President Biden gave his assessment of the Russia-Ukraine crisis to the nation Tuesday at 3:30 pm Eastern Time from the White House. Biden has chosen to continue to pursue diplomatic discussions as the practical next step, indicating that the U.S. is now prepared to discuss both US/NATO security concerns AND Russia’s security concerns on the table. This is a huge win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government has been complaining that the U.S. has been working with its allies to ignore Moscow’s concerns about Ukraine becoming the next domino in NATO’s expansion eastward into the Russian sphere of influence.
Whether Biden is genuinely interested in a full discussion, however, remains to be seen. The U.S. president listed the issues we are willing to discuss; he once again focused on the non-starter issues of arms control, territorial integrity, and strategic stability. But, that’s not what Russia has been asking for. Indeed, Biden made a special mention that the U.S. is not prepared to sacrifice basic principles of self-determination, which is code for rejecting Russia’s principal concern that Ukraine is not allowed to join the NATO alliance. The bottom line is the US gave little other than lip service to continuing to talk without listening.I am not so sure that this is actually "checkmate' here, but there is no question as to whom is in control of the chessboard and who is being outplayed. This is like Magnus Carlson vs Roger when you look at the situation. Putin, having spent much of the past several decades controlling eastern Europe and pulling all the strings vs an old geezer who is best when he is hiding in his basement and is currently not sure if he should shit or get off the pot.
The larger issue (as I see it) is that Putin is looking to simply further his best interests in the region, while Biden is tied to US politics and trying not to look like a complete bozo to the American electorate. Putin's interest is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and Putin understands that war is a non-starter for Biden and the United States. He puts troops here and there. Scares the living bejeebers out of the Biden Administration who pulls everyone out of Ukraine, puts the country on red alert, and spreads rumors that war is inevitable.
Not sure if they thought they could hype up war, then pretend that they somehow prevented it? Because to me it looks (on top of Covid and everything else) as long on the sky is falling rhetoric and short on the responsible level headed response. More to the point, it just looks like a giant overreaction if Putin pulls everyone back and never enters Ukraine. Putin has Biden over the proverbial barrel here and Biden is simply outmatched.
Ultimately the United States has nothing to gain from being in discussions with Putin. There is no reason for it. But once again, Putin has worked his way into a position of strength. An amazing feat considering Russia is a fairly poor country with the third of the population of the United States. The fact that they still rely on tanks, should be an eyeopener here. But it certainly feels like it is Biden who is the one looking for equal footing here and Putin is calling the shots.
75 comments:
You made my point earlier today.
All the way back to Eisenhower, he stood up to the Russian empire we fought the cold war until the Berlin wall went down.
Most Republicans in Congress have a clear understanding of Vladimir Putin: He’s a predator, and the only way to stop him is to stand up to him. They understand other tyrants the same way: China’s Xi Jinping, Iran’s Ali Khamenei, and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.”
“But when the predator is in their own country—when he’s the leader of their own party—their philosophy of deterrence melts into appeasement. The hawks become doves.”
Ronald Reagan is ashamed of people like you have become Scott.
The United States and our allies are calling the shots.
Putin has been withdrawn armed forces and is negotiating with the President and our allies.
Putin has very few options!
If he invades Ukraine they will fight a guerrilla war against the Russians, and we will provide weapons and cyber weapons and surveillance to them.
The Russians would have the same problem we did in Afghanistan.
President Biden has won the Ukraine war!
The United States has beaten the Russians again.
Red state LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO
Our allies in NATO have stuck together during this period and, because you are probably an isolationist, you want us to withdraw from NATO because he said it wasn't fair that we pay a lot more than our allies. Historically, we have not yet had a third world war.
If we actually withdraw from NATO Vladimir Putin will reconstruct the Russian Empire he has been trying from the day he became President of Russia.
Do you really want that to happen again??????????
No idea what you are talking about Roger...
Sounds like random gibberish taken where every conservative who ever lived who ever said anything you disagreed with and then is somehow attributed to me. As if those are "my" opinions.
We are not "standing up" to Putin.
We are not committing troops and ultimately we are going to end up giving him what he wants. I would hope you understand that for Putin the threat of war is just a bargaining chip. The fact that we are going to come back and bargain with him, is a loss.
For the last few days I thought I was wrong about you but this is fucking insane.
If he followed your advice, within a decade, the Russians and the Chinese government would prevail world wide.
Even the United States, might break up.
We won the cold war.
The only thing Putin will get???
They might not join NATO.
That is another victory without war.
NATO will not collapse.
If Putin got that it would be checkmate,
but the President will get the queen and checkmate in two moves.
But your SJDS keeps you from coming to a sensible conclusion.
The fact that we are going to come back and bargain with him, is a loss.
Why do you really think that???
SLDS
Scott, even without major military actions,
We are stood up to Putin, and he withdrew thousands of troops from the border.
SLDS.
President Biden fucked up the Afghanistan withdrawal. I have criticized him.
But for some reason you will never give Sleepy Joe Biden credit for anything. Like a politician.
I'm not a politician, I'm a proud American citizen. My parents generation saved the world from fascism and communism.
But for some reason, objective thinking seems to exceed your mind Scott.
And of course Biden spoke at 3:30. He can't stay awake until 9 pm.
Like the way you ever gave Trump credit for anything?
This is illogical
if Putin pulls everyone back and never enters Ukraine. Putin has Biden over the proverbial barrel here and Biden is simply outmatched.
If he does that, we didn't fire a weapon, Biden should get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Eventually Warp Speed but he refused to do that for almost three months after he knew how dangerous it.
Propaganda
Both sides Scott....
As their standoff over Ukraine continues, Moscow and Washington are playing an increasingly high-stakes, increasingly complex game of signaling to try to secure their aims without firing a shot.
Traditional diplomacy is just one component of this dance. Troop movements, sanctions warnings and legislation, embassy closures, leader summits, and intelligence leaks are all aimed, in part, at proving each country’s willingness to carry out certain threats or accept certain risks.
It is a form of high-stakes negotiation, conducted in actions as much as words, meant to settle the future of Europe just as conclusively as if decided by war, by telegraphing how a conflict would play out rather than waging it directly.
The New York Times article said in better written than I can do. But exactly correct.
This is another one with very disturbing stories.
As Russia Welcomes Talks, Biden Warns Invasion Is Still Possible https://nyti.ms/3GMRzQV
I still remember when Reagan condemned the Russians. But you are condemning our President of the United States of America
James, see we agree.
"Honest, decent, truth telling ReverendFebruary 15, 2022 at 4:14 PM
My wife and I have Moderna one and two and booster.
No ill effects. My wife had some discomfort after her Moderna booster but by the night it was gone."
Good for you.
And me and mine got exactly Zero.
Freedom to choose .
Roger is a funny little mutt.
How many times did you deny Trump was your President?
WSJ
These are people who have proved they will support Mr. Putin in the impoverishment and destruction of Russian society provided they can enjoy their billions a few years longer. A catastrophic ending has always seemed in the cards, though perhaps not starting precisely with today’s fabricated Ukraine crisis. As for the U.S., the constant talk of a “diplomatic path to avoid war,” one hopes, is merely a locutional habit. Mr. Putin should receive no prizes for ginning up threats against his neighbor; the price should be very steep, very fast if he proceeds with military action. Mr. Putin made his bed. It’s not a U.S. job to help him stay in power or postpone the sudden violent ending that such regimes typically are prey to. No concessions, no rewards. Keep the pressure on.
If we back off, he might actually dismantle NATO Scott.
You are SUCH a BS-er. BIDEN IS NOT FLAILING.
IF ANYTHING, IT'S PUTIN WHO'S HAVING TO STAND DOWN. HIS MASSIVE TRICKS DID NOT WORK.
I THINK F-DADDY GOT ABSOLUTELY NO SHOT AND NO BOOSTER.
BUT WHERE HAS HE BEEN?
IS HE PUSHING UP DAISIES?
Reading over Ch's thread gibberish, he seems totally unaware that the United States and Russia both have MASSIVE NUCLEAR armaments, in silos, on transferable land carriers, in submarines that could potentially loose Armagedon onto the world.
Biden and his advisors have acted soberly and well and our NATO allies and their militaries know it.
We even got the Germans to hang tough, much as it could cost them in terms of natural gas.
Any of you remember the film, "The Day After"? It showed what happened to America after a nuclear strike on both our land and the Soviet Union (which even then was about to start breaking up).
(It never was clear in the movie which nation had fired first.)
It showed on American television and got tremendous response.
It later showed in the Soviet Union pretty much uncensored during Gorbachev's time.
I saw it in Germany at the time it showed there and it scared many people severely.
I forgot to mention in 9:42 that we both also have huge bombers capable of delivering huge payloads, but missiles both from land silos and from sea (submarines) would be the primary initial attack weapons.
I'm glad Trump is nowhere near the nuclear trigger.
I think Putin also got a strong whiff of how unpopular an attack against a non aggressive Ukraine would be with his own people. The Russian people never have never forgotten their unhappiness at all the body bags that came home from Afghanistan.
...people have never...
Scott, President Biden knew this.
The impact on Russia of invading Ukraine would be so disastrous, the only reason Mr. Putin and his cronies might nevertheless proceed is because they see no other way to assure continuation of their own rule and privileges for another decade. Mr. Putin has been living a more dangerous life than appreciated. His regime’s attempted murder of its most prominent critic, Alexei Navalny, was an infamous screw-up; Mr. Navalny escaped and then came back voluntarily to be arrested, making Mr. Putin the protector and cultivator of the man most likely to preside over his regime’s liquidation.
Mr. Putin’s lackey having been overthrown in Ukraine, Ukraine is rapidly attaching itself to the West. His lackey in Belarus had to be rescued from a voter revolt. His lackey in Kazakhstan had to be propped up with Russian troops last month.
President Biden has called his bluff!
Don’t Let Putin off the Hook in Ukraine
https://www.wsj.com/articles/dont-let-putin-off-the-hook-vladimir-russia-ukraine-invasion-war-democracy-oligarchs-sanctions-11644960277
I use real Republican websites not red States
Like American Greatness aka fascist
But in the foreseeable future there will be no large-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, let alone a European war or World War III.
It’s all a psychological campaign. How do we know?
First, U.S. intelligence doesn’t understand Putin’s logic. Western services failed to see Russia’s preparation to attack Georgia in 2008 or occupy Crimea in 2014, or to attack Ukrainian positions near Ilovaisk and Debaltseve in 2014-15.
For all its investments in collection, the U.S. intelligence community has a poor analytical track record. It failed to anticipate the Soviet collapse and the 9/11 attacks. It misinterpreted the intentions of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. It failed to foresee the aggressive rise of China. And then there’s Afghanistan.
Second, Putin has made no attempts to conceal his troop movements over the past three months. To the contrary, he readied his earlier attacks on Georgia and Ukraine in secret. When Putin acts openly, he is not preparing a real attack. He is running psychological operations of bluff, blackmail, and intimidation.
Third, simply because Russian forces are “concentrated against Ukraine” does not mean they are poised to invade. Posture does not indicate readiness.
Fourth, the greatest estimate of Russian troop strength concentrated near Ukraine has declined since September, from 200,000 during the Zapad-2021 joint maneuvers with Belarus to 147,800 this month.
Fifth, those 200,000 aroused no international alarm. One is hard-pressed to find an article then about a Russian threat to invade Ukraine. Yet since October 30, several hundred stories about an “imminent” Russian attack have appeared in English alone.
Sixth, maps of the supposed, predicted hostilities in Western news outlets appear designed to create an emotional impact without hard factual bases.
For example, a November 21, 2021 map published in the Military Times shows two Russian formations aimed at capturing the cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv. The map would have readers believe that Russia could capture or encircle cities of 1.5 million and 3 million people, respectively, with a combined 12,000 troops at most. This is laughable.
The 1943 Soviet offensives against Kharkiv required 980,000 troops, and Kyiv another 671,000. Plus occupation forces for large areas in the overall theaters of operations. Technology might have reduced the number of troops needed for an operation, but nowhere near the suggested scale.
Seventh, Russia has an insufficient minimal troop size concentrated “near Ukraine” to defeat Ukrainian fighters and capture significant territory of the country. Those amount to 148,000 Russian troops and 32,000 pro-Russian separatists, or 180,000 soldiers. It is not enough to capture the most important military, political, administrative, transport, and industrial targets.
The Ukrainian military has extensive combat experience, definitely not less than Russians and pro-Russian separatists. In the eight-year eastern Ukraine war, 100 Ukrainian combatants died for every 138 Russians/pro-Russian separatists.
Ukraine has 261,000 soldiers and officers, with an anticipated increase of 100,000, plus 200,000 in active reserve, plus 400,000 veterans of the war in Donbass. Ukraine’s civilian population is ready to fight for freedom and independence of their country.
Putin knows all this. He won’t start a major war if he thinks he has a chance to force Ukrainians to surrender. For that, he needs the Western leaders to help.
You are getting more irrational.
It looks like this is just the beginning, because, if you read the filing and have any understanding of what took place, and I called this a long time ago, you’re going to see a lot of other things happening, having to do with what, really, just is a continuation of the crime of the century.
In regards to Russia Russia Russia.
What does Biden get if Russia announces a troop pullback and really follows through? Tensions ease. Hosannas from all quarters flow to Biden the peacemaker, the master negotiator (though details of the "understanding" would not be made public). In America, euphoria following Russia's drawdown would obliterate inflation as the big story, replaced by the narrative of nuclear Armageddon avoided because of the cool and focused man in the Oval Office. COVID missteps? Old news. And who would dare question the cognitive state of the president who tamed the Russian bear?
In a flash, midterms suddenly seem salvageable for Democrats, with Biden traipsing around the country playing the role of master diplomat. Republican prospects in November dimmed by Biden's "genius"? Wouldn't surprise me if both Putin and Biden saw this possibility as a desirable outcome. Collusion?
Blogger Roger Amick said...
You are getting more irrational.
Says the mentally ill looney bin resident responsible for 90% of the comments here, all plagiarized from sources he cannot begin to comprehend.
Give psychological projection the day off alky. Just once.
In a flash, midterms suddenly seem salvageable for Democrats, with Biden traipsing around the country playing the role of master diplomat.
So this is, in a nutshell, your hopes for salvaging the midterms.
LOL. Good luck, alky.
You honestly think Americans here at home getting crushed by a completely avoidable and intentional destruction of the American economy here at home are going to give the drooling fuck credit for avoiding a war that had no chance of ever being fought to begin with.
So this is, in a nutshell, your hopes for salvaging the midterms.
No dumb fuck, it is the perpetual stupidity of the GOP that will be its demise!!!!!! So much for the party of Law and Order protecting the people!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
A group of Republican senators sent a letter to the Justice Department on Tuesday to express "strong opposition" to creating a federal no-fly list for unruly passengers, claiming "the majority of recent infractions on airplanes has been in relation to the mask mandate."
Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas were among those who signed a letter opposing Delta Airlines' CEO Ed Bastian's, request earlier this month that the DOJ create a "no-fly" list for passengers convicted of federal offenses relating to on-board disruptions.
this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland," the GOP senators' letter said. "The [Transportation Security Administration] was created in the wake of 9/11 to protect Americans from future horrific attacks, not to regulate human behavior onboard flights."
The senators argued airlines could create their own no-fly lists and refuse services to unruly passengers, but that it would be an overreach for the federal government to do so.
MORE: After increase in assaults, flight attendants are saying enough is enough
Many airlines have already done this, but they do not prevent an offender from boarding another carrier. Delta has previously asked other U.S. airlines to share their internal no-fly lists so that people who endangered their crew can't do so on another airline.
Good going Joe....let trump choke on all the paper he tried to hide.....>BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! FUCK TRUMP!!!!!!!
Kyle Cheney
Wed, February 16, 2022, 7:36 AM
President Joe Biden has rejected Donald Trump’s effort to assert executive privilege over White House visitor logs from Jan. 6, 2021, ordering the National Archives to deliver the documents to congressional investigators in two weeks.
“As a matter of policy, and subject to limited exceptions, the Biden Administration voluntarily discloses such visitor logs on a monthly basis. The Obama Administration followed the same practice,” White House Counsel Dana Remus said in a letter to National Archivist David Ferriero dated Feb. 15.
“The majority of the entries over which the former President has asserted executive privilege would be publicly released under current policy,” Remus wrote. “As practice under that policy demonstrates, preserving the confidentiality of this type of record generally is not necessary to protect long-term institutional interests of the Executive Branch.”
The decision to reject Trump’s effort to assert executive privilege over those logs is the latest move by Biden to support the investigation of the House Jan. 6 select committee probing Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election — and the violent riot at the Capitol that ensued when his effort failed.
Another Trump conspiracy theory shot to shit as it should!!!!!! BWAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!! Rat's head explodes again!!!!!!!!
Business Insider
What you need to know about the John Durham filing that Trumpworld is fuming over
Sonam Sheth
Tue, February 15, 2022, 12:27 PM
Former President Donald Trump
Then-President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House on Thanksgiving on November 26, 2020 in Washington, DC.Erin Schaff/Getty Images
Trumpworld erupted over a new court filing from the special counsel John Durham.
They said the filing contains definitive proof that Democrats illegally spied on Trump in 2016 and 2017.
The filing does not allege espionage but it does claim that a Clinton lawyer surreptitiously obtained non-public or proprietary data from the White House and Trump's servers.
The right-wing media sphere erupted this week over a legal filing from the special counsel John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the FBI's Russia probe, that former President Donald Trump and his allies said presented definitive proof that his political opponents illegally "spied" on him.
Trump declared in a statement that the filing provided "indisputable evidence that my campaign and presidency were spied on by operatives paid by the Hillary Clinton Campaign in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia," adding that such conduct "would have been punishable by death" in a "stronger period of time in this country."
President Biden's decision to reject Trump’s effort to assert executive privilege over those logs is the latest move by Biden to support the investigation of the House Jan. 6 select committee probing Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election — and the violent riot at the Capitol that ensued when his effort failed.
More brilliant rhetoric from the losers in theGOP......this fucking asshole should be impeached for stupidity!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
INSIDER
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan says a Trump statement that suggested the execution of former Hillary Clinton campaign aides was 'right on target'
Alexandra Ma
Mon, February 14, 2022, 7:31 AM
jim jordan
Rep. Jim Jordan.Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images
Trump reacted to a Fox News report claiming the Clinton campaign hired a firm to access Trump Tower servers.
The former president said the allegations were crimes that "would have been punishable by death."
Jim Jordan echoed Trump's talking points, saying his statement was "right on target."
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said on Sunday that former President Donald Trump's statement in which he suggested executing Hillary Clinton campaign aides was "right on target."
Jordan, a staunch Trump ally, was reacting to the 45th president's Saturday statement on a new court filing by the special counsel John Durham, reported by Fox News.
Fox News reported that the filing said former aides to Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign paid a tech company to access servers belonging to Trump Tower and afterward the Trump White House in an effort to find links to Russia.
In his Saturday statement, Trump said the filing "provides indisputable evidence" that the Clinton team spied on his campaign and presidency "in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia."
The filing does not allege espionage but it does claim that a Clinton lawyer surreptitiously obtained non-public or proprietary data from the White House and Trump's servers.
You can tell that the left does not have the facts on their side as they've decided to resort to a game of semantics.
Not "espionage" by name, but "surreptitious" obtainment of "non-public or proprietary data from the White House and Trump's servers."
LOL. Oh ok.
So not "murder" by name, but rather "surreptitiously" ending of his life.
Has Biden Made Putin Blink?
February 16, 2022 at 7:22 am EST By Taegan Goddard 36 Comments
Tom Friedman: “The Biden team has mobilized enough solidarity among the NATO allies, enough advanced defensive arms transfers to Ukraine and enough potentially biting economic sanctions on Russia to put into Putin’s mind the only thought that matters: ‘If I go ahead with a full-scale invasion and it goes bad — wrecking Russia’s economy and resulting in Russian soldiers returning home in body bags from a war with fellow Slavs — could it lead to my own downfall?’”
“That is the only calculation that matters, and Biden has done the best job a U.S. president could do, given the asymmetry in interests between America and Russia on Ukraine, to frame it. Ukraine is not only right next door to Russia, but it’s also a country whose fate and future are vitally important to Putin personally. By contrast, most Americans could not find Ukraine on a map and feel zero emotional attachment to its future.”
Axios: If Putin invades Ukraine, the whole world will feel it.
---------
There are many reports that show he might still invade Ukraine.
But the NATO allies are sticking together.
Or, has Putin made Biden blink? If Putin is getting something he did not have before this buildup, then he did and this was a success for him.
This young cunt must have learned to lie from her sponsor Putin and gotten tips from fat assed trump!!!!!! No wonder why the Olympics ratings are crashing as it is nothing more than a political show case for cheaters like trump!!!!!
Henry Bushnell
Henry Bushnell
Wed, February 16, 2022, 6:19 AM
BEIJING — A document submitted by the World Anti-Doping Agency at Kamila Valieva’s hearing revealed that the Russian figure skater acknowledged taking two other substances similar to the one for which she tested positive, trimetazidine.
Neither of the other substances, L-carnitine and hypoxen, is banned. But Valieva’s use of them “raises serious questions,” U.S. anti-doping chief Travis Tygart said, about her explanation for her positive test — that her grandfather uses trimetazidine, and that she must have inadvertently ingested it.
Valieva and her team argued accidental use at a Feb. 9 hearing before the Russian Anti-Doping Agency. RUSADA lifted a provisional suspension, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport later decided not to impose one for the positive test, which stemmed from a sample submitted on Dec. 25 of last year.
The former con artist President is under investigation.
NEW YORK (AP) — Questions about Donald Trump’s business practices are piling up. Whether the former president is forced to answer any of them under oath could be decided in a matter of days.
New York’s attorney general will go to court Thursday seeking to enforce a subpoena for Trump’s testimony in a civil investigation she says uncovered evidence his company used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of golf clubs, skyscrapers and other properties to get loans and tax benefits.
The hearing, before state Judge Arthur Engoron in Manhattan, is the next step in a legal battle that has unfolded in court papers over the last few weeks, including the revelation Monday that Trump’s longtime accounting firm recently dumped him after warning that financial statements it prepared could not be trusted.
You can tell that the left does not have the facts on their side as they've decided to resort to a game of semantics.
YOUR STUPIDITY AND FEALTY TO TRUMP IS BOUNDLESS ASSHOLE!!!! Funny thing is you actually believe your own bullshit as most just laugh at you!!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
In 2009, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman wrote these words:
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.
Translation: Oh, the genocide? Yeah, that's a feature, not a bug.
LOL. Freidman.
Good one alky. It takes a clod to quote a clod.
New York’s attorney general will go to court Thursday seeking to enforce a subpoena for Trump’s testimony in a civil investigation...
Civil and not CRIMINAL, alky?
Wow. Such a disappointment. So Laquishaniqua James get's to extort a pile of $$$ from Trump.
How fascist of you to applaud this.
LOL.
3 school board members have just been recalled in......San Francisco. Yes, even San Fran voters are fed up with the woke school boards who think they're untouchable.
THREAD TOPIC:
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING AND SAYING:
Has Biden Made Putin Blink?
February 16, 2022 at 7:22 am EST By Taegan Goddard 42 Comments
Tom Friedman:
“The Biden team has mobilized enough solidarity among the NATO allies, enough advanced defensive arms transfers to Ukraine and enough potentially biting economic sanctions on Russia to put into Putin’s mind the only thought that matters:
‘If I go ahead with a full-scale invasion and it goes bad — wrecking Russia’s economy and resulting in Russian soldiers returning home in body bags from a war with fellow Slavs — could it lead to my own downfall?’
“That is the only calculation that matters [TO HIM], and Biden has done the best job a U.S. president could do, given the asymmetry in interests between America and Russia on Ukraine, to frame it. Ukraine is not only right next door to Russia, but it’s also a country whose fate and future are vitally important to Putin personally."
_______
THAT IS NOT TO SAY, however, that it is not troublesome that Putin keeps saying he is not going to invade, yet does not pull back more massive amounts of Russian troops.
An attack or some diversive maneuver could come at any time.
3 school board members have just been recalled in......San Francisco.
BWAAAAAAAA!!!!! 3 Progressive in a very progressive area!!!!!!! At least those voters had sense to get rid of a problem unlike the GOP who are still suffering from the idiot TEA party cancer!!!!!!!!
Good for them!!!
7:39 Ludicrous. No matter how successfully this Ukraine thing might come out for our side, Myballs will criticize it.
Because Biden, not Trump, is president.
Civil and not CRIMINAL, alky?
Any testimony obtained asshole will and can be used in a criminal proceeding!!!!! Sad you aren't smart enough to figure that out!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
3 school board members have just been recalled in......San Francisco.
Yep. By an absolute landslide.
Collins: 79% of voters support recall
Lopez: 75% of voters support recall
Moliga: 73% support recall
Yes rat a virtual landslide rejecting progressives in SF!!!!! At least they have brains to rid the system of stupid, unlike you and the big lie supporters in the GOP congress caucus.....>>BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Even San Fran voters have had enough of woke liberal school boards with political agendas. Yes, good for them.
We must make the next election about Trump.
The next two elections, that is.
Even San Fran voters have had enough of woke liberal school boards with political agendas.
You mean just like the GOP is doing throughout the country.....start small......!!!!!!!! CRT comes to mind.....book banning in Texas....seems rather political even to morons like you!!!!!!!
After what the country has been put through the past year by the Biden administration and democrats controlled Congress, I'm sure you would like it to be about anything clear. But it won't be.
Since nothing seems to get GOP idiots out of their trump coma......maybe hitting them with no cash will get their attentions....nothing seems to have worked so far, but pocket book might finally wake these idiots up!!!!!
Fortune
Corporate donations to Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and other Jan. 6 election objectors have plummeted, and individual donors are Congress’s biggest fundraising force
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
Tue, February 15, 2022, 12:38 PM
Business leaders are clearly not buying the continuing narrative from many political leaders that efforts to overturn American democracy after the last election were “legitimate political discourse.” Newly released Federal Election Commission filings this month, now encompassing the entirety of 2021, show that all 93 of the incumbent members of Congress who failed in their constitutional duties to confirm the certified ballots of the Electoral College have suffered a major plunge in business support.
We’ve seen a resurgence of whining from cynical media about companies that let expire last year’s pledges to halt donations to these “objectors” in Congress. But the chorus of corporate critics has missed the forest for the trees. According to the new FEC filings, total corporate giving to those objectors fell a staggering 60% from calendar year 2019, the equivalent stage of the last election cycle. Putting this in context: All corporate political spending on Congress is down 28%; corporate support for GOP non-objecting members of Congress slipped that same 28%; and corporate giving to Democratic members of Congress fell just 19%. Thus, while businesses have lost some interest in supporting congressional campaigns in general, by this measure they are three times more wary of assisting objectors.
After what the country has been put through the past year by the Biden administration
BWAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!!!! While americans still are dying from trumps flu and his incompetence.....Yeah ballz.....the GDP grew over 5% and millions are back working.....sorry sport, pull you head out of trumps ass!!!!
President Biden knew that this would happen.
With its member countries divided by geography and history, the European Union has often struggled to write itself into the story. Generally appearing passive, weak, and immobile, the stereotype is that it is unwilling either to defend or revise the existing security order. Critics regard it as being paralyzed by the prospect of two nightmare scenarios: an all-out war or some Yalta 2.0 scenario, whereby Russia and America broker a new settlement for Europe without bothering to consult Europeans.
But underlying the obvious differences are key interests that all Europeans share: namely, the desire to prevent another war in Europe; the need to preserve NATO’s credibility; and a sense of responsibility to save Ukraine from being forced back under a Russian yoke. The genius of European policymaking is its ability to reconcile domestic political imperatives with the need for international diplomacy. The ECFR poll shows that, over the last few weeks, there has been a convergence among European polities about the need to respond.
At the same time, European governments are finding better ways to manage their own divisions. Though many Central and Eastern Europeans are uncomfortable about diplomatic talks, they have not sought to prevent the Americans or Macron from exploring options for engagement with Russia. And for his part, Macron has been careful to consult other countries and to stick to agreed principles concerning European security and Ukrainian sovereignty.
Moreover, after initial hesitations and silence, Germany has signaled that it is willing to put all sanctions on the table. And as one EU foreign minister confided to me recently, even Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán mostly stuck to the common EU line when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.
The fact that war is no longer unthinkable in Europe could force Europeans to make tricky compromises to preserve their collective peace. Though it certainly wasn’t his goal when he started amassing troops on the Ukrainian border, Putin may unwittingly have helped EU member states transform themselves from a fragmented assemblage of apprehensive observers into a bloc of determined defenders of their own security.
Hey fatboi ready to admit Brennan is a commie after it was shoved down your throat yesterday?
LMAO
Hey fatboi ready to admit Brennan is a commie
Hey shorty.....you really should read what you claim is proof.....Brennan was never a commie.....LOLOLOLO....He voted for one while in college just like you drank at UGA......admitted he did it during his being vetted for a clearance...something you would never pass!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! You really are dumber then the goat fucker!!!!!!
Hey fucking loser shorty......when are you going to admit you know shit??????? BWAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!!! Brennan is a commie like you are a fucking genius!!!!!!!!!!
I doubt if Putin can scare the EU members into forming federal system.
The countries (especially the rich ones) would want to retain their sovereignty.
Always can tell when I get under one of fat boys many rollS
WHOOOOOOI!!!!
Ah, the SHORT genius of the south once again has had his ass kicked into next week because he can't read or think......BWAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Have another cocktail shorty....it is what you do best!!!!! You truly are an amusing asshole!!!!
Fatty you didn’t even it had happened, so I’ll take your ignorant condescension with the grain of salt it deserves.
LOL
Later tubby
And make sure you get the last word. Everyone knows how small you are and how important it is to ya.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! At you again Shorty.......LOLOLOL
Blogger Caliphate4vr said...
Fatty you didn’t even it had happened,
BWAAAAAAAAA!!!! Gibberish posted by our resident short drunk......Can't even post a simple sentence!!!!!!!
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