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What does Putin want? The same thing Trump sought.

There are a whole bunch of things Putin thinks are key to Russia's national interest. Its all BULLSHIT:
- Putin has certainly laid to rest the idea that he is fighting to rescue the Donbas from Ukraine now hasn't he
- He is certainly not trying to denazify a country that is not a NAZI country anyway now is he
- He has no valid claims to the sovereign nation of Ukraine at all so why should we accept some tactical security framework for what he is doing over the same old shit for which any aggressor nation throughout history has started war.

He wants the territory and assets. The same old reasons that prompt most all aggressors to start wars. He wants the territory and the assets and he won't stop at Ukraine territory and assets. He will have to be stopped. NATO is not the reason either.

STOP trying to rationalize this mess....nothing has changed about wars and the reasons aggressors and aggressor nations start them....NOTHING
You don't have to accept Putin's reasons as persuasive or beneficial in order to understand his reasons. One of the biggest mistakes that can be made is to not understand your enemy. Understanding an enemy doesn't mean agreeing with them. I don't think Putin's interest in "deNazifying" Ukraine is persuasive, but I do think his position that a NATO engulfling, whether de facto or de jure, the Ukraine is a threat to Russia is closer to the mark.

Yes, he wants the territory and the assets, and that is what nations do all the time. The US does it. What did we do in Libya? "Fight for freedom and democracy" by turning it into a killing field, and ensuring that slave markets get opened up there? What about the genocide in Yemen? What about our illegal war in Syria? I mean, Jesus H. Christ.

Of course he has no valid claim to the nation of Ukraine. We're not arguing over principle here - the war is about power. And, that is how it should be understood. The West plays the game just as much as the East.
 
If sanctions imposed without provocation? What in the world are you on about?...
"...If they knew it was coming, as they said they did, why hold back on sanctions? The crushing sanctions should have been imposed..."

What I'm on about is your opinion that the US alone, should have imposed sanctions prior to their invasion (provocation)

...And the Obama Admin fomented a coup in the Ukraine to install a pro-western government, interfering in Ukrainian democracy...
Obama dropped the ball and didn't support Ukraine like he should have, but you'll have to post a link about his, 'fomenting' from a more credible news source than the Washington Examiner. In any case, if its citizens want freedom, isn't promoting and supporting democracies a good thing?

...And, you're worried that "sanctions" would put Putin over the edge?...
Re-read my post, giving Putin a public relations bonanza isn't pushing him over the edge, quite the opposite...
 
"...If they knew it was coming, as they said they did, why hold back on sanctions? The crushing sanctions should have been imposed..."

What I'm on about is your opinion that the US alone, should have imposed sanctions prior to their invasion (provocation)


Obama dropped the ball and didn't support Ukraine like he should have, but you'll have to post a link about his, 'fomenting' from a more credible news source than the Washington Examiner. In any case, if its citizens want freedom, isn't promoting and supporting democracies a good thing?


Re-read my post, giving Putin a public relations bonanza isn't pushing him over the edge, quite the opposite...
There was plenty of "provocation" for sanctions prior to the invasion.

Is this the first you've heard about US support for the Maidan coup, and the fact that we helped select the replacement leader of Ukraine? Here's the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict and Medea Benjamin's piece in Salon - https://www.salon.com/2022/02/02/in...asco-the-us-is-reaping-exactly-what-it-sowed/

The Left knows -- https://progressive.org/latest/us-reaping-sowed-in-ukraine-benjamin-davies-220201/ and https://www.wsws.org/en/topics/event/2014-coup-ukraine
 
You don't have to accept Putin's reasons as persuasive or beneficial in order to understand his reasons. One of the biggest mistakes that can be made is to not understand your enemy. Understanding an enemy doesn't mean agreeing with them. I don't think Putin's interest in "deNazifying" Ukraine is persuasive, but I do think his position that a NATO engulfling, whether de facto or de jure, the Ukraine is a threat to Russia is closer to the mark.

Yes, he wants the territory and the assets, and that is what nations do all the time. The US does it. What did we do in Libya? "Fight for freedom and democracy" by turning it into a killing field, and ensuring that slave markets get opened up there? What about the genocide in Yemen? What about our illegal war in Syria? I mean, Jesus H. Christ.

Of course he has no valid claim to the nation of Ukraine. We're not arguing over principle here - the war is about power. And, that is how it should be understood. The West plays the game just as much as the East.
NATO is a defensive treaty alliance and Putin knows it. You want to buy his "I have to attack to defend" argument. Be my guest. It is also BULLSHIT just as denazification is BULLSHIT.

The only reason, Putin would "fear" a defense treaty alliance is because it would inhibit his territorial aims. Is that simple enough. Do you prefer the more complicated and obtuse arguments for what Putin is doing.?Be my guest.

What about the genocide in Yemen? Who is responsible for that? Yemen is a proxy war. in fact, its a proxy war of a proxy war. You can certainly blame our involvement supporting the Saudi's in Yemen on the boneheaded error we made with Iran in the 1950's which began the entire Iran mess in the first place. A mess we might have been able to extricate from if the Trump had not torn up the JCPOA.

Our illegal war in Syria? When Assad treats his own country as if it were actually a country wake me up. Putin by the way blew Aleppo all to hell for his buddy Assad. We were at least trying to rid the world of the ISIS fighters that had sought haven in Syria. What excuse did Putin have? That said, if anything our Iraq2 blunder is at the heart of our Syrian involvement and was even dumber than what we did to Iran in the 1950's. We NEVER and I do mean NEVER should have gone to war in Iraq in Iraq2. Worse mistake than Iran in the 1950's which was over oil and done for the big multinational oil companies. Worse than Vietnam in the late 1950's and 1960's done to bail out the French who were threatening to leave their Indochina colonies to communism (the great boggie man for the west). We should have told the French to go fugg themselves and let them leave if they wanted to leave.

Tell me, if we had left Hussain in power in Iraq would there have been an ISIS contingent in Iraq that would have leaked across the Syrian border in the first place? I came to the conclusion years ago that Iraq2 was the worst US geopolitical mistake of the 20th century followed by Vietnam, followed by Iran in the 1950's, followed by not having made a more spirited response to Russia's ventures in Georgia and Crimea while at the same time declaring a "Red Line" in Syria that was more of a "Pink Line" or non-existent line, followed by overstaying in Afghanistan by at least 10 years turning a just effort into some half-assed humanitarian war in the process.

We have suffered through the three worst US Presidents of the modern era each one worse than his predecessor from Bush 43, to Obama to the Grand Poobah of bad Presidents, Donald Trump. What are the odds of rolling snake eyes three times in a row.
 
That is not proof and you are not peddling truth. Try again? Or do you just want to blather more!

In fact, your posting style is quite familiar. Not much of a post count. Are you another poster ghosting under a new account?
"The Proof is in the Truth". Look at that -- it even rhymes.

Go search your feelings, jnug, you know this to be true. ;)
 
He claims it's because of corruption, but nobody proved that
It was the ****ing policy position of the White House, complete with broad international support.
Stop lying.
 
Obama sent blankets to the Ukraine. Trump sent weapons. Remember?
Trump also attacked the seat of U.S. Government because he lost the election and you seem to be supporting that scum. Trump can't survive (read: stay out of jail) in a country of actual law and order so he seeks to sow chaos and lawlessness, but he get's a pass from you. I mean really. :rolleyes:
 
Obama sent blankets to the Ukraine. Trump sent weapons. Remember?
Trump tried to extort Ukraine for those weapons. He failed and the congress forced his hand into releasing them. It wasn't his idea. Basically, nothing in his entire presidency was his idea.

Don't forget, he operates with a sharpie. He can't read and write.
 
Trump tried to extort Ukraine for those weapons. He failed and the congress forced his hand into releasing them. It wasn't his idea. Basically, nothing in his entire presidency was his idea.

Don't forget, he operates with a sharpie. He can't read and write.

Lowest minority unemployment rates in history.....hahaha.
 
It was the ****ing policy position of the White House, complete with broad international support.
Stop lying.
Of course it was the policy position of the white house to interfere in Ukraine's internal politics. We know that.

It was still coercing Ukraine into firing the official. That would be like Russia trying to coerce the US into firing the Attorney General.
 
Of course it was the policy position of the white house to interfere in Ukraine's internal politics. We know that.
It was still coercing Ukraine into firing the official. That would be like Russia trying to coerce the US into firing the Attorney General.
Still absurd.
The U.S. AG is not known to be thoroughly corrupt. Anti-corruption is a hallmark of United States AGs (and even then its hard).
Ukraine is a burgeoning democracy, and it needs help, it is not a powerful, well developed/stable nation.

We were/are helping them grow in directions that we understand are what their people want. Democracy, freedom, anti-corruption, etc.
The U.S. is not a developing nation, trying to get help from a larger/more stable democracy. The two couldn't possibly be any more different.

And it wasn't just the U.S., it was a coalition of other developed nations, with consensus, that was helping Ukraine.

Your argument is absurd.
 
Still absurd.
The U.S. AG is not known to be thoroughly corrupt. Anti-corruption is a hallmark of United States AGs (and even then its hard).
Ukraine is a burgeoning democracy, and it needs help, it is not a powerful, well developed/stable nation.

We were/are helping them grow in directions that we understand are what their people want. Democracy, freedom, anti-corruption, etc.
The U.S. is not a developing nation, trying to get help from a larger/more stable democracy. The two couldn't possibly be any more different.

And it wasn't just the U.S., it was a coalition of other developed nations, with consensus, that was helping Ukraine.

Your argument is absurd.
Dude, what business is it of the US if a Ukrainian prosecutor is "thoroughly corrupt?" And how was he "known" to be corrupt? Because ****ing Biden said so? Because some CIA spook said so? By rumor or innuendo or reputation? That's not how shit works. If he was corrupt, then Ukrainian law provides for his removal or prosecution. For the US to just declare "oh, he's known to be corrupt" an meddle in their internal affairs is exactly the same shit we've been saying Russia has been doing to us.

"We were helping them grow in directions that we understand are what their people want?" By supporting a coup against the elected President?

Your argument is bizarre and idiotic. The US is not "helping" Ukraine by participating in a coup and meddling in its affairs. The US is using Ukraine in its new cold war with Russia. How naive are you?
 
You've quite astutely described the problem. And, I've not in the least absolved Republicans. The establishment democrats and republicans are part of the same machine. Yes, they are all pro-war, and they are all acting toward the same goal. Biden and Bush, Clinton, Obama, Cheney, McCain, Romney, they are all insiders and servants of the military industrial complex.
I don't believe they're all the same or they're all pro-war, of the three Democrats only, "weak" President Biden increased defense spending.
Obama Defense Spending Was Below Average
Clinton Defense Budget Cuts Into Troops, Ships;
"...Those proposals are expected to meet resistance from Congress and some military leaders, who have said they fear that Clinton’s plan will leave U.S. forces ill-trained and too small..."
Although the Trumpists receive the majority of defense industry PAC contributions, I agree they're big problem with both parties. Although if you look at the polling you'll find Trump voters want to spend more and democrats want to spend less. This will have an ever have an increasing effect as the Democrats continue to moving left.

You've hit on exactly why Trump was persona non grata, and was marked for death (metaphorically, at least) by the establishment in both parties. He wasn't toeing the line. It wasn't beause he was a "threat to democracy" - that was all propaganda bullshit. It was because he didn't come up in the machine to where he could be trusted to employ the right people and continue the foreign policy that has been consistent through both parties for 30-50 years. He was pulling troops home, and closing bases. He started literally zero new wars. He was entering solid trade deals all over the world, and achieving results in middle east peace talks. The neocons hated Trump for the very reason you outline above that Republians do it too. Of course they do - in spades. Trump was the black sheep in that regard. They called Trump a warmonger and they said Trump could spark a nuclear war - yet he never came close - but, here we are, with the "adults in the room" again, right? On the verge of nuclear war with Russia. But Trump was the loose cannon. Trump's policies were reckless, they said. Yet, here we are. 2014, Russia invaded Crimea. 2022, Russia invades Ukraine. Russia heightens nuke readiness. And here we are, raising hundreds of millions of more dollars for foreign aid, and Biden has a great reason to give the military industrial complex another boost with a solid increase in spending on military budgets for 2022 - and they have a good portion of the population convinced that they are the peaceniks, and Trump was the warmonger. They are nothing if they aren't brilliant, that's for sure.
You're in denial if you don't consider yourself a Trumpist conservative. I'm not going to start a debate on probably the worst president this country has suffered under, I'll just touch on a couple of points. His foreign policy alienated our allies, emboldened our enemies and made us the laughing stock of the free world. Putin didn't invade Ukraine because Trump was strong and Biden is weak. Trump's attempted insurrection just prior Biden took office showed Putin just how weak we had become after Trump divided our country. He might as well given Putin an engraved invitation. Thankfully Biden is setting Putin straight. Can you imagine what Trump would have done?? He'd rollover on his back and ask Putin to rub his belly.

Tariffs just increase the price of imports for all Americans;
"Trump's tariffs did not help the U.S. negotiate better trade agreements or significantly improve national security"

And btw, Biden started literally zero new wars too...
 
"What does Putin want? His aims go well beyond Ukraine. As the Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum summarizes: He “wants to put so much strain on Western and democratic institutions, especially the European Union and NATO, that they break up. He wants to keep dictators in power wherever he can, in Syria, Venezuela, and Iran. He wants to undermine America, to shrink American influence, to remove the power of the democracy rhetoric that so many people in his part of the world still associate with America. He wants America itself to fail.”

Trump’s foreign policy sought to do much of what Putin wants to achieve, including intimidating Ukraine by withholding vital defensive weapons. Trump, like his role model in Moscow, favored weakening NATO, elevating dictators (from China to Turkey to North Korea to Hungary to Russia), undermining democratic elections, demonizing the media (the best check against power-hungry politicians) and finding common ground with kleptocratic-style governments.


...Certainly, there is a disconnect on the right, with many Republicans in the Senate trying to find some way to blame President Biden for insufficient resolve in opposing Putin’s invasion scheme. (Republicans in disarray!) But just a couple of years ago, these Republicans were perfectly content supporting a president who extorted Ukraine to get dirt on Biden, tried to welcome Russia back into the Group of Seven, provided cover for Russian interference in the 2016 election and parroted Russian propaganda on Crimea. It takes quite a feat of contortion for these Republicans to remain defenders of Trump and deplore his successor for not doing enough to stand up to Putin."


Link

The only difference is, Putin attacks a foreign country, Trump attacks his own country's democratic institutions.
the only thing trump wants is to be in the spotlight......he doesn't give a crap about anything else........but he makes no bones about it........he knows there millions of mind numb foxicans out there who only want to hear rah rah bs so he gives it to them
 
That OP is without question one of the stinkiest piles of BS I've read lately.
Trump endorsed torture and war crimes, and pardoned those who murdered civilians or prisoners, whom our military prosecuted or was planning to. That’s enough to put him in Putin’s company.
 
There was plenty of "provocation" for sanctions prior to the invasion.

Is this the first you've heard about US support for the Maidan coup, and the fact that we helped select the replacement leader of Ukraine? Here's the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict and Medea Benjamin's piece in Salon - https://www.salon.com/2022/02/02/in...asco-the-us-is-reaping-exactly-what-it-sowed/

The Left knows -- https://progressive.org/latest/us-reaping-sowed-in-ukraine-benjamin-davies-220201/ and https://www.wsws.org/en/topics/event/2014-coup-ukraine
A 'provocation' that requires a major response requires a major provocation the entire world can see, not just on our intelligence. So what would that be?

I knew about the coup, but never from the Russia point of view (two of the links are the same article). That WSWS link read like it came right out of Russia's department of propaganda. We didn't select Yanukovych, even Benjamin didn't claim that and he wasn't, "selected" by Obama. Yanukovych fled and lives in Russia ready to be installed as Putin's new Ukraine president. That fact runs counter to Medea Benjamin's whole spiel. She goes way to far in appeasing Putin, almost like Trump and she kept talking about NATO as if was being forced on these countries while ignoring that their citizens might actually want democracy and NATO. Are these independent countries or not?...

PolitiFact:
"It’s a conspiracy with mainstream crossover: The United States bankrolled the bloody political uprising in Ukraine..."
"...Obama "spends $5 billion paying Ukrainians to riot and dismantle their democratically elected government...."

Our ruling
Contrary to claims, the United States did not spend $5 billion to incite the rebellion in Ukraine.

That’s a distorted understanding of remarks given by a State Department official. She was referring to money spent on democracy-building programs in Ukraine since it broke off from the Soviet Union in 1991.

We rate the claim Pants on Fire.
 
A 'provocation' that requires a major response requires a major provocation the entire world can see, not just on our intelligence. So what would that be?

I knew about the coup, but never from the Russia point of view (two of the links are the same article). That WSWS link read like it came right out of Russia's department of propaganda. We didn't select Yanukovych, even Benjamin didn't claim that and he wasn't, "selected" by Obama. Yanukovych fled and lives in Russia ready to be installed as Putin's new Ukraine president. That fact runs counter to Medea Benjamin's whole spiel. She goes way to far in appeasing Putin, almost like Trump and she kept talking about NATO as if was being forced on these countries while ignoring that their citizens might actually want democracy and NATO. Are these independent countries or not?...

PolitiFact:
"It’s a conspiracy with mainstream crossover: The United States bankrolled the bloody political uprising in Ukraine..."
"...Obama "spends $5 billion paying Ukrainians to riot and dismantle their democratically elected government...."

Our ruling
Contrary to claims, the United States did not spend $5 billion to incite the rebellion in Ukraine.

That’s a distorted understanding of remarks given by a State Department official. She was referring to money spent on democracy-building programs in Ukraine since it broke off from the Soviet Union in 1991.

We rate the claim Pants on Fire.
We sanctioned Russia for BS charges of "election interference." Surely, it's enough provocation for Russia to mass 70,000 troops on the border of Ukraine in April, 2021?

And, politifact doesn't dispute that the $5 billion was spent - they just rationalize, and say it was not spent "to incited the rebellion." And, of course they rate it "pants on fire." It wasn't about Trump. If it was about Trump, they'd say it was "mostly true," because Politifact is a tool of the Democrats. They constantly re-interpret statements they are fact checking and then they call their interpretations correct. That's what they're doing here. Other examples - https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politifact

Politifact ain't a fact checker. It reframes issues so they are positive to democrats.
 
We sanctioned Russia for BS charges of "election interference." Surely, it's enough provocation for Russia to mass 70,000 troops on the border of Ukraine in April, 2021?...
Your Trumpism love of Putin is showing again. The 2021 sanctions were due to actual Russia election interference in the 2020 election and for its cyberattacks and occupation of Crimea. Are you excusing Russia for massing troops and invading Ukraine because we imposed sanctions due to Russia election interference in the 2020 election and for its cyberattacks and occupation of Crimea?

...And the Obama Admin fomented a coup in the Ukraine to install a pro-western government, interfering in Ukrainian democracy...

...And, politifact doesn't dispute that the $5 billion was spent - they just rationalize, and say it was not spent "to incited the rebellion."...
You claimed Obama Administration fomented the coup in Ukraine (see above), but we know now he didn't bankroll the coup. So what are you basing your claim on? Oh I know it's because Lavrov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs says so;

"...Russia has seized on remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama about an internationally brokered deal to resolve last year's Ukrainian crisis, claiming they prove that Washington was involved in a "coup" against Ukraine's Moscow-backed president..."

"...Lavrov did not explain how Obama's remarks proved his claims...."

...Politifact is a tool of the Democrats...
They meet Biden daily in Oval office :rolleyes: ...
 
Your Trumpism love of Putin is showing again. The 2021 sanctions were due to actual Russia election interference in the 2020 election and for its cyberattacks and occupation of Crimea. Are you excusing Russia for massing troops and invading Ukraine because we imposed sanctions due to Russia election interference in the 2020 election and for its cyberattacks and occupation of Crimea?




You claimed Obama Administration fomented the coup in Ukraine (see above), but we know now he didn't bankroll the coup. So what are you basing your claim on? Oh I know it's because Lavrov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs says so;

"...Russia has seized on remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama about an internationally brokered deal to resolve last year's Ukrainian crisis, claiming they prove that Washington was involved in a "coup" against Ukraine's Moscow-backed president..."

"...Lavrov did not explain how Obama's remarks proved his claims...."


They meet Biden daily in Oval office :rolleyes: ...
I don't know whether some posters are actual Putin operatives and propagandists (although I have my suspicions) or just "useful idiots", but in the end, is doesn't matter. They are operatively the same, acting as Russian apologists and spreading programmatic propaganda as if it were based in reality; doing Putin's scut work.

What is different in this decade from the past century is the advent of Trumpism, a branch of populist demagoguery that supports the authoritarianism that Americans have fought against since the inception of the nation. They are the successors to last century's Fascists, Nazis and Klan, and their predecessors, Southern apologists and their forebears, royalists. At every juncture we've fought them, not invited them into the polity. We need to continue to do so now.

They are, simply, anti-American.
 
That OP is without question one of the stinkiest piles of BS I've read lately.
I think those poor libruls will have Trump living in their heads rent free indefinitely.
 
Your Trumpism love of Putin is showing again. The 2021 sanctions were due to actual Russia election interference in the 2020 election and for its cyberattacks and occupation of Crimea. Are you excusing Russia for massing troops and invading Ukraine because we imposed sanctions due to Russia election interference in the 2020 election and for its cyberattacks and occupation of Crimea?
Excusing Russia? Where do you get that?

My point was, if "election interference" is enough provocation for sanctioning Putin, then surely massing 70k troops on the border of Ukraine is sufficient provocation for sanctioning him too.

Where in the world do you get the idea that I'm excusing him invading Ukraine because we sanctioned him for "election interference" in the 2020 election.

Quick question - what has the Biden Administration done and what have the Democrats proposed to do about election interference? Are they securing the voting procedure to ensure that only those that are eligible to vote can cast a ballot? What?
 
You claimed Obama Administration fomented the coup in Ukraine (see above), but we know now he didn't bankroll the coup. So what are you basing your claim on? Oh I know it's because Lavrov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs says so;

"...Russia has seized on remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama about an internationally brokered deal to resolve last year's Ukrainian crisis, claiming they prove that Washington was involved in a "coup" against Ukraine's Moscow-backed president..."

"...Lavrov did not explain how Obama's remarks proved his claims...."


They meet Biden daily in Oval office :rolleyes: ...

And take a look at the links and citations in this article - https://mronline.org/2022/02/24/what-you-should-really-know-about-ukraine/

It's cute you think Politifact is not an arm of the DNC. LOL
 
Excusing Russia? Where do you get that?

My point was, if "election interference" is enough provocation for sanctioning Putin, then surely massing 70k troops on the border of Ukraine is sufficient provocation for sanctioning him too.

Where in the world do you get the idea that I'm excusing him invading Ukraine because we sanctioned him for "election interference" in the 2020 election...
I get your, excusing Russia because everytime you write, "election interference" you put it in quotes as if it either didn't happen, or if it did it was nothing to worry about.

It seems you, like most conservatives look at both Russian's and Trump's "election interference" as if they were minor offences, like giving water to a voter water waiting in line. How you can equate, "election interference" in our country, with 70k troops on the border of Ukraine is beyond me. Our democracy threatened verses an Eastern European non-NATO country?? You need to reassess your priorities.

...Quick question - what has the Biden Administration done and what have the Democrats proposed to do about election interference? Are they securing the voting procedure to ensure that only those that are eligible to vote can cast a ballot? What?
They've proposed to restore the 1965 Voting Right Act the Trumpists have gutted...
 
LOL - people from outside Ukraine didn't like what a Ukrainian prosecutor was or wasn't doing, so they extorted Ukraine into firing him, and that's supposed to make it right?
When the money comes from the taxpayers, you betcha.

Biden was vice president. Duh
 
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