You should be able to read this without a paywall — The Untold Story of ‘Russiagate’ and the Road to War in Ukraine.
Invading Ukraine was the plan all along, going back years. According to Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times, this was the plan that Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian agent and Manafort associate, relayed to Paul Manafort in July 2016. Manafort was Trump’s campaign chairman at the time.
Known loosely as the Mariupol plan, after the strategically vital port city, it called for the creation of an autonomous republic in Ukraine’s east, giving Putin effective control of the country’s industrial heartland, where Kremlin-armed, -funded and -directed “separatists” were waging a two-year-old shadow war that had left nearly 10,000 dead. The new republic’s leader would be none other than Yanukovych. The trade-off: “peace” for a broken and subservient Ukraine.
The scheme cut against decades of American policy promoting a free and united Ukraine, and a President Clinton would no doubt maintain, or perhaps even harden, that stance. But Trump was already suggesting that he would upend the diplomatic status quo; if elected, Kilimnik believed, Trump could help make the Mariupol plan a reality. First, though, he would have to win, an unlikely proposition at best. Which brought the men to the second prong of their agenda that evening — internal campaign polling data tracing a path through battleground states to victory….
…But what the plan offered on paper is essentially what Putin — on the dangerous defensive after a raft of strategic miscalculations and mounting battlefield losses — is now trying to seize through sham referendums and illegal annexation. … And the lesson of that meeting is that Putin’s American adventure might be best understood as advance payment for a geopolitical grail closer to home: a vassal Ukrainian state.
Really, truly, this needs to be read.
Truly a must-read article. Reading it and understanding it will take some time. I was talking to a friend yesterday and the republican party was one of the topics we chatted about. That the republican party would have today, a pro-Putin wing, would have been seen as impossible years ago. Now it not only seems to have one, but also to have a controlling one.
You would think republican candidates would make a point of disassociating themselves from such an apparent wing, but few are. At least Liz Cheney maintains a pro-democracy stance and recognizes party problems. The party cannot have two masters. They cannot truly serve Putin and the American people at the same time. Yet they fail to distance themselves from members who have shown themseves to be Putin puppets. Only voters can stop this malignant party mutation. Get it done.
I don't trust TFG, but I did hire a new ranch hand yesterday and I am stoked because the kids are alright.
I've read that voter turnout by young people has been climbing for some years, and I am hopeful – but haven't seen data – that their views are typically more liberal than their elders. Huge numbers reporting "Definitely Will Vote" in this year's election.
I've also been reading how Roe is driving turnout, but mysteriously isn't showing up in the polls. Have read that Republicans have flooded the poll space with bogus polls showing them ahead.
May we all be pleasantly surprised on Nov 9.
I haven’t read it yet – but none of it’s surprising. BTW, Viktor Yanukovych’s mansion is now called The Museum of Corruption, have a look at the lavish lifestyle he set up for himself.
I read the article. Tough piece to write – well researched. A lengthy span of time to cover and a cast of major characters like Lord of the Rings. Some things can't be dumbed down to 2500 words – this is one. There's one element that factored in (IMO) that isn't mentioned – Trump Tower Moscow. It was in this period that Trump signed (and lied about) a letter of intent to build a high-rise bearing Trump's name in the capital of Russia.
Ian Fleming would be envious.