2 ms·
Bullshit. 2018 was the year when the FIFA World Cup was held in Russia. Putin obviously didn't want to sabotage them. Trumpy tantrums did nothing, I repeat. Ne
by cyberax 2y ago
Bullshit. 2018 was the year when the FIFA World Cup was held in Russia. Putin obviously didn't want to sabotage them.
Trumpy tantrums did nothing, I repeat. Neither is he going to do anything useful once he gets back into the office. Putin will play him off like a sucker he is.
- an_guy 2y agoWhy would Russia care about some football tournament if they really wanted to invade? It's makes even less sense than parent comment
- throwaway48476 2y agoDespots care a lot about PR. Otherwise they wouldn't spend so much on international sports.
- cyberax 2y ago"Russia" did not really want to invade. _Putin_ wanted to invade. You need to separate these two entities. In 2018, Putin was still riding the high of the successful Crimean annexation. His plan had clearly been to repeat that exercise to boost his ratings by the next election (in 2024). 2018 was too early for that. We now can see that the preparation for the war started in 2020-2021. For example, Putin made sure that Russia had a big enough monetary Reserve Fund. And unlike many other countries, Russia did not do state-sponsored economic stimulation during the lockdowns.