I think all of this could have been avoided long before Trump if the US (and Europe) would have at least TRIED to work on things with Russia rather than decade after decade of the "Red Menace" enforced by crippling sanctions and embargoes and tariffs that have lead to Russia's struggling economy, which is one of the prime reasons they are such assholes to everyone around them. Russia was backed into a corner, and they compensated. Are they blameless? No. Are they guilty of staggering human rights abuses? Yes. Are they guilty of more underhanded destabilizing shit than i think anyone will ever know in this lifetime? Yes. Do i think it could have been avoided? YES. But this is all 20/20 hindsight and it's too late now, and most of the civilized world is having to deal with a growing, antagonistic power that they helped create. Remove Trump from the equation and the problem doesn't go away. Do i think we should give them a pass because of all of this? No. They should be held accountable for whatever they may have done behind the scenes, and if it all leads straight to Trump and his pals, fine, whatever. I'm not going to cry about it one bit. But the point is that if not Trump, it would be someone else. And someone else after that, and someone else after that. We can attack the point man all day, and it won't fix the underlying issue of our shitty relations with another world power.Originally Posted by Jinsai
