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Comment by timeon | Hacker News Reader

> west is busy either with it's in-fighting or comparing each others superior

Also slowly folding. It is not happening only in little countries like Slovakia. US has relevant party that is now openly pro-Putin.

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You have to wonder about the sanity of people that are in love with power for power's sake.

> US has relevant party that is now openly pro-Putin

What relevant party in the US is openly pro-Putin?

Recently Trump said that if Putin invaded Europe, he (Trump) "would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they wanted to you".

It's not full pro-Russia yet, but he's certainly moving in that direction. Unfortunately, Trump is currently the republican party.

Europe has to wake up. We are so lazy and political incompetent that it would easy for anyone to invade us and have us work in gulags. The only people left that fights back are the slaves, the rest of us is uncomfortably unconcerned.

Please help us by selecting Trump.

The full context is he said if those European countries did not meet their NATO defense spending obligations he'd let Putin do what he wants with them.

Not just "let", he explicitly said "encourage".

I’d say it’s more accurate to say the Republican Party is firmly beholden to a man who is at times openly pro-Putin and the rest of the time merely transparently pro-Putin.

Thanks for clarifying, I'm not an American, and I was not aware Trump is openly pro-Putin. This is quite concerning, do you mind clarifying what openly or transparently pro-Putin policy positions he takes?

Well for one, his public and sharp criticism of NATO countries that he's decided are not or have not been spending enough on defense. Airing that stuff out in the open sows division and weakens the unity of the alliance. And it often seems like he is angling toward pulling the US out entirely at some point--though I'm not sure he'd be able to.

There is none, it is 100% rhetoric. When AOC says "Eat the rich" , do people think she literally wants the masses to go find the nearest billionaire and start cannibalism?

Trump thinks that the US pays too much into NATO and others not enough. This his tactic for getting other countries to pay more for the security we all enjoy which isn't free.

I'm not a Trump fan but I see through his words to his tactics.

It's not just Trump thinks; under NATO those countries are obligated to spend a certain % of their GDP on defense, which they've failed to do.

The MAGAts in the House from the Speaker on down are blocking all Ukrainian aid concretely, not rhetorically. That's literally pro-Putin, and it comes 100% at the direction of the leader of the MAGAts.

This is quite reductive. 38% of democrats also oppose additional aid[0], are they literally pro-Putin? 100% (one hopes) of Americans would oppose a $100T aid package, are we all rootin' fer Putin? When I earned minimum wage, I steadfastly refused to donate to charity; was I literally pro-homelessness and suffering and all of societies ills?

[0] https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/cnn-poll-ukraine/ind...

Those "democrats" are not preventing a vote on the aid, which appears would pass with a large majority. The actual power here resides with the MAGAts, from the Speaker on down, directed by Trump.

I am not sure I can be charitable enough to think you really don't understand this. The reaching is extreme.

I'm taking issue with the claim that not doing something that Putin doesn't want you to do is being "literally pro-Putin". There is an infinite list of things that Putin doesn't want us to do- nuking Russia, for example- and there are many reasons other than supporting the guy not to do them.

I must admit I also don't have the charity in me to believe you made any attempt at being charitable before responding to only the first of my three sentences and calling me deliberately obtuse. 'You sound so stupid that I am convinced it is because you are a bad person' is a lot ruder than I think people realize. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I'm above average; is it really so inconceivable that a random stranger is as dumb as half the people on the planet that you must immediately accuse them of malfeasance?

Ah. You also have reading comprehension problems, on the face of it, but I don't believe that either.

I believe that you are smart enough to understand the power dynamics in the House, and you understand that I don't think you're stupid. Quite the contrary.

Although... maybe you're a political "centrist"? That would explain a lot about your comments. Then I am sadly compelled to agree with you about what I think about you! I mean that means I'm an idiot myself for engaging with you. Sorry! Look around on the intertubes for what people who study this stuff think about US political "centrists".

Some journalists have interviewed high ranking members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that Trump told him "he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

The MAGA subgroup of Republicans: https://accountability.gop/ukraine-quotes/

Tucker Carlson is on there too, he's now a full time Russia shill.

> Also slowly folding. It is not happening only in little countries like Slovakia.

I assume you don't know much about Slovakia besides the few headlines that pop here and there, right ?

I have mentioned Slovakia because conspiracy theories are mainstream there. Ministry of culture is ruled by one of those medias.

I have mentioned Slovakia because I constantly hear about 'US bad Russia Good' there.

I mentioned Slovakia because that is my home country.

So tell me why would you assume my lack of knowledge?

That sounds like a yes to me

Can you elaborate?

I would prefer not to on here.

My wife's from there and I spend quite a lot of time there. Everybody and their uncle became a Slovak politic expert during the last election while half of them didn't even know Czechoslovakia wasn't a thing anymore the day prior.

Unless you evolve in very weird circles you probably know that it's infinitely more complex than 'US bad Russia Good'

> So tell me why would you assume my lack of knowledge?

Hard to tell if you're part of the "Slovakia should be kicked out of EU because they voted bad" crowd that popped up out of nowhere (and disappeared as quickly apparently). It's much less black and white than people make it look like, for example: https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/27331.jpeg

> Hard to tell if you're part of the "Slovakia should be kicked out of EU because they voted bad" crowd

Not sure why you went that far with your assumptions. I just stated that situation in Slovakia changed. It is not black and white - I agree with you. I mentioned Slovakia where it happened and US where it is starting to happen. It is not going to be black and white there either but that should not be excuse to stay passive.

Fair enough, I jumped on the gun because I heard lots baseless attacks on Slovakia in the recent past, which I assume might be partially orchestrated or at least coming from very uninformed individuals trying to fit their local political games onto other nations'

I was bit vague with my original comment. I should have expect comments like that but I posted that under emotions of this news and what is currently happening at home.

I live in Slovakia. My impression is that the country was always divided; half of the population pro-Western, the other half pro-Russian.

The pro-Western people are over-represented in Bratislava and among the university-educated people. So if you are a smart person living in the capital city, it is easy to forget how the rest of the country thinks... and then you always get surprised when they elect an anti-Western alpha male: previously Mečiar, now Fico.

For reasons I do not understand, Russian propaganda (Slobodný vysielač, etc.) is extremely popular here. I have never actually listened to it, but I don't even need to, because people quote them on internet all the time; it is the source of all popular conspiracy theories.

Luckily for us, Fico lies to everyone, including his own voters. He promises them to side with Russia against the Ukraine... but most of that are just empty words. The actual policy probably will not change a lot, because his main concerns are somewhere else: staying out of prison, remaining popular, stealing more money. Otherwise he will give up under the slightest economical threat from EU. His voters only care about rhetoric, and at home he is going to give them exactly that.

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