General Discussion

IMO, the war is being waged deliberately, to raise the price of oil. Now thanks to the lifting of sanctions Russia has access to the world's oil markets again to sell their oil at a higher price. Cui bono?

The subornment of Trump by whatever techniques possible is simply a means to this end: start the war, then lift the sanctions. All else is window dressing, both to make the outcome unavoidable and to disguise the true motives.

It appears (to me at least) to be a simple case of "follow the money."