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not sure how much more i need to say it. trump is the worst disaster to happen to the us. does he support putin? only when it benefits him. trump doesn't give 2 shits about anything but himself.

as for this not happening with trump in charge, lol. russia was in ukraine the entire time trump was in office, and trump did nothing. actually, trump did do something, he withheld congressionally approved funds to support ukraine (helping putin), and did so only at the goal of his own personal gain (not losing election). he also attempted to get us out of nato (something putin so desperately wants). he did issue some minor sanctions and several statements condemning russia, so there's that i guess.

only reason it might not have happened with trump in office is if putin thought trump would pull out of nato, and he would wait until that happened.

again, trump doesn't (edit: said does, meant doesn't) support putin. he doesn't give a shit about him or russia. doesn't give a shit about ukraine either. and really doesn't give a shit about usa. trump cares for trump only. and will do only what he thinks is in his best interest.

fwiw and before you say anything about it, i don't like biden either. but i do think he's handled this situation fine so far. at least based on info i can tell. but i'll take a potted plant over a corrupt bitch anyday.

this part me lol. literally. Biden is fantastically corrupt. he didn't get the nickname, the senator from MBNA for no reason, I mean we could go on for days about his blatant, out in the open corruption. His son was getting paid $83,000 a month from a Ukrainian energy company- while his father was Vice President of the United States and appointed by President Obama as head of Ukraine policy- while Ukraine was effectively a US colony post a coup the US backed, supported, and propped up which overthrew a democratically elected government. Euromaidan was not just some demonstration that organically spread like wildfire and democracy sprouted like a rose from the concrete from it - it doesn't go full overthrow without direct US support and meddling. Dude was HEAD of Ukraine policy in a US puppet/client/colony - and dudes son was getting $83,000 a month to sit on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Not to mention the guy f**king openly brags about forcing US client state to fire a prosecutor who just so happened to be investigating said energy company that was paying his crack head son $83,000 a month.

Speaking of congressionally approved funds going to Ukraine - you do realize that a good chunk of those funds have gone to neo-nazi organizations, right? The state department- which classifies the Azov Battalion as a nationalist hate group - and Congress approved funding to these people. 

Trump is a bully. He knows how to deal with bullies. He stroked Putin's ego, tried to get along with him. Biden refused to talk to the guy at times. I believe he's refusing to talk to him right now. You make peace with your enemies, not your friends. Only way you can do that is by talking to your enemies.

And Trump never attempted to get the US out of NATO. He openly talked about- all while bashing Western Europe for not spending on defense and buying Russian energy and not American energy. I've linked a video below, it's a great watch. Trump sent lethal arms to Ukraine. Something even Obama (correctly imo) wouldn't do. Trump deported more Russian officials and oligarchs from US soil than did Obama. Trump imposed more and tougher sanctions on Russia than did Obama. Trump tried like hell to block NordStream2. 

Who knows what would happen if Trump was in charge. There is no way to know. Unless the issue of Ukraine/NATO was settled- the same thing would likely be happening. NATO expansion has been a sour point for Russia for decades- and it's finally come to head and blown up.


https://twitter.com/JustinPulitzer/status/1496709662602932224?s=20&t=jRyf6A37HZcZ-_ts0ZVbyA

Russia is going to pay a price for this, it might not be "enough", but their military is being damaged to some extent, and possibly not looking very competent.  The troops may have very low morale and not be very committed to killing "fellow Russians", in effect.  I agree, I don't see the move as clever.

Had Putin done as I expected, and just moved into the contested areas in the East, I might have said he was being savvy, maybe, but this whole thing strikes me as stupid, and possibly destabilizing for Putin.  If Ukraine can hold out, Putin could lose favor in the "Politburo" and get outed.

I agree. Aside from being morally bankrupt, illegal, criminal, and wrong, it was a bad move. This is going to bite him in the long run if Ukraine can hold out.

But if he gets a binding agreement in writing with a neutral Ukraine and no NATO - then he'll have gotten what he wants- even if what he did to get that was wrong.

Putin quickly saw how Biden was reducing this country's oil producing ability he also was given assurance by Biden that the US was going to stand by and allow this to happen doing nothing more then harmless sanctions

and if we saw this coming we sure didnt prepare for it very well

so yes Trump was very right.

not sure trump was right. there is no way to know. 

this was likely going to happen unless Ukraine/NATO issue was dead with a binding agreement in writing.

not sure he cares that much about Sweden. He seems be concerned about countries that border Russia being a part of a hostile military alliance. I honestly can't say I blame him.

If you are talking about NATO Im not sure I would categorize an alliance purely defensive in nature as hostile

To my knowledge every military asset a NATO country has is designed for defense correct me if Im wrong

If Mexico put in stinger missiles close to our border I dont think we would consider that as a hostile act unless we were thinking of invading

man this shit just doesn't happen in a vacuum. there are a series of events throughout the last 30 years that have lead here. Russia sees NATO as a hostile military alliance. Hostile to Russia. The literal definition of hostile is unfriendly; antagonistic. They most definitely view the US and it's military alliance as unfriendly and antagonistic. As they should.

They simply do no want a hostile military alliance encroaching all over their borders. It's unacceptable to them. As it would be to the US if say there was a military alliance trying to recruit Mexico and Canada or Cuba or any central or latin american country. Major powers like to have buffer zones and maintain spheres of influence. This is nothing new. The US doesn't try to maintain a sphere of influence over just a handful of bordering states- the US has said for almost 200 years now - the Western Hemisphere is OURS- half the entire f**king planet. OURS. F**k with us, find out. It's not unreasonable for Russia to want further NATO incursion on their borders. At all.

you're right, it doesn't happen in a vacuum. nato is the result of russian aggression and hostility towards us and europe. 

one side is aggressively and militarily attacking neighboring countries (both historically and currently), while the other side is forming alliances to agree to protect themselves and each other from said attacks.