Russian foreign minister praises Fox News for Ukraine coverage Niamh Cavanagh Fri, March 18, 2022, 11:42 AM·3 min read After three weeks of bitter and barbaric fighting in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the coverage of the war from one American media outlet: Fox News.
Speaking to the state-owned RT network, Lavrov said Fox News has been “trying to represent some alternative points of view” in its coverage of the war.
“We understood long ago that there is no such thing as an independent Western media,” he said in the Friday interview, which was conducted in English.
He went on to denounce the social media ban of former President Donald Trump and appeared to criticize the labeling of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as terrorists.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) “But when you watch other channels, read the social networks and internet platforms, when the acting president was blocked and this censorship continues in a very big way. The substitution of notions whenever something is happening by the way of mass protest, mass demonstrations, which they don’t like, they immediately call it domestic terrorism.”
He added: “So it’s a war, and it’s a war which involves the methods of information terrorism.”
Last Friday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested that U.S. government officials wanted a war between Russia and Ukraine in a bid to “grab more power.” While otherwise denouncing the Russian invasion, Carlson theorized that the U.S. helped provoke the conflict after emergency powers enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic had come to an end.
“At exactly the moment when the emergency powers they awarded to themselves to fight COVID started to wane, our leaders began pushing for conflict with Russia,” the Fox News host said.
Meanwhile, retired United States Army Col. Douglas Macgregor declared on Carlson’s show on Thursday that Kyiv had lost the war with Russia and that Ukraine had been “grounded to bits.”
The retired colonel added: “There’s no question about that, despite what we report on our mainstream media.” Most military experts, however, say the Russian advance is moving much slower than Moscow expected in the face of severe logistical problems and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
He went on to denounce the social media ban of former President Donald Trump and appeared to criticize the labeling of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as terrorists.
Biden made good on his Debate promise. ""Number one, no more subsidies for fossil fuel industry. No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends, number one."
He went on to denounce the social media ban of former President Donald Trump and appeared to criticize the labeling of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as terrorists.
Well Dunning-Kruger alky -
Putin is still on social media while Trump is not, so it's safe to say the big tech left loves and supports Putin.
And please let us know when a single J6 defendant is charged with INSURRECTION.
Keep your eye on "RAW STORY!!!11!" like you always do for updates on that, there sport.
President Joe Biden held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping for one hour and 50 minutes on Friday, marking the first time the two leaders spoke since November.
The White House readout of the call doesn't say whether the conversation was constructive or not, but the White House said Biden made clear the "implications and consequences" if China aligns with Russia and provides them "material support."China's readout of the call said China supports negotiations but passes the buck to the U.S. and NATO to "conduct dialogue with Russia to solve the crux of the Ukraine crisis and resolve the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine."
The call was “direct,” “substantive” and “detailed,” according to a senior administration official.
BREAKING NEWS: The American Bar Association has rated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson unanimously “Well Qualified” to serve on the United States Supreme Court—ABA’s highest possible rating.
“A former West Virginia state lawmaker who livestreamed the Jan. 6, 2021, rioting at the Capitol pleaded guilty on Friday to a felony charge of civil disorder over his involvement in the uprising,” The Hill reports.
“Derrick Evans, 36, faces up to five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $250,000.” ________
I guess he forgot for a few minutes that he was just a peaceful tourist visiting the Capitol Building.
Trump Campaign Owes $300,000 After Failed NDA Case
“Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been ordered to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees and expenses to a former employee who the campaign’s lawyers said had violated the terms of a nondisclosure agreement when she accused Mr. Trump of forcibly kissing her in 2016,” the New York Times reports.
“The award, the culmination of an arbitration claim that was dismissed in November, represents the latest instance of Mr. Trump’s failure to use a nondisclosure agreement successfully against an ex-worker.”
I don't feel nearly as sorry for the poor fellow weeping at the gas pump as I do for all the Ukrainian people who are suffering under bombardment and missile strikes and have lost loved ones and homes.
I also feel sorry for the perhaps as many as 7,000 Russian soldiers, many of them still in their teens, sent to be slaughtered just to satisfy the insatiable selfishness of would-be Czar Putin.
Solar capacity installations in the fourth quarter last year were about 2.5 gigawatts, the lowest quarter of the year and down 43 per cent year-on-year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Now, the slowdown is stretching into 2022.
Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, China has mostly tried to publicly distance itself from the war’s carnage without criticizing its leader, President Vladimir V. Putin. While that is still broadly true, observers on the Chinese mainland have noticed in recent days that their country’s state-run news media juggernaut — like the government itself — appears to be subtly shifting its tone on the war.
There is slightly less focus on Russia’s military might, observers say, and slightly more on peace talks and the civilian toll of Russian strikes. Russian state propaganda has also fallen in popularity on Weibo, a tightly censored Chinese social media network. On Thursday, the only top-trending Weibo item about the war was a speech by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to the United States Congress.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said in an interview on Friday that he had observed in recent days subtle shifts in Chinese official discourse about Ukraine.
“That’s based on a shift in public opinion” on the Chinese mainland, Professor Shi said.
In the early days of the war, coverage on “Xinwenlianbo,” an evening news program of the state-run broadcaster CCTV, mainly emphasized the dominance of the Russian military and its operation in Ukraine. This week, however, there has been more footage of Mr. Zelensky — and more direct mention of Russian attacks.
A similar shift has been evident in coverage by CGTN America, the global arm of China’s state broadcaster.
“The dead bodies of people killed by Russian shelling lay covered across much of Ukraine,” CGTN America said on Twitter on Friday. “With the number of people fleeing the conflict growing to the millions and Russian shelling continuing, many fear the humanitarian disaster is far from over.”
Such posts may not indicate a shift in Chinese foreign policy.
“What China sympathizes with is not Ukraine as a sovereign nation, but with the Ukrainian people,” Professor Shi said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 — and even as Russian forces have turned to shelling towns and cities — Chinese officials have blamed the United States for the war and have echoed Mr. Putin in criticizing NATO. Chinese diplomats and state media organizations have also amplified Kremlin propaganda and a conspiracy theory about Pentagon-funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine.
On Friday, as the news media in Europe and North America covered a Russian bombardment this week of a theater in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a Chinese state broadcaster carried a report about what it said was a Ukrainian missile attack in Donetsk, a Russia-backed separatist region of Ukraine.
Hours before China’s leader, Xi Jinping, was scheduled to discuss the war in Ukraine with President Joe Biden on Friday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters that the government had been “deeply grieved by the increasing number of civilian casualties and refugees reported by the media.”
“The top priority for all parties is to stop the fighting, uphold restraint, ensure the safety and basic humanitarian needs of civilians and prevent a larger scale of humanitarian crisis,” Mr. Zhao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
Those comments largely conformed to a broader pattern. In the past few weeks, the Chinese government has sought to slightly soften its tone on the war by expressing grief over civilian casualties and calling for the war to end — but without blaming Russia or expressing support for NATO.
Sean Hannity Parrots Kremlin Rep's Smear Of Joe Biden As Weak Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday sympathetically quoted word for word a cruel attack on Joe Biden by one of Vladimir Putin’s own henchmen as a springboard to launch his own dig at the president’s “weakness.”
“We hear and see statements that are actually personal insults to President Putin,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier in the day after Biden called Putin a “war criminal” for bombing children in the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“Given such irritability from Mr. Biden, his fatigue and sometimes forgetfulness ... fatigue that leads to aggressive statements, we will not make harsh assessments, so as not to cause more aggression,” Peskov arrogantly added.
Hannity flashed Peskov’s words on screen, quoted them, then immediately segued into his own attack on Biden as weak.
“Like I’ve been saying, Biden’s weakness on the world stage is emboldening bad actors all across the globe,” Hannity said.
The Fox-Kremlin lovefest came full circle Friday after Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Fox News for its pro-Russian coverage of the Ukraine invasion.
“We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the Western countries to manipulate media,” said Lavrov. “If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view,” he added, apparently referring to the Kremlin point of view.
Funny.....when I saw coverage of the Putin rally the other day.....all I could think about was how similar Trumps campaign rally's were with the fever pitched idiots buying into all the lies and propaganda he spewed out.....amazing how trump took the Putin game plan and brought it to America........just the big lie alone convinced millions of idiots like Lil Schitty, the ball less wonder and rat the hole into believing the trump bullshit without any evidence at all.....especially Lil schitty's lies about case being resolved that proved fraud all over the country!!!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
\Putin’s Dystopian Mega-Rally Is a Whole New Level of Batshit Julia Davis Fri, March 18, 2022, 2:19 PM A Moscow stadium was crammed full for an event marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea on Friday. The crowds, reportedly some 200,000 people, were cheering as Russian President Vladimir Putin took the stage, along with some of his most popular propagandists. “We haven’t had such unity in a long time,” Putin claimed.
There were patriotic songs, a sea of Russian flags and slogans that read: “For a world without Nazism” and “For Russia.” Revealing the underlying theme of the rally, the first letters of the word “for” on these slogans were written in Latin and not in Cyrillic: the now notorious letter “Z” that serves as a symbol in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
More fake global warming data that should be covered and not ignored by the right!!!!
Capital Weather Gang It’s 70 degrees warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted. ‘This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,’ one expert said
By Jason Samenow and Kasha Patel Yesterday at 5:06 p.m. EDT
Simulation of temperature differences from normal centered over Antarctica from the American (GFS) model. (WeatherBell)
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists. 10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint
from last night--- RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS WEAR COLORS OF UKRAINE FLAG March 18, 2022 at 11:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
“Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war,” the Times of London reports.
WOW! Don't you wish Fox Fake News and Coldhearted FAKE TRUTH would be equally ANTI RUSSIAN!.
Russian cosmonauts arrive at ISS in colours of Ukraine flag Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov drew gasps as they emerged
Saturday March 19 2022, 12.01am Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war.
Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory yesterday, joining the crew of two Russians, four Americans and one German.
In an extraordinary move, the three new arrivals emerged from their Soyuz capsule after docking with the space station wearing bright yellow jumpsuits with blue stripes, instead of the standard-issue blue uniform.
The uniforms were a departure from their standard clothing
Russian crew members’ flight suits, which they change into on route — ditching the pressure suits and helmets required for launch — are usually blue.
The story continues. ________
MY COMMENT: It took a lot of preparation all down the line for this to take place.
Putin will be absolutely furious.
What does this say about control slipping from him?
Fox and coldheartedtruth are pro russian?? Did I miss that part? Or is James just projecting again?
The only pro Russian actions I've seen were by biden. First green lighting the pipeline. Then by suggesting that a limited invasion of Ukraine was acceptable.
Mike Hayden, former CIA director, now analyst for CNN: Didn’t respond.
Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence, now CNN pundit: “Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph. I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”
Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, now runs a public policy institute at California State University: Declined comment.
John Brennan, former CIA director, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.
Thomas Fingar, former National Intelligence Council chair, now teaches at Stanford University: Didn’t respond.
Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank: Didn’t respond.
John McLaughlin, former CIA acting director, now teaches at Johns Hopkins University: Didn’t respond.
Michael Morell, former CIA acting director, now at George Mason University: Didn’t respond.
Mike Vickers, former defense undersecretary for intelligence, now on board of BAE Systems: Didn’t respond.
Doug Wise, former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, teaches at University of New Mexico: Didn’t respond.
Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, now executive director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism: Didn’t respond.
Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center acting director: “The letter explicitly stated that we didn’t know if the emails were genuine, but that we were concerned about Russian disinformation efforts. I spent 25 years as a Soviet/Russian analyst. Given the context of what the Russians were doing at the time (and continue to do — Ukraine being just the latest example), I considered the cautionary warning to be prudent.”
Andy Liepman, former National Counterterrorism Center deputy director: “As far as I know I do [stand by the statement] but I’m kind of busy right now.”
John Moseman, former CIA chief of staff: Didn’t respond.
Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff, now senior advisor to The Chertoff Group: Didn’t respond.
Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.
Rodney Snyder, former CIA chief of staff: Didn’t respond.
Glenn Gerstell, former National Security Agency general counsel: Didn’t respond.
David Priess, former CIA analyst and manager: “Thank you for reaching out. I have no further comment at this time.”
Pam Purcilly, former CIA deputy director of analysis: Didn’t respond.
Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Chris Savos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
John Tullius, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
David A. Vanell, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Kristin Wood, former CIA senior intelligence officer, now non-resident fellow, Harvard: Didn’t respond.
David Buckley, former CIA inspector general: Didn’t respond.
Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst and targeting officer, now senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute: Didn’t respond.
Patty Brandmaier, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
And the ball less wonder is a trump slurping no brain asswipe!!!!!!! Fox is being touted in Moscow news coverage as being the only US news that is correct.....Yep, James is 10000000% correct and you are just a fucking moron!!!!!
James B. Bruce, former CIA senior intelligence office: Didn’t respond.
David Cariens, former CIA intelligence analyst: Didn’t respond.
Janice Cariens, former CIA operational support officer: Didn’t respond.
Paul Kolbe, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Peter Corsell, former CIA analyst: Didn’t respond.
Brett Davis, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Roger Zane George, former national intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Steven L. Hall, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Kent Harrington, former national intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Don Hepburn, former national security executive, now president of Boanerges Solutions LLC: “My position has not changed any. I believe the Russians made a huge effort to alter the course of the election . . . The Russians are masters of blending truth and fiction and making something feel incredibly real when it’s not. Nothing I have seen really changes my opinion. I can’t tell you what part is real and what part is fake, but the thesis still stands for me, that it was a media influence hit job.”
Timothy D. Kilbourn, former dean of CIA’s Kent School of Intelligence Analysis: Didn’t respond.
Ron Marks, former CIA officer: Didn’t respond.
Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, now on board of the International Spy Museum: “I don’t have any comment. I would need a little more information.”
Emile Nakhleh, former director of CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, now at University of New Mexico: “I have not seen any information since then that would alter the decision behind signing the letter. That’s all I can go into. The whole issue was highly politicized and I don’t want to deal with that. I still stand by that letter.”
Gerald A. O’Shea, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Nick Shapiro, former CIA deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director: Didn’t respond.
John Sipher, former CIA senior operations officer: Declined to comment.
Stephen Slick, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs: Didn’t respond.
Cynthia Strand, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues: Didn’t respond.
Greg Tarbell, former CIA deputy executive director: Didn’t respond.
David Terry, former National Intelligence Collection Board chairman: Couldn’t be reached.
Greg Treverton, former National Intelligence Council chair, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “I’ll pass. I haven’t followed the case recently.”
Winston Wiley, former CIA director of analysis: Couldn’t be reached.
Tucker Carlson on Fox has been pasted all over Russian TV citing his misproven allegations concerning Ukrainian biolabs, and other pro Putin sounding comments etc.
And have you really paid attention to some of Ch's comments?
The truth is that here at coldhearted semi-truth we on both sides engage in spreading our own propaganda. The only difference is that mine and Roger's and at times Denny's, is better, more truthful, and more convincing than yours.
Exports of Russian crude oil to India have surged since the start of the month as sanctions bit in, forcing traders in Europe to avoid Russian cargos, the Financial Times reported, citing data from Kpler.
The average daily rate of Indian purchases of Russin crude has stood at 360,000 bpd, which was four times the rate of daily purchases last year, the report noted."
allegation NOUN allegations (plural noun) a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof. "after leaving he made allegations of corruption against the company"
BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Still living In the past is a GOP trait of non thinking idiots!!!!! No mention of the Big Lie that still resonates in his empty skull!!!!
HBO 'Real Time' guest breaks down how Putin ends up in front of a firing squad Bob Brigham March 18, 2022
HBO 'Real Time' guest breaks down how Putin ends up in front of a firing squad Screengrab.
The author of three books on zombies explained how Vladimir Putin could end up in front of a firing squad during a Friday appearance on HBO's "Real Time."
Max Brooks, who wrote The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, discussed Russia's invasion of Ukraine with host Bill Maher and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.
"That's what's so surprising to me about Putin, we always knew he was evil, but nobody ever called him dumb," Maher said. "And now he looks dumb."
"This could really go so bad for him. I mean, the Russians have had a revolution before," he added.
Brooks argued the power of Russian mothers could end the war.
Brooks said Russian moms "marched against the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, they marched against Chechnya in the 1990s, and right now, this is why Putin is being so brutal."
"He has to wrap up this war before the telegrams start coming home. Because, if those Russian mothers know that their sons are dead and the mothers next to them fear that their sons are next, and they rise up, then the next time we see Vladimir Putin shirtless will be in front of a firing squad," Brooks explained.
Mixed Signals from Ukraine’s President March 19, 2022 at 9:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“The mounting death toll in Ukraine has forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider concessions to Russia in order to bring an end to the devastating conflict, but the specific elements of any peace deal his government may be discussing with Moscow remain a mystery to Western leaders,” the Washington Post reports.
“The secretive rounds of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators could hold the key to ending the conflict but also carry broader implications for European security depending on how the warring parties settle their differences. If Russian President Vladimir Putin can use military force to compel political change in Ukraine, he could use the same tactic elsewhere, U.S. and European officials fear.
“The prospects of a near-term deal look bleak, diplomats say, but mixed signals from Zelensky about how close he is to striking an agreement have only heightened anxiety about the trajectory of the negotiations.”
No Sign War In Ukraine Is Ending 9:06 am New York Times: “Despite all the determination of Ukraine’s people, all the losses among Russia’s forces, and all the errors of Russia’s leaders, there is no sign that the war will soon be over. Even if he fails to take control of the country, Putin can keep up the punishing attacks on its cities and people.”
Zelensky Warns War Will Cost Russia for Gemerations 9:05 am “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces are blockading his country’s largest cities to wear the population down into submission, but he warned Saturday that the strategy will fail and Moscow will lose in the long run if it doesn’t end its war,” the Associated Press reports.
“Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of deliberately creating ‘a humanitarian catastrophe ‘ and appealed for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with him, using a huge Moscow stadium rally where Putin lavished praise on Russian forces Friday to illustrate what was at stake.”
Only because it's irrelevant, Dunning-Kruger alky.
Throughout this entire charade the only numbers that have ever mattered are hospitalizations and deaths.
I personally know dozens of people who have had it and have fully recovered. No one cares about those cases including the folks who caught it.
Bragging about that is like bragging about 0linsky's infamous "saved or created jobs" mythical category. Easy to boast about because it couldn't be disproven. Literally a throw-away statistic.
So that's what you're left to brag about with Magoo. Throw-away statistics.
he only numbers that have ever mattered are hospitalizations and deaths.
And you did nothing but call covid overblown and not a problem!!!!! Since life is not important to you because of GOP rhetoric....you really go out of your way to dumb!!!
This had similar appearance to the MAGA events. Including hats and waving pictures of Trump.
Vladimir Putin has staged a rally in Moscow which has been compared to both the Nazi rallies of Hitler and the show-trials of Stalin.
The chilling spectacle took place to mark the anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and saw the Russian president greeted by cheering throngs of people in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, which hosted the FIFA world cup in 2018.
Putin could be seen praising the Russian invasion of Ukraine and assuring those in attendance of Russia's victory, despite reports now emerging that Ukrainian defenders are successfully resisting aggressors.
Some in the crowd can be seen wearing clothing and waving banners featuring the 'Z' symbol.
And the goat fucker supports trump who called Putin a genius and is praying for a recession for political gain.....IMHO he is pushing treasonous thought without fear of consequences. Typical of KU failures!!!!
Rich Lowry is editor of National Review and a contributing editor with Politico Magazine.
No one can blame Volodymyr Zelenskyy for constantly lobbying the West to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
His country is fighting a desperate battle for national survival, and his job is, first and foremost, to increase its odds of withstanding the Russian onslaught. You needn’t worry much about unleashing an escalatory spiral once your cities are already getting bombed to rubble by an invading army.
Still, the fact remains that the most admired man in the world, who perhaps has more moral authority at the moment than any political leader since Nelson Mandela, is pushing for a bad and dangerous idea.
There’s still major resistance in Washington to the notion of a no-fly zone. It is picking up supporters, though, and Zelenskyy chipped away at the ice in his address to Congress, if he didn’t break it.
“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” Zelenskyy said. He then made his plea: “Is this a lot to ask, to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save people? Is this too much to ask? A humanitarian non-fly zone, so that Russia would not be able to terrorize our free cities?”
A wrenching video he played showing the destruction and suffering that Vladimir Putin has visited on Ukraine ended with the words, “Close the Sky.”
There is an impulse to simply grant Zelenskyy anything he asks for, given his bravery and the righteousness of his cause. If we should unquestionably want Zelenskyy to prevail, that doesn’t mean subordinating our judgments about our own interests to him. If he were to call for the immediate deployment of the 82nd Airborne to Lviv, presumably even his most ardent admirers would blanch.
A no-fly zone fails as a policy on any number of grounds. As has been correctly pointed out, it isn’t an antiseptic operation. It would mean shooting down Russian planes if they didn’t cede Ukrainian airspace to us, and — even more significantly — taking out anti-aircraft systems in Russia.
So we would be going from an arms-length effort to arm the Ukrainians to directly fighting the Russians ourselves, a hugely consequential step.
What would it get us? A no-fly zone would give the U.S. de facto ownership of the Ukraine war with only limited control.
Much of the destruction is being wrought by Russian forces on the ground. That means we could wholly dominate the skies, but, for instance, the besieged, bleeding city of Mariupol would continue to get brutalized by Russian artillery and rockets. This would create natural pressure on us to go further. The Russians would, after all, be raining fire on the city literally under our noses. “How can we allow it, when we have the power to stop it, indeed are watching it transpire from 30,000 feet?” would be the inevitable refrain.
A no-fly zone wouldn’t even fully stop the Russian air assault. Moscow could still fire cruise missiles into Ukraine. The rocket strike against the Ukrainian military base near the Polish border this week was reportedly launched by a Russian bomber over the Black Sea. If Ukraine continued to suffer such attacks despite a no-fly zone, the operation could easily become an advertisement for our impotence rather than for our strength.
Judy Woodruff: How the United States should respond to two major global crises was a topic of major debate again this week. President Biden announced a new round of military assistance for Ukraine, while the administration's request that Congress approve billions in emergency COVID spending has met opposition.
Well, that brings us to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart. That's New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, columnist for The Washington Post.
It is very good to see both of you within reaching distance.
Jonathan Capehart: Right. Judy Woodruff: We're so glad to have you here, even if the subject is — that we start out with, again, David, is grim and difficult.
And that's, of course, Ukraine. The Russian military grinds on. We heard Jane Ferguson say they're not making ground advance, but they're still killing civilians.
This week, you had Zelenskyy's speech to Congress. You had President Biden announcing more military aid. Today, he talked to the Chinese president. Is any of this making a difference?
David Brooks: I think so. It's just tragically slow. I don't — even the footage we saw today from Kyiv, it does not look like the Ukrainian people are going to be backing down. And bombing, aerial bombardments of civilian populations, when there's strong leadership, just doesn't work. That's London in the Blitz.
And what we're doing is, we're — what Zelenskyy asked for. He asked for the no-fly zone, and that was never going to happen. He asked to do more. And the U.S. government and governments around the world are doing more, and so another $800 million in aid. I think we do more in terms of especially anti-aircraft missiles. Right now, people using these shoulder-launched things.
Judy Woodruff: Right.
David Brooks: But you can do long-range stuff and get a no-fly zone, in effect.
And so ramping that up is one thing that can do more. And I think the central message is, trust what we're doing. We're putting on severe pressure. We have to do more. The shots of Moscow suggest we really have to do a lot more about making sure Western goods are not on shelves in Moscow. We have to do a lot more economic sanctions on good-to-good transfers.
But trust what we're doing. We're putting on a lot of pressure. Putin is in a very bad position. He's still — I was told today that there was some hope that there would be a negotiated settlement in the next few days. But people who have spoken to Putin over the last 48 hours suggest that's not going to happen anytime soon.
And so we just have to trust our strategy, that it just tightens and tightens things around him. And we don't know how it's going to end. All we can do is press.
Judy Woodruff: And is that pressing — do you see anything changing in coming days or weeks?
Jonathan Capehart: Well, all we do — all we can do is press, but also pray, because one of the things we keep hearing about Vladimir Putin is, folks are questioning his sanity.
Folks are questioning whether, if we push him into a corner, will he lash out in ways that are unpredictable? There is all the talk about the use of chemical or biological weapons. Would he actually do that in the way that was done in Syria? And that would force the United States, NATO, the Western alliance, the allies around the world to do something I don't think they're really quite mentally prepared for.
And that is to go toe to toe with a nuclear power that has unleashed hell on a neighbor.
Judy Woodruff: And, meantime, David, we hear — we hear pretty uniform opposition or criticism, I should say, of President Biden from Republicans.
I interviewed Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, this week, who said Biden is not doing enough, he's doing it too late. Is there some legitimacy in that chorus of criticism?
David Brooks: I'm — they're going to criticize, because that's what we do here.
But I'm glad the criticism is over the pace of what we're doing and not over whether we should be doing it. And so, to me, that — there's an underlying unity, and in American public opinion. Very few Americans want troops on the ground. Some do, but we want to increase the pressure.
And so, if there's going to be criticism, maybe for more. I think Biden is moving in the more direction. And if we're going to have an argument over how fast we move in the more direction, that, to me, is a pretty useful argument to have. And so I don't think the criticism is a major problem for what we're doing.
What Jonathan said, we have to psychologically read, how much is this too much? How — are we doing anything that's really risky in escalation? I still think we're a long way from that. But we have to face the fact, it's in Putin's interests at some level to try to engage NATO directly and to spread this.
And he's bogged down now. But if he can turn it into a bigger thing, that might turn out to be in his interests. So we have to be alive to that possibility. But I think we still have to be really hard on him, and not shrink back because of fear of what he might do. He's going to do what he wants to do anyway.
Judy Woodruff: Is it your sense, Jonathan, that the U.S. is prepared, that NATO is prepared if Putin does go off in a direction that we don't — we're — don't want him to go?
Jonathan Capehart: I want to believe that NATO and the United States are prepared for that situation.
One of the things that I — one of the criticisms against the president that I think was valid was that he kept communicating what the United States would not do, communicating what he would not do, and instead has gone mute on those things, won't talk about those things, would only talk about the things — he's only now talking about the things that he's doing.
And that is exactly what he should be doing.
But I just want to push back a little bit on this. You said underlying unity. Sure, there's some underlying unity. But I — it's a little aggravating that certain Republicans, particularly in the Senate, especially if they're thinking of running for president, are — they're playing games at a time when the president of the United States and the Western alliance are going are — trying to contain — trying to contain Putin.
And you can't argue that the president has taken too long, he's not doing enough, when you just voted against the $1.5 trillion omnibus bill that had millions of dollars of aid for Ukraine in that bill.
So, this sort of domestic play that Republicans are bringing to foreign policy, I think, is regrettable. And I hope, going forward, especially if we get to that situation where the United States and in the world is grappling with a chemical or biological attack on Ukraine, that folks think better about what they're saying about the president and the United States, of what they're both trying to get accomplished.
David Brooks: Thank you. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy. So, I rarely praise Ted Cruz, but Ted Cruz, for the last few years, has been pretty much right on Ukraine and Russia.
And he's been very aggressive. A lot of Republican senators have been very aggressive: We need to do this to prevent a war.
So I find, in general, Republicans have not followed Trump in any soft-on-Putin direction. Quite the reverse.
The one thing that I think we need to think about — I read a good piece — that this may be — what Korea was for the Cold War, this may be for the next contest against the authoritarian regimes. Mao goes into Korea, with Russian support. And, at the time, people don't realize what's happening. It's only, over the years, they realize, oh, Korea is part of a larger Cold War conflict.
And so this could be seen as part of a larger contest, which Biden talks about, between democracies and autocracies. And if that's the case, we need to be using this moment — and I think we are using this moment — to really build a very practical — rebuild a practical set of alliances with Japan and the West to prepare for a long contest, and to see this context in the — this war in the context of that larger rivalry.
Judy Woodruff: But you're, in a way, suggesting it's harder to do that when you have got the parties, as you put it, playing games.
Jonathan Capehart: Right, constantly criticizing the party and the president who's not in your party simply because he's a Democrat.
And I just also want to point out that, despite your nice words about Senator Cruz, he was one of those senators who voted against the omnibus bill, which had aid to Ukraine in it. So, just…
David Brooks: Yes. We played games during the Cold War.
Biden plan falls on deaf ears. "In February, while announcing their friendship had “no limits”, the two countries struck a 10-year agreement for Russia to supply 100 million tonnes of crude oil to northwestern China.Mar 10, 2022"
"Germany imports more than half of its energy. The country largely imports its oil from Russia, Norway and the United Kingdom. Germany is also the world's largest importer of natural gas. The largest gas imports come from the Netherlands, Norway, and Russia via the Nord Stream."
Far more important than the insipid Fauci thread above.
A Tenuous Balance in Confronting Russia March 19, 2022 at 11:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“In the first weeks of the first major European land war of the 21st century, the United States has sent tank-killing weapons to Ukrainian forces, but not fighter jets. ~~~It is equipping embattled Ukrainian troops with lightweight ‘kamikaze’ attack drones, but not, at least in an obvious way, conducting an aggressive cyberwar to degrade Russia’s technological advantage,” the New York Times reports.
“The White House will commit no American or NATO planes to the skies above Ukraine, a move American officials fear could risk turning a regional war into a global conflagration, but it is providing Ukraine with missiles that could accomplish the same task of destroying Russian aircraft.
“Such is the tenuous balance the Biden administration has tried to maintain as it seeks to help Ukraine lock Russia in a quagmire without inciting a broader conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary or cutting off potential paths to de-escalation.” ___
USA Today: Lindsey Graham called for Putin’s assassination. Even discussing it brings danger to US, experts say. _____________
Putin Isn’t Ready for Talks with Zelensky 11:00 am
“President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called publicly on Saturday for direct negotiations with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, but a senior Turkish official said that Mr. Putin was not ready for such talks,” the New York Times reports.
The Turkish official said that Mr. Putin no longer advocated replacing Mr. Zelensky but “now accepts the reality of Zelensky as the leader of the Ukrainian people, whether he likes it or not.” _____
Hmmm. Could that be at least a small degree of progress? I don't pretend to know.
My comment, based on commentary concerning Germany's change in outlook on Public Radio:
Like a majority of Americans, a majority of Germans are now saying they are firmly willing to make financial sacrifices for the sake of confronting Russian aggression.
Germany is now strongly moving toward taking on a role it has been shirking -- taking on responsibility as as major European power not only in matters of finance but in matters of militarily resisting Russian aggression.
Associated Press Denied easy victory, Russia presses reduced goals in Ukraine Associated Press March 19, 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — The signs are abundant of how Ukraine frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a swift victory, and how Russia's military proved far from ready for the fight.
Russia has lost hundreds of tanks, many left charred or abandoned along the roads, and its death toll is on a pace to outstrip that of the country’s previous military campaigns.
Yet more than three weeks into the war, with Putin's initial aim of an easy regime change in Ukraine long gone, Russia’s military still has a strong hand. With their greater might and stockpile of city-flattening munitions, Russian forces can fight on for whatever the Russian president may plan next, whether leveraging a negotiated settlement or brute destruction, military analysts warn.
Despite all the determination of Ukraine’s people, all the losses among Russia’s forces, and all the errors of Russia’s leaders, there is no sign that the war will soon be over. Even if he fails to take control of the country, Putin can keep up the punishing attacks on its cities and people.
“His instinct will be always to double down, because he’s got himself into a dreadful mess, a huge strategic blunder,” said Michael Clarke, former head of the British-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank.
“And I don’t think it’s in his character to try to retrieve that, except by carrying on, going forward,” he said.
Putin’s forces in Ukraine are waging Russia’s largest, most complex combined military campaign since taking Berlin in 1945. His initial objective, which he announced in a television address on Feb. 24 as the invasion began, was to “demilitarize” Ukraine and save its people from “neo-Nazis," a false description of Ukraine’s government, which is led by a Jewish president.
Fatefully, Putin underestimated the national pride and battlefield skills that Ukrainians have built up over the past eight years of battling Russian-backed separatists in the country's east.
At the start, Russians thought “they would install, you know, some pro-Russian government and call it a day and declare victory,” said Dmitry Gorenburg, a researcher on Russia’s security at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. “That was sort of Plan A, and as near as we can tell, they didn’t really have a Plan B.”
Russia’s first apparent plan — attack key Ukrainian military targets, and make a quick run to Kyiv — failed immediately. It was foiled by Ukraine’s defenses along with the countless mistakes and organizational failures by a Russian force that had been told it was only mobilized for military drills.
Clarke, the British researcher, related accounts of Russian troops selling communication equipment and fuel out of military vehicles to locals during the weeks they waited on Ukraine’s borders.
With no friendly population to welcome them, Russian forces reverted to tactics from their past offensives in Syria and Chechnya — dropping bombs and lobbing missiles into cities and town, sending millions of men, women and children fleeing.
Putin’s forces are in position to capture the besieged port city of Mariupol. Overall, Russians appear to be fighting with three objectives now: to surround Kyiv, to encircle spread-out Ukrainian fighters in the east, and to break through to the major port city of Odessa in the west, said Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military and program director at CNA.
Kofman cautions that much of the information on the war is coming from Ukrainians, or their American or other allies. That makes the partial picture skewed, and a full picture impossible.
A senior U.S. defense official on Friday said the Russians have launched more than 1,080 missiles since the start of the war as they remain largely stalled across the country. The official said they retain about 90% of the combat power they had arrayed around Ukraine at the start of the war.
The U.S. assesses that the airspace over Ukraine remains contested, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the military assessments. The Ukrainian air force is continuing to fly aircraft and employ air and missile defense
“Just look at the map, and you just look at how little progress the Russians have been able to make,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said recently.
The math of military conquests and occupation may be against Putin in Ukraine.
Estimates of Russian deaths vary widely. Yet even conservative figures are in the low thousands. That's a much faster pace than in previous Russian offensives, threatening support for the war among ordinary Russians. Russia had 64 deaths in five days of fighting during its 2008 war with Georgia. It lost about 15,000 in Afghanistan over 10 years, and more than 11,000 over years of fighting in Chechnya.
Russia’s number of dead and wounded in Ukraine is nearing the 10% benchmark of diminished combat effectiveness, Gorenburg said. The reported battlefield deaths of four Russian generals — out of an estimated 20 in the fight — signal impaired command, he said.
Researchers tracking only those Russian equipment losses that were photographed or recorded on video say Russia has lost more than 1,500 tanks, trucks, mounted equipment and other heavy gear. Two out of three of those were captured or abandoned, signaling the failings of the Russian troops that let them go.
Meanwhile, Russia needs to limit its use of smart, long-range missiles in case they’re needed in any larger war with NATO, military analysts say.
When it comes to the grinding job of capturing and holding cities, conventional military metrics suggest Russia needs a 5-to-1 advantage in urban fighting, analysts say. Meanwhile, the formula for ruling a restive territory in the face of armed opposition is 20 fighters for every 1,000 people — or 800,000 Russian troops for Ukraine’s more than 40 million people, Clarke notes. That's almost as many as Russia's entire active-duty military of 900,000.
On the ground, that means controlling any substantial chunk of Ukrainian territory long-term would take more resources than Russia could foreseeably commit.
Other Russian options remain possible, including a negotiated settlement. Moscow is demanding that Ukraine formally embrace neutrality, thus swearing off any alliance with NATO, and recognize the independence of the separatist regions in the east and Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Russia's other options include an unrelenting air campaign in which it bombs and depopulates cities as it did in Chechnya and Syria. U.S. officials also warn of the risk of Russian chemical attacks, and the threat of escalation to nuclear war.
“Unless the Russians intend to be completely genocidal — they could flatten all the major cities, and Ukrainians will rise up against Russian occupation — there will be just constant guerrilla war" if Russian troops remain, Clarke said.
——
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed.
Oh how weak the French are "France wants to end Russia gas and oil imports by 2027.
CAN THE KU GOAT FUCKING IDIOT GET ANY DUMBER THAN THIS?????? That is certainly a goal that is credible and doable considering France imports just about all their energy from abroad......How is that weakness goat fucker......found a job yet???? BWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
87 comments:
I just saw this on AoS. Beautiful.
LMAO.
The Kenosha Hat Trick Kid scores again.
Blogger KansasDemocrat said...
The Kenosha Hat Trick Kid scores again.
And he's free as a bird while the alky is locked up.
LOL. Think about THAT.
Richard Leland Levine
Was named "Woman of the Year"
Liberalism is a mental Disorder.
The Biden administration on Friday said it would resume plans for oil and gas development on federal lands.
The Biden administration on Friday said it would resume plans for oil and gas development on federal lands
Fox news is Russian propaganda!
Russian foreign minister praises Fox News for Ukraine coverage
Niamh Cavanagh
Fri, March 18, 2022, 11:42 AM·3 min read
After three weeks of bitter and barbaric fighting in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the coverage of the war from one American media outlet: Fox News.
Speaking to the state-owned RT network, Lavrov said Fox News has been “trying to represent some alternative points of view” in its coverage of the war.
“We understood long ago that there is no such thing as an independent Western media,” he said in the Friday interview, which was conducted in English.
He went on to denounce the social media ban of former President Donald Trump and appeared to criticize the labeling of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as terrorists.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“But when you watch other channels, read the social networks and internet platforms, when the acting president was blocked and this censorship continues in a very big way. The substitution of notions whenever something is happening by the way of mass protest, mass demonstrations, which they don’t like, they immediately call it domestic terrorism.”
He added: “So it’s a war, and it’s a war which involves the methods of information terrorism.”
Last Friday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested that U.S. government officials wanted a war between Russia and Ukraine in a bid to “grab more power.” While otherwise denouncing the Russian invasion, Carlson theorized that the U.S. helped provoke the conflict after emergency powers enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic had come to an end.
“At exactly the moment when the emergency powers they awarded to themselves to fight COVID started to wane, our leaders began pushing for conflict with Russia,” the Fox News host said.
Meanwhile, retired United States Army Col. Douglas Macgregor declared on Carlson’s show on Thursday that Kyiv had lost the war with Russia and that Ukraine had been “grounded to bits.”
The retired colonel added: “There’s no question about that, despite what we report on our mainstream media.” Most military experts, however, say the Russian advance is moving much slower than Moscow expected in the face of severe logistical problems and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
He said the same thing about January 6th.
He went on to denounce the social media ban of former President Donald Trump and appeared to criticize the labeling of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as terrorists.
Roger, did you see the inverted yield curve news.
You are a big fan of that index.
Biden made good on his Debate promise.
""Number one, no more subsidies for fossil fuel industry. No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends, number one."
The Arsonist doesn't get credit for calling the Fire Department.
"The Biden administration on Friday said it would resume plans for oil and gas development on federal lands"
He went on to denounce the social media ban of former President Donald Trump and appeared to criticize the labeling of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as terrorists.
Well Dunning-Kruger alky -
Putin is still on social media while Trump is not, so it's safe to say the big tech left loves and supports Putin.
And please let us know when a single J6 defendant is charged with INSURRECTION.
Keep your eye on "RAW STORY!!!11!" like you always do for updates on that, there sport.
This is hilarious:
Mar 18, 3:36 PM
Biden, Xi hold 1st call in months
President Joe Biden held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping for one hour and 50 minutes on Friday, marking the first time the two leaders spoke since November.
The White House readout of the call doesn't say whether the conversation was constructive or not, but the White House said Biden made clear the "implications and consequences" if China aligns with Russia and provides them "material support."China's readout of the call said China supports negotiations but passes the buck to the U.S. and NATO to "conduct dialogue with Russia to solve the crux of the Ukraine crisis and resolve the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine."
The call was “direct,” “substantive” and “detailed,” according to a senior administration official.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/russia-ukraine-live-updates-putin-164838761.html
The howls of laughter coming from Xi's office right after that call could probably be heard as far away as North Korea.
"The Biden administration on Friday said it would resume plans for oil and gas development on federal lands"
Anwar?
Keystone Restarted?
BREAKING NEWS: The American Bar Association has rated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson unanimously “Well Qualified” to serve on the United States Supreme Court—ABA’s highest possible rating.
Ex-West Virginia Lawmaker Sentenced for Rioting
“A former West Virginia state lawmaker who livestreamed the Jan. 6, 2021, rioting at the Capitol pleaded guilty on Friday to a felony charge of civil disorder over his involvement in the uprising,” The Hill reports.
“Derrick Evans, 36, faces up to five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $250,000.”
________
I guess he forgot for a few minutes that he was just a peaceful tourist visiting the Capitol Building.
Trump Campaign Owes $300,000 After Failed NDA Case
“Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been ordered to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees and expenses to a former employee who the campaign’s lawyers said had violated the terms of a nondisclosure agreement when she accused Mr. Trump of forcibly kissing her in 2016,” the New York Times reports.
“The award, the culmination of an arbitration claim that was dismissed in November, represents the latest instance of Mr. Trump’s failure to use a nondisclosure agreement successfully against an ex-worker.”
I don't feel nearly as sorry for the poor fellow weeping at the gas pump as I do for all the Ukrainian people who are suffering under bombardment and missile strikes and have lost loved ones and homes.
I also feel sorry for the perhaps as many as 7,000 Russian soldiers, many of them still in their teens, sent to be slaughtered just to satisfy the insatiable selfishness of would-be Czar Putin.
Solar capacity installations in the fourth quarter last year were about 2.5 gigawatts, the lowest quarter of the year and down 43 per cent year-on-year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Now, the slowdown is stretching into 2022.
Trump was doing more in green energy the Joe.
Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, China has mostly tried to publicly distance itself from the war’s carnage without criticizing its leader, President Vladimir V. Putin. While that is still broadly true, observers on the Chinese mainland have noticed in recent days that their country’s state-run news media juggernaut — like the government itself — appears to be subtly shifting its tone on the war.
There is slightly less focus on Russia’s military might, observers say, and slightly more on peace talks and the civilian toll of Russian strikes. Russian state propaganda has also fallen in popularity on Weibo, a tightly censored Chinese social media network. On Thursday, the only top-trending Weibo item about the war was a speech by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to the United States Congress.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said in an interview on Friday that he had observed in recent days subtle shifts in Chinese official discourse about Ukraine.
“That’s based on a shift in public opinion” on the Chinese mainland, Professor Shi said.
In the early days of the war, coverage on “Xinwenlianbo,” an evening news program of the state-run broadcaster CCTV, mainly emphasized the dominance of the Russian military and its operation in Ukraine. This week, however, there has been more footage of Mr. Zelensky — and more direct mention of Russian attacks.
A similar shift has been evident in coverage by CGTN America, the global arm of China’s state broadcaster.
“The dead bodies of people killed by Russian shelling lay covered across much of Ukraine,” CGTN America said on Twitter on Friday. “With the number of people fleeing the conflict growing to the millions and Russian shelling continuing, many fear the humanitarian disaster is far from over.”
Such posts may not indicate a shift in Chinese foreign policy.
“What China sympathizes with is not Ukraine as a sovereign nation, but with the Ukrainian people,” Professor Shi said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 — and even as Russian forces have turned to shelling towns and cities — Chinese officials have blamed the United States for the war and have echoed Mr. Putin in criticizing NATO. Chinese diplomats and state media organizations have also amplified Kremlin propaganda and a conspiracy theory about Pentagon-funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine.
On Friday, as the news media in Europe and North America covered a Russian bombardment this week of a theater in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a Chinese state broadcaster carried a report about what it said was a Ukrainian missile attack in Donetsk, a Russia-backed separatist region of Ukraine.
Hours before China’s leader, Xi Jinping, was scheduled to discuss the war in Ukraine with President Joe Biden on Friday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters that the government had been “deeply grieved by the increasing number of civilian casualties and refugees reported by the media.”
“The top priority for all parties is to stop the fighting, uphold restraint, ensure the safety and basic humanitarian needs of civilians and prevent a larger scale of humanitarian crisis,” Mr. Zhao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
Those comments largely conformed to a broader pattern. In the past few weeks, the Chinese government has sought to slightly soften its tone on the war by expressing grief over civilian casualties and calling for the war to end — but without blaming Russia or expressing support for NATO.
Sean Hannity Parrots Kremlin Rep's Smear Of Joe Biden As Weak
Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday sympathetically quoted word for word a cruel attack on Joe Biden by one of Vladimir Putin’s own henchmen as a springboard to launch his own dig at the president’s “weakness.”
“We hear and see statements that are actually personal insults to President Putin,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier in the day after Biden called Putin a “war criminal” for bombing children in the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“Given such irritability from Mr. Biden, his fatigue and sometimes forgetfulness ... fatigue that leads to aggressive statements, we will not make harsh assessments, so as not to cause more aggression,” Peskov arrogantly added.
Hannity flashed Peskov’s words on screen, quoted them, then immediately segued into his own attack on Biden as weak.
“Like I’ve been saying, Biden’s weakness on the world stage is emboldening bad actors all across the globe,” Hannity said.
The Fox-Kremlin lovefest came full circle Friday after Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Fox News for its pro-Russian coverage of the Ukraine invasion.
“We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the Western countries to manipulate media,” said Lavrov. “If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view,” he added, apparently referring to the Kremlin point of view.
Funny.....when I saw coverage of the Putin rally the other day.....all I could think about was how similar Trumps campaign rally's were with the fever pitched idiots buying into all the lies and propaganda he spewed out.....amazing how trump took the Putin game plan and brought it to America........just the big lie alone convinced millions of idiots like Lil Schitty, the ball less wonder and rat the hole into believing the trump bullshit without any evidence at all.....especially Lil schitty's lies about case being resolved that proved fraud all over the country!!!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
\Putin’s Dystopian Mega-Rally Is a Whole New Level of Batshit
Julia Davis
Fri, March 18, 2022, 2:19 PM
A Moscow stadium was crammed full for an event marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea on Friday. The crowds, reportedly some 200,000 people, were cheering as Russian President Vladimir Putin took the stage, along with some of his most popular propagandists. “We haven’t had such unity in a long time,” Putin claimed.
There were patriotic songs, a sea of Russian flags and slogans that read: “For a world without Nazism” and “For Russia.” Revealing the underlying theme of the rally, the first letters of the word “for” on these slogans were written in Latin and not in Cyrillic: the now notorious letter “Z” that serves as a symbol in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
More fake global warming data that should be covered and not ignored by the right!!!!
Capital Weather Gang
It’s 70 degrees warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted.
‘This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,’ one expert said
By Jason Samenow and Kasha Patel
Yesterday at 5:06 p.m. EDT
Simulation of temperature differences from normal centered over Antarctica from the American (GFS) model. (WeatherBell)
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists.
10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint
“This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,” said Jonathan Wille, a researcher studying polar meteorology at Université Grenoble Alpes in France, in an email.
“Antarctic climatology has been rewritten,” tweeted Stefano Di Battista, a researcher who has published studies on Antarctic temperatures. He added that such temperature anomalies would have been considered “impossible” and “unthinkable” before they actually occurred.
Parts of eastern Antarctica have seen temperatures hover 70 degrees (40 Celsius) above normal for three days and counting, Wille said. He likened the event to the June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which scientists concluded would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
Sea ice over Antarctica just shrank to its smallest on record
What is considered “warm” over the frozen, barren confines of eastern Antarctica is, of course, relative. Instead of temperatures being minus-50 or minus-60 degrees (minus-45 or minus-51 Celsius), they’ve been closer to zero or 10 degrees (minus-18 Celsius or minus-12 Celsius) — but that’s a massive heat wave by Antarctic standards.
from last night---
RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS WEAR COLORS OF UKRAINE FLAG
March 18, 2022
at 11:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
“Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war,”
the Times of London reports.
WOW!
Don't you wish
Fox Fake News
and
Coldhearted FAKE TRUTH
would be equally
ANTI RUSSIAN!.
THE TIMES OF LONDON
Russian cosmonauts arrive at ISS in colours of Ukraine flag
Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov drew gasps as they emerged
Saturday March 19 2022, 12.01am
Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war.
Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory yesterday, joining the crew of two Russians, four Americans and one German.
In an extraordinary move, the three new arrivals emerged from their Soyuz capsule after docking with the space station wearing bright yellow jumpsuits with blue stripes, instead of the standard-issue blue uniform.
The uniforms were a departure from their standard clothing
Russian crew members’ flight suits, which they change into on route — ditching the pressure suits and helmets required for launch — are usually blue.
The story continues.
________
MY COMMENT:
It took a lot of preparation all down the line for this to take place.
Putin will be absolutely furious.
What does this say about control slipping from him?
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cosmonauts-arrive-at-iss-in-colours-of-ukraine-flag-6rwcltmjt?fbclid=IwAR1g10KiH4HNAi9PdzEneA4NAUQjcpQ07aXVRqUZtfMF_huzmc1WUny582M
Fox and coldheartedtruth are pro russian?? Did I miss that part? Or is James just projecting again?
The only pro Russian actions I've seen were by biden. First green lighting the pipeline. Then by suggesting that a limited invasion of Ukraine was acceptable.
Joe biden IS weak. It's not parroting anyone when the whole world sees it.
The spies who LIED:
Mike Hayden, former CIA director, now analyst for CNN: Didn’t respond.
Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence, now CNN pundit: “Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph. I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”
Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, now runs a public policy institute at California State University: Declined comment.
John Brennan, former CIA director, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.
Thomas Fingar, former National Intelligence Council chair, now teaches at Stanford University: Didn’t respond.
Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank: Didn’t respond.
John McLaughlin, former CIA acting director, now teaches at Johns Hopkins University: Didn’t respond.
Michael Morell, former CIA acting director, now at George Mason University: Didn’t respond.
Mike Vickers, former defense undersecretary for intelligence, now on board of BAE Systems: Didn’t respond.
Doug Wise, former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, teaches at University of New Mexico: Didn’t respond.
Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, now executive director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism: Didn’t respond.
Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center acting director: “The letter explicitly stated that we didn’t know if the emails were genuine, but that we were concerned about Russian disinformation efforts. I spent 25 years as a Soviet/Russian analyst. Given the context of what the Russians were doing at the time (and continue to do — Ukraine being just the latest example), I considered the cautionary warning to be prudent.”
Andy Liepman, former National Counterterrorism Center deputy director: “As far as I know I do [stand by the statement] but I’m kind of busy right now.”
John Moseman, former CIA chief of staff: Didn’t respond.
Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff, now senior advisor to The Chertoff Group: Didn’t respond.
Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.
Rodney Snyder, former CIA chief of staff: Didn’t respond.
Glenn Gerstell, former National Security Agency general counsel: Didn’t respond.
David Priess, former CIA analyst and manager: “Thank you for reaching out. I have no further comment at this time.”
Pam Purcilly, former CIA deputy director of analysis: Didn’t respond.
Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Chris Savos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
John Tullius, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
David A. Vanell, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Kristin Wood, former CIA senior intelligence officer, now non-resident fellow, Harvard: Didn’t respond.
David Buckley, former CIA inspector general: Didn’t respond.
Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst and targeting officer, now senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute: Didn’t respond.
Patty Brandmaier, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
And the ball less wonder is a trump slurping no brain asswipe!!!!!!! Fox is being touted in Moscow news coverage as being the only US news that is correct.....Yep, James is 10000000% correct and you are just a fucking moron!!!!!
James B. Bruce, former CIA senior intelligence office: Didn’t respond.
David Cariens, former CIA intelligence analyst: Didn’t respond.
Janice Cariens, former CIA operational support officer: Didn’t respond.
Paul Kolbe, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Peter Corsell, former CIA analyst: Didn’t respond.
Brett Davis, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Roger Zane George, former national intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Steven L. Hall, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Kent Harrington, former national intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Don Hepburn, former national security executive, now president of Boanerges Solutions LLC: “My position has not changed any. I believe the Russians made a huge effort to alter the course of the election . . . The Russians are masters of blending truth and fiction and making something feel incredibly real when it’s not. Nothing I have seen really changes my opinion. I can’t tell you what part is real and what part is fake, but the thesis still stands for me, that it was a media influence hit job.”
Timothy D. Kilbourn, former dean of CIA’s Kent School of Intelligence Analysis: Didn’t respond.
Ron Marks, former CIA officer: Didn’t respond.
Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, now on board of the International Spy Museum: “I don’t have any comment. I would need a little more information.”
Emile Nakhleh, former director of CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, now at University of New Mexico: “I have not seen any information since then that would alter the decision behind signing the letter. That’s all I can go into. The whole issue was highly politicized and I don’t want to deal with that. I still stand by that letter.”
Gerald A. O’Shea, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Nick Shapiro, former CIA deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director: Didn’t respond.
John Sipher, former CIA senior operations officer: Declined to comment.
Stephen Slick, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs:
Didn’t respond.
Cynthia Strand, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues: Didn’t respond.
Greg Tarbell, former CIA deputy executive director: Didn’t respond.
David Terry, former National Intelligence Collection Board chairman: Couldn’t be reached.
Greg Treverton, former National Intelligence Council chair, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “I’ll pass. I haven’t followed the case recently.”
Winston Wiley, former CIA director of analysis: Couldn’t be reached.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/03/the-post-computes-this-take-2.php
Biden supporters name his accomplishments:
https://youtu.be/pSqoJTv0t2Q
Tucker Carlson on Fox has been pasted all over Russian TV citing his misproven allegations concerning Ukrainian biolabs, and other pro Putin sounding comments etc.
And have you really paid attention to some of Ch's comments?
But here is a young girl born in Ukraine who offers us some respite from all this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe93Z8wIAGE
The truth is that here at coldhearted semi-truth we on both sides engage in spreading our own propaganda. The only difference is that mine and Roger's and at times Denny's, is better, more truthful, and more convincing than yours.
Lies, lies, and more lies...
CDC Pulls a Fast One – Eliminates 25% of Pediatric COVID Deaths Overnight, Blames It on a Coding Error
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/cdc-pulls-fast-one-eliminates-25-pediatric-covid-deaths-overnight-blames-coding-error/
But we need MOAR government!
Russia Oil Exports To India Soar On Sanctions
By Irina Slav - Mar 18, 2022, 10:00 AM CDT
Exports of Russian crude oil to India have surged since the start of the month as sanctions bit in, forcing traders in Europe to avoid Russian cargos, the Financial Times reported, citing data from Kpler.
The average daily rate of Indian purchases of Russin crude has stood at 360,000 bpd, which was four times the rate of daily purchases last year, the report noted."
Oil is the life blood of the world.
Biden is a moron.
citing his misproven allegations
How does one "misprove" an allegation, pederast?
It's not even a real fucking word.
Oh, and Victoria Nuland from the State Dept. has confirmed the existence of the Ukrainian biolabs.
Shall we add her to the list of government liars?
Want more truth for a change?
Here it is:
https://www.aol.com/news/psychopath-chechen-warlord-kadyrov-raises-090033098.html
Oil is the life blood of the world.
Biden is a moron.
It's ironic.
The only economy Biden has been able to destroy so far is OURS.
Russia? They're pivoting to China, India, SA, Venezuela, Iran...
Biden needs to stop fucking around and hit Russia with the dreaded "double-secret probation."
That's the only way to send the message to Putin that shit just got real.
Alky got Any of your "live Reporting"
"The Biden administration on Friday said it would resume plans for oil and gas development on federal lands"
Anwar?
Keystone Restarted?
When does he actually act ?
Rat says allegation is not a word.
allegation
NOUN
allegations (plural noun)
a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof.
"after leaving he made allegations of corruption against the company"
synonyms:
claim · assertion · declaration · statement · proclamation · contention · argument · affirmation · averment · avowal · attestation · testimony · certification · evidence · witness · charge · accusation · suggestion · implication · hint · insinuation · indication · intimation · imputation · plea · pretense · profession · deposition · representation · asseveration
The next time someone tries to say Biden isn't why gas prices are so high, show them this clip.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1504451912036405250
"misprove" is not a word, pederast.
Nice lying dodge. It's all we've come to expect from you.
Blogger rrb said...
The spies who LIED:
BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Still living In the past is a GOP trait of non thinking idiots!!!!! No mention of the Big Lie that still resonates in his empty skull!!!!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1504451912036405250
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! More bullshit the moronic right falls for!!!!!!!
I watched it and thought he is amazing
HBO 'Real Time' guest breaks down how Putin ends up in front of a firing squad
Bob Brigham
March 18, 2022
HBO 'Real Time' guest breaks down how Putin ends up in front of a firing squad
Screengrab.
The author of three books on zombies explained how Vladimir Putin could end up in front of a firing squad during a Friday appearance on HBO's "Real Time."
Max Brooks, who wrote The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, discussed Russia's invasion of Ukraine with host Bill Maher and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.
"That's what's so surprising to me about Putin, we always knew he was evil, but nobody ever called him dumb," Maher said. "And now he looks dumb."
"This could really go so bad for him. I mean, the Russians have had a revolution before," he added.
Brooks argued the power of Russian mothers could end the war.
Brooks said Russian moms "marched against the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, they marched against Chechnya in the 1990s, and right now, this is why Putin is being so brutal."
"He has to wrap up this war before the telegrams start coming home. Because, if those Russian mothers know that their sons are dead and the mothers next to them fear that their sons are next, and they rise up, then the next time we see Vladimir Putin shirtless will be in front of a firing squad," Brooks explained.
Oh. For once rat is right. "Misprove" is not a word.
I should have said disprove.
How do you disprove an allegation?
Simply by showing that the claim is false.
For example: I his very next statement, rat says something that has been disproven:
"Oh, and Victoria Nuland from the State Dept. has confirmed the existence of the Ukrainian biolabs."
Truth:
Carefully look at her words and you will see she was not saying what her words have been distorted to make her say.
But I think what Roger says at 8:11 is FAR more important than all this.
Let us hope those mothers soon get active.
Mixed Signals from Ukraine’s President
March 19, 2022 at 9:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“The mounting death toll in Ukraine has forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider concessions to Russia in order to bring an end to the devastating conflict, but the specific elements of any peace deal his government may be discussing with Moscow remain a mystery to Western leaders,” the Washington Post reports.
“The secretive rounds of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators could hold the key to ending the conflict but also carry broader implications for European security depending on how the warring parties settle their differences. If Russian President Vladimir Putin can use military force to compel political change in Ukraine, he could use the same tactic elsewhere, U.S. and European officials fear.
“The prospects of a near-term deal look bleak, diplomats say, but mixed signals from Zelensky about how close he is to striking an agreement have only heightened anxiety about the trajectory of the negotiations.”
No Sign War In Ukraine Is Ending
9:06 am
New York Times:
“Despite all the determination of Ukraine’s people, all the losses among Russia’s forces, and all the errors of Russia’s leaders, there is no sign that the war will soon be over. Even if he fails to take control of the country, Putin can keep up the punishing attacks on its cities and people.”
Zelensky Warns War Will Cost Russia for Gemerations
9:05 am
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces are blockading his country’s largest cities to wear the population down into submission, but he warned Saturday that the strategy will fail and Moscow will lose in the long run if it doesn’t end its war,” the Associated Press reports.
“Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of deliberately creating ‘a humanitarian catastrophe ‘ and appealed for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with him, using a huge Moscow stadium rally where Putin lavished praise on Russian forces Friday to illustrate what was at stake.”
Making predictions about this war is a fool's game.
Did James just say allegation is not a word? There cannot be a single allegation?
COVID CASES USA 7-DAY AVG
29,095 MAR 18 2022
54,687 MAR 18 2021
DEATHS 7-DAY AVG
914 MAR 18 2022
1,268 MAR 18 2021
Success that Scott doesn't post
Success that Scott doesn't post
Only because it's irrelevant, Dunning-Kruger alky.
Throughout this entire charade the only numbers that have ever mattered are hospitalizations and deaths.
I personally know dozens of people who have had it and have fully recovered. No one cares about those cases including the folks who caught it.
Bragging about that is like bragging about 0linsky's infamous "saved or created jobs" mythical category. Easy to boast about because it couldn't be disproven. Literally a throw-away statistic.
So that's what you're left to brag about with Magoo. Throw-away statistics.
LOL.
Imbecile.
Anonymous Myballs said...
Did James just say allegation is not a word? There cannot be a single allegation?
If that is what you interpreted ballz....you need more help than modern medicine can provide!!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Blogger The Real Halfbaked Soars Pundit said...
Making predictions about this war is a fool's game.
Yet we've watched you plagiarize predictions about this war since the moment it began.
That makes you and the folks you stole from fools.
As if we didn't know that already.
he only numbers that have ever mattered are hospitalizations and deaths.
And you did nothing but call covid overblown and not a problem!!!!! Since life is not important to you because of GOP rhetoric....you really go out of your way to dumb!!!
Yet we've watched you plagiarize predictions about this war
While you depended on depends and PJ media for your opinion!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
https://www.aol.com/news/putin-rallies-behind-troops-while-040202672-130818859.html
Truth, not propaganda.
President Biden Job Approval
Rasmussen Reports
Approve 38, Disapprove 60 Disapprove +22
2022 Generic Congressional Vote
Republicans 50, Democrats 39 Republicans +11
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/#!
No wonder the left is losing it
evidenced by the shouting charlatan POS "pastor" boswell
What a FANTASTIC WEEKEND it's going to be !!!
This had similar appearance to the MAGA events. Including hats and waving pictures of Trump.
Vladimir Putin has staged a rally in Moscow which has been compared to both the Nazi rallies of Hitler and the show-trials of Stalin.
The chilling spectacle took place to mark the anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and saw the Russian president greeted by cheering throngs of people in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, which hosted the FIFA world cup in 2018.
Putin could be seen praising the Russian invasion of Ukraine and assuring those in attendance of Russia's victory, despite reports now emerging that Ukrainian defenders are successfully resisting aggressors.
Some in the crowd can be seen wearing clothing and waving banners featuring the 'Z' symbol.
* and that's the truth
ROFLMFAO !!!
Biden is the Arsonist , Day #1 he set fire the US Oil and gas industry.
Now he calls the Fire Department, nope, you own it .
And the goat fucker supports trump who called Putin a genius and is praying for a recession for political gain.....IMHO he is pushing treasonous thought without fear of consequences. Typical of KU failures!!!!
RRB, correct.
"It's ironic.
The only economy Biden has been able to destroy so far is OURS.
Russia? They're pivoting to China, India, SA, Venezuela, Iran...
Biden needs to stop fucking around and hit Russia with the dreaded "double-secret probation."
That's the only way to send the message to Putin that shit just got real."
Congressional Job Approval Monmouth Approve 20, Disapprove 72 Disapprove +52
Direction of Country Monmouth Right Direction 24, Wrong Track 73 Wrong Track +49
Direction of Country Reuters/Ipsos Right Direction 27, Wrong Track 61 Wrong Track +34
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/#!
Hi Denny.
I see you are lying about me.
Opinion by Rich Lowry
03/17/2022 05:31 PM EDT
Rich Lowry is editor of National Review and a contributing editor with Politico Magazine.
No one can blame Volodymyr Zelenskyy for constantly lobbying the West to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
His country is fighting a desperate battle for national survival, and his job is, first and foremost, to increase its odds of withstanding the Russian onslaught. You needn’t worry much about unleashing an escalatory spiral once your cities are already getting bombed to rubble by an invading army.
Still, the fact remains that the most admired man in the world, who perhaps has more moral authority at the moment than any political leader since Nelson Mandela, is pushing for a bad and dangerous idea.
There’s still major resistance in Washington to the notion of a no-fly zone. It is picking up supporters, though, and Zelenskyy chipped away at the ice in his address to Congress, if he didn’t break it.
“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” Zelenskyy said. He then made his plea: “Is this a lot to ask, to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save people? Is this too much to ask? A humanitarian non-fly zone, so that Russia would not be able to terrorize our free cities?”
A wrenching video he played showing the destruction and suffering that Vladimir Putin has visited on Ukraine ended with the words, “Close the Sky.”
There is an impulse to simply grant Zelenskyy anything he asks for, given his bravery and the righteousness of his cause. If we should unquestionably want Zelenskyy to prevail, that doesn’t mean subordinating our judgments about our own interests to him. If he were to call for the immediate deployment of the 82nd Airborne to Lviv, presumably even his most ardent admirers would blanch.
A no-fly zone fails as a policy on any number of grounds. As has been correctly pointed out, it isn’t an antiseptic operation. It would mean shooting down Russian planes if they didn’t cede Ukrainian airspace to us, and — even more significantly — taking out anti-aircraft systems in Russia.
So we would be going from an arms-length effort to arm the Ukrainians to directly fighting the Russians ourselves, a hugely consequential step.
What would it get us? A no-fly zone would give the U.S. de facto ownership of the Ukraine war with only limited control.
Much of the destruction is being wrought by Russian forces on the ground. That means we could wholly dominate the skies, but, for instance, the besieged, bleeding city of Mariupol would continue to get brutalized by Russian artillery and rockets. This would create natural pressure on us to go further. The Russians would, after all, be raining fire on the city literally under our noses. “How can we allow it, when we have the power to stop it, indeed are watching it transpire from 30,000 feet?” would be the inevitable refrain.
A no-fly zone wouldn’t even fully stop the Russian air assault. Moscow could still fire cruise missiles into Ukraine. The rocket strike against the Ukrainian military base near the Polish border this week was reportedly launched by a Russian bomber over the Black Sea. If Ukraine continued to suffer such attacks despite a no-fly zone, the operation could easily become an advertisement for our impotence rather than for our strength.
Even conservatives agree with the President
Judy Woodruff:
How the United States should respond to two major global crises was a topic of major debate again this week. President Biden announced a new round of military assistance for Ukraine, while the administration's request that Congress approve billions in emergency COVID spending has met opposition.
Well, that brings us to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart. That's New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, columnist for The Washington Post.
It is very good to see both of you within reaching distance.
Jonathan Capehart:
Right.
Judy Woodruff:
We're so glad to have you here, even if the subject is — that we start out with, again, David, is grim and difficult.
And that's, of course, Ukraine. The Russian military grinds on. We heard Jane Ferguson say they're not making ground advance, but they're still killing civilians.
This week, you had Zelenskyy's speech to Congress. You had President Biden announcing more military aid. Today, he talked to the Chinese president. Is any of this making a difference?
David Brooks:
I think so. It's just tragically slow.
I don't — even the footage we saw today from Kyiv, it does not look like the Ukrainian people are going to be backing down. And bombing, aerial bombardments of civilian populations, when there's strong leadership, just doesn't work. That's London in the Blitz.
And what we're doing is, we're — what Zelenskyy asked for. He asked for the no-fly zone, and that was never going to happen. He asked to do more. And the U.S. government and governments around the world are doing more, and so another $800 million in aid. I think we do more in terms of especially anti-aircraft missiles.
Right now, people using these shoulder-launched things.
Judy Woodruff:
Right.
David Brooks:
But you can do long-range stuff and get a no-fly zone, in effect.
And so ramping that up is one thing that can do more. And I think the central message is, trust what we're doing. We're putting on severe pressure. We have to do more. The shots of Moscow suggest we really have to do a lot more about making sure Western goods are not on shelves in Moscow. We have to do a lot more economic sanctions on good-to-good transfers.
But trust what we're doing. We're putting on a lot of pressure. Putin is in a very bad position. He's still — I was told today that there was some hope that there would be a negotiated settlement in the next few days. But people who have spoken to Putin over the last 48 hours suggest that's not going to happen anytime soon.
And so we just have to trust our strategy, that it just tightens and tightens things around him. And we don't know how it's going to end. All we can do is press.
Judy Woodruff:
And is that pressing — do you see anything changing in coming days or weeks?
Jonathan Capehart:
Well, all we do — all we can do is press, but also pray, because one of the things we keep hearing about Vladimir Putin is, folks are questioning his sanity.
Folks are questioning whether, if we push him into a corner, will he lash out in ways that are unpredictable? There is all the talk about the use of chemical or biological weapons. Would he actually do that in the way that was done in Syria? And that would force the United States, NATO, the Western alliance, the allies around the world to do something I don't think they're really quite mentally prepared for.
And that is to go toe to toe with a nuclear power that has unleashed hell on a neighbor.
Judy Woodruff:
And, meantime, David, we hear — we hear pretty uniform opposition or criticism, I should say, of President Biden from Republicans.
I interviewed Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, this week, who said Biden is not doing enough, he's doing it too late. Is there some legitimacy in that chorus of criticism?
David Brooks:
I'm — they're going to criticize, because that's what we do here.
But I'm glad the criticism is over the pace of what we're doing and not over whether we should be doing it. And so, to me, that — there's an underlying unity, and in American public opinion. Very few Americans want troops on the ground. Some do, but we want to increase the pressure.
And so, if there's going to be criticism, maybe for more. I think Biden is moving in the more direction. And if we're going to have an argument over how fast we move in the more direction, that, to me, is a pretty useful argument to have. And so I don't think the criticism is a major problem for what we're doing.
What Jonathan said, we have to psychologically read, how much is this too much? How — are we doing anything that's really risky in escalation? I still think we're a long way from that. But we have to face the fact, it's in Putin's interests at some level to try to engage NATO directly and to spread this.
And he's bogged down now. But if he can turn it into a bigger thing, that might turn out to be in his interests. So we have to be alive to that possibility. But I think we still have to be really hard on him, and not shrink back because of fear of what he might do. He's going to do what he wants to do anyway.
Judy Woodruff:
Is it your sense, Jonathan, that the U.S. is prepared, that NATO is prepared if Putin does go off in a direction that we don't — we're — don't want him to go?
Jonathan Capehart:
I want to believe that NATO and the United States are prepared for that situation.
One of the things that I — one of the criticisms against the president that I think was valid was that he kept communicating what the United States would not do, communicating what he would not do, and instead has gone mute on those things, won't talk about those things, would only talk about the things — he's only now talking about the things that he's doing.
And that is exactly what he should be doing.
But I just want to push back a little bit on this. You said underlying unity. Sure, there's some underlying unity. But I — it's a little aggravating that certain Republicans, particularly in the Senate, especially if they're thinking of running for president, are — they're playing games at a time when the president of the United States and the Western alliance are going are — trying to contain — trying to contain Putin.
And you can't argue that the president has taken too long, he's not doing enough, when you just voted against the $1.5 trillion omnibus bill that had millions of dollars of aid for Ukraine in that bill.
So, this sort of domestic play that Republicans are bringing to foreign policy, I think, is regrettable. And I hope, going forward, especially if we get to that situation where the United States and in the world is grappling with a chemical or biological attack on Ukraine, that folks think better about what they're saying about the president and the United States, of what they're both trying to get accomplished.
David Brooks:
Thank you.
I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy.
So, I rarely praise Ted Cruz, but Ted Cruz, for the last few years, has been pretty much right on Ukraine and Russia.
And he's been very aggressive. A lot of Republican senators have been very aggressive: We need to do this to prevent a war.
So I find, in general, Republicans have not followed Trump in any soft-on-Putin direction. Quite the reverse.
The one thing that I think we need to think about — I read a good piece — that this may be — what Korea was for the Cold War, this may be for the next contest against the authoritarian regimes. Mao goes into Korea, with Russian support. And, at the time, people don't realize what's happening. It's only, over the years, they realize, oh, Korea is part of a larger Cold War conflict.
And so this could be seen as part of a larger contest, which Biden talks about, between democracies and autocracies. And if that's the case, we need to be using this moment — and I think we are using this moment — to really build a very practical — rebuild a practical set of alliances with Japan and the West to prepare for a long contest, and to see this context in the — this war in the context of that larger rivalry.
Judy Woodruff:
But you're, in a way, suggesting it's harder to do that when you have got the parties, as you put it, playing games.
Jonathan Capehart:
Right, constantly criticizing the party and the president who's not in your party simply because he's a Democrat.
And I just also want to point out that, despite your nice words about Senator Cruz, he was one of those senators who voted against the omnibus bill, which had aid to Ukraine in it. So, just…
David Brooks:
Yes. We played games during the Cold War.
Judy Woodruff:
Setting the record straight.
Jonathan Capehart:
Right.
Spamming twins.
Damn, wrecking this blog.
A no-fly zone wouldn’t even fully stop the Russian air assault. Moscow could still fire cruise missiles into Ukraine.
But it IS an act of war the moment you shoot down the first Russia fighter.
Then we have WWIII with Magoo and a whore at the helm.
Biden plan falls on deaf ears.
"In February, while announcing their friendship had “no limits”, the two countries struck a 10-year agreement for Russia to supply 100 million tonnes of crude oil to northwestern China.Mar 10, 2022"
Deaf NATO Ears in Germany especially.
"Germany imports more than half of its energy. The country largely imports its oil from Russia, Norway and the United Kingdom. Germany is also the world's largest importer of natural gas. The largest gas imports come from the Netherlands, Norway, and Russia via the Nord Stream."
Deaf NATO Ears in France.
Oh how weak the French are .
"France wants to end Russia gas and oil imports by 2027."
Far more important than the insipid Fauci thread above.
A Tenuous Balance in Confronting Russia
March 19, 2022 at 11:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“In the first weeks of the first major European land war of the 21st century, the United States has sent tank-killing weapons to Ukrainian forces, but not fighter jets.
~~~It is equipping embattled Ukrainian troops with lightweight ‘kamikaze’ attack drones, but not, at least in an obvious way, conducting an aggressive cyberwar to degrade Russia’s technological advantage,” the New York Times reports.
“The White House will commit no American or NATO planes to the skies above Ukraine, a move American officials fear could risk turning a regional war into a global conflagration, but it is providing Ukraine with missiles that could accomplish the same task of destroying Russian aircraft.
“Such is the tenuous balance the Biden administration has tried to maintain as it seeks to help Ukraine lock Russia in a quagmire without inciting a broader conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary or cutting off potential paths to de-escalation.”
___
USA Today:
Lindsey Graham called for Putin’s assassination. Even discussing it brings danger to US, experts say.
_____________
Putin Isn’t Ready for Talks with Zelensky
11:00 am
“President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called publicly on Saturday for direct negotiations with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, but a senior Turkish official said that Mr. Putin was not ready for such talks,”
the New York Times reports.
The Turkish official said that Mr. Putin no longer advocated replacing Mr. Zelensky but “now accepts the reality of Zelensky as the leader of the Ukrainian people, whether he likes it or not.”
_____
Hmmm. Could that be at least a small degree of progress? I don't pretend to know.
My comment, based on commentary concerning Germany's change in outlook on Public Radio:
Like a majority of Americans, a majority of Germans are now saying they are firmly willing to make financial sacrifices for the sake of confronting Russian aggression.
Germany is now strongly moving toward taking on a role it has been shirking -- taking on responsibility as as major European power not only in matters of finance but in matters of militarily resisting Russian aggression.
Associated Press
Denied easy victory, Russia presses reduced goals in Ukraine
Associated Press
March 19, 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — The signs are abundant of how Ukraine frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a swift victory, and how Russia's military proved far from ready for the fight.
Russia has lost hundreds of tanks, many left charred or abandoned along the roads, and its death toll is on a pace to outstrip that of the country’s previous military campaigns.
Yet more than three weeks into the war, with Putin's initial aim of an easy regime change in Ukraine long gone, Russia’s military still has a strong hand. With their greater might and stockpile of city-flattening munitions, Russian forces can fight on for whatever the Russian president may plan next, whether leveraging a negotiated settlement or brute destruction, military analysts warn.
Despite all the determination of Ukraine’s people, all the losses among Russia’s forces, and all the errors of Russia’s leaders, there is no sign that the war will soon be over. Even if he fails to take control of the country, Putin can keep up the punishing attacks on its cities and people.
“His instinct will be always to double down, because he’s got himself into a dreadful mess, a huge strategic blunder,” said Michael Clarke, former head of the British-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank.
“And I don’t think it’s in his character to try to retrieve that, except by carrying on, going forward,” he said.
Putin’s forces in Ukraine are waging Russia’s largest, most complex combined military campaign since taking Berlin in 1945. His initial objective, which he announced in a television address on Feb. 24 as the invasion began, was to “demilitarize” Ukraine and save its people from “neo-Nazis," a false description of Ukraine’s government, which is led by a Jewish president.
Fatefully, Putin underestimated the national pride and battlefield skills that Ukrainians have built up over the past eight years of battling Russian-backed separatists in the country's east.
At the start, Russians thought “they would install, you know, some pro-Russian government and call it a day and declare victory,” said Dmitry Gorenburg, a researcher on Russia’s security at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. “That was sort of Plan A, and as near as we can tell, they didn’t really have a Plan B.”
Russia’s first apparent plan — attack key Ukrainian military targets, and make a quick run to Kyiv — failed immediately. It was foiled by Ukraine’s defenses along with the countless mistakes and organizational failures by a Russian force that had been told it was only mobilized for military drills.
Clarke, the British researcher, related accounts of Russian troops selling communication equipment and fuel out of military vehicles to locals during the weeks they waited on Ukraine’s borders.
With no friendly population to welcome them, Russian forces reverted to tactics from their past offensives in Syria and Chechnya — dropping bombs and lobbing missiles into cities and town, sending millions of men, women and children fleeing.
Putin’s forces are in position to capture the besieged port city of Mariupol. Overall, Russians appear to be fighting with three objectives now:
to surround Kyiv,
to encircle spread-out Ukrainian fighters in the east,
and to break through to the major port city of Odessa in the west, said Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military and program director at CNA.
Kofman cautions that much of the information on the war is coming from Ukrainians, or their American or other allies. That makes the partial picture skewed, and a full picture impossible.
A senior U.S. defense official on Friday said the Russians have launched more than 1,080 missiles since the start of the war as they remain largely stalled across the country. The official said they retain about 90% of the combat power they had arrayed around Ukraine at the start of the war.
The U.S. assesses that the airspace over Ukraine remains contested, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the military assessments. The Ukrainian air force is continuing to fly aircraft and employ air and missile defense
“Just look at the map, and you just look at how little progress the Russians have been able to make,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said recently.
The math of military conquests and occupation may be against Putin in Ukraine.
Estimates of Russian deaths vary widely. Yet even conservative figures are in the low thousands. That's a much faster pace than in previous Russian offensives, threatening support for the war among ordinary Russians. Russia had 64 deaths in five days of fighting during its 2008 war with Georgia. It lost about 15,000 in Afghanistan over 10 years, and more than 11,000 over years of fighting in Chechnya.
Russia’s number of dead and wounded in Ukraine is nearing the 10% benchmark of diminished combat effectiveness, Gorenburg said. The reported battlefield deaths of four Russian generals — out of an estimated 20 in the fight — signal impaired command, he said.
Researchers tracking only those Russian equipment losses that were photographed or recorded on video say Russia has lost more than 1,500 tanks, trucks, mounted equipment and other heavy gear. Two out of three of those were captured or abandoned, signaling the failings of the Russian troops that let them go.
Meanwhile, Russia needs to limit its use of smart, long-range missiles in case they’re needed in any larger war with NATO, military analysts say.
When it comes to the grinding job of capturing and holding cities, conventional military metrics suggest Russia needs a 5-to-1 advantage in urban fighting, analysts say. Meanwhile, the formula for ruling a restive territory in the face of armed opposition is 20 fighters for every 1,000 people — or 800,000 Russian troops for Ukraine’s more than 40 million people, Clarke notes. That's almost as many as Russia's entire active-duty military of 900,000.
On the ground, that means controlling any substantial chunk of Ukrainian territory long-term would take more resources than Russia could foreseeably commit.
Other Russian options remain possible, including a negotiated settlement. Moscow is demanding that Ukraine formally embrace neutrality, thus swearing off any alliance with NATO, and recognize the independence of the separatist regions in the east and Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Russia's other options include an unrelenting air campaign in which it bombs and depopulates cities as it did in Chechnya and Syria. U.S. officials also warn of the risk of Russian chemical attacks, and the threat of escalation to nuclear war.
“Unless the Russians intend to be completely genocidal — they could flatten all the major cities, and Ukrainians will rise up against Russian occupation — there will be just constant guerrilla war" if Russian troops remain, Clarke said.
——
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed.
KansasDemocrat said...
Deaf NATO Ears in France.
Oh how weak the French are
"France wants to end Russia gas and oil imports by 2027.
CAN THE KU GOAT FUCKING IDIOT GET ANY DUMBER THAN THIS?????? That is certainly a goal that is credible and doable considering France imports just about all their energy from abroad......How is that weakness goat fucker......found a job yet???? BWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Post a Comment