Today at 12 noon EST, I was live on Rumble to discuss the ongoing conflict, its multiple dangers, and what role the U.S. should play, if any, in its outcome.
Good news: Ukraine instituted vaccine passports to enter the capital — and for now Russia’s advance has stalled while every soldier shows their proof of vax.
Don't forget that Brian Stelter, Jim Acosta, and Yamiche Alcindor are political reporters/correspondents in the USA. Obama and Al Gore were both given the Peace Prize. Thomas Friedman predicted the collapse of Wall Street when President Trump took office. Sometimes people are given titles and awards they do not deserve.
Certainly, the control of the world's energy is a factor in the Sino-Soviet/Iranian triumvirate; but the most compelling reason for the current war in Ukraine is NATO's aggression.
NATO is a voluntary organization that does not, nor ever has, threatened the territorial integrity of historic, and current, Russian boundaries.
We have now established this disagreement, and I propose dis-continuing our attempts at persuading the other. Of course, we do not write here just for each other, do we. If I unilaterally stop engaging on this specific topic, I hope you or our other readers don't take it as concession on my part.
It is impossible to persuade anyone of anything they hold dearly. It's been fun chatting with you, Tim. We'll probably agree about something next month. :-)
Thank you, Charles. I think we agree on much this month, and I can enjoy even our few disagreements on important matters, which in the end only reinforce our right to have them.
Happily, Glenn has already posted another thought-provoking article. FYI Xavier L. Simon also posts mind-bending information on substack.com. You might be interested in reading his compositions.
At such an early stage, no. So little is known and everyone seems to have a different viewpoint. All I can suggest is to take everything with a grain of salt and avoid the legacy press.
Across the board, no-holds-barred isolation of Russia must be swiftly instituted. I mean we throw every tool in the book.
Russia must be made the world's pariah nation. Let China be their ONLY ally. Let Putin sell ALL his energy (Russia's ONLY asset) to the GodXi. The CCP will see their bleak future, and turn away from Putin's mafia, eventually.
And...we need to free our own energy sector.
Time to save the world again. Let's do a better job of it this time.
Go stuff it, you ignorant lout. This is all NATO's (US/UK) doing. Your ignorance is breathtaking, its scope unparalleled. The US & UK have been trying to break and conquer Russia/USSR since 1917. They financed the Bolsheviks---who took out the Romanovs---then invaded in 1919 (US and British troops)---failed at that and proceeded to finance Hitler for their second attempt. Learn some history, ffs!
In 1941 Harry Truman publicly said, "If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if that Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill as many as possible.”
So yeah, there were instances where we played both sides.
That was a correct and wise decision of President Truman, actually, no matter how cynical it sounds.
Stalin and Hitler were both danger to the world and certainly nightmare to their own people. In 1938-1940 both invaded and annexed other countries like there was no tomorrow.
Right now, there is no such dilemma, only one government is invading and annexing.
As did my father and uncles on both sides. The power elite-financiers and bankers who are the actual movers and shakers of the most consequential of human events tend to stay in the shadows while directing the affairs of we commoners.
Sometimes they come out and show their true colors---such as when they attempted a coup on FDR in the 1930s---really! They raised an army (so they thought) and had a heroic ex-general adored by most soldiers lined up to pull it off, except he went to Congress and spilled the beans. Among the plotters was none other than GHW Bush's daddy Prescott, W's grandpa and a serving U.S. Senator.
Of course the powerful are never held to account and it was only in mid-WW II that the Bush-Walker Union Bank/Brown Brothers was finally stopped from doing business with the Nazis. Hell, Henry Ford won war reparations for his German factories that sustained Allied bombing damage. The Rockefellers too were prominent along with other major oil companies. I believe it was Chevron-Union Oil that gave the Nazis the chemical formula that allowed them to make avgas for the Lufwaffe from their Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-gas formulation. It was the only reason the Nazis were able to keep their (all of the players, inc US oil companies,) going for so long. Like now, as it was then, it's all about the $Benjamins.
Allen Dulles ran his own independent spy war apart from the OSS, he kept his Wall Street firm Sullivan and Cromwell actively trading with the Nazis throughout WW II with contacts established in the 1920s that continue through today in succeeding iterations of those firms. He met with high-ranking Nazis in Zurich all the time, cutting deals of all kinds. The Third Reich used Swiss banks too.
Summarizing, there is a whole lot about history that gets written as creative fiction, and with a shit-ton of airbrushing. Believe me, I could go on and on about what really happened in the 20th century---it's all on the record, you just have to be willing to look under the rugs. And the same game is being played today---right now. On so many levels of intrigue. "The rich, are different than you and me."
Socialists? Where? Putin's not a socialist, he's a capitalist oligarch. You sound like you are still living in the 1950s. Same goes for China. They have state capitalism, not socialism, though both Russia and China have some socialistic programs I wish we Americans had, like guaranteed housing, medical care, and education.
You mis-define Capitalism. Capitalism is just an old word for Classical Liberalism. Oligarch exist within Socialism, not true Capitalism.
There is no such thing as "guaranteed" housing, medical care, and education for the simple fact that human energy and effort must be expended for them to exist in the first place. If you use force (Socialism) to make them into "rights," you only empower Statists to create slavery.
Yesterday, Putin was merely a National Socialist (Fascist).
Today, he invaded a neighbor, thus becoming an International Authoritarian Socialist, the West's greatest enemy, the latest in a long line of them. When Xi starts shooting for real, he will join Putin in threatening all of the West until the West defends itself by putting a stop to the warmongering Fascists of the world today, one way or another.
They will not stop with Western appeasement. That will only encourage and embolden them.
The GodXi is watching for our response, biding his time.
Well, I appreciate your civil reply (better than I could muster) but I have a friend of longstanding living in Donetsk (since 2014) and he's witnessed first hand the atrocities and their aftermath. You remain wrong and we will continue to disagree.
Agree on principle, but Putin played this wrongly. All he had to do was continue to discredit Western MSM and NOT invade...He could have taken the West down without firing a single shot.
Unless there was imminent invasion from the West, I do not think Putin was justified in invasion. Still, it cannot be avoided that we poked the bear to get to this point when Putin made it very clear how a peaceful solution could come about and it was not unreasonable.
Well said, and we ALL know the West and NATO was NEVER going to actually invade Russia proper (even Messieurs Cheney, Frum, etc. could not pull that off). That is total canard.
Perhaps Putin judged now or never. He reads the tea leaves as well as anybody ('22 and '24 U.S. elections upcoming Republican landslides, including possibly the implacable DJT), and certainly knows how to take advantage of ALL good (read: convenient) Western "crises."
(Sorry to reply; I know you weren't speaking to me.)
If you want to get technical about who 'funded' Hitler, it was France and Czechoslovakia. Their arrogance, double standards and greed created the conditions allowing him to amass power. They share as much guilt as the German public, if not more, for the wholescale slaughter of WWII.
The US does have a part in this too, though it's because the moronic Wilson was more focused on the League of Nations than telling the French and Czechs to take a long stroll off a short plank regarding their vindictiveness and greed. The UK was about the only rational great power, seeking to repeat the success of the Congress of Vienna which prevented a World War event for 99 years (1815-1914).
Exactly correct. I would only add that "funding" is one thing, and "forcing" (i.e. using deadly force on innocent human bodies) is a whole 'nother order of magnitude of culpability.
They also financed the Soviets, both feeding them when they could not feed themselves (does anyone seriously feed an "existential threat" to the entire world? The question answers itself) and selling them missile technology so as to make their fake empire more plausible. All in the service of fleecing the people of the USA to build up the monstrous military structure that now encircles the globe, having permanent military presence in over 145 countries. Just for context, there are approximately 200 countries in the entire world.
Hey Tim you know who beat the nazi’s & saved Europe’s and our ass - the Soviets. 8.7 million of their soldiers dead. Don’t you or Pelosi bogart that Neville joint
We can save ourselves, and we can oppose Putin AND Xi.
GG and Tulsi Gabbard are correct that the Democrat fucked up and got us here, but that was yesterday. Now that today's Fascists have started shooting, we must oppose them. They will not stop until we do.
Isolate Russia first. Xi will notice and act accordingly. I am NOT warmongering. Putin and Xi are NOT Dick Cheney's false Muslim jihad "threat."
They are the REAL existential threat to all that Western Civilization holds dear.
You have been set up by today's Neville Chamberlains.
Dick Cheney poses the biggest existential threat to all western ‘civilization’ holds dear. He’s done more to destroy the ideals of press freedom, accountability and civil discourse in the US than Putin or Xi could ever hope to achieve, if that is indeed even their hope.
Please identify the critical interests that you believe the US has (better yet, that I might have) in the status of the Ukraine as an independent entity. The only item I am aware of is Hunter Biden's investments, which I have little doubt are actually Joe and Jill's retirement fund. "Save the world again"? Seriously? When did we save it previously? Please use some kind of cost-benefit analysis to prove your point that is amenable to actual examination and potential refutation, not emotive, chest-beating slogans when you do so. You are being played by the corporatists & statists (i.e. the "deep state") on both sides of the nominal political party divide, and, sadly, you appear to be willing to delude yourself on that point. The jingoists need only beat their drums a few times, and willing fools like you reflexively begin marching in lock-step. For all I know, Putin and Biden('s handlers) previously reached some agreement to orchestrate this "crisis" to save their plunging popularity in their respective nations and, in turn. their sorry political asses. I'm certainly convinced that both of them are quite capable of such treachery.
Meh .. the more I drill down into this the more my sympathies lie with Ukraine but also the less I think we should get directly involved. I can see doing things like planting a new NATO or US military base in Estonia or Romania .. that would remind Putin that his likely successful attempt by this method to warn against expanding NATO can trigger a solidification and invigoration of the existing NATO.
But the only direct and immediate interest I would deem critical would be that of the message it would send China versus Taiwan (Since our official alliance with Taiwan is not much stronger on paper than the one we have with Ukraine). If we simply take the legalistic approach that our hands are tied with Ukraine due to no NATO alliance .. then China would expect us to be consistent in regard to Taiwan. So we should reject direct assist to Ukraine (as we would have in the 19th century) but NOT solely on the basis of them not being part of NATO.
My regret is that the British did not hand off the responsibilty for the security of Hong Kong to a partnership entity created for that purpose between China and the USA (unthinkable now, but not at the time it was being negotiated .. I think China was secretly as surprised as anyone of the Brits total abandonment .. Britain knows how to bog things down with bureaucrats, and they chose not to. )
Thank you for the opportunity to answer that question, M. Sam.
The ONLY critical interest the U.S. (and, by extension, The entire Western Civilization) has in Ukraine's status is the same critical interest the West finally came to realize in opposing the 20th century's international Authoritarian Socialists (Fascists).
To wit: They never stop at just the next bit of dirt. They ALWAYS want more than we magnanimously give them. Perhaps the Baltics will be next. Perhaps just non-NATO Finland. Perhaps, the GodXi will not want Taiwan to miss out on CCP "benevolence." Perhaps....
You get the idea, don't you? We are free (in the West) to disagree, and I agree wholeheartedly that we are a completely guilty of our own sins against our Classical Liberal birthrights. Does that necessarily make us unworthy of rising to the occasion in its defense today?
Software won't let me like your post, but I am inclined to agree 100%. Biden, Xi and Putin are all in with the WEF and war guarantees that 1. the resources continue to flow to the billionaires and 2. we can continue the loss of liberty to be replaced with surveillance to "keep us safe" so that we the people lose no matter what. Be careful to not get distracted and willing to give up even more...because of this.
After the Canadian Protest, the WEF knows its in trouble...war is the next step. FOLLOW THE MONEY. The people all over the world need to refuse to fight and declare that this is not OUR war but a war between competing elites. We are DONE dying for their profits.
Haaaaaaaa! Congratulations, you/we have forced the Bear into the arms of the Dragon, how brilliant. Through the FOREX reserves and the ton's of Gold they don't need US or the European vassal states any more. Russia is a perfect fit for Europe; of course the eagle couldn't have that. They're also a perfect fit for the Dragon, Europe is so woke and so brilliant, full of female Warriors and fully woke.
There's a piece in the Expose (I know I know) that points to the congruence of Russian missile impacts in Ukraine with the location of KNOWN US Biolabs there. Pretty damned compelling.
Getting into a pissing match with a country that has nuclear weapons and a real military because of Ukraine, a country that most Americans can't even find on a map, is a stupid idea.
Timothy I wonder if you had the same punitive agenda when the US invaded Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Libya, etc, where in total millions were killed, injured, displaced, or The US imposing sanctions on Iraq during the Clinton years where 500 thousand children died, or our more recent sanctions on Iran, or Venezuela? You seem old enough to remember Vietnam as well. Your attitude if genuinely believed disgusts me.
M. Fran, I dispute your numbers, but am finished and exhausted for today. I only try to express my (strong) opinion plainly, and I apologize for failing.
I was born in 1961, if that helps. In 1984, my then girlfriend handed me Atlas Shrugged and told me she believed in and agreed with John Galt's (i.e. Ayn Rand's) philosophy of Objectivism. What was a horny far-reading lad to do?
Today, we say "it usually starts with Glenn Greenwald." Then, it was Ayn Rand.
We never should have been in S.E. Asia tilting at windmills and stopping non-existent dominoes. Likewise, those later neo-lib/neo-con forlorn side-show lands.
But Wilson didn't keep his word, Germany was raped by the Treaty of Versailles, and Fascism was born anew. It exists today in Russia and China ("Communism" died with Mao's "To grow rich is glorious!" and morphed naturally into its more-honest twin), and we ignore it at our Classical Liberal (Capitalist, properly Randian defined) peril.
Does this add to, or subtract from, your disgust of me?
I am not teasing or trying to fool you, M. Sara. I only offer my ernest opinion.
It's okay to dis-agree with me, as that is our Western Civilization individual right. We will lose that right if we appease those who would destroy us and our freedoms.
Go ahead. I'm listening. What legitimate points does Russian State media have to offer. Seriously, I agree they might have valid points, and Germany should not censor them.
So you'd rather Putin and Russia spread love and happiness around the world like the US has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen...oh, and like we've been toward our own American natives here at home?
It's more terrifying if you actually believe your tripe. If you're just an MIC bott is much less forgivable.
I'm sure that Ancestry.com would prove that most Ukrainians are really Russians. But, just as our own ancestors (in the USA) chose to break away from our Mother Country, I suspect there are Ukrainians who despise Russia. I know for a fact that Poles hate Russians. I once had a physical therapist who told me that his countrymen were led into battle by Russians at bayonet-point.
The current conflict is very complex, what with the Biden crime family enriching itself from Ukraine's treasury and NATO squeezing Russia into an unendurable corner.
It's much like the movie THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. It's hard to tell who is good and who is bad. Certainly, all sides are ugly.
The establishment political and media chattering class claiming Tucker Carlson is "siding with Putin" for his absolutely rational and justified challenging of the Biden Administration foreign policy is just another in a long list of examples for why the establishment political media chattering class is crap and needs to be flushed.
"...emotions are extremely high; nationalism and tribalism surge; the range of permissible debate radically shrinks; the political and media class unite in lockstep messaging across the political spectrum; and anyone even slightly off-key or questioning of that script is hunted down and held up as a heretic and traitor"
By that standard the U.S. has been at war since Trump descended the escalator announcing his candidacy nearly seven years ago. At war with ourselves of course.
Thank you Glenn for cutting a well deserved vacation short, then working overtime. A treaty with Russia recognizing Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine as buffer states off limits to the EU and NATO, in exchange for simultaneous removal of Russian support for Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela could have prevented this chaos and helped the foreign policy of the US. If such a treaty meant alienating France, Germany and Italy, for the sake of pulling Russia from China, it would be worth it. Among dealing with those countries, it would allow the US to focus it's energy on protecting Taiwan while potentially pulling Russia away from China.
Instead, the inept imbeciles who failed so badly in Afghanistan sought to, and ultimately were able to force a conflict to try and rehabilitate their image. Now there is the very real threat of a hot war with Russia all as the CCP eyes Taiwan. Nobody wants war outside of the swamp rats, the CCP knows this, Russia knows this, and the completely idiotic foreign establishment risks rivers of blood on it's hands and not one but two Afghanistan-style debacles in both Ukraine and Taiwan because they think of their ego above all else. This is insanity.
Oil way up, Putin laughing all the way to the bank. Biden shut down our energy sector, we will pay now. Biden already set the narrative (main stream parrots) that inflation and supply chain woes are due to the the incursion into Ukraine. Of course, the FB and TikTok crowd will swallow it hook line and sinker.
Merkel was adamant that Ukraine join NATO. She is also adamant in doing away with nuclear power. I wonder how she'll react when Russia stops selling her natural gas. Merkel's idiocy turned Germany into a Russian client state.
Much could have been negotiated with Russia over the past 20 years, as Germany had been doing with it's gas deals, and the formation of the Normandy Group of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine to help avoid what is happening today, and was on the road to mutual benefit for much of Central and Eastern Europe. Moreso, Russia and the US could have negotiated many of the European issues with a mutual benefit concerning Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, in the manner that Trump's people did with the Abraham Accords (instead of violent conflict, negotiate mutual interests), which could have been expanded to Lebannon and Jordan. Instead, we get Clinton's handlers ginning up conflict with Serbia in the 90's, distracting from his unpopular domestic policies, especially health care system, then Obama's and Biden's handlers since 2014, ginning up conflict with Russia, "Russian Collusion" to influence the elections of 2016 and 2020, and the current conflict distracting from what those handlers are doing, their big tech/hedge fund/CCP alliance, manipulating pandemics, elections, censoring information, and even, eventually, a social credit system, cancelling bank accounts of dissenters, like comrade trudeau tried to do, for these elites prefer the "efficiency" of CCP style governance to the free society that we have had.
All bordering States should immediately be offered inclusion in NATO. the Fascist bastard needs to know, in no uncertain terms what the West's response is to warmongering totalitarians.
That is the ONLY way to retard the emergence of the next one.
I honestly don't know who is more to blame for Ukraine, EU expansion or NATO expansion. I'd be fine with the above proposed hypothetical treaty with Russia to include joint sanctions against countries pushing EU expansion. If that meant putting sanctions on France, Germany and Italy to pull Russia from China, as I said, so be it. Combined they have 200 million people. They shouldn't need our help against Russia's 145 million.
As for the bastard emperor Trudeau, I agree, it is very frightening to have that kind of crackdown on our doorstep.
After my statements, it probably is. Give me a few minutes to grab my "Support the Truckers and Oppose the Swamp" sign and both go show it to him and give him the finger.
I'm not all that worried as it's winter here in Wisconsin so 10-15 minutes after giving below average Joe the finger, he'll probably think that he just came up here to get ice cream that doesn't melt until licked. It is only 25 F out after all.
"I honestly don't know who is more to blame for Ukraine, EU expansion or NATO expansion. I'd be fine with the above proposed hypothetical treaty with Russia to include joint sanctions against countries pushing EU expansion."
In your view, why is Russian expansion justifiable, while EU/NATO expansion is not?
First and foremost, the EU and NATO have been expanding for decades. Russia has not. Although I strongly support the acceptance to NATO of all nations which were independent during the interwar years as to protect them from being swallowed by Russia again, one needs to look at Russia's interests as well, especially given that they really have nowhere else to turn than China when countering EU and NATO interests. Think of how the US would react if Mexico was contemplating joining a CCP lead alliance.
The answer for these issues are what are called buffer states. Throughout history, buffer states existed between major powers as a way to decrease the frequency of warfare by reducing or eliminating direct borders. Armenia served that role in ancient times between the Roman and two Persian dynasties (Parthianians and Sasanians). Poland, between the death of it's last strong monarch, John III Sobieski in 1697 and it's final partition in 1795 served as a buffer state between Austria, Prussia and Russia. Switzerland spent centuries as a buffer between France and Austria. The list goes on.
Absolutely. The parliamentary system is easier to manipulate, otherwise we’d be where Canada is already. We are halfway there. Any system that allows government to seize your body is no better than any other, imo. Where is private property if your body doesn’t count?
Not just your body, your money too and your ability to earn money and participate in the economy. For glorified double parking. Trudopey is a wholly unqualified sock puppet for a bigger agenda.
I agree on both cases, M. Phisto. Despite my prediction concerning Mr. Putin's ultimate fate (sooner or later), I only call for massive world-wide resistance to his warmongering/empiring. We should support Ukraine; they obviously choose Western Civ, not Russian hegemony.
I recommend that you at least try to cosmetically modify that boilerplate reply you have been posting to comment threads to multiple GG articles. It doesn't exactly enhance your credibility to post that way.
Trudeau should meet Putin, I wonder how his thugs who kneed truckers who surrendered and laughed about it would stand up to Putin's army. Talk about a spanking....I hate to say this but that'd be funny as hell.
Why? And why should NATO even exist? It was founded as a defensive alliance against the Soviet Union, which hasn't existed for 21 years. Now it is more of an offensive alliance against whoever the Western ruling classes don't like. Personally, I'd like to see the US withdraw from NATO. The Europeans are quite capable of defending themselves.
NTM the founding focus was on a specific geographical region, wait for it, the "North Atlantic". Bill Clinton screwed that pooch, and it has been birthing deformed offspring ever since.
I, too, thought that NATO should have been disbanded after the Soviet collapse, and I think it would be a better world today, perhaps even with a Russia firmly within the Western Civilization, where it naturally belongs, with a strong, proud, and FREE population.
But that isn't what happened.
Now, the next Russian Fascist (the Soviet Union had long since went from "Communism" to its twin, Fascism) has started shooting at neighbors.
I disagree, Russia doe not want NATO on their border, I can see their point. Would we accept a version of the Warsaw Pact in Mexico? Not making excuses for this conflict but this was a long time in the making. Remember the Balkans war? It was so insidious and brutal, the E.U. didn't give a shit. Why should this be any different.
It's puzzling how many people love to (rightly) point out the creeping authoritarian regime in Canada, yet simultaneously apologize for the one currently invading Ukraine. As if it is some sort of rebuttal.
It's not intended as a rebuttal, more a noticing that authoritarianism/totalitarianism per se doesn't bother the people all het up over Ukraine, so much as regimes that are resistant to our will gets their war on. It smacks of a convenient hypocrisy.
We do not have the resources to counter both China and Russia, especially with the current swamp rat leadership or lack thereof. Pressing NATO expansion only drives Russia towards China, leading to the nightmare of the Chinese economy merging with Russian technology. Yes, Putin is a despot, yet pressing the expansion of NATO and pushing him into the arms of Xi, you get the worst of all worlds, two despots dependent on each other.
I am aware that Putin wants NATO rolled back to where it was in 1991, I would never support such a thing, never support denying NATO membership to countries which were independent during the interwar era, especially Poland given how much Russia has repeatedly raped it.
However there are priorities, and the EU with a population larger than that of the US even without the UK can take care of itself. I mean this in no disrespect, however Russia is to China what Canada is to the US. Just look at their populations and economies relative to each other. Relative to China, Russia is weak.
I also mean to respect to you Mr. Staples, just I do not see how the US has the capacity to force such things against two great powers whom aren't composed of lazy, complacent populations.
Edit: France, Germany and Italy all have lazy, complacent populations. That is what I am referring to, other so called 'great powers' whom are too weak to do anything of meaning...compared to Russia and China whom are neither hindered by a lazy or complacent population.
When Trump withdrew from the appeasement deal with Iran, our 'allies' in Europe did all they could to keep their part of the agreement in place in order to trade with Iran. They also show no interest in countering China because China does not directly threaten them. Russia does and that must be used to our advantage. Enforcing a treaty along the one I described would allow the US, to among other things, threaten to abandon military aid to Europe should it not engage in an embargo of China. If they want to trade with China, fine, but we would not protect them from Russia.
At the same time, we could play on Russia's insecurities by repeatedly pointing out China's large population and economy and noting that once China would be 'done with the US' as a rival, they would swallow Russia with ease. Much like Mussolini's Italy would have not lasted a week had Hitler won WWII, Putin's Russia is in the same predicament. Such fears along with the establishing of the four mentioned countries as buffer states could be used to pull Russia from China.
Once the CCP is neutralized, whether through an economic collapse, demographic problems, trade restrictions, a popular uprising or a combination, Russia could be easily dealt with. One must choose which battles to fight and when, based on who is the greatest enemy at the time. One must also not repeat the mistakes of the past by only cutting the head off of one snake, but continuing until the heads are cut off by both snakes. Historically, that was Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, currently, that is Xi's China and Putin's Russia.
That is why the treaty would have the conditions of Russia withdrawing all support from Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela concurrently with the recognition of the buffer states. Putin does not want to loose his foothold in the Western Hemisphere so it would force him to look at what is more important.
It would also nullify his comparisons about missiles in Canada or Mexico being directed to the US should he turn down such an offer, as it would have granted him that provision, IF he was willing to make sacrifices of his own.
Now I could be wrong, I am a millennial after all, however I think that the tunnel vision of the urban elites in destroy Russia first then China, which is getting us to fight against both Russia and China is beyond idiotic.
I'm sorry to be so compulsive, Tim; but once I start reading these comments, I can't stop. I'm sure you have read the book 1984. When the scientists in Wuhan were quietly disposed of, when the citizens of Wuhan were locked in their homes to die, none of them had weapons to fight the overwhelming power of the State. Remember Tiananmen Square. Putin and Xi (unlike Brandon) seem to have figured things out. A new world power is growing that will soon make our WOKE military frightened and as impotent as General Milley.
If there is one thing for sure in the world, it is change. Biden will be seen as a pariah in the world long before Putin.
Your 2cents are worth about that. And for the record, there ARE differences between the Nazism and fascism. They are subtle and not gleaned from a corrupted wiki -as the founder recently said. And your pearl clutching (no gender offense implied) for decorum is a troll tactic. I will be as polite as I can.
I am not a troll, and consider accusations of such to be nothing but a call for censorship, but I honor your differing definition.
I agree with wiki's founder, but there is still much good store of info on the platform. It requires scepticism, of course, just like all other sources.
I did not mean to clutch my non-existent pearls, and apologize for giving that impression.
May I attempt to define terms thusly?: The Nazis were Fascists, and not all Fascists are Nazis. It remains the case, however, that both terms are used basically interchangeably today, and I believe the author's intent is almost always clear.
Oh, and, yes, my two cents are worth two cents, possibly correcting for Federal reserve currency deflation, if you would be so kind to allow.
Strategic depth has always been Russias only true defense; it killed Napoleon’s army and it killed Hitler’s army. These two army’s were, at the time, the most powerful entities on earth. Yet the expanse of the plains sapped their energy and left them starving and vulnerable. Russia can’t ever afford to let that go. We’ve always known this, but for some reason this admin has seriously considered Ukraine’s determination to join NATO. Ukraine certainly had every right to ask to join. But they don’t have a right to join. And geopolitics, when played by serious leaders (and right now western leadership is anything but serious) know that some countries just aren’t worth conflict - Ukraine remaining “neutral” was the answer. Consider this. If Ukraine is so important to NATO why aren’t Britain and France marching into the conflict? The fact Western Europe isn’t coming to the defense of Ukraine is juxtaposed to the idea Ukraine needs to be NATO.
Yep, both Napoleon and Hitler thought they could crush Russia before winter set in. They both started by crossing the Vistula and aimed for Moscow. Yet Russian scorched-earth policies and hit-and-run tactics on their long supply lines delayed their advances, as did Russian strategic withdrawal. Then winter came, a winter which was normal to the Russians who lived in that climate, yet bitterly cold for both invaders, especially given they had no winter clothing.
Had either invader been able to start 400 miles closer to Moscow, does anyone think that they wouldn't have succeeded?
And the foreign relations 'experts' in DC can't figure that out, when a high schooler likely could. Goes to show that only in the swamp can repeated failure result in promotion.
All we needed to do was to take Russia's border security concerns seriously and deal with them in the context of NATO expansion, which is a problem for Russia. We would do the same thing if China tried to expand its influence in Mexico as NATO threatens in Ukraine. We can still allay Russia's concerns and deescalate this, but will we?
True, but no president ever considered that they had valid security concerns about NATO. Crimea was simply the warning that they were going to use force to promote their interest as talk did nothing.
If by ‘they’ you mean the SU or Russia, then I disagree. NATO creep was moving along in the Baltic states at pace, and once It might get to Ukraine it would be too late for Russia to either-from one’s pov -force or reunite their previous oblast. Eastern Ukraine same.
If you mean American presidents - you need to read the redacted conversations between Baker and Gorbachev during the 1990 talks about German reunification. It basically promised the SU no NATO creep to the east as long as they didn’t block the GDR and West Getmany to be in NATO. It is telling that Gorbachev feared a reunited Getmany -after losing 8.7 million soldiers to it in WWII (compared to 607,000 military US losses including the Pacific in same)
Biden’s own CIA director, career diplomat and Russia hand William Burns, has long argued that NATO expansion, especially with regard to Ukraine, is a provocative miscalculation that will enrage Russia and exacerbate tensions across eastern Europe. In a 2008 memo to Condoleeza Rice, then Bush’s Secretary of State, Burns wrote:
“Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin’s sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests.”
Not to mention Bakers promise to Gorbachov in 1990 during GDR & West German reunification that if Germany would be under NATO, there would be no expansion of NATO ‘to the east. ‘Baker was a skilled negotiator and lawyer.’ And The Soviet Union couldn’t forget that Germany (now a proposed united Germany) had cost them 8.7 military deaths.
* Document 06
Record of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow. (Excerpts)
It seems like everyone is picking sides in this affair. It's the peasants of the region should be focused on -- not these two larger imperialist countries, whether the U.S. or Russia.
Peasants? Are you from the Middle Ages? That is what foreign aid is for. Can’t help it if corrupt governments like Ukraine dole it out to Hunter Biden instead.
Corruption in distrubuting those funds was/is inevitable, in all cases. That is exactly why the foreign aid must stop, along with involvment in conflicts that are not in our direct interests.
The truth is soo obvious and soo simple... The original modern sin is -- Russia-gate hoax.
SAME lying team that concocted the Russia-gate hoax and 2014 bloody coup that overthrew democratically elected Ukraine government Jake Sullivan, Hillary strategy advisor had a KEY role in launching Russia-gate hoax – he is now national security advisor to Biden.
SAME people that launched the Russia-gate hoax are now hollering that Russia invasion of Ukraine is "imminent". All to "save democracy" there -- in order to distract from the fact that St. Obama organized in 2014 bloody coup against democratically elected Ukraine government. St. Obama installed Biden and his CIA pal Brennan as de facto governors of Ukraine -- immensely enriching US "elite" and posting and removing government members, judges and heads of industry with billions of corrupting cash -- in "fight against corruption".
US War party’s key exports are – coups, wars and all-encompassing US corruption.
Biden was smart enough to understand spheres of influence -which we live by as well. Jake Sullivan and Biden are another story completely. Sullivan is in deep legal trouble and Biden needs anything to distract from both the midterms and his failing cognition.
Suppose Russia had staged a coup against the Mexican Government, installed a puppet regime in Mexico City, and then flooded Mexico with Russian military hardware. Would we stand idly by and let Russia turn Mexico into a staging ground to launch an attack on the United States?
NATO isn't the defensive alliance that it's made out to be. NATO waged unprovoked military aggression against Yugoslavia and Libya (with disastrous results) when neither of those countries had attacked, or threatened to attack, any member of NATO.
When the Cold War ended, we told Mikhail Gorbachev that we wouldn't expand NATO one inch to the East. Then we proceeded to expand NATO all the way to Russia's border.
Putin has access to the American media. For the last several years he has watched Democrats, Republican neocons, the State Dept., the US intelligence community, and the news media itself do everything in their power to gin-up anti-Russian hysteria.
Is Russia just supposed to sit there while an openly hostile foreign power takes-over Ukraine and floods it with weapons? Is Putin just supposed to sit back and wait to be attacked?
If the Obama/Biden Administration hadn't overthrown the Ukrainian government back in 2014 none of this would have happened. Joe Biden was in-charge of U.S. policy in Ukraine when he was the Vice President. That's why Hunter Biden got that cushy gig with Burisma.
Now the chickens have come home to roost. If you were in Vladimir Putin's shoes, you wouldn't trust Joe Biden either. You'd be a damned fool if you did.
Arms profiteers win no matter what...and so do the banks. All "sides' need to look beyond the surface. Look at how much power the WEF and the WHO exerted over the world in the past 2 years. The powers that make money want war, so war we must produce...Time for humanity to unites and say no to these extortioners..."merchants of vessels of destruction." Nothing like a war or a pandemic to silence dissent. Meanwhile the 4th Industrial Revolution moves on to enslave those of us who will survive the war. THEY don't care about us.
What is it with these neoliberal warmongers in the dem party? Why do they love war so much, and hate America so much? How many countries did obie invade? 9? Did Russia ever threaten to go to war with us over HIS clone w...er.. drone wars of aggression?
It's power. During the Cold War they were everywhere. When the Cold War ended, they looked for a party to settle into. They chose the GOP due to the long support for the military and belief among the right that the military and the US were instruments of good.
Afghanistan fell into their lap. Then Iraq, due to Hussein's history of provoking war and his careful walk to avoid looking weak. With backlash over Iraq, they moved more to the middle. Then Obama was elected and they remained in the middle, getting him to go into Libya and Syria.
Trump comes along in 2016 and his rallying cry "Make America Great Again" combined with denouncing endless wars causes them to have a meltdown. They form the Never Trump movement. Russiagate happens and through the legacy press, the DNC convinces it's most diehard followers that Russia is behind everything that the legacy press does not certify and that censorship is needed. Here we are today, they are at home in the censorship-happy DNC.
Edit: The convincing being done to come up for a reason why Hillary lost in 2016.
You are correct, M. Madjack, that the date has changed.
It is also not yesterday. Today, a Fascist has started shooting, and the West either responds to oppose him, or he will continue, just AS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.
I only fear we will repeat the mistakes made then.
We only differ in which is the greater threat. The play-Fascist Trudeau is a piker who has already lost and will soon be relegated to the dustbin of forgotten history, imo. There, is that good enough for you? (The woke mob will not go fight because they are mini-fascists themselves. They too are losing and good riddance.)
Not just Demoncraps. Don't forget that Light-Loafers Lindsay and Cocaine Mitch (among other Repugnicans) have fallen right into line with the War Machine.
Good news: Ukraine instituted vaccine passports to enter the capital — and for now Russia’s advance has stalled while every soldier shows their proof of vax.
Ukrainian army units received diversity training. Russia couldn't cope and were thus instantly repelled.
I'd vomit too.
So...that gain-of-function research was instituted just in time. Perhaps I shall revisit my opinion of our Dr. Fascist.
Do they also need to show a driver license?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm8QfxZ3HHw
Hey, some of our esteemed Covidiots will probably believe you.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/i-m-a-former-moscow-correspondent-don-t-let-vladimir-putin-fool-you-russia-s-invasion-of-ukraine-is-only-about-one-thing/ar-AAUbFJ3?ocid=msedgntp
Don't forget that Brian Stelter, Jim Acosta, and Yamiche Alcindor are political reporters/correspondents in the USA. Obama and Al Gore were both given the Peace Prize. Thomas Friedman predicted the collapse of Wall Street when President Trump took office. Sometimes people are given titles and awards they do not deserve.
Certainly, the control of the world's energy is a factor in the Sino-Soviet/Iranian triumvirate; but the most compelling reason for the current war in Ukraine is NATO's aggression.
NATO is a voluntary organization that does not, nor ever has, threatened the territorial integrity of historic, and current, Russian boundaries.
We have now established this disagreement, and I propose dis-continuing our attempts at persuading the other. Of course, we do not write here just for each other, do we. If I unilaterally stop engaging on this specific topic, I hope you or our other readers don't take it as concession on my part.
It is impossible to persuade anyone of anything they hold dearly. It's been fun chatting with you, Tim. We'll probably agree about something next month. :-)
Thank you, Charles. I think we agree on much this month, and I can enjoy even our few disagreements on important matters, which in the end only reinforce our right to have them.
Happily, Glenn has already posted another thought-provoking article. FYI Xavier L. Simon also posts mind-bending information on substack.com. You might be interested in reading his compositions.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-are-shocked-russians-react-to-invasion/ar-AAUgrej?ocid=msedgntp
Too good
Hilarious
Sure - and - the "hidden side" of Russia-gate "moon":
ukrainegate.info nice summary of Bidens' corrupt rule in Ukraine -- a well-researched and an outstanding in-depth analysis of US corruption in Ukraine
https://ukrainegate.info/short-part-1-a-not-so-solid-prosecutor/
https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-2-not-so-dormant-investigations/
https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-3-a-not-so-noble-president/
https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-4-shokin-strikes-back/
Thank you
where is the best source of news of what is going on inside Ukraine? Does anybody have people on the ground that isn't spinning BS?
At such an early stage, no. So little is known and everyone seems to have a different viewpoint. All I can suggest is to take everything with a grain of salt and avoid the legacy press.
Thx
That is the very least our response should be.
Across the board, no-holds-barred isolation of Russia must be swiftly instituted. I mean we throw every tool in the book.
Russia must be made the world's pariah nation. Let China be their ONLY ally. Let Putin sell ALL his energy (Russia's ONLY asset) to the GodXi. The CCP will see their bleak future, and turn away from Putin's mafia, eventually.
And...we need to free our own energy sector.
Time to save the world again. Let's do a better job of it this time.
Go stuff it, you ignorant lout. This is all NATO's (US/UK) doing. Your ignorance is breathtaking, its scope unparalleled. The US & UK have been trying to break and conquer Russia/USSR since 1917. They financed the Bolsheviks---who took out the Romanovs---then invaded in 1919 (US and British troops)---failed at that and proceeded to finance Hitler for their second attempt. Learn some history, ffs!
Seriously, Dave? The US and UK financed Hitler? You are
hallucinating! I know, my parents were alive during that war. My father fought in that war. YOU need to “study” bro.
In 1941 Harry Truman publicly said, "If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if that Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill as many as possible.”
So yeah, there were instances where we played both sides.
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/27/archives/harry-s-truman-decisive-president-the-lightning-strikes-in-war.html
That was a correct and wise decision of President Truman, actually, no matter how cynical it sounds.
Stalin and Hitler were both danger to the world and certainly nightmare to their own people. In 1938-1940 both invaded and annexed other countries like there was no tomorrow.
Right now, there is no such dilemma, only one government is invading and annexing.
I certainly won't be checking out your newsletter, with this bit of historical obfuscation.
That was before Pearl Harbor, of course, and when Germany and Russia were allied in splitting up Eastern Europe under their Warsaw Pact.
Kinda sneaky of you to leave out those important facts, eh, M. Andy?
As did my father and uncles on both sides. The power elite-financiers and bankers who are the actual movers and shakers of the most consequential of human events tend to stay in the shadows while directing the affairs of we commoners.
Sometimes they come out and show their true colors---such as when they attempted a coup on FDR in the 1930s---really! They raised an army (so they thought) and had a heroic ex-general adored by most soldiers lined up to pull it off, except he went to Congress and spilled the beans. Among the plotters was none other than GHW Bush's daddy Prescott, W's grandpa and a serving U.S. Senator.
Of course the powerful are never held to account and it was only in mid-WW II that the Bush-Walker Union Bank/Brown Brothers was finally stopped from doing business with the Nazis. Hell, Henry Ford won war reparations for his German factories that sustained Allied bombing damage. The Rockefellers too were prominent along with other major oil companies. I believe it was Chevron-Union Oil that gave the Nazis the chemical formula that allowed them to make avgas for the Lufwaffe from their Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-gas formulation. It was the only reason the Nazis were able to keep their (all of the players, inc US oil companies,) going for so long. Like now, as it was then, it's all about the $Benjamins.
Allen Dulles ran his own independent spy war apart from the OSS, he kept his Wall Street firm Sullivan and Cromwell actively trading with the Nazis throughout WW II with contacts established in the 1920s that continue through today in succeeding iterations of those firms. He met with high-ranking Nazis in Zurich all the time, cutting deals of all kinds. The Third Reich used Swiss banks too.
Summarizing, there is a whole lot about history that gets written as creative fiction, and with a shit-ton of airbrushing. Believe me, I could go on and on about what really happened in the 20th century---it's all on the record, you just have to be willing to look under the rugs. And the same game is being played today---right now. On so many levels of intrigue. "The rich, are different than you and me."
Yes, you could go and on with the class warfare, comrade. Of that, I am sure.
Who are the 31 haters giving M. David their hearts?
I'm one.
What of it?
No, I will not.
I am sorry to offend you, and you have not won me over to your strategy of appeasing today's International, ne National, Authoritarian Socialists.
We certainly dis-agree, don't we.
Socialists? Where? Putin's not a socialist, he's a capitalist oligarch. You sound like you are still living in the 1950s. Same goes for China. They have state capitalism, not socialism, though both Russia and China have some socialistic programs I wish we Americans had, like guaranteed housing, medical care, and education.
Boomers instantly lose 30 iq whenever you mention Russia. It's so weird needing to constantly acknowledge how propagandized they are.
You mis-define Capitalism. Capitalism is just an old word for Classical Liberalism. Oligarch exist within Socialism, not true Capitalism.
There is no such thing as "guaranteed" housing, medical care, and education for the simple fact that human energy and effort must be expended for them to exist in the first place. If you use force (Socialism) to make them into "rights," you only empower Statists to create slavery.
Yes, he is.
Yesterday, Putin was merely a National Socialist (Fascist).
Today, he invaded a neighbor, thus becoming an International Authoritarian Socialist, the West's greatest enemy, the latest in a long line of them. When Xi starts shooting for real, he will join Putin in threatening all of the West until the West defends itself by putting a stop to the warmongering Fascists of the world today, one way or another.
They will not stop with Western appeasement. That will only encourage and embolden them.
The GodXi is watching for our response, biding his time.
Well, I appreciate your civil reply (better than I could muster) but I have a friend of longstanding living in Donetsk (since 2014) and he's witnessed first hand the atrocities and their aftermath. You remain wrong and we will continue to disagree.
I hope your friend survives Putin's brownshirts.
Should Donetsk be part of the new Union of Putin Socialist "Republics"?
No, we are not a failed State, yet.
National Socialists who go on International shooting sprees are ALWAYS and EVERYWHERE a threat to Western Civilization.
Agree on principle, but Putin played this wrongly. All he had to do was continue to discredit Western MSM and NOT invade...He could have taken the West down without firing a single shot.
Unless there was imminent invasion from the West, I do not think Putin was justified in invasion. Still, it cannot be avoided that we poked the bear to get to this point when Putin made it very clear how a peaceful solution could come about and it was not unreasonable.
Well said, and we ALL know the West and NATO was NEVER going to actually invade Russia proper (even Messieurs Cheney, Frum, etc. could not pull that off). That is total canard.
Perhaps Putin judged now or never. He reads the tea leaves as well as anybody ('22 and '24 U.S. elections upcoming Republican landslides, including possibly the implacable DJT), and certainly knows how to take advantage of ALL good (read: convenient) Western "crises."
(Sorry to reply; I know you weren't speaking to me.)
If you want to get technical about who 'funded' Hitler, it was France and Czechoslovakia. Their arrogance, double standards and greed created the conditions allowing him to amass power. They share as much guilt as the German public, if not more, for the wholescale slaughter of WWII.
The US does have a part in this too, though it's because the moronic Wilson was more focused on the League of Nations than telling the French and Czechs to take a long stroll off a short plank regarding their vindictiveness and greed. The UK was about the only rational great power, seeking to repeat the success of the Congress of Vienna which prevented a World War event for 99 years (1815-1914).
Exactly correct. I would only add that "funding" is one thing, and "forcing" (i.e. using deadly force on innocent human bodies) is a whole 'nother order of magnitude of culpability.
"all" is a strong word
They also financed the Soviets, both feeding them when they could not feed themselves (does anyone seriously feed an "existential threat" to the entire world? The question answers itself) and selling them missile technology so as to make their fake empire more plausible. All in the service of fleecing the people of the USA to build up the monstrous military structure that now encircles the globe, having permanent military presence in over 145 countries. Just for context, there are approximately 200 countries in the entire world.
You miss the forest for the trees, and you conveniently cherry pick your facts, then have the temerity to claim historical accuracy.
You are an anti-Western-Civ type, aren't you? Perhaps a "fellow traveller" with history's classical international Authoritarian Socialists, eh?
You can't even defeat the Pashtun.
There was a time when having a Messiah complex was considered a flaw ...
We should never have fought the Pashtun.
I am an atheist. I do not believe in messiahs.
Hey Tim you know who beat the nazi’s & saved Europe’s and our ass - the Soviets. 8.7 million of their soldiers dead. Don’t you or Pelosi bogart that Neville joint
Pelosi is today's Neville Chamberlain concerning the GodXi and the CCP.
I only ask and suggest that you re-visit your 20th century history with an open mind.
You would do no better than starting with the Warsaw Pact and continue on through the Lend-Lease program.
Capitalist wealth won WWII. The writing was and is always on the wall.
How? With a biased media, feckless rinos, Demokranians....We can't even save ourselves.
We can save ourselves, and we can oppose Putin AND Xi.
GG and Tulsi Gabbard are correct that the Democrat fucked up and got us here, but that was yesterday. Now that today's Fascists have started shooting, we must oppose them. They will not stop until we do.
Isolate Russia first. Xi will notice and act accordingly. I am NOT warmongering. Putin and Xi are NOT Dick Cheney's false Muslim jihad "threat."
They are the REAL existential threat to all that Western Civilization holds dear.
You have been set up by today's Neville Chamberlains.
Nope not buying that thx
Thank you for dis-agreeing without today's vitriol. I honor your differing opinion.
Dick Cheney poses the biggest existential threat to all western ‘civilization’ holds dear. He’s done more to destroy the ideals of press freedom, accountability and civil discourse in the US than Putin or Xi could ever hope to achieve, if that is indeed even their hope.
I disagree, for the simple fact that Mr. Cheney's damage is done, exposed, and discredited.
Putin and Xi remain, by far, the greater threat on this brand new day. Just look at how they continue to fool you.
And what is with the scare quotes? Does Western Civ not exist? Of course its actors make egregious mistakes; they are human beings, too.
Why don't you come back after you've finished coming?
Please grow up.
That is changing. Thank you for the wish.
Please identify the critical interests that you believe the US has (better yet, that I might have) in the status of the Ukraine as an independent entity. The only item I am aware of is Hunter Biden's investments, which I have little doubt are actually Joe and Jill's retirement fund. "Save the world again"? Seriously? When did we save it previously? Please use some kind of cost-benefit analysis to prove your point that is amenable to actual examination and potential refutation, not emotive, chest-beating slogans when you do so. You are being played by the corporatists & statists (i.e. the "deep state") on both sides of the nominal political party divide, and, sadly, you appear to be willing to delude yourself on that point. The jingoists need only beat their drums a few times, and willing fools like you reflexively begin marching in lock-step. For all I know, Putin and Biden('s handlers) previously reached some agreement to orchestrate this "crisis" to save their plunging popularity in their respective nations and, in turn. their sorry political asses. I'm certainly convinced that both of them are quite capable of such treachery.
Meh .. the more I drill down into this the more my sympathies lie with Ukraine but also the less I think we should get directly involved. I can see doing things like planting a new NATO or US military base in Estonia or Romania .. that would remind Putin that his likely successful attempt by this method to warn against expanding NATO can trigger a solidification and invigoration of the existing NATO.
But the only direct and immediate interest I would deem critical would be that of the message it would send China versus Taiwan (Since our official alliance with Taiwan is not much stronger on paper than the one we have with Ukraine). If we simply take the legalistic approach that our hands are tied with Ukraine due to no NATO alliance .. then China would expect us to be consistent in regard to Taiwan. So we should reject direct assist to Ukraine (as we would have in the 19th century) but NOT solely on the basis of them not being part of NATO.
My regret is that the British did not hand off the responsibilty for the security of Hong Kong to a partnership entity created for that purpose between China and the USA (unthinkable now, but not at the time it was being negotiated .. I think China was secretly as surprised as anyone of the Brits total abandonment .. Britain knows how to bog things down with bureaucrats, and they chose not to. )
Hey, M. Carbona, thanks for liking (on July 22!) my post down below about disowning a deleted post!
I hate it when peeps delete, instead of owning up and making peace with their mistakes.
Very well said, and you may be right. Can Putin be appeased?
Thank you for the opportunity to answer that question, M. Sam.
The ONLY critical interest the U.S. (and, by extension, The entire Western Civilization) has in Ukraine's status is the same critical interest the West finally came to realize in opposing the 20th century's international Authoritarian Socialists (Fascists).
To wit: They never stop at just the next bit of dirt. They ALWAYS want more than we magnanimously give them. Perhaps the Baltics will be next. Perhaps just non-NATO Finland. Perhaps, the GodXi will not want Taiwan to miss out on CCP "benevolence." Perhaps....
You get the idea, don't you? We are free (in the West) to disagree, and I agree wholeheartedly that we are a completely guilty of our own sins against our Classical Liberal birthrights. Does that necessarily make us unworthy of rising to the occasion in its defense today?
Software won't let me like your post, but I am inclined to agree 100%. Biden, Xi and Putin are all in with the WEF and war guarantees that 1. the resources continue to flow to the billionaires and 2. we can continue the loss of liberty to be replaced with surveillance to "keep us safe" so that we the people lose no matter what. Be careful to not get distracted and willing to give up even more...because of this.
After the Canadian Protest, the WEF knows its in trouble...war is the next step. FOLLOW THE MONEY. The people all over the world need to refuse to fight and declare that this is not OUR war but a war between competing elites. We are DONE dying for their profits.
Should Estonians, Lithuanians, and Latvians start packing their bags and practicing their Polish now?
Yes, the WEF is full of shit. You are correct that they are losing. Let's not get in the way of that!
Wow. Post of the Day right here.
WTF is your problem? I'm agreeing completely with Sam. You write a f'n Newsletter? Well, don't you think you should learn to read first?
We can’t even save this country
Yes, we can, M. Madjack. And I think we will.
Haaaaaaaa! Congratulations, you/we have forced the Bear into the arms of the Dragon, how brilliant. Through the FOREX reserves and the ton's of Gold they don't need US or the European vassal states any more. Russia is a perfect fit for Europe; of course the eagle couldn't have that. They're also a perfect fit for the Dragon, Europe is so woke and so brilliant, full of female Warriors and fully woke.
There's a piece in the Expose (I know I know) that points to the congruence of Russian missile impacts in Ukraine with the location of KNOWN US Biolabs there. Pretty damned compelling.
Sure. As “compelling” as anything you choose to swallow hook, line and sinker!
Western Civilization has grown soft, I agree with you there.
But that blood runs deep, and thickens quick.
Europe, our birthplace, will change, just like on September 2, 1939.
Enlist yet, tough guy?
Please stop.
Please stop putting words in my mouth. You are being unfair.
Please respond with substance. And it's okay that we dis-agree. That is our right in the West. Not so much in Russia.
Getting into a pissing match with a country that has nuclear weapons and a real military because of Ukraine, a country that most Americans can't even find on a map, is a stupid idea.
I disagree that this is a pissing match.
I agree we must act to keep the nukes from going off.
Timothy I wonder if you had the same punitive agenda when the US invaded Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Libya, etc, where in total millions were killed, injured, displaced, or The US imposing sanctions on Iraq during the Clinton years where 500 thousand children died, or our more recent sanctions on Iran, or Venezuela? You seem old enough to remember Vietnam as well. Your attitude if genuinely believed disgusts me.
M. Fran, I dispute your numbers, but am finished and exhausted for today. I only try to express my (strong) opinion plainly, and I apologize for failing.
I was born in 1961, if that helps. In 1984, my then girlfriend handed me Atlas Shrugged and told me she believed in and agreed with John Galt's (i.e. Ayn Rand's) philosophy of Objectivism. What was a horny far-reading lad to do?
Today, we say "it usually starts with Glenn Greenwald." Then, it was Ayn Rand.
We never should have been in S.E. Asia tilting at windmills and stopping non-existent dominoes. Likewise, those later neo-lib/neo-con forlorn side-show lands.
But Wilson didn't keep his word, Germany was raped by the Treaty of Versailles, and Fascism was born anew. It exists today in Russia and China ("Communism" died with Mao's "To grow rich is glorious!" and morphed naturally into its more-honest twin), and we ignore it at our Classical Liberal (Capitalist, properly Randian defined) peril.
Does this add to, or subtract from, your disgust of me?
I can't tell if this is sarcasm.
It is not.
There, can the author of the words be more clear?
I am not teasing or trying to fool you, M. Sara. I only offer my ernest opinion.
It's okay to dis-agree with me, as that is our Western Civilization individual right. We will lose that right if we appease those who would destroy us and our freedoms.
Freedoms? Just for starters, try sharing this link on FB: https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-crisis-in-ukraine-is-not-about-ukraine-its-about-germany/
Also, there is already talk about censoring all "Russian" media - is that because they might have a point or two?
Go ahead. I'm listening. What legitimate points does Russian State media have to offer. Seriously, I agree they might have valid points, and Germany should not censor them.
“Lose the right of individual choice if we appease those who would destroy us and our freedoms”
Trudeau ??
So you'd rather Putin and Russia spread love and happiness around the world like the US has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen...oh, and like we've been toward our own American natives here at home?
It's more terrifying if you actually believe your tripe. If you're just an MIC bott is much less forgivable.
Yeah, right. That's EXACTLY what I said. Right. And Ukrainians are really Russians. Right.
I'm sure that Ancestry.com would prove that most Ukrainians are really Russians. But, just as our own ancestors (in the USA) chose to break away from our Mother Country, I suspect there are Ukrainians who despise Russia. I know for a fact that Poles hate Russians. I once had a physical therapist who told me that his countrymen were led into battle by Russians at bayonet-point.
The current conflict is very complex, what with the Biden crime family enriching itself from Ukraine's treasury and NATO squeezing Russia into an unendurable corner.
It's much like the movie THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. It's hard to tell who is good and who is bad. Certainly, all sides are ugly.
"I know for a fact that Poles hate Russians."
You say that as if you think it's some un-well-known discovery of yours! Perhaps the Warsaw Pact is unknown to you, also.
TODAY, Charles, TODAY, and for centuries, the Ukrainians do not wish to be Russian, and, imo, for very, very excellent reasons.
And for crying out loud, ALL human societies have ugliness in their history. Why should that nullify the good they also offer?
Nonsense
I hope you are right.
Just like the Mullahs...oh wait....
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good one. Hey, humor doesn't hurt. After all, we are certainly living in Clown World! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Ditto
We're a little late - starting now
Mr. Greenwald, will you please post the video on your Substack, if possible?
Past pratice is for Glenn to post a written transcript of the video here a few days later. I expect that will be so in this case, as well.
I know, but my audio broke down, and I can't wait to hear what I missed this morning!
Will the whole video be posted on Rumble? It's not there yet.
Yes, once it's done and processed, it will be on Rumble at that link.
Thanks! Longtime fan of your work, since pre-The Guardian.
The establishment political and media chattering class claiming Tucker Carlson is "siding with Putin" for his absolutely rational and justified challenging of the Biden Administration foreign policy is just another in a long list of examples for why the establishment political media chattering class is crap and needs to be flushed.
I honestly don't know who hates the US more, Putin or the 'Woke' crowd.
Nice
You know I think for the first time in my life it might be dangerous to say that in the US - if you don’t want your accounts frozen. Fking Sad.
Use DNSCrypt, a VPN, and an account with bogus bone fides when you post.
What I do, well use a VPN and I do not use US based email accounts.
I'm only voting for the US to refrain from flushing extorted tax dollars and enlisted and/or conscripted blood down some Eastern European toilet.
"...emotions are extremely high; nationalism and tribalism surge; the range of permissible debate radically shrinks; the political and media class unite in lockstep messaging across the political spectrum; and anyone even slightly off-key or questioning of that script is hunted down and held up as a heretic and traitor"
By that standard the U.S. has been at war since Trump descended the escalator announcing his candidacy nearly seven years ago. At war with ourselves of course.
BINGO!
It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.
Robert E. Lee
OOoooooh.. You quoted Robert E Lee. Racisssssss. (just kidding :)
Yeah, and it’s especially terrible when a general marches his army into the gun muzzles of an opponent.
Comprehend much, lower -case scott?
Are you talking to me, Three Names?
Gee, you're quick.
"Why can't we get along?" - Rodney King
Tell it to those with whom you agree, also.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/i-m-a-former-moscow-correspondent-don-t-let-vladimir-putin-fool-you-russia-s-invasion-of-ukraine-is-only-about-one-thing/ar-AAUbFJ3?ocid=msedgntp
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-are-shocked-russians-react-to-invasion/ar-AAUgrej?ocid=msedgntp
Thank you Glenn for cutting a well deserved vacation short, then working overtime. A treaty with Russia recognizing Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine as buffer states off limits to the EU and NATO, in exchange for simultaneous removal of Russian support for Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela could have prevented this chaos and helped the foreign policy of the US. If such a treaty meant alienating France, Germany and Italy, for the sake of pulling Russia from China, it would be worth it. Among dealing with those countries, it would allow the US to focus it's energy on protecting Taiwan while potentially pulling Russia away from China.
Instead, the inept imbeciles who failed so badly in Afghanistan sought to, and ultimately were able to force a conflict to try and rehabilitate their image. Now there is the very real threat of a hot war with Russia all as the CCP eyes Taiwan. Nobody wants war outside of the swamp rats, the CCP knows this, Russia knows this, and the completely idiotic foreign establishment risks rivers of blood on it's hands and not one but two Afghanistan-style debacles in both Ukraine and Taiwan because they think of their ego above all else. This is insanity.
Biden's idiots decided to play poker with Putin...and Putin handed them their ass.
The neo lib globalist world order is cracking. Wokedom = Societal Death
Oil way up, Putin laughing all the way to the bank. Biden shut down our energy sector, we will pay now. Biden already set the narrative (main stream parrots) that inflation and supply chain woes are due to the the incursion into Ukraine. Of course, the FB and TikTok crowd will swallow it hook line and sinker.
Merkel was adamant that Ukraine join NATO. She is also adamant in doing away with nuclear power. I wonder how she'll react when Russia stops selling her natural gas. Merkel's idiocy turned Germany into a Russian client state.
Well, her roots are East German Communism.
Interestingly Putin’s “hole cards” were a two/seven unsuited…. He still won!!
He could have won with a two/four unsuited, as below average Joe held a two/three unsuited.
That's in the past now.
Now, we must hand Putin his.
Good. We need that, too. (Sorry for cussing at you elsewhere.)
Much could have been negotiated with Russia over the past 20 years, as Germany had been doing with it's gas deals, and the formation of the Normandy Group of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine to help avoid what is happening today, and was on the road to mutual benefit for much of Central and Eastern Europe. Moreso, Russia and the US could have negotiated many of the European issues with a mutual benefit concerning Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, in the manner that Trump's people did with the Abraham Accords (instead of violent conflict, negotiate mutual interests), which could have been expanded to Lebannon and Jordan. Instead, we get Clinton's handlers ginning up conflict with Serbia in the 90's, distracting from his unpopular domestic policies, especially health care system, then Obama's and Biden's handlers since 2014, ginning up conflict with Russia, "Russian Collusion" to influence the elections of 2016 and 2020, and the current conflict distracting from what those handlers are doing, their big tech/hedge fund/CCP alliance, manipulating pandemics, elections, censoring information, and even, eventually, a social credit system, cancelling bank accounts of dissenters, like comrade trudeau tried to do, for these elites prefer the "efficiency" of CCP style governance to the free society that we have had.
Excellent summary of recent events.
To cap it off with today's news: now we watch the current Authoritarian Socialist (Fascist) take advantage by empiring (shooting).
Now, our hand is forced.
I disagree in no uncertain terms.
All bordering States should immediately be offered inclusion in NATO. the Fascist bastard needs to know, in no uncertain terms what the West's response is to warmongering totalitarians.
That is the ONLY way to retard the emergence of the next one.
I am more concerned about the totalitarian regime on our immediate northern border. Let the EU tend to its affairs.
I honestly don't know who is more to blame for Ukraine, EU expansion or NATO expansion. I'd be fine with the above proposed hypothetical treaty with Russia to include joint sanctions against countries pushing EU expansion. If that meant putting sanctions on France, Germany and Italy to pull Russia from China, as I said, so be it. Combined they have 200 million people. They shouldn't need our help against Russia's 145 million.
As for the bastard emperor Trudeau, I agree, it is very frightening to have that kind of crackdown on our doorstep.
Speaking of doorsteps, is that Brandon at the end of the drive, waving?
After my statements, it probably is. Give me a few minutes to grab my "Support the Truckers and Oppose the Swamp" sign and both go show it to him and give him the finger.
I'm not all that worried as it's winter here in Wisconsin so 10-15 minutes after giving below average Joe the finger, he'll probably think that he just came up here to get ice cream that doesn't melt until licked. It is only 25 F out after all.
"I honestly don't know who is more to blame for Ukraine, EU expansion or NATO expansion. I'd be fine with the above proposed hypothetical treaty with Russia to include joint sanctions against countries pushing EU expansion."
In your view, why is Russian expansion justifiable, while EU/NATO expansion is not?
First and foremost, the EU and NATO have been expanding for decades. Russia has not. Although I strongly support the acceptance to NATO of all nations which were independent during the interwar years as to protect them from being swallowed by Russia again, one needs to look at Russia's interests as well, especially given that they really have nowhere else to turn than China when countering EU and NATO interests. Think of how the US would react if Mexico was contemplating joining a CCP lead alliance.
The answer for these issues are what are called buffer states. Throughout history, buffer states existed between major powers as a way to decrease the frequency of warfare by reducing or eliminating direct borders. Armenia served that role in ancient times between the Roman and two Persian dynasties (Parthianians and Sasanians). Poland, between the death of it's last strong monarch, John III Sobieski in 1697 and it's final partition in 1795 served as a buffer state between Austria, Prussia and Russia. Switzerland spent centuries as a buffer between France and Austria. The list goes on.
Why is either? It’s not “OK when we do it”, like nursery school brats.
You’re living in Florida and referring to Georgia?
Perhaps. That WAS our response the last time, only to lose how many on, for just one case, June 6, 1944?
But I think it better that ALL of Western Civilization form a response.
And the Ukrainians entering Poland?
Spoiler: we’re all fascist bastards now.
This is merely a question of flavor.
Absolutely. The parliamentary system is easier to manipulate, otherwise we’d be where Canada is already. We are halfway there. Any system that allows government to seize your body is no better than any other, imo. Where is private property if your body doesn’t count?
Not just your body, your money too and your ability to earn money and participate in the economy. For glorified double parking. Trudopey is a wholly unqualified sock puppet for a bigger agenda.
Agreed, seeing Pelosi who's been in power for decades, lecture others about democracy was depressing to say the least
I am not a Fascist. You are not a Fascist.
Putin is a Fascist.
And worse, today's Fascist has started shooting and empiring.
We should oppose him now, that he continues not.
Biden is a fascist. Regime change starts at home.
I agree on both cases, M. Phisto. Despite my prediction concerning Mr. Putin's ultimate fate (sooner or later), I only call for massive world-wide resistance to his warmongering/empiring. We should support Ukraine; they obviously choose Western Civ, not Russian hegemony.
Considering Canada, and Brandon’s role in that, we’re looking pretty hegemonic.
No, better to resist it all.
Putin is more "fascist" - than Hillary or St. Obama or Biden?
An outstanding book:
The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin
by Dan Kovalik Esq., Alex Hyde-White, et al
https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Scapegoat-Russia-Conspired-Vilify/dp/B07771BMV8/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1645575140&sr=1-1-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0
---------------------------------------------------
A must see: Tucker Carlson Today – interview with Dan Kovalik: “Russia, Russia, Russia” (Feb. 4, 2022)
I recommend that you at least try to cosmetically modify that boilerplate reply you have been posting to comment threads to multiple GG articles. It doesn't exactly enhance your credibility to post that way.
Yes.
A bit of history about US War party – by Dave Lindorff - Aug 4, 2020 ( ThisCantBeHappening.net )
Unsung Heroes of Los Alamos: Rethinking Manhattan Project Spies and the Cold War
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/04/unsung-heroes-of-los-alamos-rethinking-manhattan-project-spies-and-the-cold-war/
• Plans for 300 nuclear bombs on USSR, with minimum 15-20M dead (these estimates were before “nuclear winter” effect was identified)
• US spies are unsung heroes that prevented another US crime of our millennia
And: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/09/remembering-ted-hall-and-klaus-fuchs/
Trudeau should meet Putin, I wonder how his thugs who kneed truckers who surrendered and laughed about it would stand up to Putin's army. Talk about a spanking....I hate to say this but that'd be funny as hell.
...who horse-rode little old ladies saying peace, love, and understanding.
And here I thought John McCain was dead.
I always opposed Mr. McCain, and I am not him.
Would you please calm down?
Why? And why should NATO even exist? It was founded as a defensive alliance against the Soviet Union, which hasn't existed for 21 years. Now it is more of an offensive alliance against whoever the Western ruling classes don't like. Personally, I'd like to see the US withdraw from NATO. The Europeans are quite capable of defending themselves.
Personally I’d like to see Russia as our ally again
I am confident it will be once the current Russian Fascist is defeated.
You mean Trudeau or Biden?
Huh? They are Russian?!
Actually, 31 years, but your point stands. Democrat/Repub dipshits are still mentioning KGB.
This from 19th century man.
NTM the founding focus was on a specific geographical region, wait for it, the "North Atlantic". Bill Clinton screwed that pooch, and it has been birthing deformed offspring ever since.
Excellent
Well said.
I, too, thought that NATO should have been disbanded after the Soviet collapse, and I think it would be a better world today, perhaps even with a Russia firmly within the Western Civilization, where it naturally belongs, with a strong, proud, and FREE population.
But that isn't what happened.
Now, the next Russian Fascist (the Soviet Union had long since went from "Communism" to its twin, Fascism) has started shooting at neighbors.
Hopefully, Europe wakes up and defends itself.
And -- US corruption should continue....
ukrainegate.info nice summary of Bidens' corrupt rule in Ukraine -- a well-researched and an outstanding in-depth analysis of US corruption in Ukraine
https://ukrainegate.info/short-part-1-a-not-so-solid-prosecutor/
https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-2-not-so-dormant-investigations/
https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-3-a-not-so-noble-president/
https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-4-shokin-strikes-back/
I disagree, Russia doe not want NATO on their border, I can see their point. Would we accept a version of the Warsaw Pact in Mexico? Not making excuses for this conflict but this was a long time in the making. Remember the Balkans war? It was so insidious and brutal, the E.U. didn't give a shit. Why should this be any different.
In fact the great liberal democrat, Kennedy, threatened the Soviet Union with full scale nuclear war if the soviet SS20s were not removed from Cuba.
But hypocrisy has never particularly bothered our ruling class.
You are so right. And this whole thing was so avoidable.
He ended up pulling US nukes from Turkey, using the “we were going to do it anyway” canard.
Because TODAY's Hitler will not stop with Ukraine.
Hey, the recruitment offices are looking for tough guys like you, take an Uber to the office.
You mis-interpret me. I am sorry to offend by dis-agreeing with you, but I still dis-agree.
You mean Trudeau?
It's puzzling how many people love to (rightly) point out the creeping authoritarian regime in Canada, yet simultaneously apologize for the one currently invading Ukraine. As if it is some sort of rebuttal.
It's not intended as a rebuttal, more a noticing that authoritarianism/totalitarianism per se doesn't bother the people all het up over Ukraine, so much as regimes that are resistant to our will gets their war on. It smacks of a convenient hypocrisy.
Trudeau is a piker-Fascist puppet. He has already lost, and will soon be relegated to dustbin of Socialist history.
Putin is the real deal, the real threat. He will continue until stopped.
No.
You cannot deal that way with International Authoritarian Socialists like Putin. They will never have any intention on bargaining, only using.
The Russians need to rise up and kill him and his mafia, before we do their work for them.
I nominate you to do the deed. G'head, get your brave and heroic self over to Moscow and take care of Putin, post haste.
Move it boy! NOW! ON THE DOUBLE SOLDIER!!
You mis-interpret me. I do not call-to-arms yet. I call to oppose today's Fascists.
I am sorry I offend you.
Actually pretty popular with Russians. Way more popular then Biden with Americans
Right.
Find me an "opinion" poll NOT run by the coerced Levada Center.
Biden got more votes than any POTUS in history, so there's that too.
Russians need to change.
We do not have the resources to counter both China and Russia, especially with the current swamp rat leadership or lack thereof. Pressing NATO expansion only drives Russia towards China, leading to the nightmare of the Chinese economy merging with Russian technology. Yes, Putin is a despot, yet pressing the expansion of NATO and pushing him into the arms of Xi, you get the worst of all worlds, two despots dependent on each other.
I am aware that Putin wants NATO rolled back to where it was in 1991, I would never support such a thing, never support denying NATO membership to countries which were independent during the interwar era, especially Poland given how much Russia has repeatedly raped it.
However there are priorities, and the EU with a population larger than that of the US even without the UK can take care of itself. I mean this in no disrespect, however Russia is to China what Canada is to the US. Just look at their populations and economies relative to each other. Relative to China, Russia is weak.
I also mean to respect to you Mr. Staples, just I do not see how the US has the capacity to force such things against two great powers whom aren't composed of lazy, complacent populations.
Edit: France, Germany and Italy all have lazy, complacent populations. That is what I am referring to, other so called 'great powers' whom are too weak to do anything of meaning...compared to Russia and China whom are neither hindered by a lazy or complacent population.
An outstanding book:
The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin
by Dan Kovalik Esq., Alex Hyde-White, et al
https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Scapegoat-Russia-Conspired-Vilify/dp/B07771BMV8/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1645575140&sr=1-1-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0
---------------------------------------------------
A must see: Tucker Carlson Today – interview with Dan Kovalik: “Russia, Russia, Russia” (Feb. 4, 2022)
Never-the-less, we must.
You are mis-interpreting me, and thank you for your reasoned response.
I call for civil opposition to Putin (and Xi, when HE starts shooting), a complete cut-off from world trade/banking/commerce.
Of course, this would have to start slow and ratchet up.
Putin (and possibly Xi in the near future) must be made a pariah in the world, just so we do NOT have to shed blood.
When Trump withdrew from the appeasement deal with Iran, our 'allies' in Europe did all they could to keep their part of the agreement in place in order to trade with Iran. They also show no interest in countering China because China does not directly threaten them. Russia does and that must be used to our advantage. Enforcing a treaty along the one I described would allow the US, to among other things, threaten to abandon military aid to Europe should it not engage in an embargo of China. If they want to trade with China, fine, but we would not protect them from Russia.
At the same time, we could play on Russia's insecurities by repeatedly pointing out China's large population and economy and noting that once China would be 'done with the US' as a rival, they would swallow Russia with ease. Much like Mussolini's Italy would have not lasted a week had Hitler won WWII, Putin's Russia is in the same predicament. Such fears along with the establishing of the four mentioned countries as buffer states could be used to pull Russia from China.
Once the CCP is neutralized, whether through an economic collapse, demographic problems, trade restrictions, a popular uprising or a combination, Russia could be easily dealt with. One must choose which battles to fight and when, based on who is the greatest enemy at the time. One must also not repeat the mistakes of the past by only cutting the head off of one snake, but continuing until the heads are cut off by both snakes. Historically, that was Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, currently, that is Xi's China and Putin's Russia.
You may be right, and your alternate Western response here has merit, imo.
But I fear Putin will still see it as appeasement, and feel further emboldened.
That is why the treaty would have the conditions of Russia withdrawing all support from Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela concurrently with the recognition of the buffer states. Putin does not want to loose his foothold in the Western Hemisphere so it would force him to look at what is more important.
It would also nullify his comparisons about missiles in Canada or Mexico being directed to the US should he turn down such an offer, as it would have granted him that provision, IF he was willing to make sacrifices of his own.
Now I could be wrong, I am a millennial after all, however I think that the tunnel vision of the urban elites in destroy Russia first then China, which is getting us to fight against both Russia and China is beyond idiotic.
I'm sorry to be so compulsive, Tim; but once I start reading these comments, I can't stop. I'm sure you have read the book 1984. When the scientists in Wuhan were quietly disposed of, when the citizens of Wuhan were locked in their homes to die, none of them had weapons to fight the overwhelming power of the State. Remember Tiananmen Square. Putin and Xi (unlike Brandon) seem to have figured things out. A new world power is growing that will soon make our WOKE military frightened and as impotent as General Milley.
If there is one thing for sure in the world, it is change. Biden will be seen as a pariah in the world long before Putin.
I find it hard to accept un-necessary apologies, Charles. I could have written your first sentence to you!
You may be right, and please don't be offended that I hope you are wrong!
You got that edit right
You are close to being reported
For what, my free opinion?
Are you a censor?
Your 2cents are worth about that. And for the record, there ARE differences between the Nazism and fascism. They are subtle and not gleaned from a corrupted wiki -as the founder recently said. And your pearl clutching (no gender offense implied) for decorum is a troll tactic. I will be as polite as I can.
I apologize for my emotional response.
I am not a troll, and consider accusations of such to be nothing but a call for censorship, but I honor your differing definition.
I agree with wiki's founder, but there is still much good store of info on the platform. It requires scepticism, of course, just like all other sources.
I did not mean to clutch my non-existent pearls, and apologize for giving that impression.
May I attempt to define terms thusly?: The Nazis were Fascists, and not all Fascists are Nazis. It remains the case, however, that both terms are used basically interchangeably today, and I believe the author's intent is almost always clear.
Oh, and, yes, my two cents are worth two cents, possibly correcting for Federal reserve currency deflation, if you would be so kind to allow.
So glad to see you on this file Glenn. Peace now!
Strategic depth has always been Russias only true defense; it killed Napoleon’s army and it killed Hitler’s army. These two army’s were, at the time, the most powerful entities on earth. Yet the expanse of the plains sapped their energy and left them starving and vulnerable. Russia can’t ever afford to let that go. We’ve always known this, but for some reason this admin has seriously considered Ukraine’s determination to join NATO. Ukraine certainly had every right to ask to join. But they don’t have a right to join. And geopolitics, when played by serious leaders (and right now western leadership is anything but serious) know that some countries just aren’t worth conflict - Ukraine remaining “neutral” was the answer. Consider this. If Ukraine is so important to NATO why aren’t Britain and France marching into the conflict? The fact Western Europe isn’t coming to the defense of Ukraine is juxtaposed to the idea Ukraine needs to be NATO.
An outstanding book:
The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin
by Dan Kovalik Esq., Alex Hyde-White, et al
https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Scapegoat-Russia-Conspired-Vilify/dp/B07771BMV8/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1645575140&sr=1-1-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0
---------------------------------------------------
A must see: Tucker Carlson Today – interview with Dan Kovalik: “Russia, Russia, Russia” (Feb. 4, 2022)
Yep, both Napoleon and Hitler thought they could crush Russia before winter set in. They both started by crossing the Vistula and aimed for Moscow. Yet Russian scorched-earth policies and hit-and-run tactics on their long supply lines delayed their advances, as did Russian strategic withdrawal. Then winter came, a winter which was normal to the Russians who lived in that climate, yet bitterly cold for both invaders, especially given they had no winter clothing.
Had either invader been able to start 400 miles closer to Moscow, does anyone think that they wouldn't have succeeded?
Yup. And invasion of Russia from Ukraine kills Russia; you’re essentially at their heart straightaway. No Russian leader could allow it.
And the foreign relations 'experts' in DC can't figure that out, when a high schooler likely could. Goes to show that only in the swamp can repeated failure result in promotion.
Or the military…
Many of them are one in the same. Generals whom serve as foreign policy experts due to their 'experience in the field.'
Excellent analysis
Because we’re there to protect our fking selves
All we needed to do was to take Russia's border security concerns seriously and deal with them in the context of NATO expansion, which is a problem for Russia. We would do the same thing if China tried to expand its influence in Mexico as NATO threatens in Ukraine. We can still allay Russia's concerns and deescalate this, but will we?
Biden is napping
He's not napping, he's going along with the previous policy, which is the problem.
The previous policy under Obama was Crimea was ‘their’ interest - not ours. And he was correct.
True, but no president ever considered that they had valid security concerns about NATO. Crimea was simply the warning that they were going to use force to promote their interest as talk did nothing.
If by ‘they’ you mean the SU or Russia, then I disagree. NATO creep was moving along in the Baltic states at pace, and once It might get to Ukraine it would be too late for Russia to either-from one’s pov -force or reunite their previous oblast. Eastern Ukraine same.
I think that we agree. I introduced a problem by using "they" in which the reference to Russia isn't obvious. My fault.
NATO expansion was THE issue.
If you mean American presidents - you need to read the redacted conversations between Baker and Gorbachev during the 1990 talks about German reunification. It basically promised the SU no NATO creep to the east as long as they didn’t block the GDR and West Getmany to be in NATO. It is telling that Gorbachev feared a reunited Getmany -after losing 8.7 million soldiers to it in WWII (compared to 607,000 military US losses including the Pacific in same)
Biden’s own CIA director, career diplomat and Russia hand William Burns, has long argued that NATO expansion, especially with regard to Ukraine, is a provocative miscalculation that will enrage Russia and exacerbate tensions across eastern Europe. In a 2008 memo to Condoleeza Rice, then Bush’s Secretary of State, Burns wrote:
“Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin’s sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests.”
Not to mention Bakers promise to Gorbachov in 1990 during GDR & West German reunification that if Germany would be under NATO, there would be no expansion of NATO ‘to the east. ‘Baker was a skilled negotiator and lawyer.’ And The Soviet Union couldn’t forget that Germany (now a proposed united Germany) had cost them 8.7 military deaths.
* Document 06
Record of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow. (Excerpts)
Feb 9, 1990
GWU.edu
It seems like everyone is picking sides in this affair. It's the peasants of the region should be focused on -- not these two larger imperialist countries, whether the U.S. or Russia.
Which is why I pick the side of this is a colossal, idiotic mistake to be involved in. People don't need to die.
Peasants? Are you from the Middle Ages? That is what foreign aid is for. Can’t help it if corrupt governments like Ukraine dole it out to Hunter Biden instead.
Corruption in distrubuting those funds was/is inevitable, in all cases. That is exactly why the foreign aid must stop, along with involvment in conflicts that are not in our direct interests.
The truth is soo obvious and soo simple... The original modern sin is -- Russia-gate hoax.
SAME lying team that concocted the Russia-gate hoax and 2014 bloody coup that overthrew democratically elected Ukraine government Jake Sullivan, Hillary strategy advisor had a KEY role in launching Russia-gate hoax – he is now national security advisor to Biden.
SAME people that launched the Russia-gate hoax are now hollering that Russia invasion of Ukraine is "imminent". All to "save democracy" there -- in order to distract from the fact that St. Obama organized in 2014 bloody coup against democratically elected Ukraine government. St. Obama installed Biden and his CIA pal Brennan as de facto governors of Ukraine -- immensely enriching US "elite" and posting and removing government members, judges and heads of industry with billions of corrupting cash -- in "fight against corruption".
US War party’s key exports are – coups, wars and all-encompassing US corruption.
Biden was smart enough to understand spheres of influence -which we live by as well. Jake Sullivan and Biden are another story completely. Sullivan is in deep legal trouble and Biden needs anything to distract from both the midterms and his failing cognition.
Suppose Russia had staged a coup against the Mexican Government, installed a puppet regime in Mexico City, and then flooded Mexico with Russian military hardware. Would we stand idly by and let Russia turn Mexico into a staging ground to launch an attack on the United States?
NATO isn't the defensive alliance that it's made out to be. NATO waged unprovoked military aggression against Yugoslavia and Libya (with disastrous results) when neither of those countries had attacked, or threatened to attack, any member of NATO.
When the Cold War ended, we told Mikhail Gorbachev that we wouldn't expand NATO one inch to the East. Then we proceeded to expand NATO all the way to Russia's border.
Putin has access to the American media. For the last several years he has watched Democrats, Republican neocons, the State Dept., the US intelligence community, and the news media itself do everything in their power to gin-up anti-Russian hysteria.
Is Russia just supposed to sit there while an openly hostile foreign power takes-over Ukraine and floods it with weapons? Is Putin just supposed to sit back and wait to be attacked?
If the Obama/Biden Administration hadn't overthrown the Ukrainian government back in 2014 none of this would have happened. Joe Biden was in-charge of U.S. policy in Ukraine when he was the Vice President. That's why Hunter Biden got that cushy gig with Burisma.
Now the chickens have come home to roost. If you were in Vladimir Putin's shoes, you wouldn't trust Joe Biden either. You'd be a damned fool if you did.
Thanks, Andy, you prove there ARE some sane people commenting here! First solid post on this topic I've noted so far.
Two important things to remember about war, any and all war. The first casualty is always truth. The second, Que Bono!
“The strong will do what they will, the weak suffer what they must”
Arms profiteers win no matter what...and so do the banks. All "sides' need to look beyond the surface. Look at how much power the WEF and the WHO exerted over the world in the past 2 years. The powers that make money want war, so war we must produce...Time for humanity to unites and say no to these extortioners..."merchants of vessels of destruction." Nothing like a war or a pandemic to silence dissent. Meanwhile the 4th Industrial Revolution moves on to enslave those of us who will survive the war. THEY don't care about us.
A solution is at hand. Trudeau just announced that he has blocked Putin from accessing all 795 of his bank accounts.
Putin is shaking in his boots from laughing so hard.
Trudeau & Chrystia the new bobble heads; pls Dr prescribe them mood stabilizers
What is it with these neoliberal warmongers in the dem party? Why do they love war so much, and hate America so much? How many countries did obie invade? 9? Did Russia ever threaten to go to war with us over HIS clone w...er.. drone wars of aggression?
It's power. During the Cold War they were everywhere. When the Cold War ended, they looked for a party to settle into. They chose the GOP due to the long support for the military and belief among the right that the military and the US were instruments of good.
Afghanistan fell into their lap. Then Iraq, due to Hussein's history of provoking war and his careful walk to avoid looking weak. With backlash over Iraq, they moved more to the middle. Then Obama was elected and they remained in the middle, getting him to go into Libya and Syria.
Trump comes along in 2016 and his rallying cry "Make America Great Again" combined with denouncing endless wars causes them to have a meltdown. They form the Never Trump movement. Russiagate happens and through the legacy press, the DNC convinces it's most diehard followers that Russia is behind everything that the legacy press does not certify and that censorship is needed. Here we are today, they are at home in the censorship-happy DNC.
Edit: The convincing being done to come up for a reason why Hillary lost in 2016.
But appeasement will only embolden Putin. He will not stop with Ukraine. He must be stopped now.
A new sun rose today. The world has changed, and we must respond accordingly.
I feel you are very deluded. It is not 1939. We should not n no way be in a hot war with Russia on its border.
Well, you may be right, but I don't think so.
You are correct, M. Madjack, that the date has changed.
It is also not yesterday. Today, a Fascist has started shooting, and the West either responds to oppose him, or he will continue, just AS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.
I only fear we will repeat the mistakes made then.
We only differ in which is the greater threat. The play-Fascist Trudeau is a piker who has already lost and will soon be relegated to the dustbin of forgotten history, imo. There, is that good enough for you? (The woke mob will not go fight because they are mini-fascists themselves. They too are losing and good riddance.)
Not just Demoncraps. Don't forget that Light-Loafers Lindsay and Cocaine Mitch (among other Repugnicans) have fallen right into line with the War Machine.