Julia Davis is an expert on Russian disinformation techniques and Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic Council’s Disinformation Portal. In one of her regular columns for The Daily Beast, published yesterday, she highlights the gleeful responses of Russians to drumpf’s backstabbing of the Syrian Kurds.
“President Trump has boasted he’s “getting a lot of praise” for his abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops out of northern Syria, abandoning the Kurds—America’s longstanding allies—to Turkey’s incursion. On the home front, the controversial move has been met with criticism on both sides of the political aisle, but the reaction in Moscow was far from mixed. As Trump uncorked chaos in the Middle East, champagne tops were likely popping at the Kremlin.
“Putin won the lottery! Russia’s unexpected triumph in the Middle East,” raved Mikhail Rostovsky in his article for the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. “Those who were convinced of Trump’s uselessness for Russia ought to think again…What Washington got out of this strange move is completely unclear. To the contrary, what Moscow gained from this is self-evident…Trump’s mistake in Syria is the unexpected ‘lottery win’ that further strengthened Moscow’s position in the Middle East and undermined America’s prestige as a rational political player and a reliable partner.”
Maksim Yusin, the editor of international politics at the leading Russian business daily Kommersant, was amazed by the ongoing stream of inexplicable actions by the American president that benefit the Kremlin. “All of this benefits the Russian Federation,” Yusin marveled. “You know, I’ve been watching Trump’s behavior lately and get seditious thoughts: maybe he really is a Russian agent? He is laboring so hard to strengthen the international image of Russia in general—and Putin in particular…In this situation, Americans—to their chagrin and our enjoyment—are the only losers in this situation.”
“This is such a pleasure,” grinned Olga Skabeeva, the host of Russia’s state television program 60 Minutes. “Russian soldiers have taken an American base under our complete control, without a fight!” Skabeeva’s co-host Evgeny Popov added: “Suddenly, we have defeated everyone.” Incredulously, Skabeeva pointed out: “This is an American base—and they just ran away! Trump ran away!”
There is a lot more at the link above, but you get the gist.
And who can blame them for being over the moon?
For much less than the cost of one modern fighting aircraft, Russia’s leg up to drumpf in 2016 has created a rift in the NATO Alliance that brought the U.S.S.R. to its knees, created a vacuum in the Middle East into which Putin can pour his dreams of a Russian asset in that troubled yet critical part of the world and damaged our prestige and credibility so severely that it will take decades to rebuild…if that can be done at all.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev promised six decades ago that his county would bury us.
He just didn’t know that thanks to Fox News and it’s idiotic adherents it would be accomplished so cheaply.
