Anyone sat thinking that agendas aside Putin might be the guy not wanting to escalate things worldwide?

Putin is almost certainly smarter.
He might well be wanting to escalate things but if he does, he’s pulling the strings at a distance whilst others react and ramp up tensions.

Hi knows what he wants to Escalate (Putin) he knows what he wants from it and who won’t fight or fight back. You don’t stay on top in Russia for that long without being very smart.

My cat is smarter than Trump

And Putin? Look back through recent history and see if you can think of a shrewder political operator. He must sit back after his alligator-wrestling sessions and laugh his tits off at how easily he’s running rings around the west

I was wondering if Russia and China’s recent stance that the US should back down their military activity in the region in order for North Korea to do the same slightly shows their hand.
It is China and Russia that have been largely complicit in letting NK crack on unhindered. Now they are saying, the best plan is for the US to bugger off back to where they came from.

TO say Putin does not want to escalate things is sort of forgetting that he has annexed Chrimea, invaded Ukraine, shot down a civilian airliner and assassinated a UK government employee without so much as a slap on the wrist from anyone. Not to mention their Syrian campaign.

I would say Putin is immeasurably smarter than Trump. Trump is clearly as thick as pig s***

he is not only smarter he is nicer 😯

[video]https://youtu.be/lxMWSmKieuc[/video]

He’s a very smart and very ruthless man. There was a lot made of Trump being a billionaire as president and what that could mean for the USA. Putin took the Russian presidency and has potentially become the richest man in the world through some very shady practices.

Funnily enough Trump has talked about removing the sanctions that prevent russian oligarchs from investing heavily into the USA and becoming even richer

Putin smarter – Trump more kneejerk – both nutjobs….and dangerous.

Yes

Putin is probably the richest man in the world, he’s probably the most powerful man in the world.

Never forget this. Russia has a law that says no one can be President for more than 8 years, he’s been the undisputed Leader of Russia for 17 years and we’re comparing him with a Guy who works for him.

My cat is smarter than Trump

+1

A better question would be can you think of someone less smart than Trump….

We can do that just using STW posters 😉

Which UK government employee did he off?

Putin as said very smart and quite happy to indulge in the dark arts to further his agenda.

Putin is very smart indeed, very clever political operator and is playing Trump beautifully. Trump is an idiot.

There is no doubt in my mind that at some point it will be exposed that the Russians were complicit in Trumps election. Trump and his family/entourage are so profoundly stupid that they may not have even been aware of their complicity.

It will be exposed. But not yet. That ‘information’ will find its way into the public domain at a time of Putin’s choosing when it is massively advantageous to him to do so

Putin is a smart cookie and is currently running rings around all other world leaders. His ethics and values are very questionable, but he is old school, clever and not ‘compromised’ by ethics – he’s in it for his and Russia’s own interests and nothing else. Not necessarily a type of leader we want more of. He couldn’t give two hoots if NK started chucking nukes about so long as none came his way, and would revel in watching global chaos unfold, wouldn’t give a toss who the winners and losers were as they would all be massively weakened as a result, then once all the dust has settled be ready to take full advantage of the post apocalyptic chaos. He is actually probably THE most dangerous man on the planet right now.

Trump is just a buffoon.

But the NK situation is just yet more proof that ‘kicking the can down the road’ on important issues just leads to more severe difficulties later on. Unfortunately we have Trump in the hot seat just as things seem to be escalating to their highest rather than someone more intelligent and informed on global issues.

P-Jay – Member

Putin is probably the richest man in the world, he’s probably the most powerful man in the world.

Never forget this. Russia has a law that says no one can be President for more than 8 years, he’s been the undisputed Leader of Russia for 17 years and we’re comparing him with a Guy who works for him. Think someone posted the counter-conspiracy theory on here that Trump’s Russian links are meaningless and Putin actually wanted Hilary to win. Just on the basis that he and the Kremlin are past masters of brinkmanship geopolitics against the West and would find a Clinton white house very predictable. Trump OTOH, is less predictable, much more like Putin himself.

binners – Member
There is no doubt in my mind that at some point it will be exposed that the Russians were complicit in Trumps election. Trump and his family/entourage are so profoundly stupid that they may not have even been aware of their complicity.

It will be exposed. But not yet. That ‘information’ will find its way into the public domain at a time of Putin’s choosing when it is massively advantageous to him to do so

very much this

he financed LePen, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39478066

Im sure hes also been very happy finance his chum farage & brexit,

certainly his puppet propoganda channel RT was very pro-brexit, with brexiters appearing regularly such as Peter Bone & Farage on Galloways chat show to big up brexshit b4 the vote

https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21601004-why-europes-populists-and-radicals-admire-vladimir-putin-russias-friends-black

Putin’s almost too clever for Russia’s benefit.

Russia is now governed by the cult of Putin. Sooner or later he’ll leave/die/vanish/etc. That’ll leave a big ol’ power vacuum.

Civil war anyone? it’s not like Russia has a scarcity of multi-billionaire oligarchs mob bosses…

Trump is many things but he’s not stupid, at least not like everyone would like to think.

It would be interesting to measure his IQ. He’s almost certainly not pushing remotely close to genius levels, but niether is he below the mean (100).

People tend to confuse intelligence with ideology. Most ‘ideologues’ sound incredibly stupid because their ideological agendas crowd out their cognitive ability and impair their reasoning and judgement.

My toe jam is smarter than Trump.

Trump is many things but he’s not stupid, at least not like everyone would like to think.

It would be interesting to measure his IQ. He’s almost certainly not pushing remotely close to genius levels, but niether is he below the mean (100).
IQ, stupidity and intelligence are not all the same thing.
Add in over confidence and ego and it’s easy to overestimate one’s own intelligence. Hi actions and inability to listen to others does bring into question if he is smart…

Smart? Not smart? Intelligent? Not intelligent?

Isn’t this all sort of academic

The point here is that, as always, Putin is playing the long game. He’s looking years ahead. He’s always done that. Which is why everything seems to turn to his advantage, and why he’s been running rings round everyone for years. He’s cold, calculating, single-minded and ruthless

Trump tweets the first thing that enters his head when he wakes up in the morning, then will totally contradict himself within hours. He’s absolutely incapable of even the most basic type of strategic thinking. Putin is the grandmaster at it.

I’ve no doubt that Putin was instrumental in getting Trump elected. I’ve also no doubt he’ll be just as instrumental in bringing him down when it suits him to do so

Of course Putin is smarter than trump, most people are smarter than trump.
The real question is, which one is more mentally unstable?

IQ, stupidity and intelligence are not all the same thing.

OK but IQ and intelligence are the same thing; what are they if they aren’t? And, it turns out, that the higher your IQ, the better you are at also reading other people (i.e. what is referred to as emotional intelligence). It is true that how you then chose to respond has little to do with IQ/intelligence; that is more a factor of personality.

I’m not entirely sure what ‘stupidity’ is but if it is the opposite of intelligence, then Trump is clearly not stupid though the things he does and says would seem to contradict that. Again, that is the result of ideology, which I think you refer to here as ego and arrogance. I think you’re right; I think those factors do make him look a lot less intelligent than he is.

And, it turns out, that the higher your IQ, the better you are at also reading other people

LOL 🙂

I’m not entirely sure what ‘stupidity’ is but if it is the opposite of intelligence, then Trump is clearly not stupid though the things he does and says would seem to contradict that.

Seems apt though often misquoted/attributed

Again, that is the result of ideology, which I think you refer to here as ego and arrogance.

The only ideology I see is self serving. Or Ego… ideology at least aims to be consistent.

IQ, intellect, intelligence etc are all academic if you have all the same character traits and temperament as a toddler

Both Trump and Kim demonstrate the same signs of arrested development about the age of 2

Putin is the polar opposite. Everything he does is intricately calculated.

You’re not going to find him stamping his feet and having a screaming fit in the biscuit aisle at Asda because he can’t have a Mars bar. Unlike the other 2

Trump is many things but he’s not stupid, at least not like everyone would like to think.

I’d agree, what makes him look stupid is as a world leader he’s surrounded by even smarter people.

The only ideology I see is self serving. Or Ego… ideology at least aims to be consistent.

Well honestly I don’t know what he is. I just know he scares the heck out of me, I really cannot stand the guy, what he says, what he does and what it is he appears to stand for.

LOL

I’m not sure why you found that funny?

ya think?

Russia is now governed by the cult of Putin. Sooner or later he’ll leave/die/vanish/etc. That’ll leave a big ol’ power vacuum.

Does he have a son with a really stupid haircut?

Putin is a smart man with a very shrewd understanding of the world, Trump isn’t.

Putin is certainly shrewd but it doesn’t take a genius to work out you can call the West’s buff to a large degree without fear apart from economic sanctions (and there’s way around most of that).

NK worked this out a long time ago to.

It does make the West/US look a bit incompetent but really it’s just them being powerless to exert control over other countries when the ultimate deterrent of war isn’t an option.

Trump supposedly has quite a high IQ but seems crippled by small mindedness and his ego, he’s no doubt surrounded himself with yes men for years in business but is realising he doesn’t have the same unchallenged authority as President. Whereas someone else would step back and look at decisions from a wider perspective he just seems to blunder in.

Undoubtedly.

A better question would be can you think of someone less smart than Trump….

Putin must be smart, you can’t run TWO superpowers without being a sharp cookie.

William Hague’s child is looking worried.

When people say Trump has a high IQ I think it’s based on Trump saying he is smart and someone once basing his IQ on the college he got into, except he transferred in and daddy paid them a lot of money so he might have been below the usual level of academic brilliance they accepted, examinations of his vocabulary and use of language seem to suggest he’s average IQ if even that.

When people say Trump has a high IQ I think it’s based on….

…the fact that he managed to get himself elected. Sure lots of people are very unhappy about that, myself included (he’s just a horrible person) but getting elected is a monstrously difficult thing to achieve. It’s a hugely complex outcome that doesn’t happen just by luck.

You can also look at his track record in business and extrapolate from that. He has a track record of successfully managing large, complex projects. The ability to manage complexity is highly correlated with intelligence/IQ so Trump is clearly above average.

Again, don’t confuse being intelligent with being a decent, well adjusted and balanced human being. The obvious contrast is Trump with Obama; both highly intelligent but both very different people.

…the fact that he managed to get himself elected. Sure lots of people are very unhappy about that, myself included (he’s just a horrible person) but getting elected is a monstrously difficult thing to achieve. It’s a hugely complex outcome that doesn’t happen just by luck.

He was pushed forward and “found” by an interesting pair called Bannon and Sessions looking for a poster child and figurehead for their project.
With help from Putin and other people he was maneuvered, the right wing media and backlash from the likes of Bannon again… and more he was pushed into more positions.

You can also look at his track record in business and extrapolate from that. He has a track record of successfully managing large, complex projects. The ability to manage complexity is highly correlated with intelligence/IQ so Trump is clearly above average.

Like bankruptcy… his track record isn’t actually that good
[/quote]Again, don’t confuse being intelligent with being a decent, well adjusted and balanced human being. The obvious contrast is Trump with Obama; both highly intelligent but both very different people.

The comparison is with Putin, morals are equally repulsive but one is doing it a lot better.