[DemolitionRed]

I don't like Putin. I believe he's a thug and I believe his propaganda machine is worse than ours. But since Cameron took the throne we've been treating Russia (Putin) as the enemy. What happened in Ukraine was a reaction to EU expansion and although I still somewhat sit on the side of the EU and Washington, I fully understand why, when we encroached onto Russians Black Sea, there was a strong reaction from the Putin. Would the EU allow the UK to fall into Russian hands? Did Washington allow Cuba to align itself with Russia?!? What we were doing was weakening Russian borders. We now have NATO patrolling the Black Sea. Thats like Russia patrolling the English Channel!

As for Syria and the attempt to topple Assad. We aligned ourselves with Islamic jihadists and attempted to hand Syria over to Islamic State and we tried to do that, not because Assad is an evil dictator (which he possibly is) but because Syria aligns itself with Iran and Russia and had apposed a pipeline from the Gulf States to Europe.

If there's one thing I would praise Trump for, it was his initial attempt to reduce tension between Putin and the West. Perhaps he naively believed he could stop this drive on a new Cold War with Russia.