To be sure, anyone who doubts that the US is currently on a course to not only replace President Vladimir Putin but also to crash the Russian economy is delusional.
Yes. Once Russia invaded a sovereign nation their leader Tsar Putin deserved to be replaced and the Russia's economy deserved to be crashed, burned, and pissed on. I couldn't be happy that this is the course that the US and most of Europe has chosen. This is the problem for Russia - they think they matter and they don't. Their economy has long been insignificant, and is going to become increasingly insignificant as time goes on. The only thing they offer is natural resources, but they haven't been able to transform that into an actual economy of significance. And, as they're finding, a lot of countries are willing to buy those resources elsewhere, even if it means paying higher prices. China may throw Russia a bone and continue to buy their resources at bargain basement prices, but it won't help Russia develop because there's no profit. When you're selling at a loss, volume isn't your friend.
One should not ignore the fact that the fighting in Ukraine came about largely because the Biden Administration refused to negotiate seriously regarding the mostly reasonable demands that the Kremlin was making to enhance its own security.
I think we can pretty easily ignore that fact, since 1) it's an opinion, and 2) it's wrong. Fighting came about in the Ukraine because Putin sent an army across the border. Full stop. Maybe what you consider "mostly reasonable demands" by the Kremlin were actually entirely unreasonable demands in the mind of anybody with an IQ above 4. If we're just going to declare demands reasonable, then I think it would have been reasonable for Ukraine to demand Russia NOT ANNEX CRIMEA, NOT SUPPORT SEPARATISTS, and CEDE ALL LAND WEST OF THE URAL MOUNTAINS TO UKRAINE.
Former US arms inspector Scott Ritter cites a reported comment by a senior Biden Administration official which sums up the current policy, such as it is: “The only end game now is the end of Putin regime. Until then, all the time Putin stays, [Russia] will be a pariah state that will never be welcomed back into the community of nations.”
This Scott Ritter fellow seems like a good man. I'll be sure to buy him a beer if I ever get the chance. Again, despite your claims to the contrary, RUSSIA CHOSE THIS PATH and has nobody to blame but themselves.
...but Biden left behind a legacy of various gaffes and lapsus linguae that made clear that the US is in the game to defeat Russia however long it will take to play out.
Good. Glad to hear the US is in this for the long haul. Russia has proved that they don't deserve to be part of the civilized society, so they can sit in the corner by themselves for the next 30 or 40 years.
And Biden has considerable support from brain dead congressmen like Republican Senator Lindsey Graham who has called for someone to murder Putin, lamenting “Is there a Brutus in Russia?”
In that case, the one that will be brain dead is Tsar Putin. Maybe I'll be able to buy Senator Graham a beer then next time I'm in South Carolina.
On his trip, Biden revealed that he expects US combat troops to go to Ukraine’s assistance and he has also taken delight in denouncing Putin as a “killer,” a “thug,” a “murderous dictator” and a “man who cannot remain in power.”
Check. Check. And check. Looks like Tsar Putin hit the war criminal trifecta. I notice you don't actually dispute any of President Biden's characterizations of Tsar Putin.
The chemical weapon issue is particularly important as President Donald Trump bombed Syria with cruise missiles in the wake of a fabricated report that Bashar al-Assad had used such weapons in an attack on Khan Shaykhun in 2017. It turned out that the anti-regime terrorists who were occupying the city at the time had themselves staged the attack and deliberately blamed it on the Syrian government to produce an expected US response.
While you make this claim with a lot of confidence, it is at best, disputed. The only ones that concluded it was not the Syrian government were the Syrian government (shocking!) and Russia (also shocking!). The UN, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France, and Israel as well as Human Rights Watch attributed the attack to the Syrian forces.
News on April 1st, admittedly April Fools’ Day, suggests that Ukraine has staged helicopter launched missile attacks on a fuel storage depot inside Russia, which, if true, could produce a massive escalation from the Kremlin.
You know what else produced a massive escalation from the Kremlin? Putin sending 30 Mil 17 helicopters, 1000 paratroops, and IL-76 cargo jets filled with troops and combat equipment to occupy Antonov Airport and storm Kyiv on Feb. 24th. Nope. It was the neocons fault for blowing up a fuel storage depot. Do you even pretend to think logically about what you're posting? Or do you just word vomit whatever lies Lavrov tells you?
In addition to that, I know I am not the only one who has noticed the pace and focus of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys’ widely promoted appeals to groups and world governments to come to his country’s aid, to include establishment of a no-fly zone. The appeals are slick, convincing and carefully focused, with Zelensky being framed as a “hero” fighting valiantly against savage invaders. To put it mildly they are way beyond the capabilities and experience level of a former comedian, whose performances featured erotic dancing and playing a piano with his penis, corruptly placed on the presidential hotseat by a billionaire oligarch Israeli citizen.
So, what I'm hearing is that KGB super spy Tsar Putin is getting outsmarted by a former comedian? It must be embarrassing knowing that you're supporting a country with such incompetent leadership. I will agree with you on one point, Russians are "savage invaders" - your words, not mine.
A major component in the approach is to obtain Western liberal support for harsh sanctions and other repressive measures against the Kremlin based on the fraudulent proposition that Putin and his associates are out to destroy “democracy” and “freedom.”
Seeing as how Tsar Putin and his associates invaded Ukraine with the expressed goal of suppressing democracy and freedom, have arrested at least 10,000 of their own citizens for protesting the war, have banned numerous western news sources from existing within Russia because they may not toe the official line, and won't even acknowledge that Russia is at war (no, it's not a "special military operation"), I think that Tsar Putin has already done a bang-up job of convincing Western liberals to support harsh sanctions.
Kristol is, as so often, full of flag waving, chest puffing nonsense, peddling the notion that the United States has an obligation to police the world.
So, Tsar Putin's claim that he had an obligation to denazify the Ukraine was RUSSIA TRYING TO POLICE THE WORLD.
So, good try. But, everything you wrote is wrong, unintelligible, or just plain stupid.
They weren't in a drawer, you miserable twit. There was just no reason for anyone to go and find and analyze those particular satellite images, amongst the hundreds of thousands of satellite images of the Russian invasion taken every day, just to get out in front and pre-debunk some idiotic fantasy claims by demented scumbags like yourself that video of dead bodies lying in road in Bucha, Ukraine were actually just a bunch of staged crisis actors who couldn't figure out not to get up before the director yelled "cut!"
Basically, no one knew how low, idiotic and desperate your type would go when confronted with your war crimes. Now we know.
Insulting people shows that the idiot in the house is You .
It would not be first time for media in general and NY Times in soecific to pass fake satelite imagery, or fake explanations. Staged war crime scenes, too.
I did not say that bodies were not real. I did not say images were fake. I said it is pretty odd that it took 3 weeks for those images to emerge. I find it strange that Putin actually called those soldiers and told them, "Listen, I know you're leaving that Bucha place where all of you were previously killed and all your 10000 tanks destroyed in that ambush on the main street, but remember those 11 people I ordered not to be buried together with other 40 millions I ordered you to rape and execute, so that any plane, drone, satelite and other bypassers could take pictures of them lying in the street? Now I order you to leave them in place so Biden and Zelensky could demonize us all even more.".
Yes, you did say that the bodies were fake and/or the satellite images were fake. This isn't Russia, and double-speak doesn't pass for analysis. When you type a rhetorical question like "Why did they keep these pictures in a drawer for more than 20 days, before publishing them?" and then double down with "pretty odd that it took 3 weeks for those images to emerge" and then follow up saying that the NY Times has tried to pass fake satellite images in the past, you are absolutely stating your position that the bodies and/or the satellites are fake. That's how English-speaking adults will understand what you typed.
Your rhetorical question was stupid, lame, and deserving of insult because a perfectly reasonable answer was easily provided for it. You need further classes in the use and drafting of rhetorical questions.
Your stupid comment about "pretty odd that it took 3 weeks for those images to emerge" was previously explained to you, above. It sailed over your head, and now you look like more of a troll.
My insults were fine, fitting, and you deserved them all. You and your sh!thole countrymen /comrades well deserve all the scorn, derision and insults that are coming your way for the next few decades.
When you are in a hole, you can always dig deeper There are many backstories surfacing from what is going on in Ukraine, and Washington, that have been largely ignored amid the drumbeat of casualty counts combined with claims and counter-claims from the two sides. Two stories that I believe have received insufficient attention are the US government’s three decades long obsession with weakening and de facto destroying the Russian state and the dominant neocon plus associate liberal democracy promoter role in what has become American foreign policy. To be sure, anyone who doubts that the US is currently on a course to not only replace President Vladimir Putin but also to crash the Russian economy is delusional. Washington has been trying to deconstruct the former Soviet Union ever since 1991, beginning with President Bill Clinton’s expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe in spite of a pledge not to do so and his unleashing the oligarchs who looted the country’s natural resources under President Boris Yeltsin. The pressure continued under the beatified President Barack Obama, who appointed as Ambassador Michael McFaul, who saw his mission as connecting with dissidents and opposition forces inside Russia, a role incompatible with his promotion of US interests and protecting US persons. And then we had the redoubtable President Donald Trump undoing confidence building agreements with Russia followed by the current disaster that is unfolding before our very eyes. One should not ignore the fact that the fighting in Ukraine came about largely because the Biden Administration refused to negotiate seriously regarding the mostly reasonable demands that the Kremlin was making to enhance its own security. Former US arms inspector Scott Ritter cites a reported comment by a senior Biden Administration official which sums up the current policy, such as it is: “The only end game now is the end of Putin regime. Until then, all the time Putin stays, [Russia] will be a pariah state that will never be welcomed back into the community of nations.” Indeed, President Joe Biden’s recent disastrous trip to Europe can likely be characterized as one wishes to see it and the media has certainly done considerable spinning, but Biden left behind a legacy of various gaffes and lapsus linguae that made clear that the US is in the game to defeat Russia however long it will take to play out. And Biden has considerable support from brain dead congressmen like Republican Senator Lindsey Graham who has called for someone to murder Putin, lamenting “Is there a Brutus in Russia?” On his trip, Biden revealed that he expects US combat troops to go to Ukraine’s assistance and he has also taken delight in denouncing Putin as a “killer,” a “thug,” a “murderous dictator” and a “man who cannot remain in power.” In so doing, he has openly called for Putin’s removal from office, i.e. regime change, while also opening the door to an obvious false flag operation in his unwillingness to reveal when questioned by a reporter how the US might respond if Russia were to use chemical weapons in Ukraine. That he has taken those positions means that it will be impossible to restore manageable relations with Moscow post Ukraine. It is a heavy price to pay for something that is little more than posturing. The chemical weapon issue is particularly important as President Donald Trump bombed Syria with cruise missiles in the wake of a fabricated report that Bashar al-Assad had used such weapons in an attack on Khan Shaykhun in 2017. It turned out that the anti-regime terrorists who were occupying the city at the time had themselves staged the attack and deliberately blamed it on the Syrian government to produce an expected US response. Based on what I am seeing and hearing, I would conclude that the neoconservatives and their liberal democracy promoting friends are working hard from the inside to make something like a war with Russia happen. Note in particular that we are talking about war with shooting and deaths, not just a reincarnation or extension of the Cold War of yore. News on April 1st, admittedly April Fools’ Day, suggests that Ukraine has staged helicopter launched missile attacks on a fuel storage depot inside Russia, which, if true, could produce a massive escalation from the Kremlin. It would be a typical neocon maneuver to dramatically increase the level of the fighting and draw the United States into the conflict. In addition to that, I know I am not the only one who has noticed the pace and focus of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys’ widely promoted appeals to groups and world governments to come to his country’s aid, to include establishment of a no-fly zone. The appeals are slick, convincing and carefully focused, with Zelensky being framed as a “hero” fighting valiantly against savage invaders. To put it mildly they are way beyond the capabilities and experience level of a former comedian, whose performances featured erotic dancing and playing a piano with his penis, corruptly placed on the presidential hotseat by a billionaire oligarch Israeli citizen. The US media is, of course, lavishly praising Zelensky, but I would bet that he has a cadre of American and possibly Israeli neoconservatives working diligently behind him to get it right, coaching him on what to say and do. There might be US government players also in on the act, to include NED (National Endowment for Democracy), CIA information specialists, State Department media consultants and observers from the National Security Council. Indeed, there is as much a war going on over the airwaves and internet to influence thinking internationally as there is fighting taking place on the ground. One should conclude that the CIA is playing the central role in the “Russia Project” because of its ability to shield what it is doing from scrutiny. Based on previous operations to overthrow governments in various places, one might assume that the so-called covert action approach is multi-level. It consists of media placements that are intended to sway opinion both inside and outside Russia and produce unrest, the identification and recruitment of Russian government officials when they travel overseas, and the support of dissidents both internally and externally who share a negative view of Moscow and its policies. A major component in the approach is to obtain Western liberal support for harsh sanctions and other repressive measures against the Kremlin based on the fraudulent proposition that Putin and his associates are out to destroy “democracy” and “freedom.” Ironically, Americans are less “free” and also poorer because of the actions of their own government since 2001, not because of Vladimir Putin. As was the case with Iraq, Afghanistan and the long list of American interventions, it is the neocons who are in front demanding a powerful military response, both to Russia and, inevitably, to Iran. What is particularly noticeable is how the neocons and their liberal democracy promoting counterparts have in several areas dominated the foreign policies of both parties. Leading neocon Bill Kristol, who called the Biden speech “a historic call to action on par with Ronald Reagan[‘s] ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall speech,’” recently also contributed “There would be no real prospect of an awakening in the United States and Europe were it not for the stand the Ukrainians have made. We would still be denying the threats we face. We would still be turning away from the urgency of the task we face. We would even, I daresay, still fail to appreciate the preciousness of the freedom and decency we have the obligation—and the honor—to defend. It is the Ukrainians who have shown us what free men and women can do, and what they are sometimes required to do, in defense of that freedom. It is the Ukrainians who have shown the world that we are in a new period of consequences. It is the Ukrainians who have given us the example of what it means today to fight back against brutality, and to fight for freedom.” Kristol is, as so often, full of flag waving, chest puffing nonsense, peddling the notion that the United States has an obligation to police the world. Another leading neocon and regular Washington Post and The Atlantic contributor Anne Applebaum puts it this way and in so doing expands the playing field to include much of the world: “Unless democracies defend themselves together, the forces of autocracy will destroy them. I am using the word forces, in the plural, deliberately. Many American politicians would understandably prefer to focus on the long-term competition with China. But as long as Russia is ruled by Putin, then Russia is at war with us too. So are Belarus, North Korea, Venezuela, Iran, Nicaragua, Hungary, and potentially many others.” It would be nice, for a change, to end an article on a high note, but high notes are hard to find these days. If there is anything beyond Ukraine to demonstrate the insanity of US foreign policy it would have to be, inevitably, recent news out of Israel. US Secretary of State Tony Blinken was recently in Israel trying in part to sell the possibility that the Biden Administration might actually come to a non-proliferation agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Israel strongly opposes any such move and its lobby in the US led by various neocon think tanks has been working hard to kill any deal. So, what did Blinken do? He asked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for suggestions of what might be done in lieu of an actual agreement. Naftali reportedly suggested harsher sanctions on Iran. Cut it any way you want, but the renewal of 2015’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is beneficial for both the United States and all of Iran’s neighbors, and here the US senior-most representative involved in the negotiations is asking the head of a foreign government to tell him what to do. Something is very wrong in Washington.
How many rubles did you earn for this endless pile of $hit
The good thing is,pretty much everyone knows he is a liar and a Russian stooge so disbelieves everything he says.
Exactly. Without other wars in the world it would be difficult to justify the killings of innocent people now.
But it’s ok to kill children because others have in the past.
Follow the logic people!
The past?
You don't know that America is killing kids in Somalia and Syria and Iraq as we speak?
If you condemn Russia buy say zip about USA/Israel you are a phony
I knew from the get go that the US would not find WMDs in Iraq and that the war was simply an exercise in US hegemony in the Middle East. I am against drone wars and the limitless authorization that the "war on terror" has given the US to conduct military operations in sovereign nations without a formal declaration of war. I am against US sanctions against Iran, Venezuela and think that the US should fully normalize relations with Cuba and end the trade blockade.
But none of the above is grounds for an argument that Russia's actions in Ukraine are justifiable or should be tolerated or are anything other than a complete horror. And lets get real about the US and Russia. While the US has committed many crimes in its wars and "interventions", Russia's campaign in Ukraine is an entirely different animal. I know combat veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and who were in some of the worst parts of those wars. While there are many examples of US military crossing the line and using torture, summary executions and killing civilians, the US military did have very strict processes and rules on target selection, limiting collateral damage and the treatment of civilians and prisoners of war. And this was in a combat theater in which the enemy was not in uniform and could easily blend back in with the civilian population.
In Ukraine, Russia's armed forces were routed as they tried to storm Kyiv and other strategic population centers. Russian armed forces quickly switched from acting as a military force to acting as a demolition crew. lobbing motarrs and missiles at houses, apartments, schools, hospitals, and so on. People point to the major battle of Fallujah as an example of the US causing massive destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure. But Fallujah was urban warfare that took place block by block. Russia has not even attempted to engage Ukraine forces within major population centers and has instead sat back a safe distance a lobbed mortars and missiles at anything and everything.
But revenge killings by Ukrainians in this war are not well-documented. War crimes by Russian soldiers are well documented, in both this war and Chechnya and Georgia.
I don’t know how much more location specific one can get than first-hand accounts, satellite images, and geolocated videos.
How anyone could possibly believe and even argue that Putin is the most credible and has in fact been falsely maligned by the international community is beyond comprehension. They must be ignoring history and any knowledge of Putin.
You are correct, Putin's war of devastation was conducted in Chechnya and Georgia and in other places too.
Putin attacked Ukraine. Russia was NEVER attacked but had a long history of attacking other counties so surrounding countries had much to fear, Russia had nothing to fear. This war was Putin's fault and no one elses. Putin is 100% to blame And to argue otherwise is just propaganda.
Who should you believe, independent news sources or the Russian controlled media? That should be an easy one.
Putin has a history of murdering or poisoning rivals, life means nothing to him.
Putin has lied through this whole fiasco starting when he said that his troops along the border were not going to attack. He lied, Biden said he would attack and Biden was right. Putin has clearly targeted civilian areas and lied about that too.
I have to question the judgement and the morality of anyone who will sympathize or defend Putin. If you do this its you not most of the rest of the world that is wrong!
Good post and your moral condemnation of supporters of Putin is appropriate. Carmine would not answer any one of your questions about the credibility of Russian state versus independent media or respond to Putin's history of lying and murder. He didn't comment on the fact Russia was never attacked but has been a real threat to surrounding counties.
Carmine in a big fail tries to divert blame of his support of immorality by comparing it to support of the United States. The US has killed civilians in isolated attacks on known terrorist sites. Not at all compared to the absolutely brutality of Russia. If fact the US has risked US life and attacked terrorist location with troops rather than just bombing so as not to hurt civilians. The US did engage in attacking Afghanistan and Iraq but that was when the country had a form of group PTSD after the horrid attacks on 9/11. The US was legitimately concerned about future attacks and took action. (I didn't agree) Nothing like that happened to Russia.
Putin is a monster. If you defend him well you figure out what that means.
You don't know that America is killing kids in Somalia and Syria and Iraq as we speak?
If you condemn Russia buy say zip about USA/Israel you are a phony
Prove America is killing kids in any of those places today?
Not a month goes by without U.S. special forces on the ground or C.I.A. armed drones killing Africans in Africa. U.S. is not trying to win Hearts & Minds anymore by saying to the world: U.S. has the best healthcare system in the world, U.S. has the most modern international airports in the world, U.S. has the best rail transportation systems in the world, U.S. has the best K-12 public schools in the world. Since a recruiting quote like the above would be a lie, U.S. has chosen to kill leaders of democratic socialist movements of the world. Do not embrace U.S. version of capitalism, U.S. will kill you.
Prove America is killing kids in any of those places today?
Not a month goes by without U.S. special forces on the ground or C.I.A. armed drones killing Africans in Africa. U.S. is not trying to win Hearts & Minds anymore by saying to the world: U.S. has the best healthcare system in the world, U.S. has the most modern international airports in the world, U.S. has the best rail transportation systems in the world, U.S. has the best K-12 public schools in the world. Since a recruiting quote like the above would be a lie, U.S. has chosen to kill leaders of democratic socialist movements of the world. Do not embrace U.S. version of capitalism, U.S. will kill you.
It happens daily according to Unkle so must be lots of really good evidence you can both show us?
Have you read, Dirty Wars, 2013 by Jeremy Scahill?
Why read the book when you can watch the Oscar nominated movie?
So strange of you to reference a left-wing journalist. Scahill: "There are no excuses or justifications for what Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine . His brutal invasion is a bald-faced act of aggression, replete with war crimes, and is rightly being condemned as such by large numbers of people and nations across the globe."