Actually, Trump said what I said he said, and a number of his apologists are having difficulties explaining away his statements. He wanted to withdraw the USA from NATO, but was dissuaded from doing so. To him, everything is a transaction. I give you money, and you give me something. The sanctions are already having a major effect on Russia's economy, and will have a larger effect ongoing. Already we’re finding that while previous buys of Russian oil are going through, new purchases are not being made. As that’s the major income source of Russia, that will have a massive effect. They’re being cut off from technology, their major banks are out of SWIFT, their ships and planes are being denied access. Their exports are already drying up.
the only significant ally they have now is China, which has publicly begun to step back from the broad cooperative agreements they made right before the war, where Putin, in his meeting with XI, failed to mention his intention to invade. China is rightfully angered. We’ll see what happens. India, which still has many weapons systems from Russia, is also on the fence about this but is moving to eliminate those, now older systems. Hungary, which was a concern, because of Orban’s friendship with Putin, has come down solidly with the West on this.
what other major allies does he have? And does it matter? Economists are saying that these sanctions can destroy Russia’s economy if they aren’t ended quickly. That doesn’t sound like “two dollars of sanctions”.