Before NAFTA, Canada and Mexico were allies basically by virtue of geography. And even today we antagonize one of them and blame them for illegal immigration, despite benefiting greatly from it. China has been an ally of Russia outside of economic ties for almost a century. Even if we ignore just China, what do you think BRICS is?Thats not how logic works.
By the logic I presented, if we were merely connected to Canada or Mexico by those economic deals, we wouldnt be allies with them
That is right.
Our relationship with both of those countries is significantly larger than that, however.
Unlike Russias relationship with any country that is not a client state. Iran perhaps being an exception.
However you spin it, Russia isn't just some backwoods underdeveloped nation that's a pariah state. Governments are hypocrites and they work with Russia and make backdoor deals despite sanctions on it for breaking international law. Just like we espouse the values of human rights and democracy while we have the highest prison population on the planet and facilitate genocide and coups. There are no good guys and bad guys; just innocent people dying for hypocritical old CACs