I had always thought that Carlson is the best journalist in the world.
He had the courage to go to Moscow and to interview the most controversial political personality, according to the average American.
And I underline to the average American, because the average European respects Russian people and their president.
Thoughts?
Putin is an artifact of the Old Soviet, where Russia once had a buffer from the West, after WWII, composed of wide range of Eastern European Counties, like Poland and Ukraine. After the Berlin Wall fell, due to the work of President Ronald Reagan and George Bush I, and after Eastern Europe became independent, Russia was made to feel very insecure, due to the NATO alliance still strong, but without the post war buffer Russia once had.
Putin's rise to power was connected to his hard line paranoia, about the spread of NATO, closer to the Russian Border. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia were invited to begin accession talks at the Alliance's Prague Summit in 2002 and joined NATO in 2004. All seven countries had participated in the MAP. This was under President Bush II.
The West saw the growing NATO as peace keepers in Eastern Europe against Russian expansion, but Russia without a buffer, saw the writing on the wall of a NATO invasion due to its growth east.
Shortly after Obama became President in 2008, he and Hillary tried to open up a relationship with Putin. This was coined the Russian Reset, orchestrated by then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. They all became such buddies for a short time; see below. I often wonder how thing got so bad, that the Putin is now sold as public enemy number, by the same Left, who once massaged his feet?
We don't have many happy Trump and Putin buddy pictures. But now the Left narrative is Trump and Putin had their own private reset button and are also close as white on rice. So what happened to the Obama, Clinton and the Putin honeymoon?
One of the early marriage problems, was connected to the Putin invasion of Crimea. Obama offered no resistance. Obama had no problem starting the Arab Spring War that empower terrorist groups to occupy a good chunk of the Middle East. Crimea almost appeared like a pacification effort for Putin, to offset his nagging complaint of the growing NATO alliance. Crimes is a peninsula below Ukraine in the Black Sea that has strategic value for Russian navel support within South Eastern Europe. Not a bad place to invade Ukraine.
The other aspect of the decline in the Honeymoon, may have been connected to the Hunter Biden Family Business venture in Ukraine with Ukrainian Oligarch; Mykola Vladyslavovych Zlochevsky and his Burisma Energy company. Ukraine had had elections at that time, and the new President, who won had run on anti-corruption. He wanted Ukraine to become part of NATO.
My guess is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, may have been provoked by a misunderstanding of VP Biden's connection to Ukraine. Was VP Biden part of a family influence peddling business, or was he really a double cross Agent of Obama, working to strike a deal with Ukraine, that would put Russia at even more risk? Nobody has considered this last point. Either way, any VP Biden involvement has been denied even with all the circumstantial evidence. It appears nothing is going to happen Biden, suggesting even the Republican House may be giving cover, using an in depth investigation, to coverup something else of National Security relevance.
I thought it quite interesting how bold President of Ukraine,
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy was in demanding money from Biden. What did he know that made him think he would be so bold? He would have been knowledgeable, either way, since Ukraine was and is known as a country of quid pro quo and influence peddling.
Below is a picture of the Russian Invasion which made good use of Crimea. What was the plan from step one?
None of this happed under Trump, which makes you wonder why he was not included; not part of the Swamp ploy. Putin may have been waiting out the clock to get back with his buddies who were offering the offset after the reset. Notice above the blue line seems to include Crimea as part of the invasion plan; Azov Sea and access to the Black Sea.