Putin killed Abraham Lincoln
We apologize for the understatement, but February has been a disappointing month for anyone who was looking forward to a less awful world.

The dangers we face today are now visible and apparent: One wrong move in Yemen could spark a major conflict between Iran and the United States. One wrong move in Ukraine could spark a conflict between Russia and the United States. One wrong move in Syria and the peace settlement collapses and then we're all back at square one: mindless "moderate" killing, in perpetuity.

It didn't have to be this way. But at some point after November 8, Americans who voted for the lady who didn't win decided that they would chew and swallow any and all baloney in the noble pursuit of dethroning the fascist KGB dictator, Donald Trump. We didn't even vote for the guy. But c'mon, people.

It doesn't matter if the tomes of "damning evidence" contradict each other, or if this evidence even exists at all. It's completely irrelevant. The ends justify the means. And the means involves lapping up the lies, no matter how offensive they are to basic critical thinking.

A few recent examples, the first being today's "big story".

We are now being told that the Trump administration "had a secret plan to lift Russian sanctions'" and "cede Ukraine territory to Moscow". Here's how The Independent reports it:
President Trump's personal lawyer and a former business associate met privately in New York City last month with a member of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country that could give Russia long-term control over territory it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow.

The meeting with Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian politician, involved Michael Cohen, a Trump Organisation lawyer since 2007, and Felix Sater, a former business partner who worked on real estate projects with Trump's company.

The occurrence of the meeting, first reported Sunday by the New York Times, suggests that some in the region aligned with Russia have been seeking to use Trump business associates as an informal conduit to a new president who has signaled a desire to forge warmer relations with Russia. The discussion took place amid increasingly intense scrutiny of the ties between Trump's team and Russia, as well as escalating investigations on Capitol Hill of the determination by U.S. intelligence agencies that the Kremlin intervened in last year's election to help Trump.
Here's a translation: A member of Ukrainian parliament who is not part of Poroshenko's bloc met with Trump's lawyer. They talked about a possible solution to the Ukraine crisis.

But to the media — and far too many millions of Americans — this proves that 1. Trump is set on "ceding Ukrainian territory" to Russia and 2. Putin rigged our elections.

But buried several paragraphs below, we find a more sober, but still revelatory statement: "The back-channel discussions could disrupt delicate diplomacy between the new Trump administration and Poroshenko."

In other words: Back channel discussions with anyone suspected of being sympathetic to "Russian aggression" is prohibited, and furthermore, angers Washington's client government in Kiev.

Just another example of how speaking with the Russians/anti-Poroshenko Ukrainians is tantamount to treason.

As an ironic side-note, apparently people are forgetting that Poroshenko allegedly offered to give Putin territories in Eastern Ukraine, and was turned down:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has offered Russian counterpart Vldimir Putin to ''include Donbass'' in the territory of the federation.

''Poroshenko directly told me, ''Take Donbass'', and I responded, ''Have you gone mad? I don't need Donbass. If you don't need it, announce its independence'', was the statement Vladimir Putin made at his meeting with Russian industrialists and businessmen on March 19, as quoted by Forbes.
But we are becoming pedantic. Facts are irrelevant. Trump conspired with Putin to give Russia all of East Ukraine. It was part of Trump's "secret plan", which he probably didn't even know about because this sensational non-scoop is about a meeting between a Trump lawyer and a Ukrainian member of parliament. So basically two people that don't really matter. Talking. Scoop!

Another example of Americans lapping up the Kool-Aid:
A dossier on Donald Trump's psychological makeup is being prepared for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Among its preliminary conclusions is that the new American leader is a risk-taker who can be naïve, according to a senior Kremlin adviser.

Trump "doesn't understand fully who is Mr. Putin — he is a tough guy," former Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov told NBC News.

The file is being compiled by retired diplomats and some of Putin's staff, he added.

The attempt to get inside the U.S. president's mind is aimed at helping Putin plan for his first meeting with America's new leader, the date for which is yet to be decided.
Does anyone in North America understand why printing anything former Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov says is a bad idea? It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant.

A more important question is: WHY WOULD PUTIN NEED A PSYCHOLOGICAL DOSSIER ON TRUMP IF THE TWO LEADERS ARE ALREADY CONSPIRING WITH EACH OTHER TO UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?

This is just the latest phenomenon in the wonderful world of "contradicting fairy tale news". Here's a similar case, from a few weeks ago:
U.S. intelligence has collected information that Russia is considering turning over Edward Snowden as a "gift" to President Donald Trump — who has called the NSA leaker a "spy" and a "traitor" who deserves to be executed.

That's according to a senior U.S. official who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations and who says a Snowden handover is one of various ploys to "curry favor" with Trump. A second source in the intelligence community confirms the intelligence about the Russian conversations and notes it has been gathered since the inauguration.
Really? We thought Trump was already Putin's puppet? SO WHY WOULD PUTIN HAVE TO "CURRY FAVOR" WITH TRUMP?

Yes, basic critical thinking skills have gone straight out the window as Americans happily goose-step towards the unimaginable.

Moscow made it clear from the beginning that it didn't expect the Trump administration to perform "miracles" for U.S.-Russia relations. But even the doubters and pessimists (we include ourselves in this category) never expected to find us where we are right now: teetering on the edge as our compatriots scream for blood.

Things are going to get much worse before they get any better.