General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How many on the progressive wing of the Democratic party were duped by Putin?. [View all]Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)If people say that angering some leaders they dislike is a sufficient basis for an armed invasion, that's not because Putin duped them, it's because they don't care about international law.
I don't even remember whether there were any phony atrocity stories about events in Ukraine. Military operations are often justified on such grounds (for example, the false testimony about Kuwaiti newborns yanked from incubators, offered some years earlier). It wouldn't surprise me if Putin adhered to tradition and vended such stories. That doesn't mean that any progressives were duped by them, though.
I personally would be hard put to say who has lower credibility, Putin or Trump. One consequence of my total distrust of both of them is that neither of them has ever duped me about anything