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There is an overemphasis on Trump in commentary concerning the DNC hack. The explanation is even more basic. In the same way the US has pursued Putin's power ba

by rrggrr 10y ago

There is an overemphasis on Trump in commentary concerning the DNC hack. The explanation is even more basic. In the same way the US has pursued Putin's power base economically the Russian's are pursuing Obama (and now Hillary's) base. Each is trying to fracture the political support base of the other's respective policy makers. Trump is at best tangential to all this.

meowface 10y ago
I think that's a key component, but is it not true that at a policy level, Trump is more in line with Putin than Clinton is?
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  How many of us in America actually know what Putin's real policy positions are? All we hear about him out here is that he's a scary bad guy. I think it'd be really interesting to see a neutral comparison of Clinton-Trump-Putin policy positions. IMO, it's not self-evident that Trump, a free market capitalist, would be closer to Putin, a former Soviet operative. I also don't think it's implicit that Putin's policy positions are automatically worth avoiding just because he's associated with them. Also, even if Trump and Putin have similar beliefs, wouldn't Putin have an interest in putting in the person that is less like him? It seems that Putin's interest would be in a weak United States, which would give Russia more room to re-emerge as a world power. In this case, based on his belief that his policy positions are conducive to the health of a country, Putin would want a dissimilar leader to run the US.
  - nyolfen 10y ago
    > IMO, it's not self-evident that Trump, a free market capitalist, would be closer to Putin, a former Soviet operative. this isn't about ideology. it's Trump and not Clinton who is talking about backing out of NATO.
  - nl 10y ago
    It's pretty difficult, because Trump's position on things usually has few details, and changes quite often. But I think it is important to note that economic policies are clearly secondary considerations for both Trump and Putin. One specific policy I think they share is on Syria. I think Trump's current thinking is to back the Assard forces against ISIS (although I'm not entirely sure about that?). This is exactly Putins position: he wants the Mediterranean port Syria gives him, and will make sure Assad stays to keep it. (To be fair, there aren't really any great choices in Syria anymore, so just because both Trump and Putin make the same one doesn't automatically make it bad. But Assard is a pretty bad guy, even on the scale of middle eastern dictators, so Clinton's choice to insist he leaves power is also a reasonable position)
    - leesalminen 10y ago
      Has replacing a despot in a middle eastern country ever worked out?
      - nl 10y ago
        Sure. Tunisia, maybe Uganda (Idi Amin) if we count the horn of Africa. Syria isn't the same though. It's more like civil war cases like Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia.

by rrggrr 10y ago

meowface 10y ago

I think that's a key component, but is it not true that at a policy level, Trump is more in line with Putin than Clinton is?

cookiecaper 10y ago
How many of us in America actually know what Putin's real policy positions are? All we hear about him out here is that he's a scary bad guy. I think it'd be really interesting to see a neutral comparison of Clinton-Trump-Putin policy positions. IMO, it's not self-evident that Trump, a free market capitalist, would be closer to Putin, a former Soviet operative. I also don't think it's implicit that Putin's policy positions are automatically worth avoiding just because he's associated with them. Also, even if Trump and Putin have similar beliefs, wouldn't Putin have an interest in putting in the person that is less like him? It seems that Putin's interest would be in a weak United States, which would give Russia more room to re-emerge as a world power. In this case, based on his belief that his policy positions are conducive to the health of a country, Putin would want a dissimilar leader to run the US.
- nyolfen 10y ago
  > IMO, it's not self-evident that Trump, a free market capitalist, would be closer to Putin, a former Soviet operative. this isn't about ideology. it's Trump and not Clinton who is talking about backing out of NATO.
- nl 10y ago
  It's pretty difficult, because Trump's position on things usually has few details, and changes quite often. But I think it is important to note that economic policies are clearly secondary considerations for both Trump and Putin. One specific policy I think they share is on Syria. I think Trump's current thinking is to back the Assard forces against ISIS (although I'm not entirely sure about that?). This is exactly Putins position: he wants the Mediterranean port Syria gives him, and will make sure Assad stays to keep it. (To be fair, there aren't really any great choices in Syria anymore, so just because both Trump and Putin make the same one doesn't automatically make it bad. But Assard is a pretty bad guy, even on the scale of middle eastern dictators, so Clinton's choice to insist he leaves power is also a reasonable position)
  - leesalminen 10y ago
    Has replacing a despot in a middle eastern country ever worked out?
    - nl 10y ago
      Sure. Tunisia, maybe Uganda (Idi Amin) if we count the horn of Africa. Syria isn't the same though. It's more like civil war cases like Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia.