The US made a proposal, Russia is making a counter-proposal. This is how negotiations are conducted. Westerners seem to think that the way it works is US and Ukraine negotiate something between themselves and just go and present that to Russia to accept. That’s now how it works, that is just the same side talking to itself.
I’m simplifying here because this is the way we should be talking about this to liberals.
Of course you are right on what the subtext here was. What is actually happening is that Russia is simply playing the same game it always does: Putin being extremely diplomatic and careful not to look like he’s closing any doors, meanwhile his staff, Lavrov and so on, telling it bluntly like it is, laying out what Russia’s position is, what it will accept and what it won’t.
The western media can spin it however they like but for the rest of the world this will look like Russia being reasonable and open to proposals, while also being realistic. Putin managed to deftly avoid the PR trap the Americans set here. And it’s not like it was hard to see that this is what was coming. Putin was never just going to say flat out “no”, but he also wasn’t going to let himself be trapped by such an obvious, noobish ploy.
This was noob shit from the Trump team. Even Biden’s people would have done a better job laying a trap. I don’t know how they thought this would work. If there is anything Russia knows it’s how to maneuver diplomatically.
Oh yeah no argument there. In general, I’ve always found the trend of western politicians negotiating with themselves and then just expecting Russia to agree to that hilarious. It never works out for them, but they keep doing it.
The US made a proposal, Russia is making a counter-proposal. This is how negotiations are conducted. Westerners seem to think that the way it works is US and Ukraine negotiate something between themselves and just go and present that to Russia to accept. That’s now how it works, that is just the same side talking to itself.
I’m simplifying here because this is the way we should be talking about this to liberals.
Of course you are right on what the subtext here was. What is actually happening is that Russia is simply playing the same game it always does: Putin being extremely diplomatic and careful not to look like he’s closing any doors, meanwhile his staff, Lavrov and so on, telling it bluntly like it is, laying out what Russia’s position is, what it will accept and what it won’t.
The western media can spin it however they like but for the rest of the world this will look like Russia being reasonable and open to proposals, while also being realistic. Putin managed to deftly avoid the PR trap the Americans set here. And it’s not like it was hard to see that this is what was coming. Putin was never just going to say flat out “no”, but he also wasn’t going to let himself be trapped by such an obvious, noobish ploy.
This was noob shit from the Trump team. Even Biden’s people would have done a better job laying a trap. I don’t know how they thought this would work. If there is anything Russia knows it’s how to maneuver diplomatically.
Oh yeah no argument there. In general, I’ve always found the trend of western politicians negotiating with themselves and then just expecting Russia to agree to that hilarious. It never works out for them, but they keep doing it.