Written by TheSaker; Originally appeared at The Unz Review
The talk of the week is the upcoming meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin on the sidelines of the G20 conference this Friday. There have been some very good articles already written on this topic, I particularly recommend Adam Garrie’s “5 obstacles Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will have to address in their meeting” for The Duran and Israel Shamir’s “What Would Putin Tell Trump?” for The Unz Review. It is undeniable that the fact that these two men will finally meet is an event of immense significance and importance for the future not only of US-Russian relations, but even for the future or mankind.
Or is it?
I have to be honest here and say that my expectations are pretty close to zero. Oh sure, they will smile, probably a lot, and some minor issues, such as the seizure of the Russian diplomatic residence in the USA, will be resolved. Probably. There might even be some kind of positive sounding sounds about “reaffirming the Minsk Agreement” or “fighting ISIS in Syria”, but compared to long list of truly vital issues which need to be urgently discussed and resolved, this will, I am afraid, be as close to nothing as it can get. Why do I say that?
First, we should all stop kidding ourselves, Russia and the USA do not have “disagreements”. The sad and frightening reality is that we are now closer to war than during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not only are Russian and US servicemen now deployed in the same war zone (the Americans totally illegally), but unlike what happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis we have a US President who terminally lacks the willpower to deal with the crazies on the US side, I am talking about the Neocons, of course. In fact, under Kennedy there were no real Neocons to tackle to begin with. Now they are running the White House while Trump serves them coffee or watches TV in another room (I am jocking of course, but just barely). In this context, to meet on the “sidelines” of a G20 conference is bordering on the criminally irresponsible. What the world would need is for Trump and Putin to meet in a “Camp David” like format for at least 3-5 days with all their key advisors and officials. Even if we assume a 100% of good will on both sides, meeting on the “sidelines” of an already big conference just won’t make it possible to get anything done. In the very best of cases Lavrov and Tillerson could have done most of the hard work away from the public eye, but the truth is that the Russians say that so far the two sides have not even agreed upon an agenda.
Second, it is absolutely clear that the US Ziomedia and Congress will declare any, any, positive outcome from the meeting as “Trump caved in to Putin” and try to get a pound of political flesh out of Trump for it. So for Trump any external success will mean an internal disaster. And we already know that the man does not have what it takes to deal with such attacks. Frankly, his only “tactic”, so to speak, to deal with the Neocons has been to try to appease them. So short of Trump asking for political asylum in Russia and joining Snowden somewhere in Russia, I don’t see him ever taking any independent action.
Third, if we look at the people around Trump it is pretty clear that the only intelligent and rational person in the White House is Rex Tillerson. The rest of them are lunatics, maniacs and imbeciles – the current US, what shall I call it, “actions” (can’t call it a “policy”) towards Syria clearly prove that the Executive Branch is completely out of control. We now can clearly see that Mattis and McMaster are not these military geniuses presented to us by the Ziomedia but that, in fact, they are both phenomenally incompetent and that their views of the conflicts in Syria and even Afghanistan can only be characterized as totally lacking anything remotely resembling any kind of vision. Yet these two “geniuses” seem to be in charge. For all his intelligence, Tillerson can’t even reign in this Nikki idiot at the United Nations. We should stop kidding ourselves and stop pretending like there is anybody to talk to for the Russians. At best, they are dealing with a Kindergarten. At worst, they are dealing with an evil Kindergarten. But either way, there is nobody to talk to on the US side, much less so somebody to begin solving the many issues which need solving.
I will admit that I did have high hopes for Trump and his apparent willingness to sit down and have an adult conversation with Russians. I was especially inspired by Trump’s repeated rejection of the Ziomedia’s narrative about Russia and by what appeared to me as his “no nonsense” approach towards getting things done. I wrote many articles for this blog saying that having hopes (not expectations!) for Trump was the right thing to do. And, frankly, I think that at the time it was. Last Fall I even wrote an entire chapter on this topic in the book “If I were King: Advice for President Trump“. The big difference is that before his election we could only judge Trump by his words. Now, however, we can judge him by his words and his actions and the latter show us a consistent pattern of supine subservience to the Neocons and their demands, from the betrayal of his friend and key advisor Flynn, to the recent threats to bomb Syria for, allegedly, “preparing” to use chemical munitions against civilians.
This might be his, shall we call it, “Las Vegas culture” – but Trump is all about form over substance and appearance over facts. Just look at his frankly pathetic threats (with no less than 3 aircraft carrier strike groups!) against the DPRK or his half-assed missile strike on the Syrian airbase: it’s all a big show, nothing more. No wonder the man likes “tweeting” – he seems to think in 140 character long “thought clusters”…
None of that would be too bad if the USA, and the West generally, had a halfway decent media and a Legislative Branch worthy of its name. In theory, these could raise hell and demand that the President either resign or begin doing his job. But, of course, they don’t and they won’t. They hate Trump, of course, but they also own him. He can make fun of them in “tweets” on his free time, but in terms of his policies he does exactly what they want. And the very last thing they want is any kind of “detente” with Russia. At most, they will impeach Trump just to humiliate him, but that’s about it. They don’t even need to play their “Pence” card – Trump is what is colloquially known in US ghettos as their “punk-ass bitch”.
Ever since the ill-fated “GWOT” more or less petered out, Russia has become the indispensable bogeyman to terrify the public and justify multi-billion dollar corruption schemes. Not only that, but a “resurgent Russia” is the cornerstone justification of the AngloZionist paranoia about a need to spend more on the war state, the police state and, of course, on corporate greed. The powers that be are even re-heating old, Cold War era, scaring techniques:
The Defense Intelligence Agency has recently released a “Russian Military Power 2017” report. Since it is pretty well written, I actually recommend that you download and read it: it is a mix of pretty good information about the Russian Armed Forces and the garden variety nonsense about Russian hackers and their cyber-threat to US and its allies. Just set aside the clearly politically-induced nonsense and you are left with a rather well made summary of what the Russian Armed Forces are up to these days.
I have to thank the DIA for this report: it made me feel young again, like I was in the 1980s when all the student of warfare and of the Soviet military were reading these annual “Soviet Military Power” reports with great interest. But other than making some of us feel young, the real purpose of this document is clear and it is the very same one behind the Cold War era “Soviet Military Power” series: to justify an increase in “defense” (i.e. “aggression”) spending by showing how scary these evil Commies/Russikies were/are.
This would all be rather funny, and nostalgic in a way, if it did not show the total lack of imagination of the folks at the Pentagon. Far from coming up with anything novel or interesting, they are bringing back into service stuff which for years had been collecting dust in the memories of now mostly retired Cold Warriors. It is rather pathetic, really.
Over the past 30 years or so, Russia went from being the Soviet Union, to being a Somalia-like “democratic hell” during the 1990s, to becoming a completely new entity – a “New Russia” which is dramatically different from the Soviet Union of the 1980s. In contrast, the USA got completely stuck in its old patterns, except for this time they are “the same, but even worse”. If the USA did not have nukes that would almost be okay (after all, the world can let “Uncle Sam” slowly lose his sclerotic brain, who cares?) but when a nuclear superpower is acting like an out-of-control rogue state, this is very, very, scary.
So back to our G20 meeting again. The first thing which needs to be said is that Trump is weak, extremely weak: he goes in with the Ziomedia and Congress hating him and with a basically treacherous White House team clearly controlled by Pence, Kushner and the rest of the Neocon crazies. To make things worse, Trump can offer the Russians absolutely nothing they would want or need.
Please don’t buy this sanctions canard. The damage these sanctions could do they have already done. The simple truth is that Russia has already survived the sanctions and come out even stronger, this is confirmed by international organizations and by the private sector. In fact, removing the sanctions right now would hurt the Russian economy far more, especially the agricultural sector, which has greatly benefited from the de-facto protectionist protection provided to the Russian economy by these sanctions. Likewise, the Russian defense industry has successfully adapted to the total severance by the Ukronazi regime of all the defense contracts with Russia and now 100% Russian military systems and parts are being produced in Russia at a cheaper price and of a higher quality. Besides, since Congress and UN Nikki have made it pretty darn clear that sanctions will remain in place until Russia agrees to return Crimea to the Ukraine, nothing will change until the current Ukraine finally breaks into three of four parts.
Trump could, in theory, offer the Russians to stop sabotaging the peace process in Syria and the Russians would surely welcome that. But since the US policy of illegal air and missile strikes combined with a deployment of US forces on the ground in Syria is failing anyway, see here and here, the Russians are going to get what they want whether the US wants it or not.
As for the Ukraine, the situation there is so bad that an increasing number of specialists are saying that even the US has lost control of Banderastan and that now it’s going to be all about intra-Ukie power plays: the social, political, military, cultural and economic disaster has reach what I would call an “escape velocity” when the various processes taking place are basically chaotic, unpredictable and unmanageable. I am personally very dubious that the Americans would have anything to offer the Russians.
How about the other way around? What could the Russians offer Trump?
Again, I am afraid that nothing much either.
Russian foreign policies are all centered around the development of a multi-polar world and Putin is now extremely busy dealing with some seriously important matters. So what can Putin offer Trump? A promise not to invade Lithuania? Trump knows that there never was any such threat to begin with. It’s not like Putin can agree to pretend not to see the constant inflow of NATO forces and equipment into eastern Europe as the latter constitute a serious threat to the Russian national security. Could the Russian promise that they won’t fly over the Baltic without their transponders on? Hardly, since the first ones to switch off their transponders were the Americans. What about a Russian promise not to intercept Secretary of Defense Mattis’ civilian transport aircraft over international waters? But wait – that was the other way around, it’s NATO (a Polish F-16 actually) which intercepted Shoigu’s aircraft over the Baltic Sea during a long announced and official trip from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad (and who then ran away as soon as a Russian SU-27 showed the missiles it was carrying under it’s wings which by convention means “get the hell out of here or I shoot you down“), so its not the Russians, but the American who need to reign in their yapping poodle.
[Sidebar: I have never been a big admirer of Polish politicians, but now Poland is reaching truly historical lows in terms of cowardice, dishonor and plain stupidity; from their “war on statues“, to their idiotic accusation that the Russian ATC deliverately crashed an official Polish aircraft ( resulting form their categorical inability to accept that their own politicians gave a stupid order to their pilots) to Prime Minister Kazinsky’s war on “cyclists and vegetarians“, to the resurrection of the extremely dangerous “Three Seas” plan – Poland is constantly up to the no good and self-deafeningly stupid. But then, what are we to expect from a country which considers a character like Pilsudksi as a national hero? Sadly, Poland is repeating its worst historical mistake: the one of constantly trying to trigger a conflict between the West and Russia (apparently, history has taught them nothing). So now, the tiny Polish poodle is barking at the Russian Bear convinced that Uncle Sam and the West will protect him if the bear comes down charging. Truly, human stupidity is limitless].
I think I can guess what the Americans want: a partition of Syria, if not de jure then de facto. I don’t think that this will work. For one thing, the Americans are (yet again) overlooking the fact that the main actor in Syria is not Russia but Iran and Iran has no reason whatsoever to agree to any such partition. Neither do the Russians, of course. The only ones truly interested in a partition of Syria are,who else, the Israelis and since they are now back in charge of the White House, they are the ones pushing for this “solution”. But that is something Turkey and Iran cannot accept as this would not only create a “Wahabistan” in eastern Syria, but also some kind of Kurdistan in the north – hardly a recipe for peace. And, finally, let’s not forget the Syrians themselves. They perfectly understand that any partition of their homeland would leave them squeezed between Israel in the southwest and some kind of crazy Daesh pretend-caliphate in the northeast – why would they ever accept such a rotten and, not to mention, unsustainable deal?
For the Americans, of course, it’s the other way around: since they could not get the black flag of Daesh to fly over Damascus they see the partition of Syria as the only acceptable outcome. They will therefore oppose any peace process, especially one crafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey, with every ugly trick in their bag.
So, will the upcoming meeting yield nothing, nothing at all?
It will yield the fact that the two leaders spoke to each other, face to face. That is not unimportant. I also have some hopes for some type of ‘deconfliction’ agreements between Russia and the US/NATO (switch they bloody transponders on again!). If we can get resumption of some kind of talks between NATO and Russia it would also be a good thing, even if nothing much concrete is achieved by this. I suspect that Trump would love the ditch the Ukraine, but he can’t do that on political reasons. If the Russians can con the Americans to endorse, even just verbally, the Astana talks on Syria that would be good because it would make it marginally harder for the Pentagon and/or the CIA to engage in false flag chemical attacks or any other such nonsense. Am I missing something? Yeah, probably some kind of “cultural exchanges” (that’s when diplomats are truly desperate and have nothing else to offer) or a common plan to protect polar bears (thank God for small things all the same!).
The Russians will probably try to get Trump into agreeing to some kind of new UN Resolution on Syria, but since we all know that the USA disregards UN resolutions anyway, it won’t be much of a victory, even if it will feel good for a while.
I hope I am wrong, really wrong, totally wrong even. I will be watching the (hopefully joint) press conference of Trump and Putin on Friday with a tiny leftover and paradoxical spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, Trump has something good left inside him. But I won’t be holding my breath. They say that hope dies last. Maybe. I will find out on Friday.
TheSaker is the best analyst of US-Russian relations bar none!
Based on what?
Facts not US fantasy.
Fact is that the Russian economy only equals Spain. Their oil and gas is now of low value compared to prior times. Face the facts.
Fact is that Russian nuclear capability is at least of a par with the US and Russia will not be intimated. If the US is deluded enough to go to war , American cities will burn as well. If that happens the May Max Movie will likely have been a prophecy :) Libyan style anarchy in the USA. Karma indeed.
Inform yourself better on the topic. RU economy is rather small compared to the western ones. It’s also going through the global process of privatization. How different is that from any other country in the world where public sector has been sold to the private one?
Russia can and will fry Americas arse if the US Elite continue their deluded path to nuclear war. Inform yourself better on the topic of the Russian nuclear deterrent .
Also, throughout the West after the 2008 banking debacle the public were forced to bail out the PRIVATE banks who greed caused the mess in the first place. So it seems you want Privatisation of profits and Collective responsibility for corporate debts.
payed by Kremilin siloviki.
Trump is needing an outcome that he can say was something of a victory due to his threats concerning Syrian regime change. The reason is that US Citizens feel a need to perpetuate their self respect which is based on their intellectual dominance of Civilization, two historical events I want to mention in his regard, 1. It’s coming up to one year since al-Zinki dragged the Palestinian Boy out of hospital and decapitated him, if you study the video you must reach the conclusion that it was an expression of their right to govern, which has always been attained by the callous use of force, Trump is certain that Civilization has never moved on. 2 . When the totally criminally insane Pontiff John Paul was destroying the Polish Nation and replacing it with a neo-nazi profession of faith, the World applauded and israel became the dictator of World affairs with US Citizens feeling the power that Trump is now flaunting.
That was an interesting read and there is nothing that the US can offer Russia, that Russia wants, or vice versa.
Must admit, I am looking to witnessing the body language at the summit. So many egos and so many hissy fits.
our friend’s ex-wife makes $76 an hour on the internet… she has been out of a job for 2 months. last month her income was $19570 just working at home four hours per day… ➤ check out this➤ site ➜➜➜http://www.GoogleFinancialCashJobs366HomeOrange/Home/Wage…. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪::::av76….
me too : )
And me :)
Russia desperately needs the acceptance and trade of other nations. Its main forte is selling weapons. If the weapons are not needed it is screwed. It is a dictatorship like many others, and does well with them.
Really?
What are Russia’s top exports, besides oil/gas and weapons (which are selling nicely, thanks to the trade show in Syria)?
Mineral fuels including oil: US$134.7 billion (47.2% of total exports) Iron, steel: $14.1 billion (4.9%) Gems, precious metals: $8.9 billion (3.1%) Machinery including computers: $6.8 billion (2.4%) Fertilizers: $6.6 billion (2.3%) Wood: $6.5 billion (2.3%) Aluminum: $6 billion (2.1%) Cereals: $5.6 billion (2%) Electrical machinery, equipment: $4 billion (1.4%) Copper: $3.3 billion (1.2%) Gems and precious metals were the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up 118.7% for the 7-year period starting in 2009. Propelling that gain were improved international sales of diamonds and platinum… http://www.worldstopexports.com/russias-top-10-exports/
Aren’t they also the leading NON-GM AGRICULTURAL EXPORTER?
The small economy belies your statistics. Russia compared to Western nations, is poor. It has a rich autocracy. Putin may be the wealthiest man in the world.
The small economy. OMG, are you for real?
Creditor nation. Low taxation (13% for all) Enough gold to virtually back the ruble. Currency reserves of over $405,000,000,000 and rising. Minimal debt 15% GDP Debt) Free healthcare for it’s citizens. Free education to university level, for it’s citizens.
Hammond goes to bed dreaming of having an economy like Russia and he is not the only one. Plus, they do not have to invade nations and pillage their natural resources to keep afloat.
Russia 2000 was bankrupt and Putin is no Blair or Clinton. The money goes back to the nation, not his bank account or off-shore tax haven.
International Reserves of the Russian Federation
millions of US dollars
Date International reserves of which: foreign exchange reserves of which: gold foreign exchange SDRs reserve position in IMF 31/05/2017 405,721 336,426 326,658 6,681 3,087 69,295 30/04/2017 400,998 332,345 322,667 6,619 3,059 68,653 31/03/2017 397,907 330,337 320,763 6,548 3,026 67,570 28/02/2017 397,334 330,472 320,921 6,532 3,019 66,863 31/01/2017 390,585 327,650 318,028 6,557 3,064 62,936 31/12/2016 377,741 317,548 308,031 6,486 3,031 60,194 30/11/2016 385,288 323,631 314,050 6,530 3,052 61,657 31/10/2016 390,741 326,310 316,586 6,627 3,097 64,431 30/09/2016 397,743 332,232 322,354 6,732 3,146 65,512 31/08/2016 395,198 330,488 320,610 6,725 3,154 64,710 31/07/2016 393,912 329,392 319,520 6,720 3,152 64,520 30/06/2016 392,756 329,259 319,349 6,746 3,164 63,497 31/05/2016 387,716 329,786 319,823 6,766 3,198 57,930
http://www.cbr.ru/eng/hd_base/?Prtid=mrrf_m
US National Debt:
$19,964,292,175,243,
Too bad the rubles are all in the hands of Putin and his cronies in Moscow. Still a very small economy for a huge nation full of natural resources. Compares to a nation the size of Spain.
Yeah, they are really in the hands of President Putin. Remember the Yeltsin years and how that left Russia? Now, instead of the oligarchs having full control of the Russian natural resources, at least 50% are owned by Russia. The bankrupt nation that President Putin took over, is now back to being a creditor nation, paying back the $45 billion loan, from the days the Bolsheviks overthrew the Empire. Hence the reason why Russia has minimal debt. The people have free education and healthcare. There is a rise in the middle class sector. Together with the natural birthrate being on he rise, and not dependent on immigrants. Then you have the healthy currency reserves and not forgetting Russia has virtually enough gold to back the ruble currency. Compared to what the Clintons and Blairs did, when they were in power or close to it, I can see why you believe that President Putin is on the take. Because he put his nation, people and dependent territories first. Which is quite rare for a leader, now isn’t it?
Good luck with that. How many people are trying to emigrate to Russia?
I would happily, but, they are choosy who they let in.
Part 2
Russia Exports 1994-2017
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f9101e81dbb41fbf550a989ccb997361297d0d17bf270f137e237ba5b2ae9bf.png
Exports from Russia increased by 20 percent to $26.1 billion in April 2017 from $21.7 billion a year earlier. Exports to non-CIS countries advanced 20 percent to $ 22.2 billion (from 37.2 percent in March) while those to CIS countries went up 20.5 percent to $3.8 billion (from 23 percent). According to data from Russian Customs Statistics, exports rose mainly for: mineral products (31.1 percent to $16.4 billion) followed by metals (19.2 percent to $2.7 billion); chemical products (12.3 percent to $1.9 billion); foodstuffs and raw materials (6.2 percent to $1.5 billion) and wood, pulp and paper products (3.7 percent to $0.9 billion). Exports in Russia averaged 21206.99 USD Million from 1994 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 50248 USD Million in December of 2011 and a record low of 4100 USD Million in January of 1994.
Russia Trade Last Previous Highest Lowest Unit Balance of Trade 8001.00 12598.00 20356.00 -185.00 USD Million [+] Exports 26095.00 31328.00 50248.00 4100.00 USD Million [+] Imports 18094.00 18730.00 32481.00 2691.00 USD Million [+] Current Account 22800.00 10124.00 39286.00 -3774.00 USD Million [+] Current Account to GDP 1.80 5.10 18.00 -1.40 percent [+] External Debt 529.70 518.70 732.80 151.30 USD Billion [+] Capital Flows 22108.98 7140.13 32844.54 -47722.55 USD Million [+] Gold Reserves 1680.10 1615.22 1680.10 343.41 Tonnes [+] Crude Oil Production 10654.00 10713.00 10832.00 5707.00 BBL/D/1K [+] Remittances 5410.00 4478.00 5728.00 1359.00 USD Million [+] Terrorism Index 5.43 6.21 7.21 5.43 [+] Weapons Sales 6432.00 5554.00 8658.00 1478.00 USD Million [+] Foreign Direct Investment 21202.00 4212.00 40140.00 -3922.00 USD Million [+]
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/exports
Yes most Russian businessmen want the sanctions to last at least 5 years so they can properly renationalise the economy, Germany and France wanting to drop sanctions actually threatens this.
Fingers crossed and it is nice to see what a bonus the sanctions were for the Russian Agricultural Market. Together, with being in full control of their defence industry.
Rubbish.
picker is your name.
Imbecile is yours. Now sod off ‘mate’
RU economy is not very much different from US. The main sectors are energy sector and military industrial complex. What’s RU actually doing in ME is trying to prevent delivery of Qatari liquid gas to EU market and use Syria as a polygon for live testing of weapons destined for export. And Saker never mentions confiscation of the church property belonging to Jehovah Witnesses by RU government and outlawing 185 000 strong religious organization under the auspice of the RU Orthodox Church. How different has that been from the Soviet era dictatorship? I understand that majority of the participants in this discussion couldn’t care the less about religion because they have been brainwashed by Masonic Jews into believing that there is no God through their curriculum that dominates the world. So I get all kind of obscenities as a response to my comment like “who cares for JW”, “kill them all” and so on. Perhaps I’d better stop trowing “margaritas ante porcos”.
The Russians are thwarting another attempt by the US to loot Russian resources. It is the only way the US can pay its massive debt mountain that is like a noose around America’s neck that is tightening every second of every day.
The Russians will fight and will win. Russia has much of the world on her side, even many US vassal states.
Qatar have signed up to provide oil to China using the Yuan. Plus, they have no argument in Iran. Now who has that upset? Not Rusia.
Surely, it is upto Christian Orthodox Russia what they do and do not allow in their nation. Did you have a problem with the Communist Soviet Union and who the people were allowed to worship? In fact, wasn’t religion banned, until Stalin realised he needed a little help from the Christian Orthodox Priests?
Freedom of religion is needed and is the right of every man.
It’s futile to talk about freedom to those who think they are fee while they’ve been enslaved.
It is not up to RU Orthodox Church to dictate who and how RU citizens should worship since in the civil society church has been separated from the state. Freedom of worship is basic human right. Denying that right to its citizens by using an instrument of state makes that state nothing else but dictatorship. In the Middle-Ages ~60 million people have been put to death by “little help from Vatican”. It seems like RU government has learned nothing from the past (they live like the most of humanity completely detached from the past) and because of that it’s doomed to repeat the same grievous mistakes as the evidence indicates. B
That is there choice or perhaps they have learnt a lot from the past and have a reason not to want to repeat it?
What past have they detached from?
Yeltsins 90s? Communist Soviet Union 1917-1991? Or lessons learnt from the Old Russian Empire and what was behind the events of when it was overthrown by the Bolshevics?
Russia is a multi-ethnic nation, where ‘Russia is for Russians, first and foremost’. Which is why they do not have the same problems as Europe, where extremist immigrants are concerned. So if they have a problem with a certain faith, why is that? What and who caused the problem?
Putin on Immigration – “Russia is for Russians, first and foremost”… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgNChZrWNmI
The first priority of any Government is the national security and defence of it’s people, nation and dependent territories.
RU is for RU citizens irrespective of their ethnicity and religion. Putin and his cronies have transformed RU into tribal fiefdom by this new anti-religious law.
Is that why over 80% of his people are behind him? What was Russia like under Yeltsin? Would you like to go back to those times?
Because over 80% of RU are Orthodox. RUO church has never fallowed teaching of Jesus Christ as it is given in the Bible about separation between church and state which has been the very reason for all religious persecution through all the ages. It seems like you care very little about individual liberties most likely because religious sentiment has been completely unknown to you. Surely you would think differently if you of your family have been a affected by such government policies.
Sorry as I laugh at your comment. Religious sentiment unknown to me, yeah really. Now how did you cope when it was the Soviet Union and what religious freedom did you have then?
garbage
coming from your mouth mate.
The Saker again presents clearly the dire situation in the Middle East, if fact anywhere the US flexes her steroid enhanced muscles.
Dealing with the Presidential and Deep State inmates of the US lunatic asylum takes great patience together with applying the Straight Jacket of reality when the whacko’s freak out.
Have you ever thought what are the main objectives of RU involvement in ME? Has that been an heroic epic of RU ruling elite trying to protect sovereignty of Syrian state and defend UN Charter or something else? I really doubt some peoples’ ability of deep thought penetration. Prove me wrong.
You will be proved wrong in the fullness of time.
The US and her vassal allies have bought nothing but death , theft and chaos to Arab lands. Prove me wrong.
Islam has done that to itself through the Sunni vs. Shia nonsensical warfare and feuding. Also genocide against Christians and Jews etc. The United States has never occupied any Middle Eastern nation except Iraq which was temporarily to take out a despotic tyrant who invaded an ally, Kuwait. They have been invited by various governments.
The United States followed in the footsteps if Britain during her Empire and uses greed and corruption to place warlords in titular power of weaker nations . If the warlords get too greedy as exampled during the Indian Mutiny during British rule, they are deposed, often killed and replaced with another titular head.
We are witnessing today this Playbook in fast track real time.
The US Elite of course needs to feed their national debt and personal avarice with the plunder from other nations.
US goal is not primarily military occupation of other nations but rather ideological enslavement making other nations willing slaves of their hegemony. Regime change has been proven the most powerful weapon under their belt. And lets not forget the role of Hollywood and other entertainment industres.
Show me the slaves of the USA. The slaves are under Islamic tyranny. Hollywood is run by communist sympathizers an are morally corrupt . We are fighting them.
Who are those LGBTQ-s and alike who have been payed by Soros foundation to demonstrate on the streets of major cities in US against Trump and US constitution. Make no mistake US constitution is the best legal document ever legislated by humans. However there is saying “The way to hell is paved by good intentions”. It has been a good intention of the founding fathers which has never really come through as it is seen today. It has a been the best effort to fix humanity by human means.
They control you country.
They try but they may go broke trying.
No the Sunni vs. Shiite and battles for conquest have done that. , millions dead wherever Muslims went. History is clear on that.
You seem to forget the internecine wars between Christian sects as well.
All ideologies create a following who have no regard or understanding of other beliefs. There is power and wealth to be had.
No comparison in numbers however. Several orders of magnitude and past vs. present.
Syria is a longtime ally of Russia and they want a warm water port there. This is an old story. Syria is an outpost for future Russian aggression at all levels.
Dude, if you couldn’t tell that trump was a warmonger, then you either don’t care, are too into the sudden patriotic rise from the death of the democrats, or are too stupid to recognize it:
How many times did he say: “We will have a strong military” over and over again…
What does that mean?
It certainly doesn’t mean you sit around doing nothing with a supposed strong military right? You do something with it right? You don’t want it just sitting around with all this shiny new multi-billion dollar equipment right?
You put it to work… you put it to war….
That would be inflated military, you don’t need to put a strong military forces into action, but an inflated you sure do, even if it is weak…
Inflated military… strong military… all bullshit…
Weak military forces make a country vulnerable to globalism.
In the US’s case, that does not apply for far too many reasons to list here.
Their go should be to have a strong military, not a inflated military, no country should have a inflated military, unfortunately they have both, and the worst part is they are getting weaker and desperate, so they are trying to use their power before it vanishes…
The solution would be stopping the imperialism, unfortunately it doesn’t work like that, USA is beyond salvation, it is going to fall hard.
Not really. We have to do the UN/NATO bidding. Ever notice when something happens in the middle east the first persons to cry are the french/germans? Then some time later we are doing something about whatever? Yea… We are their bitch, along with the saudi’s and israelis… thanks to UN/NATO.
Strange that people following these things closely seem to have missed the Seoul Shakedown. You threaten a war which would utterly destroy… your own ally. Than that ally has to buy it off, to the tune of tens of billions. Much the same for regime change in Qatar. Don’t forget Trump’s political mentor was a mafia consigliere. It’s brutal and simple–one does *not* get to call it stupid when it worked, before anyone even figured out what was going on.
Good military men don’t want war. They want peace. Their job is to maintain peace against aggression such as North Korean threats as China busies itself trying to dominate the entire South Sea.
Southfront has outdone itself making the US head of state look like a completely idiot in order to force their outdated opinions. SF has crossed the limit on so many fronts
They have to play the game Mountains.
I don’t know why Putin would talk to Trump, as it is quite clear Trump has ZERO control over USA foreign policy…
Perhaps Putin just pities Trump on a personal level, the meeting would increase Trump’s legitimacy as president, for Putin is pretty much a waste of time.
Well Said, à waste of putin’s Time. We all know the us is “not agreement capable”. So whats the point.
Sorry to be devil’s advocate, but tell the Kremlin that. They’ve tried to secure a summit with Trump, only to be rebuffed time and again. Not saying that this is The Donald personally, but the Dark Throne has made quite a spectacle of making clear that Putin waits for an audience with the Emperor at the end of the queue.
That’s actually your personal perseption :) What I saw that Russia as an adult was patiently showing to US and the rest of the world that it is open to constructive work. It is still open – trumps come and go…
It could well be that both sides interpret the same events differently, according to their own culture. I just hope that if and when this trump goes, he doesn’t take us all down with him…
Yes, lets hope for the better.
Dictators do usually get more than eight years.
actually you are irrelevant- a worthless, brainless troll spewing mountains of crap from your dirty mouth…
yea kind of like it should not be allowed, you scumbag
Irrelevant? I thought that he just managed to hack US elections and installed his puppet in Washington DC? You guys better stick to one agenda or you start to contradict yourself :)
He’s one of the ones that took Lavrovs’ April fools’ joke seriously.
I do not see anything meaningful happening, what can US offer Russia that will be real? American exceptionalism and supposed “military primacy” are the two delusions plaguing child like minds and egos.
Diplomacy is over, now it is everything about showing the west their supposed world supremacy is just an illusion, this can only be done on the battlefield.
Yes it can be done on the battlefield, provided the minds that are deluded can loose gracefully and accept reality after all. It can be done economically where US dollar would loose the reserve currency status, whereby deficit spending coupled with high inflation rate would devalue the dollar even more causing economic chaos and ruin.
It was already done in the economy, that’s why they resorted to war, west lost the economic war in 2008, then they planned the so called arab spring trying to seize the entire middle east enforcing the petrodollar upon the world through arms.
Thank you, I hadn’t made that connection.
We have the greatest economy in the world.
“We”? Then why do you use a barbarian’s picture if you’re in fact from China?
This time I wouldn’t agree with you. It’s self pleasing statement. Not a great economy by any standard while you have ~30 mil unemployed and trade deficit greater than the order of magnitude of the Universe.
Our economy is in danger from overspending , you are right there. Few would choose to live in China or Russia etc.
Like Venezuela and Cuba?
Try Haiti or Puerto Rico fool.
You must have deleted your reply to me so I’ll reply here.
No deaths or infections were conclusively linked to the release of Serratia_marcescens and Bacillus globigii bacteria in San Francisco. They were believed harmless at the time. Even assuming the one death was directly caused by the experiment, stupid though it was, it does not compare to the millions of deaths caused by the Soviets. So you have no understanding of arithmetic. The U.S. even worse? Get a grip man. Please.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens
No I didn’t: someone flagged it or SF sometimes auto-delete quotes, idk. I don’t compare Soviets with the US, US is much worse: gassing its own people, the entire city with bacteria (Operation Sea-Spray)? Not even nazis did that. “They were believed harmless at the time.” Really, lol, they did it for fun? How about Project MKUltra? How about millions and millions of deaths caused by USA? All this tragedy in Syria, who is to blame? USA and their fking ‘allies’/puppets. How many countries Soviets invaded? Hungary, CzS, Afghanistan (CIA trap btw)? Americans directly or indirectly attacked and destroyed dozens, and they still do, every year. Why the f*ck we speak English here, everywhere, because you and UK are so exceptional? Or because you (your government actually) are the brutal, global (and globalist) empire that almost conquered the world? Wake up.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1776.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/9653497/British-have-invaded-nine-out-of-ten-countries-so-look-out-Luxembourg.html
marsn2, please try to remain focused. The bacteria were considered harmless. See the link I provided. If you have a more convincing source for you point, provide it but spare me your “Really, lol” stuff.
You’ll have to provide harder numbers than “millions and millions” of deaths the U.S. has caused. Debating an issue is more than providing vague numbers. We are responsible for the deaths in Syria both because of what we have done directly and because of our alliance with the Saudis, Qataris, and Turks who support ISIS and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq directly. That’s about half a million.
I’m with you on what the U.S. has descended to after 1991. Ours has been a most arrogant and dishonest foreign policy and we have totally squandered anything that we achieved by our necessary part in the Cold War with the Soviets.
Actually you completely lost your focus, you started with “millions of deaths” (your words exactly). So take your own ‘advices’ and spare me your ‘lectures’ and cheap bs (my arithmetic is certainly better than your logic btw).
“The bacteria were considered harmless” Criminals always deny their crimes. No one asked civilians to volontarily participate in these (deadly) experiments. No one asked that guy to die for US Navy. FFS the entire city was exposed, including children! Conducting secret biological expirements on unaware civilian population is sick and disgusting. Or you think it’s not? Yes or no. There is nothing else to debate, we agree on Syria.
You’re all over the place, marsn2. Like a chihuahua on slick ice.
More cheap, dumb bs… you have no answer obviously (or anything else remotely intelligent to say), and I don’t really care about your family stories.
Puerto Rico is very wealthy compared to Venezuela or Cuba!
Puerto Rico is wealthy by comparison to Cuba or Venezuela! Haiti is French.
Lose.
We could offer them acceptance, cooperation, trade etc. etc. We would be foolish to help them out unless we gained something. They have little to offer since they are already in league with other tyrannical regimes.
“The sad and frightening reality is that we are now closer to war than during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not only are Russian and US servicemen now deployed in the same war zone (the Americans totally illegally), but unlike what happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis we have a US President who terminally lacks the willpower to deal with the crazies on the US side, I am talking about the Neocons, of course. In fact, under Kennedy there were no real Neocons to tackle to begin with. ”
Hm, as i know, kennedy has decided to begin nuclear war. khrushchev was coward and slunked away with tail between legs. so, putin is the same type, therefore there is no reason to be in panic and to have fear from nuclear war. :)
lol ……… you are a gas Solomon.
If it was for Fidel Castro he would had launched some hundred tactical nukes on US, he wanted access to the missiles, the soviets never allowed him.
Expectations are indeed close to zero which means there’s a very good chance of something interesting and good happening. At least nearly anything will be a pleasant surprise.
People say Trump lacks the will to oppose Neocons. I disagree. He has to be careful because so many are so deeply entrenched in every corner of government. I think he’s being creative in opposing them. Take the White House warning about possible Syrian chemical attacks. I’m wondering if that was more a warning from Trump to Syria that the Neocons were readying another false flag than anything else?
You may have a point regarding Trump, some of his actions have tripped up military/CIA/neocon efforts. He has to be very careful and I am sure he knows it for the last fellow in his position that took on the military/CIA ended up dead.
Have we ever seen a counterexample to “personnel is policy”? Trump *chose* to stuff his administration with neocons–even elevating the odious Kushner. This came at a political price to Trump himself, because his deplorables do *not* like this rampant sleazy nepotism, at a time when Trump is *still* pimping his hotels and golf resorts. Oh and did I mention kosher barbie’s husband is the son of a convicted felon?
Let’s face it, things are worse than under Obama already. What you wrote sounds socially desirable, but Trump is moving in the opposite direction.
“People say Trump lacks the will to oppose Neocons. I disagree.”
Trump doesn’t lack the will to oppose the Neocons …..he lacks the ability to oppose the neocons. In fact he doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to consider anything other than his own ego.
How Donald Trump appears is all that matters to Donald Trump in fact I’d say the sole reason Donald Trump ran for president was as revenge over his public embarrassment at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. If he can be convinced ‘standing up to Russia’ will make him look strong and presidential he’ll persue it regardless of the danger he puts the USA in. You only have to look at his actions as evidence of this.
Today he is currently simultaneously antagonizing Russia, Iran, North korea and China with military threats at the same time as creating friction with his strategic partners in Europe, Asia and around the world. This may play well to his political base but it’s a huge gamble and a strategic nightmare if all four nations accept Trumps invitation to war while his allies are beginning to doubt the steadfastness of their alliance with the USA.
the ability? do you think Trump acts alone, without a staff of people preparing every small move?
inner-state politics don’t work like that. it’s much more of a game played by teams, with members going one side or the other on the basis of relations, personal favors, personal interests and so on.
you are very naive if you think that Trump masterminds his opposition to the neocons, it’s just that the pressures he’s receiving from the media, and the falling popularity, are putting in in a weak position to oppose anyone.
The problem is that, unless some unexpected event happens, he will have to do something to appease those who are opposing him most, and if 2+2=4, then i fear he may try something funny in Syria.
That is possible I suppose. I would like to think its true.
Expect nothing, because thats all they will give, Trump is gone bonkers, primitive creatures, where intimidation, violence and lies are their tools, aka the mafia, the Kosher Nostra. An Gov. with an marked philosophy equal to cancer, exponential growth to kingdom comes. Dunka, dunka.
But my main interest isnt this, but the undercurrent in Europa. The pressure is building, despite the attempt to censure everything, pressure still builds up, regarding the refugees to the economic issues aka EU and Euro. But, the sad thing is, when ordinary people is having removed their ability to interfere with and in politics, other than been marginalized and polarized, thru an rotten MSM where various orgs rule and controls the agendas and consensuses, it will inevitably lead to upheavals Europa haven’t seen, ever.
That, one, the revolution, is what will come, the day people realizes they have been f….. hard.
Yup, but my greatest sorrow is the deprivation of hope for our young ones, intimidated and force feed dooms days and political lies, struggles in an world that does not care. Where short sighted economic mantras rule, legalized plundering everywhere, school system just an mere expensive joke.
God have mercy upon their soul.
My last one goes to an person that I rarely encounter, where words where not nesesery, but the mere existence in an short time, I will use the rest of my life to forget it. I dont think we will ever meet again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3Nl1GZzuw This is meant as an tribute, to impossibility. hehe
To beauty and love
peace
I’m kinda with this chick….. Meghan McCain’s candid advice to Trump? “Be vigilant. If you smile too much, hug, and behave too friendly with Putin everyone will go bananas.”
We might get a fun camera moment but little else and nothing of substance. Of course, it’s quite possible the Trumpet will feel the need to trumpet Mr Putin’s ear with an “I launched some missiles to punish that monster who kills beautiful babies with sarin gas” or something equally crass. As the Nikki-dolt tells it – It’s in his nature.
Problem is, Trump needs another “presidential” victory to silence those detractors who protest about his hair but not his bombs. … They never protest about wars, death and bombs…..
The difficulty for the US is to both placate Russia & restrain them at the same time.
Do not forget the power plays of Putin prior to the sanctions & that Russia & China still aspire to a global socialist political system.
The US must appease the good side of Russia while repressing the bad
No, Russia and China do not aspire to a socialist political system, that would be the USA and EU, meaning, the West.
Russia and China actually have fascist governments. The rest of the world is headed that way too. Do not confuse fascism with racism. The USA itself is on the verge unfortunately.
More rubbish. You don’t know what fascism means (and not much else either). You think you live in democracy? Lol dumb slaves…. police state oligarchy, a brutal tyrannical empire trying to conquer the world – that’s your good ol’ USA. Nothing to do with Trump tho.
Fascism is extreme nationalism that controls but works in concert with the industrialists and other capitalists. The individual has no real voice. Fascism does not include racism unless the leaders choose to espouse it. Usually to blame the minority for social ills and draw attention away from the real problems.
What do you think it means marsn2???
Those “evil Commies/Russikies” were “scary” during the Cold War because Russia was in the grip of totalitarian scum. They shot down our surveillance planes over international waters, infiltrated hundreds of spies into our country and government, made Eastern Europe into a vast prison camp, put people in psychiatric “hospitals” and injected them with dangerous drugs, took Korean war American POWs to the Soviet Union for interrogation and never returned them, never gave us back U.S. servicemen who fell into their hands during WWII, shot our MAJ Nicholson like a dog, and stole the Russian people blind.
Mountains, do you think that you need yet another clone here?
WWII: “Soviets Executed GIs After WWII : Prisoners: Other Americans were forced to renounce citizenship, Yeltsin writes Senate panel. But no sign of POWs from Korea, Vietnam wars found, Russian says..”
Korean War prisoners: “Last Seen Alive.”
Elapsed search time: 0.51 secs. Google is your friend.
Bravo!
Thank you, Sir.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5455a5a265e5d26893b9e95758f113d3805b6ac05c07d3a8b47b53657f7d64b.jpg
This is why it is important to Jews to keep attention focused on “The Holocaust.” To conceal what AS said. Let us talk about the real “Holocaust denial.” The murder of millions in the Soviet Union in which Jews played a prominent part. If Solzhenitsyn is correct then let us not deny this but instead we have this unnatural focus on the “unique” crimes of the “Nazis.” Never the National Socialists. And there must be no discussion of the Jewish participation in the Bolshevik Revolution, the Ukrainian famine, and the organs.
Have to agree with the Saker and have managed to work out the US inner workings. There a 3 voices, Trump who represents the neocons, deep state, Tillerson the pacifist and Mattis the warmongerer. They all play their own roles set to confuse, deceive, throw off ballance but they all work together for their ultimate goal – hegemony, control of global resources and commerce. This type of a method Trump uses in his own empire but unfortunately it is an old method suitable to pre 20th century and Russia, China are a wake up to it. Putin has pegged Trump a long time ago.
Otherwise known as corrupt cop, good cop and bad cop respectively, its all a game and the world is but a stage.
Show me any evidence that Tillerson is a pacifist. Realist, yes–hopefully. But that just means that it’s better to steal Venezuela’s oil in America’s backyard, without a Russian risk. The Saker is often interesting for his take on Russian thinking, but the Americans are always stupid to him. Little awareness of how bluff, good cop – bad cop, madman theory etc, are all games to get what you want. It sounds reassuring to reaffirm how Putin is miles ahead; but what is the evidence that Russia’s standing in the world is in fact increasing?
I didn’t say that Tillerson is a pacifist but acting, taking on that role. As far as Russian standing in the world, which part are you referring to? Respect for Russia outstrips the West/US and that is a known fact.
Among informed/sympathetic observers maybe. But in the places that count, what is decisive is not right vs wrong, but power. *The sanctions war is still going strong. *The Dutch and French elections have easily gone NATO’s way (though the picture is mixed in GB). *The Russophobic Deep State has convincingly won the power game in Washington. *Sweden, Finland, and Serbia are moving closer to NATO.
Maybe this list is too West-centric, and Eurasian integration outweighs all of the above. But we are very far from where the Russia-friendly press thought we’d be at this point.
Understood about T-Rex.
If someone thought that at this point we should have anti nato officials in France/Dutch etc., than it was an illusion :) What actually happening is that in 1991 strongest empire (CCCP) that resisted NWO falled (rotten from inside) and total hehemony of global cabbal was coming in rapidly. On the ashes of CCCP, new Russia (unexpectedly for some that don’t know history) arose and is just standing up from its knees where she found herself in the 90-s. Look at this from the perspective of at list 30 years (better 100 and the more the better. Those that feed from human race think/plan for hundreds and thousands of years). Ponder this: Every population “deserves” the government that it has – it’s just a reflection of collective and individual awarness of humans in that population. GP never does anything himself but always using “hands” of humans. It even went so far that it breeded a special “fatherless nation” starting with that famous Sinai tour. But everyithing is done by our hands – us, humans. Do you see? GP needs us people :) That’s our “energy” of fear, grief and anger that he’s consuming to exist :) Now if we look at say 30 years period than we see that defeat of Russia in 1990s wasn’t final and the world around is taking notice (that’s one common mistake of western Europeans/Americans to “feel” that they are the world and all those mid East, Africa, Russia etc is “somewhere there”, irrelevant places that don’t really influence their western life. Again – kaleidoscopical view of the world prmoted by GP). Before, it was a constant oneway traffic of global cabbal occupying more and more. In 0888 west tryed to enter south of Russia (using that little tie eater Saakashvily) but Russia showed teeths. Western media went bananas but nothing actually happened to Russia and world took notice. In 2014 west went on attack in Ukraine and managed to take control of it. West imposes economical sanctions and oil prices drop drastically. Looks like a win? a devestating blow that should drop Russia ones again. Yes, if we think in short terms, but if we take even 3 years than we see that things are not that simple:
Russia kept its presense in the Black Sea and showed the world that it is actually possible that people do decide their fate – Crimeans voted on referendum and it mattered (unlike Dutch where politicians ignored the referendum – democracy anyone?)
Russians got another injection of reality – life in Ukraine is rapidly deteriorating (similar to what Russia went through in 90’s) under watchful western tuition. Russians can see that and this is important because youngsters (under 30-35 years old) can’t make comparision of life in 90’s and last decade based on their own experience.
In this sircumstances Russia went on counter attack and delivered a major blow to western irregular armed forces in Syria and in less than 3 years it reversed the situation there (just compare the maps). World takes notice and now more and more leaders realise that bowing to west is not the only possible way.
If we look at even wider picture than even more important things are happening now. Humanity is on the verge of next “technological step”. Every time it happened in history before – GP managed to control it and billions of people died and humanity was “kept” in the same old paradigm on enslavery of own kind – producing fear, grief and anger
One should not take my post too literally. I’m using mataphors to illustrate and shorten the post – got some work to do other than promoting sanity over here on SF :)
Reference?
Another superb piece of analysis by “the Saker”. Thanks for posting SF!
Surely this is interesting to read. Though i am probably not one of the followers as many listed above and i do not just take anything for granted what i’m reading anywhere. I do think you are right in many points. I do feel the same about many things about the US side/actions as well. But what i’m missing is a reflexion on the Russian side itself. Maybe i just don’t understand it properly, but to my view Putin is not in Syria to make live better there, he’s also there to fill his and his innercircles pockets right, with many on going weapon deals with the macabre Assad. Surely many parties should not be there, but that includes the Russians as well. Maybe he is not as big as a criminal as the bankers etc., but still to not name him at all isn’t that bit blindsided as well. I do believe at the end we as humans walking the earth should stick together where ever we live and are on this planet to get the best out of it for everybody. And yes that’s easyly said for somebody livin in the west at this moment of time.
Please do let me have your views of Russia in Syria, The more i read the better i am informed.
You might start by re-examining your opinion on Assad. If you do take an unbiased look at him, you will begin to see that although not perfect, he is not the monster the west has painted him as. There are many more testaments as to his governments willingness to support and protect minorities than there is detractors. There are many stories easily found wherein people relate the friendly relations between Islamic and Christian faithful…going so far as to protect each other. That is hardly a sign of repression. As many have stated, there is no civil war in Syria and never was. This conflict is 100% foreign induced. The last 2 elections should be even more proof of his support. Look at how Qaddafi was portrayed by the west. Then go and look at what life in Libya was like before the west destroyed it.
What do you think the motives of Hillary and Obama were. It seems we made life in Libya far worse and unpredictable. The Arab Spring seemed counterproductive.
Wondering why Assad never gets good press for protecting the Christians around him. Russia and Putin have long histories of involvement with Syria. We do not.
Assad could walk on water, find a cure for cancer, and discover the secret to cold fusion. It wouldn’t matter. His merits are irrelevant. The U.S. attack on Syria is because we drink the bathwater of the Saudis and the Israelis.
Very good opinion piece. I read The Sakers first article about his hope that Trump might be the one to finally bring the US to their senses. I agreed with most of his article then, with a caveat…That he was unfamiliar with the Trump ego…which he admitted by saying that he was merely hopeful. In my comment then I said it was an admirable stance…to give one a chance to prove oneself, rather than to go with public perception. I also said that I had been aware of Trump for many years, due to his bellowing in the press and that I was afraid that The Saker was going to be disappointed. I did not try to persuade him and am glad I did not. Unfortunately, the Trump I knew was soon to emerge and now Saker has developed his own opinion…and he has Trump pegged. Putin is possibly the most honorable politician in the last 50 years, in my opinion. He also is nobodies fool. He is pursuing a very intelligent and logical policy in Syria. He holds out an olive branch, to show that he gives a chance to save face and come to amicable terms…which he knows from experience that the west will not take him up on…yet he goes the extra mile with more chances for them to save face. To no avail. It matters not, his plans are in motion and the west is 10 steps behind, as usual. He will willingly let the west join his team readily, when they are serious. There are 2 ways to deal with a bully…you can beat him and show that he is more coward than tough…or you can continually show him the error of his ways and eventually become friends. Until then, he will do what is necessary. Syria depends on it. Russia depends on it …indeed the world depends on it.
Russia has an economy the size of Spain. Its military technology is good, as are its nuclear missiles. Its long term economic outlook is awful. It is a nation divided into several races and cultures. It is really a fascist dictatorship and plutocracy. Its birth rate tells the real story. It is dying.
I’m not even rah-rah about either Russia or Putin, but at some point you need to pick a lie and stick with it–message discipline and all that. If Russia has vast ethnic and cultural diversity, then clearly it is not a white, alt-right, proto-fascist paradise. Very one favorably inclined, in the former case one might agree that free-for-all, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may, is not a viable recipe to keep such a place together.
Too long and not much to say. If it took this long for Saker to realize Trump is a neocon, how good of an analyst can he be? This guy seems to like the sound of his own voice. Full of hot air. Here’s a summary for those who don’t want to read it all: “Trump is a neocon”.
Asking what Trump “really” is, is just the mirror image of a decade of the same futile questions regarding Obama. Echoes here of Hollywood culture, where an artist is supposed to reveal his inner (fake) personality. In Asia, the performance is I think more seen as self-contained, a demonstration of skill.
What seems to have happened is something I’ve seen many times in my former company: a new investor gets their own guy on the Board to look after said investment. Trump accepted the shekels of Adelson etc. The deplorables accepted Trump’s promises to them at face value. Adelson however knows something about human folly, how can you run casinos otherwise. So he demands that Kushner et al. guard the Zionist party line. It’s only sound business.