Putin lebt nach einem Kodex, den Trump nicht versteht

Andrew Ryvkin: “Donald Trump still doesn’t seem to have learned a thing about the Russian dictator he calls a friend. He’s tried all kinds of contradictory gambits in pursuit of peace in Ukraine: welcoming Vladimir Putin in Alaska, helping Kyiv blow up Russian oil refineries, offering Russia land it hasn’t been able to acquire militarily. None seems to have had much effect. The Kremlin is holding the line, and Trump can’t get through. On Thursday, Putin said that parts of the U.S. peace plan were unacceptable and that Russia would take Ukrainian land by force.

“One reason may be that Trump and Putin are fundamentally incompatible personalities. Trump sees everything as a deal, and for Putin, any deal is a revelation of weakness. Trump is a creature of the Manhattan-real-estate world; Putin grew up amid the rubble of postwar Leningrad. Those Soviet courtyards formed him. In them, he internalized the rules of *ponyatiya*—an unwritten code, roughly translated as ‘the concepts,’ or ‘the understandings,’ that originated in Stalin’s Gulags and still governs much of life in Russia, regardless of who’s in power.

“The *ponyatiya* of Putin’s youth generally meant never betraying your gang and always standing up for your friends. Putin still lives by these rules. He’s kept the same circle of friends since the 1980s—a good number of them are now billionaires—and no matter how badly they handle a situation, they are hardly ever punished. They’re in their 70s now, but they still play hockey together in what they call the ‘Night Hockey League,’ or the NHL (they had custom jerseys made). *Ponyatiya* also meant never letting an insult go unanswered. Consider the defectors—not to mention the oligarchs, journalists, and dissidents who have displeased Putin—who have ended up dead.

“Putin approaches foreign policy according to the same code. Hierarchy is absolute. The strong must be respected, and the weak must obey. The fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—a man whose comedy performances Putin once enjoyed—is now leading a country that’s stopping Russia from reclaiming its imperial glory creates cognitive dissonance. A comedian is supposed to be feeble; a smaller nation without a nuclear arsenal is supposed to submit, and its people are supposed to stay silent.

“By the same logic, Putin should regard an American president as equally powerful. Yet Trump has consistently presented himself as the weaker party.”

Read more: [https://theatln.tc/UNgTHRHN](https://theatln.tc/UNgTHRHN)

I think great world powers are all scared of powerful weapons ending in the wrong hands, I think they really want peace and even if they have an agenda of mocking EU, both US and Russia signaled (it’s not so difficult to ready between the lines) that they somewhat trust EU

I agree in part with the article, it’s not easy for a diplomats to understand how mafia thinks, but there are rules, you have to be smart to understand even things that are not said

Every liberation movement has to show power in a way: „what Is needed Is a realization that Power without love Is reckless and abusive and love without Power Is sentimental and anemic etc“ M.J.K.

It’s up to our diplomats to decide what to do, let’s hope for the best outcome