U.S. GDP is 20.93 trillion. Russian GDP is 1.7 trillion. Why are we messing around w/ Putin at all?

[JoanofArgh]

Is it the nuclear weapons? We give him way too much attention and he loves it. He basks in it. The press can't stop talking about him.


Interesting exchange between Michael McCaul and Gary Kasparov.

Link to tweet

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Should the Russian president opt instead to continue invading countries, mounting hacking and disinformation campaigns, and arresting innocent Russians and Americans, it will be clear that he, not Biden, is responsible for confrontation with the United States. 2/

Biden is also right to try to work with the Kremlin on a limited agenda of mutual interest, particularly on arms control. Even during tense moments of the Cold War, U.S. presidents saw the wisdom in cooperating with their Soviet counterparts to reduce the risk of nuclear war. 3/

Link to tweet

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Thread:

Mike, is this tweet from 2007?! This is what the West has been saying for 14 years. "If Putin keeps doing all these terrible things, THEN.." and he keeps doing them. It's 2021, everyone knows what Putin is.

Every new US administration doesn't press the reset button, they press the snooze button. Putin doesn't reset, he doesn't change, and he won't until someone stands up to him

Putin goes through the same motions with every new democratic leader. They get to act tough for a moment; he gets to stay in power and keep looting Russia, attacking the world order, and his mafia pals live like tsars--in the free world of course.

What are these "democratic forces" to protect in Putin's Russia, in 2021? You can't support democracy and empower the dictator killing it at the same time. Meet Zelensky & Tsikhanouskaya. Meet Nemtsov & Navalny's families. Not their assailant.




I'm not an expert in foreign policy and I suppose there are reasons but I really hate that we're meeting with Putin at all.