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U.S.-Russia relations are at possibly their lowest point since the fall of the Soviet Union, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
Why it matters: So it's fitting that President Biden and Vladimir Putin will sit down in Geneva, the site of Ronald Reagan's first meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985.
The White House has rejected the idea that the summit is a "reward" for Putin, noting that Biden proposed the meeting "because of our countries' differences, not in spite of them."
Those differences are considerable:
The U.S. intelligence community reported in March that Putin authorized influence operations in 2020 aimed at damaging Biden's candidacy. A day later Biden set off a mini diplomatic crisis by calling Putin a "killer."
The Biden administration has levied sanctions against Russia for the massive SolarWinds hack and the poisoning and jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And yet Putin is undeterred.
In the past two months, Russia has engaged in a menacing military buildup on Ukraine's border, launched a new wave of cyberattacks and strangled Navalny's opposition network.
But even with the latest provocations, Biden has vowed to seek to work with Russia on areas of mutual concern.
Both sides have sought to downplay expectations for the summit.
A successful outcome might be simply arresting the deterioration of relations and establishing some modicum of stability as the U.S. pivots to its top geopolitical priority: China.
Yeah..
What's about it?
Where was the US government earlier, and what was it thinking with ( instead of its head?)
P.S. Judging by the mentioning of the "Russian menacing military build-up on Ukraine's border, without mentioning the main perpetrator - Ukrainian Nazi battalions pushing against the aforementioned border, let me guess - this is an excerpt from some official propaganda drivel? ( Since you didn't post the link to it.)
Yeah..
What's about it?
Where was the US government earlier, and what was it thinking with ( instead of its head?)
P.S. Judging by the mentioning of the "Russian menacing military build-up on Ukraine's border, without mentioning the main perpetrator - Ukrainian Nazi battalions pushing against the aforementioned border, let me guess - this is an excerpt from some official propaganda drivel? ( Since you didn't post the link to it.)
I don't do drivel. No secret it's from Axios. It's the Russian part of a longer piece on Biden's foreign policy. The version I get in my email is formatted differently, i.e. one long piece, rather than the segment I've pulled from the website. I didn't want to post non-Russian stuff here. You can read the non-Russian stuff by swiping left or right at this link. Not something I could do with the link I received.
I don't do drivel. No secret it's from Axios. It's the Russian part of a longer piece on Biden's foreign policy. The version I get in my email is formatted differently, i.e. one long piece, rather than the segment I've pulled from the website. I didn't want to post non-Russian stuff here. You can read the non-Russian stuff by swiping left or right at this link. Not something I could do with the link I received.
Not you, but I you quote something, that's very telling;
Quote:
"In the past two months, Russia has engaged in a menacing military buildup on Ukraine's border, launched a new wave of cyberattacks and strangled Navalny's opposition network."
It has been already explained here earlier, that it's a pure propaganda trick; to keep silence about the Ukrainian troops build-up on the border of the LDNR and their violation of the cease-fire agreement, while pointing at Russian inevitable response.
Russia has engaged in a menacing military buildup on Ukraine's border
Russia was reacting to a threat. It also appears the all of the equipment they brought with them to the Ukrainian border areas has found a home there as has the air defense and theatre capable missile equipment. There seems to be a rotation of 10000 or so troops every few weeks looking after this equipment and playing with it. Russia put 150,000 well equipped troops there back in March in just a couple of weeks. Since the equipment is already in place it's said they can throw 60,000 troops across the border where they choose in just a few days or so. Keep in mind, that doesn't mean just the DNR/LNR that's the ENTIRE Russian Ukrainian border. From south of Bryansk to the Crimea which has a full division of airborne there alone.
It's also said a lot of troops are circulating in and out of the DNR/LNR for whatever reason.
Russia was reacting to a threat. It also appears the all of the equipment they brought with them to the Ukrainian border areas has found a home there as has the air defense and theatre capable missile equipment. There seems to be a rotation of 10000 or so troops every few weeks looking after this equipment and playing with it. Russia put 150,000 well equipped troops there back in March in just a couple of weeks. Since the equipment is already in place it's said they can throw 60,000 troops across the border where they choose in just a few days or so. Keep in mind, that doesn't mean just the DNR/LNR that's the ENTIRE Russian Ukrainian border. From south of Bryansk to the Crimea which has a full division of airborne there alone.
It's also said a lot of troops are circulating in and out of the DNR/LNR for whatever reason.
"We are going back home, we've defended our right;
We are accepting the last battle, we are going home.
We want to live as one family ( with Russia,) as it used to be,
So that the white angel would protect us with his wings;
We want all holy Russia to stand by us; we want to go home."
That's the kind of songs they are singing over there.
Overall when I am listening to their news, ( DNR,) it's all about upcoming integration, the school exams being brought to Russian standards ( so that the graduates could choose whether to proceed to the Russian universities or to enter the local ones,) the "Russian companies investing in local factories/mines," and so on.
Their news give the old Soviet feel, but then again I already said that Donbass is very "blue collar" region, very socialist in its nature, so Putin didn't want them in the first place.
I don't know how happy they are going to be in corporate Russia ( not that I envy them,) but it beats living under the bleating idiots - that's for sure.
There's no way I could agree with you more. I expect there will be some turbulence but I really do think they're on the right side of history. Russia is still growing and changing but for the better.
An article from a Smolenck news site. This is a pattern I'm seeing all over Russia. Slow steady growth. Smolenck is one of those areas where everyday people are not rich and people are not poor, just kind of average. Good streets and bad streets, bad buildings and remodeled buildings. They had a huge fight some years ago in the city about which way to go on improvements in the city. New and modern/progressive or to keep the historic nature intact. Conservative. The conservative side won and they decided to keep the old character of the city and not outwardly modernize everything.
The word you are looking for is stagnation. That is Russia since 2014 and "growth and changing" is about the opposite of the state of things there lately. It is up to Putin to reform the country if he wants real growth to return he can't rely on increased oil production to do it like what happened a decade ago. The workforce is shrinking too.
Rule of law, private property rights, accountable government, stop attacking neighbors, harboring cyber criminals etc etc. This can bring real growth and increase the standard of living. Is it going to happen under a Russian autocracy bent on its own survival? Without any pressure to deliver I highly doubt it but am hopeful.
The word you are looking for is stagnation. That is Russia since 2014 and "growth and changing" is about the opposite of the state of things there lately. It is up to Putin to reform the country if he wants real growth to return he can't rely on increased oil production to do it like what happened a decade ago. The workforce is shrinking too.
Rule of law, private property rights, accountable government, stop attacking neighbors, harboring cyber criminals etc etc. This can bring real growth and increase the standard of living. Is it going to happen under a Russian autocracy bent on its own survival? Without any pressure to deliver I highly doubt it but am hopeful.
Blah blah blah blah.. In other words, until you once again begin to exchange real resources and values for such magnificent glass beads. You will be bad and everything will be wrong for you. We'll scream about it as hard as we can ))) Isn't it? ))))
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( Since you didn't post the link to it.)
