U.S. officials say Russian government hackers...

[Dill]

(07-09-2017, 04:32 PM)Vlad Wrote: Was that the same thing you said when Hillary offered the Russian Foreign Minister a "reset button" symbolizing the unified resetting of U.S./Russian relations...except you weren't being sarcastic?

During one of the Obama/Romney debates, were you with the crowd that scoffed at Romneys assertion that Russia would pose problems in the future...going along with the imbecile Obamas belief that the Russians were our buddies?

So when Trump makes an honest attempt to mend and improve relations you want to mock? Why?

Pretty easy to explain.

1. I didn't say anything when Hillary offered a reset button, though in hindsight, given circumstances at the time, it was not a bad move. The reset was also while Medvedev was president. not Putin.

2. Romney didn't say Russia would "pose problems." He said Russia was our #1 geopolitical foe. And he said it while Obama was amidst negotiations with the Russians about arms limitations. So no, Obama is not going to say "darn right it is" and then expect cooperation.

3. Something has changed since the debate between Romney and Obama. Putin was a different animal from Medvedev. He was offered some concessions, such as removal of missiles from Poland, but he responded by becoming more aggressive. E.g. he invaded Crimea in 2014. So much for "reset."  Further, under Putin Russia has become more authoritarian, with no effective free press. Meeting Russia halfway did not work

 Then last year, Russia made a concerted effort to interfere with US elections to insure a Trump win. Obama confronted him, kicked out a dozen plus spies, confiscated their property, and imposed sanctions on Russia.

So it is not like Trump would be starting from the same place as Obama/Hillary. And there is no reason to believe Putin would regard a weaker president as anything but an opportunity rather than a "friend."

Worse, Trump has rejected the conclusion of the US Intel services that Russia was behind the interference. He has publicly dissed those services and invited our "greatest geopolitical foe" into the Oval office with recording equipment and practically unsupervised. It's like Russia kicked us in the ass and our leader's response is "who knows who really kicked us in the ass?"; let's let bygones be bygones. Russia could be our friend.

So Trump's "honest attempt" strikes me as a rather bad move. Now that Russia is more authoritarian and has attacked us, and never, under Putin, responded to gestures of friendship, why would we expect this to change under a president ignorant of international relations, willing to reduce sanctions on Russia without concessions, ready to withdraw the US from its position of world leadership, and unable to criticize Putin--while more than ready to criticize his own Intel services and free press? This seems more than just incompetence.