W. Niederhut Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 1 hour ago, Benjamin Cole said: W- I didn't say I agreed. I said it was an interesting point of view. I never glorified Putin, and have regarded him as a thug (along with Xi) for as long as both have been in power. I thought Trump was interesting, as the man who changed the global conversation on Beijing, and put tariffs on China exports. Remember, under Obama the US policy was as designed by the globalists, Apple, Disney, GM, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs---that is, "China is great market, China is liberalizing, free trade is wonderful." But since Tiananmen Square (30 years ago), Beijing has become increasingly repressive, and now has snuffed out free speech in Hong Kong without a whimper from the West (among other sins too numerous to recall, let alone mention). In addition, when events change reality, then we sometimes have to change our views. I might have thought peaceful co-existence and some level of accommodation was best with a Putin, pre-Ukraine. Yes, a nuke war is worth missing, and Putin is mortal, and will pass from the scene. But seeing the shelling of civilian areas in Mariupol, and the column of armored vehicles and tanks pointed at Kyiv, has changed my mind. I now advocate a No Fly Zone for Ukraine, and possibly even NATO boots on the ground. Times change and so yes, I have moved to a more-hawkish position on Ukraine. Biden has floundered, looks weak. NATO has dithered somewhat. Biden and NATO have allowed Putin to dictate terms of battle. Russia can fly jets over Ukraine, but not NATO. Really? This is your idea of the right course? Ben, Trump's Chinese trade war was an abysmal failure, like everything else he did in the White House. The man is a complete ignoramus. That's why it's so galling to hear Trumplicans today presuming to criticize Biden's efforts to mitigate Putin's shocking invasion of Ukraine without incinerating the planet. Trump’s Big China Flop and Other Failures https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/opinion/china-trade-war-trump.html February 15, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 W.- "No good deed goes unpunished", and President Biden is more than familiar with that. Objectively silly partisan slings and arrows are also something he's used to. He's handled this masterfully, and history will reward him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 If actually having a intelligent dialog is fruitless. Meme level communication is quick and saves time. I use maturity only when it serves my purpose. Get over it. "Working man" Ted Cruz, at a Trucker's convoy, tried to play to the crowd, and gets his message usurped by a Trucker in the audience, who looks like he has some populist support to each side of Ted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 27 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said: Ben, Trump's Chinese trade war was an abysmal failure, like everything else he did in the White House. The man is a complete ignoramus. That's why it's so galling to hear Trumplicans today presuming to criticize Biden's efforts to mitigate Putin's shocking invasion of Ukraine without incinerating the planet. Trump’s Big China Flop and Other Failures https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/opinion/china-trade-war-trump.html February 15, 2022 W- Well, the NYT is what it is, which is a globalist-national security mouthpiece. To be sure, Trump's tariffs were wildly unpopular with the globalist set. The efficacy of the tariffs may be debated. From my point of view, there is always "the trade deficit would be even worse with out the tariffs" argument. I am open to even tougher and more-complete tariffs, and a de-coupling of the US economy from the Sino economy. This strikes me as a sensible course. I do not agree with the de facto Biden-NATO position, that Russian jets can fly over Ukraine, but NATO jets cannot. Biden has been underwhelming on Ukraine. Confused. If Putin is a war criminal, then why no air cover for Ukrainians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 40 minutes ago, Matt Allison said: Ben- Biden isn't the President of Russia or Ukraine or NATO. He doesn't get to decide who flies there. Or anywhere. In fact, if he did try to decide who flies where, you'd instead be treating us to some screed bemoaning how "the Globalists are deciding who flies where via their puppet Biden." Well...Biden is a globalist puppet, that hardly needs debate. DC is afloat in globalist money. And, in fact, the initial globalist response was to partition Ukraine to Putin. Biden promised in advance of the Russian invasion to not get involved. But the Ukrainians showed resolve, and the globalists lost control of the narrative. Now, the Biden-globalist pathway forward is very foggy. They really did not have a Plan B. They will give small arms to the Ukrainians, and with such arms and a lot of deaths, the Ukrainians may bog down the Russians for years. The Russians can fly jets over Ukraine, but Biden/NATO cannot. Biden has agreed to those terms of battle. Seems a bit muddleheaded, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Thomas Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Pat Robertson slams Biden for not threatening to launch nukes against Russia By Matthew Chapman March 16, 2022https://www.rawstory.com/pat-robertson-2656972960/ "As Russia has escalated its invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden has walked a fine line, doing everything in his power to sanction, embargo, and punish Vladimir Putin's regime short of actually going to war, 666ywhich could lead to the launch of nuclear weapons and the end of human civilization as we know it." Nuclear war would 'end civilization' with famine, study says by Shaun Tandonhttps://phys.org/news/2013-12-nuclear-war-civilization-famine.html "A billion people dead in the developing world is obviously a catastrophe unparalleled in human history. But then if you add to that the possibility of another 1.3 billion people in China being at risk, we are entering something that is clearly the end of civilization," said Ira Helfand, the report's author. "But 700 Club" televangelist Pat Robertson — who has previously stated he believes the end of the world is necessary to fulfill the word of Jesus — took the exact opposite attitude on Wednesday, and criticized Biden for not being willing to launch nuclear weapons against Russia." Oh goody! Where do I sign? Steve Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 (edited) Time to tell it what it is! Last time oil was $96 a barrel, gas was $3.62 a gallon. Now it’s $4.31. Oil and gas companies shouldn’t pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans. Robert Reich was Clinton's Labor Secretary. Needless to say he felt pretty betrayed, and felt he lost his chance after the "Republican Revolution" in 1994, and Clinton sold out to the Republicans starting a trend that's going on to this day. The oil companies will predictably be yelling and screaming if the government charges them a windfall tax and rebates it to consumers money that they have been using for themselves for buybacks of stock. But it's another clear example of the fact that there's only one party that's trying to do that. There really should be no question about this. But the average American simply does not vote in his interest. What will it take to dislodge them from their jingoism and "culture wars" and see what chumps they are? In the 60's they use to say, "Tell it like it is" Now we should say. "Tell it what it is ". Edited March 17, 2022 by Kirk Gallaway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Definitely greed not inflation. Rising prices at the retail level should simply reflect wholesale price increases, and not give corporations an excuse to gouge the public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 (edited) I finally finished reading The Gulag Archipelago today. Had to read it slowly, in small doses, because every chapter is overwhelming-- guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye. Has KGB Lt. Col. Putin ever read it? Is there a more profound book about the psychology of oppressors and the oppressed-- about the depths to which a society can descend, and the incredible resilience of the human spirit? Victor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning comes to mind, but The Gulag Archipelago incorporates the narratives of many zeks and many decades. The parallels with what is happening in Ukraine right now are striking. Like Gulag camp guards, Russian soldiers are murdering civilians with impunity, and the oppressed are fighting back with astonishing courage. Another parallel with Ukraine and contemporary Russian propaganda--Solzhenitsyn described (in 1968) the way the Cheka and Soviet propagandists after 1941 tended to describe any resistance to the Soviet police state as "fascist." Where did liberal democracy fit into binary worldview of Soviet communism vs. fascism? Edited March 17, 2022 by W. Niederhut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 3 hours ago, W. Niederhut said: I finally finished reading The Gulag Archipelago today. Had to read it slowly, in small doses, because every chapter is overwhelming-- guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye. Has KGB Lt. Col. Putin ever read it? Is there a more profound book about the psychology of oppressors and the oppressed-- about the depths to which a society can descend, and the incredible resilience of the human spirit? Victor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning comes to mind, but The Gulag Archipelago incorporates the narratives of many zeks and many decades. The parallels with what is happening in Ukraine right now are striking. Like Gulag camp guards, Russian soldiers are murdering civilians with impunity, and the oppressed are fighting back with astonishing courage. Another parallel with Ukraine and contemporary Russian propaganda--Solzhenitsyn described (in 1968) the way the Cheka and Soviet propagandists after 1941 tended to describe any resistance to the Soviet police state as "fascist." Where did liberal democracy fit into binary worldview of Soviet communism vs. fascism? Speaking of fascism.... The New York Times Belatedly Admits the Emails on Hunter Biden's Abandoned Laptop Are Real and Newsworthy This alliance in the US of the national security state, corporate media, major political parties, and globalists (imperialists)...is not fascism? People who said the Hunter Biden laptop was obviously authentic were banned from media (along with those who said COVID-19 came from a lab leak). And from CNN today: 4 ways China is quietly making life harder for Russia Except the whole story is fluff. But Xi and the CCP, they are not so bad! Worth doing business with. The funny thing is, many people on this forum have defined Trump as a fascist. Certainly he has the personality flaws of any dozen other men put together. But who are the fascists? Biden and globalists were willing to partition Ukraine to Putin. Offered Zelensky passage out of the Ukraine. Biden signaled he would not fight for Ukraine. The globalists were fat and happy doing business with Putin. See the Koches presently. All I am saying is don't drink the red or blue kool-aid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 14 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said: Speaking of fascism.... Actually, Ben, I was speaking of the misuse of the label, "fascism." Stalin and Beria used the term to impugn the integrity of "58s" critical of the Soviet police/terror state. Putin is using the same Stalinist propaganda trick to mislabel Ukrainians opposed to the Russian Federation police state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 I wonder how JFK would have handled this, in light of the Cuban Missile crisis and Berlin. Apples to oranges? Putin is certainly not Khrushchev. Putin seems to want to go back to Stalinism. 15,000 arrested for protesting. Facing up to 15 year sentences. Purging the scum and traitors. While more Ukrainians and Russians die. Will Putin, and Russia, implode or explode. Reminds me of a early 70's poster. Bend over, stick your head between your legs, and kiss your ass good bye (it was illustrated). 'Scum and traitors': Under pressure over Ukraine, Putin turns his ire on Russians (msn.com) Putin echoes Stalin in 'very, very scary' speech (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 12 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said: I wonder how JFK would have handled this, in light of the Cuban Missile crisis and Berlin. Apples to oranges? Putin is certainly not Khrushchev. Putin seems to want to go back to Stalinism. 15,000 arrested for protesting. Facing up to 15 year sentences. Purging the scum and traitors. While more Ukrainians and Russians die. Will Putin, and Russia, implode or explode. Reminds me of a early 70's poster. Bend over, stick your head between your legs, and kiss your ass good bye (it was illustrated). 'Scum and traitors': Under pressure over Ukraine, Putin turns his ire on Russians (msn.com) Putin echoes Stalin in 'very, very scary' speech (msn.com) One difference is that Khrushchev had to govern with a Politburo, whereas Putin seems to be sitting alone at the end of a very long table. Are there any checks-and-balances remaining on Putin's power in the RF? What is even stranger is that over half of Russians nowadays, apparently, have a favorable opinion of Stalin! "Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Some time in the not so distant future, Putin will meet his demise by the hand of a fellow Russian. And he knows it. That's gotta sting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 (edited) It turns out Arnoldt is getting in de act. He brings a pretty unique perspective to the Russian people. Edited March 18, 2022 by Kirk Gallaway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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