He groveled like a little doggie to Putin, repeatedly. Starting in Helsinki. I have never seen a US president humiliate himself or the office so utterly.
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Sorry. Not buying it. He sanctioned Putin a LOT more than Obama or anyone else.
How soon we forget how the whole Russia Hoax ( and it WAS ! ) tied his hands in negotiating with Putin.
Rather than get bogged down in "Yes he did ; No he didn't" let's agree to disagree and focus on the here and now. Just a suggestion.
You're either very misinformed, or you're gaslighting again. Trump strongly opposed any sanctions against Putin. Even after Congress passed sanctions against Putin, Trump tried to prevent them from being implemented. Trump idolized Putin. He praised him as a genius, for invading Ukraine.
There wasn't a "Russian hoax". It's an indisputable fact that Russian intelligence hacked Clinton's emails and had them posted on Wikileaks.
When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, Stalin murdered millions of Ukrainians by starving them, so I doubt that the Ukrainians would consider Russians to be their brothers. The reason why Putin invaded Ukraine was because he doesn't want a former territory of the USSR on Russia's border, to become a prosperous democracy. He's worried that if the Russians see a prosperous democracy on their border, they're going to want the same type of government and economy for themselves, rather than the corrupt autocracy that Putin is running. Putin knows that NATO has no intention of attacking Russia.
No they weren't and still aren't. Our biggest threat was coming from Iran, with their nuclear weapons program. We were also at war in Afghanistan. There was also North Korea, who was developing nuclear weapons and long range missiles. Saudi Arabia was and is funding Islamic extremism all over the world.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has never been a threat to the US. Even their invasion of Ukraine does not threaten America's national security. What Putin is doing in Ukraine is evil, and we should do as much as we can to support the Ukrainians fighting against Russia, but his troops in Ukraine aren't threatening the US or our allies. It's very unlikely Putin would start a war with the US or NATO, because his military is far too weak to go against the combined militaries of the US, Britain, France, and Germany. It would not end well for Putin.
Russia is at “imminent” risk of defaulting on its debts as Western economic sanctions choke off its access to dollars and other global currencies to pay lenders, a move that would have devastating economic ripple effects.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Russia’s credit to “C,” or junk status, cautioning investors on Wednesday that Moscow was careening toward an inability to make good on its debts. Moody’s and S&P Global, the two other dominant international credit agencies, made similar moves in recent days.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ine-sanctions/
Morgan Stanley’s global head of emerging-market sovereign credit strategy wrote in a research note this week that Russia could default as soon as April 15, when the 30-day grace period on a $107 million bond interest payment expires. Two more bond payments worth $359 million and $2 billion are due March 31 and April 4, respectively, with 30-day extensions, according to Reuters.
Russia’s majority state-owned gas giant Gazprom has a $1.3 billion bond payment due March 7.
Well Poland is now getting paid off to get back on board with the NATO party line. More Patriot missile systems are being moved from Germany to Poland to supplement what Poland already has. If Lithuania was smart, it would start making noise about providing MIGs to the Ukraine too so that it could get its share of silence missiles.
What must China be thinking right now as it continues to eye Taiwan and gauge the strength of any potential U.S. reaction? Taiwan is not a part of NATO either and China has nukes too. When they see us squeal and dive under the table at the mere mention of "nuclear readiness" could they now be seeing a path forward to invading Taiwan? What has this done to further encourage Iran and North Korea to keep developing their own nukes?
And what must our allies be thinking? Afghanistan was bad enough, but now we've also shown that a Treaty that we signed was not worth the paper it was written on. We won't even let them have old MIGs that might, at the very least, allow them to slow down the bombing enough to evacuate more of their women and children. How confident could Eastern European NATO members really be that, when push comes to shove, we will have their backs?
Now they’re tearing up maternity wards?!?
Not the innocent babies and pregnant moms……
Some savage shit going on rn.
Naah. Stalin starved ukrainians and he starved russians as well. He was pretty generous about sending russians to concentrations camps, too. No difference. Ukrainians lost so much when nazis attacked though, they were the first to lose, especially the Donbass area.
He invades Ukraine not because he is afraid to see the prosperous democracy there. Ukrainians have to go a long way to prosperous democracy yet, otherwise they would be in the EU already. He invaded because he doesn't want NATO up his ass, close to russian borders. Ukraine would let NATO set their bases on their territory, because they prefer the USA as their ally instead of Russia. who knows what NATO would do with these LNR/DNR guys.
It's not about NATO attacking/not attacking. It's about the control of territories, and everybody knows it. And if NATO is there, that means NATO controls the territory.
Nobody cared about the conflict, but it was there already, for years. Just bloodless. Now everybody is hysterical, because people started to die.
and btw what the fuck with the rumors about ukrainian bio laboratories funded by americans? is it true or another 'cool story'?
Yes, the four day delay has meant the Russians are four days closer to spring and Ukranian mud. On the other hand, the Ukranian armed forces were brilliant in the early days. They cut the rail lines leading into the country. They took back the airport outside of Kiyv denying the Russians the use of air resupply. Four days didn't change that much.
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By "Russia Hoax :" I was referring to the disproven allegation that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
As far as Trump's feelings about Putin I prefer to leave it alone except to say that in calling Putin a "genius" he was comparing him to What's His Name. A very low bar imho lol. At the time it looked as though Putin had outmaneuvered What's His Name . Later and current events call that into serious question to put it mildly.
Whether you like it, or agree with it, I give Biden a C- to D + PRE- Russian invasion and a solid B or better for his performance since . I don't see much that he could have done differently once Putin made up his mind to invade and gave the order to do so.
Romney named Russia as our greatest POTENTIAL , FUTURE adversary. At the time they had already invaded Moldava and Georgia. 2 years later they took over the Crimea and fomented unrest in Eastern Ukraine. Assad would be dead or in exile if not for Russia.
At the risk of getting lost in the political weeds : " Russia has never been s threat to the U.S. " Are you serious ? Just where do you think most of their nuclear tipped missiles are targeted ? Paraguay ? Chad ? Bhutan ? Who has helped prop up Syria , Iran , Cuba and Venezuela ?
I don't know if Putin is crazy enough to try and take on NATO. Let's not find out if it can be avoided.
Is their invasion a direct threat to the U.S. ? No. It IS a threat to NATO and several NATO members like Poland and the Baltic states.
Rick - According to military experts Ukraine does not need old , broken down MIGs. They are fighting and more than holding their own in a LAND war. What they DO need are more anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles which we and our allies are supplying. Some say Poland tried to pull a fast one by trying to swap old , poorly maintained Mig 29's for brand new , shiny F-16's. Until the Pentagon said: " Hold the phone Freddie ".
Putin could not care less. Russia's economy is already in the toilet. Historically Russia in general and Putin in particular do not care about such matters. They have gone through worse and survived. And eventually thrived. They have a documented history of enduring suffering far more than Western countries. Putin cares about winning and will force the Russian people to pay any price and bear any burden to achieve it.
They have defaulted on foreign debt before. Endured economic isolation. Survived massive destruction and dislocation of their industries. They have proven to be stoic survivors who have outlasted every invader and foreign threat. EXCEPT for Afghanistan. Putin was not in charge at the time and they were the invaders..
How would you know what Putin thinks? I doubt very much that Putin doesn't care about Russia's economy being destroyed. It was the Soviet Union's poor economy that led to the communists being overthrown.
It's not a matter of whether or not Russia will survive as a country. It's a matter of whether or not Putin's government will survive. He has already greatly weakened his position both at home and abroad.
Eric, experts in the Ukraine and their leaders disagree. They have made it crystal clear, over and over, that their #1 need is more air power so that they can fight or at least slow down the bombings. Given that they are in the thick of it AND have no incentive to lie about their most pressing needs, I'm inclined to believe them. An old MIG that can shoot a missile at a bomber at 25,000 feet is better than no MIG.
He intentionally starved the Ukrainian people.
Here's a good article on it:
https://www.history.com/news/ukrainian-famine-stalin
"Let's go Brandon" is the rallying cry of fools sadly.
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On Ukraine: It's sad what's happening but I must say I'm surprised Zelensky is still breathing. According to what i've been reading he's already dodged several assassination attempts? I'm inspired by his courage and love for his people. There's nothing like a man that will defend his beliefs and his people no matter the cost.
I wish we could do more. I want us to do more. I understand Biden's apprehension. However, Putin is a loose cannon. He will force our hand.
Is there any evidence that Putin has responded to the sanctions ?
Reports from Russia are that the general population has yet to feel any real effects from the sanctions aside from long lines at ATMs. Putin and his cronies certainly haven't missed any meals and a lot of their wealth is in crypto currency and can't be reached. They are still able to shop at most of the luxury stores still open in Russia or in Western Europe.
So far the financial sanctions are full of holes. The March 4, 2022 Treasury Department clarification of U.S. sanctions on Russian banks was issued and is helpful to understand what has been and has NOT been sanctioned.
Leave aside that no sanctions were imposed during Putin's buildup to invasion. The sanctions we did impose slowly , timidly and based on multilateralism do NOT apply to Russian bank energy transactions. They will not do so until JUNE 24. More than THREE months from now. We did so at the behest of our European allies. There are currently NO sanctions on global institutions and countries like China that finance the Russian economy. European banks are still invested in Russia and are not sanctioning the oligarchs.
The Russian economy is far from being destroyed. I question whether it has even been seriously affected. Yet. The Chinese have agreed to pick up the slack and let Russia use their currency to get around sanctions.
The linchpin of the Russian economy is not caviar , vodka or diamonds. It is oil and gas. Unless and until we attack it directly Putin will not feel any pain from the existing sanctions.
In 1986 thanks to Reagan's energy policies oil crashed to $14 a barrel. A lot of U.S. drillers and oil field supply and service companies went bankrupt. So did the old Soviet Union. It was so bad that they could not pay for their grain imports. Oil crashed again in 1998 under Clinton ( partly thanks to a very strong Dollar ) and Russia's economy almost collapsed. If we REALLY wanted to hurt Putin we would cut off all Russian energy sales and maximize North American output to make up the difference for our Russia dependent European allies.
Hmmm. They are the same folks who want the U.S. and NATO to enforce a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine. Assuming we could get the MIG 29's to Ukraine they would be prime targets for the Russians. They would be vulnerable to Russian anti-aircraft systems which are fairly good.
We had air supremacy in Korea and ended up with a draw. ( Thanks Doug .) We had it in Vietnam and ultimately lost. The Israelis have it and are still getting bombed and rocketed by Hezbollah and Hamas . I know that is small comfort to Ukrainian victims of Russian bombing but it is historical fact.
Btw, if repeat IF current reports are accurate and Russia is in fact asking China for "military support" ,what does that mean ? My guess is that they need to replace a LOT of destroyed tanks and other armored vehicles. Thoughts ?