U.S. Response to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

[tbm3fan]

Trump praises Putin's 'genius' incursion into Ukraine

"This is genius," he said of Putin's decision on Monday to officially recognize the breakaway provinces and authorize the use of Russian military personnel to assist them. "So Putin is now saying it’s independent — a large section of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace, all right."

Insight on how he would like to enforce "peace" anywhere I would guess since he doesn't mean the southern border in a strict sense. One must assume he would like it if the United States Military pledged allegiance to him based on his admiration on the use of tanks.

"No, but think of it," the former president continued. "Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. I know him very well — very, very well. By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. This would never have happened. But here’s a guy that says, 'You know, I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent.' He used the word 'independent.' 'And we’re gonna go out, and we’re gonna in, and we’re gonna help keep peace.'”

Right up there with him being the least racist person he knows. Of course he knows no one else, including Putin, which may explain it.

Which is it now. Putin was very, very savvy moving in on Ukraine as mentioned above so you approve. Or, you don't approve since you say it would never have happened under you. Speaking out of both sides of your mouth is a well known trait.

[TopHatter]

Trump praises Putin's 'genius' incursion into Ukraine

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to send Russian troops into Ukraine to support Russian-backed separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. In an appearance on the right-wing talk radio program "The Buck Sexton Show," Trump broke his conspicuous silence on the crisis to applaud the Russian dictator.

"This is genius," he said of Putin's decision on Monday to officially recognize the breakaway provinces and authorize the use of Russian military personnel to assist them. "So Putin is now saying it’s independent — a large section of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace, all right."

Trump is a long-standing fan of Putin's. In 2013, he wondered on Twitter if the Russian autocrat would attend his Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and whether the two would become "best friends." Putin did not show up. In the following years, Trump repeatedly spoke highly of Putin's strategic acumen, noted the strongman's intention to "re-build the Russian Empire" and defended Putin's habit of killing dissidents and journalists, arguing that the United States does the same thing.

Putin's recent move is widely considered an assault on Ukraine's sovereignty. As NPR explained, "The announcement is a serious escalation that effectively kills the Minsk accords, which set out a series of military and political steps designed to resolve the status of the two breakaway regions and end the 8-year-old conflict there."

It is unclear exactly what Trump would like the U.S. military to do on the southern U.S. border.

Trump went on to heap more praise on Putin and to claim that Russia would have been less aggressive if he were still in the White House.

"No, but think of it," the former president continued. "Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. I know him very well — very, very well. By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. This would never have happened. But here’s a guy that says, 'You know, I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent.' He used the word 'independent.' 'And we’re gonna go out, and we’re gonna in, and we’re gonna help keep peace.'”

During the 2016 campaign, Trump publicly encouraged Russia to continue its efforts to hack into the campaign email system of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as part of the enemy nation's effort to help him win. Once in office, he sided with Russia over U.S. intelligence agencies in accepting Russia's claims not to have been involved in election interference.

Trump concluded his comments on Tuesday by asserting that President Biden had not responded to the Russian aggression.

"You gotta say this is pretty savvy," Trump said. "And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad."

The United States imposed new economic sanctions on Tuesday.

At the White House on Tuesday, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Trump's comments.

"We try not to take advice from anyone who praises President Putin and his military strategy," Psaki said, before noting how Trump had sided with Russia when it annexed the Crimean Peninsula, another portion of Ukraine. "There's a bit of a different approach," she said.

In 2019, Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch a scurrilous investigation of Biden because Trump wanted to weaken his likely 2020 Democratic opponent. When Zelensky refused, the Trump administration withheld congressionally approved aid to Ukraine, which is illegal according to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. That resulted in Trump's first impeachment.

Trump subsequently claimed — without evidence, and at odds with all the evidence gathered by U.S. intelligence officials — that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that had interfered in the 2016 election. In Trump's elaborate conspiracy theory, Ukraine did this in order to frame Russia. And what was Trump's source for these claims, according to one senior government official who spoke to the Washington Post? “Putin told me.”
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Right on time, as expected.

God. Fucking. DAMMIT. Is it even possible for this walking pile of shit to stop fawning all over Putin?

What in the blue hell does Putin have on Trump?

[TopHatter]

It's irrational to think A TV show host or U.S. conservatives in general have any input into Putins thinking.

Once again, that's Not My Point.

All Putin needs is a sufficiently-divided, distracted, confused or otherwise unfocused United States.

[Chunder]

It's irrational to think A TV show host or U.S. conservatives in general have any input into Putins thinking. The U.S. is bound to accept NATO entry requirements & has no input into the E.U, which is the biggest economic input that has a say - I dont know why youd think such thing as plausible.

the only instance I see the U.S getting overly involved past the norm is if it deems the current world order being jeopardised that it decides to make an example out of Russia economically. That is the prerogative of the President. Not Tucker Carlson.

[TopHatter]

Right now, there's another walking clusterfuck screwing up all our efforts in keeping 170,000 Russians out of Kiev.

Nothing we can do about him Sir, his house, his rules, even if that means losing his house to the Russians.

We've got no treaty, no obligations, no real connections to Kiev.

We can send them ATGMs and intel and practically everything else under the sun, short of putting boots on the ground and fighters flying CAP over their territory, but at the end of the day, Ukraine is Zelenskyy's to keep or lose.

[Officer of Engineers]

I will worry about that walking clusterfuck when and if he gets back into power. Right now, there's another walking clusterfuck screwing up all our efforts in keeping 170,000 Russians out of Kiev.

[TopHatter]

An yeah, 71% of Republicans support Ukraine joining NATO. So, there goes the conservative in Putin's back pocket theory.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...rainepartisan/

And the leader of the Republican Party is openly hostile toward NATO. And openly friendly toward Russia in general and Putin in particular.

[Officer of Engineers]

An yeah, 71% of Republicans support Ukraine joining NATO. So, there goes the conservative in Putin's back pocket theory.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...rainepartisan/

[Officer of Engineers]

Seriously, what can a focused US do? We're not going to start a nuclear war because of Kiev. Incidentally, a large percentage (37%) of Democrats want to stay out of the Ukraine-Russia fiasco, while 41% Republicans support Ukraine. So, NOT a uniquely Republican-Democrat issue.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine...-poll-02-2022/

Also, it doesn't matter what the US does outside of military intervention that is officially off the table, Putin couldn't care less about US input. He needs a dumb-ass fuck running the defence of Kiev and he got that. Zelensky has zero to do with American conservatives or liberals. You are mudding up the issue with irrevelent POVs.

[TopHatter]

He doesn't have to wrap his entire timeline around it. Congress is almost certainly going to change in about a year and when it does, the President will be largely powerless. Biden won't be able to suggest naming a post office after anyone without complete Republican obstruction and Putin knows it.

I'm not saying he's basing his entire operation on what Tucker Carlson says. But given the favorable view of Republican politicians and pundits toward Putin and Russia, led of course by Trump, he knows damn good and well that he has American conservatives in his pocket now as much as he probably ever will.

Also, a relative handful of plausibly-deniable mercs in Syria are as disposable to Putin as a used piece of toilet paper. They and Syria are nothing compared to Ukraine to him.

One other thing and this is the bottom line: All Putin needs is a sufficiently-divided, distracted, confused or otherwise unfocused United States. He's certainly got that, especially when American conservatives are parroting his propaganda lies for him.