Every useful or pleasing claim about the war, no matter how unverified or subsequently debunked, rapidly spreads, while dissenters are vilified as traitors or Kremlin agents.
It's not just that idiot Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. Mitt Romney went out of his way today to impugn the motives and loyalty of the few Republican politicians who have had the spine and integrity to stand against the War Machine propaganda, by claiming to do so was borderline treason. His reasoning (sic)? "(Putin) imprisons his political opponents" Um, Mitt, you mean like Ed Snowden? Like Julian Assange? Like *many* of the participants in 1/6 who committed misdemeanors (at worst) in the course of exercising their 1st Amendment rights?
Mitt wants to change his name to Pierre Delecto. Please respect his preferences.
Trump's refusal to pardon heroes Snowden & Assange (without Julian he never would've been president), and the unarmed 1/6 "insurrectionists" he helped lure into entrapment by refusing to discredit the Q psyops, and his refusal to lift a finger to help them -- too busy pardoning bank robbers, drug dealers, celebs & toadies -- are among the key reasons I no longer support him.
Mitt Romney is directly controlled by the Intelligence State…his previous CIA Handler, Cofer Black, was sent to Ukraine to manage gas and oil from the “Hunter seat” on the Burisma BOT…
The more I hear about this, the more it follows the biden*/Intelligence State pysop against President Trump…
We continue to purchase Russian fossil fuels during a major World Conflict (War?) and apparently State Dept and CIA are supporting “gain of function” Bioweapons experiments all around the World
" Um, Mitt, you mean like Ed Snowden? Like Julian Assange? Like *many* of the participants in 1/6 who committed misdemeanors (at worst) in the course of exercising their 1st Amendment rights?"
Like a truly astonishing 2.3 million in prison, and millions more some kind of limited release. More than any country in history, by rate and by sheer numbers. More than Stalin. Most of them POCs. More men are raped in US prisons than women living in the community. That's actually considered "funny". Soap jokes are perfectly fine at twitter. But don't use the wrong pronoun!
I barely noticed that he was even running. But no matter, the wars, the wealth transfer, and unconditional love for Israel is something 'both' sides agree on and always will.
Whether you like it or not, Assange and Snowden aren't imprisoned, they are being sought to try them in a court of law. The problem with them is that Assange is the press who simply released information given him, the government wants to try him for complicity in the accessing of the data, and Snowden blew the whistle on unconstitutional and illegal government surveillance of American citizens.
Assange is a political prisoner, in prison, without trial. The "problem" with Assange is he embarrassed and exposed the corrupt Clintons, the corrupt Military Industrial Complex, and the treasonous Deep State. He's more American than all of his enemies combined.
Split hairs much? Assange is imprisoned in the UK, which the US has frantically begged for his extradition so that he can be sent to the lovely island vacation resort of Guantanamo. Snowden is in exile in Russia; the moment he sets foot outside its borders, he will be arrested by US agents and summarily imprisoned. Did you have anything of substance to contribute, or are you just one of the puerile nitwits who lurks here only to find opportunities to nitpick others? Your post is at least as vulnerable to critical parsing: given the context (do you know what that is?) of my comment, why would I not "like it" if Snowden and/or Assange were truly at liberty?
So, in your fantasy world, imprisonment of an individual only ever occurs after formal indictment and trial resulting in a guilty verdict? Is this some universe created by Doug Adams? Do you need a link to the Merriam-Webster or Oxford dictionary sited to improve your mastery of the term? I would also refer you to that little vacation paradise the US maintains in Cuban territory for definitive counter-examples.
Joe's sexual and financial peculiarities notwithstanding, he doesn't run the show. The oligarchy's deep state apparatus puts up with that shit as long as he remains a useful tool. Hey, Useful Tool - good name for a band.
To me, it's funny how US politicians and the corporate media is making it sound like China is the bad guy. When in fact, the multinational corporations (US big business decades ago) built up China's economy and most US politicians sat back, took their contributions (bribes and kickbacks), and allowed it to happen. Here's a timeline of my conspiracy theory.
1972 Future CIA director Poppy (closet neocon) becomes a liaison to China
Now I know Poppy claimed he wasn't a neocon, and the corporate media has painted him that way too, but look who he surrounded himself with: Cheeney, Rumsfeld, Dubya, Jeb, etc.
I said much the same thing in a reply to a Powerline comment, got me BANNED. Seems to have been for life too, I've tried a couple of times to get back there but denied every time....
Neither am I (though I admit I had an account with each for a short time years ago) yet that one post seems to have touched a nerve @ Discus 'cause now I'm PNG whether I use the same or another e-mail address. Appears to be tied to my IP account provider, not just Powerline Blog's comments rules. Maybe time for a VPN...
On the other hand, Illinois lost a Congressional seat due to the census, and the Dem super majority that controls gerryman, er, redistricting, did away with his spot. He may be just auditioning for a job at a Think Tank, or something. Which is NO excuse for WWIII.
Maybe he'll sign up with the Podestas' Center for American Progress. Tony & John are from Chicago after all, Like Rahm & his brother, Barry Sotero too if memory serves.
Kinzinger is such a fringe figure in the Republican Party – he’s retiring at the end of the year – that I don’t know why Glenn even bothers to talk about him.
He's hardly fringe at this point. Many "Rs" are humping the war drums now, as they were before the invasion of Iraq. His & Cheney's corrupt inbred POV may be rehabbed.
His retirement is far from voluntary. He has been gerrymandered out of a seat that would have been a challenge to restrain had his district not been redrawn.
Well you know Illinois is such a fine state and has never had a single shred of corruption even in downtown Chicago, amidst the Republicans like in Chicago Heights I mean clearly he is continuing the tradition of fine, upstanding work done by IL politicians.
Plus the DemComs' massive pfuck ups and weakness over the last 2 years are massive smoke signals that encouraged Putin's aggression. I'm no Trump fan anymore, but this would not be happening under Trump.
My main complaint with Trump pre-CCP-19 was the continuing deficit. After it hit, I initially thought he was a moron for not sacking Fauci, only to later learn of the corrupt barging between Fauci and other pharmacrats that if one of them was fired, the rest would resign in a publicity stunt intended to sack Trump. Now we know that Daszak, Fauci and Collins shot down the Lab Leak theory and those who opposed lockdowns, it shows just how large and rotten the swamp is.
I likewise thought he was a moron for not pardoning Assange and Snowden, however as the Durham investigation has revealed, you had DNC tools hacking into the personal correspondence of 'the office of the president of the United States'. What threats they used against him and his family I do not know, but it explains why he acted as he did.
His impulsiveness didn't help with anything either, and now that time is passing, the lack of aid given to the 1/6 defendants is sickening. Now the same swamp rats that had spied on him could be holding a sword over his head, I don't know, all I know is that it makes him look very bad.
* Massive corruption - The Bidens took $BILLIONS in bribes from Ukraine & China
* Hysterical lockdowns bankrupting millions of businesses, driving people into poverty and homelessness while benefiting big businesses like Amazon & Walmart
* Forced injections
* Painful inflation
* Labeling parents who complain at school board meetings "terrorists" and having FBI and "Homeland Security" investigate and arrest them
* The idiotic way he fled Afghanistan, leaving Americans and tens of $Billions in arms behind
* A sensitive tranny military
* Dishonorable discharges for soldiers who refuse forced injection
* Stoking racism and hate through "critical race theory" and backing racist groups like Black Lives Matter
* Crushing domestic oil production, jobs and independence and driving up gasoline prices, which also shoves $Billions into Putin's pocket
You think Putin missed any of those signals of weakness?
Good points on the whole, but I think the immediate signal to Putin that Biden put the German economy above Ukrainian independence was removing the sanctions on the Nordstream 2 pipeline. And perhaps even more when administration allies in the Senate turned back an effort by Republicans and some Democrats to restore the sanctions.
While I despise Brandon, I think American hubris is a disgusting sign of its imperial designs and anti-democratic stance. We have no right telling Germany who they must buy their gas from.
My empirical observations are that on social media you cannot have a rational conversation about Ukraine without being attacked as a traitor.
In Europe, especially in former communist countries, the anti-Russian sentiment is so strong that again no rational debate is available.
In the UK, until the invasion, surprisingly most people could see the nuances in the whole situation. Even those who would get triggered over discussing lockdowns or lab leaks were willing to have a good, civilised debate.
Since the invasion, there has been a split in the anti-lockdown group. Those that didn't believe in lockdowns due to their critical thinking are still able to rationally discuss. Those who opposed lockdowns, purely because of their libertarian leanings are now firmly in the Putin is an evil madman, no discussion camp.
It's interesting that adults when it comes to political issues adopt such black and white thinking on issues, and become so vulnerable to propaganda. There was a significant amount of evidence before the Iraq war that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, and much of what Bush/Cheney was spewing were lies, but of course he was supported on both sides of the political isle and backed by a complicit press that supported those lies. However even after the war, many years after, when it was shown no such weapons existed, I would still here people rationalize our invasion by saying he got rid of the weapons of mass destruction before the war. Perhaps they were unable to acknowledge the US engaging in a lie of a war that killed, injured and displaced so many, and they bought the lie which in a way made them complicit.
He did pursue weapons of mass destruction during the First Iraq War. We found and dismantled his nuclear weapons lab.
That he was pursuing WMDs earlier and viewing international inspection before the second war as part of a “who has the biggest dick” competition… if you let the inspectors in, you have shown your neighbors you have no dick… suggested to me that he could have been pursuing them. Qadaffi did let the inspectors in in that time frame.
There were no weapons of mass destruction which was used as a pretext for war in Iraq. All those accusations along with those aluminum tubes were BS. We wanted to take him out along with other middle eastern countries that were on the agenda of people like Cheney for a long time. Just look at our wars, many wars in the middle east. None can be justified, including our sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia to slaughter the people of Yemen. Look at all the covert activity carried out by the CIA that killed some 6 million people even before our wars in the middle east began. We complain endlessly about Iran but we overturned Mohammad Mosaddegh back in the 1950's, a democratically elected president. Let's not forget In August 1964, the United States entered the Vietnam War after reports of an unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. But the reports were false — and Johnson knew it.
That's an appealing narrative; too bad it's false. ABC News interviewed Saddam's FBI debiefer, and the upshot was that Iraq ran the most successful deception campaign since the XX Committee during World War II. Saddam was convinced that the only way to prevent Iran invading him was to convince Iran that he had WMD. The French and the Russians assured him that he could do this without risk, because between them they could control the idiot Bush.
Qaddafi gave up his nine WMD sites — of which four were unknown to the international community — a couple of weeks after Saddam Hussein was captured in Iraq. Though the usual suspects insist that was only an amazing coincidence!
When Saddam Hussein was left in power at the end of the first Gulf War, he became convinced that the US wanted him in power, and from that point on ignored all the bellicose rhetoric. Just as Putin ignored the rhetoric from the Biden administration and paid attention to its giving its imprimatur to his pipeline bypassing Ukraine.
Your first paragraph is correct, the second incorrect. Inspectors were inspecting Iraq but not close to finished (it's a big country, as the US learned when trying to control it) when Bush decided, "Enough" and attacked. Not unlike the 2000 election when they were counting votes in Florida.
As far as they had checked they had found no WMD, correct. They just wanted to finish their job. Hans Blix was my fucking hero speaking out about how he was not able to finish his job.
Media loves an anti- Trump Republican, and the anti-Trump Republicans love the media praise. Romney goes on TV to pontificate to the same people who in 2012 called him racist, a teenage bully, a dog abuser, and who ate up "the 80s called, they want their foreign policy back."
Mitt Romney has called out Americans who support Russian president Vladimir Putin as being “almost treasonous” “How anybody in this country, which loves freedom, can side with Vladimir Putin, who is an oppressor, a dictator, he kills people, he imprisons his political opponents, he has been an adversary of America at every chance he’s had, it’s unthinkable to me, it’s almost treasonous,” he told host Dana Bash. Maybe poor Romney has lost a bit, or big bit of his memory and has forgotten our many wars that killed and displaced millions of people, imprisoned people in black sites, and in Guantanomo where they were tortured. If he doesn't have dementia he''s a hypocritical SOB.
Like Glenn so eloquently said in this article, if you question any action the US takes in response to Russia’s actions, you are a de-facto supporter of Putin. Nuance is not allowed. Resistance to the government line is treason.
It is never wise to categorize people and to assume that you know what they think. Dr. Rand Paul is a libertarian. Has he gone on record as saying that Putin is an evil madman? I am a libertarian with no interest in Ukraine. Cannabis should not be a Schedule 1 drug. Oops. Did my mind just wander?
My browser still shows 3 of your comments and none of mine. No idea what to do. I remember our conversation, but this one is, although frustrating, more pleasant.
I didn't phrase that very well. There are a group of anti lockdowners who opposed them because of their love of freedom but as soon as a different divisive issue crops up, that doesn't involve their liberties, they lose their critical thinking abilities.
Of course anti-Russian sentiment is high in European countries formally ruled by the Russian-dominated USSR. For the same reason anti-Nazi sentiment is high among Jews. In those countries, the Soviets killed millions of people, so that nearly every family can remember a relative or relatives they killed.
In fact, the Russians killed my mother’s father. He was a high school teacher; his crime was lending pre-revolutionary books to some of his students. He was put to death; his students went to Siberia for long terms (except for the informer).
I would think anti-Nazi sentiment would be high among Jews, and they are, except for people like Nuland, Jewish, and neocons in general who during the Obama administration instigated a coup against it's elected government and used a bunch of neo-nazi's to do it. The ultra right and these neo-nazi groups to this day continue to extol the virtues of those who assisted Hitler in the extermination of the Jews and Poles.
"Ultra right" is not related to "neo-nazis". Nazis were and are on the left, just not as far left as the Communists. Nazi after all means National Socialist. They acted like socialists, taking over massive amounts of the economy. Hitler never said "I am concerned that our government is too large and will slash our spending by 25% by the end of my 5-year term" or "Our military is much too big and I will cut the number of people conscripted by 33% over the next 3 years." He did the exact opposite.
To give you some idea of whether the Nazis thought of Stepan Bandera as a friend, he spent most of the war locked up in a Nazi concentration camp! They let him out only when they got really desperate, towards the end.
Like some of our Founding Fathers, Bandera is an ambiguous figure. Jews were part of his organization at various times; while at other times his organization was accused of atrocities against Jews. Nazi-hunters seem to have decided against pursuing him; he was murdered in 1959 by famed KGB assassin, Bohdan Stashynsky.
At some point you’d think common sense would take hold, and one would take stories about Jews supporting neo-Nazis with a grain or two of salt.
In reality, European neo-Nazis like Putin, for crushing Muslims and suppressing homosexuals. They see him as the Defender of the White Race. (Some ultra-right Christians see him as Defender of the Faith.)
On the other hand, Nazis do not see Ukraine’s Jewish President as the Defender of the White Race.
In reality, the Maidan movement that toppled the Russian puppet President of Ukraine was a mass movement of the Ukrainian people, against a traitor who had left Ukraine militarily helpless while looting the country.
Nuland is Jewish and so his her husband, Kagan, as well as other neocons who supported the overthrow of this government which is what I was referencing, and I did so because I thought it was disgusting when they used a bunch of neo nazi's to bring down the elected regime. I didn't make a blanketed statement about the Jewish people in general. Putin is not a neo-nazi!!!!!!!!!!! 25 million Russian lives lost in WWII to bring down Hitler. No Taras, he is in Ukraine because those ultra right wingers and neo nazi's who believe Ukraine should be pure and a place where only Ukranians reside have killed thousands of ethnic Russians, especially the separatist in the Donbass region. Well, in terms of Ukraines poverty no doubt there was lots of corruption but now it is considered the most corrupt government in all of Europe.
According to you, “ultra right wingers and neo nazi's” elected a Jewish President of Ukraine in 2019. Can’t you see the absurdity of that? For reasons I previously mentioned, Putin really is the darling of European neo-Nazis and ultra-rightists.
Ukrainians and Russians are two closely related branches of the Slavic family. Nobody thinks of them as different races. The argument between them in Ukraine is about what language the government uses. The Ukrainian government is trying to bring back the Ukrainian language, the use of which Russian overlords had spent centuries trying to discourage.
I guess you’ve forgotten, or never knew, that Germany and Russia started World War II as allies, with Germany attacking Poland from the west and Russia attacking Poland from the east. Stalin was so enamored of his partnership with Hitler that he refused to believe his own spies, when they warned him that Germany was about to turn on him.
So the Soviets lost a great many lives in the war they helped Hitler start. It didn’t help that, just before the war, Stalin had executed all of the Red Army’s experienced commanders in his Great Purge, seeing them as potential rivals. The new commanders spent the lives of Soviet soldiers like water, because if they didn’t they would be suspected of lacking in zeal and purged in their turn.
1/6 was a clown show. Without incredible incompetence by the Capitol Police, none of those (unarmed) cretins and yahoos would have gotten inside the building.
Hey, I find that analysis flawed. As a person with strong libertarian convictions, it is my libertarian intellectual leaders that opened my eyes to the lies the state uses to manipulate people into supporting war, as well as educate me about the horrors that war brings.
The issue here is that nobody seems to remember history, pre- and post the fall of the Soviet Union. Where is among others "Partnership for Peace"? Who remembers all the sanctions imposed on Russia since the late 90ies? Alienation has gone rampant in the US as well as Europe. Over time this does somethi g to perception of reality, both here and there. Like Russia or not. The point is that they have enough WMDs to obliterate us all. Deal with that reality. Ukraina is a 'nothing' for the West and certainly nothing to start a war over like none seen before. On the contrary. get this nonsense stopped and encourage trade and interdependency. That secures peace and also will gradually change regime structures. i know. it's a lot of 'kumbaya' but there has to some of that as well to clear the madness.
Glenn, I am a new subscriber and thank you for your insightful writing.
In this article you state: “Having the U.S. risk global nuclear annihilation over Ukraine is an indescribably insane view”
There are I believe two suppositions that underlie this opinion. Firstly, if we accept this is true for Ukraine, will it not also be true for an invasion of one or all of the Baltic States, or Poland - despite the written agreements in place?
Secondly: is the US really threatened by the Russian ballistic missiles? We have already seen the vaunted Russian war machine get bogged down and that weakness may also be true of its missile capabilities. Is there an effective US
anti-ballistic defense? Or a quick response that could quickly eliminate threats to the US continent?
My view is the world is at a tipping point. We all know where appeasement ends.
Perhaps the greatest leader of Germany of all time. How far that country has fallen....not only for WWI and WWII/Hitler, but right now. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times....I don't know what goes there other than the fool is an undisputed idiot.
Technology has improved exponentially but people from the driver's on the streets to the leadership at the highest levels, not so much. It's hard not to sound like an old fart which I am but nothing seems to work anymore in the Western world. Strangely, things DO seem to work in China. That doesn't portent well and it's not sustainable.
Well, Communist China for one thing has a million people in concentration camps, and it has extreme control over where all of the people can be. It has a collapsing population (it would have gone down in 2021 but they "found" 12 million women who were not registered due to the 1-child policy and the strong preference for male children). The UN in its decennial population report for 2010 stated than China was missing 66 million women; as just pointed out, some of them were born but not registered, but most were killed due to the 1-child policy. If China cannot get its fertility rate up to 2.2 from the 1.7 it has had for decades, its population will be half of what it is now by 2100, going from 1.4 billion to 750 million.
One impact of the lack of women is that many men cannot marry.
There are more than 50 million vacant apartments in China due to no families being available to live in them.
I lived there much of my adult life, although I am not Russian or Ukrainian.
I would hardly call Ukraine a "democracy ".
Even Freedom House, a US government cutout, rates Ukraine as "partly free" which is like getting a lukewarm letter of recommendation from your own mother.
There was nothing wrong with the last election, and there is nothing wrong with their Jewish leader today.
You can read an attack article on him in the NYT right now ("The Comedian-Turned-President Is Seriously in Over His Head") written by the chief editor of The Kyiv Independent.
Rather than pick apart your comment in detail or provide a list of the thoughtcrimes under the regime, Google the words "ban opposition media kiev" and find reporting from, for example, Deutsche Welle
Once upon a time there was a dictator who claimed the right to protect all populations who spoke the same language he did. At first he only demanded small slices of neighboring countries containing his people. Then he built up to whole countries. Eventually, his demands led to a World War.
We've seen this pattern of behavior before. Hitler claimed the right to protect all German speakers. At Munich, Hitler got Czechoslovakia, to secure "Peace in our time." It didn't work.
Putin claims the right to protect all Russian speakers in Ukraine, even if they don't want to be protected. If the anexation of Ukraine is allowed to stand, it creats a destabilizing precedent for the whole world. No borders will be stable anymore.
The Ukrainians are willing to fight. We should provide the tools. The Biden Administration stupidly didn't provide enough weapons before the war started. The Germans didn't provide any weapons. If it's possible, we should try to correct this mistake.
There is no need for NATO troops to enter Ukraine. Only NATO weapons. With the long history of Soviet support for insurgencies that fought US troops, they can hardly object to us supporting Ukraine against them.
I think Putin is bluffing with nuclear weapons. I think if Putin gives that order, his own people will remove him from office.
Haven't you heard of "RFP"? It's a favorite American pretext for war.
Anyway, you better hope that Putin is bluffing. It seems a rather absurd risk to run, all so we can play "mine is bigger than yours", especially as it's not as if our nuclear arsenal goes away if we don't use it real soon.
That said, a friend of mine who did a few tours in Iraq comments that the Russian military has taken a remarkably light touch, at least so far. Notice how they have attack military infrastructure only; they haven't touched TV stations, radio, the electrical grid, water or sewage systems, or any of the other things that a typical invader destroys on Day One.
For that matter, the Russians haven't bulldozed their way into Kiev or Mariupol with massive, block-flattening barrages, airstrikes, or MLRS salvoes. Contrast photos of Kiev with those of Mosul or, for that matter, Grozny in 1998.
Over the past few days as I was flipping through channels watching the coverage, I immediately noticed that every station was reporting in an extremely dramatic fashion. Breathless commentary, vivid videos playing on a never ending loop of the same incident, and even dramatic music playing as a background to the pictures of explosions. War gets ratings. War makes money for the news outlets. As Glenn said, War allows the media to label anyone as a traitor if they have the “wrong” viewpoint. Don’t dare question anything. Including the fact that Ukraine was known for its corruption and bribery. Ask Hunter Biden. And Joe Biden. And Jim Biden. I don’t want Russia to take over Ukraine. I don’t want war there. And I definitely don’t want our troops anywhere near there. But don’t call me a traitor because of it.
I switched to Fox News from CNN because I couldn't take the hysterics. Now I'm down to just watching Tucker Carlson because I can't take the warmongering and hysteria. It's worse than COVID, and I didn't think anything could be worse than COVID, but here we are. The same people who never learn, well, never learn.
With the exception of Tucker Carlson, all of FOX News has jumped on the pro-war bandwagon. I used to frequently post and repost on gettr.com; but that site has turned as vicious and angry as CNN and MSNBC. It looks like we're in for it.
.So nauseating how unfair the U.S. main stream media was in covering the Bush administrations war in Iraq, the devastating outcomes for the people of Iraq..Afghanistan. Obama and HIllary's interventions in Libya, Syria. Deadly consequences.
Within 48 hours CNN, MSNBC, etc had their lower "ticker tape/crawler" across the bottom of TV screen announcing the people who have been killed (at that point 138), injured, and we are repeatedly hearing now 500,000 people are now classified as refugees. All should be reported. However, never happened when it came to reporting or mostly NOT REPORTING about the people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria killed, injured displaced by the Bush administrations ""chosen and unnecessary" invasion of Iraq Afghanistan, Obama Hillary's interventions in Libya,Syria. The U.S. military just does not count who they kill, injure, displace. So telling about our government, military, media outlets and essentially the American people. They generally just do not care.
Finally, a news outlet calls serious attention to this horrible deadly standard
He said, "Fuck Putin. Bring on WW3." I advised him to sign up his children to fight, and failing that, go fight himself. Of course, this brought great offense.
If you're new the anti-war fight, keep that question in your toolkit. It's a powerful one.
Makes me think of the motto of the draftees for Vietnam:
"We the unlucky, lead by the unqualified to do the unnecessary for the ungrateful."
These people who say 'Bring WWIII and let someone else fight it' are both unqualified, requesting the unnecessary and are ungrateful for the service of others.
So powerful and sadly accurate. Before the invasion of Iraq, besides protesting in Ohio, D.C., New York, lobbying Reps, organizing buses from Athens Ohio to D.C. to protest and lobby Reps to stand against the invasion, went into the small towns of southeastern Ohio, Glouster, Trimble, Chauncey and went to Moose Lodges, V.F.W.'s etc talking with WWII, Korean and Vietnam Vets. So many were against the invasion, couple of old WWII and Korean Vets wept as they shared how horrible it was to send mostly young men into completely unnecessary wars. Wish I had taped but the strong words against and memories of them talking and tears rolling down their wrinkled faces will always be in my mind.
I find these comments by Thierry Meyssan helpful to understand what's going on in Ukraine:
"A few hours ago the Russian army conducted airstrikes against the sector of the Ukrainian armed forces that is linked to NATO. In 3 hours, the Russian army wiped out the entire Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses and will continue its operation by next attacking the Azov battalion and all the Nazi officials that the United States and the United Kingdom introduced into the Ukrainian government.
This should be good news for everyone, but here, in France, this operation is being portrayed as an invasion against Ukraine and as the forthcoming arrival of the Russian bear in Paris. So don’t be fooled. because there are very important elements that we are not being told.
Only those aspects referring directly to Ukraine are reported on, but the general context is overlooked. And that context proves Russia right, as I am going to explain to you.
In October, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, traveled to Russia and, in Moscow, she threatened to crush the Russian economy and demanded the resignation of President Vladimir Putin. But you never heard about it. Look it up online. It is very easy to verify.
Later, [Victoria Nuland] went to Ukraine and ushered in Dimitro Yarosh, a NATO agent renowned for having set up – in 2007– the great Mariupol meeting [in Ukraine] bringing together European Nazi organizations and jihadists from all parts to go to fight against Russia in Chechnya. It was the same Dimitro Yarosh who – in 2014 – backed by his troops from the Right Sector [Pravy Sektor], organized the Maidan Square events and the “regime change” in Ukraine. He was later injured and disappeared for a while. Now he’s back.
So [Victoria Nuland] installed Dimitro Yarosh as special adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army [1], who is a perfectly democratic and normal man, but now he has been flanked by this character [Dimitro Yarosh]. And now this character has incorporated the Azov battalion – which is a truly Nazi group, with Nazi insignia and everything and which is led by the “White Fuhrer” [Andrey Biletsky] [2] – into the Ukrainian army.
This is news that should have come as a shock to all of us ... but the media in France never reported on it.
So the Russians planned their response.
In December, they sent the United States a draft proposal for a treaty aiming to guarantee peace. Therein, the United States is urged to respect International Law, as it was elaborated over time, first by the government of France and the imperial government of the Russian Tsar – in 1899, at the Hague Conference – and later formulated in the United Nations Charter –in 1945– and by the Third World countries –in 1955, with the Bandung Principles.
This treaty is obviously unacceptable to the United States because for 70 years the United States has violated International Law on a daily basis and pretends to substitute it with a set of rules of its own, self-proclaiming, along with its allies, to stand for the “international community”. Well... [those countries] are not even half of the world’s population but they claim to run the world.
The Russians are calling first and foremost for NATO to withdraw from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which should never have joined that bloc if the Potsdam Conference agreements had been respected – in 1945, at the end of World War II – which stipulated that US forces could only establish a presence west of the Oder-Neisse border, which separates Poland and Germany. Later, at the time of Germany’s reunification, France was very insistent that NATO should not expand to the east and there was even a long debate as to whether NATO forces would be allowed in the eastern part of Germany. – the former GDR– or be concentrated in the western part – the then Federal Republic of Germany.
Finally there was an agreement – was endorsed by France – providing that the former East Germany would become part of NATO, within the framework of the reunification, but that there would be no expansion of NATO beyond.
And this was repeated several times, first within the OSCE – the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, born from the Helsinki agreements – in which 57 states signed 2 declarations. Fifty-seven States! All the States of the European continent and even others since, for example, the United States and Canada are also members!
Firstly, the OSCE recognized, in the 1999 Istanbul Declaration and in the 2010 Astana Declaration, that each State is free to sign on to the military alliance of its choice – France, for example, is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty, allying herself to the United States.
But, secondly, it was also recognized that no State, absolutely no State!, can guarantee its security to the detriment of the security of others. And, from this point of view, joining NATO is illegal, yes illegal! Because NATO is not a confederation, in which everyone has equal status; it is a federation under the command of the United States and the United Kingdom. making the other States vassals of the United States and the United Kingdom.
And France, unfortunately, returned to NATO, with [President] Nicolas Sarkozy, from which it had withdrawn under General de Gaulle, in 1966. General de Gaulle had expelled from French territory all occupation forces of the United States… that was the term he used, “occupation forces of the United States”. It’s not me who says it! But we [the French] have once again willingly embraced our vassalage to the United States.
So, Russia has called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from the entire territory of Central and Eastern Europe. They can still remain signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty. That is not the problem.
And International Law will also have to be enforced in Western Europe. International Law, inter alia, prohibits the installation of nuclear weapons in countries that do not possess such weapons themselves.
So, for example, what are there US [nuclear] weapons doing in Italy or in the Netherlands? It is an outright violation of international law. And that will have to end.
We must realize that the United States is no longer the world’s leading economic power. It is now China.
And it is no longer the first military power in the world. It is Russia. During the war in Syria – a war that NATO forces lost – Russia tested all kinds of new weapons that NATO cannot compete with. Only last weekend Russia showed that it has the capability to nuclearly destroy any target anywhere in the world without being intercepted because – as demonstrated – it deploys hypersonic launchers from submarines, from surface vessels, from bomber planes and mobile ground units. She can fire those launchers and destroy anything she wants anywhere in the world. It is impossible to deflect them because they move too fast. At the moment there is no way they can be intercepted. In minutes she can destroy whatever she wants and we should wonder that would happen if one day Russia may have to use such weapons against the Pentagon, the White House or the United States Congress.
I don’t say that as a provocation. What I am saying is that if Russia were to do so, the United States would not have time to intercept them, it would not even have time to use its own nuclear weapons.
Let’s take things seriously and respect International Law. It’s what we all want. And it is in everyone’s interest. So bravo for what Russia just did today!"
“In October, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, traveled to Russia and, in Moscow, she threatened to crush the Russian economy and demanded the resignation of President Vladimir Putin.” Gotta admit, I laughed long and hard when I read this! But it was kind of creepy that that a couple dozen people “liked” this loony diatribe.
Let me see … the Biden administration is going to “crush the Russian economy“ — by rescinding Donald Trump‘s sanctions against the Nordstream 2 pipeline?
“Nazis” support the democratically elected, JEWISH Ukrainian President? Who defeated the incumbent in a fair election? Try to imagine Putin voluntarily leaving office under any circumstances.
All the stuff about NATO reminds me of the primitive Soviet propaganda about “NATO-leon” I used to read. I enjoyed the sci-fi about Russia’s secret weapons, though. Russia must have its own flying saucer!!!
The symbol was also the symbol used by the Ukrainian Social Nationalist Party, which is basically "national socialist" aka "Nazi" written backwards.
Now they call themselves "Svoboda", which is Ukrainian for "Freedom" and operated things like the "Josef Goebbels Political Research Center" (now "Ernst Junger", but that was their second choice.)
Naziism is far from dead. As you well know, the official name of the German nazi party was the National Socialist German Workers' Party (which seems very close in name and in deed to Rashida Tlaib's Working Families' Party).
From the link: "Azov’s first leader was Andriy Biletsky, a man referred to as the “white chief” who once wrote that “the historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival. A crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen [‘subhumans’].” Numerous media outlets have also documented Azov fighters with swastikas, and the group has also been caught out in efforts to recruit neo-Nazis into its ranks.
Perhaps most disturbingly, Azov is not just some far right extremist group. Certainly both the U.S. and many European countries have fringe neo-Nazi organizations within their borders. but this has actually been integrated into the official state-sponsoed Ukrainian National Guard, giving the proliferation of fascist symbol the de-facto imprimatur of the Ukrainian government."
If that's not Nazi, then what is?
Note that the site is as anti-Putin as one can get.
During the night of 25 to 26 February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed a ceasefire proposal to Russia via the Chinese Embassy in Kiev.
The Kremlin immediately informed him of its terms:
1) Arrest of all Nazis (special military adviser Dmitro Yarosh, Azov Battalion, etc.)
2) Remove of all street names and monuments glorifying Nazi collaborators during World War II (Stepan Bandera, etc.)
The owner, conspiracy theorist Thierry Meyssan ("Pentagon was not hit by a plane, but by a guided missile fired on orders of far right-wingers inside the United States government") lives in France.
Here is a lecture by a distinguished *American*, University of Chicago foreign policy professor -- given in 2015(!), before all the hysteria -- which very much supports the analysis you have posted, and more.
In spite of the fact that the talk was given 7 years ago, he predicts where we are now pretty accurately. For those who can't watch the whole 75 minutes, here are couple key sections:
9:20-17:10
22:58-29:32
One thing Mearsheimer glosses over is that there was a great deal of Western astroturf activity in the precipitating event itself -- the Euromaidan, in 2014. So it's quite accurate to see the fighting today as being provoked by (clandestine) Western aggression. For those who have trouble understanding the concept of "blowback," please listen to Chalmers Johnson's 2004 lecture here: https://www.alternativeradio.org/products/johc001/
Incredibly, back in 2013, Yanukovich was on track to sign an agreement that would set the stage for The Ukraine to move into the EU. He backed out at the last minute because EU financiers were just too greedy. Seems he didn't want to end up like Greece. So, in large part, we can thank Western financiers for killing Western pro-democracy political efforts. Shocking (/s) !
"In October, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, traveled to Russia and, in Moscow, she threatened to crush the Russian economy and demanded the resignation of President Vladimir Putin. But you never heard about it. Look it up online. It is very easy to verify."
I couldn't verify your information. Perhaps you could provide a link...
Victoria Nuland, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, spent three days in Moscow (October 11-13, 2021). Ms. Nuland was a key figure in the 2014 Ukrainian coup. There are scores of articles on this meeting on the internet, below are a random few:
Even after reading the articles you provided (that I hadn't run across already), I am still puzzled about Nuland's threat to crush the Russian economy and demand for Putin's resignation...
Edit: Blinkdown, Bolton, Krystol, Milley and Sullivan also need to be sacked for their failures. At least Lincoln sacked failed commanders during the Civil War. Now they get promoted.
I had already read two of the articles you provided and am very aware that the coup was backed by the U.S. Nuland has a long and horrible history in the Deep State. I was simply asking a sincere question about corroboration of Meyssan's statement about her purported threat/demand. No need to reply.
Victoria Nuland has a long and dirty hand in Ukraine. The Nazi-backed Ukrainian government (that Russia does not want on its border) has been a Nuland puppet government since 2014. The muscle behind the 2014 Ukrainian coup were literal Nazis and far-right extremists "who claim that Ukrainians are white and Russians are non-while Asiatic peoples." These Ukrainian white supremacists are the people Nuland partnered with to overtake Ukraine in 2014. Russia, understandably for many, has been concerned ever since because Ukraine is on their border and a lot of Russians live in Ukraine. Approximately 14,000 people have been killed due to the 2014 coup. See The Washington Post:
"And now this character has incorporated the Azov battalion – which is a truly Nazi group, with Nazi insignia and everything and which is led by the “White Fuhrer” [Andrey Biletsky] [2] – into the Ukrainian army. " So Ukraine has shifted to the far left thanks to the "efforts" of the U.S. government? You keep saying "Nazi", which of course is on the left wing of politics. It is "National Socialist" rather than "Communist", but still very close to the political position that the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics had, just not absolutely total control.
Many Americans may be propagandized into hating Russia, but I wonder how many Americans hate Russia enough to want to get involved with the war in Ukraine.
At this point, having been lied to (with the truth being not in any way favorable to the role the United States government is playing in the world and or even in genuinely protecting our health and wellbeing here at home) about absolutely everything of significance starting with the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, warrantless surveillance, CIA torture chambers, and drone killings but also including Wall Street bailouts, mandatory health care insurance, Libya, Wikileaks, Russiagate, COVID-19 (everything from lab leaks to PCR false positives to lockdown and vaccine efficacy), and far more, all of these lies essentially emanating from the same fairly small cast of characters and amplified by the same corporate media outlets, I'm not granting them the benefit of the doubt that they "could" be right this time at all. No, until I see solid evidence to the contrary, I think it's safe to assume they're up to no good once again, more recklessly than ever this time with nuclear annihilation absolutely on the table, and once again, they're lying about everything.
And I don't have to look very far into it in order to obtain additional evidence that would only reinforce my "priors" as mentioned above. It's not exactly news in geopolitics to state that any move that would seek to rearrange "the Grand Chessboard" in such a way as to change the balance of power between two rivals is fundamentally just as aggressive as an act of violence itself. After all, the United States itself brought the world as close as its ever been to a nuclear exchange in defense of this very point during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and I've not ever seen anyone question whether we were right to do it.
It's not even close to a secret, in fact it's been widely and publicly acknowledged, that the U.S. and our allies have been actively trying to bring Ukraine into NATO, and basic physics and geography can tell us that were we to successfully do so, Russia's ability to defend itself would be severely compromised. Given those facts, what's the argument that Putin is not morally and ethically justified in attempting to prevent that from happening? It's arguably a foolhardy errand, and likely not in the best interest of the U.S, Europe and even (most of) Ukraine itself, but we grant geopolitical actors the right to defend their interests on the geopolitical stage. In any case, it's not "evil" to defend one's interest, in any moral or ethical system of which I'm aware, other than pacifism I suppose.
And as much as Putin is not evil, there's also plenty of good evidence already in public view that the current rulers of Ukraine are not plainly "good". They came to power in a CIA-fomented coup less than a year before a scheduled election; they've publicly welcomed straight-up, self-avowed neo-Nazi's into their military ranks, they've chosen to antagonize Russia with repeated public attempts to join NATO, they didn't follow the terms of the Minsk Agreement re: the Donbas separatist regions, they meddled in our own domestic politics both in 2016 and during the Trump impeachment. They're not heroes. They look no different than Putin, corrupt, self-interested.
Spot on. I am sure the West has acted irresponsibly with regard to UA gor over a decade. In fact, I would add to your list the EU concluding trade deals with UA which breached the RU - UA tariff wall, effectively undermining Russias’s economic sphere.
However, in one subtle counterpoint: Mr Putin has chosen to invade a sovereign nation state. Not, as Mr Kennedy, to engage in naval warfare with Cuba’s backers. But to roll into another country’s cities with tanks and troops.
For me, who still believes in International Law, this is a step too far.
Sure, it's fair to draw a line somewhere, and invasion is as good a line as any. But how many sovereign states have we invaded between 1962 and now? Russia's done a few as well, so not sure that "line" is really all that sacrosanct.
the chicken hawks are out in full force. Ready to send our soldiers to be killed and maimed in another meaningless folly. While our border is overrun with illegals, and nothing gets done. In fact these same chicken hawks would call it racist and inhumane to send troops to defend our southern border. They would rather protect Ukrainians border. These people are deranged. There is no integrity or leadership at any level of government, including our military commanders. They are all war profiteers that sit in there fortresses and could give one iota about the men they lead. This has the makings of another military embarassment written all over it that will do nothing but fatten the pockets of those associated with war inc.
It ALL starts with modern “original sin” and the Big Lie.
Key players in the Russia-gate hoax and impeachment “entertainments” are now celebrating about “all but certain major war in Europe a la WW2” which they eagerly stoked.
Repulsive ghouls Adam Schiff, colonel Alexander Windman (an extremist Ukrainian), Jake Sullivan, advisor to Hillary who played key role in the Russia-gate hoax and is now national security advisor to Biden (he “replaced” Michael Flynn), Fiona Hill (a rabid Cold War warrior on National Security Council).
SAME lying bastards who led the scam of the century concocted by the SAME lying team -- Obama-Biden-Hillary-Pelosi-Schumer-Schiff and the rest of DNC-CIA/FBI cabal.
Adam Schiff has been, for years, a leading recipient of huge “donations” by arm industry – his main source of funds. Remember when Raytheon in 2013 put on a Beyonce concert to promote Adam Schiff? This despicable -- that human excrement and serial liar is among leading Congress warmongers and recipient of arm industry donations.
Schiff is now driving government’s domestic terrorism legislation !!
In his free time this loathsome grifter wants to write a novel – of all things about Holocaust.
The entire Russia-gate lying team is back in FULL power -- we are now paying the price for not fully unmasking the brazen scam of the century. Of course, Trump and GOP lunatics were and remain VERY bad – however, DNC lying and warmongering team is INFINITELY more dangerous.
The first ‘Big Lie’ is Socialism’ - and we know the bigger lie, and soon enough, that follows. Leftist ‘isms’ are a ‘Theft of Humanity’. Sooner or later…’too late smart’ seals the crime.
Hi C.T. -- Many believe that socialism is the future for humanity !!
That is why the imperial US imposes genocidal sanctions and endless regime change wars against populations of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and literally countless other countries -- including the infamous "Jakarta Method" terror and massacres.
“Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared St. Obama formally initiating regime change.
What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, Libya, China…..
“China’s emergence over the past four decades ranks as the biggest and longest-run economic boom in history. Its annual gross domestic product rose from a mere $191 B, or $195 per capita, in 1980 to $14.3 T, or $10,261 per capita, in 2019.
It has raised more than 770m people from poverty and transformed the Chinese economy into a high-tech powerhouse that is on course to eclipse America’s in size. This transformation is the landmark achievement of the Chinese Communist party, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday.”
This is an error of underestimating your (now) enemy's resolve with potentially deadly consequences for all of us.
There are no good outcomes now, only less horrible ones. And frankly, Russia getting its way here may be the least horrible one. Anyone who thinks Western forces can come into contact with Russian forces without it spiraling out of control is the worst kind of fool.
Words cannot express how despondent I am over the state of this country. The nation is being lead by liars, hypocrites, thieves, ignoramuses and sociopaths.
Follow the money. Who benefits from beating the war drums? The simplest answer is usually the correct one:
1. the defense industry, with deep ties to sitting Congressmen and Senators
2. the anti-Trump proponents of "Russian collusion"
Both of these groups have a vested interest in keeping the anti-Russia narrative alive. Obviously, Putin now gives them plenty of ammunition, but a nuanced look at Russian history and motivations for the incursion into Ukraine suggests a slightly different story.
In reality, the Russians for years have been warning against Ukraine's cozying up to Nato. The eastern provinces that wish to rejoin Russia also have been a strong irritant in Ukraine-Russian relations. Ukraine would have been wiser to negotiate some kind of autonomy deal for the predominantly Russian speaking provinces, and also offer neutrality from Nato, in exchange for the cheap Russian oil and gas which was cut off a few years ago much to Ukraine's detriment.
Then there is China, opportunistically signing a long term contract with Russia for oil and gas and wheat purchases, completely substituting for any boycotts now being contemplated in the West. As a result, Russia becomes effectively owned by China and the two vast countries now present a geo-political challenge to a weak, vacillating United States currently governed by a senile man. (Arguably, the White House is currently being run by a mediocre woman with a Ph.D. in community college education who has zero knowledge of statecraft. One supposes the President's son is continuing to exploit international contacts for personal gain, with complete impunity and lack of scrutiny from a compliant mainstream media.)
Even here, on Substack, one notices an emotional and irrational response to any suggestion that the Russians may have rational motivations for what they are doing. "Putin is evil, Putin is the new Hitler!" they bray. Of course U.S. politicians do this; 20 years ago it was Bin Laden, then Saddam. Then most recently, Donald Trump. And now, Putin. Nothing ever changes. And ignorant, naive Americans will be duped into possibly entering a conflict that could easily end in an unthinkable nuclear war.
If America had kept it's promise to the Russians when the Berlin wall came down there would not have been any further extension of NATO, and we wouldn't be here now. If the neo-conservatives during the Obama administration hadn't supported a bunch of neo-nazis, and the ultra-right in Ukraine to generate a coup we wouldn't be here now. There is a strong validity to how Russia perceives Ukraine, and that is, it's corrupt, and by the standards of many the most corrupt state in Europe and the 9th most corrupt state in the world. It's people are impoverished, and although the neo-nazi's and ultra right hold no political office in the country they do engage in many acts of violence and are supported by the police. Those in the Donbass region have lost 14,000 lives because of these right wing nationalist who believe only those of Ukrainian descent should live on this land. There position is quite similar to the neo-nazi's in Ukraine during WWII who helped in Hitler's extermination pograms. Putin's stated goal is to remove the ultra-right and neo-nazis.
Some of this is consistent with some memory I have of the history of the region. However I would love to see some articles to support these points. Do you have any recommendations?
Consortium news has posted a number of Robert Parry's articles he wrote during the American backed Ukrainian coup which was instigated by the US. He was a favorite of mine and his death in 2018 was extremely sad. He broke the Iran Contra Affair. The Gray-Zone has a video of Max Blumenthal interviewing an American who has lived in the Donbass region for many years which is very informative.
Oliver Stone produced a pretty good documentary on the US State Department-backed 2014 coup in Ukraine that led to this situation. You can see it here:
Saw it when it originally came out and watched it recently. A neocon led agenda under the Obama administration who never seemed able to put a stop on members of his own party, or the neocons who were war mongers like Clinton and Nuland. Too many are too forgiving of his shortcomings in this regard.
Kinzinger openly proved that he is dangerous and unhinged…
…his demented aggression against President Trump shows he’s an Intelligence State plant
It's not just that idiot Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. Mitt Romney went out of his way today to impugn the motives and loyalty of the few Republican politicians who have had the spine and integrity to stand against the War Machine propaganda, by claiming to do so was borderline treason. His reasoning (sic)? "(Putin) imprisons his political opponents" Um, Mitt, you mean like Ed Snowden? Like Julian Assange? Like *many* of the participants in 1/6 who committed misdemeanors (at worst) in the course of exercising their 1st Amendment rights?
Mitt wants to change his name to Pierre Delecto. Please respect his preferences.
Trump's refusal to pardon heroes Snowden & Assange (without Julian he never would've been president), and the unarmed 1/6 "insurrectionists" he helped lure into entrapment by refusing to discredit the Q psyops, and his refusal to lift a finger to help them -- too busy pardoning bank robbers, drug dealers, celebs & toadies -- are among the key reasons I no longer support him.
Trump loves and cares for Trump. That's the list.
And no wall!
No one ever accused Romney of being a team player.
Mitt Romney is directly controlled by the Intelligence State…his previous CIA Handler, Cofer Black, was sent to Ukraine to manage gas and oil from the “Hunter seat” on the Burisma BOT…
The more I hear about this, the more it follows the biden*/Intelligence State pysop against President Trump…
We continue to purchase Russian fossil fuels during a major World Conflict (War?) and apparently State Dept and CIA are supporting “gain of function” Bioweapons experiments all around the World
" Um, Mitt, you mean like Ed Snowden? Like Julian Assange? Like *many* of the participants in 1/6 who committed misdemeanors (at worst) in the course of exercising their 1st Amendment rights?"
Like a truly astonishing 2.3 million in prison, and millions more some kind of limited release. More than any country in history, by rate and by sheer numbers. More than Stalin. Most of them POCs. More men are raped in US prisons than women living in the community. That's actually considered "funny". Soap jokes are perfectly fine at twitter. But don't use the wrong pronoun!
I always thought Mitt Romney purposely tanked the 2012 election. Doesn't he sound even more now like a Democrat asset?
I barely noticed that he was even running. But no matter, the wars, the wealth transfer, and unconditional love for Israel is something 'both' sides agree on and always will.
Whether you like it or not, Assange and Snowden aren't imprisoned, they are being sought to try them in a court of law. The problem with them is that Assange is the press who simply released information given him, the government wants to try him for complicity in the accessing of the data, and Snowden blew the whistle on unconstitutional and illegal government surveillance of American citizens.
Assange isn’t in prison? He’ll be thrilled to hear that.
See my response below.
Dissembling drivel.
I know you are.
Assange is a political prisoner, in prison, without trial. The "problem" with Assange is he embarrassed and exposed the corrupt Clintons, the corrupt Military Industrial Complex, and the treasonous Deep State. He's more American than all of his enemies combined.
Not yet. He exposed war crimes.
Split hairs much? Assange is imprisoned in the UK, which the US has frantically begged for his extradition so that he can be sent to the lovely island vacation resort of Guantanamo. Snowden is in exile in Russia; the moment he sets foot outside its borders, he will be arrested by US agents and summarily imprisoned. Did you have anything of substance to contribute, or are you just one of the puerile nitwits who lurks here only to find opportunities to nitpick others? Your post is at least as vulnerable to critical parsing: given the context (do you know what that is?) of my comment, why would I not "like it" if Snowden and/or Assange were truly at liberty?
The technicality is that he hasn't stood trial. He's not been found guilty.
So, in your fantasy world, imprisonment of an individual only ever occurs after formal indictment and trial resulting in a guilty verdict? Is this some universe created by Doug Adams? Do you need a link to the Merriam-Webster or Oxford dictionary sited to improve your mastery of the term? I would also refer you to that little vacation paradise the US maintains in Cuban territory for definitive counter-examples.
In the real world he hasn't been tried.
Fuck you’re stupid.
Pardon us if, considering what all these two people have been through, we’re unmoved by “Well, actually…”
Fuck, you're stupid.
C'mon Biss, How can you be so fucking stupid.
Assange is in prison in the UK, that he hasn't been given a fair trial makes it even more reprehinsible.
He's in PRISON without trial, which is even worse. In any case, he's IN PRISON. A political PRISONER.
He's appealed his extradiction: https://londondaily.com/assange-extradition-appeal-lawyers-cite-new-claims-of-cia-plot-to-harm-him. He's not a political prisoner yet.
"court of law"
Where do they have those?
Swalwell just comes across as simply, 'thick'.
I don't know if Swalwell is figuratively in bed with the Chinese, but as for literally, well...
Right but Michael Flynn was a traitor for doing a phone call with foreigners.
After all, America did have a big hand in lifting China to the height they now enjoy.
BS. China is next on the regime change list.
BS. Xi is on Joe's blow job list.
Joe's sexual and financial peculiarities notwithstanding, he doesn't run the show. The oligarchy's deep state apparatus puts up with that shit as long as he remains a useful tool. Hey, Useful Tool - good name for a band.
To me, it's funny how US politicians and the corporate media is making it sound like China is the bad guy. When in fact, the multinational corporations (US big business decades ago) built up China's economy and most US politicians sat back, took their contributions (bribes and kickbacks), and allowed it to happen. Here's a timeline of my conspiracy theory.
1972 Future CIA director Poppy (closet neocon) becomes a liaison to China
1976 Poppy becomes CIA director
1976 Mao dies
1978 Xiaoping becomes de facto leader of China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping
1978 Xiaoping is the "General Architect" of economic reform
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping
1978 China opens up large scale production for a global market
https://www.learningfromchina.net/deng-xiaoping-the-worlds-greatest-economist/
1989 President Bush invites Xiaoping to the W.H.
Now I know Poppy claimed he wasn't a neocon, and the corporate media has painted him that way too, but look who he surrounded himself with: Cheeney, Rumsfeld, Dubya, Jeb, etc.
"Read my lips..."
China and Russia are now a unity, and they are united against America. America insisted on that. It took decades of idiotic policies, but here we are.
Yup. So said George Soros so then it will be. The Mad Hatter is on it again.
"biden'" is clearly mental. He is not in charge.
Who is?
I sure hope so.
You are merely spreading the idiocy that one can't hate China enough -- are you practicing Falun Gong lunatic "religion"?
Swalwell, rather Swallowwell cannot swallow his own ego, but he can swallow Fang Fang's juices. Gives a new definition of fucking with the enemy.
I said much the same thing in a reply to a Powerline comment, got me BANNED. Seems to have been for life too, I've tried a couple of times to get back there but denied every time....
Thanks for pointing that out...here I thought one could blast a habitual liar and hypocrite like that as I'm neither on Facebook or Twitter.
Neither am I (though I admit I had an account with each for a short time years ago) yet that one post seems to have touched a nerve @ Discus 'cause now I'm PNG whether I use the same or another e-mail address. Appears to be tied to my IP account provider, not just Powerline Blog's comments rules. Maybe time for a VPN...
Was my comment juvenile? Yes.
Is is embarrassing? Slightly.
Would I take it back? No.
Does Swalwell deserve more? Hell yes.
He should go back to pole dancing at a gay strip club
You are insulting gay strippers.
As “thick” as the great walls of China.
Swalwell is a Russiagate dunce, with an IQ of 53, last I checked.
And the word "Intelligence" is amusing in connection with Kinzinger.
As is the notion that Adam's looking to join a "Think Tank". LOL.
Would mommy be putting Adam on a short bus to work every day?
Kinsiger is retiring and anything he says is meaningless.
Dangerously meaningless…
…an angry lame duck when cornered is dangerous
He'll be on CNN or MSNBC as one of the talking heads.
Him and Cheney will both be 'political analysts' for CNN 10 minutes after they're out of office.
He has the IQ of a “plant”!!
You are insulting plants.
On the other hand, Illinois lost a Congressional seat due to the census, and the Dem super majority that controls gerryman, er, redistricting, did away with his spot. He may be just auditioning for a job at a Think Tank, or something. Which is NO excuse for WWIII.
Kinsinger at a THINK tank? LOL.
Maybe he'll sign up with the Podestas' Center for American Progress. Tony & John are from Chicago after all, Like Rahm & his brother, Barry Sotero too if memory serves.
Seems like Tony Rezko had something to do with BO coming to Chicago. Maybe not the only thing. Of course, B. Ayers and B. Dohrn live there, too.
Kinzinger is such a fringe figure in the Republican Party – he’s retiring at the end of the year – that I don’t know why Glenn even bothers to talk about him.
He's hardly fringe at this point. Many "Rs" are humping the war drums now, as they were before the invasion of Iraq. His & Cheney's corrupt inbred POV may be rehabbed.
So true, so sad.
This beloved Republic of ours needs serious structural repairs and they need to be done soon, before the statue-toppling generation takes full reigns.
He gets disproportionate MSM attention and airtime due to his status as an "anti Trump Republican," just like the Rep from Wyoming whose daddy was VP.
His retirement is far from voluntary. He has been gerrymandered out of a seat that would have been a challenge to restrain had his district not been redrawn.
Well you know Illinois is such a fine state and has never had a single shred of corruption even in downtown Chicago, amidst the Republicans like in Chicago Heights I mean clearly he is continuing the tradition of fine, upstanding work done by IL politicians.
Pete, I agree totalluy about Kinzinger, he looks like a mad zombie in the photo above.
\\][//
To be vehemently prowar and anti trump is indeed suspect.
PRESIDENT TRUMP!(drink)
Why must you always be a sandy little butthole, Comrade?
Plus the DemComs' massive pfuck ups and weakness over the last 2 years are massive smoke signals that encouraged Putin's aggression. I'm no Trump fan anymore, but this would not be happening under Trump.
What did Trump do wrong?
My main complaint with Trump pre-CCP-19 was the continuing deficit. After it hit, I initially thought he was a moron for not sacking Fauci, only to later learn of the corrupt barging between Fauci and other pharmacrats that if one of them was fired, the rest would resign in a publicity stunt intended to sack Trump. Now we know that Daszak, Fauci and Collins shot down the Lab Leak theory and those who opposed lockdowns, it shows just how large and rotten the swamp is.
I likewise thought he was a moron for not pardoning Assange and Snowden, however as the Durham investigation has revealed, you had DNC tools hacking into the personal correspondence of 'the office of the president of the United States'. What threats they used against him and his family I do not know, but it explains why he acted as he did.
His impulsiveness didn't help with anything either, and now that time is passing, the lack of aid given to the 1/6 defendants is sickening. Now the same swamp rats that had spied on him could be holding a sword over his head, I don't know, all I know is that it makes him look very bad.
Trump did not get much support, especially from people he appointed, in his attempt to clean the 'swamp.'
Are you serious?
Yes, please specify
Not until you tell me at least one thing you think he did wrong. If you can't do that, I doubt you're for real, and I'm no gopher.
?
* Massive corruption - The Bidens took $BILLIONS in bribes from Ukraine & China
* Hysterical lockdowns bankrupting millions of businesses, driving people into poverty and homelessness while benefiting big businesses like Amazon & Walmart
* Forced injections
* Painful inflation
* Labeling parents who complain at school board meetings "terrorists" and having FBI and "Homeland Security" investigate and arrest them
* The idiotic way he fled Afghanistan, leaving Americans and tens of $Billions in arms behind
* A sensitive tranny military
* Dishonorable discharges for soldiers who refuse forced injection
* Stoking racism and hate through "critical race theory" and backing racist groups like Black Lives Matter
* Crushing domestic oil production, jobs and independence and driving up gasoline prices, which also shoves $Billions into Putin's pocket
You think Putin missed any of those signals of weakness?
Good points on the whole, but I think the immediate signal to Putin that Biden put the German economy above Ukrainian independence was removing the sanctions on the Nordstream 2 pipeline. And perhaps even more when administration allies in the Senate turned back an effort by Republicans and some Democrats to restore the sanctions.
In diplomacy, actions speak louder than words.
While I despise Brandon, I think American hubris is a disgusting sign of its imperial designs and anti-democratic stance. We have no right telling Germany who they must buy their gas from.
By pointing this out you have now “openly supported Putin”…
…what a dangerous evil narrative that is /s
Really, Comrade? Is that what I did? Oops. forgot the /s
To the soft left, they are signs of mercy and peace and forgiveness… not weakness.
Like phony Christians who misinterpret Christ: "Spread the other cheek."
Once a nuclear war between nato and russia has started, the pooling numbers for the midterms will be the most important thing to watch.
My empirical observations are that on social media you cannot have a rational conversation about Ukraine without being attacked as a traitor.
In Europe, especially in former communist countries, the anti-Russian sentiment is so strong that again no rational debate is available.
In the UK, until the invasion, surprisingly most people could see the nuances in the whole situation. Even those who would get triggered over discussing lockdowns or lab leaks were willing to have a good, civilised debate.
Since the invasion, there has been a split in the anti-lockdown group. Those that didn't believe in lockdowns due to their critical thinking are still able to rationally discuss. Those who opposed lockdowns, purely because of their libertarian leanings are now firmly in the Putin is an evil madman, no discussion camp.
https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words-e05/comments?utm_source=url
It's interesting that adults when it comes to political issues adopt such black and white thinking on issues, and become so vulnerable to propaganda. There was a significant amount of evidence before the Iraq war that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, and much of what Bush/Cheney was spewing were lies, but of course he was supported on both sides of the political isle and backed by a complicit press that supported those lies. However even after the war, many years after, when it was shown no such weapons existed, I would still here people rationalize our invasion by saying he got rid of the weapons of mass destruction before the war. Perhaps they were unable to acknowledge the US engaging in a lie of a war that killed, injured and displaced so many, and they bought the lie which in a way made them complicit.
He did pursue weapons of mass destruction during the First Iraq War. We found and dismantled his nuclear weapons lab.
That he was pursuing WMDs earlier and viewing international inspection before the second war as part of a “who has the biggest dick” competition… if you let the inspectors in, you have shown your neighbors you have no dick… suggested to me that he could have been pursuing them. Qadaffi did let the inspectors in in that time frame.
There were no weapons of mass destruction which was used as a pretext for war in Iraq. All those accusations along with those aluminum tubes were BS. We wanted to take him out along with other middle eastern countries that were on the agenda of people like Cheney for a long time. Just look at our wars, many wars in the middle east. None can be justified, including our sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia to slaughter the people of Yemen. Look at all the covert activity carried out by the CIA that killed some 6 million people even before our wars in the middle east began. We complain endlessly about Iran but we overturned Mohammad Mosaddegh back in the 1950's, a democratically elected president. Let's not forget In August 1964, the United States entered the Vietnam War after reports of an unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. But the reports were false — and Johnson knew it.
The worse part was, President Bush made a comedy routine out of the search for WMD.
I remember, those WMD have to be somewhere. I can't stand him, or Cheney.
Damn system won't let me like your comment, but yes this little comedy made it so blatant that they had zero, zero respect for the American people.
That's an appealing narrative; too bad it's false. ABC News interviewed Saddam's FBI debiefer, and the upshot was that Iraq ran the most successful deception campaign since the XX Committee during World War II. Saddam was convinced that the only way to prevent Iran invading him was to convince Iran that he had WMD. The French and the Russians assured him that he could do this without risk, because between them they could control the idiot Bush.
Oops.
Qaddafi gave up his nine WMD sites — of which four were unknown to the international community — a couple of weeks after Saddam Hussein was captured in Iraq. Though the usual suspects insist that was only an amazing coincidence!
When Saddam Hussein was left in power at the end of the first Gulf War, he became convinced that the US wanted him in power, and from that point on ignored all the bellicose rhetoric. Just as Putin ignored the rhetoric from the Biden administration and paid attention to its giving its imprimatur to his pipeline bypassing Ukraine.
Your first paragraph is correct, the second incorrect. Inspectors were inspecting Iraq but not close to finished (it's a big country, as the US learned when trying to control it) when Bush decided, "Enough" and attacked. Not unlike the 2000 election when they were counting votes in Florida.
The inspectors said there was no WMD. Blix, Ritter.
As far as they had checked they had found no WMD, correct. They just wanted to finish their job. Hans Blix was my fucking hero speaking out about how he was not able to finish his job.
Kinzinger will say or do anything for his 15 min. & MSM uses him like the corrupt stooge he is!
Media loves an anti- Trump Republican, and the anti-Trump Republicans love the media praise. Romney goes on TV to pontificate to the same people who in 2012 called him racist, a teenage bully, a dog abuser, and who ate up "the 80s called, they want their foreign policy back."
What of us libertarians who used our critical thinking skills to determine that lockdowns were not needed?
Nan, you don't have to be a libertarian to know evil when you see it.
Mitt Romney has called out Americans who support Russian president Vladimir Putin as being “almost treasonous” “How anybody in this country, which loves freedom, can side with Vladimir Putin, who is an oppressor, a dictator, he kills people, he imprisons his political opponents, he has been an adversary of America at every chance he’s had, it’s unthinkable to me, it’s almost treasonous,” he told host Dana Bash. Maybe poor Romney has lost a bit, or big bit of his memory and has forgotten our many wars that killed and displaced millions of people, imprisoned people in black sites, and in Guantanomo where they were tortured. If he doesn't have dementia he''s a hypocritical SOB.
Like Glenn so eloquently said in this article, if you question any action the US takes in response to Russia’s actions, you are a de-facto supporter of Putin. Nuance is not allowed. Resistance to the government line is treason.
Those who opposed lockdowns, purely because of their libertarian leanings are now firmly in the Putin is an evil madman, no discussion camp.
----------
?!?!?!?!?
It is never wise to categorize people and to assume that you know what they think. Dr. Rand Paul is a libertarian. Has he gone on record as saying that Putin is an evil madman? I am a libertarian with no interest in Ukraine. Cannabis should not be a Schedule 1 drug. Oops. Did my mind just wander?
I agree, its not wise to categorise people but I like to look for patterns.
Fractals Rock.
My browser still shows 3 of your comments and none of mine. No idea what to do. I remember our conversation, but this one is, although frustrating, more pleasant.
I didn't phrase that very well. There are a group of anti lockdowners who opposed them because of their love of freedom but as soon as a different divisive issue crops up, that doesn't involve their liberties, they lose their critical thinking abilities.
If so, that is beyond sad.
Of course anti-Russian sentiment is high in European countries formally ruled by the Russian-dominated USSR. For the same reason anti-Nazi sentiment is high among Jews. In those countries, the Soviets killed millions of people, so that nearly every family can remember a relative or relatives they killed.
In fact, the Russians killed my mother’s father. He was a high school teacher; his crime was lending pre-revolutionary books to some of his students. He was put to death; his students went to Siberia for long terms (except for the informer).
I would think anti-Nazi sentiment would be high among Jews, and they are, except for people like Nuland, Jewish, and neocons in general who during the Obama administration instigated a coup against it's elected government and used a bunch of neo-nazi's to do it. The ultra right and these neo-nazi groups to this day continue to extol the virtues of those who assisted Hitler in the extermination of the Jews and Poles.
"Ultra right" is not related to "neo-nazis". Nazis were and are on the left, just not as far left as the Communists. Nazi after all means National Socialist. They acted like socialists, taking over massive amounts of the economy. Hitler never said "I am concerned that our government is too large and will slash our spending by 25% by the end of my 5-year term" or "Our military is much too big and I will cut the number of people conscripted by 33% over the next 3 years." He did the exact opposite.
I'll believe you when hundreds of them don't get together and celebrate Bandera and erect statues of him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mfv2M9q8vc
Max Blumenthal and "Texas" Bentley in Donetsk.
https://vimeo.com/252426896 Ukraine on Fire. This was really interesting which I watched a while back, or perhaps you have seen it already.
To give you some idea of whether the Nazis thought of Stepan Bandera as a friend, he spent most of the war locked up in a Nazi concentration camp! They let him out only when they got really desperate, towards the end.
Like some of our Founding Fathers, Bandera is an ambiguous figure. Jews were part of his organization at various times; while at other times his organization was accused of atrocities against Jews. Nazi-hunters seem to have decided against pursuing him; he was murdered in 1959 by famed KGB assassin, Bohdan Stashynsky.
At some point you’d think common sense would take hold, and one would take stories about Jews supporting neo-Nazis with a grain or two of salt.
In reality, European neo-Nazis like Putin, for crushing Muslims and suppressing homosexuals. They see him as the Defender of the White Race. (Some ultra-right Christians see him as Defender of the Faith.)
On the other hand, Nazis do not see Ukraine’s Jewish President as the Defender of the White Race.
In reality, the Maidan movement that toppled the Russian puppet President of Ukraine was a mass movement of the Ukrainian people, against a traitor who had left Ukraine militarily helpless while looting the country.
Nuland is Jewish and so his her husband, Kagan, as well as other neocons who supported the overthrow of this government which is what I was referencing, and I did so because I thought it was disgusting when they used a bunch of neo nazi's to bring down the elected regime. I didn't make a blanketed statement about the Jewish people in general. Putin is not a neo-nazi!!!!!!!!!!! 25 million Russian lives lost in WWII to bring down Hitler. No Taras, he is in Ukraine because those ultra right wingers and neo nazi's who believe Ukraine should be pure and a place where only Ukranians reside have killed thousands of ethnic Russians, especially the separatist in the Donbass region. Well, in terms of Ukraines poverty no doubt there was lots of corruption but now it is considered the most corrupt government in all of Europe.
According to you, “ultra right wingers and neo nazi's” elected a Jewish President of Ukraine in 2019. Can’t you see the absurdity of that? For reasons I previously mentioned, Putin really is the darling of European neo-Nazis and ultra-rightists.
Ukrainians and Russians are two closely related branches of the Slavic family. Nobody thinks of them as different races. The argument between them in Ukraine is about what language the government uses. The Ukrainian government is trying to bring back the Ukrainian language, the use of which Russian overlords had spent centuries trying to discourage.
I guess you’ve forgotten, or never knew, that Germany and Russia started World War II as allies, with Germany attacking Poland from the west and Russia attacking Poland from the east. Stalin was so enamored of his partnership with Hitler that he refused to believe his own spies, when they warned him that Germany was about to turn on him.
So the Soviets lost a great many lives in the war they helped Hitler start. It didn’t help that, just before the war, Stalin had executed all of the Red Army’s experienced commanders in his Great Purge, seeing them as potential rivals. The new commanders spent the lives of Soviet soldiers like water, because if they didn’t they would be suspected of lacking in zeal and purged in their turn.
Ha, ha, ha, you're kidding, right?
Basically, Maidan was 1/6 with the assistance of the State Department and CIA.
1/6 was a clown show. Without incredible incompetence by the Capitol Police, none of those (unarmed) cretins and yahoos would have gotten inside the building.
Incompetence? They literally let them in.
Hey, I find that analysis flawed. As a person with strong libertarian convictions, it is my libertarian intellectual leaders that opened my eyes to the lies the state uses to manipulate people into supporting war, as well as educate me about the horrors that war brings.
The issue here is that nobody seems to remember history, pre- and post the fall of the Soviet Union. Where is among others "Partnership for Peace"? Who remembers all the sanctions imposed on Russia since the late 90ies? Alienation has gone rampant in the US as well as Europe. Over time this does somethi g to perception of reality, both here and there. Like Russia or not. The point is that they have enough WMDs to obliterate us all. Deal with that reality. Ukraina is a 'nothing' for the West and certainly nothing to start a war over like none seen before. On the contrary. get this nonsense stopped and encourage trade and interdependency. That secures peace and also will gradually change regime structures. i know. it's a lot of 'kumbaya' but there has to some of that as well to clear the madness.
What I can’t get over with is BBC’s slide to becoming the CNN
I liked that video of the car stopping next to an out-of-fuel-tank. Plausible enough to be true and showing the human side of war. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-tank-fuel-russia-kyiv-b2024003.html
Glenn, I am a new subscriber and thank you for your insightful writing.
In this article you state: “Having the U.S. risk global nuclear annihilation over Ukraine is an indescribably insane view”
There are I believe two suppositions that underlie this opinion. Firstly, if we accept this is true for Ukraine, will it not also be true for an invasion of one or all of the Baltic States, or Poland - despite the written agreements in place?
Secondly: is the US really threatened by the Russian ballistic missiles? We have already seen the vaunted Russian war machine get bogged down and that weakness may also be true of its missile capabilities. Is there an effective US
anti-ballistic defense? Or a quick response that could quickly eliminate threats to the US continent?
My view is the world is at a tipping point. We all know where appeasement ends.
You'd think we would have learned from the War On Iraq.
Seems we didn't.
The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history... Bismarck
Perhaps the greatest leader of Germany of all time. How far that country has fallen....not only for WWI and WWII/Hitler, but right now. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times....I don't know what goes there other than the fool is an undisputed idiot.
Technology has improved exponentially but people from the driver's on the streets to the leadership at the highest levels, not so much. It's hard not to sound like an old fart which I am but nothing seems to work anymore in the Western world. Strangely, things DO seem to work in China. That doesn't portent well and it's not sustainable.
Because China is perusing unity. The west as a whole is perusing division, whether through the Oppression Olympics and intersexuality.
Well, Communist China for one thing has a million people in concentration camps, and it has extreme control over where all of the people can be. It has a collapsing population (it would have gone down in 2021 but they "found" 12 million women who were not registered due to the 1-child policy and the strong preference for male children). The UN in its decennial population report for 2010 stated than China was missing 66 million women; as just pointed out, some of them were born but not registered, but most were killed due to the 1-child policy. If China cannot get its fertility rate up to 2.2 from the 1.7 it has had for decades, its population will be half of what it is now by 2100, going from 1.4 billion to 750 million.
One impact of the lack of women is that many men cannot marry.
There are more than 50 million vacant apartments in China due to no families being available to live in them.
That is definitely not sustainable.
I'd forgotten that one. Excellent.
"Those who speak of Europe are mistaken, it is a geographic term." Bismarck
Ukrain is not Iraq! It’s a democratic country. Well not for much longer.
I lived there much of my adult life, although I am not Russian or Ukrainian.
I would hardly call Ukraine a "democracy ".
Even Freedom House, a US government cutout, rates Ukraine as "partly free" which is like getting a lukewarm letter of recommendation from your own mother.
It's a good enough democracy, certainly better than that one ruled by the same guy for 21 years.
So that must be why the current regime took power in a coup and are banning opposition media and accusing opposition politicians of "treason"..
There was nothing wrong with the last election, and there is nothing wrong with their Jewish leader today.
You can read an attack article on him in the NYT right now ("The Comedian-Turned-President Is Seriously in Over His Head") written by the chief editor of The Kyiv Independent.
Nobody is banned there.
Rather than pick apart your comment in detail or provide a list of the thoughtcrimes under the regime, Google the words "ban opposition media kiev" and find reporting from, for example, Deutsche Welle
Ukraine is a US client state and is NOT a democracy.
A democracy...haaaaaaa! There's never been a democracy in the history of the world and the Ukraine ain't even in the ball park.
🤣
Once upon a time there was a dictator who claimed the right to protect all populations who spoke the same language he did. At first he only demanded small slices of neighboring countries containing his people. Then he built up to whole countries. Eventually, his demands led to a World War.
We've seen this pattern of behavior before. Hitler claimed the right to protect all German speakers. At Munich, Hitler got Czechoslovakia, to secure "Peace in our time." It didn't work.
Putin claims the right to protect all Russian speakers in Ukraine, even if they don't want to be protected. If the anexation of Ukraine is allowed to stand, it creats a destabilizing precedent for the whole world. No borders will be stable anymore.
The Ukrainians are willing to fight. We should provide the tools. The Biden Administration stupidly didn't provide enough weapons before the war started. The Germans didn't provide any weapons. If it's possible, we should try to correct this mistake.
There is no need for NATO troops to enter Ukraine. Only NATO weapons. With the long history of Soviet support for insurgencies that fought US troops, they can hardly object to us supporting Ukraine against them.
I think Putin is bluffing with nuclear weapons. I think if Putin gives that order, his own people will remove him from office.
Haven't you heard of "RFP"? It's a favorite American pretext for war.
Anyway, you better hope that Putin is bluffing. It seems a rather absurd risk to run, all so we can play "mine is bigger than yours", especially as it's not as if our nuclear arsenal goes away if we don't use it real soon.
That said, a friend of mine who did a few tours in Iraq comments that the Russian military has taken a remarkably light touch, at least so far. Notice how they have attack military infrastructure only; they haven't touched TV stations, radio, the electrical grid, water or sewage systems, or any of the other things that a typical invader destroys on Day One.
For that matter, the Russians haven't bulldozed their way into Kiev or Mariupol with massive, block-flattening barrages, airstrikes, or MLRS salvoes. Contrast photos of Kiev with those of Mosul or, for that matter, Grozny in 1998.
Over the past few days as I was flipping through channels watching the coverage, I immediately noticed that every station was reporting in an extremely dramatic fashion. Breathless commentary, vivid videos playing on a never ending loop of the same incident, and even dramatic music playing as a background to the pictures of explosions. War gets ratings. War makes money for the news outlets. As Glenn said, War allows the media to label anyone as a traitor if they have the “wrong” viewpoint. Don’t dare question anything. Including the fact that Ukraine was known for its corruption and bribery. Ask Hunter Biden. And Joe Biden. And Jim Biden. I don’t want Russia to take over Ukraine. I don’t want war there. And I definitely don’t want our troops anywhere near there. But don’t call me a traitor because of it.
I switched to Fox News from CNN because I couldn't take the hysterics. Now I'm down to just watching Tucker Carlson because I can't take the warmongering and hysteria. It's worse than COVID, and I didn't think anything could be worse than COVID, but here we are. The same people who never learn, well, never learn.
With the exception of Tucker Carlson, all of FOX News has jumped on the pro-war bandwagon. I used to frequently post and repost on gettr.com; but that site has turned as vicious and angry as CNN and MSNBC. It looks like we're in for it.
Why I'm glad I get my information from Carlson and Greenwald.
.So nauseating how unfair the U.S. main stream media was in covering the Bush administrations war in Iraq, the devastating outcomes for the people of Iraq..Afghanistan. Obama and HIllary's interventions in Libya, Syria. Deadly consequences.
Within 48 hours CNN, MSNBC, etc had their lower "ticker tape/crawler" across the bottom of TV screen announcing the people who have been killed (at that point 138), injured, and we are repeatedly hearing now 500,000 people are now classified as refugees. All should be reported. However, never happened when it came to reporting or mostly NOT REPORTING about the people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria killed, injured displaced by the Bush administrations ""chosen and unnecessary" invasion of Iraq Afghanistan, Obama Hillary's interventions in Libya,Syria. The U.S. military just does not count who they kill, injure, displace. So telling about our government, military, media outlets and essentially the American people. They generally just do not care.
Finally, a news outlet calls serious attention to this horrible deadly standard
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/27/western-media-coverage-ukraine-russia-invasion-criticism
With in
Yeah, I saw the myth of the two cargo transports shot down on Fox of all places.
And Hannity was the one with the dramatic music behind the video of explosions. Come on. I hate that shit.
I'm glad I never had much use for Hannity given his extreme partisanship. For those who do well...that worries me. What the hell is going on.
Just had it out with an acquaintance.
He said, "Fuck Putin. Bring on WW3." I advised him to sign up his children to fight, and failing that, go fight himself. Of course, this brought great offense.
If you're new the anti-war fight, keep that question in your toolkit. It's a powerful one.
Makes me think of the motto of the draftees for Vietnam:
"We the unlucky, lead by the unqualified to do the unnecessary for the ungrateful."
These people who say 'Bring WWIII and let someone else fight it' are both unqualified, requesting the unnecessary and are ungrateful for the service of others.
So powerful and sadly accurate. Before the invasion of Iraq, besides protesting in Ohio, D.C., New York, lobbying Reps, organizing buses from Athens Ohio to D.C. to protest and lobby Reps to stand against the invasion, went into the small towns of southeastern Ohio, Glouster, Trimble, Chauncey and went to Moose Lodges, V.F.W.'s etc talking with WWII, Korean and Vietnam Vets. So many were against the invasion, couple of old WWII and Korean Vets wept as they shared how horrible it was to send mostly young men into completely unnecessary wars. Wish I had taped but the strong words against and memories of them talking and tears rolling down their wrinkled faces will always be in my mind.
It should be mandatory for law makers to send their children and relatives first
I find these comments by Thierry Meyssan helpful to understand what's going on in Ukraine:
"A few hours ago the Russian army conducted airstrikes against the sector of the Ukrainian armed forces that is linked to NATO. In 3 hours, the Russian army wiped out the entire Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses and will continue its operation by next attacking the Azov battalion and all the Nazi officials that the United States and the United Kingdom introduced into the Ukrainian government.
This should be good news for everyone, but here, in France, this operation is being portrayed as an invasion against Ukraine and as the forthcoming arrival of the Russian bear in Paris. So don’t be fooled. because there are very important elements that we are not being told.
Only those aspects referring directly to Ukraine are reported on, but the general context is overlooked. And that context proves Russia right, as I am going to explain to you.
In October, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, traveled to Russia and, in Moscow, she threatened to crush the Russian economy and demanded the resignation of President Vladimir Putin. But you never heard about it. Look it up online. It is very easy to verify.
Later, [Victoria Nuland] went to Ukraine and ushered in Dimitro Yarosh, a NATO agent renowned for having set up – in 2007– the great Mariupol meeting [in Ukraine] bringing together European Nazi organizations and jihadists from all parts to go to fight against Russia in Chechnya. It was the same Dimitro Yarosh who – in 2014 – backed by his troops from the Right Sector [Pravy Sektor], organized the Maidan Square events and the “regime change” in Ukraine. He was later injured and disappeared for a while. Now he’s back.
So [Victoria Nuland] installed Dimitro Yarosh as special adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army [1], who is a perfectly democratic and normal man, but now he has been flanked by this character [Dimitro Yarosh]. And now this character has incorporated the Azov battalion – which is a truly Nazi group, with Nazi insignia and everything and which is led by the “White Fuhrer” [Andrey Biletsky] [2] – into the Ukrainian army.
This is news that should have come as a shock to all of us ... but the media in France never reported on it.
So the Russians planned their response.
In December, they sent the United States a draft proposal for a treaty aiming to guarantee peace. Therein, the United States is urged to respect International Law, as it was elaborated over time, first by the government of France and the imperial government of the Russian Tsar – in 1899, at the Hague Conference – and later formulated in the United Nations Charter –in 1945– and by the Third World countries –in 1955, with the Bandung Principles.
This treaty is obviously unacceptable to the United States because for 70 years the United States has violated International Law on a daily basis and pretends to substitute it with a set of rules of its own, self-proclaiming, along with its allies, to stand for the “international community”. Well... [those countries] are not even half of the world’s population but they claim to run the world.
The Russians are calling first and foremost for NATO to withdraw from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which should never have joined that bloc if the Potsdam Conference agreements had been respected – in 1945, at the end of World War II – which stipulated that US forces could only establish a presence west of the Oder-Neisse border, which separates Poland and Germany. Later, at the time of Germany’s reunification, France was very insistent that NATO should not expand to the east and there was even a long debate as to whether NATO forces would be allowed in the eastern part of Germany. – the former GDR– or be concentrated in the western part – the then Federal Republic of Germany.
Finally there was an agreement – was endorsed by France – providing that the former East Germany would become part of NATO, within the framework of the reunification, but that there would be no expansion of NATO beyond.
And this was repeated several times, first within the OSCE – the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, born from the Helsinki agreements – in which 57 states signed 2 declarations. Fifty-seven States! All the States of the European continent and even others since, for example, the United States and Canada are also members!
Firstly, the OSCE recognized, in the 1999 Istanbul Declaration and in the 2010 Astana Declaration, that each State is free to sign on to the military alliance of its choice – France, for example, is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty, allying herself to the United States.
But, secondly, it was also recognized that no State, absolutely no State!, can guarantee its security to the detriment of the security of others. And, from this point of view, joining NATO is illegal, yes illegal! Because NATO is not a confederation, in which everyone has equal status; it is a federation under the command of the United States and the United Kingdom. making the other States vassals of the United States and the United Kingdom.
And France, unfortunately, returned to NATO, with [President] Nicolas Sarkozy, from which it had withdrawn under General de Gaulle, in 1966. General de Gaulle had expelled from French territory all occupation forces of the United States… that was the term he used, “occupation forces of the United States”. It’s not me who says it! But we [the French] have once again willingly embraced our vassalage to the United States.
So, Russia has called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from the entire territory of Central and Eastern Europe. They can still remain signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty. That is not the problem.
And International Law will also have to be enforced in Western Europe. International Law, inter alia, prohibits the installation of nuclear weapons in countries that do not possess such weapons themselves.
So, for example, what are there US [nuclear] weapons doing in Italy or in the Netherlands? It is an outright violation of international law. And that will have to end.
We must realize that the United States is no longer the world’s leading economic power. It is now China.
And it is no longer the first military power in the world. It is Russia. During the war in Syria – a war that NATO forces lost – Russia tested all kinds of new weapons that NATO cannot compete with. Only last weekend Russia showed that it has the capability to nuclearly destroy any target anywhere in the world without being intercepted because – as demonstrated – it deploys hypersonic launchers from submarines, from surface vessels, from bomber planes and mobile ground units. She can fire those launchers and destroy anything she wants anywhere in the world. It is impossible to deflect them because they move too fast. At the moment there is no way they can be intercepted. In minutes she can destroy whatever she wants and we should wonder that would happen if one day Russia may have to use such weapons against the Pentagon, the White House or the United States Congress.
I don’t say that as a provocation. What I am saying is that if Russia were to do so, the United States would not have time to intercept them, it would not even have time to use its own nuclear weapons.
Let’s take things seriously and respect International Law. It’s what we all want. And it is in everyone’s interest. So bravo for what Russia just did today!"
“In October, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, traveled to Russia and, in Moscow, she threatened to crush the Russian economy and demanded the resignation of President Vladimir Putin.” Gotta admit, I laughed long and hard when I read this! But it was kind of creepy that that a couple dozen people “liked” this loony diatribe.
Let me see … the Biden administration is going to “crush the Russian economy“ — by rescinding Donald Trump‘s sanctions against the Nordstream 2 pipeline?
“Nazis” support the democratically elected, JEWISH Ukrainian President? Who defeated the incumbent in a fair election? Try to imagine Putin voluntarily leaving office under any circumstances.
All the stuff about NATO reminds me of the primitive Soviet propaganda about “NATO-leon” I used to read. I enjoyed the sci-fi about Russia’s secret weapons, though. Russia must have its own flying saucer!!!
I agree completely with your points.
Excellent and thorough and "should provoke thought in the unclosed minds. Unfortunately, I believe they are a small minority.
Putin wouldn't write that better himself.
The Azov battalion isn't Nazi, it's (self-proclaimed) continuation of the anti-Soviet Ukrainian Liberation Army created in 1943.
Of Nazis.
Not true. The Ukrainian Nazi co-belligerents defected en masse in 1943 and joined the UPA.
Which is why they wear the SS Wolfsengel armband. To show their anti Nazism.
The logo is only superficially similar.
Nazism is long dead and not going to return. All the name calling is just that name calling.
They have their own traditions and don't need Nazis for anything.
The Ukrainian "Nazis" were highly praised by Solzhenitsyn in his Gulag Archipelago for their leading role in resistance in gulags.
It’s literally the same fucking symbol. As anyone who googles Wolfsengel will immediately see. Nice way to self immolate.
The symbol was also the symbol used by the Ukrainian Social Nationalist Party, which is basically "national socialist" aka "Nazi" written backwards.
Now they call themselves "Svoboda", which is Ukrainian for "Freedom" and operated things like the "Josef Goebbels Political Research Center" (now "Ernst Junger", but that was their second choice.)
Naziism is far from dead. As you well know, the official name of the German nazi party was the National Socialist German Workers' Party (which seems very close in name and in deed to Rashida Tlaib's Working Families' Party).
Sevender is a fool. Responding to him with anything but derision or pity is a waste of time.
https://defendinghistory.com/ukraines-state-sponsored-azov-battalion-expands-use-of-nazi-inspired-symbols/96016
From the link: "Azov’s first leader was Andriy Biletsky, a man referred to as the “white chief” who once wrote that “the historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival. A crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen [‘subhumans’].” Numerous media outlets have also documented Azov fighters with swastikas, and the group has also been caught out in efforts to recruit neo-Nazis into its ranks.
Perhaps most disturbingly, Azov is not just some far right extremist group. Certainly both the U.S. and many European countries have fringe neo-Nazi organizations within their borders. but this has actually been integrated into the official state-sponsoed Ukrainian National Guard, giving the proliferation of fascist symbol the de-facto imprimatur of the Ukrainian government."
If that's not Nazi, then what is?
Note that the site is as anti-Putin as one can get.
Stepan Bandera followers, if you will.
Bandera died when, Angie? How? Why?
Zelensky Prepared to Surrender
https://www.voltairenet.org/article215848.html
During the night of 25 to 26 February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed a ceasefire proposal to Russia via the Chinese Embassy in Kiev.
The Kremlin immediately informed him of its terms:
1) Arrest of all Nazis (special military adviser Dmitro Yarosh, Azov Battalion, etc.)
2) Remove of all street names and monuments glorifying Nazi collaborators during World War II (Stepan Bandera, etc.)
3) Surrender weapons
Junk news from Lebanon.
Source?
It's run by the conspiracy theorist Thierry Meyssan.
Google "The Horrifying Fraud."
The site is based in France.
The owner, conspiracy theorist Thierry Meyssan ("Pentagon was not hit by a plane, but by a guided missile fired on orders of far right-wingers inside the United States government") lives in France.
Here is a lecture by a distinguished *American*, University of Chicago foreign policy professor -- given in 2015(!), before all the hysteria -- which very much supports the analysis you have posted, and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4
In spite of the fact that the talk was given 7 years ago, he predicts where we are now pretty accurately. For those who can't watch the whole 75 minutes, here are couple key sections:
9:20-17:10
22:58-29:32
One thing Mearsheimer glosses over is that there was a great deal of Western astroturf activity in the precipitating event itself -- the Euromaidan, in 2014. So it's quite accurate to see the fighting today as being provoked by (clandestine) Western aggression. For those who have trouble understanding the concept of "blowback," please listen to Chalmers Johnson's 2004 lecture here: https://www.alternativeradio.org/products/johc001/
Incredibly, back in 2013, Yanukovich was on track to sign an agreement that would set the stage for The Ukraine to move into the EU. He backed out at the last minute because EU financiers were just too greedy. Seems he didn't want to end up like Greece. So, in large part, we can thank Western financiers for killing Western pro-democracy political efforts. Shocking (/s) !
Abundant thanks for this, Lynn. I've just subscribed to Meyssan's Voltaire Network newsletter.
"In October, Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, traveled to Russia and, in Moscow, she threatened to crush the Russian economy and demanded the resignation of President Vladimir Putin. But you never heard about it. Look it up online. It is very easy to verify."
I couldn't verify your information. Perhaps you could provide a link...
Victoria Nuland, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, spent three days in Moscow (October 11-13, 2021). Ms. Nuland was a key figure in the 2014 Ukrainian coup. There are scores of articles on this meeting on the internet, below are a random few:
Why did Moscow welcome its enemy Nuland?
https://english.pravda.ru/russia/149404-nuland_moscow/
Russia Says 'Unacceptable' for U.S. to Maintain Military in Central Asia After Afghanistan
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-says-unacceptable-for-u-s-to-maintain-military-in-central-asia-after-afghanistan/ar-AAPqIos
No Breakthrough Reported At U.S.-Russia Talks Over Embassies Dispute
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-us-nuland-no-progress/31505381.html
Two Senior Russian Columnists Believe That Visit To Moscow By Under Secretary Of State Nuland Signals Growing Space Between Washington And Kiev
https://www.memri.org/reports/two-senior-russian-columnists-believe-visit-moscow-under-secretary-state-nuland-signals
Ice breaking? Russia waives ban on Victoria Nuland
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/10/19/ice-breaking-russia-waives-ban-on-victoria-nuland/
Russia Throws Tantrum Over ‘Crazy’ American Women in Government
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-throws-tantrum-over-crazy-172521596.html
Even after reading the articles you provided (that I hadn't run across already), I am still puzzled about Nuland's threat to crush the Russian economy and demand for Putin's resignation...
Nuland needs to be sacked.
Edit: Blinkdown, Bolton, Krystol, Milley and Sullivan also need to be sacked for their failures. At least Lincoln sacked failed commanders during the Civil War. Now they get promoted.
Amazing! You read all six articles in under 15 minutes!
I encourage you to read about Victoria Nuland's involvement in the 2014 Ukrainian coup and her partnership with Ukrainian Nazis.
I had already read two of the articles you provided and am very aware that the coup was backed by the U.S. Nuland has a long and horrible history in the Deep State. I was simply asking a sincere question about corroboration of Meyssan's statement about her purported threat/demand. No need to reply.
Victoria Nuland has a long and dirty hand in Ukraine. The Nazi-backed Ukrainian government (that Russia does not want on its border) has been a Nuland puppet government since 2014. The muscle behind the 2014 Ukrainian coup were literal Nazis and far-right extremists "who claim that Ukrainians are white and Russians are non-while Asiatic peoples." These Ukrainian white supremacists are the people Nuland partnered with to overtake Ukraine in 2014. Russia, understandably for many, has been concerned ever since because Ukraine is on their border and a lot of Russians live in Ukraine. Approximately 14,000 people have been killed due to the 2014 coup. See The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/russia-ukraine-conflict-photos-2014
USA VICTORIA NULAND LED COUP D'ÉTAT IN UKRAINE LEAKED REC'GS PROVING US:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/q8J2lmSKtKYB/
Peace-loving Victoria Nuland in her own words: "Fuck the EU!"
VICTORIA NULAND SAYS F___ THE E.U. IN LEAKED PHONE CALL:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/oHDFJ1a1sIHi/
Let's go Nuland
"And now this character has incorporated the Azov battalion – which is a truly Nazi group, with Nazi insignia and everything and which is led by the “White Fuhrer” [Andrey Biletsky] [2] – into the Ukrainian army. " So Ukraine has shifted to the far left thanks to the "efforts" of the U.S. government? You keep saying "Nazi", which of course is on the left wing of politics. It is "National Socialist" rather than "Communist", but still very close to the political position that the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics had, just not absolutely total control.
Many Americans may be propagandized into hating Russia, but I wonder how many Americans hate Russia enough to want to get involved with the war in Ukraine.
Last I heard they are arming anybody who wants to come fight. A little more meaningful than hashtags and celebrities sing-a-longs.
Speaking of....I wonder how many of those celebrities would be happy in Canada...you know the ones who said they'd move if Trump was elected.
At this point, having been lied to (with the truth being not in any way favorable to the role the United States government is playing in the world and or even in genuinely protecting our health and wellbeing here at home) about absolutely everything of significance starting with the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, warrantless surveillance, CIA torture chambers, and drone killings but also including Wall Street bailouts, mandatory health care insurance, Libya, Wikileaks, Russiagate, COVID-19 (everything from lab leaks to PCR false positives to lockdown and vaccine efficacy), and far more, all of these lies essentially emanating from the same fairly small cast of characters and amplified by the same corporate media outlets, I'm not granting them the benefit of the doubt that they "could" be right this time at all. No, until I see solid evidence to the contrary, I think it's safe to assume they're up to no good once again, more recklessly than ever this time with nuclear annihilation absolutely on the table, and once again, they're lying about everything.
And I don't have to look very far into it in order to obtain additional evidence that would only reinforce my "priors" as mentioned above. It's not exactly news in geopolitics to state that any move that would seek to rearrange "the Grand Chessboard" in such a way as to change the balance of power between two rivals is fundamentally just as aggressive as an act of violence itself. After all, the United States itself brought the world as close as its ever been to a nuclear exchange in defense of this very point during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and I've not ever seen anyone question whether we were right to do it.
It's not even close to a secret, in fact it's been widely and publicly acknowledged, that the U.S. and our allies have been actively trying to bring Ukraine into NATO, and basic physics and geography can tell us that were we to successfully do so, Russia's ability to defend itself would be severely compromised. Given those facts, what's the argument that Putin is not morally and ethically justified in attempting to prevent that from happening? It's arguably a foolhardy errand, and likely not in the best interest of the U.S, Europe and even (most of) Ukraine itself, but we grant geopolitical actors the right to defend their interests on the geopolitical stage. In any case, it's not "evil" to defend one's interest, in any moral or ethical system of which I'm aware, other than pacifism I suppose.
And as much as Putin is not evil, there's also plenty of good evidence already in public view that the current rulers of Ukraine are not plainly "good". They came to power in a CIA-fomented coup less than a year before a scheduled election; they've publicly welcomed straight-up, self-avowed neo-Nazi's into their military ranks, they've chosen to antagonize Russia with repeated public attempts to join NATO, they didn't follow the terms of the Minsk Agreement re: the Donbas separatist regions, they meddled in our own domestic politics both in 2016 and during the Trump impeachment. They're not heroes. They look no different than Putin, corrupt, self-interested.
Spot on. I am sure the West has acted irresponsibly with regard to UA gor over a decade. In fact, I would add to your list the EU concluding trade deals with UA which breached the RU - UA tariff wall, effectively undermining Russias’s economic sphere.
However, in one subtle counterpoint: Mr Putin has chosen to invade a sovereign nation state. Not, as Mr Kennedy, to engage in naval warfare with Cuba’s backers. But to roll into another country’s cities with tanks and troops.
For me, who still believes in International Law, this is a step too far.
Sure, it's fair to draw a line somewhere, and invasion is as good a line as any. But how many sovereign states have we invaded between 1962 and now? Russia's done a few as well, so not sure that "line" is really all that sacrosanct.
the chicken hawks are out in full force. Ready to send our soldiers to be killed and maimed in another meaningless folly. While our border is overrun with illegals, and nothing gets done. In fact these same chicken hawks would call it racist and inhumane to send troops to defend our southern border. They would rather protect Ukrainians border. These people are deranged. There is no integrity or leadership at any level of government, including our military commanders. They are all war profiteers that sit in there fortresses and could give one iota about the men they lead. This has the makings of another military embarassment written all over it that will do nothing but fatten the pockets of those associated with war inc.
Yup, follow the money.
It ALL starts with modern “original sin” and the Big Lie.
Key players in the Russia-gate hoax and impeachment “entertainments” are now celebrating about “all but certain major war in Europe a la WW2” which they eagerly stoked.
Repulsive ghouls Adam Schiff, colonel Alexander Windman (an extremist Ukrainian), Jake Sullivan, advisor to Hillary who played key role in the Russia-gate hoax and is now national security advisor to Biden (he “replaced” Michael Flynn), Fiona Hill (a rabid Cold War warrior on National Security Council).
SAME lying bastards who led the scam of the century concocted by the SAME lying team -- Obama-Biden-Hillary-Pelosi-Schumer-Schiff and the rest of DNC-CIA/FBI cabal.
Adam Schiff has been, for years, a leading recipient of huge “donations” by arm industry – his main source of funds. Remember when Raytheon in 2013 put on a Beyonce concert to promote Adam Schiff? This despicable -- that human excrement and serial liar is among leading Congress warmongers and recipient of arm industry donations.
http://politicalpartytime.org/party/36073/
Schiff is now driving government’s domestic terrorism legislation !!
In his free time this loathsome grifter wants to write a novel – of all things about Holocaust.
The entire Russia-gate lying team is back in FULL power -- we are now paying the price for not fully unmasking the brazen scam of the century. Of course, Trump and GOP lunatics were and remain VERY bad – however, DNC lying and warmongering team is INFINITELY more dangerous.
The first ‘Big Lie’ is Socialism’ - and we know the bigger lie, and soon enough, that follows. Leftist ‘isms’ are a ‘Theft of Humanity’. Sooner or later…’too late smart’ seals the crime.
Hi C.T. -- Many believe that socialism is the future for humanity !!
That is why the imperial US imposes genocidal sanctions and endless regime change wars against populations of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and literally countless other countries -- including the infamous "Jakarta Method" terror and massacres.
“Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared St. Obama formally initiating regime change.
What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, Libya, China…..
Not defending regime changing wars but trust me, living under socialism is absolute hell
Apparently not for these 770M in China...
Financial Times -- July 8, 2021:
“China’s emergence over the past four decades ranks as the biggest and longest-run economic boom in history. Its annual gross domestic product rose from a mere $191 B, or $195 per capita, in 1980 to $14.3 T, or $10,261 per capita, in 2019.
It has raised more than 770m people from poverty and transformed the Chinese economy into a high-tech powerhouse that is on course to eclipse America’s in size. This transformation is the landmark achievement of the Chinese Communist party, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday.”
It's fascinating that finally there are real Nazi's, real 'white supremacists' and no problem, we support them.
This is an error of underestimating your (now) enemy's resolve with potentially deadly consequences for all of us.
There are no good outcomes now, only less horrible ones. And frankly, Russia getting its way here may be the least horrible one. Anyone who thinks Western forces can come into contact with Russian forces without it spiraling out of control is the worst kind of fool.
Thank you for this reminder.
Two years of National Emergency and when its absurdity and indefensibility is finally widely acknowledged, a new “National Emergency” emerges.
We must remember how easily supposedly self-evident morality may ennoble political machinations.
☮️
Words cannot express how despondent I am over the state of this country. The nation is being lead by liars, hypocrites, thieves, ignoramuses and sociopaths.
I stopped caring what they said after they called me unpatriotic for not going along with Iraq. I haven't seen a reason to start caring now.
And away from Durham and his indictments against Hillary and the DNC etc.
And away from the “pandemic” and the continued masking of children in schools all day.
And away from the continued push for jabs that don’t work and cause harm.
Continue the list. It’s a long one.
Yes!
And, irony of ironies, Putin is now saying anybody who donates to Ukraine will have their bank accounts frozen.
I wonder how long it will be before Trudeau blasts him for that.
Follow the money. Who benefits from beating the war drums? The simplest answer is usually the correct one:
1. the defense industry, with deep ties to sitting Congressmen and Senators
2. the anti-Trump proponents of "Russian collusion"
Both of these groups have a vested interest in keeping the anti-Russia narrative alive. Obviously, Putin now gives them plenty of ammunition, but a nuanced look at Russian history and motivations for the incursion into Ukraine suggests a slightly different story.
In reality, the Russians for years have been warning against Ukraine's cozying up to Nato. The eastern provinces that wish to rejoin Russia also have been a strong irritant in Ukraine-Russian relations. Ukraine would have been wiser to negotiate some kind of autonomy deal for the predominantly Russian speaking provinces, and also offer neutrality from Nato, in exchange for the cheap Russian oil and gas which was cut off a few years ago much to Ukraine's detriment.
Then there is China, opportunistically signing a long term contract with Russia for oil and gas and wheat purchases, completely substituting for any boycotts now being contemplated in the West. As a result, Russia becomes effectively owned by China and the two vast countries now present a geo-political challenge to a weak, vacillating United States currently governed by a senile man. (Arguably, the White House is currently being run by a mediocre woman with a Ph.D. in community college education who has zero knowledge of statecraft. One supposes the President's son is continuing to exploit international contacts for personal gain, with complete impunity and lack of scrutiny from a compliant mainstream media.)
Even here, on Substack, one notices an emotional and irrational response to any suggestion that the Russians may have rational motivations for what they are doing. "Putin is evil, Putin is the new Hitler!" they bray. Of course U.S. politicians do this; 20 years ago it was Bin Laden, then Saddam. Then most recently, Donald Trump. And now, Putin. Nothing ever changes. And ignorant, naive Americans will be duped into possibly entering a conflict that could easily end in an unthinkable nuclear war.
If America had kept it's promise to the Russians when the Berlin wall came down there would not have been any further extension of NATO, and we wouldn't be here now. If the neo-conservatives during the Obama administration hadn't supported a bunch of neo-nazis, and the ultra-right in Ukraine to generate a coup we wouldn't be here now. There is a strong validity to how Russia perceives Ukraine, and that is, it's corrupt, and by the standards of many the most corrupt state in Europe and the 9th most corrupt state in the world. It's people are impoverished, and although the neo-nazi's and ultra right hold no political office in the country they do engage in many acts of violence and are supported by the police. Those in the Donbass region have lost 14,000 lives because of these right wing nationalist who believe only those of Ukrainian descent should live on this land. There position is quite similar to the neo-nazi's in Ukraine during WWII who helped in Hitler's extermination pograms. Putin's stated goal is to remove the ultra-right and neo-nazis.
Some of this is consistent with some memory I have of the history of the region. However I would love to see some articles to support these points. Do you have any recommendations?
Consortium news has posted a number of Robert Parry's articles he wrote during the American backed Ukrainian coup which was instigated by the US. He was a favorite of mine and his death in 2018 was extremely sad. He broke the Iran Contra Affair. The Gray-Zone has a video of Max Blumenthal interviewing an American who has lived in the Donbass region for many years which is very informative.
Oliver Stone produced a pretty good documentary on the US State Department-backed 2014 coup in Ukraine that led to this situation. You can see it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHH10jIRJmQ
Saw it when it originally came out and watched it recently. A neocon led agenda under the Obama administration who never seemed able to put a stop on members of his own party, or the neocons who were war mongers like Clinton and Nuland. Too many are too forgiving of his shortcomings in this regard.
Ukraine had negotiated the Minsk-2 deal, which did grant, among other things, autonomy to the Donbass Oblasts.
Ukraine subsequently refused to enact any of the Minsk-2 provisions into law, and its politicians had publicly repudiated it.
Attach a copy of the agreement, please. In the original Russian or Ukrainian.