What we know for certain is that Zelensky met with Biden soon after he was inaugurated in 2021, and that caused a 180-degree face turn on Zelensky’s part. While he was elected as the “peace president” who was supposed to bridge the divide between the Russian-majority eastern Ukraine (he swept the votes in those regions) and western Ukraine, Zelensky almost immediately began to ramp up all sorts of inflammatory rhetoric, like joining NATO.

Understandably, this spooked Russia, who then spent the rest of 2021 trying to deescalate the situation. This culminated in the US-Russia Summit in June 2021, during which the Russian diplomatic team sent hundreds of pages of proposal and presented various options to address their security concerns. It was ignored by the US. In less than two months, first in August 2021, the US would send Stingers and Javelins to Ukraine, followed by another shipment in December 2021. Two months later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, let’s not give Trump any slack here. Trump was the one who resumed the military aid to Azov after it was paused under the Obama admin. He was also the one who pushed Merkel to build a massive LNG terminal for Germany to purchase American LNG instead of Russian gas. When both Trump and Merkel left offices, the project was not pursued further, until… Europe sanctioned Russia and Nord Stream was bombed. We should also note that the construction of Nord Stream 2 was completed around the same time in 2021, but its certification process kept getting “delayed” with no end in sight. This undoubtedly added further doubts for the Russians on whether the US is interested in a good faith de-escalation. With all the events happening leading up to February 2022, it may very well have convinced the Russians that the US always had intended on an aggressive provocation. Later events would prove this reading of the situation correct.

So, there really isn’t a difference between Trump and Biden when it comes to implementing the strategic policies of the US. What sets them apart is Biden’s willingness to be ruthless and decisive about it. Ending Europe’s prosperity, who cares? As Victoria Nuland once said, fuck the EU, right? One million Ukrainian casualties, who cares? Starting new wars with every continent on the planet, who cares?

But the most disturbing part is that, now that Biden has already crossed the line, it means every president that comes after him, Democrat or Republican, will no longer have to worry about taking their masks off anymore. It’s now a race to the bottom, a race to see who is the most hawkish president (who can deliver a better profit making scheme for the capitalists like Biden has accomplished). There is no turning back from here. The mask has been taken down. Millions will die.

I really wish Trump was a KGB agent who wanted to dismantle NATO. I wish I lived in the communist fantasies liberals and conservatives concocted in their dilapidating skulls

Yes, it was bound to happen. The US had been messing with Ukraine for a long time. Russia would be very stupid to stand by and let the US set up military bases in Ukraine.

But I think Trump would have forced Germany, Poland and other NATO nations to send troops to Ukraine. Republicans would consider Zelensky a hero and Zelensky would try to appease them even more by doing conservative things like attacking LGBTQ+ people and Muslims.

The Democrats would be pro-peace (at least to the public, in Congress they would 100% support aid to Ukraine) and blame Trump for the whole war. Trump would simply call them losers.

From a Marxian perspective, there is no ‘great man’ theory of history. Trump, Biden, Obama whatever. They are all products of the same material conditions, and are inherently insignificant compared to the structural reality that makes conflict inevitable. Remember, capitalismneeds to grow. It needs markets. It needs to sell off public sector and privatize, and Ukraine has been in the crosshairs for decades. US fomented a coup in Ukraine, and they sure as fuck wanted Putin to invade so they could make all that money in arms sales. Gotta understand the US is three corporations in a trenchcoat. There are venture capitalists drooling at the thought of a kinetic event in Taiwan knowing their profits will jump 1000%.

The machine feeds on blood. Trump, Biden, Hillary, don’t make a goddamn difference

The timing may have been different but the core conditions likely would have remained. It’s possible that Russia would not have invaded during his term because Trump is not an ideological and cunning imperialist and he fights with the NatSec ghouls who are, so the exact escalations that occurred during the Biden admin may not have occurred. One can imagine a Minsk III under Trump. Minsk I and II created the conditions that became intolerable for Russia, so this should be understood to be kicking the can down the road, not a reversal in overall policy strategy.

It’s important to look at the proximal causes to get a sense of the timing. The Biden admin pushed Ukraine to badger Russia and ramp up the campaign in Donbas after icing them out of diplomatic talks or implementing any aspects of Minsk II. Russia lined up a mobilization due to the failing diplomacy and hawkish lines drawn by Washington and their proxy with Zelensky. We figured that this was a bluff and Russia was just trying to get leverage for talks, but it’s clear that this was some kind of test, where if shelling escalated an invasion would proceed.

In addition, we shouldn’t forget that Russia still wanted diplomacy after the invasion. They sought a Minsk-like status quo again and those talks were undermined by the US and its proxies. The official US policy was that this was a good situation for the US and the war should be extended. I think it’s also reasonable to think that Trump could have had the opposite policy due to him being at odds with some of the ghouls or literally just so he could take credit for the treaty.

Yes.

The election of a single person in a bourgeois state rarely ever changes the long-established basis for imperialism and capitalism. Both Biden and Trump are imperialists, upholders of NATO, and so on. A similar policy towards Eastern Europe (particularly Ukraine) would exist under Trump, and there’s no reason why inter-imperialist competition would not take place.

The only thing which Trump’s presidency would guarantee would be a greater chance for world war three.

Here is a video of @SPACEGHOSTPURPP watching a funny alien

Ukraine was an established red line regardless of who is the American president at any given time.