He Wouldn't Mind Musk In There Either
Before the KGB morphed into the FSB, Vladimir, the grandson of Lenin’s and Stalin’s personal cook, Spiridon Putin, worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He later became director of the FSB on his road to becoming dictator of Russia. While serving in the KGB— in the Soviet Union, New Zealand and East Germany— Putin is said to have excelled in the kind of psychological manipulation and manipulation detection that has helped him navigate complex human interactions. He became expert in the use of information manipulation and in spreading disinformation, skills that came naturally to Trump.
Probably his greatest triumph as dictator was in placing Trump into the American presidency, an achievement that spectacularly weakened Russia’s top rival and may prove to have done to America what the fall of the Soviet Union did to Russia. Yesterday Putin waded into the debate over Trump’s criminal charges, provocatively calling the cases against Trump political persecution. “This shows the whole rottenness of the American political system, which cannot claim to teach others about democracy,” Putin said in an appearance at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. “What’s happening with Trump is a persecution of a political rival for political motives.”
Earlier, in the day, Putin kissed up to the world’s richest billionaire, praising Musk after the media widely reported how he had saved the Russian Black Sea fleet by stabbing Ukraine in the back. “As for private business, Elon Musk, he is certainly an outstanding person. I think it will be recognized throughout the world. He is an active, talented businessman.” Mask is the most obvious failure of the capitalist system walking the planet.
Matthew Luxmoore, reporting for the Wall Street Journal, wrote that “Putin’s comments echo repeated statements made by Trump, who just happens to have often publicly criticized U.S. spending on Ukraine” while moving much of the congressional GOP in a decidedly pro-appeasement, pro-Kremlin direction. So why did Putin publicly echo Trump yesterday?
On the day Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February of last year, the former U.S. president called Putin “pretty smart” and criticized the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion. Speaking at a Republican presidential town hall hosted by CNN in May, he said that as president he would be able to resolve the Ukraine war in one day by striking a deal with both sides.
Referring to those comments on Tuesday, Putin said that he welcomed any such initiative. But he said that he didn’t expect any changes in relations between Russia and the U.S., regardless of who is president after November 2024.
Putin has long portrayed the war in Ukraine, which has cost tens of thousands of Russian lives and prompted Western sanctions that have hobbled Russia’s economy, as a broader fight against the U.S.-led Western alliance. In his comments on Tuesday, he said the cases against Trump throw light on domestic tensions in the U.S. that make the country weaker in its standoff with Russia. “They simply exposed their domestic problems,” he said. “And in that sense, if they’re trying to compete with us on something, then it shows who we’re competing with.”
…With the war now in its 19th month, Moscow has been deepening its ties with non-Western countries, especially China. Russia’s economy has become more dependent on China, with trade between the two nations helping to finance Moscow’s war effort.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia for talks with Putin that U.S. officials said could advance ammunition sales aimed at replenishing Russia’s stockpile for the Ukraine war.
Putin defended Russia’s moves to forge alliances.
“We don’t create military alliances, and we don’t make alliances against others,” he said. “We make alliances in the interests of our nations. And that’s how we’ll continue.”
Asked about Moscow’s invasions of Hungary in 1956 and the Czech Republic in 1968 to suppress an anti-Soviet uprising and attempted liberal reforms, Putin said the decision to send tanks into those countries was a mistake.
However, he has stood firm in the face of criticism about his decision to invade Ukraine with tanks, troops and war planes last year, and has repeatedly said everything is going to plan despite the colossal losses Russia has suffered.
Putin said that Russia, which expanded its land mass over centuries through military conquest and now occupies almost 20 percent of Ukraine, has never been a colonizing power.
Getting Trump (and the Russo-Republicans) back into power in America would be the crowning achievement in Putin’s career.
