Russia begins moving troops into eastern Ukraine

[CKwi88]

(02-27-2022, 07:50 PM)Dill Wrote: Former CIA director John Brennan said something like the bolded on a Sunday news show this morning. 

I think that whoever was president likely played a minor role in Putin's decision to invade. 

Obama hit Russia with sanctions for Crimea, and Trump/Flynn wanted to roll them back.
Putin surely expected Biden would do at least what Obama did, while he could reasonably speculate Trump would have to be forced by Congress and his own Cabinet to do what Biden and Obama did willingly. When Biden was elected a "window was closing" perhaps.  (to borrow a phrase from Brennan). 

If Putin did perceive Biden as "weak" then he miscalculated, as most of the world and "the left" in the US rallies behind Biden and Ukraine.

To most who have been following Putin's writings and speeches over the last 14 years, there is evidence of a growing irrationality, which especially spills out in his talk of Ukraine not being a real country and lead by a Nazi.
The former US Ambassador, McFaul, has spoken of his increasing isolation from people and weeding out of advisors willing to speak truth to power. Reminiscent of Saddam Hussein in 1990. 

If Putin miscalculated anything I think it is first and foremost the Ukrainian resistance. In second place Europe's coming together. Also very muted support from his allies (read: China). If China doesn't save Russia's ass economically, Russia is going to be a gigantic version of North Korea. After all that any perceptions on the US. I get we're on a US message board, but all this talk about Biden/Trump and Russia is typical American egocentricity at its best (worst?) In the grand scheme of things, the US is still very much recovering to our former standing as a true global leader, a standing which has very much been in flux since our own failed imperialistic shenanigans of the early 21st century.