Ukraine
I wish Zelensky had punched that smug SOB (JD Vance) right in the face!
That’s what is so frustrating about this. As phony and outlandish as these plays sound, they work. In fact, every time I’ve thought “okay, THIS stunt won’t go well for him” it does the opposite. He becomes more popular.
Appreciate the post and agree about having an open mind and especially listening. Per the perspective you introduced, it takes a tone of “we brought that on ourselves or that we’re responsible. That Russia/Putin would have just played nice if NATO hadn’t expanded. All indications point more towards Russia trying to gobble up those countries.
And I’m far from those that think we, the U.S., are squeaky clean. More like, Russia is that despicable. McCain and Biden have been warning everyone for years about Russia/Putin. They were right.
Wasnt just Biden or McCain, either, Mitt Romney also warned or advised that Russia was actually still one of our biggest geopoliitical rivals and enemies in the 2012 presidential debate and got laughed and ridiculed only for his warnings to be rehashed and reinterpreted several years later when policymakers on both sides came to realize his warnings werent a joke and they were hasty in condemning them.
Sadly, for the foreseeable future, even if Putin were to have a massive stroke and die tomorrow, Russia's relationship with West, NATO, E.U., U.S -without Trump/MAGA is never going to be cozy, great or stable. They've never gotten past that late 19th century " European imperialist" phase of their foreign policy, especially as it relates to Pan-Slavist, ultra-Orthodox "sphere of influence" they see as Russia's traditional.role as "protector" amongst fellow Baltic states, Serbia, Ukraine, or even Poland. They also have this "Third Rome" would-be socio-political, cultural world.power fantasy going on among some ultranationalist Russian groups. 20 years ago, U.S.-Russian relations were certainly far better then they are now, but I'd hardly say that many European and U.S. politicians, diplomats, or military leaders saw Putin as some stable, long-term geopoliitical presence, remember his invasion and atrocities in South Ossetia during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The last time U.S. and Russia, ironically, had decent diplomatic relations was in the late 19th century and that was largely due to Czarist Russia seeing us an effective geopoliitical counterweight to British imperialism or expansion in Canada, Alaska. Russia and U.K. throughout the entire 19th century (from 1830-1907) were involved in a near-century diplomatic, military, and even cultural chess game called "The Great Game" which took place in Greece, Crimean War, Baku, Afghanistan, safety and security of British Raj in India, "Eastern Question"--the fate of remaining Ottoman territories in Balkans, Middle East, and North Africa, like Egypt and who would control them (French. British or the Russians), 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, even a short-lived British military expedition to Tibet in 1903-04.