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Why are we attacking our allies like this? What have Mexico and Canada done? Or Greenland, Panama, the EU? Why are we aligned with Russia over our allies? Who b
by whoitwas 2y ago
Why are we attacking our allies like this? What have Mexico and Canada done? Or Greenland, Panama, the EU? Why are we aligned with Russia over our allies? Who benefits from this?
- testrun 2y agoPutin.
- thrance 2y ago[flagged]
- deadbabe 2y agoWe are not allies with Russia. We are opposed to many things with them but we can still work to find some strategic cooperation from time to time.
- bdangubic 2y ago“my spouse beats the shit out of me most of the time, buuuuuut we can still go out on a nice date every now and again…” that is how crazy that sounds
- thrance 2y agoYou're in a cult. Why would you want to work with the aggressor, who broke his peace vows 27 times? Why wouldn't you work with your closest allies, Canada, Mexico and Europe?
- whoitwas 2y agoThe actions of Donald Trump align USA with Russia over our allies. We recently stopped sharing intel with Ukraine, stopped aid to Ukraine, threatened to withdraw from NATO, insisted Ukraine sign a peace deal giving Russia annexed land, called Zelinski a dictator, etc, you can go on endlessly.
- m4rtink 2y agoThere are russian strikes on civilians every day, in full view of the world, all over the news and social networks. Like, how can they just ignore that ? How ss this fine in any way ?? How can those people even sleep at night ?
- bamboozled 2y agoI think people are in denial but don't you think you're answering your question with your question ? What about Ukraine? No more weapons or intelligence, just as it starting to get even worse for Russia. Hmm how weird? I can fully imagine a time in the near future where you will see US arms and fighters going to Russia and people will be fine with that because their leader said so. Which other country would be obsessed with Greenland? Doesn't the US already have a military presence there? Isn't already a US ally ? Odd ?
- ctrlp 2y agoThe US would be quite lucky if Russia turned back to a frenemy relationship with NATO. It seems highly unlikely that will happen given the last 15 years of conflict. The attempt to Balkanize and neuter Russia looks like an abject failure. Throwing more arms and Ukrainian youth into that meat grinder is a very cynical way to proceed. Rather than growing closer to Europe via trade and energy interdependence, the strategy in Ukraine and Syria has driven Russia further into alliance with China and Iran. Looks like a mistake in hindsight. Would have been better to cultivate Russia against China and align Russian interests with Europe rather than Beijing.
- ctrlp 2y agoBefore the negative reviews come pouring, consider that the rise of China was the result of exactly this strategy in reverse. At the time "Nixon in China" was an attempt to support a largely agrarian Chinese communist state to give Russia (the stronger competitor) something to worry about on its eastern flank. Strengthening and emboldening the communist "little brother" was a deliberate foreign policy goal during the Cold War. This strategy was what the protean Henry Kissinger was most famous for at the time. Talk about unforeseen consequences. Maybe we bet on the wrong horse. China in 2025 seems like a much more serious global competitor than Russia. Ask yourself, who would you rather compete with?
- stephen_g 2y agoI mean, the US is also sort of responsible for what happened in Russia too, with the oligarch class being born out of the 'shock therapy' that US-based institutions and economists pushed for... Russia might be a much more democratic place today if not for the massive economic problems that caused...
- rayiner 2y ago[flagged]
- cpursley 2y agoFun fact: Russians before the recent changes bought literal package tours that flew them into Cancun then bused them to the border and helped them cross. Know a guy who did it, luckily a good guy - eventually was able to get a green card.
- whoitwas 2y agoRussia has invested in the downfall of the west since long before most people on this earth were born.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- fasbiner 2y agoNon-westerners who experienced western rule for hundreds of years see this as a positive, not a negative. If you don't understand this comment, that's another part of why most of the world was unwilling to line up behind the US even before Trump.
- yongjik 2y agoI have to wonder what happened to this person to just shoot up straight Russian propaganda on HN all day every day.
- rayiner 2y agoAnd here I am wondering what happened to you guys. Did I hallucinate Obama ragging on Romney for not realizing the Cold War was over? When did Kissinger and Domino Theory come back in vogue?
- techpineapple 2y agoThis may come as a shock to you, but “us guys” are capable of thinking our leaders may be wrong.
- knowknow 2y agoTrump got popular by contradicting the status quo. A lot of people are disgruntled by it, so anything that disrupts it is applauded.
- whoitwas 2y agoUpsetting our friends is to be applauded? While we cozy up to Russia?
- knowknow 2y agoYes, that’s how these people think. I fundamentally disagree with it and thinks it’s destructive to society, but these people want to watch things get destroyed. This is why they also applaud cuts in welfare and the federal government. Anything that is part of status quo is considered part of the swamp, so it must burn.
- whoitwas 2y agoTrump is the status quo. Nothing makes sense unless you consume their echo chamber.
- alabastervlog 2y agoI distinctly remember listening to Limbaugh make fun of Trump while riding in a truck with my dad in the late ‘90s. Most of my image of the guy up until his run in 2016 actually came from people making fun of what an awful person and terrible businessman he was, and I probably heard more of that from conservatives than liberals, even. Like, he’s obviously a clown with sleazy used car salesman energy. Everybody knew, of course, because it’s so easy to see, and nobody denied it, it was assumed fact any time anyone talked about the guy. Fast forward a couple decades and he’s god-king of the right. My dad, who also personally told me things about what a shitty person Trump was, back then, loves the guy and thinks he’s good at everything. It’s so weird.
- 2y ago
- rdtsc 2y ago> Why are we aligned with Russia over our allies? Isn't EU the ones buying Russian oil and gas? They are paying more for those than they are helping Ukraine. They may kiss and hug Zelensky extra long and do photo ops with him when he visits, but then turn around and fund Putin's war against him. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/05/has-europe-spent-more-on-russian-oil-and-gas-than-aid-to-ukraine-as-trump-claims https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/05/has-europe-spe...
- bamboozled 2y agoFrom your own Article: What are European countries doing to reduce reliance on Russian energy? The European Union says it has significantly slashed Russian energy exports since the invasion. The share of Russian gas in EU imports dropped from 45% in 2021 to 18% by June 2024, meaning US exports of gas to the EU has significantly increased. More recent packages of sanctions have aimed to prevent the Kremlin from circumventing those sanctions. CREA says tighter sanctions that undercut Russian countermeasures can slash Kremlin revenues by 20% annually, significantly stifling its capacity to fund its war in Ukraine.
- rdtsc 2y ago> The share of Russian gas in EU imports dropped from 45% in 2021 to 18% by June 2024, meaning US exports of gas to the EU has significantly increased. Exactly. Isn't it wild? They paid €205 billion to the Russians since the start of the war. Not only that, as you found out, they were paying a lot more in the past! It's like had never noticed he captured Crimea from their neighbor. Not only that US had asked the strengthen their military, spend more on defense, and stop buying Putin's gas and they turned around and did exactly the opposite.
- bamboozled 2y agoDo you think you Europe can just turn off gas or something ? Like there would be no logistics challenges to replace the supply? Why did Russia continue to supply gas? It wanted the money... Clearly the European strategy was the one that you probably praise Trump for, trying not to isolate Putin and Russia by buying their gas and using appeasement. They had agreements with Russia that were broken and and have to pivot away from them. Russia was benefiting massively and still broke their promises and broke trust, for what? So look where appeasement got Europe and Ukraine and it look where it will get Trump and the USA. Personally, you're argument and history supports the idea that Trump is making a massive mistake with it's new "strategy". Russia only understands force.
- xnx 2y agoRepublicans have aligned themselves with Russia. The "West" is now the enemy.
- whoitwas 2y agoWe hate ourselves now?
- fasbiner 2y agoDemocrat-leaning foreign policy realists like George Kennan and John Mearsheimer and even liberal economists like Jeff Sachs warned about the likely outcome of these policies 30+ years ago. These ideas were free for anyone of any party to pick up, but it was easier to ignore the cracks in the liberal internationalist fantasies. So, expect to continue to make incorrect predictions and to face further electoral defeats. The very impulse to try hide this comment in anger instead of reply rationally is part of why Trump won, and will continue to win no matter how foolish he acts.
- _DeadFred_ 2y agoMearsheimer is an idiot. From his talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qciVozNtCDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qciVozNtCDM his 'realism' is based on... "...Putin rarely lies to foreign audiences” Which is just plain not true. https://euideas.eui.eu/2022/07/11/john-mearsheimers-lecture-on-ukraine-why-he-is-wrong-and-what-are-the-consequences/ https://euideas.eui.eu/2022/07/11/john-mearsheimers-lecture-...
- fasbiner 2y agoHis point was that Putin generally lies instrumentally to foreigners and pathologically domestically, whereas the west lies pathologically in both areas: https://web.archive.org/web/20230320140205/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31020283 https://web.archive.org/web/20230320140205/https://www.bbc.c... Here you can see a link from the BBC where Putin admits that of course he was lying about the little green men. Because the lie no longer serves a purpose, it is thrown out. He is a gruesome thug, but he lives on planet earth. Whereas respectable western foreign policy figures and politicians are still to this day lying about the 75+ coups against democratic governments orchestrated by just the US in the last 120 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/trump-russia-ukraine-bernie-sanders https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/trump-... Or are wikipedia and the BBC well known kremlin propaganda outlets?
- onlyrealcuzzo 2y agoThis has nothing to do with enemies. How does anyone not see what is happening. They want to replace income tax (progressive) with tariffs (regressive).
- whoitwas 2y agoThere plan that passed the house is to reduce income tax on households that make over $360000 annually. So we're shifting that burden to consumers who spend a much larger percentage of their income on the goods subject to tariffs? And why tariff our good allies instead of enemies?
- kyriakos 2y agoHigher trade value with friends then enemies (except China which is already tariffed)
- packetlost 2y agoSo they're adding massive cuts for the very wealthy and pushing that tax burden onto the middle and lower class. Classy.
- NoGravitas 2y agoIt's been the standard, incrementally implemented policy of both parties since the 1980s. The Republicans have been worse about it, but the Democrats hands are far from clean here.
- m463 2y agoWould tariffs affect higher-income folks (imported goods) vs low-income (local food/shelter/clothing)? Wonder if there's a non-partisan/non-biased website that could give a clear picture
- drunner 2y agoYou don't need a non biased website to tell you that. Goods costing %25 more affects the low income folks way more. Think about it this way, eggs go from $3 to $10. Someone with high income is barely affected. If you make min wage at $7 an hour its a huge burden.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tim333 2y agoMostly because the current president likes tariffs and Russia and doesn't seem to like his democratic allies much. But I'm not sure it's of much benefit to the rest of America. Is anyone saying this stuff is a good idea apart from Trump?
- rich_sasha 2y agoThere's an excellent blog post here: https://acoup.blog/2023/10/27/fireside-friday-october-27-2023-on-politics-in-strategy/ https://acoup.blog/2023/10/27/fireside-friday-october-27-202... (different context, Hamas vs. Israel) about how foreign policy is often shaped entirely by domestic policy and voter expectations. It seems obvious to me that Trump is just playing to his supporters, maybe isn't even thinking at all about the consequences. What merit-based argument is there for these tariffs? None - and so the reason for doing this cannot be merit-based. It must be something else, perhaps something emotional. Like, "look at me, I will stand up to anyone for your cause, including Canada and Mexico, our closest neighbours". How that's going to work out for the average American remains to be seen; good luck...
- hackerbeat 2y agoVery simple: Trump wants to be a dictator, so he sides with dictators.