Originally Posted by tut
....I spent 30 years in the Intel world trying to keep Russia in it's place. Trump now doing the snuggle up makes me go nuts. As I have said before I support 95 percent of what he is doing, but Putin is no different then the little fat Dictator in North Korea. He has folks killed every day and smiles about it.

I think the 'problem' is how much the public gets to see of the decision making process. No, I'm not thinking that negotiation tidbits should be hidden away, only that it is up to us to decide if the results are favorable. Another interesting thing is that result would typically come in many months to years, but we may results starting to show within a couple of week. I suspect Putin will require something that he perceives as a win, but I doubt he desires Ukraine mineral deals with the US, and Putin may have to deal with Chinese interests. Even if Ukraine is compromised, the EU would likely insist on a viable economy and defensive capabilities?