So what did Putin want for Christmas in 2016?
Short term?
- Lifting of Western economic sanctions.
- Lifting of Western economic sanctions.
- See #s 1—2.
Longer term?
Oh nothing big. Just the complete realignment of post-World War II global power, the destruction of liberal democracies and the freedom to continue invading and annexing more countries from the former Soviet Union and the larger Eastern European Bloc. Heck, maybe he even wants East Berlin back.
With the exception of U.S. military planes making the Turnberry-adjacent Scottish airport their new preferred refueling stop, absolutely everything else Trump does on the world stage, and a good portion of what he does domestically can be traced to what Putin wants.
When Hillary Clinton called Trump “Putin’s Puppet” in October of 2016, she meant it quite literally. I wonder how Trump really feels about being the bottom to such a diminutive man.