"My impression is that Russia would have settled for very little in the beginning, like an honest Minsk agreement."
>>I can certainly agree with that.
I will wait to see what the reaction is inside Russia, by prominent influencers and perhaps by Putin himself. Trump has basically thrown down the gauntlet. I don't know if Putin can ignore Trump's taunts, as he too has a home audience to please, and political opposition forces to worry about. There is also the issue of Russian leadership and Russian respect to uphold, among Russian allies and enemies. So far, Putin has studiously and diplomatically avoided commenting on some of Trump's statements. It's obvious Russia has been trying to deflect and even agreeing with some of Trump's provocative statements, seemingly trying to play up to his ego. One example is Putin publicly agreeing with Trump, that had he been President, the war with Ukraine would never have started. That probably pleased Trump at the time, for a while.
But, Trump saying that Russia is a paper tiger, fighting aimlessly etc., -- not even Putin can agree with that. What Trump has done is to shame and push Putin into a corner, push him to make a greater war effort, one which will be highly profitable for the US military industrial complex.
But, who knows. Maybe tomorrow Trump will say "Putin is a great guy I've known him for a long time". |
