... American President Barack Obama did not fight back and failed to protect America’s democracy from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s well-orchestrated, wide-ranging cyberassault, part of Russia’s wider war on Western democracy
By Brian E.... ... targeting of hospitals (today, Russia and Assad are, with impunity, threatening whole parts of Aleppo with mass slaughter); Ukraine also saw Russian escalation.
Kerry’s talks failed because the Russians were never serious about them, much like ...
New threads in the Team Trump/Team Putin tangled web show Manafort and Page linked to each other as part of a Russian plot to control Ukraine and also show a mutual Russian mafia godfather linking them with each other and Trump, providing even deeper and more fertile ground on which to question Trump’s pro-Russia, Pro-Putin positions and their origins. Author's note: this ...
... “Russia’s ongoing military aggression in Ukraine” and expressing American “admiration and support” for Ukraine in this struggle was removed from the 2016 Republican Party platform, shortly before the Republican National Convention,... ... just recently said at a press conference that he is considering lifting sanctions on Russia and recognizing its annexation of Crimea.
Trump also doesn’t think that there is enough evidence to blame Russia for the downing of MH17.
Trump defended Putin against accusations that he was behind the murders of numerous Russian journalists critical of Putin.
Most recently, Trump ...
... primarily, in material terms — while popular support for the move is less than evident. In essence, a repetition of the Crimean scenario is possible, but unlikely.
The most likely outcome is far-reaching regional autonomy, perhaps in the context ... ... ‘legitimate’ or ‘illegitimate’ as it suits her and treat it accordingly.
The annexation of part of Eastern Ukraine by Russia would be a disaster. But federalisation could be no less: if such a federation is as loose as Putin wants it to be, and a number of regions are controlled by Russian puppets, it will not only amount to the ‘finlandisation’ ...
... will be worth it.
Because, even if the Ukrainian conflict is contained in its current state, Europe’s political and security landscape has been arbitrarily re-written, understandably worrying the EU member states of East Central Europe. The Crimean adventure, seasoned with a large amount of the usual disinformation, has occasioned a huge rise in Putin’s popularity — much like the last time in Georgia. He now has the recipe.
But the situation in Ukraine is bound to escalate. It will not come to a Cold War — but it looks like Putin is dead set on testing the limits.
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... launch an agenda of economic reform and a fight against corruption, and set the country on the course of European integration. This would have proven Russia’s and his weakness. It could have had a spillover effect in Russia — a nightmare for Putin ever since Ukraine’s Orange revolution. By annexing Crimea, he shows that turning your back to Russia cannot go unpunished. He shows that Russia can still defend its interests in its ‘near abroad’.
Even if it is against all its interests.
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