Russia - threadbanned users in OP

This was posted 8 months ago. A talk from Andrei Illionov who resigned from the Putin Administration in 00s . This is a discussion on Putin's motives and his perception of events, its not endorsing him, this lad is no friend of Putin. I listened to it and find it interesting in expanding out possibly some of the reasons we are where we are with Russia

On 12 April 2000, Illarionov was invited by Vladimir Putin to be his senior economic adviser and in May 2000 he became the personal representative of the Russian president (sherpa) in the G8. He played an important role in introducing the low 13% flat income tax in Russia,[1] in earlier repayment the Russian foreign debt, in creation the petroleum revenues-based Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation and in bringing Russia's full-fledged membership into the political G8.

On 3 January 2005 Illarionov resigned from his position as presidential representative to the G8 because of the government troops' storm of the Beslan school on 3 September 2004 leading to death of 333 children, their parents and teachers.[2] On 21 December 2005, Illarionov declared "This year Russia has become a different country. It is no longer a democratic country. It is no longer a free country". The Washington Post reported that he had cited a recent report by the human rights observer Freedom House.[3] On 27 December 2005, Illarionov offered his resignation in protest against the stealing of billions of dollars by Putin's inner circle from the Russian state via the IPO of state-owned company Rosneft. He claimed that that Russia was no longer politically free and ran by an authoritarian and corrupt elite. "It is one thing to work in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic," he said

Highlights of video:

-Putins been planning invasions since 2003

-Putins plan has been for all these newly attained countries same language, same religion and a prince at the top

-April 2008 Putin told bush that Ukraine was not a real country and half it belonged to russia, but nobody took Putin seriously

-Putins never hided his intentions, his use of “historic Russia” was basically him confirming his idea of what Russian borders should be

-Biden/Putin summit meeting was bad cause Biden didn’t put it to to Putin and speaker thinks Putin will invade Ukraine to remake “historical Russia”

-Putin won’t stop at Ukraine

-he predicted 200k troops would be moved to the border by September last year(29:45) Which he can use for large scale interventions (peacekeeping invasion?) in Ukraine

-American pundits have very limited understanding of Putin

-How does syria or libya relate to "historic Russia" ? Not related, this was foreign policy of supporting foreign tyrants for business and ideological reasons. Putin didnt want to see the dictators fall cause he could be next, keeping them up makes him stronger. USA is his only Adversary in his mind, seeing Biden as weak prompted him to get bolder

-Putin didnt respond when americans killed a bunch of Russians in Syria. Putin learned if somebody in the white house can give an order, his troops can be destroyed within minutes or hours, so the most important thing for Putin, is the ready of levelness of the current US president to use force to protect independence around the world (41:00), that is why he has tested each president one by one.

-Putin moved troops into Georgia cause he didnt think Bush would us troops. Bush said (Aug 11 some year) "I wold not recommend Putin make another step", US moved navy into position in nazy, next day russians announce operation in Georgia is finishe

-Then Putin tested obama when he moved his troops into Crimea in 2014. Obama said "I am not using american troops to defend Ukraine", Putin was happy and used troops to occupy Crimea

-When he met Trump he couldnt figure out if Trump would or not use troops. But he decided not to test Trump after Syria (Trump fans will love this) because nobody will know what will happen

-Biden would never "step up to Putin" which is why after inauguration there was a significant jump in hostilities in Ukraine. 5 days later Putin puts pipeline in North sea and now after "geneva summit" (last year) Putin was absolutely clear Biden wouldnt use any force or help to Ukraine which gave Putin Green light to use force against Neighbors

-Do you think that American military will make Putin back up ? Putin may consider military and political leadership as most important ! (if your leader is crap, you can be beaten), again seems like an insult to Biden (interested to see what Biden does later , wet fish or war president).

-How does Putin see historic Russia play into his developing relationship with China ? For Putin, it became one of the most important decisions, in early days of his presidency in 00s he wanted to develop strategic relationship with the US and NATO. He tried to join NATO cause he saw China as a great threat to Russia. Western leaders rejected Putin. So he had to look for other options available (develop relationship with China)

-Putin felt betrayed (because Iraq was soviet client state) on Iraq invasion, he thought Americans would talk with him regarding invasion. Hostoric opportunity lost

-US sees China as greatest threat and it would be in great interest for US to allure Russia away - Its too late ?! Could this be a problem for China (because Russia would be Chinas b*tch) - problem is that Putin doesnt trust the west or US. Putins problem is that he does not feel he is trusted by westerners (no sh*t) so Putin doesnt see why he should develop relationship with western leaders. (US should not expect a christmas card from Putin)

-When Putin is gone, how will US/EU/NATO develop trust with the replacement leader ?