russia’s imports.” I don’t think the EU is going to get much of that market back, do you?

I know that Depetris has no clue on that but I have to inform him that EU for Russia, strategically, economically, culturally is on several orders of magnitude more important than the United States. In fact, the only real importance, diminishing daily, of the United States for Russia is the fact that US tries to sabotage (unsuccessfully) Russian economy. But if Russia gave up on the EU, what's so important for Russia in the US? US doesn't even factor in economically here. 

This, however, doesn't prevent Depetris from continuing with his delusion:

But with the investigation complete, the report submitted, and the conclusions made, the Trump administration may now have a chance to at least explore whether the Russians are open to collaboration on fair terms.

No, Mr. Depetris, Russians are "not open" to "collaboration on fair terms" and the only things Russia is going to discuss with the US are strategic arms limitations and the terms on which US economy will be landed. Russia doesn't want it to be a global economic catastrophe but a slow and relatively soft landing. In general, people who keep the gun to your head do not "collaborate", they usually dictate conditions, but I am sure Daniel Depetris knows all about it--sarcasm is intentional. He also is not aware of a simple fact of the United States committing final act of cultural suicide in Russia. If Depetris doesn't comprehend that, nothing will prevent him from continuing to write a delusional rubbish such as his piece in TAC.  

UPDATE: Masha Zakharova explains as eloquently as always (Skabeeva's shoes are always top) things which Depetris obviously doesn't understand.