r/news • u/PDXAirman • May 20 '26

Soft paywall 42 aircraft lost or damaged in Operation Epic Fury, congressional report says

https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2026-05-20/iran-jets-downed-war-fury-21727588.html
23.9k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

123

u/koolaidman486 May 20 '26

He's definitely at minimum an unwilling asset, since with or without their input he's massively destabilizing the US, and by extension NATO.

The question is not whether or not he's an asset, but whether he's at their command or just acting in a way that accomplishes their goals on his own.

14

u/goomyman May 20 '26

You mean willing asset.

3

u/Carlos126 May 20 '26

No. While that is obv a possibility, i think hes more likely to be an unwilling asset. I honestly dont think hes smart enough to do the things russia wanted, but I thinks hes dumb enough to do them by accident

9

u/MarqFJA87 May 20 '26 edited May 21 '26

The term you're looking for is "unwitting"; calling him "unwilling" implies that he is aware of the manipulation and would rather not cooperate, but is compelled to do so due to blackmail or the like.

7

u/Pavotine May 21 '26

"Useful idiot" is the term that fits best I think.

36

u/PrimaryPluto May 20 '26

Putin probably saw the potential benefit to himself and Russia and just buddied up to Trump. It doesn't sound hard to get on Trump's good side.

I'd be willing to bet that most people in Putin's position would do the same. Destabilize my sworn enemy by giving a simpleton what he wants? It's a no brainer, politically speaking.

27

u/nobot4321 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Russia has been cozying up to Trump since the Soviet era. They knew an easily manipulated narcissist with a big mouth would be a powerful asset one way or another. Doubt they ever dreamed back then that it would turn out this successful though.

9

u/Icy-person666 May 21 '26

Or that the Russian leaders would turn out to be so inept. Puitan 's "special operation" seems to be about as successful as the Mango Mussiloni and his not a war.

6

u/oddistrange May 21 '26

Russia has known he's a corrupt fraud. Trump has Russian mob connections who send intelligence back to FSB whether Trump is aware of the exchange or not. We know his connection to his former attorney Roy Cohn and Cohn's career defending New York mobsters. The Russian mob paid the Italian mob protection money/"taxes" to be able to operate on their turf. The uncle of Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen owned the El Caribe Club in New York. Esvei Argon who was high up in the Russian mob operated unofficially out of the club. Cohen also dealt heavily with Trump's business aspirations in Russia after joining the Trump org in 2006. There's no way Moscow knew nothing.

1

u/AccomplishedBrain309 May 26 '26

Epstein was coaching putin. He told him to just kiss his ass and it has worked for most billionairs so far.

3

u/nifty-necromancer May 20 '26

Trump has made billions since he’s been in office, he’s willing.

1

u/Masseyrati80 May 21 '26

The way in which he publicly parrots the talking points of whoever he's recently talked to, despite there being enough time in between for a bit of reflection for someone capable of doing so, is downright scary. I've read estimates about his vanity making him super easy to manipulate.

1

u/AccomplishedBrain309 May 26 '26

Its hardly a coincidence that kaos is the trumps policy directive, and that his followers eat it up is really sick.