Putin recently said,“I agree in principle to a cease-fire.”
That’s a brilliant PR and propaganda coup. It also has a very pragmatic, realistic purpose. He said this, damn well knowing Zhelensky and the Ukrainians and the Brits and the US have so many hurdles to get through until they can achieve a cease-fire that what Putin has ultimately done is give the Russian army carte blanche to continue capturing key territory for as long as it takes for the West to get its act together or the Ukrainian army collapses, whichever comes first. My money is on a mid-summer collapse.
Nota bene: Putin is making Trump look like a piker in just about every encounter, except, he lets Trump keep his ‘face.’ Putin is puting on a master class.
someofparts
morbidly funny watching people too clueless to even realize what a clown show they are
bonus points that my self-important blue-no-matter-who neighbors are certain that Putin has cooties and protect their spotless minds by never, ever listening to one of the man’s long, astonishingly competent speeches
Dan
I imagine the few intelligent parasites that’ve glommed onto the MAGA movement are the ones driving this detente with Russia. Maybe they’re smart enough to realize Nixon going to China was the true turning point of the Cold War, and realize what a massive fuckup the US has made by antagonizing both Russia and China at the same time.
This, on top of us deciding to declare trade war on every single one of our long-standing allies, has basically sealed the fate of the US empire. No one can trust the US for longer than four years at a stretch now, because there’s no guarantee the next incoming administration won’t 180 on everything and flip the table.
And Putin isn’t an idiot. He knows full well the next Democrat will renege on all of Trump’s promises, just like Trump himself ripped up his predecessors’ deals with Iran, Ukraine, etc.
Purple Library Guy
@someofparts Those speeches are a revelation. Especially when he starts taking questions from Russian journalists and starts talking off the cuff without notes and without hesitation about wonky details of domestic economic policy or whatever. I mean, if I were him my domestic policies would be significantly different (my governance objectives are much more like Hugo Chavez), but he clearly has in depth knowledge about all the files and thought has gone into all the policies–such a contrast with most politicians in the Western world.