Trump of course is not a politician, and by now all of these other national leaders know better than to treat Trump's remarks as if he were some sort of tchnocrat/lawyer/politician. In this context, the term "foe" means geopolitical competitor, which all of these entities clearly are.
On the question of whether Trump should ask Putin to extradite the Russian (cyberwarfare) military officers in response to these indictments. If the Russians were to correctly identify 12 CIA officers who had committed cyberwarfare crimes against Russia, and Putin agreed to extradite the 12 miltary officers indicted by the Mueller probe, if we would extradite the 12 CIA officers identified and indicted by the Russians to Russia, should we agree? Clearly the problem here is that these cyberwarfare actions - instigated by us, the Russians, the Chinese, and many other countries - are clearly acts of national aggression, which need to be responded to at the national level and not at the individual level. What these actions are not are the acts of rogue individuals, which is what pursuing indictments against these individuals implies. Cyberwarfare - carried out by nation-states against other nation-states - is a HUGE problem, which needs to be addressed at the nation to nation level. It is not something that can be adressed or resolved by trying to sanction individual members of adversarial nation's cyberwarfare related intelligence services. Lastly, anyone on television or elsewhere who is advocating the extradition of these Russian military officers is apparently ignorant of these issues and should be regarded as the ignoramouses that these people clearly are.
"Clearly the problem here is that these cyberwarfare actions - instigated by us..." Wow. I remember when republicans, led by Ronald Reagan stood up to russian aggression. Now?
Even *if* true (and trust me, I know other national leaders simply ignore and ridicule what trump says), in the same breath that trump called the European Union are biggest foe, he said mother country russia was only a foe some of the time.
The lengths people like MojoMan will go to in an attempt to defend trump's bizarre and dangerous behavior is truly astonishing. Reagan must be rolling over in his grave.
It has been pointed out before that cyber warfare has been ongoing. Until recently the targets were military or by some nations economic. It has not been used against democratic elections until Russia did that to the United States. It isn't something that happens all the time by nations on both sides.
Did Stalin help FDR win the election? Also when Stalin met with FDR (with Churchill in the room FYI), it was to strategize conquering Hitler and the Nazi’s. Not to strategize around FDR’s political and legal strategy to counter a scandal. Bolton is really sh$&ing on history by making this stupid comparison.
One reason why we have not addressed this forcefully in a public way before now is that we engage in a certain amount of this sort of conduct ourselves. Like it or not, this severely undercuts our moral authority on this issue. Here is a list of some of the known instances of the US interfering in other nation's elections over the years. Surely there are others. But these at least are documented. 2016: UK (verbal intervention against Brexit) 2015: Israel (Obama admin funded opposition to Netanyahu with taxpayer dollars) 2014: Afghanistan (effectively re-writing Afghan constitution) 2014: UK (verbal intervention against Scottish independence) 2012: Russia (Encouraging protests and opposition groups) 2011: Libya (providing support to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi) 2009: Honduras (ousting President Zelaya) 2006: Palestine (providing support to oust Prime Minister Haniyeh) 2005: Syria (providing support against President al-Assad) 2003: Iran (providing support against President Khatami)- 2003: Iraq (ousting of President Hussein) 2002: Venezuela (providing support to attempt an overthrow of President Chavez) 1999: Yugoslavia (removing Yugoslav forces from Kosovo) 1994: Iraq (attempted overthrow of President Hussein) 1991: Haiti (ousting President Aristide) 1991: Kuwait (removing Iraqi forces from Kuwait) 1989: Panama (ousting General Noriega) 1983: Grenada (ousting General Austin's Marxist forces) 1982: Nicaragua (providing support 1971: Chile (ousting President Allende) 1967: Indonesia (ousting President Sukarno) 1964: Brazil (ousting President Goulart) 1964: Chile (providing support against Salvador Allende) 1961: Congo (assassination of leader Lumumba) 1958: Lebanon (providing support to Christian political parties) 1954: Guatemala (ousting President Arbenz) 1953: Iran (ousting Prime Minister Mossadegh) 1953: Philippines (providing support to the President Magsaysay campaign) 1948: Italy (providing support to the Christian Democrats campaign) For us to expect the Russians and others to stop interfering in our society in the manner that they have been, we will likely have to commit to reducing our interference into theirs. It is not at all clear that we are committed to exercising that sort of restraint, nor is it clear that it would always be wise for us to do so.
Can anyone explain to me the logic behind Trump praising Russia to this extent? Especially when he is under investigation? Wouldn't you want to lay low?
Trump doesn't give a rip about this investigation, beyond it being a direct afront to his narcissistic perspective of himself. The reason he is praising Russia is the same reason that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did early on. Trump needs Russia's cooperation if he is to achieve certain international objectives. These include, for starters, trying imposing sanctions on North Korea and Iran with a view towards trying to end their nuclear weapons programs, resolving the Syria civil war debacle, and of course renegotiating our nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The vast majority of the Democrat left appears to have lost their minds and forgotten that you don't win friends and influence people by behaving hysterically, acting out like a petulant child, indiscriminately shreiking and calling people names, and trying to harass, bully and assault people. I get it that Trump has a tendency to use some of these same tactics on occassion, which I do not like, but his flattery towards Putin, Teresa May, and pretty much anyone who he is trying to get something from is his effort at diplomacy. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
Honestly I don’t see how you can defend the Russian government. The government in Russia is no more than an organized crime syndicate. A select group of oligarchs control the country at the bidding of Putin. To control his own people Putin has assasinated 100’s of reporters, politicians and businessmen in Russia. He has no issues going into GB and other places to make sure those that expose his corruption and crimes are killed. Russia trained leaders of the Taliban in secret on the art of terrorism on 4-5 years before 9/11... Putin and Russia has privately trained and financed prominent terrorists for years. Putin set up the theatre/apartment attacks so he had an excuse to go to war with Chechnya. Further he has used his own soldiers to act as locals and create criminal acts as an excuse to annex lands or attack other areas. Everyone has blood on their hands to some degree... but the idea that some how Russia has forced to act like they have because of the USA or Europe isn’t anything more than an excuse. Russia under Putin has a desire to regain prominence and power... they will do anything to do that, be it terrorism, violent annexation, murder or suppression of their own people. Is Russia unique in that sense? No, but from the perspective of Western Europe and the USA, Putin shouldn’t be trusted and should be reigned in. Obama underestimated Russia and Trump is doing the same. Russia and the USA are extremely adverse.
The examples you highlighted are not cyber attacks and supporting opposition groups to Putin is great. That's what the U.S. should be doing. That is a positive step.
What Trump did with Teresa May was cowardice. He attacked her when not with her, then denied it, apologized for it, and backed down when he was face to face with her. Trump has yet to make a good diplomatic move.
But of course... Ahead of summit, Trump blames US -- not Putin -- for sour relationship https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/donald-trump-putin-helsinki-summit/index.html
