Is Putin Getting What He Wanted With Trump?

[applegrove]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/opinion/sunday/is-putin-getting-what-he-wanted-with-trump.html

by Stephen Kotkin at the NY Times

"SNIP......

Doubtless Vladimir Putin continues to derive satisfaction from having assaulted American democracy and embarrassed Hillary Clinton. But the Russian president had one paramount priority: to lift Western sanctions.

The sanctions, passed in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, have been effective at preventing key Russian individuals and businesses from obtaining financing and critical technology. Now, even though Mrs. Clinton managed on her own to lose a winnable election, Mr. Putin is likely to get hammered with reinforced sanctions further targeting his circle of capos, state companies and cybercriminals.

While pundits hyperventilate about Russia’s resurgence, the reality is that President Putin isn’t winning. He is, in fact, on a losing streak. His dishonest intervention in eastern Ukraine has rendered that country more pro-Western than at any time since 1991. Russia’s steadfast support for Syria’s butcher, Bashar al-Assad, is bringing Moscow little concrete gain. And costs keep piling up. According to one estimate, a quarter of Russia’s global weapons exports in 2015 were to rogue Venezuela, in transactions predominantly effected via loans. Last week, Moscow cut $1 billion from projected state budget revenues.

So it’s unwelcome news for Mr. Putin, to say the least, that the United States Senate is not only unlikely to lift sanctions on Russia but also well on its way to strengthening them. Word from Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, is that a final bill would pass overwhelmingly and that the votes will likely be there in the House, too, to override a presidential veto. When sanctions were imposed in 2014 and reinforced in late 2016, they took the form of an executive order, but if Mr. Graham and his colleagues have their way, the new, tougher sanctions regime will become law.

.......SNIP"

[beachbum bob]

1. destablizing America, NATO, and our foriegn relations appears to be ALL winners for Putin

[ananda]

3. So that would be a big YES!

Putin is getting more than he could have ever dreamed of.

[Demsrule86]

2. No the sanctions are what he is after and he won't get that now.

Had Trump not been elected, he might have gotten the far right elected in Europe...he lost all that...thanks to Trump. I would be Putin hates Trump at this point.

[B2G]

5. So why isn't he dragging out the blackmail material on him?

Seems to be the perfect time.

[Demsrule86]

6. Trump can't lift the sanctions by himself.

Congress would act ...and they have a veto proof majority I hear against lifting the sanctions.

[Buckeyeblue]

4. Seems like a backlash could happen

Which is ironic considering the lengths that some in congress went to during the cold war to demonize anyone with communist ties or links to the Soviet Union.

I'm not even sure what Russia is now. Is Putin a dictator? If he dies is there a lineage to succeed him? Or would Russia descend into chaos as a power struggle ensued?

But if the Russian investigation is allowed to go forward, i think Russia will once again turn into a dirty word.

One last thought: we need to watch the middle east, because I think Putin is about to play his hand to try to destabilize the entire region. 45 and his appointees will be spinning in circles trying to figure out how to respond.

[L. Coyote]

7. Putin can also be defeated in Russia by his own overreach.