Has any journalist asked Trump directly whether he things Putin and Russia have done anything wrong concerning the war? There is a lack of journalistic quality in America at the moment.
The Trump Presidency - Part 2
- Thread starter The Boy
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Considering their "America first" policy, i don't see why it's outside the realms of possibility that they will act on their interests in Canada and Greenland.
No problem. I was at work today so apologies for the late reply.
The context of that particular interaction in the thread revolved around learning from history, and followed on from my general contention throughout that the 'West' had contributed to the current situation in Ukraine. Moses' reply referenced Hitler. Now I'm going to to resist creating another tangent here because one of the legacies of WW2 that grates with me is that so many subsequent wars have been framed with references to it, i.e. tyrant X is a Hitler; saviour Y is a Churchill, and the diplomat Z (usually called an 'appeaser’) is a Chamberlain. Back to Moses' reply below:
To which I replied with (just keeping the relevant part):
I mentioned that for obvious reasons, because the Treaty of Versailles led to significant resentment in Germany after WWI, contributing inevitably towards the rise of extremism and extremist political parties after the war. In other words, it contributed towards the very rise of the megalomaniac with ultra nationalistic ideas and a huge army that Moses brought up (unless of course he was referring to someone else).
So...what I’m comparing here is how 'our' decisions and 'our' actions contribute to behaviour and actions elsewhere. I’m highlighting cause and effect; action and reaction. That’s where the comparison lies. I'm not comparing what actually happened to the USSR in the 1990s to the Treaty of Versailles. The fall of the Soviet Union was a great thing. It was an evil empire and fundamentally anti-human. Anyone who laments its fall is a bloody fool...not to mention probably dangerous.
I’ll take this back to the newspaper interview with George Kennan, the architect of America’s ‘containment policy’ strategy to oppose Soviet expansionism during the Cold War, that I posted a couple of days ago and highlight the relevant parts.
He lamented the policy of NATO expansionism; stating: “I think it is the beginning of a new Cold War. The Russians will gradually react quite adversely, and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. This expansion would make the Founding Fathers of this country turn over in their graves.” He goes on…”We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way.” This was starkly laid bare last week.
“I was particularly bothered by the references to Russia as a country dying to attack Western Europe. Don’t people understand? Our differences were with the Soviet Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime..."It shows so little understanding of Russian history and Soviet history. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then (the NATO expanders) will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are - but this is just wrong.”
So not only was the current situation in Ukraine in some way predictable, it was also in some way predicted. That's where the comparison lies therefore: with how 'our' decisions and 'our' actions have contributed to the situation.
Perhaps however Red in STL is right and this is all just a moot point now anyway. Discussing it now isn't going to make any difference. The only sympathy I have in this is for the Ukrainians, and what matters most right now is that Ukraine gets the best outcome and best deal that it can.
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In what world do people live where they think the USA will do something because a Ukrainian PM did it?
By striking deals, sure. Invading? No chance.
He doesn't need to, he just needs to do a Putin and occupy part of it, one thing that's never mentioned is water, the US has a shortage of it and Canada has lots of it, I don't see it happening but most of us didn't see a lot of what he's been doing going ahead either so you never know
That‘s fair, but never think Trump isn‘t serious.