MC:
As respectfully as I can be, I must disagree with your assertion Trump and Russian President Putin are involved in some unholy alliance.
Imagine the upheaval in the Pentagon or White House had the Russians had placed combat troops in Canada or Mexico and had negotiated economic agreements with Canada and Mexico and these pacts excluded the United States.
What Trump is proposing is an entirely different approach with the Kremlin: After 25 years of ignoring the steady drumbeat of Russian warnings against NATO and the EU expansion growing ever closer to the Russian frontier, the Kremlin finally re-acted.
Do some research into the American chicanery which drove Viktor Yanukovych into exile in 2014 over Yanukovych's desire to strengthen ties to Moscow as opposed to turning to the West. The American meddling caused Yanukovych's flight to Moscow and the West paved the way for a new government in Kiev, backed by the Americans, some of whom are neo-fascists.
It was this last move, driving a democratically-elected leader, Yanukovych, from office which inspired the Kremlin to seize Crimea. Certain NATO and the EU were prepared to offer Ukraine a cushy spot in NATO, the Kremlin swallowed Crimea whole to prevent Ukraine from accepting NATO's bid for membership and allowing the U.S. Navy to park its fleet at Crimean naval facilities.
Anyone think the Kremlin would stand by and watch helplessly as NATO warships blocked Russian access to the Black Sea and to the Mediterranean?
As far as Syria, American policy in the Middle East is partly responsible for the immeasurable suffering endured by the Syrian population. You reference stories seeping out about alleged atrocities committed by Syrian troops which may be true, but American support for Syrian opposition groups is on the same plane. I am not sure if you saw
CNN's Kate Bouldan's teary-eyed presentation about Omran, but it was moving. In it, Bouldan describes the story of Omran as a victim of Russian aggression, and while her oration on behalf of Omran tugged at the heartstrings, Omran's suffering was no different than the Syrian boy beheaded by Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki in July.
The difference? Well, Omran was the unintended victim of the Russian aerial campaign over the skies of Aleppo and Russia is a convenient foil.
Alternatively,
the unnamed Syrian boy executed by the Syrian opposition group Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki is BACKED BY THE CIA.
Tears were shed for Omran, but not a word about the youth butchered, beheaded by the way, by an American-backed rebel group which is every bit as responsible for the bloodletting in Syria.
This is where our friendly-neighborhood-community-organizer-turned president comes into the picture. A man of STAGGERING incompetence, Obama has stood by and allowed carnage to prevail all over the Middle East, preferring to kick the can down the road and let Trump sort out the mess. For beginners, his premature withdrawal from the region helped create a power vacuum in which Sunni group, ISIS, first drew blood.
Second, his feeble "red line," in which he demanded Syria turn over or destroy chemical weapon stockpiles, which he reversed, opened the door for Russian intervention. Tired of American inaction, Putin sided with Russia's old ally, Bashar al-Assad, and has brought the dictator back to his feet.
Last, his refusal to cooperate with the Russians to destroy militant groups and ISIS has influenced Damascus and Moscow's "zero-sum" anti-terror plan in Syria. Since Putin could not obtain any form of cooperation from the U.S., Putin was left with little alternative than to destroy anything which moved on the ground in Aleppo.
Separate from the Syria debacle, the accusation the Russian government is somehow responsible for HRC's electoral loss is utter nonsense. The tantrums thrown by the left in the wake of her loss are so amusing and the attempts to encourage Electoral voters to cast their ballots for a candidate other than the winner are nothing more than the left wanting to claim a scalp.
An utterly deplorable human being and dreadful presidential candidate, HRC has only herself to blame for her electoral loss. When Trump spoke of ending U.S. involvement in multi-lateral trade agreements in favor of bi-lateral pacts, HRC was blabbing about making history as the first female president. When Trump spoke at length about lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% to draw business to America, HRC droned on endlessly about transgender bathrooms.
Quite frankly, other than peeping Toms, perverts and deviants, I don't think anyone gave a flying fu^k about urinals in female bathrooms.
It's difficult to draw crowds when you are attempting to court votes from people who are no better off than they were in 2008. Moreover, American voters are often sensible, but rarely wise. In the 2016 election these sensible voters distinguished one candidate's vision for the country and another candidate's vision for herself. Some noticed HRC didn't concede on Election Day. Well, I have long suspected she broke protocol and refused because the old termagant never planned on losing and, thus, made no contingency plan for a concession speech. Say goodbye to the so-called "Clinton Dynasty." For good measure, the Clinton's 25-year shadow over Washington lasted longer than the 12 years of Hitler's 1,000-year Reich.
As far as the community organizer, he wasn't prepared to be president when elected in 2008 and he learned little on the job. I won't miss his 55-minute finger wags at the SOTU, the 27,000 jobs created per month, nor will I miss his incessant intellectual and moral superiority act. A legacy built on a mound of sand, Obama's term will be largely forgotten to the exception of a handful of intrepid leftist historians willing to risk their reputations burnishing Obama's image.
Regarding our new president, I greet him with immense skepticism, but if he chooses a different tack and plans outreach instead of creating an enemy of Mr. Putin, I'm fine with this. Perhaps extending a hand in friendship and trying to get along with foreign leaders will be to our benefit.
