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Billionaires do not work for anyone but themselves. Billionaires, the parasites that they are, will attach themselves to whoever they can suck off, and then abandon the host to die off when they've taken all they can. He is looting what he can from the US and selling out the rest to Russia and anyone else who is willing to pay him. There is no such thing as enough for billionaires, this is their mental illness.
Bill Burr said it best. “They need to be put down like fucking rabid dogs.”
"Trump is unAmerican! He's sold us out to the evil foreigners!" is the lie we need to keep telling ourselves in order to ignore the extremely All-American Thiels and Adelsons and Mercers who really are pulling his strings.
The end result of this Putin-fixation is a modern opposition Democrat party that clings to neocons in the Bush/Cheney cartel and plutocrats like Bloomberg, Gates, and Buffet in defiance of popular politics. Mass media keeps trying to make Communist Russia the boogeyman behind a very Capitalist, very American brand of corporate fascism.
Krasnov approves this post.
I believe the truth is far simpler than the conspiracy theories presented today.
Trump, as groomed child with little incentive to succede in the world (as he was born and groomed with silver spoon in his mouth), simply generated debt that paid for his lavish life. Indeed, the man went BANKRUPT 4 TIMES. Let that sink in as a clear indication of his incompetence.
At certain point, he lended money from the russians and now is the payback time.
This is, of course, simplified version, because it is all happening on very high level and russians are probably to smart to demand money, but they do demand other services like dissolving NATO (so that they can expand), destroying the US commercial reputation and ties with it's allies and so on and so forth... and this guy is delivering. This all removes the US from the world power-picture and leaves the US and EU markets at the plate for russian and chinese taking.
How would that world look and what horrors loom in the darkness... well... we do live in interresting times.
Indeed, the man went BANKRUPT 4 TIMES. Let that sink in as a clear indication of his incompetence.
If you can go bankrupt to the tune of a billion dollars, walk across the street to another bank, take out a new billion dollar line of credit, and keep shitting in your gold plated toilets, then I'm not clear how you are the incompetent one.
Trump highlights the real dividing line between Rich and Poor in America, and its the proximity to cheap, easy lines of credit. If you can discharge a billion dollars of debt time and time again, while I'm stuck on the hook for a few grand in credit card debts or a tens of thousands in student loans for the rest of my life, its trivial for you to remain rich while it remains onerous for me to escape poverty.
they do demand other services like dissolving NATO
This isn't a demand from the Russians, its a demand from the paleocons and the libertarians. Long before Putin was mayor of St. Petersburg, guys like Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan were lobbying to remove the US from every international organization. And their ideas were well-received, in the same way Brexit and Yugoslavian balkinization and the parsing out of micro-states like Hong Kong and Singapore and Israel were well-received.
Building these ultra-wealthy megapolises, surrounded by high walls and armed to the teeth against working class dissidents, has been the project of the western ultra-right wing for decades. Ayn Rand lionized it in the form of Galt's Gulch. Heinlein romanticized it in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". Friedman and the Chicago Boys forced it onto Central America and the Caribbean states during the Reagan Era. Now Trump is making this vision manifest in the beating heart of the Republic.
American balkinization is a plutocrat final solution to federal regulations authored by elected authority. It is the mirror side of Lincoln's dire warning against A House Divided. For the class of American revanchists who revile a democratic state, this is a deliberate end game.
Exactly what i was thinking. As much as i'd like EU and its countries to be independent and have a better sense of unity, i feel like this is still benefitting Russia immensly in the end by severing ties with US the entire west will be vulnerable; with all these political tensions within EU countries themselves already it wont get any better...
He doesn't work for America or Russia, he works for himself and the billionaire class.
Then why is he Krasnov?
The Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90s. If Trump was anything, he was an American fence for the looting, the gang warfare, and the human trafficking that followed. The dogged insistence that Donald is a double-super secret KGB inside man intent on serving a government that hasn't existed in 30 years is a Tom Clancy inspired fantasy.
It all comes down to the war between the Martians and the lizard people.
pootin is a billionaire, I think. so it makes sense.
He's serving the American bourgeoisie moreso than Russia.
Which, to be clear, is worse than if he was serving Russia. The American bourgeoisie are the most direct enemy to the American people, they suppress our wages (Putin doesn't), they shift the tax burden onto us (Putin doesn't), they bust our unions (Putin doesn't), etc. Anything that makes them stronger makes us weaker, and if we could burn their wealth and power we would be better off even if we didn't get a penny of it, just because their boot would be removed from our neck. That's not to suggest that Putin is in any way a friend to everyday Americans, but he is a more distant and removed enemy compared to our direct, primary enemy, the rich of our own country. I don't know why there's this need to treat Trump as secretly in league with an external entity, as if being what he actually is wasn't the worst thing he could possibly be.
THE WHOLE PARTY
Complete disservice to world to claim Russia is behind everything, because it makes you hate Russia instead of the AH fking you up the ass for US empire reasons. Ending a losing war against Russia is smart and helpful to world. Fucking you up the ass doesn't need gaslighting that it is for the enhancement of Russia, no matter how rational/devoted your hatred for Russia is.
It's not that Russia is behind everything, it's just that Russia is a key part of their plan to establish a global kleptocracy ruled by the ultra wealthy
They feel like their plan can be more easily accomplished with a Russian empire than with a free Ukraine
establish a global kleptocracy ruled by the ultra wealthy
That is not serious. US kelptocracy does better with Russophobia propaganda. The actual angle for ending a losing war, is that Trump has asked Putin to "mediate" Iran nuclear deal, which can be code for Russia abandoning Iran.
Everyone on Lemmy knows this... The GOP are so fucking stupid, though.
Just going to repost some translated analytics here. To add another angle
Trump cannot exert economic pressure on Ukraine, and halting military supplies does not have an immediate effect. However, in my opinion, his most significant leverage is political. This factor could play a key role in forcing Ukraine into a peace agreement.
It’s important for understanding the context of why the U.S. needs this. For those who don’t want to read the full post, I’ll briefly summarize: The U.S. needs to contain China, which means preventing a China-Russia alliance. However, the U.S. lacks the financial resources, and due to this, Trump wants to scale back historical support for Europe.
Trump's declared foreign policy goals extend far beyond Ukraine. His aim is to restructure the entire global order and dismantle the foundational principles established during the Yalta Conference, which are now completely outdated.
Accordingly, a warming of U.S.-Russia relations is a completely natural and logical process from the standpoint of U.S. interests. And this should happen independently of Ukraine. However, as long as the war continues, Trump wants to link these processes together—essentially trading concessions and a war freeze in exchange for lifting sanctions and resetting relations. But this is not a strict prerequisite.
This is directly evident from Trump's rhetoric—he does not tie improved relations to specific actions from Russia, such as admitting guilt or paying reparations. On the contrary, Reuters has already reported that Trump has instructed the State Department and the Treasury to prepare a list of sanctions that could be lifted soon. While this likely won’t involve anything major at first, certain individuals could see sanctions removed. However, this in itself is an important signal: Ukraine is being separated from U.S.-Russia relations. For now, Trump does not want to make concessions in advance while negotiations are ongoing.
Yet, if the deal collapses due to Ukraine, then U.S.-Russia relations will develop without considering Ukraine at all, solely based on American interests. It seems that this mechanism was already set in motion after a White House dispute—CNN reports that preparations for a Putin-Trump meeting have been accelerated. Additionally, a second round of talks in Saudi Arabia is expected soon, where the focus is likely to be more on U.S.-Russia economic cooperation rather than Ukraine.
Any real steps in this direction will effectively lead to the EU lifting its own sanctions. Even now, secondary sanctions are more problematic than the primary ones. Countries like Turkey were willing to bypass restrictions, but Biden tightened the screws. Trump, however, doesn't even need to formally lift sanctions—he can just turn a blind eye to violations by third countries.
At the same time, if the U.S. officially lifts sanctions, Europe will have little choice but to follow suit. Many companies left the Russian market voluntarily, as a gesture of goodwill, without being legally required to do so. As a result, they could begin returning once their governments give a quiet green light—publicly condemning the move, but privately claiming they can't interfere because private companies are free to act in a democracy and capitalist system.
Right now, the only hope for hawks in Ukraine and the EU is to prolong the war, expecting that Russia will collapse under economic pressure, forcing Putin to negotiate from a position of weakness. However, if sanctions are lifted, this already uncertain scenario will become highly unlikely, making further war pointless for Ukraine. This would force Kyiv to either accept a far worse peace deal than what’s currently on the table or continue fighting alone, without any realistic hope of achieving what could be called a victory.
Once you realize he's stupid, it all makes sense.
When he built Trump Tower back in the 1980s, Jackie Kennedy was New York City's most beloved resident. She was famous for her efforts to save Grand Central Station and her love of great old buildings.
Trump personally promised the head of the biggest museum in New York that he'd preserve the façade of the building he was demolishing to put up his Tower. He lied and razed the place to the ground.
The most desperate ass kisser on the planet threw away a chance to get in good with America's living Queen because he was greedy and stupid.
I bet he got a change order from the contractor, and upon seeing that saving the facade would coat more than zero dollars, said fuck that noise. Being greedy in petty ways is surprisingly common for people who already live a hyper-privileged post-scarcity existence.
Here's the entire story. Spoiler = John Barron makes a cameo
That was a pretty stupid maneuver, agreed.
It’s also worth noting that one of Trump’s 6 bankruptcies was from a Casino in Atlantic City. You have to be especially stupid to go bankrupt running a casino (on borrowed money of course). They’re literally rigged for profiting the owners.
Bankrupting a casino just screams “hey we’re laundering money over here.” I think you’d have to actively sabotage a casino to make it fail.
Yeah, money laundering has clearly been a staple of Trump’s career. What started with selling condos in trump tower to Russian oligarchs after he couldn’t borrow money from banks anymore due to his tendency to default on loans, has now turned into something much worse unfortunately.
His latest scams with crypto just hurt to watch…hundreds of millions just stolen from his trusting followers.
Perhaps the biggest failing of the Dems during Biden’s term (when there was still time for justice) was refusing to investigate Trump’s financial crimes and ties to Russian monied interests. They could have nailed him to the wall so easily there, but the investigation likely would have uncovered many more elites who are profiting the same way, so of course we can’t have that.
What are the trumpers saying about losing money on his cryptosystem scams? Do they realise at that point that he's an asshole?
yup. this is one of the conspiracy theories I whole hardheartedly believe. There is no specific, smoking gun, proof that I know of for this but although he sometimes talk tough in his back and forth things, his actions are always super favorable for putin specifically. defund ukraine, stop russian sanctions, the general fucking up of us systems.