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I am russian born (thats just for context). I feel incredibly fortunate that this war happened when Trump is no longer in office. I think were it happen while

I am russian born (thats just for context). I feel incredibly fortunate that this war happened when Trump is no longer in office. I think were it happen while Trump was actively disparaging NATO, sowing discord among allies, ridiculing soft power of liberal democracies, all happening against a backdrop of deferring to tyrants and dictators, a spinning rotating door of chiefs of staff and secretaries of state at the White House, self-pitying rallies of sycophants, daily scandals, active sabotage of long-standing institutions of government with loyal figureheads, holding military aid to Ukraine hostage for political blackmail, questioning the need of foreign aid for populist points, the pattern of denial, shifting responsibility, blaming others as a response to pandemic… Need I go on? I don’t think Putin would’ve needed much more than that to tip the scales in his favor. In my opinion Putin either tremendously miscalculated the timing of the invasion to after Trumps term in the office, or was expecting his second term to bring about even more fertile conditions.

zthrowaway 5y ago
Disparaging NATO by making sure other countries increased their spending that they skimped out on? His goal was to increase NATO defenses against Russia. All administration staffing and mean tweet problems aside, there’s a reason Putin waited until Trump was out. Trump was very unpredictable and that alone prevented this from happening years ago.
- VincentEvans 5y ago
  Right, it wasn’t astonishing incompetence, fluent morality, and unrestrained narcissism, but rather a strategically clever display of unpredictability to keep the enemies off-balance and guessing. It’s like Roosevelt said, “yell whatever comes out of your mouth and carry a big retinue of inexperienced but loyal sycophants” diplomacy. Thanks, Throwaway!
  - emptysongglass 5y ago
    - VincentEvans 5y ago
      Firstly, because it wasn’t “asking” - it was a populist performance for the benefit of supporters. The unprecedented sanctions against Russia you are witnessing now are result of appropriate diplomacy that was conducted skillfully and effectively. Just to point out the difference. Secondly, Bill Barr has gone on record to claim that it was a pretext of pulling out of NATO entirely if Trump was going to win a second term. You don’t believe Bill Barr, fine, but I don’t see why he is any less believable than Trump. Thirdly, I’ve stated a dozen of things that point to Trumps capacity to inflict damage to international coalition that allows US to wield influence, including withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure them to implicate Biden for political gain, the same Ukraine that figures in the latest events in case you didn’t notice. However the poster did not bother addressing any of that - why should I treat their response with any more rigor than they afforded me?
      - emptysongglass 5y ago
        VincentEvans 5y ago
        I’ve made it pretty clear that not only do I “not like the guy”, but I think he is unfit to lead US, has tremendous character flaws, reflects poorly on the nation as a whole, and is detrimental to US standing in the world. Some of it, if it wasn’t obvious before as a somewhat known celebrity host and a prolific racist-ish and misogynistic tweet author, became incredibly clear during his shit-show of a presidency. “That’s just, like, my opinion, man.” But if the events of January 6th (among countless other incidents, tweets, things said and done, then and since) have not made the truth of my assertions abundantly clear to you - I doubt that any amount of requested “proof” I could produce will. If it at all redeems me as a “leftist” I’ll share with you that I am not overly fond of Obama either, but I’ll take any past Republican contender, be that Romney or McCain and give them two terms each if that meant that I paid my dues not to see anything like Trump near the White House ever again.

zthrowaway 5y ago

Disparaging NATO by making sure other countries increased their spending that they skimped out on? His goal was to increase NATO defenses against Russia. All administration staffing and mean tweet problems aside, there’s a reason Putin waited until Trump was out. Trump was very unpredictable and that alone prevented this from happening years ago.

VincentEvans 5y ago
Right, it wasn’t astonishing incompetence, fluent morality, and unrestrained narcissism, but rather a strategically clever display of unpredictability to keep the enemies off-balance and guessing. It’s like Roosevelt said, “yell whatever comes out of your mouth and carry a big retinue of inexperienced but loyal sycophants” diplomacy. Thanks, Throwaway!
- emptysongglass 5y ago
  - VincentEvans 5y ago
    Firstly, because it wasn’t “asking” - it was a populist performance for the benefit of supporters. The unprecedented sanctions against Russia you are witnessing now are result of appropriate diplomacy that was conducted skillfully and effectively. Just to point out the difference. Secondly, Bill Barr has gone on record to claim that it was a pretext of pulling out of NATO entirely if Trump was going to win a second term. You don’t believe Bill Barr, fine, but I don’t see why he is any less believable than Trump. Thirdly, I’ve stated a dozen of things that point to Trumps capacity to inflict damage to international coalition that allows US to wield influence, including withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure them to implicate Biden for political gain, the same Ukraine that figures in the latest events in case you didn’t notice. However the poster did not bother addressing any of that - why should I treat their response with any more rigor than they afforded me?
    - emptysongglass 5y ago
      - VincentEvans 5y ago
        I’ve made it pretty clear that not only do I “not like the guy”, but I think he is unfit to lead US, has tremendous character flaws, reflects poorly on the nation as a whole, and is detrimental to US standing in the world. Some of it, if it wasn’t obvious before as a somewhat known celebrity host and a prolific racist-ish and misogynistic tweet author, became incredibly clear during his shit-show of a presidency. “That’s just, like, my opinion, man.” But if the events of January 6th (among countless other incidents, tweets, things said and done, then and since) have not made the truth of my assertions abundantly clear to you - I doubt that any amount of requested “proof” I could produce will. If it at all redeems me as a “leftist” I’ll share with you that I am not overly fond of Obama either, but I’ll take any past Republican contender, be that Romney or McCain and give them two terms each if that meant that I paid my dues not to see anything like Trump near the White House ever again.