• DaddleDew@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    The stupid thing is that the unified West had no reason to fear Putin’s hollow threats until Trump started doing everything he can to destroy what makes the West strong. He wants to roll over in front of Russia and make the US Putin’s bitch.

    The West won’t roll over like him though. They’ll strengthen their alliances against Russia and will become something far stronger. It just won’t involve the US anymore.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Trump is afraid of putin because of the shit he has on trump. Trump is a russian asset, there is no doubt about it.

    • wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Trump has been a money launderer for Putin for the past 3 decades. Trump’s entire reason to own international resorts is to use them for laundering money. It’s easy. Build a huge resort, say it’s full even when it is not, and it just so happens to be that half the guests paid in cash. Well, the cash guest, Putin and his oligarchy bros, said “Keep this up or we will ruin you”. So the choice is to make money or lose it all/get killed. Pretty easy choice right?

      Whether or not he’s a pedo who did illegal shit on camera is another story

      Fast forward to today.

  • sndmn@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    Putin may or may not have video proof of Trump raping a child but Trump sure acts like Putin might.

    • Spacehooks@reddthat.com
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      2 days ago

      After all this im scared that if something like that was released let’s say tomorrow third of country would not care.

    • EmptySlime@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 days ago

      I still kinda want it to be the “pee tape” everyone was speculating about last time around. Because that’s the funniest possible piece of kompromat I can think of that Putin could have on ole Donnie Boy. Realistically though considering his longstanding friendship with Epstein…

      • dickalan@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        That sounds like some deliberately, misleading propaganda dropped by Trump side to gaslight people and convince them any further Tape would be a fake one if it wasn’t that specific pee tape

      • drhodl@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I doubt that Hitlerpig would even be embarrassed by a pee tape. He’d probably be proud of it. If Putain has anything on Hitlerpig that Hitlerpig is legitimately embarrassed or afraid of, then it must be legitimately bad/evil. My money is on kids being involved…

        • futatorius@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          He’d want to hide anything that shows him in a subordinate role, so there might be video of him bottoming in some particularly humiliating way. He’d also want to hide anything involving rape of minors. He’s depraved enough to have done either or both.

      • RainaLillius@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        I’m not sure why you assume it’s one or the other. My money is on both. Probably has a whole library to choose from…

        • EmptySlime@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 days ago

          Less assuming it is one or the other than guessing which one seems more likely of the two. Probably I’m hoping that it’s just the pee tape because it’s the most funny option I’ve seen laid out. That all of this stems from an act that in and of itself registers at “okay, that’s kind of weird” but isn’t like omg your life is over y’know?

      • dhork@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I’ve always figured the pee tape doesn’t really exist. But that doesn’t stop the Russians from spreading rumors about it, anyway. It’s another way to get into Trump’s head. It stokes his paranoia even further.

        • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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          3 days ago

          I thought the pee tape didn’t exist either, but then a Russian Call Girl was able to place Manafort on Russian Oligarch Derapaska’s yacht, because she was there, and then she claimed to be the person that brokered the underage prostitutes in the Pee Video. Her story about Manafort on the yacht turned out to be true, and Manafort was convicted, so she seems to have some credibility.

          For those who don’t know what the Pee Pee Tape really is, supposedly HitlerPig was gifted a couple of underage prostitutes, and he wanted them to pee on the bed that the Obamas slept in when they visited Moscow as president.

          Apparently they didn’t pee on him, so it isn’t that sort of kompromat. It’s more him directing the scene, and taking great pleasure in them peeing on a bed that Obama happened to sleep in once. Weird.

        • jaybone@lemmy.zip
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          3 days ago

          He’s done a lot worse than peepee tapes and his cult still follows him, and no judge will sentence him. This is why I don’t think the pee tapes exist.

  • Photuris@lemmy.ml
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    4 days ago

    I abhor Putin, but he is a legit badass hard motherfucker; whereas Trump is pudding by comparison.

    Really, I’m shocked, daily, that so many Americans have rallied around this guy, McRib Bonespurs over here, as their populist “tough guy.” It’s so goddamned weird.

    • mvlad88@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Not really a shocker for me tbh, most Americans that I met (and I worked in several US companies so I met some) were insecure loudmouths. Sure some of them were very good at their job but when talking to them they behaved like they invented hot water.

      I’m contrast, in my part of the world we have a saying which translated would be “shuts up and does/makes”.

      Until now Putin did, Trump on the other hand is just making noise.

  • plyth@feddit.org
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    3 days ago

    How can the American elite suppress workers with ease but they are helpless now that their president is controlled by Russia?

    Nobody with power is acting on this, or any of the policies that destroy the economy.

    What is the compromat that Trump has on the thousand American billionaires?

    One billionaire financing the organization of a general strike would be enough.

    Why does that not happen?

    • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      He’s also got everyone in power. You think they only got Trump in his pocket. We would need a complete purge of congress on both sides

      • plyth@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        He. The one whose name we don’t speak. Putin?

        Russia lost in Syria. There is no way Putin is in control.

      • plyth@feddit.org
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        3 days ago

        What’s the plan? The idea of those stupid freedom cities can’t blind them all.

        • SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          Money and power for the rich, and skint and subservient poor.

          Be interesting to see how long it lasts.

          • plyth@feddit.org
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            2 days ago

            That’s not a plan. The power of the USA are their natural resources and the drive of its population. If people stop believing, progress will stop like in the USSR and China will take over.

              • plyth@feddit.org
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                2 days ago

                Yes, I would think so. But then there must be a plan, a convincing plan that is more advanced than enslaving everybody, all the while nobody is leaking it.

                I am not happy with any explanation so far.

    • MuskyMelon@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 days ago

      A heavily militarized Rambo circle-jerking police force more than happy to unleash the dogs of war is a pretty good deterrent.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        pretty much every cop is a right wing fashy thug, too.

        Have to be.

        anyone else would be too educated, too moral, and to much a threat against the institutional corruption.

      • plyth@feddit.org
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        3 days ago

        Will the police side with Trump if the CEO of Ford, Boeing or McDonalds support the strike? (on behalf of the owners)

        But even if it is only one billionaire, there is no need to confront the police. Unlike before people don’t have to meet but can organize online. If everybody stays home, there is no threat from the police.

        Besides, why would the police side with a Russian asset?

        It doesn’t make sense. All the rich old men grew up with Russia being bad. Just the president being compromised should make them act. The president actively dismantling their power in the world is beyond accepable. And yet, nothing happens.

        • futatorius@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          All the rich old men grew up with Russia being bad.

          They grew up with communism being bad. Russia stopped being (nominally) communist a generation ago. The greedheads are fine with a fascist kleptocratic Russia.

        • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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          Unlike before people don’t have to meet but can organize online. If everybody stays home, there is no threat from the police.

          The problem is that to do anything of consequence, those people need to leave their homes and take action. And they’d rather juat sit at home and continue “organizing” online…

          • plyth@feddit.org
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            2 days ago

            No, they don’t have to leave for consequences. If they don’t leave and don’t go to work, civilization will stop and Trump cannot continue. Then if there is a joined demand for a new election, it either gets ugly if Trump tries to sit it out or a new election will happen.

            But there needs to be a billionaire leader who pays for the expenses because people on their own are stuck in their routines.

            • tmyakal@lemm.ee
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              2 days ago

              What expenses? If everyone is on a general strike, there’s nowhere to spend money.

              And honestly, your suggestion sounds like we’re trying to trade one evil billionaire dictator for another evil billionaire dictator on the off chance that the new one won’t destroy the global economy as thoroughly. That’s not actually an improvement.

              • plyth@feddit.org
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                People have to be convinced to go on a general strike. USA spent $5 billion in Ukraine, so with 10 times the population it will take $50 billion to get things going.

                You always trade billionaires. People don’t act on their own so there is always essentially one rich group fighting another.

                The fascinating thing is that there is no billionaire group opposing Trump. So there must be a convincing argument to keep everybody in line.

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Cops will absolutely side with Trump over billionaires.

          Trumps giving cops everything they want… which is a country where they can do whatever the fuck they want, without repercussion. They’ll fight and die for him against anyone and anything else.

          • plyth@feddit.org
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            3 days ago

            There must be diversity among billionaires.

            Also most of them are losing money and will lose even much more money. If it is all about money they must do something now.

            • mriguy@lemmy.world
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              You perceive your place in the world relative to others. Billionaires have reached the level where there is literally no amount of money that will make their lives better than they are. So the only way left for them to feel they are making progress is to make everybody else’s life worse. That’s what they are doing now. As more and more people in the world in the world become food insecure, homeless and scared, they can continue to feel like their lives are getting better. Trump is helping them acheive that - the amount of money they are losing doesn’t meaningfully impact them.

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                3 days ago

                If China takes over, China will most likely end hunger and they will dominate all markets. Even if billionaires thrive on misery, they will not thrive for long if the USA declines.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 days ago

    Mr Trump pledged to end the war on “day one” of his presidency. And as the conflict drags on, the giant question mark hovering over western Europe is how long it will take for the US to make good on its promise.

    Why do journalists insist in taking Trump’s “promises” seriously in any capacity? An otherwise good article tainted by these two ridiculous fucking sentences. He won’t make good on his promise because he is incapable due to being fucking terrified of Putin the thing the fucking article is about.

    However, she is equally scathing of European leaders for not coming to terms with this new reality sooner. “The fact that the Europeans are so shocked by his deference to Putin actually shows that they haven’t also done their homework,” she said.

    She even literally spells it out later in the article but I guess the journalist wasn’t listening.

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        Yes, they absolutely should. But I have yet to hear any mainstream media call Hitlerpig a liar, even as they kept count of his 50,000+ recorded and demonstrable LIES, during his first “presidency”.

        • nthavoc@lemmy.today
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          That’s because the money is too good in ratings and ad revenue. The media doesn’t want a boring presidency. They eat all those lies up and just rile up the public to make more money off angertainment. The Donvict is their golden goose of scandalous content they crave so much. Why do you think they help get him elected with all that extra air time?

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        Mr Trump pledged to end the war on “day one” of his presidency. And as the conflict drags on, the giant question mark hovering over western Europe is how long it will take for the US to make good on its promise.

        That’s absolutely not calling out a lie. They should call them out when they lie in a much more forceful manner than this.

        • JTskulk@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          “Person promised to do X and hasn’t done it” sounds like calling out a lie to me. You just want different wording. Even maga and their one shared brain cell understands what is being said here.

      • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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        You got it: call them out to their stupid faces when they lie. They don’t do this so they can maintain their precious “access.” How well did they work out for non right wing shitbags this time around?..

        Here we are over a year later, and they’re still providing cover for Trump with an air of legitimacy. Like “gee, if we just point out the error of his ways surely Trump will do the right thing and come through. And if not, his base will see reason and vote him out next time!”

        It’s pure unadulterated hubris, and it’s costing us the nation.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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    4 days ago

    Putin, who has maintained the same “tight team” of top diplomats around him for the past 25 years, dispatched his Stanford-educated economic adviser Kirill Dmitriev, former ambassador to Washington Yuri Ushakov, and Sergei Lavrov, his comic villain foreign minister, to recent talks in Saudi Arabia.

    “These guys are really skilled diplomats. They all speak absolutely excellent English,” said Hill. “They can talk the hind leg off a donkey. They can turn you around in circles. They’ve got an answer for everything.”

    Batting for the US are Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, Mike Waltz, Mr Trump’s erstwhile national security adviser, and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, a former real estate dealer. Between them, they have less than a year’s-worth of cabinet-level experience.

    So, what does the dancing Russian bear make of these three cotillion debutantes? “They’re eating the neophytes on the US side for dinner,” said Hill.

    I saw Hill’s testimony and she is extremely credible and intelligent. This is her bottom line, and it is that we are fighting global information and geopolitical warfare against a merciless and shrewd veteran with a clown car circus act.

    • futatorius@lemm.ee
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      She’s a neocon, a student of scumbag Reaganite or Cheneyoid cold warriors like Richard Pipes. One of the only good things to be said for her is her recognition that Trump is an idiot. But she’s not really all that different in that regard than John Bolton, though less inclined to say outrageous things to get headlines.

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    3 days ago

    Who thinks they’ve actually spent the money to Maintain thier nukes. Try it I say. All these scumbags can go hide in thei bunkers and their wealth will Mean jack squat. They’ll need to fend off the hordes of people who will rip them limb from limb before the end of the day.

    • mriswith@lemmy.world
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      There’s a very high chance that most of them no longer work. Although if even just 5% of the ones deployed are working, that’s still over 80. Which is more than enough to start WW3.

      And it’s almost unthinkable that they haven’t kept strict maintenance on at least a few.

    • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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      Of all those nukes, about 50% just wouldn’t respond if launched. They’d just sit there. Poor maintenance, some base commander in the past 6 decades sold the payload or other gear, they’ve never been tested or updated, they’ve been stripped for scrap metal, etc.

      Of the other 30%, half of those might detonate in the silos, which would be hilarious, and most of the rest would probably flame out in flight, and crash unpredictably. A few might actually fly properly, but not many.

      Call his bluff, and let him launch. If he does, whether they fly or not, bomb Moscow into the stone age (conventional bombs, he’d probably irradiate his own country by then anyway, with their garbage bombs), take over the entire nation and let the UN manage it for a while, and hunt down Putin and his fortune.

  • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    What a weird article. It bounces from hyperbole to real discussion to Fiona Hill’s childhood.

    But as for ww3, lol no. Russia is spent. They can make a mess of Ukraine and Central Asia but they are spent.