Hi Chldeye 2,
This is a Strawman argument, since I didn't say Russia was,
First, thanks for the attention.
If it's a strawman argument then of course I'm glad to hear that. After reading post#89 I was concerned you might be intimating that anyone promoting socialism was helping Russia in dividing the union. It would be disconcerting if after quoting the convincing eloquence of Lincoln about how slavery of our fellow man was destructive to the union, that suddenly you would be pushing capitalism as the value that unites us.
but please don't try and paint them as mere Capitalists who have run amuck.
Respectfully, I think you're over dramatizing what I said. I simply said that they turned to a market economy after the fall of the soviet union and a handful of people ended up controlling all of the major means of production.
That goes against every grain of common sense and the historical record itself. The one running the show for all of Russia is Putin; an ex KGB Lieutenant Colonel under the old Soviet Communist Empire. And it was an Empire that extended over one-sixth of the world's landmass and kept the kids of my generation doing duck and cover exercises in the early 60's. Now, before heading up the country, Putin became the director of the Russian FSB, which was the successor of the KGB. Now, unlike the world's greatest Republic, the United States of America, which rebuilt the economies of Europe and their defeated World War II foes, Germany and Japan, the Soviets annexed all the lands from which they drove back the Nazi armies and made them Satellite arms of their own regime. Putin makes no apologies for the inglorious Soviet past, and in fact he has openly glorified and reveled in that past. He wants to return Russia to its former glory. That is the real driving force behind his policies.
He has been in power since 1999 and probably will remain in power until he dies, despite that constitutionally he was not supposed to serve more than two terms and again is not supposed to after serving his 4th term in the year 2024. So, like I said the driving force behind Russian policy is to return it to its former Soviet Greatness, which it had under the Communist Regimes. Our definition of greatness and theirs however are polar opposites with respect to the ideals we aspire to.
I agree with everything you said above except for "That goes against every grain of common sense and the historical record itself." I don't understand what you mean. For all I know, you're critiquing your own arbitrary paraphrasing of what you misunderstood me to say.
This is why I believe Putin does not care a hill of beans whether a Republican or a Democrat is in the White House. He simply wants us divided becaue a divided America is a much weaker America. All that talk of our current President colluding with the Russians was sheer spin; and really that spin greatly played into the hands of Russia's national interest far more than any of their 2016 interference as it caught fire; or perhaps " misplaced emotional fervor" is a better term to describe that debacle.
I strongly disagree. Putin is an authoritarian much like the extreme right is here, only Putin is even more so. In the dichotomy of Democracy and autocracy Putin's words reveal an autocrat much like Trump. I watched with my own eyes and heard with my own ears as Putin told the world that he was for Trump because Trump was for "normalizing relations with Russia" and Trump was standing right there showing no disagreement.
The talk of collusion was not spin. So I don't actually detect the proper tone of humility when you describe a person's legitimate concerns about the leader of our country as "misplaced emotional fervor". I find it disingenuous that you are unable to empathize with how concerning it is when we find out that the Person elected to be given the power of the Presidency was lying about talking with Russians about removing sanctions for annexing Crimea, even while Russia was covertly campaigning to help him win the election. There is still serious concern over whether this President has been compromised by the Russians.
CNN even attended a Russian backed anti-Trump event - how embarrassing is that?
It could happen to anybody, so I wouldn't count myself out.
Speaking Geopolitically and not spiritually, Russia's biggest problem is their economy. Putin clearly sees annexation as a plan to bring back their former dominance as well as that tact making inroads to resolve the fact they are a 2nd or third class economic power. Just as Comrade Stalin perspective on the world, Putin's view of the independent States, which border Russia, are all seen as potential Western threats to his country. He does not recognize Ukraine as a separate nation; even though Russia signed off on that when Ukraine negotiated with them by giving up their nuclear weapons. He has stated his position on these free nations as the West 'has stabbed Russia in the back'.
Following his annexation of the Crimea he stated, "It looks like the so-called ‘winners’ of the Cold War are determined to have it all and reshape the world into a place that could better serve their interests alone.” He sees himself as a hero and a restorer of former Soviet glory.
I've heard all of this before. I'm not sure how much of it to believe. Putin may have more watered down expectations. If he has a plot, I would suspect that it involves control of the oil supply to Europe, and building nuclear plants throughout the mid-east.
What stands in Russia's and Putin's way is President Trump who, unlike our past presidents, boldly has supplied Ukraine with the weapons to defend themselves and, more recently, has asked NATO to come to their defense. He also told them to get out of Venezuela and ordered airstrikes against the Russian backed Syrian regime when they used Chemical weapons against the Kurdish Syrians. He also attacked Russian mercenaries, he expanded the sanctions against Russian companies, increased defense spending, restored missle defense within Poland and the Czech Republic and ended the Obama arms embargos to Georgia. Thee are but a few of his policies towards Russia. Ex CIA leader Brennan as well as most of our mass media portrayed Trump asnot only a collaborator but accused him of treason against the United States with Russia. It would have just been plain silliness if it hadn't arose as a concerted effort to turn the Justice system and the American public in dividing the nation over it. These are not the actions of someone allied with the national interests of Russia but clearly they run counter to their geopolitical efforts and ideals to return it to its former Soviet glory.
So, yes - I stand by my narrative of what Russia is really up to in it subversive activities within the United States of America. Furthermore, I think we all need to wake up!
I'm awake, but you're not very convincing while you're gushing over Trump. I think Trump has done only the minimum of what he has had to do. And I believe he did that because he has somewhat been grudgingly schooled since becoming President.
I grant you that he was not wrong to fire missiles into Syria to protest the use of chemical weapons there. He could have fired fewer of them since they weren't meant to hit anything of value, but he had a valid point to make. He didn't exactly boldly supply the Ukraine with the weapons they need to protect themselves just because he authorized the sale of sniper rifles. They were asking for heavy weapons and as far as I know they still are. I'll just mention the change in the Republican platform by the way. Trump never attacked Russian mercenaries. The mercenaries attacked a U.S. base of operations and were slaughtered. He didn't expand Russian sanctions, those were forced by congress. Restored the missile systems to Czech republic and Poland? Are you talking about Poland's response to the nuclear capable Russian cruise missiles being deployed at the polish border?
I really don't care how anyone spins it, I watched Trump take Putin's word over American Intelligence at Helsinki. He even campaigned saying he wanted to drop sanctions and, "it's a good thing to get along with Russia". I think it's unreasonable to trust Trump as the one to protect us from divisive Russian propaganda that he never admitted happened in the first place.