People in Britain who think they are governed by fools should take a closer look at the Russian and US presidents. Vladimir Putin is systematically ruining his country. His war of choice in Ukraine is an economic, financial, geopolitical and human calamity for Russia that worsens by the day. For his own murky reasons, Donald Trump, another national menace, offered him a lifeline last week. Yet Putin spurned it. These two fools deserve each other.

On the table in Moscow was a “peace” deal that, broadly speaking, rewarded Russia’s aggression by handing over large chunks of Ukrainian land, compromised Kyiv’s independence and weakened its defences against any future attack. The Trump deal, if forced through, would have split the US and Europe; ruptured Nato, perhaps fatally; reprieved Russia’s pariah economy; and probably toppled Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.

These are key Russian war aims. But Putin, suffering from neo-imperial fantasies and legacy issues, said “no”. He reckons he can get it all, and more, by fighting on. He has persuaded the idiot Trump that Russia’s victory is inevitable – and that scheming Europeans are the real warmongers. Yet his premise is fundamentally flawed. Hard facts confound him. Almost four years on, he’s still trapped in Donbas mud and ice. And at home, things fall apart.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      The modern internet and media age in a nutshell: “Everything you believe in is succeeding and your enemies are getting DESTROYED with facts and logic.”

    • COASTER1921@lemmy.ml
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      News websites need to stop saying Russia’s economy is crashing, I feel like I’ve read this headline 100 times over the last 3 years. It’s the wartime economy of a petro-state, they don’t need that many outside buyers of their oil to make their highly controlled domestic wartime production work. Traditional global indicators of economic health shouldn’t be applied for as long as this continues, claiming otherwise is just false hope and a poor excuse for providing less help to Ukraine.

    • Sektor@lemmy.world
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      Yep. It’s far from over for Putin. Got really lucky with Trump, and with slow and divided EU. Plus Gaza genocide to avert the attention. Still ain’t over but i feel Ukraine is on the ropes. I hope they prove me wrong.

      • NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip
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        None of the circumstances you mentioned were luck. Trump is his patsy, Trump is closely aligned with Israel (Netanyahu), and Russia is a primary instigator of European discord. His international game is on point.

        • Sektor@lemmy.world
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          The election of Trump was lucky. He helped but it was not like he knew trump would win.