Josh wrote: ↑Thu Sep 28, 2023 5:53 pm
Bootstrap wrote: ↑Thu Sep 28, 2023 5:43 pm
Yes, he made that claim.
But when Russia invaded Ukraine the first time, in 2014, under Trump's watch, Trump repeated Kremlin propaganda, saying, "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were." He also praised Putin for doing "an amazing job of taking the mantle" when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Crimea has been crucial in this war, it is the naval base that Russia relies on to block Ukraine in. And the bridge they built to Crimea is a critical supply line for arms. That's all in Ukrainian territory taken under Trump.
So if Trump praised Russia and did nothing when they invaded Ukraine the first time, why should I believe it would be different the second time around?
And what exactly would he have done to prevent the second invasion? How is that different from what he did to prevent the first invasion in 2014?
Wasn't Obama the President in 2014?
Obama: Putin invades Crimea (and wins) in 2014.
2016 - 2020 was an unusual time in America's recent history: no wars, no invasions, but a peace treaty was brokered in the Middle East. Putin did not engage in any expansion.
Biden: Putin invades Novorossiya (and is still there) in 2020.
Putin may want to make sure candidates like Obama and Biden keep winning, as they seem to be a prerequisite for his expansionism.
One can certainly make the argument that the less than vigorous response to the Russian invasion in 2014 by both the Obama Administration and the EA/NATO encouraged Putin to try and take another bite out of the apple in 2022. Many people have made that argument.
I expect the larger context in 2014 was that both the US and NATO were engaged in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq in 2014 and didn't have the appetite to engage in yet another conflict. The US and Europe did sanction Russia for the invasion of Crimea and incursions into the Donbass in 2014 but to a much weaker extent than they did in 2022.
In any event, 2016 to 2020 wasn't any sort of period of peace.
The US was directly engaged in both Syria and Afghanistan during that entire time, spending tens of billions and having troops deployed to conflict zones in each of those countries. The US was also involved in various proxy wars in Africa during this time as well.
In addition, the US was directly engaged in a proxy war in Yemen during 2016 to 2020 by virtue of providing Saudi Arabia hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weaponry that was being used in Yemen. That is really no different from today when we are sending weapons to Ukraine. In both cases it is US weaponry being used in a foreign war in which US soldiers are not directly engaged.
The fact that Ukraine is in Europe and Yemen is mostly out of sight in the Arabian Peninsula probably explains why the war in Yemen under Bush got far less attention.