Summary

Democratic Senator Jack Reed accused Trump of “surrendering to the Russians” as his administration pushes for U.S.-Russia talks over Ukraine.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested Ukraine’s NATO ambitions provoked the war and declined to blame Russia.

Zelenskyy, under pressure, said he would step down for peace if Ukraine gained NATO membership.

The Trump administration denies favoring Russia and claims its strategy brings peace closer without criticizing Putin’s invasion.

  • Paragone@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    He is Putin’s beta/apprentice.

    That is an entirely-distinct reality, with many far-reaching consequences.

    Pretending that he is merely surrendering-to-Russia … is suicide.

  • WatDabney@fedia.io
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    3 days ago

    He’s not “surrendering” to them - he’s actively working for their benefit, as it’s been clear all along he intended to do.

    • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Yes, but he obviously doesn’t care about being called a traitor. He does care immensely about being seen as weak, which this article portrays his actions as.

      • imvii@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        Trump probably owed the money, Putin got a bunch of dirt on Trump via honeypots or documented illegal activity. I suspect now all Putin is saying is “you’re touchable. Play right or the daughter ends up in a rape camp in Siberia.”

        • upsidedown@lemmy.world
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          I don’t think he’d care about the daughter really. He would care though about being shown for a fool he is. And I have no doubt that Trump understands this fully. Putin’s propaganda machine both helped this orange narc get elected and is the means to strip him of it if he misbehaves.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        3 days ago

        With all the blatant proven scandals, straight up convicted felonies, and international crimes, this guy still squats in the Whitehouse. Beyond all sanity, somehow this happened. I seriously wonder what kind of dirt would actually be able to control him at this point.

        It could come out tomorrow that he hired Wagner Group personally to exterminate an entire island of indigenous people to put a golf course on it. There could be documents with his signature and recorded audio of the phone call, and that news would just blend in with the rest of his noise.

        I dunno, I think he just sees other fascists as “fellow businessmen” and has an insatiable lust after his own ego. Like it’s overly simplistic maybe but “He’s just evil.” Seems to be an ample explanation for everything about him…

        • upsidedown@lemmy.world
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          He could get destroyed in public’s eye same way he got created (well to the extent of actually getting to be a president). The propaganda machine that created him could just as well annihilate him.

          He is not the one controlling all the media and more importantly all the internet propaganda.

        • samus12345@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          I’m certain that he owes Russia a lot of money, but now that he’s captured the US government you’d think he wouldn’t care about that any more. As you say, he obviously admires other dictators, but it’s still strange how unwaveringly positive he’s always been toward Putin - it’s not typical of him to never stab an associate in the back.

          • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
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            1 day ago

            Some of what Trump does is against his own interests, and I can’t explain that, but most of the time he’s an opportunist; there’s no point in trying to betray people if they have the power to hurt you back.

            • samus12345@lemm.ee
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              He pointlessly antagonizes other countries with the power to hurt the US economically all the time. I think this is personal - it’s well-known he’s has financial dealings with Russia going back decades. He clearly feels beholden to Putin in a way that he doesn’t seem to with anyone else.

          • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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            2 days ago

            That’s a REALLY good point. It is really strange, since we’ve come to expect him to constantly renege on “the very biggliest best deals” and then say “So what? Winning lol.”

            I can’t recall any time he’s ever put pressure on or even vaguely threatened Pooty either, and half the air out of his face is vague threats at people. Lol

            • samus12345@lemm.ee
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              2 days ago

              It used to be easily explained by him owing so much to him, but Trump’s a full-on dictator now. Maybe kissing Putin’s ass is and old habit that’s hard to break? I can’t see Trump planning for when he’s no longer president and wanting to keep Putin in his good graces for that. Maybe he’s concerned abut his family’s safety? Not because he actually cares about them in and of themselves, but because they’re his legacy, the only way a narcissist like him could care about them.

                • samus12345@lemm.ee
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                  1 day ago

                  This would be a level of restraint and thinking ahead that he’s not capable of. It has to be something more personal and immediate - it’s the only thing narcissists understand.

        • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Evil is a superstition word. Psychology more than explains his behavior. He’s a narcissist and probably has other mental health issues.

          However, he has enough money that he is never forced to address these issues and surrounds himself with people who benefit from manipulating him by using these traits.

          He’ll probably never even realize how dysfunctional he would be as a regular person that has to interact with society to survive.

          • upsidedown@lemmy.world
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            Still, he did achieve his goal of being a president of US not once but twice. He had to make a deal with the devil to achieve it but he did. And if he was totally incompetent even the devil wouldn’t help. And it’s not like his deal has cost him much at all so far.

            I think there is a good chance he’d know how to skirt the law if he’d start at a lower rung too.

          • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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            2 days ago

            Sure, even with its gaps in contemporary understanding, psychology still does explain his behavior.

            What I meant by evil wasn’t to use it as a “superstition word” so much as a philosophical one. I say “he’s evil”, because he’s well aware of the harm, misery, and grief he causes countless people, and not only doesn’t care, he actively accelerates that behavior whenever possible.

            This is a person who enjoys being a villain, a malady, a negative force on this earth that actively avoids not ruining someone’s day if he can help it. Not even to gain some kind of advantage or because he believes it’s “right” in some twisted way. He just literally enjoys being a dick, and will tirelessly seek out the most ruthless way to do so.

            Mustache-twirling cartoon bad guys seem rational by comparison. Like, man, after seeing Musk and Trump, I’d bet He-Man and Skeletor could just talk it out. LOL

            Sure, there’s plenty of rational explanations of thought patterns and pre-existing beliefs behind it, but on a fundamental level, morally, ethically, philosophically, “evil” is a very apt shortcut description for the man and his cohorts.

            But of course, I’m not trying to dive into semantics or write some kind of provable thesis here. Just contributing to conversation. :p

  • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Zelenskyy, under pressure, said he would step down for peace if Ukraine gained NATO membership.

    Nice counter to the ‘Zelenskyy is a dictator’ narrative.

  • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Trump surrendered to the Russians in 1987. He’s just taking Ukraine and the rest of the USA with him this time.

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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          This is just a show to me of how far disconnected I am from reality. I started reading the article, and my brain immediately went “Oh, ok. It’s a bunch of conspiracy theory nonsense. It doesn’t actually make sense, and therefore doesn’t pass the sniff test.”

          It was at that moment, I realized that modern day life itself doesn’t pass the sniff test. There’s been so much bullshit this past 10 years that triggers my bullshit sense. Very regularly I I think to myself that there’s no way Donald Trump would be elected president…but yet he’s been elected president. Twice.

          I’m at the point where I don’t know WHAT to believe now. Is this story bullshit? Maybe. Maybe not. Seems about as legit as anything else in this timeline. We’ve already gone through global pandemics, murder hornets, toilet paper shortages, Los Angeles best being described as “on fire”, and during the presidential debate, they asked trump if he has a concentrated well thought out plan. His response? “I have concepts of a plan”. THAT GUY then proceeded to win the election.

          I’m at a point where I don’t want to be cynical, but it just doesn’t add up for me. HOW did an entire country see THAT display, the same debate he accused people in Ohio of eating cats and dogs, and think “I think I’m gonna vote for that guy”. AND THEN HE WINS THE POPULAR VOTE???

          I don’t want to say it, because I have no proof, where there’s smoke there’s usually fire, but I’m not seeing the usual smoke. Yet I find myself unable to shake this instinctual feeling that the entire process was rigged from the start. I don’t want to be that guy, but that’s how it feels to me. Then you read a story like this, and it kind of lines up with his actions. Who’s to say he WASN’T recruited by Russia 35 years ago? I have no way to argue against that in my own brain when I don’t feel like I have a good grasp on what reality even IS anymore. And that all feels very by design. I don’t like anything going on around me, and if we had a different planet to live on, I’d leave.

          • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I’m at the point where I don’t know WHAT to believe now. Is this story bullshit? Maybe. Maybe not. Seems about as legit as anything else in this timeline. We’ve already gone through global pandemics, murder hornets, toilet paper shortages, Los Angeles best being described as “on fire”, and during the presidential debate, they asked trump if he has a concentrated well thought out plan. His response? “I have concepts of a plan”. THAT GUY then proceeded to win the election.

            This was exactly the goal the entire time. The flood of conspiracy nonsense broke the public’s trust in almost every single reliable institution or source of news. Once that’s done people will believe whatever they agree with and if you flood them with enough narrative supporting your cause they’ll choose to believe you. Welcome to the Russian, Fox News and Republican propaganda strategy, this is how they converted half of voting age Americans into voters for a bankrupt “businessman” who’ll tear apart our entire govt, society and public for a profit.

            Edit: this is why “fake news” was so alarming back in 2016, you’ve got journalists and competent trustworthy people presenting facts then political authorities pop off with “oh that’s fake news, just trust me” and all of a sudden truth no longer matters when it’s inconvenient for your party. Not that truth has mattered much in US politics for the last 75 years, govt and capitalist propaganda has clashed with the reality of life for so long that something like this was inevitable.

  • vga@sopuli.xyz
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    2 days ago

    “under pressure”, where did that come from? Not from the article.

  • rayyy@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The weak, incompetent and confused are easily lead. Putin spent a lot of time looking for this guy.

  • Davel23@fedia.io
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    3 days ago

    To surrender to something don’t you have to oppose it at some point?

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    “Duuuuuuuh!!!” says literally everybody else.

    Seriously, this is NOT news. This has been going on for like 8 years now.

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      This is news because it needs to be broadcast loud and clear to everyone. To fight fascism you need to document and report on everything they do. It needs to be spread far and wide so there’s no misunderstanding of what’s going on.