Here's my crazy, crackpot, tin foil hat conspiracy theory about Putin and Trump.

[Yavin4]

You're about to read an incredibly dumb theory. It's not based on any facts, mostly vibes. So, here goes. Ready?

Putin is a former KGB agent. The KGB believes that Boris Yeltsin, an alcoholic and buffoon, was planted by American intelligence agencies to run Russia into the ground after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin's presidency was a disaster. The Russian economy spiraled downward. NATO expanded to include Poland. Yeltsin pushed for privatization which gave rise to the oligarchs. There's a clip of President Clinton laughing at a press conference with Yeltsin.

Putin was in the government when all of this was happening. When he got to power, he turned the tables on us. He got an American version of Yeltsin, Donald J. Trump. Trump is Putin's revenge for Yeltsin.

I told you it was a dumb theory.

On 2 January 1992, Yeltsin, acting as his own prime minister, ordered the liberalization of foreign trade, prices, and currency. At the same time, Yeltsin followed a policy of "macroeconomic stabilization", a harsh austerity regime designed to control inflation. Under Yeltsin's stabilization programme, interest rates were raised to extremely high levels to tighten money and restrict credit. To bring state spending and revenues into balance, Yeltsin raised new taxes heavily, cut back sharply on government subsidies to industry and construction, and made steep cuts to state welfare spending.

In early 1992, prices skyrocketed throughout Russia, and a deep credit crunch shut down many industries and brought about a protracted depression. The reforms devastated the living standards of much of the population, especially the groups dependent on Soviet-era state subsidies and welfare programs.[107] Through the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell by 50%, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, whilst incomes fell. Hyperinflation, caused by the Central Bank of Russia's loose monetary policy, wiped out many people's personal savings, and tens of millions of Russians were plunged into poverty.[108][109]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin

[paulkienitz]

1. Doesn't matter if there's any truth to it -- Putin would probably believe it was true.

[gab13by13]

2. It makes perfect sense to me.

I always thought Yeltsin was a bit off for a Ruskie.

Krasnov has the wrecking the economy part down pat.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

3. Reasonable speculation.

Not even close to our fault though: The Soviet Union was one of the worst things that ever happened to the world. Too fucking bad if Muscovites saw a drastic decline in living standards when their little empire collapsed.

But this question isn't as interesting or fun of a topic as the revenge we're gonna get on Russia for inflicting Trump on us AGAIN. I drool with hunger when I think of what's coming.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. "America's Gorbachev"

Putin Is Banking On a Trump Win for His New World Order

Donald Trump’s nickname in the Kremlin? The American Gorbachev. Officials believe his chaos will be the downfall of the US.

By Mikhail Zygar
Vanity Fair, June 25, 2024

Idon’t know which moment in American history Donald Trump imagines when he says, “Make America great again.” He has never given a clear answer in any speech or interview. But I know exactly which moment Vladimir Putin imagines in his own vision for Russian greatness. It is February 1945, when Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill divided the world in Crimea.

Three months remained before the surrender of Nazi Germany, but it was clear that the Allies were winning. To determine what the world would look like after the defeat of the Third Reich, the US president, British prime minister, and Soviet leader went to the city of Yalta, a resort area in Crimea. Stalin achieved everything he wanted: He convinced his then allies that he should have his own “sphere of influence,” which included all of Eastern Europe—Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the former Czechoslovakia, and the former Yugoslavia. The leaders also devised the United Nations Security Council, on which they secured permanent member seats for their countries.

SNIP...

The fantasies of Kremlin strategists have developed like this: A new Yalta Conference with Putin and Trump might not necessarily take place in Crimea. For greater symbolism, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, roughly equidistant from Russia and the US, would be more suitable. My sources in Moscow, who wish to remain anonymous for security reasons, suggest that such a summit could look good on Fiji. The Pacific archipelago is conveniently equidistant from Russia and the US.

Putin’s entourage understands that despite his ambitions, he is not like Stalin in 1945, and today’s Russia is no match for the Soviet Union. Therefore, the dreams of the current Kremlin inhabitants suggest that another participant in the new “Big Three” should be China, represented by Xi Jinping. They believe that the real Cold War is beginning between China and the US, so the upcoming “Yalta: Fiji” should formulate the rules of this confrontation. And Putin is ready to be content with the role of the third partner, a kind of modern-day Churchill. Of course, he wants to secure his place on the global board of directors that is the UN Security Council and expects to be allotted his sphere of influence: the countries of the former Soviet Union.

SNIP...

For them, Mikhail Gorbachev is not a democrat or a reformer. For former KGB officers, Gorbachev is a demagogue and a narcissist who desperately wanted to please the audience but had no plan of action; a president whose policies were so chaotic that the empire began to fall apart, with different parts declaring their independence. This is wishful thinking, but Putin’s inner circle would like to believe that Trump could become just such a president.

CONTINUES...

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/6671dc515e0117f807af4351/master/w_1920,c_limit/VF102024_NewYalta_MarkHarris.jpg

You’re spot-on, Yavin4.

[Yavin4]

5. Trump is Russia's payback for the fall of the Soviet Union

Also explains Putin's obsession with Ukraine which is seen as part of Russia.