Posted on 07/17/2018 7:18:21 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Oh, really? Although Russia -- the largest nation on the planet -- is in many ways a failing state with an economy barely the size of Texas, it still has a huge percentage of the world's nuclear weapons, about equal with ours, and the capacity to deliver them (and to pass them along to unreliable non-state actors). It behooves us to have a relationship with them for our survival and everybody else's, to keep our friends close and our enemies closer, as the Godfather would put it. The obvious goal in this is to limit nuclear proliferation and even to reduce, or at least stabilize, the nuclear arsenals as agreements come up for renewal.
If you look at Trump's actions in that context, what he says and what he does aren't so strange. His strategy should be clear by now to all those except those (unfortunately many) who deliberately don't want to understand it. I wrote about it earlier in "Trump's New Foreign Policy: The Cooptation Doctrine."
He is, as Greg Gutfeld noted on The Five, his own good cop and bad cop all rolled into one. The good cop part is what we saw with Kim Jong-un and now with Putin -- complimenting tyrants to an almost uncomfortable degree. It's oddly a Christian love-the-sinner-but-hate-the-sin kind of thing.
The bad cop part is what Trump actually does concretely -- and, as Putin certainly knows, this is far more important than photo ops and press conferences with all the attendant words. Trump's actions vis-a-vis Russia have been considerably more stringent than his predecessor's -- opening the energy spigots, increasing sanctions, arming the Ukrainians, ejecting 60 Russian agents, etc. As Walter Russell Mead pointed out, if Trump is in Putin's pocket, he's doing a terrible job of it.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
24m
I had a great meeting with NATO. They have paid $33 Billion more and will pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars more in the future, only because of me. NATO was weak, but now it is strong again (bad for Russia). The media only says I was rude to leaders, never mentions the money!
“I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics. As president, I will always put what is best for America and what is best for the American people.” - President Trump at Helsinki, July 16, 2018
I am sorry but I am becoming a Putin fan lately. I thought the interview with Chris Wallace he had Wallace shaking in his boots. And when Wallace tried to hand him the indictment papers was pretty funny. Just put them on the table Putin looked at him like you little Sh!t!!! Funny stuff And then the total media meltdown after the summit was crazy.
Putin will not be unhappy when we blow-up our Deep State intel apparatus.
Regardless, it needs to be done, and is the right thing to do.
You betcha!!!
President the Trump is absolutely right to engage Russia (and China and North Korea) as potential friends or at least non-adversaries. The whole reason Russia has plowed along ahead with advanced weaponry and aggressive policies is that Bush and Clinton and Bush and Obama all kept Russia as a convenient foil while trumpeting that "we won the Cold War" and moved NATO closer and closer to Russia's borders
Thanks to them, all sorts of completely predictable consequences took place and the oligarchs - theirs and ours - made money.
Time to stop the stupidity, reframe our relationships and spool down the sabre rattling.
It probably sounds weird - but would Russia make a better friend than Germany and France at this point?
“Putin will not be unhappy when we blow-up our Deep State intel apparatus.”
He’s not the only one.
Thanks Hojczyk.
Trump is playing statecraft as he did with Kim Jong Un.
As for average Americans: The sorry state of American media and affairs should not distort one’s understanding of the reality of Russia. Righties are acting no different from lefties who idealized the Soviet Union...The reality behind the facade is a lot grimmer and uglier. Even with all the World Cup sparkle distractions. Russian people are not in a good place and Putin uses their unhappiness and directs it towards America rather than himself. With our peaceful Art of the Deal posturing, America can’t be used as the scapegoat by the likes of Putin and Kim Jong Un forever.
Could it be??? What if: the exploding heads, abject panic and fear shown in the deranged reactions to the Trump/Putin summit by media and Deep Staters...NOT what Putin has on Trump… but what he has on Hillary, Obama, Democrats and RINOs? Are the dirtiest of Obama/Hillary deals soon to be exposed?
What is on that DNC server??? If the Ruskies indeed hacked it... what does Putin know?
#TreasonIsHillaryObama
“I am sorry but I am becoming a Putin fan lately. “
No apology here, He and Russia have been set up as a straw man for use in attacking Trump. All this anti Putin/Russia fervor is manufactured from whole cloth by the internal enemies of the US.
“Are the dirtiest of Obama/Hillary deals soon to be exposed?”
Sessions is on the case.
No one can do it like the Donald...The President of the United States.
He does good/bad cop at the same time and it drives both his allies as well as his critics batshit crazy.
I love it and ROTFLMAO!!!
The entire cable news cabal, including most fox newsies, have clutched their pearls so tightly, they have choked themselves almost to death.
The corrupt DC mob of both parties continue to think Trump is just another politician who thinks like they do. Why do we elect such low brains?
I think so. I mean he had my vote on the escalator, but watching him buck nearly e everyone in Washington to do what he sees as the right thing to do for our country — that’s a leader! He would indeed have to literally shoot someone on the street in broad daylight to lose my support at this point, and believe me I’d first have to do my research on the character of the victim!
The Cooptation Doctrine confuses the hell out of liberals to add to their day offer a liberal a sale of a MAGA hat.
The Left told us Trump was going to be offending other world leaders, a real pariah on the world stage.
He treats Putin with respect, and the Leftist go wild.
Some of them were saying in public Trump should sock him on the jaw. Others were hoping for a war with Russia to teach it a lesson.
Folks, we have a lot of people out there that need medical attention. Never has it been more obvious.
I have worked in NYC construction and have dealt with many Eastern European “businessmen”.
I have no doubt that our President is not intimidated one bit and knows how to get exactly whet he wants at the end of the day.
You are sarcastic and fail miserably to note the reality.
The truth is that the DOJ is in fact on the case with an investigation underway for some time in far off Little Rock Arkansas where the court is not tainted with American enemies. The investigation is of the Clinton Foundation.
We wonder now if they will send attornies to Moscow to depose Vladimer Putin? He obviously has evidence of major money transactions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.