Today
Earlier this month
Early January
Late January
Everyone knows the truth about Trump
Trump admired Putin, as he did autocrats generally. He was jealous of the power they have and the things they can do which were beyond him even as US president.
I suppose if Trump was in power Russia/US tensions might be reduced because he would approve (similar to some posters?) of the daring of Putin's speechifying about "rights" of Russia, what countries & peoples are real/not real (iirc, Trump wanted to buy Greenland at one stage?) and be very impressed by macho-ness of deployment of Russia's army to threaten neighbours.
You're so close, you've almost got it!
That is very easy to say from behind a keyboard
Someone who could considered possibly the wealthiest man on earth, who controls vast amounts of resources, is an autocrat and clearly a narcissistic sociopath considers Martin as decadent for drinking tea and wtahcing **** tv?
What the **** are you on about mate? The lad lives in a **** palace, has several multmillion properties around the world, the use of private planes and yachts. Decadent?
Isn't there video of Trump parroting back Soviet misinformation to Putin at a meeting and Putin struggling to hold his composure as he hears the propaganda which Trump has taken to heart being relayed back to him directly.
He didn't need to push his agenda while Trump was in power as he could manipulate Trump. Now that he has to deal with a President who controls the houses he just has to push forward the old fashioned way as chicanery is no longer going to reap rewards for him.
A President of average ability who controls the houses can defend the interests of the U.S. A charismatic President with strong approval ratings who does not control the houses can not defend the interests of the U.S.
If control of the houses was a factor in Putins actions, then why act during both Obama and Biden presidencies? There's not consistency in your logic
I'm guessing the Russians are going for the classic bully tactic. Keep pushing someone and aggravating them until they hit you first either out of frustration or fear of being hit themselves then claim you were hit first so your actions are completely jusitifed.
Apart from echoing Raouls comment, you can bet that the Ukrainian MoD has the necessary defence plans in their drawer. However, it would be foolish for them to strike first and thus give Putin a pretext for an invasion. If they're smart, Ukraine will put National Guard or Reservist units in the front lines to absorb the first shock of any invasion, wait for Russia to commit to certain avenues of attack and then deploy their regular forces to counter these thrusts at a time and place of their own choosing. Russia does not have as much of a numerical advantage on the ground as it may seem, and between the Dniepr river and other natural obstacles, Ukraine has some pretty favourable terrain for a defensive war.
You are precisely correct.
Provocation is at the heart of Putin's strategy. And, if it doesn't exist, he will just invent it.
How do we know this? Just look back to 2014. And even further back to the Chechnyan War.
Where’s the gender equality?
He walked in to Crimea during Obama's tenure. He saw Obama was in a weak position.
He has pushed further in 2022 because there is no likelyhood that Trump will deliver everything on a plate if he is patient because Trump is gone.
He assumed the decadent westerners like UK PM, US president and conflicted Germans aren't able to agree on measures.
He has now discovered that when needed they can work together to act against him.
He underestimated the Westerners and is now in trouble. All he can do now is push forward despite the great political and financial cost to him.
---> Conspiracy theories is that way
The Russians evacuated women and children. Where's the equality?
Get over yourself with this culture war ****, a creation of Putin's misinformation campaign. Engage some critical thinking for once.
Trump's behaviour around the Russians and Putin would indicate they'd at the very least expect a slip up and more likely be able to exert pressure and make gains that way. How hard is that to understand?
For all his bluster Trump is not a tough man, he's an awful negotiator and worse diplomat. If the Russians invaded Ukraine he'd most likely have backed off and let it happen and if he were to support the Ukrainians it would have been so ham fisted it'd make things worse. Remember when he had the MOAB dropped? What was the point? A regular tactical strike would have yielded similar results, he just wanted to see big things go boom.
Putin is a genius if that’s true
Im sure that if Nasa anounced that a meteor was on a collision course with Earth within the next year you would have Trump fans in here telling us that this never would have happened when Trump was in charge and blaming Biden for it.
Right so Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 under Obama because Obama was hamstrung in congress by Republicans.
Putin did nothing for 4 years under Trump because trump was such an awful negotiator and diplomat (??)
Putin looking to annex Donbas under Biden despite Biden having control of congress also.
There is no consistency in the claim that Putin was "emboldened" by US presidents who were ineffective or undermined by the house. It doesnt add up. Neither does the claim that Putin didnt take any territories under Trump because of Trump being a weak leader - if he's a weak leader why wouldnt Putin have exploited that by taking territory?
You don't need a conspiracy theory. Judge on actions.
Trump was openly admiring Putin's 'very savvy' tactics in the US media yesterday.
I'd rather see them surrender than engage in some doomed resistance.
The entire world sees Putin for what he is now.
He's extremely adept at misinformation, social media handed this to them on a silver platter. Thankfully younger generations are more aware and moving away from the armpits of the internet like Facebook and even Twitter.
Who are the Trump fans you are referring to? It certainly isnt myself. I'm just countering the claim that somehow Trump/Republicans are to blame for all Russia's actions, when between Crimea and now there is no consistency in that claim.
What actions did Trump take to "deliver everything on a plate" to Putin?
So you think Biden should have committed to fighting Russia in a war?
That would have toned down the rhetoric alright.
😕
I saw a superb and succinct summary of how the Russian information machine targetted social media users in 2014 to justify their seizure of large chunks of Ukraine.
If you're on the left, you were told the Ukranians were fascists
If you're on the right you were told they were gay
If you're on the far right, you were told they were Jewish
Absolutely no conspiracy theory there. The only question was whether Trump was working at Putin's behest on a quid pro quo basis or if he was just easy to manipulate to the will of Russia. Either way when you have a President saying they will leave NATO if they don't get their way then why should Russia push and take risks when the opposition is willing to shoot themselves in the foot.
Oh how awful, not some "anti-Trump" posts. Forgive us. Sometimes one can just get tired of seeing the US wingnut bullshit and talking points getting put forth on this thread about the great Strength/Resolve of Wise Leader Trump vs Weak Biden, usually unanswered. Biden may not be super-man, but does not "equally match" Trump as an "asshole".
Trump was objectively a disaster. But you may be right that this was going to happen now anyway. I'd say if Trump had been elected again or if his last ditch efforts to overturn the election result and stay in power had succeeded, there would be utter chaos going on in the US and it would be so caught up with its own internal troubles it would be incapable of any significant/organised reaction to events. All the better for Putin.
Ignore all diversionary BS please and focus on what Russia is doing right now.
The Russiabots want to deflect away from that. Put them on ignore.
Why would he invade Ukraine when he could easily destabilise it with Trump doing the heavy lifting? Another term would have granted the Russians another 4 years to work on this.
Trump hates Ukraine, and he effectively agrees with Putin's idea that it's not a real country.
Poroshenko was in power in Ukraine for some of Trump's presidency, a man who was later accused of treason, financing terrorism by purchasing resources from the Russian backed separatists and was a corrupt oligarch. This was favourable to Putin, he had a potential stooge to regain influence in Ukraine, one that promoted pro EU messages but behind closed doors done the opposite. Perfect.
https://ukrstream.tv/en/liveuamap
https://liveuamap.com/
Not sure which is best for info
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