Like any dysfunction we need to start at home. I have been saying since January 6th insurrectional republicans should be arrested put in front of a firing squad and executed as traitors. Republican fascists have declared war on Americans democracy. Shouldn’t we at least acknowledge and fight back. They are hell-bent on suppressing voter’s rights. That’s a clue. Let me say it again “ start at home”. Ever hear of the ripple effect? Anti fascism will spread across the world if America demonstrates great leadership. So you want fascist’s at home to hold fellow fascists accountable. Be honest Robert does that make any sense? Of course not. Voting them out is insulting, weak and incompetent. We need to clean up our own act, set a great example of zero tolerance and those dynamics will change everything. Putin will be meaningless. First things first. Start at home. Forget Ukraine and Putin for now. Huston! We have a problem. Put out the fire starter and not just the fire. Simple solution
Have you heard the latest? According to ol' Tweety, Hillary is a spy, and she was spying in the WH. That'll help you forget about how he invited that Russian delegation of spies into the Oval Office for a private meeting and prohibited oversight. Actually, my friend, I think the situation isn't as clearly defined as what you're suggesting here. I think it may be pretty Byzantine. What's happening over there is entwined with what's going on over here. Just as a tangent observation, in view of the rising gas prices and the prospective sanction against Russian oil, where's the money coming from to support all those truckers taking weeks off work to protest covid mandates in an attempt to further nobble the government? >And< production. >And< the supply chain.
The money comes from the Roger Stone dirty tricks gang. They have been expanding their market of services ever since swift boating with the backing of various right wing billionaires like the Koch Brothers. Until Trump is indicted and jailed and Manchin confined to a coal mine in WV, this type of baloney will just raise your blood pressure.
Perhaps as a middle man? That would be consistent with the shell company scenario Mr Reich references in his essay. As to the rest, you're a'preachin't th'chior, good buddy! Yeah! A biblical phrase crosses my mind here: "He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind." Make sure to take out the Stoner, et al, in the whirlwind. That "presidential pardon" joke applies only to what he did - not to what he's now doing.
Doesn't it kind'a make you wonder why you probably just responded to the very first time anyone has brought that issue up - anywhere? (To >my< knowledge, at least. Unlike other experts I've come across who claim to have read all the books in the world on a topic, I'm but a mere mortal!)
The Republicans have been collaborating with the Russians for decades beginning with the California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher who opened up to his party learning from the Russians to institute oligarchs policies in the US. What you are seeing now is the RUSSIANIZATION of American democracy. Ed, you have nailed it here. George Will wrote not long ago that the US would be an "attenuated" democracy. Think about that. "Attenuated" to non-existent is not a far off. Terrifying, really.
After reading your comment, it occurs to me that it may not be the Russianization of US democracy so much as a "chicken/egg" proposition. Assuming your observation concerning Republican involvement with the Russian political economy is correct - presumably since the collapse of the USSR - I have to ask myself: is it Russianization of US democracy or the Republicanization of Russia coming back to bite us on the collective arse? After all, assuming you're correct, it was Republican involvement with teaching the communists to be capitalists and democratic. Indeed, I see the same thing seems to have happened in China - starting with Nixon's "ping-pong diplomacy." How's that been workin' out for us?
Face it. Many Republicans seem overly enthusiastic about how Russia has developed, and seem to tacitly approve of their aggressive moves in the area. It justifies a not new desire to pull out of both NATO and the UN that they've managed to get closer to than ever, in recent years. Perhaps what you may view as Russianization of US democracy is simply the Republicans getting closer their long-term objective with regard to the political economy of US society they envision here? Just "spit-balling" with a proposition this man's mind has never gone before!
Get control of yourself Ed. We are not at the stage of civil war in the US and you ought to look at why Martin Luther King rejected violence and what he was thus able to achieve. That is the American way. Let Trump be identified with violence and fascism, not us.
Fascism is the number one threat to our democracy. Are you not watching Putin calling mainstream media fake news and shutting them down along with Russian citizens protesting his invasion into Ukraine. Sound familiar. You need to wake up or is there another reason for you ignorant comments? So we should sit back and wait for midterms to allow republicans via their voter suppression to reinstate trump like people. I don’t believe you
I never said to sit back and allow Trump supporters to take over via the Fall elections. I support Cisneros and other reform Democrats and have worked to elect Democrats since I was in high school 57 years ago. But I do not support any Democrat. I especially do not support corporate on the take corrupt self interested sell-out Democrats. I also don't call people ignorant just because I disagree with them. As to Putin, my comments here are based upon research and history. You would do well to give up on letting your emotions overwhelm a sober assessment of my arguments.
Peter, The American Way! I want to laugh at that one. The US has overthrown many legitimate governments with CIA help. Look up Guatamala (Pres. Arbenz) 1954, Iran 1953, Argentina 1976, Honduras 2009, and the one Ed understands well, Vietnam.
I certainly agree. You will not find me touting democracy as what we represent to the world the way Professor Reich does. My point here is only that the way to reform our system is the King way, not with street level violence or armed conflict.
Of course, it is always preferable to have a peaceful resolution. But we’re in an era of uncontrolled propaganda with multiple levels of social media. We have frighteningly deluded people with nuclear arms. US Citizen’s now carry arms and republican backed laws are supporting people getting away with this. There are mega $ controlling politics like never before.
There have been numerous peaceful protests here…we see what has happening. The lunatics leading this must be removed!
It is easy to see why the Republicans who support tRump are also in favor of Putin. If money can be so easily hidden in the U.S. and there are no ways to limit their financial power, even as it threatens our voters and people worldwide, and democracy itself. The rule of law has been turned against justice when wealthy people's assets cannot be traced, taxed or frozen. When the Supreme Court itself can prop up the system wherein money buys elections (even from outside our country), and money can buy legislation, there is no way to stop the criminal destruction not only of America, but the world's inhabitants. there is no real accountability for the powerful oligarchs, even those outside our country. Out laws have been bought to serve criminals.
I read a long time ago that there was a 'Russian mob', controlled by Putin. tRump has been linked with the 'mob' in NYC. (actually, it's everywhere that crime is committed, and votes are stolen and people are threatened with hideous attacks and ripped off for their wages. and on and on. It is, sadly, where the opponents of democracy are. I hate to say it, but Our 'Supreme Court' is bought and paid for too! Too bad some smart, ethical lawyers have not gotten the whole American mob on RICO charges!
Indeed, one wonders if it is not already too late! Smart money may know that they, too, can end up in peril. All they have to do is be vulnerable to catastrophe that can affect their own wealth. There may be some who have relatives or loved ones who are not wealthy. You don't have to be a genius to see that this can be bad for everyone, eventually.
What have American oligarchs gotten out of their campaign contributions? In addition to what you said, they have also gotten six Supreme Court justices who were chosen for the purpose of using their power to make our oligarchs even richer and more powerful. They have gotten Citizens United and deregulation, deregulation, deregulation.
Putin's military is not as powerful and prepared as he apparently thought. I attribute this at least in part to Putin and his oligarchs siphoning money from the Russian government that might otherwise have been used to ensure that his military was the best it could be (Just to be clear, I am not supporting Putin here). We should take a lesson from that. With our own oligarchs siphoning money from our government, along with another corrupt and incompetent president like Trump, government functions, including our military, could suffer.
Carolyn Herz ; I wonder how much the defection of Putin's soldiers adds to the seeming 'inefficiency' of his army. There was the early story of a young 'recruit' texting his mother to tell her he was going on a 'training exercise'. She learned a short while later that he was killed in a combat situation a few moments after he texted. Many of these soldiers were apparently lied to. It would not be a surprise that they would react to being tricked into the horrible position of killing civilians with whom they had no fight. Especially the children.
"What have American oligarchs gotten out of their campaign contributions?" They "elected" fellow oligarch Donald J. Trump. Trump told the lumpen proletariat that he would tax the rich but instead gave them a phoney tax cut.
I see comments on financial sites accusing sanctions as undermining the US economy. Based on propaganda, they predict the demise of the dollar as a worldwide standard because sanctions force Russia, China and India to trade with each other.
I know that I sound like a broken record but our oil oligarchs are tied to Putin's defacto ally, the Saudis. The Saudis control OPEC, the "market maker" for the price of oil internationally by fixing output. The Saudis own the largest oil refineries in the US and control a number of US oil producers. We are in a crisis caused by the pandemic and the US should take on profiteers here and abroad. This should be a bi-partisan issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Oil_Producing_and_Exporting_Cartels_Act
Until the American public realizes that they're being fed BS about how this country is ruled, and how the economy is stacked against them, there won't be any significant changes. Economic education needs to be upgraded, along with political understanding. Columns and chat rooms like this are fine for exchanging views among people who are already tuned into the realities of political life. They help provide the vocabulary and arguments for change. Getting this out to the larger population who aren't tuned in is a more difficult proposition. Emotional appeals still have a disproportionate influence, and their reliance on biased new sources makes it hard to break through with responsible opposing viewpoints. Politics and governance will always be as much a battle for hearts and minds as the routine implementation of policy and law. That applies here, in Ukraine, and even in Russia.
First y'gotta convince the public that taking such measures is >not< necessarily socialism, and even if it were, that doesn't mean they're not valid & legitimate solutions to our problems.
@Steven. We need a political red pill to get people to wake up to their real lives as mostly contented cows being kept at pasture by the oligarchs who dribble just enough resources into the masses to keep the level of contentment barely above the level that would otherwise drive more of us into becoming activists... During the '60s the phrase "the Establishment" tried to capture the insular, institutional status quo, and resistance to change that generation perceived as being "in charge". They largely thought it was just older people. Today, we should understand that the Establishment itself is "captured" by moneyed interests who manipulate our representatives in government and the appointed leaders of the government bureaucracies in an amoral manner, all the while seeking economic advantages and powers to further protect and secure economic advantages for themselves. Many ordinary people on the right, the economic right as opposed to cultural warriors, in the way that they advance, protect and justify "free market capitalism" don't seem to realize that they are playing into the hands of people and corporations who do not have their interests in mind.
Marx could never have imagined the new "opiate of the masses" embodied by mass media. Rather than promising "pie in the sky", it delivers shiny consumer goods at the flick of a credit card, and circuses in the living room on a 60-inch screen. Big politics has adopted the sales techniques of the boiler rooms to use the heat of anger and the cold of alienation to condition responses that support the status quo. The price of entry into the big time game of capitalism is beyond what the average person could accumulate. In addition, the level of ruthlessness exhibited by the robber barons takes a special kind of near sociopathy that folks like Trump and Putin embody. Maybe it's semantics, but relying on the language of past conflicts may be part of what holds us back from transcending them. What do you think?
I like your analysis. Odd that you should mention the new "opiate." It's frequently crossed my mind how eerily prophetic an episode of "Start Treck: The Next Generation" from the '90s is. It involved a hand held game - given that the old flip phones and the current iPhones closely resemble the hand-held devices of the series - that hypnotized the crew so badly they ceased to be able to effectively fly the ship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
A riff on the land of the lotus eaters, I guess. The Greeks, Persians and Romans didn't have the benefit of molecular biology and instantaneous mass communications, but still understood human nature regarding addictions and their effects. They also knew how to exploit basic sociobiology to cement their empires. Yet, they all fell eventually. Star Trek technology was probably extrapolation of developing and existing science and the classics of Sci-Fi, like ray guns. Interesting that much of Sci-Fi posits empires as the basis for a far-flung galactic future, rather than democracies.
Well stated. That's always been a part of the point of all Sci-Fi, starting with Mary Shelly on to the present. The original Star Treck episodes were >always< political/social comments on US society. Elsewhere, it deals with the social impact on human beings living in an advanced, technical society. Dune - for example - seems to be interested in the impact of advanced technology in a Middle Eastern-like society. Overall, it's a fine old Western literary tradition that dates back to nursery rhymes. Speculating on advanced technology is the other point. For example, I understand that NASA consulted with the producer of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski, concerning design concepts for some of his equipment featured in providing external maintenance for the title space station. That speculation in the STNG episode sort of combines both that social/political as well as technical objective of good, speculative literature - aka Sci-Fi. (>Never< to be confused with fantasy literature!)
Maybe it's the same, just modern language, but I take a number of substantial differences from Marx. For example there is no "class" called "the workers" who have (or perceive) the same interests or who identify as a coherent group. Others might point out that they look like a "class" from outside, but the key factor in Marx's rubric is that they identify together and act together. Never been seen anywhere, doesn't exist...
Agreed. I'm not a'preachin' Marx, here. I was just noticing that what you described is how I understood Marx's usage. Indeed, the grouping - lets call it - are also content to regurgitate rhetoric against the very institutions that insure they remain - as a now long deceased OSS/CIA employee acquaintance of mine once said - "fat, dumb, & happy."
"Putin is not synonymous with the Russian people."
Not all of them perhaps, but certainly some of them, specifically, those jerks inside Ukraine purposely killing civilians and children. I suppose you saw that gut-wrenching front-page photo in the NYTimes of the Ukrainian family gunned down while trying to flee Ukraine. It's unforgettable in the worst way. I'm angry at that guy; if God existed, I would be angry at Him, too, for allowing it, but that way madness lies, plus it's an exercise in futility, chasing holy ghosts.
Such atrocities cannot be rectified or even mollified. For this invasion, Putin and his barbarians can never be forgiven. There may not be a heaven, but Putin has created hell on Earth, for which there'll be the devil to pay. This ain't over: Justice will ultimately conquer; it can't be denied or stopped.
This is a very important article for people to read. It should not have taken an invasion of Ukraine and clear actions against the Russians to teach us how important immediate action is. I agree with Ed S (below). The republicans would not have hesitated to take his action had our deadly insurrection been carried out by BLM or any non-right wing group. The Trump Traitors are armed, they’ve directly threaten the lives of specific Democratic party members. They got frighteningly close to carrying it out. They continue to try to overthrow the election. Putin could see that the US did nothing and even without puppet Trump, felt bold enough to attack.
But what a shock for him to see, he has no world wide support. Like deluded Trump and his rag-tag gun toting followers, they don’t have anywhere near majority support. We need to show that with arrests from top down not bottom up.
I will add, we must all remember, many Russian citizens are protesting Putin and my hatred is toward the leaders and enablers, not many of the good citizens in Russia. I think most of us here understand that.
DZK ; I have read that she has no personal wealth. Her parents live in New York, and, most likely depend on support to live. She must behave, according to his rules, no doubt.
She never even vaguely resembled anything I'd consider a contented wife. My Slavic mother always used to tell me that the devil always makes good on his promises when you sell your soul - >his< way. There's similar folklore - and even dirty jokes - about wishes made to genies in magic lamps.
Sadly, over 8,000 Russian citizens have been arrested, beaten and detained. Some are facing 20 years in prison, most likely in Siberia. I saw 5 Russian police holding and beating a woman on the ground, one of them repeatedly tazing her neck. they even accosted a very old woman who was holding signs they did not like. We cannot blame Russian citizens, of course, not all of them, any way.
Seeking Reason ; We are living in an Oligarchy, similar to Russia, with a sizeable portion of one of only two parties who seem to like Putin. I think we have more billionaires, or oligarchs than Russia does, too. Individuals have no power and there are efforts to take away our votes, thus removing the 'power of numbers'. I hope there is an awakening on both sides of the aisle here before it is too late!
The US ultra wealthy have far more accumulated wealth than Russia. There are many more of them in the US. I was reading an article in the Guardian UK that talks about how much of London is owned by Russian wealth. We too allow way to much property, toll roads, businesses etc be bought up by foreigners. NOT a good idea.
Look to the Catholic church as well. Sitting on a mountain of money in Italy and around the world! They own some of the most prime real estate in the US. They’ve spent almost. $4bil in restitution to the victims molested by their priests. The Catholic church helped relocate Nazis to South America after WWII. But don’t forget to give! When will people snap out of this!
Seeking Reason ; The encouraging thing is that there has been an 'exodus' from the Catholic church as more and more exposures of their misdeeds have been illuminated by daylight, like the Catholic 'schools' for indigenous people in Canada and histories of ill treatment (actually genocide) in the Americas, (like right here in the U.S. of America. I wonder if 'critical race theory' as applied to Native Americans, will also be banned?) It is not only histories, some treaties are being violated today, as in the threat to some Native American's water supplies and sacred lands. There are those who would drill and frack in Alaska or the National Parks and Reservations.
Your oligarchy presentation has great clarity. Perhaps have some young students work on it and make it more like Tik Tok and play it on TV as often as a drug commercial and you would get more mileage out of it. Allowing money to collect in the pockets of so few has consequences that affect every area of our society. Wealthy people have undue influence over government and then government passes laws that allow the wealthy to build even greater wealth and to make sure that they there are no programs for America facing a life-stressing event to fall back on. The only message the rich have to offer average Americans is that we must work, work until we die. Since the Great Factory Migration to nations with new markets and cheap labor, wealthy Americans do not have the loyalty to America they once had. They are now global citizens whose loyalties belong to whichever nation offers the best profits. I worry that we will once again have aristocrats and serfs. I also worry that, since these wealthy people refuse to accept how rapidly earth's climate is changing, they will use the weight of their wealth to keep fossil fuels flowing. Changing energies would change the profit equation and we can't have that. Trump just said that rising oceans will be great - more oceanfront property will be made available, more beaches. Now that these people own all this wealth there seems to be little we can do to make a new economic deal with them. Perhaps the climate changes they deny will eventually be the great equalizer.
I think it's meaning has turned into gobbledygoop. It's come to mean whatever you happen to be protesting. Hell! Even the Tweety-freex & Q-wankers use it.
PS. In times of war price controls are necessary. A 90 lb bag of Portland cement has gone from $9 to $15. A sheet of 15/16 plywood from $24 to $60. Gas is over $4 a gallon. these are basic commodities that will cause major damage to our economy. In addition to freezing individual Russian assets as you have recommended and going after the oligarchs Biden has to remove tariffs on Canadian wood products and boost solar investments on a war time footing. Incidentally stopping price gouging is how Senator Truman got his reputation for practicality and made it to the vice-presidency. Kamela?
You have just identified another reason why current Biden administration policy absent a dramatic change will not bring Putin's gambit to a close. In my opinion relying upon the self-interest of the Russian oligarchs, whom your chart clearly shows we created with Yeltsin privatization of state assets policy in the Clinton administration will not work. Only the Russian military can bring an end to Putin's gambit.
And here the decisive factor is NATO expanding to the borders of Russia. The Russian military will not accept that. The idea that you can expand NATO to countries you cannot defend is now a spectacularly obvious failure. Our elite may not have gotten it yet but clearly Putin has. That is why he is in the Ukraine reasserting imperial control. Only on the ground military setbacks will weaken his support amongst the generals. But even that will not be enough.
Washington needs to abandon the expansion of NATO. Have you heard anyone in Washington break with Cold War orthodoxy? No.
If Washington came up with a new policy, NATO retreat to countries that can defend themselves, buffer neutral states between Russia and those NATO states, then the Russian generals would have a way to retreat from Ukraine. Putin's gambit would then be viewed as an economic disaster for Russia and Putin would be retired like Khrushchev.
So tell your friends in Washington to wake up. President Manchin wants the US air force to clear the sky over the Ukraine. That is escalation! As I said before pressure to escalate as more Ukranians die will box in Biden. He has to move American foreign policy into the 21st Century as much as he is wedded to the concept that on his watch nothing will change.
I've said it elsewhere and I'll reiterate here: I hope the Russian grunts develop a taste for shooting their officers, like their great grandfathers did in WWI.
NATO is a pretext rationale. His BATNA is to reassert power in all the former Soviet republics and in Warsaw Pact countries. Putin is sending object lessons to the Baltic states and to the "stans." He has troops in Moldova. Remember Georgia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Crimea. As I've probably said before, his physical and mental state probably is a key factor. Use of nuclear weapons in his WATNA because only a fool would risk a nuclear holocaust, and he is aware that his own people will stop him from attempting mass extinction. At this point IMHO he will stop only when he humiliates the west and gets to keep all of the predominant Russian territories.
The idea that you know what is going on in Putin's mind and that his physical and mental state probably is the key factor ignores the more obvious reasons for the Putin gambit on a Russian invasion. -1- We were talking and demanding that NATO be extended to the Ukraine if that is what the Ukrainian government wanted -2- We couldn't defend Ukraine and Biden miscalculated on the consequences of poking the bear in the eye without a rifle in the other hand -3- No country can tolerate a hostile military alliance on its borders including ours. So refute all these points please so that we can subject Putin to your tough guy regimen of electroshock therapy.
Yes but as a history major in college this is the least likely reason for his policy when other more rational reasons for it are available. NATO on Russia's borders is a rational reason. Pushing conventional war to nuclear war wouldn't be rational. Making rhetorical threats to influence public opinion about nuclear dangers of our intervention is where the confusion lies. That is because modern propaganda is effective in influencing public opinion. Even here however Putin is losing the support of world public opinion. If I were in the State Department I would be working overtime to get the Chinese to mediate. Assuming of course we were willing to stop with this NATO expansion nonsense. In Cold War terms, the Dems in the late 1940s favored containment, the Republicans favored rollback. NATO expansion is rollback. Because NATO is a paper tiger in the Ukraine and the states bordering Russia it has to be replaced there with something else---a demilitarized buffer of independent neutral states. Now if Putin were offered this and rejected it then I would still look for the rational reasons. Resorting to questioning his sanity isn't a valid historical method.
"If I were in the State Department I would be working overtime to get the Chinese to mediate."
1. We have less influence than you think. 2. China wants to mediate according to its propaganda. In reality, they are a Russian ally. 3. I am a board certified mediator. Parties need to agree to be bound for it to work.
You can't believe Putin, as sanctions are obviously working.
I appreciate what you're saying, here. The sticking point is the word "rational." For example, Adam Smith - and by extension, Karl Marx - assume rational actors. How's that all been a'workin' out for us all? Besides, it doesn't explain why - if what I recently heard on CBS is credible - the official Russian news - not the "Fake News" in Putin's words - is giving a different narrative than it does for its diplomatic and external media channels. We're talkin' a big RAA here, my friend. "Nazis, pedophile rings, drugs?" C'mon. He's feeding everyone what he thinks they'll all swallow.
And it isn't working. I think Putin has lost the propaganda war. Diem25 just placed 38 blood soaked childrens toys at the door of the Russian embassy in Berlin. They promise to bring more as the death toll mounts. There are 200,000 or more Ukranian civilians trapped in the ruins of Ukraine's second largest city with no way out. Millions may starve in the Ukraine. The winter wheat harvest there is under threat. Much of the MidEast including Egypt is dependent upon that wheat. War is irrational. This one will have the potential of changing many things.
You should be able to do better than that. I'll leave you in peace since I can't change your firmly held emotions into reasonable responses and this isn't a constructive dialogue. Bye.
You don't get to set conditions. That entire NATO construct was derived in Moscow. All bull. If you were a historian you'd see ulterior motives. Even Putin allies like Hungary, Belarus don't want to give up sovereignty. The Baltic states are a greater threat to Russia than Ukraine. They, Poland are well armed and any attempt to stop them would invoke section V NATO treaty obligations.
Just heard on CBS: Apparently the Soviet State Media over there is now brainwashing the population over there that Russia is invading to drive out Nazis, pedophile rings, and drug smugglers. (Where have we heard that before? The only thing missing is Uke hoards invading the Russian border.) The conjecture on CBS is that narrative will likely filter down through the Q-publicans - and such like - to the Q-freaks who support ol' Tweety and potentially expand their ranks. Point being - here - is that their diplomatic message contradicts their domestic message.
I >absolutely< agree. No matter where Russia's sphere of influence expands - assuming Putin decides not to swallow bordering countries outright, like he's trying to do with Ukraine as we speak - it will butt up against NATO borders and always provide that excuse for further expansion.
If we can get through the midterm elections with Democratic majorities preserved or improved, Biden's hands will be freed of domestic concerns. He is too old to run again, so he has the same freedom that a second term President would have. Either Harris or the next contender has the "plausible deniability" defense too.
While I appreciate your sentiment, I'm not convinced that the Democratic majority is anything but a political illusion. I've gotten a bit cynical in my doddering cootage!
Ha! Hardly doddering. But I feel you have your cynicism in your hands, looking at whether to go all in with it? What makes it difficult to not be cynical is that there are some real culprits in the Democratic Party who ARE on the take and vote accordingly. In college I did a study of tobacco growing states, comparing how their Senators voted on pro-tobacco issues. Of course they voted "FOR" at much higher rates than the Senate as a whole. When portrayed like this people say "of course" like as if their support for their State explained everything. But I assigned their bias by the donations from the tobacco industry. Again, we say "of course" but it wouldn't have to be that way. For example, Warren takes money from corporate donors, but she is a paragon of holding them accountable for ethical, fair and legal behavior. So anyway, let's find a way to hold cynicism at bay while also being dedicated to improving representation or real people's needs!?!?
You say, "Perhaps we should be more ambitious." Omg, the morass is so thick that it defies climbing out of. How about an end-run around it?
I am posting everywhere to be looking for outside-the-box solutions. Many soldiers don’t know where they are and who they are fighting who are largely their blood relatives. Treat Russian soldiers like family – Ukrainians bring food to the convoy, drop leaflets to tell them who they’ve been sent to kill. Look at this: "Ukrainians returning captured Russian soldiers to their mothers": https://tinyurl.com/muhjd4bu. What else? Some worldwide meditation to send love to Putin? Come on, we can be the spiritual grownups. Put our money where our mouth is – use this as a time to test out theories we have about distant healing and the power of love.
Economic sanctions will have no impact on Putin and his Oligarchs. Sanctions will cripple the Russian economy and the poor Russian people will be again be standing in Bread lines as they did back in the days after the Soviet Collapse. If Putin and his Oligarchs cannot sell oil, they will start selling arms even nukes in the global market to make money for them. Do you think the world is going to be safer that way? In the past, these types of economic sanctions and embargos never worked against any other countries. Cuba, Iran, North Korea are examples. It only made the authoritarian regimes in those countries more powerful. Similarly, Its only going to affect the poor Russian people who have nothing to do with the Ukraine War. Suppose the Economic Sanctions and embargos make the Russian people revolt against their government and dethrone Putin. Now you have a failed State in hand, with 5977 Nuclear warheads floating all over the world, which will threaten our lives for generations to come.
I may be wrong, but I suspect that the economic sanctions will cause lasting damage to the world economy and end up hurting everybody except Putin. He cares only about himself. In my humble opinion, the best way to help the Ukrainians is to be provide them all the weapons they need, along with helping their refugees, and do carefully planned covert actions against the Russian military. Also, provide military intelligence to the maximum possible extent. Putin may finally decide to a ceasefire if he starts thinking he looks like a loser!
@Tim. I gotta hopefully say "nah"! The sanctions will get to him, I believe. What I worry more is that sanctions will probably act over the long term, thereby hurting Putin's ambitions ultimately, but as I worry the sanctions will not deter Putin in Ukraine.
I >like< it! We even threw a Russian operative out of the country, who worked for 'em! Someone ought to harp on that >fact< more. Tell me: have our lives improved, or the crime rate gone down now that most of the country is a'packin'?
Although I believe that we must execute sanctions against the Russian oligarchs, I do feel compassion for the ordinary Russian citizens who are suffering from the sanctions. I wish that the media and everybody in the world would start referring to the Ukrainian/Russian War as PUTEN'S WAR. IF WE CALL IT WHAT IT IS, THEN MAYBE THE RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS AND ORDINARY RUSSIAN CITIZENS WILL TAKE THIS TYRANT OUT, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER!
I just watched your short video in today's letter. I sent it out to several Trump supporters who would be lost in your normal vernacular. Your simple video will make sense. . . maybe. Thanks
Like any dysfunction we need to start at home. I have been saying since January 6th insurrectional republicans should be arrested put in front of a firing squad and executed as traitors. Republican fascists have declared war on Americans democracy. Shouldn’t we at least acknowledge and fight back. They are hell-bent on suppressing voter’s rights. That’s a clue. Let me say it again “ start at home”. Ever hear of the ripple effect? Anti fascism will spread across the world if America demonstrates great leadership. So you want fascist’s at home to hold fellow fascists accountable. Be honest Robert does that make any sense? Of course not. Voting them out is insulting, weak and incompetent. We need to clean up our own act, set a great example of zero tolerance and those dynamics will change everything. Putin will be meaningless. First things first. Start at home. Forget Ukraine and Putin for now. Huston! We have a problem. Put out the fire starter and not just the fire. Simple solution
Have you heard the latest? According to ol' Tweety, Hillary is a spy, and she was spying in the WH. That'll help you forget about how he invited that Russian delegation of spies into the Oval Office for a private meeting and prohibited oversight. Actually, my friend, I think the situation isn't as clearly defined as what you're suggesting here. I think it may be pretty Byzantine. What's happening over there is entwined with what's going on over here. Just as a tangent observation, in view of the rising gas prices and the prospective sanction against Russian oil, where's the money coming from to support all those truckers taking weeks off work to protest covid mandates in an attempt to further nobble the government? >And< production. >And< the supply chain.
The money comes from the Roger Stone dirty tricks gang. They have been expanding their market of services ever since swift boating with the backing of various right wing billionaires like the Koch Brothers. Until Trump is indicted and jailed and Manchin confined to a coal mine in WV, this type of baloney will just raise your blood pressure.
Perhaps as a middle man? That would be consistent with the shell company scenario Mr Reich references in his essay. As to the rest, you're a'preachin't th'chior, good buddy! Yeah! A biblical phrase crosses my mind here: "He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind." Make sure to take out the Stoner, et al, in the whirlwind. That "presidential pardon" joke applies only to what he did - not to what he's now doing.
@DZK. Yeah, who is paying the truckers!? The same old sorry cast of whom the remaining Koch brother is an exemplar.
Doesn't it kind'a make you wonder why you probably just responded to the very first time anyone has brought that issue up - anywhere? (To >my< knowledge, at least. Unlike other experts I've come across who claim to have read all the books in the world on a topic, I'm but a mere mortal!)
Ed, I agree. We are ignoring a direct attack on our country by fascist-loving republicans. Ukraine said Hell No.
The Republicans have been collaborating with the Russians for decades beginning with the California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher who opened up to his party learning from the Russians to institute oligarchs policies in the US. What you are seeing now is the RUSSIANIZATION of American democracy. Ed, you have nailed it here. George Will wrote not long ago that the US would be an "attenuated" democracy. Think about that. "Attenuated" to non-existent is not a far off. Terrifying, really.
After reading your comment, it occurs to me that it may not be the Russianization of US democracy so much as a "chicken/egg" proposition. Assuming your observation concerning Republican involvement with the Russian political economy is correct - presumably since the collapse of the USSR - I have to ask myself: is it Russianization of US democracy or the Republicanization of Russia coming back to bite us on the collective arse? After all, assuming you're correct, it was Republican involvement with teaching the communists to be capitalists and democratic. Indeed, I see the same thing seems to have happened in China - starting with Nixon's "ping-pong diplomacy." How's that been workin' out for us?
Face it. Many Republicans seem overly enthusiastic about how Russia has developed, and seem to tacitly approve of their aggressive moves in the area. It justifies a not new desire to pull out of both NATO and the UN that they've managed to get closer to than ever, in recent years. Perhaps what you may view as Russianization of US democracy is simply the Republicans getting closer their long-term objective with regard to the political economy of US society they envision here? Just "spit-balling" with a proposition this man's mind has never gone before!
This Ed Shook comment is one of the worst comments I have ever seen on this thread.
It’s not intellectualizing for sure. It’s war. I served in Vietnam and I’m serving again. You are in the deepest denial I have ever seen
Get control of yourself Ed. We are not at the stage of civil war in the US and you ought to look at why Martin Luther King rejected violence and what he was thus able to achieve. That is the American way. Let Trump be identified with violence and fascism, not us.
Fascism is the number one threat to our democracy. Are you not watching Putin calling mainstream media fake news and shutting them down along with Russian citizens protesting his invasion into Ukraine. Sound familiar. You need to wake up or is there another reason for you ignorant comments? So we should sit back and wait for midterms to allow republicans via their voter suppression to reinstate trump like people. I don’t believe you
I never said to sit back and allow Trump supporters to take over via the Fall elections. I support Cisneros and other reform Democrats and have worked to elect Democrats since I was in high school 57 years ago. But I do not support any Democrat. I especially do not support corporate on the take corrupt self interested sell-out Democrats. I also don't call people ignorant just because I disagree with them. As to Putin, my comments here are based upon research and history. You would do well to give up on letting your emotions overwhelm a sober assessment of my arguments.
Peter, The American Way! I want to laugh at that one. The US has overthrown many legitimate governments with CIA help. Look up Guatamala (Pres. Arbenz) 1954, Iran 1953, Argentina 1976, Honduras 2009, and the one Ed understands well, Vietnam.
I certainly agree. You will not find me touting democracy as what we represent to the world the way Professor Reich does. My point here is only that the way to reform our system is the King way, not with street level violence or armed conflict.
Of course, it is always preferable to have a peaceful resolution. But we’re in an era of uncontrolled propaganda with multiple levels of social media. We have frighteningly deluded people with nuclear arms. US Citizen’s now carry arms and republican backed laws are supporting people getting away with this. There are mega $ controlling politics like never before.
There have been numerous peaceful protests here…we see what has happening. The lunatics leading this must be removed!
Steady on, guys. We >are< on the same side, here.
Well said. thank you!
It is easy to see why the Republicans who support tRump are also in favor of Putin. If money can be so easily hidden in the U.S. and there are no ways to limit their financial power, even as it threatens our voters and people worldwide, and democracy itself. The rule of law has been turned against justice when wealthy people's assets cannot be traced, taxed or frozen. When the Supreme Court itself can prop up the system wherein money buys elections (even from outside our country), and money can buy legislation, there is no way to stop the criminal destruction not only of America, but the world's inhabitants. there is no real accountability for the powerful oligarchs, even those outside our country. Out laws have been bought to serve criminals.
You're sayin' the Q-publicans know a good hustle when they see one ‽
yep!
Laurie, that’s true. We have let this go on for so long. As time goes on, more and more money controls our politics.
I read a long time ago that there was a 'Russian mob', controlled by Putin. tRump has been linked with the 'mob' in NYC. (actually, it's everywhere that crime is committed, and votes are stolen and people are threatened with hideous attacks and ripped off for their wages. and on and on. It is, sadly, where the opponents of democracy are. I hate to say it, but Our 'Supreme Court' is bought and paid for too! Too bad some smart, ethical lawyers have not gotten the whole American mob on RICO charges!
Indeed, I mention "The Bratva" elsewhere in this discussion.
So that is what it is called!?
Yep! Брат = Brat = brother. Братство = Bratva = Brotherhood.
I saw that in your post. This is Russian?
Indeed, one wonders if it is not already too late! Smart money may know that they, too, can end up in peril. All they have to do is be vulnerable to catastrophe that can affect their own wealth. There may be some who have relatives or loved ones who are not wealthy. You don't have to be a genius to see that this can be bad for everyone, eventually.
What have American oligarchs gotten out of their campaign contributions? In addition to what you said, they have also gotten six Supreme Court justices who were chosen for the purpose of using their power to make our oligarchs even richer and more powerful. They have gotten Citizens United and deregulation, deregulation, deregulation.
Putin's military is not as powerful and prepared as he apparently thought. I attribute this at least in part to Putin and his oligarchs siphoning money from the Russian government that might otherwise have been used to ensure that his military was the best it could be (Just to be clear, I am not supporting Putin here). We should take a lesson from that. With our own oligarchs siphoning money from our government, along with another corrupt and incompetent president like Trump, government functions, including our military, could suffer.
Carolyn Herz ; I wonder how much the defection of Putin's soldiers adds to the seeming 'inefficiency' of his army. There was the early story of a young 'recruit' texting his mother to tell her he was going on a 'training exercise'. She learned a short while later that he was killed in a combat situation a few moments after he texted. Many of these soldiers were apparently lied to. It would not be a surprise that they would react to being tricked into the horrible position of killing civilians with whom they had no fight. Especially the children.
Very sad that the Russian people are being misled.
Carolyn Herz ; yes, and a significant number of people in our country, too! It does affect us.
"What have American oligarchs gotten out of their campaign contributions?" They "elected" fellow oligarch Donald J. Trump. Trump told the lumpen proletariat that he would tax the rich but instead gave them a phoney tax cut.
Trillions, no less. That is why they poured money into his campaign.
I see comments on financial sites accusing sanctions as undermining the US economy. Based on propaganda, they predict the demise of the dollar as a worldwide standard because sanctions force Russia, China and India to trade with each other.
I know that I sound like a broken record but our oil oligarchs are tied to Putin's defacto ally, the Saudis. The Saudis control OPEC, the "market maker" for the price of oil internationally by fixing output. The Saudis own the largest oil refineries in the US and control a number of US oil producers. We are in a crisis caused by the pandemic and the US should take on profiteers here and abroad. This should be a bi-partisan issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Oil_Producing_and_Exporting_Cartels_Act
Shame on you for using that blasphemous Wikipedia link! I'll read it >anyway< and decide for >myself< if the info is credible. ];-)> LOL!
Acute.
Until the American public realizes that they're being fed BS about how this country is ruled, and how the economy is stacked against them, there won't be any significant changes. Economic education needs to be upgraded, along with political understanding. Columns and chat rooms like this are fine for exchanging views among people who are already tuned into the realities of political life. They help provide the vocabulary and arguments for change. Getting this out to the larger population who aren't tuned in is a more difficult proposition. Emotional appeals still have a disproportionate influence, and their reliance on biased new sources makes it hard to break through with responsible opposing viewpoints. Politics and governance will always be as much a battle for hearts and minds as the routine implementation of policy and law. That applies here, in Ukraine, and even in Russia.
First y'gotta convince the public that taking such measures is >not< necessarily socialism, and even if it were, that doesn't mean they're not valid & legitimate solutions to our problems.
@Steven. We need a political red pill to get people to wake up to their real lives as mostly contented cows being kept at pasture by the oligarchs who dribble just enough resources into the masses to keep the level of contentment barely above the level that would otherwise drive more of us into becoming activists... During the '60s the phrase "the Establishment" tried to capture the insular, institutional status quo, and resistance to change that generation perceived as being "in charge". They largely thought it was just older people. Today, we should understand that the Establishment itself is "captured" by moneyed interests who manipulate our representatives in government and the appointed leaders of the government bureaucracies in an amoral manner, all the while seeking economic advantages and powers to further protect and secure economic advantages for themselves. Many ordinary people on the right, the economic right as opposed to cultural warriors, in the way that they advance, protect and justify "free market capitalism" don't seem to realize that they are playing into the hands of people and corporations who do not have their interests in mind.
Marx could never have imagined the new "opiate of the masses" embodied by mass media. Rather than promising "pie in the sky", it delivers shiny consumer goods at the flick of a credit card, and circuses in the living room on a 60-inch screen. Big politics has adopted the sales techniques of the boiler rooms to use the heat of anger and the cold of alienation to condition responses that support the status quo. The price of entry into the big time game of capitalism is beyond what the average person could accumulate. In addition, the level of ruthlessness exhibited by the robber barons takes a special kind of near sociopathy that folks like Trump and Putin embody. Maybe it's semantics, but relying on the language of past conflicts may be part of what holds us back from transcending them. What do you think?
I like your analysis. Odd that you should mention the new "opiate." It's frequently crossed my mind how eerily prophetic an episode of "Start Treck: The Next Generation" from the '90s is. It involved a hand held game - given that the old flip phones and the current iPhones closely resemble the hand-held devices of the series - that hypnotized the crew so badly they ceased to be able to effectively fly the ship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
I'm sure you can appreciate the parallel.
A riff on the land of the lotus eaters, I guess. The Greeks, Persians and Romans didn't have the benefit of molecular biology and instantaneous mass communications, but still understood human nature regarding addictions and their effects. They also knew how to exploit basic sociobiology to cement their empires. Yet, they all fell eventually. Star Trek technology was probably extrapolation of developing and existing science and the classics of Sci-Fi, like ray guns. Interesting that much of Sci-Fi posits empires as the basis for a far-flung galactic future, rather than democracies.
Well stated. That's always been a part of the point of all Sci-Fi, starting with Mary Shelly on to the present. The original Star Treck episodes were >always< political/social comments on US society. Elsewhere, it deals with the social impact on human beings living in an advanced, technical society. Dune - for example - seems to be interested in the impact of advanced technology in a Middle Eastern-like society. Overall, it's a fine old Western literary tradition that dates back to nursery rhymes. Speculating on advanced technology is the other point. For example, I understand that NASA consulted with the producer of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski, concerning design concepts for some of his equipment featured in providing external maintenance for the title space station. That speculation in the STNG episode sort of combines both that social/political as well as technical objective of good, speculative literature - aka Sci-Fi. (>Never< to be confused with fantasy literature!)
Now you're talkin' 'bout "the bourgeoisie" in the same sense Marx meant it.
Maybe it's the same, just modern language, but I take a number of substantial differences from Marx. For example there is no "class" called "the workers" who have (or perceive) the same interests or who identify as a coherent group. Others might point out that they look like a "class" from outside, but the key factor in Marx's rubric is that they identify together and act together. Never been seen anywhere, doesn't exist...
Agreed. I'm not a'preachin' Marx, here. I was just noticing that what you described is how I understood Marx's usage. Indeed, the grouping - lets call it - are also content to regurgitate rhetoric against the very institutions that insure they remain - as a now long deceased OSS/CIA employee acquaintance of mine once said - "fat, dumb, & happy."
"Putin is not synonymous with the Russian people."
Not all of them perhaps, but certainly some of them, specifically, those jerks inside Ukraine purposely killing civilians and children. I suppose you saw that gut-wrenching front-page photo in the NYTimes of the Ukrainian family gunned down while trying to flee Ukraine. It's unforgettable in the worst way. I'm angry at that guy; if God existed, I would be angry at Him, too, for allowing it, but that way madness lies, plus it's an exercise in futility, chasing holy ghosts.
Such atrocities cannot be rectified or even mollified. For this invasion, Putin and his barbarians can never be forgiven. There may not be a heaven, but Putin has created hell on Earth, for which there'll be the devil to pay. This ain't over: Justice will ultimately conquer; it can't be denied or stopped.
Nice word play! I like it!
This is a very important article for people to read. It should not have taken an invasion of Ukraine and clear actions against the Russians to teach us how important immediate action is. I agree with Ed S (below). The republicans would not have hesitated to take his action had our deadly insurrection been carried out by BLM or any non-right wing group. The Trump Traitors are armed, they’ve directly threaten the lives of specific Democratic party members. They got frighteningly close to carrying it out. They continue to try to overthrow the election. Putin could see that the US did nothing and even without puppet Trump, felt bold enough to attack.
But what a shock for him to see, he has no world wide support. Like deluded Trump and his rag-tag gun toting followers, they don’t have anywhere near majority support. We need to show that with arrests from top down not bottom up.
I will add, we must all remember, many Russian citizens are protesting Putin and my hatred is toward the leaders and enablers, not many of the good citizens in Russia. I think most of us here understand that.
ol' Tweety did his job - true enough. Did nobody even notice that his wife grew up in the Soviet state?
DZK ; I have read that she has no personal wealth. Her parents live in New York, and, most likely depend on support to live. She must behave, according to his rules, no doubt.
That doesn't mean she doesn't have "other obligations" - like making sure no thallium gets mixed into her parents' tea!
I hate to even imagine! But it can't be good.
She never even vaguely resembled anything I'd consider a contented wife. My Slavic mother always used to tell me that the devil always makes good on his promises when you sell your soul - >his< way. There's similar folklore - and even dirty jokes - about wishes made to genies in magic lamps.
Sadly, over 8,000 Russian citizens have been arrested, beaten and detained. Some are facing 20 years in prison, most likely in Siberia. I saw 5 Russian police holding and beating a woman on the ground, one of them repeatedly tazing her neck. they even accosted a very old woman who was holding signs they did not like. We cannot blame Russian citizens, of course, not all of them, any way.
All hard to watch. Wars & occupations etc are always troubling to see.
Seeking Reason ; We are living in an Oligarchy, similar to Russia, with a sizeable portion of one of only two parties who seem to like Putin. I think we have more billionaires, or oligarchs than Russia does, too. Individuals have no power and there are efforts to take away our votes, thus removing the 'power of numbers'. I hope there is an awakening on both sides of the aisle here before it is too late!
The US ultra wealthy have far more accumulated wealth than Russia. There are many more of them in the US. I was reading an article in the Guardian UK that talks about how much of London is owned by Russian wealth. We too allow way to much property, toll roads, businesses etc be bought up by foreigners. NOT a good idea.
Look to the Catholic church as well. Sitting on a mountain of money in Italy and around the world! They own some of the most prime real estate in the US. They’ve spent almost. $4bil in restitution to the victims molested by their priests. The Catholic church helped relocate Nazis to South America after WWII. But don’t forget to give! When will people snap out of this!
>And< a former pope!
Seeking Reason ; The encouraging thing is that there has been an 'exodus' from the Catholic church as more and more exposures of their misdeeds have been illuminated by daylight, like the Catholic 'schools' for indigenous people in Canada and histories of ill treatment (actually genocide) in the Americas, (like right here in the U.S. of America. I wonder if 'critical race theory' as applied to Native Americans, will also be banned?) It is not only histories, some treaties are being violated today, as in the threat to some Native American's water supplies and sacred lands. There are those who would drill and frack in Alaska or the National Parks and Reservations.
Yep! I see you got the caption I offered yesterday, too!
Your oligarchy presentation has great clarity. Perhaps have some young students work on it and make it more like Tik Tok and play it on TV as often as a drug commercial and you would get more mileage out of it. Allowing money to collect in the pockets of so few has consequences that affect every area of our society. Wealthy people have undue influence over government and then government passes laws that allow the wealthy to build even greater wealth and to make sure that they there are no programs for America facing a life-stressing event to fall back on. The only message the rich have to offer average Americans is that we must work, work until we die. Since the Great Factory Migration to nations with new markets and cheap labor, wealthy Americans do not have the loyalty to America they once had. They are now global citizens whose loyalties belong to whichever nation offers the best profits. I worry that we will once again have aristocrats and serfs. I also worry that, since these wealthy people refuse to accept how rapidly earth's climate is changing, they will use the weight of their wealth to keep fossil fuels flowing. Changing energies would change the profit equation and we can't have that. Trump just said that rising oceans will be great - more oceanfront property will be made available, more beaches. Now that these people own all this wealth there seems to be little we can do to make a new economic deal with them. Perhaps the climate changes they deny will eventually be the great equalizer.
As far as “serfdom” is in the mention, are we not serfs to the powers that be already?
It could get worse.
Guaranteed to get much worse Nancy…
Wealth will be meaningless if conditions on the planet will not support human life as we live it now.
Space stations for the plutocrats or survivalists?
They had better hustle.
Think "wage slaves."
@Patrick. Just clarifying a point of agreement - isn't the Establishment just another word for "the powers that be"??
I was speaking directly of the money trust…
I think it's meaning has turned into gobbledygoop. It's come to mean whatever you happen to be protesting. Hell! Even the Tweety-freex & Q-wankers use it.
PS. In times of war price controls are necessary. A 90 lb bag of Portland cement has gone from $9 to $15. A sheet of 15/16 plywood from $24 to $60. Gas is over $4 a gallon. these are basic commodities that will cause major damage to our economy. In addition to freezing individual Russian assets as you have recommended and going after the oligarchs Biden has to remove tariffs on Canadian wood products and boost solar investments on a war time footing. Incidentally stopping price gouging is how Senator Truman got his reputation for practicality and made it to the vice-presidency. Kamela?
You have just identified another reason why current Biden administration policy absent a dramatic change will not bring Putin's gambit to a close. In my opinion relying upon the self-interest of the Russian oligarchs, whom your chart clearly shows we created with Yeltsin privatization of state assets policy in the Clinton administration will not work. Only the Russian military can bring an end to Putin's gambit.
And here the decisive factor is NATO expanding to the borders of Russia. The Russian military will not accept that. The idea that you can expand NATO to countries you cannot defend is now a spectacularly obvious failure. Our elite may not have gotten it yet but clearly Putin has. That is why he is in the Ukraine reasserting imperial control. Only on the ground military setbacks will weaken his support amongst the generals. But even that will not be enough.
Washington needs to abandon the expansion of NATO. Have you heard anyone in Washington break with Cold War orthodoxy? No.
If Washington came up with a new policy, NATO retreat to countries that can defend themselves, buffer neutral states between Russia and those NATO states, then the Russian generals would have a way to retreat from Ukraine. Putin's gambit would then be viewed as an economic disaster for Russia and Putin would be retired like Khrushchev.
So tell your friends in Washington to wake up. President Manchin wants the US air force to clear the sky over the Ukraine. That is escalation! As I said before pressure to escalate as more Ukranians die will box in Biden. He has to move American foreign policy into the 21st Century as much as he is wedded to the concept that on his watch nothing will change.
I've said it elsewhere and I'll reiterate here: I hope the Russian grunts develop a taste for shooting their officers, like their great grandfathers did in WWI.
It is always best if they take out their own!
Here's a problem with some of that thinking. No matter where Russia expands, it will butt up against a NATO border.
NATO is a pretext rationale. His BATNA is to reassert power in all the former Soviet republics and in Warsaw Pact countries. Putin is sending object lessons to the Baltic states and to the "stans." He has troops in Moldova. Remember Georgia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Crimea. As I've probably said before, his physical and mental state probably is a key factor. Use of nuclear weapons in his WATNA because only a fool would risk a nuclear holocaust, and he is aware that his own people will stop him from attempting mass extinction. At this point IMHO he will stop only when he humiliates the west and gets to keep all of the predominant Russian territories.
The idea that you know what is going on in Putin's mind and that his physical and mental state probably is the key factor ignores the more obvious reasons for the Putin gambit on a Russian invasion. -1- We were talking and demanding that NATO be extended to the Ukraine if that is what the Ukrainian government wanted -2- We couldn't defend Ukraine and Biden miscalculated on the consequences of poking the bear in the eye without a rifle in the other hand -3- No country can tolerate a hostile military alliance on its borders including ours. So refute all these points please so that we can subject Putin to your tough guy regimen of electroshock therapy.
I'm sure you're aware that Putin's sanity has come into question, of late. I'm still waiting for something definitive, that sorts fact from fantasy.
Yes but as a history major in college this is the least likely reason for his policy when other more rational reasons for it are available. NATO on Russia's borders is a rational reason. Pushing conventional war to nuclear war wouldn't be rational. Making rhetorical threats to influence public opinion about nuclear dangers of our intervention is where the confusion lies. That is because modern propaganda is effective in influencing public opinion. Even here however Putin is losing the support of world public opinion. If I were in the State Department I would be working overtime to get the Chinese to mediate. Assuming of course we were willing to stop with this NATO expansion nonsense. In Cold War terms, the Dems in the late 1940s favored containment, the Republicans favored rollback. NATO expansion is rollback. Because NATO is a paper tiger in the Ukraine and the states bordering Russia it has to be replaced there with something else---a demilitarized buffer of independent neutral states. Now if Putin were offered this and rejected it then I would still look for the rational reasons. Resorting to questioning his sanity isn't a valid historical method.
"If I were in the State Department I would be working overtime to get the Chinese to mediate."
1. We have less influence than you think. 2. China wants to mediate according to its propaganda. In reality, they are a Russian ally. 3. I am a board certified mediator. Parties need to agree to be bound for it to work.
You can't believe Putin, as sanctions are obviously working.
If the sanctions are working what is your problem with the solution I propose?
I appreciate what you're saying, here. The sticking point is the word "rational." For example, Adam Smith - and by extension, Karl Marx - assume rational actors. How's that all been a'workin' out for us all? Besides, it doesn't explain why - if what I recently heard on CBS is credible - the official Russian news - not the "Fake News" in Putin's words - is giving a different narrative than it does for its diplomatic and external media channels. We're talkin' a big RAA here, my friend. "Nazis, pedophile rings, drugs?" C'mon. He's feeding everyone what he thinks they'll all swallow.
And it isn't working. I think Putin has lost the propaganda war. Diem25 just placed 38 blood soaked childrens toys at the door of the Russian embassy in Berlin. They promise to bring more as the death toll mounts. There are 200,000 or more Ukranian civilians trapped in the ruins of Ukraine's second largest city with no way out. Millions may starve in the Ukraine. The winter wheat harvest there is under threat. Much of the MidEast including Egypt is dependent upon that wheat. War is irrational. This one will have the potential of changing many things.
P_r-e-t_e_x_t. All based on phony assumptions. Obviously propaganda.
You should be able to do better than that. I'll leave you in peace since I can't change your firmly held emotions into reasonable responses and this isn't a constructive dialogue. Bye.
You don't get to set conditions. That entire NATO construct was derived in Moscow. All bull. If you were a historian you'd see ulterior motives. Even Putin allies like Hungary, Belarus don't want to give up sovereignty. The Baltic states are a greater threat to Russia than Ukraine. They, Poland are well armed and any attempt to stop them would invoke section V NATO treaty obligations.
Just heard on CBS: Apparently the Soviet State Media over there is now brainwashing the population over there that Russia is invading to drive out Nazis, pedophile rings, and drug smugglers. (Where have we heard that before? The only thing missing is Uke hoards invading the Russian border.) The conjecture on CBS is that narrative will likely filter down through the Q-publicans - and such like - to the Q-freaks who support ol' Tweety and potentially expand their ranks. Point being - here - is that their diplomatic message contradicts their domestic message.
A useful link: https://english.pravda.ru/world/
правда ("Pravda" - Truth) has been and is still going strong since the (alleged) collapse. ol' Tweety has named his new social media platform "Truth."
Here's the other traditional Soviet news: https://russia-insider.com/en/izvestia-russian-daily
FYI:" известия ("Izvestia" - News)
And just for good measure, RT (Russia Today): https://www.rt.com/
Forewarned is forearmed. Keep in mind, these outlets are for English-speaking international consumption.
I >absolutely< agree. No matter where Russia's sphere of influence expands - assuming Putin decides not to swallow bordering countries outright, like he's trying to do with Ukraine as we speak - it will butt up against NATO borders and always provide that excuse for further expansion.
If we can get through the midterm elections with Democratic majorities preserved or improved, Biden's hands will be freed of domestic concerns. He is too old to run again, so he has the same freedom that a second term President would have. Either Harris or the next contender has the "plausible deniability" defense too.
While I appreciate your sentiment, I'm not convinced that the Democratic majority is anything but a political illusion. I've gotten a bit cynical in my doddering cootage!
Ha! Hardly doddering. But I feel you have your cynicism in your hands, looking at whether to go all in with it? What makes it difficult to not be cynical is that there are some real culprits in the Democratic Party who ARE on the take and vote accordingly. In college I did a study of tobacco growing states, comparing how their Senators voted on pro-tobacco issues. Of course they voted "FOR" at much higher rates than the Senate as a whole. When portrayed like this people say "of course" like as if their support for their State explained everything. But I assigned their bias by the donations from the tobacco industry. Again, we say "of course" but it wouldn't have to be that way. For example, Warren takes money from corporate donors, but she is a paragon of holding them accountable for ethical, fair and legal behavior. So anyway, let's find a way to hold cynicism at bay while also being dedicated to improving representation or real people's needs!?!?
You say, "Perhaps we should be more ambitious." Omg, the morass is so thick that it defies climbing out of. How about an end-run around it?
I am posting everywhere to be looking for outside-the-box solutions. Many soldiers don’t know where they are and who they are fighting who are largely their blood relatives. Treat Russian soldiers like family – Ukrainians bring food to the convoy, drop leaflets to tell them who they’ve been sent to kill. Look at this: "Ukrainians returning captured Russian soldiers to their mothers": https://tinyurl.com/muhjd4bu. What else? Some worldwide meditation to send love to Putin? Come on, we can be the spiritual grownups. Put our money where our mouth is – use this as a time to test out theories we have about distant healing and the power of love.
Economic sanctions will have no impact on Putin and his Oligarchs. Sanctions will cripple the Russian economy and the poor Russian people will be again be standing in Bread lines as they did back in the days after the Soviet Collapse. If Putin and his Oligarchs cannot sell oil, they will start selling arms even nukes in the global market to make money for them. Do you think the world is going to be safer that way? In the past, these types of economic sanctions and embargos never worked against any other countries. Cuba, Iran, North Korea are examples. It only made the authoritarian regimes in those countries more powerful. Similarly, Its only going to affect the poor Russian people who have nothing to do with the Ukraine War. Suppose the Economic Sanctions and embargos make the Russian people revolt against their government and dethrone Putin. Now you have a failed State in hand, with 5977 Nuclear warheads floating all over the world, which will threaten our lives for generations to come.
Please read my Article on this
https://hram.substack.com/p/we-dont-need-another-world-war-especially?s=w
I may be wrong, but I suspect that the economic sanctions will cause lasting damage to the world economy and end up hurting everybody except Putin. He cares only about himself. In my humble opinion, the best way to help the Ukrainians is to be provide them all the weapons they need, along with helping their refugees, and do carefully planned covert actions against the Russian military. Also, provide military intelligence to the maximum possible extent. Putin may finally decide to a ceasefire if he starts thinking he looks like a loser!
@Tim. I gotta hopefully say "nah"! The sanctions will get to him, I believe. What I worry more is that sanctions will probably act over the long term, thereby hurting Putin's ambitions ultimately, but as I worry the sanctions will not deter Putin in Ukraine.
Brilliant commentary and video. We need to make this comparison present in all media outlets.
Could we seize NRA assets because of the Russian money that helps float their lethal paranoia?
I >like< it! We even threw a Russian operative out of the country, who worked for 'em! Someone ought to harp on that >fact< more. Tell me: have our lives improved, or the crime rate gone down now that most of the country is a'packin'?
Although I believe that we must execute sanctions against the Russian oligarchs, I do feel compassion for the ordinary Russian citizens who are suffering from the sanctions. I wish that the media and everybody in the world would start referring to the Ukrainian/Russian War as PUTEN'S WAR. IF WE CALL IT WHAT IT IS, THEN MAYBE THE RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS AND ORDINARY RUSSIAN CITIZENS WILL TAKE THIS TYRANT OUT, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER!
You >might< be making a good point - sort'a like ol' Tweety's attempt to stigmatize the "China Virus."
Your oligarchy video was excellent, as usual.
I just watched your short video in today's letter. I sent it out to several Trump supporters who would be lost in your normal vernacular. Your simple video will make sense. . . maybe. Thanks
Good plan - not expecting them to read.
Finally, our democratic oligarchs have gotten religion. https://www.axios.com/trump-election-lawyers-disbar-5c2b9252-d15d-495f-a759-2446d9fa62e8.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top
Thanks.
You're welcome.