Inexplicably Close? – The Trump-Putin Axis Explained

Image of a stack of coins and a rising business chart before it — Money, more money, profits… (Image licensed via Adobe CC)

All of you who are wondering and perhaps even seem to be challenged in believing it: Trump and Putin actually and truly are close.

Why?

How can it possibly be that a fiend such as Putin is close to someone like Trump, after all the president of the leading nation of the ‘free world’?

It’s basically three principles that apply:

- “Cui bono?” – The Latin phrase is age old and describes what you would look for in most questions of business and politics to get a clear picture: “Who benefits?”
- There’s history to rely on for similar examples: The Roman Empire especially and its several emperors in its later stages; corruption was common then.
- Trump as well as Putin are very much alike in terms of personality: They crave attention and power, to different degrees. They need money and more money to achieve that.
  - That’s their basic common denominator or ground.

One proof was presented at the time (2016 US-presidential elections) by two newspapers, one of which cannot be trusted these days anymore because it was acquired by amazon’s founder. The proof was confirmed by the Pulitzer Prize committee (among others).
The New York Times still stands like a beacon, as yet.

Also please take into account that war especially in modern times is a means to an end. Cruel, but just that. Just as Netanyahu first aggravated and then used the conflict about Gaza to cover up the fact that the numbers of his votes were decreasing fast at the time – and the support for his internal politics declining.

For all of my readers who feel discouraged in the face of adversity and the abyss of human depravity, do not despair:

We are not the only ones worrying! The state of the world has been better – but it also has been worse, in the course of history!

Just think what the 30 Years’ War meant to Europe at the time!

Remember: Remind your democratically elected representatives of their tasks – and of what you really want.

Keep at it – and don’t forget about the breaks!

Update March 9th 2025: The New York Times has published a fine news analysis on March 7th here, confirming facts and this view on them – regarding Trump’s view on Putin.
ℹ️ Article should be paywall-free here, from my own subscription, to be purchased with a subscription for that newspaper usually:
Trump’s Affinity for Putin Grows More Consequential Than Ever
(URL taken and pasted at March 9th 2025, UTC+1, 01:03 p.m.)

For a comprehensive and concise view on Mr Trump’s biography and background that helps explain, confer to award-winning documentary producer and director Michael Kirk’s FRONTLINE-video on PBS, from 2017, in context of the 2016 elections, available from select locations:
President Trump

January 18, 2025

‘Stand-up’ Comedians: The President-elect of the US and Companies Donating – Nero Burning Rome…

Painting of Poppea and Nero Having the Head of Octavia Brought Forward to Them by Giovanni Muzzioli — Poppea and Nero Have the Head of Octavia Brought Forward to Them by Giovanni Muzzioli – Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I wonder sometimes if there ever was a similar government and its head in history as the one coming up on Monday, 20th January…?

They say Nero in ancient Rome was made fun of, at the time and in later centuries; considered to be downright crazy and not to be depended upon. He apparently set fire to Rome, and had his mother and his first wife murdered.

Four years ago a person that has been ruled a criminal several times over in front of legal US courts, incited an attack on the US Capitol. A building that is one epitome of a republic claiming to be the oldest existing democracy and the seat of its parliament.

And here they all are, be that Microsoft, Apple, Uber, amazon or Boeing: Millions of dollars donated just for the inauguration. Licking his boots.

The most pitiful spectacle is Trump himself who earnestly sends a message of ‘everybody wanting to be with him’ on social media.

Let’s just hope that somebody over there still has some sort of sense left and eventually will stop this sorry excuse for a man.

So needy he stops at nothing to get attention and be counted ‘powerful’ and rich, when you look at his history (Link to PBS broadcasting company’s site, FRONTLINE series of documentaries; this one award-winning).

November 13, 2024

“Evil is that Evil Does” – A Modern Clarification – The Trump-Musk-Putin Axis

Image of a dark sky and moon in the back and a lightened office with smart people discussing in front — Image licensed Adobe CC

“Evil” is not some mystic and mysterious force with superpowers that rises somewhere from a fiery underground, staring you in the face with red eyes and breathing stench and fire.

A fine and not yet so modern phrase is: “Evil is that evil does.”

And that is entirely true. Before the advent of enlightenment and the civil society which also introduced the same right for everyone, evil was a term in religious contexts to make people afraid and manipulate them. Ghosts frequently played a role in that kind of thinking as well.

With the rise of a common basic education the term was critically reviewed and by and by found ‘old-fashioned’ and misleading.

But we need to come back to a modernized idea of it to state dangers more clearly:

EVIL is what people do by adhering to destructive values.

The values that worship money, the rich, the powerful, no matter what.

Some sort of currency is needed to make sure you can take care of your daily, basic needs. It wasn’t always money people used to exchange goods. Shells, sometimes even rare and beautiful ones were common in some parts of the world.

But whatever it is people use, when they start worshipping the wrong things and thus values we will get into trouble – such as the US currently are facing with a non-entity as their intended head of state.

How to Know Good?

The most basic two phrases putting it in a nutshell are these:

- “Avoid pain.” For everyone.
- “Act in a manner that the principle of your actions could be transformed into common law any time.”

The first is the Buddhist concept.

The second is my translation of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, that great philosopher of the 18th century and one of the leading figures of the enlightenment.

To get to the bottom of truths you need to take time to think. At first that could take some practice too.
But don’t worry! Because anything human beings do or create can be understood by other humans – even if it takes a little more time at first!

So in case you were wondering how to know evil from good, these are the yardsticks to use:

“Does it avoid pain?”

“Could the action/behaviour be transformed into general law for all, any time?”