Why did Blinken want to kill Putin?

Trump openly pulled out his main bargaining chip - Putin's fear for his own life.

It’s no secret that until recently, both U.S. parties held a firm stance: negotiations with Russia did not imply regime change.

A week ago, in his first interviews after the inauguration, Trump threatened Russia with an oil price collapse. Between the lines, it was clear that if Russia rejected negotiation offers, the U.S. stance on regime change could be reconsidered.

"Now, through Tucker Carlson (who, I remind you, interviewed Putin), the Russian leader is being told directly: you can be replaced. And that is what the pathologically fearful and highly indecisive Putin fears most."

At the same time, India and China have almost simultaneously announced that starting in March, they will stop buying Russian oil due to rising freight costs. While this is just a warning and not a final decision, such developments cannot help but unsettle (or frighten) Putin.

Overall, Trump’s game with Putin now looks like this: the U.S. president is raising the stakes to the maximum on all fronts, forcing Putin into swift negotiations. The key word is "swift." The White House is now waiting for Russia to agree on "reasonable" compromises. Judging by everything, they believe Putin has almost no choice but to comply. They have also made it clear what they will do if he refuses. However, as soon as Putin shows readiness for these "compromises," Trump's attention may shift to Kyiv.

It seems to me that our mistake is that we are almost silent about our red lines while being fully focused on NATO - an issue that, in my opinion, isn’t gaining traction right now (Trump will start negotiations by stating that Ukraine will not join NATO).

Source

About the author. Vadym Denysenko, political scientist.

The editors don't always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.