generalspeaking

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Credit Unduly Taken -- That Scheming Putin!

"Enough already!"
"What is happening with 'the investigation into Russian interference', is not just a disgrace but a collective eclipse of the mind."
"The Kremlin is of course very proud of this whole Russian interference story. It shows they are not just a group of old K.G.B. guys with no understanding of digital but an almighty force from a James Bond saga. This image is very bad for us [Russia]. Putin is not a master geopolitical genius."
"This helps the Kremlin a lot. It promotes Putin's image as a geopolitical mastermind, the smartest and strongest man in the world."
"It hurts us a lot that no evidence has been released [by U.S. intelligence agencies]. And it helps Russian propaganda because the Kremlin can say it is all just a conspiracy against Russia."
Leonid M. Vokov, chief of staff, Aleksei Navalny's political opposition

"The image of Putin's Russia constructed by Western and, above all, American media outlets over the past 18 months shocks even the most anti-Putin reader in Russia."
Oleg Vl. Kashin, journalist, Republic news site, Russia

"American liberals are so upset about Trump that they cannot believe he is a real product of American life."
"They try to portray him as something created by Russia. This whole thing is about America, not Russia."
Ivan I. Kurilla, America specialist, European University, St. Petersburg

Vladimir_Putin_2017_New_Year_Address_to_the_Nation_01

Wikitribune

What?! Vladimir Putin is not a master manipulator, strategist, capable of outsmarting and leading on two American Presidents, Obama and The Donald? Even edging back to Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush waxed eloquent when he spoke of seeing Putin's 'soul' through his expressive and doleful eyes, calculating that this was a man he could work with for the greater good of the two countries and, of course, ultimately the world.

And evidently Donald Trump is of a like opinion; which is to say he was away back when; before the whole notion of Putin's Russia willing to cooperate with Trump's America for the greater good of the world set the U.S. Congress aflame with blame. Setting aside, of course, the inconvenience of Putin's interference in Georgia, his Crimea grab, his criminal military activity in Ukraine, his oblique threats to the Baltics, his invaluable aid to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and the aerial bombing of Sunni Syrians.

It has been to Putin's and Russia's advantage that under its last two presidents, the United States has withdrawn from critical world stages in ferment, leaving former allies in doubt and advantaging Putin eager to fill the vacuum, swiftly and conclusively. Americans are severely conflicted within themselves, uncertain which way they want the wind to blow to accommodate their perceived needs, tired of playing sheriff but loathe to surrender their respected status as world guide.

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they pose for a group photo ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit leaders gala dinner in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 10, 2017

Americans cannot understand nor come to grips with the fact that they themselves voted for a man so severely inappropriate to lead any country, let alone the world's sole superpower; their disbelief in their own dysfunction requires someone or something other than themselves to hold responsible for their failure, and Trump offered ample reason to believe he is capable of anything including colluding with a foreign power to gain the presidency.

While he is idiotically voluble, Putin is silently sardonic, both managing to provide a joint picture of two men in collusion, one disservicing his nation, the other promoting the fallacy that singlehandedly he was able to destabilize the world order while handing America over to a stumbling dolt, leaving Putin to order Russian affairs in the disorder he has created elsewhere in the world, from eastern Europe to the Middle East, and the biggest prize of all, America.

And, it . is . all . Putin's.fault that the United States is now in such political turmoil. For good ol' red-blooded Americans could not possibly have done such a thing to themselves, now could they?