re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

This show he’s giving the world is embarrassing and honestly surprising.

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This show he’s giving the world is embarrassing and honestly surprising.

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WAPO (Gifted): Fareed Zakaria:
Trump upending world order will cost America dearly
The decline of American influence is a gift to Russia and China.

All these changes are gifts to Russia and China, whose goal has been to weaken America’s power and presence in the world. As one Russia analyst recently said about Trump’s Ukraine policy: It’s like Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter and Vladimir Putin’s birthday all on one day.

To those who think it’s high time that we changed an international system that was so dependent on the United States — have you weighed the costs and benefits? The United States spent eight decades building an international system of rules, norms and values that has produced the longest period of great power peace and global prosperity in human history. Its alliances are the greatest force multiplier for its influence around the world. The United States has been the greatest beneficiary of this system, even now, decades later, still setting the agenda and dominating the world economically, technologically and militarily. As that world unravels, America’s privileged position will also decline, creating a more dangerous and impoverished world — and a more isolated, mistrusted and insecure America.

The Post-American World is now in plain sight.

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You asked me why Trump is not doing anything to pressure Russia. There is nothing he can do except make more threats of Sanctions which Russia already has 30k Sanctions on them.

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So you are saying Trump is just giving it lip service. There’s nothing he can do.

So why interject himself into the dispute? He should have just pulled the plug and said it’s a European problem,

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I said this yesterday, why destroy thee Ed very system built ftom WWII through theCold War, And Ronald Reagan all st once?

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puzzling, isn't it?

The further out Leftists I know have always wanted and campaigned for this... some of them are cheering on these developments (some of them also long for China and communism to dominate the world, which they've convinced themselves will be "better" and "more fair.")...

But how the American Right has bought this to whatever degree it has (and it has) is... puzzling.

I guess the KGB taught Putin how to manipulate Americans, and if Social Media had existed in the 1950s we'd all be celebrating Lenin's birthday as an international holiday.

I don’t see how this is really making America great again. Maybe if I got directions to where the grand plan is I’ll better understand.

Negotiating while you hold enemy territory was going to be a lot easier than doing so without it. Big loss if that turns out to be accurate.

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I don’t see how this is really making America great again. Maybe if I got directions to where the grand plan is I’ll better understand.

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Your definition of "Make America Great Again" must be different from Trump's...

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II think there are two plausible theories of what’s going on. The first is that Trump, Musk, and Vance have decided to reorient America’s role in the world, to match their own ideological goals and their assessments of U.S. capabilities. I call this the “Metternich-Lindbergh Theory” because it combines Klemens von Metternich’s dream of a concert of conservative powers dedicated to cracking down on internal dissent with Charles Lindbergh’s vision of an America focused exclusively on the Western Hemisphere.

Trump, Musk, & co. may have looked at that lopsided manufacturing equation and decided that there’s just no way that America, even in concert with its allies and potential partners like India, can match Chinese power over the next few decades. The daunting prospect of retooling American society to keep up with the Chinese may have caused the MAGA people to balk, and to start looking around for ways to come to an accommodation with the new reality of overwhelming Chinese power.

Lindbergh-ism — a voluntary retreat to the Western hemisphere — might seem like a way of appeasing the Chinese, at the same time that it allows America’s new rightist leaders to focus all of their energies on Metternichian internal struggles. Part of that idea is to divide the world into three spheres of influence, controlled by three authoritarian conservative powers — China as the ruler of Asia, Russia as the ruler of Europe, and America as the ruler of the Western Hemisphere.3 That certainly fits with Trump’s suddenly bellicose statements toward Canada and other nearby countries.

That’s what I call the Metternich-Lindbergh theory of Trump’s sudden rush to accommodate America’s foreign rivals. It’s basically an early surrender in Cold War 2, but Trump, Musk, & co. may see it as their only option for preserving their vision of Western civilization.

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Another theory — which is probably still the one most people believe — is that Trump’s actions represent a sincere effort at a geopolitical realignment. This is sometimes called the “Reverse Kissinger” theory. Kissinger exploited the Sino-Soviet Split to make a de facto alliance with China against the USSR in the second half of the Cold War; the idea here is that Trump wants to peel off Russia from China in order to refocus all of America’s efforts on its more powerful rival in the Pacific.

It’s not actually a terrible idea, if you don’t care about ideology or the rules-based international order, and you only care about the pure balance of power. Of course Russia isn’t going to be America’s ally anytime soon, and will continue to depend on China economically. But Russia is weak enough that they might relish the chance to stay neutral in a U.S.-China conflict, and rebuild their depleted strength. And China’s hesitancy to support Russia in the Ukraine war shows that their partnership is more of a loose axis than a true, solid alliance. Meanwhile, becoming neutral with respect to Russia would make it easier for the U.S. to cement its alliance with India, which has good relations with Russia and which will be absolutely crucial in any long-term balancing coalition against China in Asia.

Of course this also requires that the U.S. sacrifice Europe as an ally, but Trump may have calculated that Europe wasn’t going to be much help against China after all. Perhaps better to let Europe and Russia simply keep each other occupied while America pivots to Asia.

There is some evidence that the Trump administration does actually care about deterring China in the Pacific, instead of simply retreating from the world stage entirely. The U.S. State Department has removed language about not supporting Taiwanese independence, angering China. The Trump administration has also stepped up diplomatic support for Taiwan, in cooperation with Japan and South Korea. The administration has appointed a bunch of China hawks.

But if this is true, how can we explain all the things Trump has done that seem likely to strengthen China’s advantages over America? How can we explain the defense spending cuts, the cancellation of industrial policy, the blocking of the TikTok divestment bill, the cancellation of USAID programs designed to counter Chinese influence around the world, the withdrawal from international bodies that China will dominate in our absence, etc.?

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Link... noahpinion blog.

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Negotiating while you hold enemy territory was going to be a lot easier than doing so without it. Big loss if that turns out to be accurate.

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l

The way I read tgd tes leaves there will be no peace talks. I hope I am wrong, but if fiesnt look like it.

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quote:Russia invaded under Biden you frick face. Oooo no we can’t dare mention that. Let’s talk about Trump who is the only one trying to stop this senseless death.

So Biden should've surrendered like Trump is doing?

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Russia invaded Ukraine doesn’t mean we have to leave NATO, abandon Europe, or undercut a sovereign nation battling Russia.

Washing our hands over Ukraine sends a signal to our allies and enemies that you can’t count on us any longer.