Why is Putin pulling this BS with Ukraine now and not while tRump

[BigmanPigman]

Last edited Thu Feb 17, 2022, 01:49 AM - Edit history (1)

was in office. Wouldn't tRump have given him carte blanche?

[Hoyt]

1. If Putin invades, bet trump spouts BS that he prevented it during his term.

[comradebillyboy]

2. He's testing Biden. It looks like Biden will pass the test

with flying colors. If Putin invades Ukraine it will reinvigorate NATO and move Europe more firmly into the American camp. It might be pretty bad for the Ukrainians however.

[BigmanPigman]

3. I agree, Biden is playing this very well!

I am quite impressed.

[sheshe2]

5. I agree.

We have no clue what intel trump fed him. He enabled him.

[PortTack]

9. I think NATO will be reinvigorated even if there's no invasion because with Putin, there's always a

Next time!

[Metaphorical]

4. I've been wondering the same thing.

I think Putin miscalculated here, badly. He was not expecting Biden to counter his psy-ops campaign so effectively, was not expected how quickly Europe came together in opposition, and perhaps expected that Biden would scramble after Putin was already entrenched in Kiev. Finally, I think he was expecting that he could use the threat of cutting off natural gas to Europe would keep NATO from moving forward in defense, without Biden turning this on his head with support of natural gas that could deny Putin a major source of funds.

The image that comes to mind is a gunslinger duel where the bad guy is about to reach for his weapon only to find the sheriff already has his gun out and pointed at him.

[PortTack]

10. Great analysis!

[DFW]

17. Figure Slim Pickens as Putin and Joe Biden as Gene Wilder, and you get the picture

[everyonematters]

6. It's possible that he misjudged Biden on the pullout of Afghanistan.

[herding cats]

13. How so?

To my eyes he adored us being stuck in a quagmire he'd seen his own nation embattled in.

[Budi]

7. Boop!

[moondust]

8. Waited for second term?

In a second term TFG would have had more freedom to hand over Ukraine and maybe more without serious consequences. One TV "expert" today suggested the planning for this Russian operation may have been in the works for a year.

[Doodley]

16. Great point!

[herding cats]

11. It's a power play. It's destabilizing to the global oil industry.

It's about more than just Ukraine, they're a pawn. Geopolitically speaking, Putin is exerting power in an region he has recently done so before while a Democrat was in office (Obama). It's about his ultimate goals and him destabilizing the energy market under his opposition.

We, among others, are his opposition. Breaking us is his goal. He's a long game player and by wielding his hand when it causes the utmost chaos within his well organized long plans here in the US his goals are met. Ukraine is a useful tool, and a prize he would love to own again for various reasons, but there's much more at play here.

[Talitha]

12. BP, I'm SO glad you asked this question.

Just now, I was going to open this post:

"I just can't understand this."

"Putin's puppet was in OUR White House for 4 years.
Why didn't Putin pull all of this Ukraine shit back then?
The orange faced fool would have let him do anything."

And I'm STILL wondering. WHY didn't that sawed-off little Russian do this when his orange puppy was in office?

[Xolodno]

14. He's doing what previous Soviet Leaders did whenever there was a new President.

Testing him.

In 2-4 weeks the Spring thaw will occur, not ideal for an invasion. I and others have been saying this for awhile, if there was going to be an invasion, it would have happened already. They are totally slow walking this. There was no threat of Ukraine joining NATO because one, both France and Germany would have Veto'd it. And of course, Ukraine is under territory disputes which excludes it from membership by default.

What they gain:

1. Resilience of NATO intel and no, Putin did not unite NATO, France and Germany showed their hesitation. And of course Slovenia had major protests (another reason they should never have been admitted).

2. Missile and NATO forces placements discussion was DOA, this forced it to the top of the agenda. If you ask me, it should have been.

3. Got to see the intelligence capabilities of the USA.

4. Messed around with the politics in Ukraine, Zelensky's poll numbers are in the toilet.

5. Assessing the capabilities of their military if they do deem an invasion necessary some time in the future.

And of course there are the propaganda victories. We spin it as Putin blinked, they spin it as the USA being a war monger again.

If Putin had any intention of taking all or a good chunk of Ukraine, it would have happened under Trump. Something I always reiterate here and gets ignored, Putin does not want the Soviet/Russian Empire returned, it cost way more than it was worth and brought down both of them. A few buffer states in the west, stable "stan" nations in the south, and the Kremlin is content. Add to that, Ukraine has been experiencing capital flight, about to lose a big chunk of transit fee's, etc. Time is literally on Moscow's side.

Everyone knows this, but with Biden's hit on the poll numbers with Afghanistan (and yes, it wasn't his fault...but, he's getting the blame for it, like it or not) and Boris Johnson screwing up, politics decide. So they need some wins.

[W_HAMILTON]

15. He didn't need to.

He had his puppet in our White House disrupting and threatening the U.S./EU alliance for him.

[EndlessWire]

18. I think it has to do with China

agreements, weather, and the Olympics. Plus, he doesn't know Biden, although it's hard to believe that some Russian wouldn't have summed up Joe from his days as VP.

[Tommy Carcetti]

19. Why did he take Crimea after his puppet Yanukovych left power and not before?

Putin doesn’t see leaders in terms of “weak” and “strong.”

He sees them as agents, allies and adversaries.

For the agents and allies he attempts to extract whatever is useful to him from them voluntarily.

For the adversaries, he likes to push them as far as he can push them without it being too detrimental to him.