You're certainly right that people with insecure or undeveloped finances can suffer the most when national sacrifices are required to maintain our independence and freedom. Personally, I believe those with the most financial resources (i.e., who have benefitted the most from our country) should be made to contribute the lion's share when sacrifices must be made. I basically agree with everything else you say, including: a) we should be apprehensive about getting into foreign conflicts; b) we should avoid getting into ill-conceived wars with unclear goals that just result in people being killed; and c) because of such mistakes in the past there is now a profound distrust of government. I hope you're right that I'm being dramatic about the current threats we face and the extent of the sacrifices we must be prepared to make. However, I stand firm in my belief that we are facing a clear threat of naked aggression against a fledgling if quite imperfect democratic country. The right thing for us to do is clear also: we must do what we can to stop the aggression and help the country maintain its national sovereignty and self-determination. I believe that if we stand by passively or even support the aggressor, we will encourage many future such aggressions which will only increase our difficulties in thriving in a peaceful and secure world. More importantly, we will have lost who we are as Americans.
All this Russian genius and guile, but they still can't build a marketable toaster oven. Hmphf. Funny that. 2012 - now, wouldn't that be the same year Mitt Romney said Russia was our greatest geopolitical threat, while Barack Obama scoffed, "The 1980's called - they want their foreign policy back"? The crate-trained media, of course, laughed along. Vladimir Putin is a character created by interconnected media in need of one, focal enemy to feed the market. That could (and should) be Xi Jinping, if our news and entertainment people weren't all pussies. I'm not saying that Russia doesn't have technology, weaponry and a desire for expansion. I'm just fully confident that we have a firm grasp on who Russia is and who they want to be. I mean, aside from the last few weeks of bumbling we've done here in the U.S.
Same divides as always, guns,abortion,taxes, equality, war . It will never change . The only difference is you don’t have to go to a protest or rally to hear about it and yell at the opposition. This is the natural evolution of partly politics sped up by technology
What if Biden isn't the leader who has lost his grip on reality and is going to push to the inevitable conclusion? What if that's Putin? The guy is sitting on 25% of all the natural resources on earth - mostly to his east and he's focused on 19th century tribal disputes to the west that even if he wins won't give him a return on the massive investment required to do that.
Interesting economic analysis of the threat that an independent, West-looking Ukraine represents to Russia. It seems to me that the current administration's courtship of the Ukraine and getting NATO together again in spite of all of Putin's best efforts with the past administration has driven Putin nuts. I’m a former Moscow correspondent. Don’t let Vladimir Putin fool you, Russia’s war in Ukraine is only about one thing (msn.com)
The only logical explanation is that tape does exist Or the financial reason https://thehill.com/homenews/news/3...american-banks-we-have-all-the-funding-we?amp
There's a deeper potential motive. It's very possible Trumps father was a fascist supporter who covered everything up successfully when WWII went the wrong way for him. Donald Trump could just be the true seed of his father.
They’ve been moving in on former Soviet territories for decades now I disagree that he’s an extremely calculating individual as well. Putin is not some mastermind, he answers to the oligarchs just like Trump did/does — It’s actually encouraging in some ways, he might push it too far one of these days, piss off the natives and end up like the oligarchical rulers did in Russia in 1917
Correct they've been moving in on those territories for a while but for whatever reason, Putin decided to annex Crimea while Obama was president and invade Ukraine while Biden is. Clashes quite a bit with the "Trump was a Russian sockpuppet" thing. Putin does not answer to oligarchs, in fact his history implies he strongly dislikes them and they answer to him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semibankirschina Between 2000 and 2004, Putin apparently engaged in a power struggle with some oligarchs, reaching a "grand bargain" with them. This bargain allowed the oligarchs to maintain their powers, in exchange for their explicit support of – and alignment with – Putin's government. The Guardian reported in 2008 that "'oligarchs' from the era of former president Boris Yeltsin have been purged by the Kremlin. When Putin took over he purged most of the oligarchs and allowed some to remain but only if they supported him indefinitely. This invasion has also been awful for the Russian stock market. Who does that hurt the most? The ultra-rich, who have most of their wealth in assets. Putin has never been a businessman. He's a government agent through and through. The oligarchs answer to him, not the other way around.
okay but I think trumps response to this - calling Putin’s move “wonderful” and “genius” - removes doubt that he’s his sock puppet on its own. You disagree? Your last statement is completely wrong, the oligarchs run Russia, Putin answers to them. Of course he has some he disagrees with
Putin was put where he is now by a mix of oligarchs, former KGB and organized crime. Those who put him there are either long gone or have become completely irrelevant. I don't believe he answers to anyone these days.
Meanwhile, in case if you had any doubts about who owns this country and its economy: Biden DOJ ending national security initiative aimed at countering China amid complaints about bias
Calling it the "China Initiative" was akin to calling Covid the "Chinese Flu". Best not to anger our "Chinese Allies"...
The ground war in Ukraine is one thing... the cyber warfare is the real fright. Did Zelenskyy give Putin a list of critical infrastructure entities that are off limits to Russian cyberattacks? It worked well when Joey B. pulled that rabbit...
Regarding my last statement - I provided evidence that Putin exiled any oligarch that opposed him long ago. The ones that remain have only been allowed to do so because they pledged unwavering support. This idea that oligarchs command Putin has been wrong for over 15 years, it's a myth. Regarding Trump - we have to remember the kind of person Trump is. All he cares about is winning and power plays. Of course he's going to think Putin's move is a great one (for Putin). He's not saying it's a good thing for the rest of the world, he's saying that for a dictator with dictator-like ambitions it's a good move, which it is. That's a lot different than Trump being a Russian puppet or being aligned with Russia over the US. I can think someone was a brilliant criminal for example but that doesn't mean I think what they did was morally right in any way.
Bullshit. He said we should do that with our southern border. How else can we interpret that than saying it is a good thing? ......Other than him directly saying it was a good, "wonderful" thing of course -- Can you imagine that? Any other politician saying we should consider invading Mexico because Russia invaded the Ukraine... and being serious about it too. They would be laughed at! like trump should be, and is, by most smart people of the United States anyway. Trailer trash Americans are just a lost cause at this point.
I just read what trump said. At the end he said “he would never have done that with him as president , no way”. So I think that’s enough to atleast say he’s not cheering Putin on. So let’s try and be realistic. There is a difference between admiring an adversaries tactic, and supporting it. Although , the way he said it was stupid. And his claim that Russia will certainly be keeping peace, was bullshit. I would hate to be a person in disagreement in that area. But, boy is his mouth a rushing river. What ever he’s trying to get across when he talks, can easily be taken the wrong way.
