We have learned so much about what war will look like now without losing a single American life. That’s worth a lot. I absolutely don’t want American troops involved, but giving enough arms to keep things going as a learning-lab doesn’t really bother me.
It has to do with personal projection of power.
Like " What? You’re Asking Me to negotiate? Why would I do such a thing?".
It has nothing to do with facts on the ground or actual capabilities to continue with the conflict.
I think its called Face manners and ethics.
By calling for the negotiation table, you are by default trying to save face.
You dont try to save face if you have nothing to lose, but you better have something to offer.
And any offer is the acknowledgement of defeat.
From Russias perspective US has significant role in this war.
Also one of the Kreml’s goals is to make Russia major power again. Getting aknowlegdement from US is a great symbolical win in Putins eyes.
Ukraine’s won big, then.
How’s so?
I’m speaking how Kreml seems the situation, nothing else. How well aware you are about Putins regimes ideological backround or goals?
Billions of handouts.
Ah, sorry for the language barrier. Corrected the term.
Or a threat to make. Or in this case, preferably both an offer and a threat. Carrot and stick is a foundational concept in international relations and Trump seems to understand it well. In this case, the US has lots of carrots and lots of sticks.
Serious observers should know this and there is no reason to believe that Trump initiating this is a sign of weakness. If Putin believes it is, he is a fool. But while Putin is many things, he is not a fool.
Vance’s speech was good. It showed that Trumps goverment still has limited trust for Putin.
Again, a sign of weakness as a cultural standpoint. US and Russia aren’t even in the same league if we compare diplomatic weight or economical/military strength. That should be remembered also in Kreml.
Oh sure. There are plenty of options in response, like “We’ll throw al in on Ukraine and overtake your oil & gas share of the global market” and many other things.
But the mere act of asking is seen as bending a knee.
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This. Remember guys, that in Putins world the strong eat the weak, and when they ”negotiate” it’s made with their terms. He sees west and democracy as weak and corrupt systems, which will always lose stamina when hard times come.
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Our forms of manners and politeness are seen as weak.
Even when faced with legitimate threat, their response is simple- “If you could, you already would have.”.
I’m still trying to figure out when the U.S. went to war with Russia.
In Russians eyes Ukraine is wests proxy war. Jesus. It’s been said already.
Or I don’t know if Putin really thinks that personally, but that’s vital part of their propaganda.
Good luck with that.
Maybe it was Trump being overly magnanimous, but he did say he would negotiate and end to that war.
Now he has to deliver.
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I share their view. And I think it’s pretty sick to use people the way the U.S. has used Ukrainians. But who cares how Russia views it? That’s like worrying about whether the mentally handicapped kids think you’re cool.
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How US has used Ukrainians? Please tell me?
So he is the one negotiating from a point of weakness(I.e., something to lose). So calling for negotiations makes perfect sense.
He just wants the entire caspian shale basin and all of its infrastructure.
Ukrain has a chunk of that basin, access to the black sea, and the gas processing capacity to give Russia almost complete control of the european gas market.
If everything stopped at this very moment, he’d call it a win with the territory they currently occupy.
I see the anchor dragging incident as a calll back to the type of agitation that brought the US into WW II. When Germany started attacking our communication and shipping capabilities.
Check everyone else’s responses. You’ll figure it out.