[wdmso]

Originally Posted by detbuch

Obama started out with praise for Putin (ibtimes 1/9/17):

President Barack Obama first met Russian President Vladimir Putin in July/2009 at Putin’s Dacha, or country home, outside of Moscow, and in spite of the tensions between the two leaders, the men spoke optimistically of a new relationship between their countries.
Obama told Putin, who was then serving as prime minister under his handpicked presidential successor Dmitry Medvedev, that he was aware of “the extraordinary work that you’ve done on behalf of the Russian people,” and that “We think there’s an excellent opportunity to put U.S.-Russian relations on a much stronger footing.” Putin responded to Obama that, “With you we link all our hopes for the furtherance of relations between our two countries.”

There was even a "reset" in relations with Russia during the Obama Presidency handled by his SecState Hillary.

Things changed in the relationship as relations are wont to do. The same will probably happen between Trump and Russia. There are signs they already have. Among other things, Trump's speech in Poland most certainly was not welcomed by Putin.

Get all the facts together, don't just cherry pick or, as you put it, "deflect."

Was this before they invaded ukraine Seems you need to put your facts with a time line of world events ... it matters As Trump plays nice with Putin its about facts and time lines .. as well