Some call it "Autocracy, Inc." funded by your not-so-favorite billionaires.
The parallels to the early 1930s in Germany are frightening. At that time a few wealthy industrialists funded the Nazis, who would never have come to power without the funding. The result was WWII-- 75 to 80 million dead and multiple countries in ruins.
When we only focus on the lunacy happening domestically, we are missing one key and crucial set of issues. There is a very real prospect of WWIII by not supporting the ejection of Russia from Ukraine.
We may get caught up on personality politics in the U.S. but, rest assured, none of the former Warsaw Pact or former Soviet Socialist Republics in the Baltics are interested in being returned to Russia. They will fight an invasion, which will set off WWIII. That would result in untold destruction in the Baltics, Poland, and other neighboring countries.
The sooner we stop Russia, the less expensive & horrific it will be down the road. At this point, we have it good. A relatively modest investment (considering the enormous amount of money going to the military), without putting in our own troops, can make Russia incapable of attacking its neighbors for the foreseeable future. But without enough military support for Ukraine to hold off Russia & take back their territory, Russia will proceed with its multi-century obsession with overrunning every country it can, which would soon include NATO countries & eventually all of Europe & North America.
Jaime, I read that some are suggesting the interest from the frozen Russian assets can be used to help Ukraine right now even if Congress does not act. It is an idea that I think should be pursued with vigor. It would be a fitting response to what the Putin wealthy supporters have done to a neighboring nation.
Yes, that would be an excellent source & should happen with no more delay.
We also have so much money invested in the military. Can't we use some it for Ukraine? Is everything in the Defense budget specified to a particular purpose for which Ukraine fails to qualify? Is our budget so inflexible that nothing in it can be directed to Ukraine?
And why can't Mike Johnson be removed from Congress and the Speakership, since he is an election denier and insurrectionist? What is he doing two heartbeats away from the Presidency? Giving comfort to our mortal enemies! Enabling Putin's aggression in Ukraine, and ultimately, other countries in the region, and beyond? All of trump's allies should be removed from Congress, the Senate, and the Courts, right up to the Supreme Court. Anyone in the military who is an ally should be out. Congress would not even have the slim majority it has if it wasn't for the gerrymanders and other tricks , like dirty money installing questionable candidates in Congressional seats.
Laurie, the problem is our Supreme Court has decided insurrection really isn't a problem and that only Congress can stop candidates involved in insurrection from running for or taking office. Alas, the oath of Republicans these days is worthless. The SC conservatives only like certain parts of the Constitution, those parts that fit with their ideology. Only rich white men should be able to vote; the second amendment means any white people can carry guns anywhere; abortion rights are only for rich white wives and the mistresses of rich white politicians and corporate CEOs; a president can pardon anyone even someone involved with participating in the president's crimes, even pardoning himself. It's disgusting! That's just one reason to push everyone with a brain to be sure they have registered to vote, then get out and vote Democratic in November!!
Ruth: The Supreme Court right wing majority has violated their oaths to uphold the Constitution. And are disabled! They are being racist, sexist and now help Mike Johnson to endanger our country by withholding help to Ukraine; our allies in Democracy. They allow laws to be made regarding religion: a major no no! The November vote 🗳 may not be enough! They are traitors guilty of high treason! They allow traitors to remain in office and on the ballot! Our remedy of the 14th Amendment, section 3 has been misinterpreted, like the voting rights act! They suggest that it no longer applies, because the Civil War was long ago, and things are somehow different now! It is actually worse, as we careen towards a world war three that may kill us all!
Margery Taylor Obscene wants to get rid of Mike Johnson because he didn’t block passage of the budget that will keep the government from shutting down. She wants a new Speaker, probably her. The Pigs are starting to eat The Pigs.
Scott Preston ; This happened with McCarthy after he had the nerve to do a bilateral agreement on the debt ceiling. apparently, the deal allows any member of the MAGA s to take out the Speaker. They eat their own, I guess. Anything to prevent doing their job, and maintaining the chaos and destruction. They should be fired!
The protections on our democracy, at least as (not) enforced by either Congress or our justice system, are practically nil. How did we let our democracy become so vulnerable?
Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society have been working for the very wealthy for awhile! Rules that say shareholders can ignore stakeholders who actually produce the wealth , because the shareholders Must get paid first! Are a big problem. Look at Victor Orban, and how he apparently "captured" going businesses and gave them to sycophants: stole them from those who built them. So he could live large (like he looks). How many in Hungary saw that coming? More importantly, what could they do about it? Look at our Corrupted 'Supreme' Court! Will they eventually give tRump the keys to the White House? With the whole world watching! 🌎!!
Jaime, I like your thinking! I have been wondering too why we can't use a chunk of our military budget to help out. The excuse if we need one, to keep us from having to go to war as a member of NATO when Russia invades a member country.
How could this interest on frozen Russian assets be accessed/used? Or the "chunk of our military budget" ? Now that Congress is in enemy hands, can our Commander in Chief declare an emergency and invoke his executive powers to get that done??
Laurie, those are excellent questions that I don't have the answer to, but I am sure someone out here does. The fact that I heard it discussed and people were looking at it as though it is a possibility makes me think it could happen, both the use of the asset interest and finding funds in our bloated military budget. I am guessing Biden et al are working on both.
I get the feeling that if Trump is not soon soundly defeated, we may have only civil war as the last resort to maintain our democracy. We really need leglislation that criminalizes spreading lies, and dark money in elections. Lying to gain political power is destructive, just like setting buildings on fire.
Ruth Sheets ; I have often wondered about the frozen Russian assets interest being used to help Ukraine. The attack was totally unjustified, and civilians have been slaughtered against any and all rules of warfare.
We should get rid of our own oligarchs as well; they have proven to be dangerous parasites.
Since they accuse us of being communists, we should confiscate and redistribute their wealth, and nationalize their businesses. Ever since the “fall” of the Soviet Union, emboldened criminals have made the plight of the workers around the world much worse. These criminal need to be the ones who are afraid.
I hate reading the word “scary” in response to some looming right wing threat; instead, substitute the words “fucking-mad” instead and do something about it instead of wringing our hands whilst in a cold sweat. Make them scared; make them run to their bunkers in New Zealand and then send in the Dirty Dozen to block off the ventilation systems.
Putin won't have to overrun North America, if Trump is elected, all it has to do is sent forces across the Bering Strait into Alaska, and Trump will surrender.
Back in 1971, I participated in a joint Canadian American exercise called Acid Test III.
fighting in sub zero weather with 5 feet of snow on the ground is exhausting, oil and grease freeze up in vehicles. steering does't work, brakes don't work, unless everything is degreased.
No doubt that Russians are trained and prepared. The Army is now just catching up, maybe.
All it would take is a show of force in Alaska, and a President Trump would gladly and rapidly cave.
If we are going to save our country, our democracy, much less ourselves from the wrath of the right. We had all best do what we can to be sure that Biden wins the election
People need to understand that this does not necessarily mean we will have a War of the Worlds, with giant weapons marauding across the countryside.
The fall of our democracy can happen with a war of words, a challenge of ideas, a struggle of votes … THAT is how they will end “government by consent of the governed,” — by getting us to vote for our very demise — and we end up with government by Strong Man.
The world gets a consortium of Strong Men all working together to cement their power.
I hope we don’t let them somehow redefine what “Strong Man” means, now. I hear the term a lot lately.
It does NOT mean competent and virile leadership; it means Dictator.
True Pat: But it doesn't mean that when democracy collapses, it will be a slow collapse either.
If we have Dictator Trump, expect almost immediate social upheaval as he and his cult seek retribution against not only his known enemies, but against liberals, like you and me, and they have the guns, the anger and the thirst for revenge.
We are facing a nightmare. I wish it wasn't so. People engage in wishful thinking, optimistic even, making lemonade out of lemons and all of that rot, I know the right from the inside, and I know what they are, and what they are is no respecter of the rule of law, democracy.
How many MAGAts do you think there are. 150 million? That's how many Sturmabeitlung there are.
Oh they won't take retribution on every liberal, just enough to scare the rest into acquiescence and silence.
Does anyone think that all of the people lining the roadways, giving Hitler the Roman salute, were enthusiastic NAZIs. I don't, all that is needed is a blood thirsty, self righteous, care of True Believers.
In 1932 Germany had a population of 61 million, and 2 million of them were brown shirts, the Sturmabeitlung, that is 3.3% of the population, and that is all it took to take over the nation.
Hindenburg trembled, and appointed Hitler Chancellor and he then enacted laws that, among other things, outlawed political parties other than the National Socialist German Workers Party.
Compare to the Cult of Trump. 40% of the voting population are die hard wannabe brown shirts,d lets say that the voting population of American fascists is just 50% of the total population, about half of which are children. You still have 20% of the heavily armed right wing population supporting their fuhrer.
One thing I know for sure, because Trump promised it, if he wins the election, it will not be business as usual, with a different party and agenda in power, but chaos, mayhem and physical violence if you are not a white Christian Nationalist., massive unemployment and a depression are nothing compared to the violence that awaits.
As long as most (actually practically all) of the plotters, organizers & perpetrators of the insurrection & attempt to overturn the election remain free, & Trump's own criminal trials are in limbo, I have no confidence that justice will be served, & if our so-called justice system continues to be so weak, negligent & ineffective, then I have no confidence our democracy can hold firm. Something substantial has to change quickly. Trump, Bannon, Flynn, Stone & others are clear & present dangers to our national security, & as such should be held captive, or at least under constant surveillance, as would anyone else who pose the risk they do.
I do not expect anything to happen to Trump,, maybe even not paying his fines, if he can delay until November. The fix is in. Trump election officials, armed Trump poll watchers, voter caging, voter suppression laws, and Muslims and black males flipping Biden and Dems the bird.
I fear this is the last free elction ever, unless every real American,not some neo NAZI, Christian fascist and their legions of Quislings and culture warrior, get off their ass and vote for Biden and a Democratic congress, if they don't, it is game, set and as Bugs said "That's all folks"
We've gone over the precipice and there is no coming back, not like in the cartoons.
Oh, Lee, I can’t put a like on that, but I know it is true.
I am afraid that changes will NOT be slow {as the changes wrought by Zero Sum Republicans in the Gingrich mode HAVE been somewhat slow since Reagan, getting us to where we are today, polarized to the max and primed for a quick coup de grace to end Democracy … Egad. … Egad, egad, egad.
I am currently working on a manuscript by a Philadelphia debutante who went to Vienna in the early 30’s, came home for a bit, and went back through the rest of the thirties and the war, not coming home again until 1946.
Yes, she spent WWII on the other side of the front, married and unwilling to leave her husband, but also a little stuck, an American in Austria during WWII. She talks about how dangerous it was to even have an opinion in those years, never knowing who was listening, who would “report” you, and who was going to “disappear” next. It’s chilling stuff. {She makes no bones about how fearful it was to live under the Reich, but she does not mince words about how Russian troops treated people on that front, either. Horrific.}
What I fear Jaime is that the Heritage foundation has laid out it's blueprint for a Trump Admin. Trump has said he will become a dictator on day
They have already drawn up executive orders and drafts of legislation, they have a rubber stamp congress, thanks to Gerrymandering, voter suppression laws and tactics.
Day 1 he fires all cabinet heads, including the Pentagon, and appoints his cronies as acting heads, thus no senate approval required. He did the same with the Dept of Def and the Dept of the Army the week prior to Jan 6th to put in place his cronies
Day 2 He declares martial law in response to protests and his coterie of ass kissing Generals calls out the troops. In the words of the Roy Orbison song: "Its over"
I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but this time, more than any other in our history, every true patriot, not the treasonous, white Christian Nationalist faux patriots needs to turn out to vote, even the fence sitters who don't want to live under a dictator.
I got news for the Islamic patriots that live in the U.S. if you "ain't" happy with Biden, then you are going to be misearble with Trump, just wait and see, blackmail back fires.
Biden can't listen to all constituents, because his constituents have competing claims, win A and lose B.
What people have to come to grips with is the fact that as disappointed with Biden they may be, the alternative is much, much worse.
Biden may have sent Arms to Israel, but Trump has promised to eject all Arabs, even those born here.
This Israel/HAMAS war is a nut buster. The Israeli right has been harassing, shooting and driving Arabs out of their homes in the west bank.
However the ideology of Islam is that there is no Israel and it needs to be obliterated (that means 10 million Jews obliterated or more likely driven to America or Europe.
It is wishful thinking that Muslims and Jews can live side by side in peace. Wishful thinking if you eve read the Quran and Hadiths (sacred text of Islam).
On the other hand there are 2 million Arab citizens of Israel, with the right to vote, and some have served in the knesset. You can't say the same about Jews in a Muslim land, if you can find one that is.
There are even some Arabs serving in the IDF.
Problems have solutions. The situation between the Jews and Muslims have no solution, ergo not a problem, but a difficulty and a damn one that will plague the world so long as people believe in religions.
But, but, but it is all about the economy so says the corporate media and their press ho's.
On ground level it is about the culture war. What do you think the immigration fight is about, not about "wetbacks" taking away artichoke picking jobs from starving and hungry Americans, as the asshole tongue waggers on TV pretend, it is about an influx of brown people and the "great replacement" idea floated by Carlson and Fox. Actually it predates both.
Which is strange from one point of view, because Latino's are ultra conservative, culturally, superstitiously religious, misogynistic, homophobic, anti abortion, and hang on every word of the Pope and the Evangelical and Pentecostal "ministers" that converted them.
In fact there is a Hispanic red wave acoming, Univision is pro Trump now, and I just heard a Latina from south Texas, name of Mayra Flores, interviewed on MSNBC, she is 110% MAGAt and right winger. Her parents were born in Mexico, illegal migrants, and she is vociferously anti migrant, especially from south of the Border, NYT described her as a far right Latina.
In fact, the constant influx of these Latin American immigrants could provide a never ending source of support for the Republican Party with their conservative thinking. Initially more may be Democratic, probably due to gratitude for a more welcoming attitude by Democrats, but eventually, due to their cultural & religious background, they begin shifting rightward, as can clearly be seen now.
If they’re able to destabilize our democracy, they don’t even NEED to take us over — just get a consortium of “Strong Men” running things, Oligarchs owning things, and the rest of us serving them.
That sounds so draconian, but look at the countries where it has happened. South America, Eastern Europe, Asia {and we rarely even hear about Africa!!}… When Posobiec said they plan to bring down Democracy, what did we think he meant?
Two years ago, Ukraine unfroze the conflict in the Donbass by initiating its long-awaited invasion, precipitating immediate Russian retaliation. There's a complicated background story, involving American meddling -- in violation of the principles of international law -- to overthrow Ukraine's former corrupt and vulnerable Russia-friendly government in 2014.
We've been shoving Russia since the 1990s and our move on Ukraine precipitated a Russian "Cuban Missile Crisis" reaction against what they perceived as an existential threat.
But around here, many people parrot bellicose Biden administration talking points, heedless of the fact that our industrial capacity is so depleted and our technology so outdated that we have little chance of winning a hot war against Russia.
Ukraine did no such thing! It's the exact opposite of what actually did happen: a totally unprovoked massive Russian invasion of Ukraine. You & that other troll, Libor Soural, have picked the wrong place to try to deceive the readers & commenters. We're a lot better educated & more internationally aware than most Americans, & we can spot a russofascist Putin apologist troll right away. What rational being in this world is going to believe that Ukraine would do such an irrational, suicidal thing as invading Russia when we saw very clearly the exact reverse?
WooHoo, Jaime!! I love your response to that idiot!! Way to go!!! These trolls only come on here to ruffle feathers. All we need to do is hit them with the truth and the simple fact that we are not like the mouth drooling magas who believe ANYTHING!! Keep taking it to them, Jaime!!
Victor, yes, we need respectful dialog; however, the only thing republicans are doing right now is screaming in your face, insulting, intimidating, hate-filled diatribes with no room for anyone to have any kind of meaningful dialog. their little orange leader stood up and made fun of our President's speech impediment and ALL of them laughed and egged him on!! Do you think that is respectful??
The claim that the US and/or NATO somehow provoked Russia into invading Ukraine is simply false, as anyone who had been following events in that part of the world knew from the start. It's an assertion based on false premises, including the claim that NATO had formally promised Russia it wouldn't expand to the east, the claim that the US overthrew Ukraine's pro-Russian president (when it was the Ukrainian people who did it), and the claim that NATO was about to admit Ukraine and Putin was only trying to forestall that (there was no prospect of Ukraine joining NATO or even the EU before the war, though now Putin has made it much more likely).
Incidentally, the Koch brothers-backed Cato Institute is not exactly an unbiased source.
Paul, just because one media source makes a claim does not make it real. It is true Ukraine has been a near-ally for a long time, but there was a chance that Russia might have been one too, but alas, they or rather, their leaders chose a different route and it was not a positive one for anyone on or near Russia's borders. Putin is paranoid and wants to get everyone to believe the world is against him and Russia. No sane person attacks their neighbors. We should know that from our past "invasions of Mexico and Caribbean nations. Russia attacked Ukraine for their own gains, not due to anything we in the US did.
And here we have another Putin Troll. I knew it, thanks for outing yourself "Paul", what is the Russian for Paul?
The Cato institute is a right wing supposedly libertarian organization, but now that The Trump cult is full blown and unapologetic fascist, we can expect to see more of your ilk jump into the Putin/Orban/Trump tank.
That’s from the fascist CATO INSTITUTE which was started and funded by the Koch brothers whose father was a known Nazi sympathizer and who called for the assassation of JFK. Cato is less responsible of a news source than Fox. Wake up.
Jaime, was he claiming somehow that the Donbass was “legitimately Russian”? Just because Russia, during the Iron Curtain years, had seeded that part of Ukraine with Russian speakers moved in to lay claim to the territory {for the luvva Pete, Volodimir Zelensky was primarily a Russian-language speaker!! But even the Russian speakers in Donbass are fighting valiantly to drive the Russians OUT, because it’s NOT true they want to be part of Russia. Ukraine wants to be Ukraine!}The US did not spur the anti-Russian wave that swept Zelensky into office. That was Ukrainian throwing out a corrupt Putin-loving Oligarch.
No one in the Glasnost period even wrote or signed a binding agreement to keep hands off Eastern European countries, especially those that WANT to associate more with Europe than with Russia, and no one could have promised that those countries would never have the right to self-determination as to associating with the EU or NATO.
That was thirty years ago. No treaty or agreement on those issues.
Russia did not go the way Gorbachev would have liked. And now Putin has been leaning on once-Soviet states, and some of those once-Soviet states {like Ukraine and Rumania} are nervous about it! Finland and Sweden joined NATO because they are afraid of Russia —
Exactly as you say! Sending Russians to that region is typical of what they do to any country they want to conquer. Of, course, Ukraine has been in & out of their control many different times in their history, & have suffered many massacres under the hands of Russia over the centuries, so they know what subjugation under Russia is like & they naturally want none of it.
Right Jaime: The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians
China should focus on getting back Outer Mongolia which was stolen from them by the Czars. They might be watching now to see how the second best army in Ukraine fares against an out numbered foe.
We unleashed the "shock therapy" genocide that killed off all the old people in Russia.
(LOOK OUT Baby Boomers -- your turn is coming.)
We pushed NATO east to Russia's doorstep, after promising not to.
Then we supported a "color revolution" against the Russia-friendly President of Ukraine, but he got voted back into office because Russian speakers were a small majority in hodge-podge, cobbled-together Ukraine.
Then we supported a "color revolution" that overthrew he Russia-friendly government of Georgia; Russia created a "frozen conflict" that blocked Georgia from joining NATO.
Then in 2014 we supported another "color revolution" in Ukraine, this time with neo-Nazi thugs to make it stick.
Russia took back Crimea and created another "frozen conflict," blocking Ukraine from joining NATO.
Actually, there was a pathway to peace through this frozen conflict -- the Minsk Agreements -- but Merkel and Macron both admitted that they didn't take the Minsk Agreements seriously; it was just to give Ukraine time to rearm.
Then Zelensky got elected on a promise to make peace, and moved toward implementing the Minsk Agreements. But neo-Nazi war-mongers threatened to kill him, so he capitulated and started building up to invade the Donbass.
Finally Zelensky was ready for his Donbass invasion, with a 3-to-1 superiority of troops on the line of contact. Russia built up their troops on Ukraine's border and signed mutual defense treaties with the breakaway Donbass republics.
When Ukraine began its pre-invasion bombardment, Russia intervened.
Hahahahahaha, I had to laugh!! Two trolls arguing with one another!!! Victor and John keep arguing with each other and hopefully your circuits will blow!!
Pat, pushing back on these trolls with facts, as we've done quite well today, can be effective in discouraging them. They look like fools as well as the liars they are.
Except that you lied "John" or whoever you are. It was Putin that invaded Donbass two years ago, not the Ukraine, two years ago Donbass was part of Ukraine and still is, despite Putins phony referendum.
So says the Putin Troll.. What is your real name, it sure isn't John Schmeekle, how about Evgeny or Ivan, maybe Mischa. Ivan that is it, Ivan in England is John.
“We've been shoving Russia since the 1990s and our move on Ukraine precipitated a Russian "Cuban Missile Crisis" reaction against what they perceived as an existential threat.”
I won’t dispute that the US could have treated Russia far better than we did after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but your analysis is flawed on many levels.
First off, we gave aid to Russia the same way US AID works around the world. Most of the money is given to US corporations and NGO’s that support the host countries economic initiatives. Less than 20% would be actual cash changing hands. And Russia was broke thanks to its military folly in Afghanistan and self imploded; not because of the US, unless you include our support for the Mujahedin. However, then you’d have to include Russia’s meddling in Vietnam, Cuba and Korea.
That said, are you familiar with the Budapest Memorandum? It was a nuclear nonproliferation agreement signed by the US, Russia, Ukraine, China, France and Great Britain. Ukraine abided, and handed over its nukes, or we decommissioned most of the nuclear arsenal for them.
In the deal, all parties agreed that Ukraine would give all 20,000 nuclear weapons (second largest stockpile after Russia) in exchange for its independence and territorial integrity. This included Crimea, which was gifted to Ukraine by Khrushchev in 1954 and the Donbas region which was always considered part of Ukraine.
As for many of the Baltics and Eastern European countries joining NATO and the EU, it was a choice made by independent countries that feared Russia. They have every right to pursue their own economic interests outside of the Russian Federation, as well as their own security interests, regardless how Russia perceives these countries to be threats.
If Russia wasn’t a clear and present danger to their very existence, none of these countries would feel the need to join a western alliance.
And Putin has been interfering in Eastern European countries as well as western nations elections since he took power in 1999. First, invading Chechnya in 1999 on false terrorism charges that were carried out by FSB members, and later in Georgia.
Putin has always been the aggressor. He’s interfered in elections in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Chechnya and most recently Great Britain during Brexit and the US in 2016. Our Cyber command has recently stated that Russia is already interfering with our 24’ election by promoting propaganda on social media networks.
You say America was meddling in Eastern Europe nations in violation of international law? Please state how and when? Russia has been in violation of far more international laws than the US; at least when it comes to Eastern Europe. The Middle East is another story.
As for Ukraine “unfreezing” the conflict in Donbas, please elaborate? Donbas was part of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Bucharest Memorandum, so your point is irrelevant, and just another Putin propaganda talking point.
Well said!! Robert, you and Jaime have hit him with the facts. All he will be able to do is insult and try to intimidate. He has nothing in his arsenal except insults!!
Peggy, and he also has a full quiver of lies and misinformation as well as a bunch of folks out here who want to be lied to because the lies support their own agendas of hate and distrust. So, it is up[ to the people who care about democracy and freedom, not just the words to stand against their whining and lies.
Ruth, as someone else mentioned, we're likely to find more & more of these trolls as we get closer to the election. As we argue with them & rebut them with facts, it's good practice for us. We can all learn from each other & learn about the history & evidence that supports our arguments, which makes our arguments even stronger the next time we face them. As much as their lies may enrage us, we should welcome this opportunity to get the truth out there.
And that is enough out of you Mischa, or whatever your real name is "Paul", that fact that this Ivan or John, spewed lies, and disinfo, and you call it history is damning.. for you.
When assessing the rights and wrongs of all that has unfolded between Ukraine and Russia, a critical question is the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the Maidan Revolution.
If so, was this part of an ongoing campaign to subjugate and/or dismember Russia?
The United States, by supporting regime change in Ukraine in 2014, imposed a reverse "Cuban Missile Crisis" on Russia with the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO and hosting NATO missiles pointed at Russia. We backed Russia into a corner, and they lashed out at us.
In addition, the post-revolution Ukrainian rump parliament began by passing a law to ban the use of the Russian language in government, in a multi-ethnic country where Russian was the first language of about half the population. This ban was enforced by making the far-right leader Arsen Avakov the Interior Minister, in charge of the police.
With Avakov in charge of the police, bigoted far-right extremist gangs operated with impunity in Ukraine, in an environment of lawless terror.
See "Far-Right Extremism as a Threat to Ukrainian Democracy":
The U.S.-sponsored Maidan Revolution brought ongoing civil war to Ukraine, in which neighboring Russia intervened.
It is well-known in Africa that Kenya licks the boot of the American neo-imperialists. Putin is respected in Africa for his resistance to American imperialist meddling. African countries on good terms with Russia include Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Mali, Algeria and others.
Right, Russia doesn’t interfere in Africa. I guess all the Wagner Group mercenaries working on Outin’s behalf for brutal crooked African regimes doesn’t count?
Seriously, this is about legitimacy. And Putin doesn’t get to tear up agreements to suit his interests. The Budapest Memorandum is real, and legitimate; end of story.
Putin also said that we should give Alaska back to them, because Czar Peter the Great made a very bad deal.
Of course, Russia was broke because of the Crimea War in 1867, but let’s not let details and facts get in the way of a Putin narrative!…:)
By Putin’s logic, we should give France back the Louisiana Purchase because Napoleon made a bad deal after Haiti declared independence, and they lost a profitable sugarcane industry.
The chorus went off the rails. If you want to save democracy at home and help Ukraine, you must focus on the US and not allow Trump and his fascists carry the US flag. If you don't wrest the flag from him, we are doomed!
The Budapest Memorandum is like the old treaty of alliance between the revolutionary U.S.A. and the King of France. After the French Revolution and the resulting French terror regime, President Washington decided that the treaty with the old regime was no longer valid. The same goes for Ukraine after the U.S.-sponsored Maidan Revolution.
OHHHHH, Schmeekle, so a signed memorandum is invalid, because “changing situation.”
But a No Actual Signed Agreement About NATO Expansion is the cause behind all the trouble, even though the No Actual Signed Agreement was, like, nearly 40 years ago, with loads of “changing situations,” and it didn’t actually exist.
You are comparing apples and oranges. The issue of NATO expansion relates to Russia's possible inclination to attack because they feel threatened, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
When does it become too late to act?? We and our proxy Ukraine provoked a Russian preemptive strike.
Perhaps the Russians miscalculated the perceived existential threat? Or perhaps not. These questions can be discussed respectfully, even among those with differing views.
President Biden has exposed the abject weakness of American and European munitions supply, as Ukraine runs out of artillery ammunition and their soldiers fall back.
Biden, fulfilling his earlier threat, destroyed the Nordstream pipeline. Together with sanctions cutting off trade with Russia, the German economy is starting to buckle under the weight.
The U.S. misadventure in Ukraine has awakened darker-skinned countries' fears of western imperialism: Russia has been winning the propaganda war in Africa.
Now "everybody" wants to join the BRICS countries with their common agenda of de-dollarizing international trade.
For decades we have been exporting inflation, creating fiat dollars that are absorbed by other countries trading among themselves. The end of the Almighty Dollar is at hand, thanks to the stupidity of Joe Biden. The result, as dollars come sloshing home and other countries politely decline to buy any more U.S. Treasury bonds, will be hyperinflation here in the U.S.A. (creating dollars to service the UnpayableDebt), thanks to Joe "mashed potato brain" Biden.
Yet inflation is lower in the US than the rest of the world. But yes, Putin & MBS, with Trump's prompting, are scheming to cut oil & gas production in order to spike inflation & create fuel shortages just before the election to sabotage Biden's chances. The fascists & authoritarians of the world are uniting against Biden.
The evidence implicates Russia more than the US in the destruction of the Nordstrom Pipeline. The Russians did something very similar on a pipeline between Finland & some island in the Baltic Sea? (I may have the details wrong from a vague memory). The same Russian boat was spotted in the area during the time of both disasters.
The running out of ammunition by Ukraine is largely on the House Republicans guided by the russophilic sadonarcissist Benedict Donald, but also due to the poor planning of all NATO nations in not having sufficient quantities in production.
Post-Soviet Ukraine was like post-Communist Yugoslavia. Both countries were artificial amalgamations imposed by outside forces without any voting by the people. Both countries, after the end of Communism, devolved into civil war, but that process took longer in Ukraine.
NATO intervened in the Yugoslav civil war as progressed Saturn was exactly conjunct the Ascendant in the correct U.S. horoscope (set for May 15, 1776 at 5:00 p.m. in Philadelphia.)
Here's a map of Ukraine in 1917 in the middle of a civil war (outlined in red) showing all the other parts that were added over the years:
Ukraine in 1991 was an artificial creation that had been cobbled together by arbitrary Soviet decisions, apparently driven by the desire to keep the Russian-speaking population above 50%. This led to Ukraine’s civil war after the Maidan Revolution and the rise of the neo-Nazis who targeted Ukraine's bare native Russian-speaking majority.
Now do a map of Russia's gigantic expansion over the centuries to become over half again as large as the next largest country, & that's still not enough for the insatiable imperialists.
You have served up a lot to rebut. I'll start it off as follows:
Ukraine's oppressive neo-fascist thug regime is not "democratic." In Ukraine, all the opposition parties have been suppressed after Zelensky capitulated to neo-Nazi war-mongers and reneged on his campaign promise to bring peace to the Donbass region.
A few months ago, both Zelensky and Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau applauded as the Speaker of Canada's House of Commons praised a Ukrainian who was a real-life Nazi, a member of a Nazi SS unit that committed genocide against Poles during World War II. After international condemnation, Speaker Anthony Rota quickly resigned.
When Zelensky became President, he initially moved toward fulfilling the Minsk Agreements that had "frozen" the civil war in the Donbass and outlined a pathway toward peace. But then he capitulated to the Neo-Nazis (who controlled Ukraine's Interior Ministry, in charge of the police stations) and eventually re-ignited the frozen war, precipitating the Russian invasion. We are being lied to.
In August, after U.S. Secretary of State Blinken announced more aid for Ukraine, Zelensky posted a video showing him with Ukraine's most prominent Neo-Nazi Andriy Biletsky:
See also (from 2019) "Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine":
"Five years ago, Ukraine’s Maidan uprising ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, to the cheers and support of the West. Politicians and analysts in the United States and Europe not only celebrated the uprising as a triumph of democracy, but denied reports of Maidan’s ultranationalism, smearing those who warned about the dark side of the uprising as Moscow puppets and useful idiots. Freedom was on the march in Ukraine.
"Today, increasing reports of far-right violence, ultranationalism, and erosion of basic freedoms are giving the lie to the West’s initial euphoria. There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
“Ukraine's oppressive neo-fascist thug regime is not "democratic." In Ukraine, all the opposition parties have been suppressed after Zelensky capitulated to neo-Nazi war-mongers and reneged on his campaign promise to bring peace to the Donbass region.”—John Schmeeckle
All speculation, and please name the Nazi warmonger? Ukraine was fighting for its life. And it suppressed 11 political parties with links to Russia: they committed treason.
“A few months ago, both Zelensky and Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau applauded as the Speaker of Canada's House of Commons praised a Ukrainian who was a real-life Nazi, a member of a Nazi SS unit that committed genocide against Poles during World War II. After international condemnation, Speaker Anthony Rota quickly resigned.”
It was a mistake, and as you noted, Rota immediately resigned. What does this have to do with anything?
“When Zelensky became President, he initially moved toward fulfilling the Minsk Agreements that had "frozen" the civil war in the Donbass and outlined a pathway toward peace. But then he capitulated to the Neo-Nazis (who controlled Ukraine's Interior Ministry, in charge of the police stations) and eventually re-ignited the frozen war, precipitating the Russian invasion. We are being lied to.”—John Schmeeckle
Nonsense. There were growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine in early 2022, and Russia officially recognised the DPR and LPR on February 21, 2022. Following that decision, on February 22, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed", and that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for their collapse.
Just because Putin says Ukraine broke the agreement doesn’t mean it’s true. I suppose you believe it was Ukraine who invaded Russia, not vice versa?
Zelenskyy, and Ukraine is fighting for their lives. And Andriy Biletsky is not a neo-Nazi, they are white nationalists. I don’t see you criticizing Trump for saying “stand back and stand by” after White nationalists (anti-semites) attacked and injured over 31 people, killing one in Charlottesville? Or how CPAC and so many republican members of Congress associate and speak at white nationalist gatherings.
I won’t bother disseminating the rest of your comments since it’s pointless. Everything you write is irrelevant to the topic at hand.
I do t need to see a map of Ukraine in 1917. Russia also disintegrated around that time with the Bolshevik Revolution. Pre-Soviet Union boundaries no longer exist. East Germany no longer exists. The UN recognizes the 1994 boundaries, not Putin’s delusional wet dream!
The Budapest Memorandum defined Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty in 1994. It was agreed to by all parties. Ukraine gave up its nukes, and until 2014, all was fine until Putin invaded Crimea and the Donbas region.
I’ve read part two and three, and again, all speculation and irrelevant conclusions. Sorry I don’t have the time to debate. You bog yourself down with irrelevant minutiae.
If Trump's efforts result in his reelection in 2024, Democracy in this country will be given a back seat to Autocracy. Trump hates the election system in this country because he can't control it. To Donnie Boy, what good is a system if you can't find a way to cheat it? The school yard bully who tried to topple a government by overturning an election is a heartless, insensitive, product of a relationship started by Fred and Mary. These two weren't much on parenting and results are proof positive. Donald Trump is a weed of a man with absolutely no reverence for law and order. To allow this creep to find his way back into power in this country would spell the end of everything we hold as dear. However, if the worst happens, upon winning Trump will make a phone call and arrange to have an attractive young woman "Escort" him into the future, where even God is absent.
Paul--The termination of the EC is a must, those days when it was needed have left us. Trump only wants the people who support him to be allowed to vote. Not much of a free election system. The man is an abject criminal.
Paul--A democracy is ruled by the voice of the people, the "Majority." The EC is undemocratic in nature because it circumvents the will of the people it's supposed to represent. The Democratic party has won a number of elections only to lose them because of an outdated "blue law." Yes, I know it's not a blue law but it sure is as stupid as one.
As I responded further down the thread, this is all distortions and lies.
The commonly made (by pro-Russian propagandists) claim that the US "promised" Russia it wouldn't expand NATO eastward is false. The only promise of that sort was made by then-Secretary of State Baker to Gorbachev, and Baker wasn't authorized to promise anything of the sort. For such a promise to be meaningful, there would have to be a formal, written agreement, and no such agreement was made.
Another claim popular among pro-Russian conspiracy theorists is the assertion that the US was somehow behind the 2014 Maidan revolution that overthrew Yanukovych. Anyone who was paying attention at the time knows that this is false. Yanukovych's administration was utterly corrupt, and was by the time the protests started it was very unpopular. Even members of Yanukovych's own party had begun to abandon him. The protests were a massive, grassroots movement, as virtually all successful mass protest movements are. The US of course supported the protestors, as did anyone else who was pro-democracy and anti-corruption, but it didn't start or control them in any way. It was the Ukrainian people who overthrew Yanukovych. "Neo-Nazi thugs" did not play a significant role in the success of the protests, or in Ukrainian politics since that time.
Finally, anyone who was paying attention knows that it was Russia that in early 2022 first began a military build-up in Donbass and on the Ukraine-Russia border. Ukraine was not preparing to invade Donbass. And the claim that you make below that Ukraine began a "pre-invasion bombardment" is so utterly contrary to what we all saw happen that it's unbelievable that anyone could seriously make such a statement.
Sounds like you're channeling Vladimir Putin. Congratulations. Why don't you tell us how China is just waiting for Russia to expend its Armies to the point they can't defend themselves and China will march into Siberia? Then Russia will definitely have a 2 front war. Putin is so smart.
Putin sympathizer like you need to stay the fuck out of Americas politics - Russia is a screwed up dictatorship with a mentally corrupt person at the helm of their sinking ship … Putin will fail as Russian people are questioning why Navalny was “ MURDERED “ in a Siberian jail. You can’t control people forever, they will rise up to free.
Your scenario is reality-based. China has been laying low, watching things proceed, which in many ways have gone badly for Russia as they expend their defensive capabilities. China also has a more justifiable claim on certain land in Siberia that Russia stole from China long ago than either China has over Taiwan or Russia has over Ukraine (or other countries it's contemplating invading).
Thanks for the link Daniel I have been looking for information on this. I assume Putin "may" do whatever he can get away with, and that includes backstopping loans to Trump, feeding misinformation to the starving R's in the House (Smirnov and hs BS about Biden), etc. Still it's difficult to ascertain the truth about many matters. I just now looked at Seths ss and I have no reason to think he is a reliable source.
Daniel, I suspect a whole lot of people assumed a Putin connection or one from Musk when they heard about the bond. It is clearly someone who is hoping for a Trump victory in November so Trump can repay the gift with interest. How is it our courts permit it?
Trump is revamping the RNC. He is preparing for the eventuality of a loss in 2024 and by placing key people in positions to aid his efforts Trump plans on winning the next election even if he loses it.
Tell ya what Shmuck, let’s let Ukraine win then we can see for ourselves if what you are so busy throwing around here and HCR’s newsletter is accurate. Does that work for you?
Oh yeah - Putin and his thugs said in January 2021 as they were amassing military along Ukraine border - were just doing war exercises, nothing to see here - that scumbag and Trump are worthless pigs willing to kill innocent people for their own fragile egos. Our equipment and technology far EXCEEDS Russian crap - plus most of the Russian soldiers are “ forced into service “ so the Russians citizens don’t want to support Putin stinking ideas but are afraid of him.
John Schmuckala, I guess you just want to roll over and bare your butt to Trump and Putin. I prefer to fight and in a war against totalitarianism, there are no rules or polite play.
The only thing Putin did to tarnish Uncle Joe was to openly say that he wanted Joe to win. Obviously a simpleton’s ploy to get some of the non thinkers in the electorate to think that he’s afraid of Trump He’s not. He’s counting on the Repiglicans to win so that they will hand him Ukraine. Not too hard to figure out.
But, don’t fret too much your man will probably win because all these fundamentalist Jesus Christers think Trump is the second coming. I can make a case, even as an atheist, that Trump is probably the Satanic entity which they should fear; but they are lost in the trance of his awkwardly woven lies.
In the extremely remotely likely event that I should cross paths with an incognito Uke "Seal Team 6" bent on doing what they must do, I'll shake their hands, stand them a round of their favorite tasty beverages, and send them on their way wishing them "happy hunting!"
Our military budget is a very small part of our GNP. Why don’t we use some of that “black ops” money to really fund Ukraine to win and not advertise to the world that we are doing it? Why do we always telegraph our punches to these criminals? We should just do it.
Paranoia and rabid nationalism will destroy ya ... and quite possibly the whole World. Hope you are digging and supplying a bomb shelter. I have never seen more justifications from both Democrats and Republicans for all out war against other nuclear superpowers as now .... this makes Bush's axis of evil rhetoric look like child's play. People need to get the BS laden, crazy virus out their heads, before it's too late.
"The sooner we stop Russia" using US dollars and Ukraine and Ukrainians as human cannon fodder ? "The Sooner we stop Russia" from an imaginary threat to the free world, sold as a Vietnam worthy domino theory? Cold war fear mongering for better warmongering buy in? The point is Putin will not / cannot invade a NATO licensed country without a World War...so arguing otherwise is highly illogical and plain hysterical. It is logical , in its national security interests to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, if it can. Does Russia "want Ukraine" or does it want Ukraine to stay "militarily neutral" ? What does the evidence and facts support?
Zelensky said from the beginning "we will do all the fighting. We're not asking you to send your own troops. Just for your military & financial assistance". (paraphrasing from memory)
I blame our government for not being more forthcoming, & delaying the delivery of necessary armaments until too late.
The evidence, facts & their own rhetoric & actions support the thesis that Russia will pursue its centuries-long ambition to control as much of the world as they can by invading country after country for as long as they are able to. If they annihilate a people along the way, well, that is a pleasure they are more than happy to engage in.
All other US engagements in conflicts since WWII could be reasonably deemed unnecessary if not reckless, but this has the same global import as WWII with its impact on international security, sovereignty, democracy & peace. The sooner we nip it in the bud, the better for all. We've already let this go on too long by being too hesitant & weak in our support of Ukraine, especially since the Republican House took over.
What you term evidence and facts I call a great error in judgement based on irrational Cold War , red scare thinking and rhetoric . it ought to be pretty clear how dangerous this Doctor Strangelove mind set is becoming.
Your answer is appeasement & "let them do whatever the he'll they want". Well, it didn't work on Hitler's Germany, & it won't work on Russia, which has shown us what it's all about every century its been in existence, which is attacking & invading its neighbors, acquiring territory, committing genocide & expanding empire. You really want to encourage that? It's only going to keep getting worse, & the stakes higher if we let it go on, to say nothing of other countries getting a cue from our weakness to invade the countries they want to take over.
To wake people up we need to tell personal stories of how lives will change if those speakers that are quoted in this newsletter are followed.
Tell of the parent that doesn’t come home because they were taken in. Tell of the child who repeats what they heard at the kitchen table and then sees their father arrested.
Tell of people being fired to give the job to a party worker.
The authoritarians have countries with plenty of victims. Make those stories as gut wrenching as Katie Britt made her story when she lied.
I am afraid that many people do not understand what is valuable about democracy and if we don’t make it clear like we are talking to children, we won’t get to them. Spell it out in stories why democracy is important. What happens if you can’t speak your mind, if the media is only state propaganda, if people in power can never be removed and will make you disappear if you complain. What will your family do if you simply never came back from work or school or a walk in the park? That is what the authoritarian regimes are promising.
I was an attorney in the 60's working with a Black housing group when the police came in the morning and rounded up every Black person on the street (tens of people) regardless of who they were or what job they needed to go to because some Black person somewhere at some unspecified time had allegedly committed a burglary. I thought we had gotten beyond that but bigotry seems to be on a rebound. Democracy for all is what we need.
I remember as a child my parents and grandparents relating stories of the Gestapo coming to relatives' homes in the middle of the night. As a child I was terrified.
I am old enough to remember some of world war 2, heard Hitler ranting on the radio, saw photos of liberation of death camps IRT - we of that generation are dying out and young people live in a different world, and their ideas of that time are far less vivid. I fear that, as we have done since descending from the trees, we will repeat, repeat, forget and then repeat again
My parents, refugees from then Communist Czechoslovakia, always said the answer to everything was “education, education, education.” We can see how, now it is the non-college educated (and white) middle class (mostly men), now Perpetual Victims as the Evangelical Right, furiously accusing the “Deep State” of victimizing them, their heads in the sand about their real victimizers, billionaires and the industrial military complex, and who are now led by the Victim King and Orange Dictator Wannabe, who displays extraordinary skills at convincing them of their victimhood and that only he can bring them salvation, being brought to them as the Second Coming of Christ, and especially retribution, despite having been convicted by a jury of his peers of “sexual assault” (the NYC legal nomenclature for rape) and indicted on 91 felony counts in 4 different court jurisdictions. It just boggles my mind. And terrifies me. This may be our last free election!
Rose Maly ; It helps tRump to spread his lies that he had Fox 'news' as his Megaphone!. I suppose Newsmax and OAN also helped him get his message out. Also, Eveangelicals are especially impressionable. If you can suspend your disbelief in a snake oil salesman in a Mega church, why not at a political rally? These folks are ripe to swallow lies hook line and sinker! They want to be saved, and visit their enemies with hellfire and brimstone! It does not even matter that tRump does not show a whit of integrity. Or love for anyone. Ripping off a charity for children with cancer! He is no longer allowed to run a charity! He hates women, and treats them like 🐕 dogs! Which he also hates!
An older college friend in the 70s relayed an experience she had visiting Berlin a couple years previously. I do not recall how she also visited the East German side, but she told me she spent an enjoyable evening with a few people in someone's apartment. Some people had guitars, and they had been singing folk songs, including some popular in the US. A day or so later, the person whose apartment they had been in had "disappeared" to be "reeducated."
The conquer America strategy of the Russians has always been to buy their way into democracy. They don’t need to invade us across the Bering Sea.
Russians are having trouble doing logistics and their invasion of the Ukraine. They’re really not up to invading the United States buy our political leaders Trump Mike Johnson, Mitch McConnell. It’s much easier and cheaper to buy off Americans through third-party subterfuge if necessary then it is to take us on in a military one on one fight.
Republicans are leading the way to the third world war by being weak weak weak on communism.
It’s even possible that the Republicans are too stupid to notice that they are being bought off by the Russians …
This is a shameful time in American politics. What would Eisenhower or Roosevelt or Kennedy or Johnson or Reagan? Say they’re definitely spinning in their graves …
Even if "The Predecessor" pulls the U.S. out of NATO we would end up in WWIII. China would likely attack Taiwin and U.S. assets there. That would trigger a response. Then we end up with Putin declaring war on the U.S. the same way Hitler did in 1941. Putin could also look at a nuclear strike on a city such as Berlin.
Isn't it time to ask the question-what the hell is wrong with Europe- the democratic countries of Europe? The US has since 2016 demonstrated itself to be unreliable in many ways. Even with the election of Biden in 2020 that was no reason for Europe's complacency given the obvious state of our politics.
The European "arsenals of democracy" have had time to crank up so that they could be providing more of the essential weapons to Ukraine. Even with the economic dislocations of the past years. The war is, after all, in their backyard.
Of course the US should continue to support Ukraine.
I'm remembering a documentary series on PBS in the 1980's called "World At War" which pictorially showed the autrocities of WWII world wide, but also mentioned that world wide casualities, military and civilian were closer to 140,000,000 +.
Are we willing to let these 'promoters' of what could become WWIII get away with their 'making the world great again' ? And what will this effort (win or lose) cost the entire planet and ALL ecosystems and their probable crash ? ? ?
This is REALLY chilling!! I was sent a voluminous copy of records kept during the Russian “Iron Curtain” days, detailing the tactics Russia used against dissidents and people they accused of resisting their state control of satellite countries. The person who had them wanted to put them in shape for publication. They had been worked on at one time by some academics in NYC. {Columbia, I think}
I had to stop reading the accounts of how they broke people down in order to create compliant behavior and dispel challenges.
It made me sick to my stomach and gave me nightmares. And there was very little physical violence involved in those records. It was psychological manipulation, but it kept me awake at night, afraid of the dreams I’d have.
You point out, Dr. Gilbert, that none of the former Soviet republics in the Baltics want to see Russia in charge again … Wow, you can bet they don’t!! People have no idea … It’s what Ukraine is desperately fighting against…Because Putin is exactly in line with the likes of Stalinists and their ilk…
Yes, Putin and his party want to stay in office and will kill any opponents challenging him. Putin must keep his people isolated and uninformed to control them - the Russians are scared of being arrested and die in a gulag. Trump wants the same here, control by misinformation and threats of violence for the opposition. We need to get rid Trump and most of the MAGAts in congress like Jordan Gaetz Greene and all of the Trump weasels unwilling to defend democracy worldwide. My father fought in WW2 - he would throw up in disgust listening to Trump and his DICKtator friends.
Dr. Doug Gilbert: The truth is WWIII began in earnest when Putin got away with invading Crimea in 2014. He broke international law. The harder truth to face is WWIII began when the US broke international law by invading Vietnam and Iraq and allowed the interference in Venezuela. I don't know enough world history to name how many other nations also contributed to the start of WWIII. Perhaps the real truth is that just as the American Civil War never really ended, WWII never really ended.
Rachel Maddow did a great job describing and informing about this type of propaganda on her show last night. She also reminded us that Biden said, "I will stop you" at attempts to dismantle Social Security and Medicare in the SOTU address. Reassuring.
Here is a split screen, picture if you will, on the one hand, the Grand Ole Poo Party, that be of course the GOP, they say and demand or rather quietly, there must! be cuts to save, "so called" entitlements and with the other hand, saying, we want more tax cuts for the billionaire class, the one half of one percent. the ones who do not need the various programs, stand to gain from that decision from their cronies in Congress, say it with me folks, PRIVATIZE.
Gloria, this propaganda will only intensify as the election draws closer. I am cheering for Robert Jaffee and Jaime Ramirez on this feed because they are deflecting the propaganda with truth. The trolls don't have truth, they have lies and insults so the contrast is what everyone on here needs to see. President Biden's State of the Union was very reassuring and called on all of us to keep up the fight!! Vote Blue, America!!!
Gloria J Maloney: I still don't understand how people can vote for the destruction of something they depend on like social security. Do they think something magic will happen and all will be well instead of figuring out, "Okay. No more social security money so how do I pay for food, shelter and maybe medical care? Now what do I do?"
Indeed, the guy, is one of those internet trolls, spreading his crapola of lies and just when you thought, that here, might be a totally safe place, think again, there are simply those that are not happy, unless they are spreading more hate and division, just ask their Dear Leader, Adolf Trump
I just keep scrolling. When I see his name, I know the fool comes here often spewing his nonsense. I no longer read his post. Don't give him the time he seeks.
Oh but Linda, let him post so that the rest of us can use the truth against him. He wants so desperately to rile us up; however, we know exactly what he is. We don't get riled, we tell him the truth. If we do it often enough, who knows? maybe he will finally see the light!!!
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
They’re brainwashed in a cult and literally want to be locked down masked up and jabbed up forever. Don’t waste your energy on them; painful as it is to see your fellow man cheering for their own deaths.
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
Hmmm, Russia is already doing what Reich & Hartmann have been warning they will do: populating the internet with bots & trolls to spread disinformational propaganda to help Putin & Trump, 2 of the most dangerous, destructive & despicable people to have ever populated the Earth.
I've been following the totally unprovoked, barbaric Russian invasion of Ukraine very closely as well as the criminal & treasonous antics of the Siberian Candidate, Traitor Trump, getting my information from all sides.
You are here simply to stir things up with false russofascist claims.
Indeed, to paraphrase it, Trump and Putin's political ambitions are inseparable. Its okay for Putin to do whatever the hell he wants in Ukraine because when I'm in power I can do whatever the hell I want. Our allies and the rule of law be damned.. .Prime Minister Victor Orban has his ear. Orban was elected, but once.in power he took control of the courts, the media etc. Project 2025 that Trump endorses seems to be the same blueprint that Orban used to dismantle democracy.
Betty, and if Orban had anything of value to offer, he would not have believed he had to take over everything in the nation that would have served as a check on his power. It seems Trump has already taken over our House of Representatives and Supreme Court as well as several of the lower courts. It would be rather easy for him to get the rest. Russia already had a system of repression going on since the Czar days, so people were used to it. People here are not and I suspect even Republicans who want to do as much harm as they can to the people who don't believe as they do, will find they don't like a man in the throes of dementia and under the hand of puppeteers like Steve Miller and Steve Bannon running things, and will find their freedoms slipping away to the point they will not be happy with their Baby Donnie anymore. Unfortunately by that time, this nation will be a wreck. Trump won't care because he will be insulated from all of it. He will be dragged out to give his stupid rally speeches with paid people who will cheer for him. Poverty will rise to extremes and the oligarchs who wanted to take over all along will be able to return to slavery days with people working for as little as the oligarchs can manage. Maybe their brand of warped christianity will give them some comfort as their kids are starving and they are working 16 hour days for a tiny fraction of what they should be paid. Then, there's global warming that could put an end to all our suffering by that time because Baby Donnie and friends are into "drill baby drill" and only want science if it makes their own life better. Mar-a-Lago will be underwater by then and Trump won't notice because his dementia will have taken over his brain. Yeah, Republicans, that's a lovely future. I can't imagine what you see in it that fascinates you.
Unprovoked? LOL Hell no!!!!!!!! The Ukro Nutzies had some 50 000 troops in full gear gathered to attack severely the pro-Russian freedom fighters in the separatist republic, who refused the illegal Maidan coup to the democratically elected, however corrupt, more pro-Russian than pro-EU, president Yanukovich, who had to flee the country. Russia, like any responsible superpower, just had to stop them, had to invade, said enough is enough, to hell with the West, look to the East, just like in the Hollywood movie Lord of the Rings, what an irony! You would surely democratically, mostly peacefully, let your Nutzie neighbor mess with you, wouldn't you? Give yourself a break, bra! I'm Czech, another Slavic nation, we know everything about Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Hungary, etc. We've been there, experienced things. It's normal racism in Ukraine, the cause of today's conflict.
Just another typical ploy for Russia to gain territory. Their method is (& it's been their MO for centuries) to stir up conflict in a neighboring country, express their support for the rebels, send troops to help the rebels, encourage the rebels to declare an autonomous region, & eventually declare that region Russian territory, eliminating the natives & replacing them with Russians while invading the country to try to take over the whole country. They'll use any pretext to disingenuously justify their behavior.
Do you also believe the Earth is flat and the Moon is made of green cheese? The only part of your statement that has any relationship to reality is the first part: "Biden & Co. support Ukraine". The rest is utter nonsense.
And what regime would that be? The democratic government of Ukraine? Is Zelenskyy a far right fascist? I think not!
Your statement is pure Putin propaganda. The European’s fear Putin, not Ukraine. Norway and Sweden never felt the need to join NATO during the Soviet Union and Cold War, yet now they do; why is that? When your neighbors fear you, it speaks volumes.
Your statement is complete and utter nonsense! Not even worthy of a response!…:)
Zelensky has limited power. Starting in 2014 the Interior Ministry, in charge of the police, has been controlled by far-right extremists, with Arsen Avakov the name to look up.
As though Russia doesn’t have its far right militias? Have you heard of the Wagner Group? It was started by Dmitry Utkin in 2014, who was a Nazi sympathizer and had several Nazi tattoos. He named the mercenary group after German, Richard Wagner, a famous composer of Adolf Hitler.
And we certainly have our share of white nationalists and neo-Nazi’s in America; it doesn’t make our country a fascist, Nazi country.
I have studied the Ukrainian situation, including reading maps, enough to recognize & be able to transcribe most Cyrillic letters, at least enough to read & understand what you said. And it's not the only Kremlinbot to have already invaded our space tonight, unfortunately.
Are you back again, Member of Cult 45 frothing talking points of the Orange Man and Vlad from your mouth??? I know you don’t believe in the US Constitution, so your First Amendment right to Free Speech is hereby revoked! Go back to Russia, you Vlad Bot, and bloody-well fricken stop posting on Substack, where you belong like arsenic, cyanide, or Novichok!
Rose, I think y'all broke the bot!!! It just keeps repeating the same thing over and over!! " I replied here (and I have more to say)" Try saying that in a robot's voice!!! Oh well, I am sure they will repair him and he will be back with his insane trolling!!! I love the responses from our substack community!! Hopefully, putin, trump and anyone else sending them on here will get the message that we are not gullible like their cult followers!!!
Sorry Schmuck-ele … but your Putin language is not welcome here - does he pay you by the word or by vowel to post ? If vowel … dicktatorship will no doubt prove to make $$$
Having an opinion is an American Right Being a funnel For Russian Nazi propaganda is a violation of several Federal Laws and of your agreement to participate on this Forum.
I've been calling us a corporatocracy for 20 years or more, because that's what we are. Not that we can't be other things simultaneously, like a plutocracy or theocracy. We were some of the worst kind under Trump, including mafiocracy, kleptoctacy, idiocracy, & kakistocracy.
I doubt A third WW will occur; although as Russia girds for war with a 7 % of of their GDP going to.Defense and a free world reluctant to re arm; is almost an invitation for Putin/ neo- Hitler is pushing around the little states of Europe.
Stupid Policies that hinder the Ukraine from using the high tech weapons Such as ROCKET Systems from being used against targets in Russia itself . Signal a reluctance to fight , the intellectual approach to statesmanship was a disaster in Vietnam . We are repeating the same intellectual nonsense with war Russia started and invaded Ukraine .
Give the Ukraine the weapons they need and let them employ those weapons however the Ukraine sees fit , attempting to micromanage a war from Washington is ridiculous and invites failure for the people of Ukraine.
The Washington’s experts are dealing with theoretical and the Ukraine 🇺🇦 is dealing with reality. War is not a chess game it’s a blood bath Washington insists on Putting lipstick on a pig and calling it a police action. Let the Ukraine be The Ukraine kill Russians their way.
What scares me the most are Trump's feelings for Putin. Donnie Boy doesn't respect what Putin has he wants it for himself, lock, stock, and barrel. Trump wants to "be" everything that the Russian bear is. "God" in a cheap suit.
If trumpet 🎺 goes to jail he will quickly die from lack of camera time. When and if he lives long enough and survived jail he will become a star on a porn channel with Melania and/or her replacement…
I’m pretty sure fat bald guys with orange complexions are not really a big draw…
The Russians will remain loyal until the end… they always try to swap their spy’s out of jail…
We already are in WW3. My guess is that Orban has his eyes on Moldova and chunk of Ukraine. If he and Putin foment a rebellion in Moldova NATO is likely to get directly involved. Even if Putin refrains from using nuclear weapons, China and N. Korea are likely to take full advantage of the chaos in west.
Europe had better get involved, and I mean boots on the ground, because the treasonous Trump cult has totally abandoned Ukraine, because that is what OrbanTrumpsky wants.
This is a replay of 1938 Munich Conference Trump being Chamberlain, but more vile and treasonous, Zelensky being Edvard Benes, and Orban being Hitler.
History certainly does rhyme.
But Putin waves his nuclear phallus and the surrender monkey's in the west (including America) foul their underwear. They would rather live under the terror of a dictatorship.
Winds shift. Some of that radioactive cloud did reach Sweden, most of Europe and even Canada.
It is like pollution, it just doesn't affect one country, it affects the world.
The Jungles of the Amazon are gifted with sand and soil that originates in Africa, and there is coral life in the Caribbean that is the beneficiary of Sahara sands blown in by the winds.
But that doesn't matter. M.A.D. is still in effect. If Putin looses his nukes, there will be hell to pay in Russia, Moscow and his precious Dacha's for his mistresses and daughters.
Professor Reich: i can't help but wonder what the radical right would think if they won and ended up being having to live under the regime they've openly and enthusiastically espoused? it's mind-boggling: such a regime goes against everything they claim to believe in.
Conscription Russian style should frighten a few. If someone is arrested for protesting, there is a high chance they will be on the Ukranian front as cannon fodder in a few weeks. Behind on your debt payments? There is a place for you at the Ukranian front!
This and similar practices have a long tradition dating back especially to Alexander III. Minorites and dissidents have often been used as cannon fodder. My grandmother's family fled Czarist Russia for this reason. As Germans in Russia they were seen as cannon fodder in the lead up to the Russo-Japanese war. The Russians even required conscripted soldiers to bring food for the officers' horses!
You found the turd in the soup. They always forget that eventually a more extreme version of themselves comes along and decides that things aren’t extreme enough.
I very much agree with these 2 comments! THIS is THE problem! The Make America Great Again "radical right" are being used by politicians who are being used and funded by wealthy and powerful donors to attain more wealth and power.
Professor Reich; How can we "reach out to" the MAGA voters and get them to read, think, understand and accept the truth in what you say? They do not ever see your writings or hear your podcasts. And if they did, they will NOT read or listen to your message. And if the DID read or listen to you message, they would not understand or agree with it!
Trump is not hiding it and, if the past is any guide, we would be well advised to listen to what he says. If elected, it will likely be worse than the oral diarrhea coming from his mouth.
I can barely believe this is happening in this country. It seems the very rich would much rather have a dictator than a democratically elected government. Make no mistake about their complicity in this scheme to take power. I’m beginning to have nightmares about trump. This worldwide phenomenon is being supported by the very rich. Funding was key to Hitler and is key to trumps rise. No political movement can survive without backing. It’s a sorry mess we have!
Stephen I have been having nightmares since 2016 and they started to ease up with the win 2020 installing Biden but even then I felt uneasy as I had pandemic nightmares losing family members extended family and friends grief has been on my plate as it has for so many. What the hard truth about our current situation is this is something that has been rumbling in the underbelly for many years “the destruction of our democracy” and capitalist’s total control of America. I believe you are correct most Americans understand democracy and possibly take it for granted but fail to remember or don’t about know the Cuban missle crisis the Cold War or WWII those still run chills in my spine. I believe the wake up call is not loud enough and should have come sooner that said what is clear as a pane of freshly cleaned glass the American government and WTP are under attack from Russia and the enemies within our government and country that support them. I believe that the majority Americans actually support democracy and Biden’s agenda knowing that so far he has proven himself “job well done” but needs to continue with a path forward for 4 more years so it will take EVERY single person that wants to fight against the mentioned enemies to VOTE because every one COUNTS we must have numbers so overwhelmingly huge to support President Biden at the polls it will not stop the election deniers but we can win if we ALL VOTE BLUE every election state local and federal election but without a doubt if we don’t keep President Biden in the White House it will be lost to the majority of patriotic Americans. That is my Nightmares.
The elections won’t end it. We will have to keep fighting.
Many Americans also do not know what it’s like to have unregulated capitalism. The corporations don’t like to be regulated. We may find out what it was like before OSHA, before labor regulations etc. if the anti-democracy movement continues.
Exactly - what happens when employers no longer pay into unemployment or workers comp insurance or support social security and Medicare - what will happen to our society ? The poor, the handicapped, mentally unstable, elderly ?
EVERYBODY has to get crackin’, and absolutely do every thing in their power to talk to every family member and friend, repeatedly sign up for DNC phone banks, donate every possible dollar to the Biden-Harris campaign, attend every pro-democracy rally, wear Biden-Harris pins everywhere, put up Biden yard signs prominently in your front yard, fly the American flag, wear American flag pins, make sure everyone you know is registered to vote, AND, above all, VOTE!!!
Yep. This evil story goes all the way back to the John Birch Society and the Nazi roots of the Koch Brothers. I admit I was asleep at the wheel as were many. I was telling a friend today I thought I was scared in 2016. This is times 1000. I'm updating my Will and will have a Plan B just in case.
“Republicans in Congress, CPAC, and Tucker Carlson have made it abundantly clear that this election pits democracy and freedom against what is fast becoming a global anti-democracy movement, co-chaired by Trump and Putin.”
Every great empire is never beaten in War, it dies a slow death from apathy, internal strife and exhaustion. The Roman Empire fell due to many factors; however, a major factor was the infiltration and influence of religious zealots, who we now call Christian’s.
America’s death will be at the hands of the same demonic forces, including an illiterate and apathetic electorate, and a religious fundamentalist movement, that has infiltrated every government institution.
1. It was a miracle it lasted any length of time at all since often a change in dictators was accompanied by civil war. So the question is backwards.
2. All the emperors claimed to be descendants of the king of Troy. You know, the guy that fell for the giant horse gambit. Descended from an idiot is not the calling card it was thought to be.
Speaking of courage, I wonder why all those disqualified members of Congress are allowed to even be in Congress? They work for tRump . and, therefore, Putin. They have violated their oaths of office. according to the 14th amendment section three, the disqualification clause, they should not hold seats in government. If the current Supreme Court has not allowed violators to be removed by the states (at least not for federal elections) , why can't states at least remove their own violating members of Congress? Why can't we throw the bums out? Also, I wonder which state former Congressman George Santos is running from? I read that he was at the SOTU. , and is running for office again. In Congress? How can he be qualified to do that? This lawlessness nonsense has got to stop! Why is Tommy Tuberville still holding a seat in government?
Laurie, all really good, pertinent questions. The same questions I keep asking. It looks like (not appears or seems) that our government does not represent us any longer. SCOTUS is bought and sold, one man, Mike Johnson, is deciding the fate of western democracy and world order by not allowing a vote on funding for Ukraine and a draconian immigration policy that Republicans have been demanding. It’s insanity, pure and simple, driven by greed, power and fear. Biden’s SOTU address was inspiring, but it takes legislation to do what he outlined in his address. I don’t see it happening before the election. The only reason Trump has so much power and influence is that the world, not just the USA, is now run by money, not people, and the corporations that run the world know that Trump will let them do whatever they want as long as he stays out of jail and continues to line his pockets. It’s pretty frightening and I don’t scare easily. I will vote blue up and down the ticket, but even if Biden wins, unless we have a majority in the senate and congress, we are doomed. This is quite literally “next level existential shit.” Pay attention America! Our freedom, our future as a species on this planet, is at stake. Seriously. Vote. Blue. Then, if we win, we have to get down to the ugly, but utterly necessary task of fundamentally existing in this world without destroying it and all the life we share it with. There is enough wealth in this world to make everyone safe, secure, well fed and taken care of medically, financially and psychologically. We have to let go of tribalism and become one human species , living in balance with all other species. Tall order, but if ignored, we are certainly doomed. I will be personally happy to see humans wiped off the face if the planet if we don’t get this right. Now! Time is quickly running out. Don’t believe me, pull your head out of your collective asses and take a long, hard look at what is going on all over the world. Top level: Russia invading Ukraine. Mike Johnson kowtowing to Trump to stop funding Ukraine. Israel and Hamas. Where does it end. China will invade Taiwan if Trump wins. More dictators like Orban will pop up all over the world. Our level: Handmade’s Tale? It’s possible. Definitely higher prices for everything, basic human rights stripped away. Dobbs was just the start. No more safety net. I have paid in to SS and Medicare since I was 14 years old. I am 62. I am definitely “entitled” to receive benefits from programs I have diligently contributed to all my hard working, quickly disappearing, middle class life. I am a nurse. Why is it that I save lives and barely make ends meet while CEOs make 350 times what their employees make?! I cancelled Amazon, won’t give them another dime of my hard earned money. I buy local, support small businesses and vote local. Wake up America, we are in a world changing crisis. Big tech, oil, pharma, banks, food conglomerates. They rule the world. Can we take it back? It’s going to be hard and painful and bloody but if you want freedom, better be ready to fight, not just with guns, but with solidarity, protests, work strikes, media exposure, hacking. Whatever it takes. We have to do this, or submit to lives run by billionaire despots. Good luck.
Mark Mooney : actually, I don't think anyone in this forum (except trolls) have "Their heads up their asses" , nor do I hope that we are wiped off the face of the Earth. But if tRump was in power, I bet he would be trying to see what his position of Commander in Chief would allow him to do. How long would a Bin Laden be allowed to go around making threats to everyone? Why are we respecting the Supreme Court and it's illegitimacy; installed as the 'right' wing 6' have been, by 'presidents' who lost the popular vote? 🤔. We have laws that are remedies for much of what ails and threatens US : why not enforce them!? The 'Sergeant in arms' may need a company! These traitors are running roughshod all over the People's House! They need to be evicted: straight to jail! Do not pass 'Go"!
Laurie, even more basic is why anyone who has been proven to be dishonest shouldn't be immediately thrown out of office, Dem or Repub (most recently, Katie [in the kitchen] Britt comes to mind). Santos & ilk would be disqualified from even running. Do we ultimately need a law mandating honesty to hold public office, with automatic expulsion for lying? Most of us learned that in kindergarten.
Look at all the baggage that tRump was lugging before he was elected! the infamous "grab 'em by the P#$$EE tape, the TRump University scandal, who knows how many lawsuits going, the Children with cancer charity he pilfered from, and I'm sure there's more...And that was BEFORE he got into the Oval Office! Like the election interference case involving a porn star! Does anyone think he was properly vetted? Qualified for a security clearance?!! Corruption can get you places, it seems! It can destroy our Democratic Republic, too, and end our Freedom of Self rule dreams.
If tRump loses republican votes, that would help! I find it hard to believe that it would take something like that. It is pretty clear who he is already!
Don McIntyre ; Apparently, we do need an honesty requirement! After Mr Santos' fake resume, (and his constituents basically being blamed for not being thorough enough in evaluating him before voting ), We saw how difficult it was to get rid of him! Of course, the illegitimate Congress run by 'speaker' McCarthy, needed the votes from him, even though he was unfit to have that power! Elections have consequences!
Sad commentary on the state of affairs, that our government has been reduced to this level of dysfunction, magnified by the behavior of the Orange Menace.
Oppression takes many forms. There are many amongst us who have spent a lifetime fighting it, who have never had the social luxury to indulge cowardice.
If you truly love anyone more than your
Self than courage will manifest.
Courage, like loyalty, is only a word until it is tested. Then it becomes an embodied process and manifests in differing ways in each of us. Both are perceived clearly through their enabling effects upon others.
I hope you are correct but it is still going to be every single pro democracy voter to show up to the polls when we win (my optimism) then it will still be a continuation of our current battle fighting for democracy and our constitution freedoms and rights against those that want to destroy our country.
Christi Brown : I never said there would be no challenges. If Democracy still exists, we have to continue to strive for "a more perfect Union' or even an imperfect one, which is pretty much what we have had.
Ed Coster : There are some Republicans who have been encouraged to vote for Biden. There are those who have had death threats and were purged from the former Republican Party, which is now the cult of MAGA and tRump/ Putin! The purged and primaried don't need encouragement to vote blue. Also, some Republicans have said that convictions for crimes could keep them from voting for tRump.
The saddest thing is that all of these far-right leaders are aligning themselves with Trump because it gives THEM legitimacy on the world stage. America gets nothing from it, other than the ego-stroke Trump so desperately needs every ten minutes. Why is it so hard for our people to see that they to are being used to fuel his narcissistic need for power? Hard to believe that a so-called Christian nation is mired so deeply in their view of us vs. them. It really misses the point.
Trump=megalomanic and the GOP, which is actually, long gone! replaced by MAGA, are all in to bring dictatorship to America and to imagine, do they all really think their lives will be better, I guess, if their hurting other people, aka "the other" then their all too content with that notion and all too happy living under the thumbscrew dictatorship of a wannabe dictator, for with Trump, he has never met a dictator he did not like, that says it all, along with him having his beloved copy of Mein Kompf next to his nightstand
I think it's wrong to consider Putin and Trump co-chairs. Trump is only a lieutenant to Putin representing the US faction of billionaires in that movement.
I do so wish that we did not have to waste time talking about a fool. BP (Biden's predecessor, bowing to Biden's clever avoidance of the orange one's name - courteous disrespect) is not capable of being the leader of the antidemocracy movement. This is Putin's schtick, along with assistance from China, Hungary, and others. Yet behind it all are the corporate entities that really run things, helping make Putin and his buddies the richest oligarchs in the world. (And yes, I include Bezos, Musk, Theil, Dimon and even Bill Gates with a host of others wealthy elites in that mix who are really anti-democracy.) We are heading to a cliff, the road marked by climate change, and the more we drive (not a metaphor, we are driving) down that road the closer we get to a cliff. The cliff does not destroy democracy, it destroys all. This year is the warmest on record. Every month setting a record for that month. Things are blooming a month early. Nature is confused and chaotic. Unless we can push back the forces opposed to necessary change, which is to only agenda the MAGA crowd have, we collapse. It is that stark.
He looks to repeat Putin - extort the oligarchs, shut down the opposition, destruct the universities. However, he has zero patience and zero intelligence so he will throw the world into its final spin cycle - the one where the washing machine sounds like it’s going to explode. Ever the coward, he’ll be the first into the bunker.
Yes. Cadet Bone Spurs, aka Convict 45, probably the only casino owner ever to bankrupt it, will definitely be first into the bunker at the sound of the first gunshot. The biggest mistakes our country ever made are: 1. Create the Electoral College, by which Dump won the presidency in the first place (Hillary won the popular vote), and 2. Provide US Secret Service protection for life as a result.
Citizens United did not help, and the filibuster too. The 60 vote threshold by the Senate along with Gerrymandering . With the bought and stacked court, we need to rebel! Where is Leonard Leo? The billionaires? The traitors!? The Federalist Society? The Heritage Foundation!? What they are doing and have done should be illegal with consequences, and Enforced!
I agree, but I don’t think Trump will extort the oligarchs, he will just be their puppet, their plaything to reach their goals. What those goals are is anyone’s guess. World domination by total control of OUR assets only spells total destruction of the planet.
The only statement I would dispute in Reich’s otherwise flawless account is the last sentence, wherein Reich portrays Trump and Putin as co-equals. In my view, the global anti-democratic movement is led by Putin and Jinping; Trump, at best, is a means for helping to fulfill their vision.
The leaders in the States perhaps most convincingly positioned to nail my thesis regarding Trump to the post with confirming evidence are the generals who served in the Trump Administration—John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, Jim Mattis, and Mark Milley. Though I would hope, despite protocol, to help defeat authoritarianism here at home, they would address the American people and reveal the full truth they withheld about Trump throughout their tenure serving in his administration, in the interim, we have Journalist Jim Sciutto’s forthcoming book The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War, wherein Sciutto reports conversations with John Kelly and John Bolton. “He’s not a tough guy by any means, but in fact quite the opposite,” Kelly said. “But that’s how he envisions himself.”
Trump is already been revealed His failures have been on public display for decades. His need as a narcissist was fulfilled with the 2016 election. That’s why the January 6 insurrection he can’t accept it’s not possible in his pea brain so it’s up to all of us who love America, our democracy our rights freedoms and constitution to get to the polls and leave no doubt with an overwhelming majority of our country voting saying we are defending democracy. There will still be deniers and first in line will be Trump in his cult. They will fight back, but we must win or lose our country.
Christi, I would note, given Trump has absorbed the Congress and largely the judiciary, I repeatedly have maintained we are all we have to preserve our rights and our freedoms. That said, considering my principal reason for writing was to refute the notion that Trump and Putin are co-equals, I viewed this as an opportunity, despite protocol, to comment on the particular impact I believe the generals who served in the Trump Administration could have on the 23% who said they wouldn’t vote for Trump were he convicted. You will note all the criminal trials that could have exerted an impact have been delayed most likely until after the election.
Yes I agree Americans will not see or get justice before the November election because they have been delayed by our imbalanced compromised and corrupted SCOTUS. That is why losing in November is NOT an option we must hold the White House and then continue our long road ahead of fighting back the enemies within and external which Putin is the head of that list.
Christi, We don’t disagree. My sole point was to underscore that generals who served in the Trump Administration know things I expect have not been exposed and could help carry the weight to prevent Trump from ever getting reelected.
IMHO Trump knows that he is doomed, and is desperate. Those comments about Social Security and Medicare are a plea to people like the Kochs who have been on the sidelines to fund him. I don't believe in "sit and squirm" analysis, but he is beyond nutsy koo koo and is facing a criminal jury starting in 2 weeks, when he has to fork over a half a million supersedeas.
Daniel, I would note I am especially outraged by the media’s failure to fulfill its role in helping people understand what their government is up to. Accordingly, while you raise valid points, I won’t rest until Biden is inaugurated for a second term.
Don’t forget Bezos, Musk, Zuckerburger and all of the rest of the billionaires that literally rule this planet. Oh, and don’t get me started on the military industrial complex. Who, exactly, is profiting off of sending bombs to Israel or any other shady country that wants to destroy, dominate or oppress other people. There is far too much money being made off the status quo and the folks raking in the money are not going to ever give it up.
We are facing a global movement to end democracy. It doesn’t get more serious than that. We still have the ability to vote these people out here. We had certainly better do that. These people are ruthless and will stop at nothing. We have to be more determined. History will not forgive us if we fail. Vote!!
We need to get the democrats in and then impeach Clarence Thomas and any insurrectist in the government. Too many are still in congress, senate and judiciary.
Jaime: the Supreme Court has 'only' said i14th section 3 can't be used in Federal elections. Why not use it to remove bad actors from the states, like representatives and Senators from the states?
But the Court said that Colorado (i.e., a state) can't remove someone. Or maybe I've got it wrong. But because of that I don't see hoe they can remove their senators and representatives.
Paula B. ; I think that when a state chooses a representative to , well, represent them in Washington, that is a state election, isn't it? the Reason Colorado could not remove tRump was because he was running for President ; in a Federal election. But the Constitution states Any office, from county commissioner to President of the United States! The Crooked Court moved the goalposts! They have got to go! there is NO respect For them! They have disqualified themselves when they did not respect the rule of law in the plainly stated Constitution! the 6 "Conservatives" (Read radical MAGAs) , Are disabled under the rule of law! they were All appointed by 'presidents' who did not win the Popular vote!, and are, therefore, illegitimate!
Jaime ; It would be Great if President Biden could be the Commander in Chief and do something to stop these insurrectionist traitors! Declare martial law if necessary! I hope he has good advisors because this thing could go further "South' even with a Joe Biden win!
Oh, for sure. They won't accept a Trump loss, even a landslide. They have plans already in place on how to steal the election, & they're confident of success ("finishing what we started on Jan. 6, 2021" as 1 CPAC speaker put it).
“Carlson also provided a Potemkin-village view of Moscow’s subway and a department store — propaganda Russia couldn’t have paid for.”
Ah, but they DID pay for it.
There is one thing linking ALL the autocrats and their spokespeople that Prof. Reich cites: MONEY. Whether all of them believe all their rhetoric or not, and to the same degree, is irrelevant because there’s likely not one of them who isn’t having the equivalent of millions, if not billions, of dollars funneled to their bank accounts by the ultra-rich and corporate interests they serve. No wonder they and the Republicans, whose party exists for no other reason, have such an affinity for one another.
I visited my daughter working in Moscow almost 20 years ago. The Moscow GUM department store and the subways Stalin built were indeed beautiful, and each one different. GUM was for the elites only, or wealthy tourists. Daughter’s Soviet style apartment block had the water cut off for three days every summer to do maintenance.
In the grocery stores, you had to put your purse, backpacks, etc., in lockers before you could shop. Maybe grocery store shoplifting says people are not so well off. Or maybe people must be accustomed to control measures.
We do have in this country some organized smash and grab thefts of small, expensive items that can be sold on the internet. Grocery shoplifting by customers, rare.
A ruthless, bloodthirsty, gang of tyrant dictators in expensive suits, completely devoid of genuine patriotism or concern for any living being, colluding to ravage, pillage, and plunder their own people and nations, as well as other nations, to serve their insatiable, highly-insane egos.
Some call it "Autocracy, Inc." funded by your not-so-favorite billionaires.
The parallels to the early 1930s in Germany are frightening. At that time a few wealthy industrialists funded the Nazis, who would never have come to power without the funding. The result was WWII-- 75 to 80 million dead and multiple countries in ruins.
When we only focus on the lunacy happening domestically, we are missing one key and crucial set of issues. There is a very real prospect of WWIII by not supporting the ejection of Russia from Ukraine.
We may get caught up on personality politics in the U.S. but, rest assured, none of the former Warsaw Pact or former Soviet Socialist Republics in the Baltics are interested in being returned to Russia. They will fight an invasion, which will set off WWIII. That would result in untold destruction in the Baltics, Poland, and other neighboring countries.
Time to wake up!
The sooner we stop Russia, the less expensive & horrific it will be down the road. At this point, we have it good. A relatively modest investment (considering the enormous amount of money going to the military), without putting in our own troops, can make Russia incapable of attacking its neighbors for the foreseeable future. But without enough military support for Ukraine to hold off Russia & take back their territory, Russia will proceed with its multi-century obsession with overrunning every country it can, which would soon include NATO countries & eventually all of Europe & North America.
Jaime, I read that some are suggesting the interest from the frozen Russian assets can be used to help Ukraine right now even if Congress does not act. It is an idea that I think should be pursued with vigor. It would be a fitting response to what the Putin wealthy supporters have done to a neighboring nation.
Yes, that would be an excellent source & should happen with no more delay.
We also have so much money invested in the military. Can't we use some it for Ukraine? Is everything in the Defense budget specified to a particular purpose for which Ukraine fails to qualify? Is our budget so inflexible that nothing in it can be directed to Ukraine?
And why can't Mike Johnson be removed from Congress and the Speakership, since he is an election denier and insurrectionist? What is he doing two heartbeats away from the Presidency? Giving comfort to our mortal enemies! Enabling Putin's aggression in Ukraine, and ultimately, other countries in the region, and beyond? All of trump's allies should be removed from Congress, the Senate, and the Courts, right up to the Supreme Court. Anyone in the military who is an ally should be out. Congress would not even have the slim majority it has if it wasn't for the gerrymanders and other tricks , like dirty money installing questionable candidates in Congressional seats.
Laurie, the problem is our Supreme Court has decided insurrection really isn't a problem and that only Congress can stop candidates involved in insurrection from running for or taking office. Alas, the oath of Republicans these days is worthless. The SC conservatives only like certain parts of the Constitution, those parts that fit with their ideology. Only rich white men should be able to vote; the second amendment means any white people can carry guns anywhere; abortion rights are only for rich white wives and the mistresses of rich white politicians and corporate CEOs; a president can pardon anyone even someone involved with participating in the president's crimes, even pardoning himself. It's disgusting! That's just one reason to push everyone with a brain to be sure they have registered to vote, then get out and vote Democratic in November!!
Ruth: The Supreme Court right wing majority has violated their oaths to uphold the Constitution. And are disabled! They are being racist, sexist and now help Mike Johnson to endanger our country by withholding help to Ukraine; our allies in Democracy. They allow laws to be made regarding religion: a major no no! The November vote 🗳 may not be enough! They are traitors guilty of high treason! They allow traitors to remain in office and on the ballot! Our remedy of the 14th Amendment, section 3 has been misinterpreted, like the voting rights act! They suggest that it no longer applies, because the Civil War was long ago, and things are somehow different now! It is actually worse, as we careen towards a world war three that may kill us all!
Margery Taylor Obscene wants to get rid of Mike Johnson because he didn’t block passage of the budget that will keep the government from shutting down. She wants a new Speaker, probably her. The Pigs are starting to eat The Pigs.
Scott Preston ; This happened with McCarthy after he had the nerve to do a bilateral agreement on the debt ceiling. apparently, the deal allows any member of the MAGA s to take out the Speaker. They eat their own, I guess. Anything to prevent doing their job, and maintaining the chaos and destruction. They should be fired!
The protections on our democracy, at least as (not) enforced by either Congress or our justice system, are practically nil. How did we let our democracy become so vulnerable?
Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society have been working for the very wealthy for awhile! Rules that say shareholders can ignore stakeholders who actually produce the wealth , because the shareholders Must get paid first! Are a big problem. Look at Victor Orban, and how he apparently "captured" going businesses and gave them to sycophants: stole them from those who built them. So he could live large (like he looks). How many in Hungary saw that coming? More importantly, what could they do about it? Look at our Corrupted 'Supreme' Court! Will they eventually give tRump the keys to the White House? With the whole world watching! 🌎!!
Jaime, I like your thinking! I have been wondering too why we can't use a chunk of our military budget to help out. The excuse if we need one, to keep us from having to go to war as a member of NATO when Russia invades a member country.
How could this interest on frozen Russian assets be accessed/used? Or the "chunk of our military budget" ? Now that Congress is in enemy hands, can our Commander in Chief declare an emergency and invoke his executive powers to get that done??
Laurie, those are excellent questions that I don't have the answer to, but I am sure someone out here does. The fact that I heard it discussed and people were looking at it as though it is a possibility makes me think it could happen, both the use of the asset interest and finding funds in our bloated military budget. I am guessing Biden et al are working on both.
I get the feeling that if Trump is not soon soundly defeated, we may have only civil war as the last resort to maintain our democracy. We really need leglislation that criminalizes spreading lies, and dark money in elections. Lying to gain political power is destructive, just like setting buildings on fire.
That's what I'm hoping.
Good question,maybe Prof.Reich would know.
Ruth Sheets ; I have often wondered about the frozen Russian assets interest being used to help Ukraine. The attack was totally unjustified, and civilians have been slaughtered against any and all rules of warfare.
The sooner, the better …
We should get rid of our own oligarchs as well; they have proven to be dangerous parasites.
Since they accuse us of being communists, we should confiscate and redistribute their wealth, and nationalize their businesses. Ever since the “fall” of the Soviet Union, emboldened criminals have made the plight of the workers around the world much worse. These criminal need to be the ones who are afraid.
I hate reading the word “scary” in response to some looming right wing threat; instead, substitute the words “fucking-mad” instead and do something about it instead of wringing our hands whilst in a cold sweat. Make them scared; make them run to their bunkers in New Zealand and then send in the Dirty Dozen to block off the ventilation systems.
Putin won't have to overrun North America, if Trump is elected, all it has to do is sent forces across the Bering Strait into Alaska, and Trump will surrender.
Back in 1971, I participated in a joint Canadian American exercise called Acid Test III.
fighting in sub zero weather with 5 feet of snow on the ground is exhausting, oil and grease freeze up in vehicles. steering does't work, brakes don't work, unless everything is degreased.
No doubt that Russians are trained and prepared. The Army is now just catching up, maybe.
All it would take is a show of force in Alaska, and a President Trump would gladly and rapidly cave.
If we are going to save our country, our democracy, much less ourselves from the wrath of the right. We had all best do what we can to be sure that Biden wins the election
People need to understand that this does not necessarily mean we will have a War of the Worlds, with giant weapons marauding across the countryside.
The fall of our democracy can happen with a war of words, a challenge of ideas, a struggle of votes … THAT is how they will end “government by consent of the governed,” — by getting us to vote for our very demise — and we end up with government by Strong Man.
The world gets a consortium of Strong Men all working together to cement their power.
I hope we don’t let them somehow redefine what “Strong Man” means, now. I hear the term a lot lately.
It does NOT mean competent and virile leadership; it means Dictator.
True Pat: But it doesn't mean that when democracy collapses, it will be a slow collapse either.
If we have Dictator Trump, expect almost immediate social upheaval as he and his cult seek retribution against not only his known enemies, but against liberals, like you and me, and they have the guns, the anger and the thirst for revenge.
We are facing a nightmare. I wish it wasn't so. People engage in wishful thinking, optimistic even, making lemonade out of lemons and all of that rot, I know the right from the inside, and I know what they are, and what they are is no respecter of the rule of law, democracy.
How many MAGAts do you think there are. 150 million? That's how many Sturmabeitlung there are.
Oh they won't take retribution on every liberal, just enough to scare the rest into acquiescence and silence.
Does anyone think that all of the people lining the roadways, giving Hitler the Roman salute, were enthusiastic NAZIs. I don't, all that is needed is a blood thirsty, self righteous, care of True Believers.
In 1932 Germany had a population of 61 million, and 2 million of them were brown shirts, the Sturmabeitlung, that is 3.3% of the population, and that is all it took to take over the nation.
Hindenburg trembled, and appointed Hitler Chancellor and he then enacted laws that, among other things, outlawed political parties other than the National Socialist German Workers Party.
Compare to the Cult of Trump. 40% of the voting population are die hard wannabe brown shirts,d lets say that the voting population of American fascists is just 50% of the total population, about half of which are children. You still have 20% of the heavily armed right wing population supporting their fuhrer.
One thing I know for sure, because Trump promised it, if he wins the election, it will not be business as usual, with a different party and agenda in power, but chaos, mayhem and physical violence if you are not a white Christian Nationalist., massive unemployment and a depression are nothing compared to the violence that awaits.
As long as most (actually practically all) of the plotters, organizers & perpetrators of the insurrection & attempt to overturn the election remain free, & Trump's own criminal trials are in limbo, I have no confidence that justice will be served, & if our so-called justice system continues to be so weak, negligent & ineffective, then I have no confidence our democracy can hold firm. Something substantial has to change quickly. Trump, Bannon, Flynn, Stone & others are clear & present dangers to our national security, & as such should be held captive, or at least under constant surveillance, as would anyone else who pose the risk they do.
I do not expect anything to happen to Trump,, maybe even not paying his fines, if he can delay until November. The fix is in. Trump election officials, armed Trump poll watchers, voter caging, voter suppression laws, and Muslims and black males flipping Biden and Dems the bird.
I fear this is the last free elction ever, unless every real American,not some neo NAZI, Christian fascist and their legions of Quislings and culture warrior, get off their ass and vote for Biden and a Democratic congress, if they don't, it is game, set and as Bugs said "That's all folks"
We've gone over the precipice and there is no coming back, not like in the cartoons.
That’s scary sounding, Jaime. So … Big Brother.
AND YET, the MAGA types and the Heritage types, and the Manafort-Bannon-Miller-Stone contingent have not held back about their plans and intentions.
The Project 2025 is out there to read.
They did it once … yes, our system is afraid to come off looking like Putin abusing Nevalny, instead of the US putting Benedict Arnold behind bars.
{As an aside, did someone on this thread try to sell the idea that Gen. Flynn has been some kind of victim in the whole Affair Trump? Egad.}
Oh, Lee, I can’t put a like on that, but I know it is true.
I am afraid that changes will NOT be slow {as the changes wrought by Zero Sum Republicans in the Gingrich mode HAVE been somewhat slow since Reagan, getting us to where we are today, polarized to the max and primed for a quick coup de grace to end Democracy … Egad. … Egad, egad, egad.
I am currently working on a manuscript by a Philadelphia debutante who went to Vienna in the early 30’s, came home for a bit, and went back through the rest of the thirties and the war, not coming home again until 1946.
Yes, she spent WWII on the other side of the front, married and unwilling to leave her husband, but also a little stuck, an American in Austria during WWII. She talks about how dangerous it was to even have an opinion in those years, never knowing who was listening, who would “report” you, and who was going to “disappear” next. It’s chilling stuff. {She makes no bones about how fearful it was to live under the Reich, but she does not mince words about how Russian troops treated people on that front, either. Horrific.}
👍 Keep working on that book. I’ll buy a copy and maybe a few more to distribute. ♥️
Not only wins it, but that Trump & his mob are prevented from overthrowing it, which you know they'll try to do.
What I fear Jaime is that the Heritage foundation has laid out it's blueprint for a Trump Admin. Trump has said he will become a dictator on day
They have already drawn up executive orders and drafts of legislation, they have a rubber stamp congress, thanks to Gerrymandering, voter suppression laws and tactics.
Day 1 he fires all cabinet heads, including the Pentagon, and appoints his cronies as acting heads, thus no senate approval required. He did the same with the Dept of Def and the Dept of the Army the week prior to Jan 6th to put in place his cronies
Day 2 He declares martial law in response to protests and his coterie of ass kissing Generals calls out the troops. In the words of the Roy Orbison song: "Its over"
I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but this time, more than any other in our history, every true patriot, not the treasonous, white Christian Nationalist faux patriots needs to turn out to vote, even the fence sitters who don't want to live under a dictator.
I got news for the Islamic patriots that live in the U.S. if you "ain't" happy with Biden, then you are going to be misearble with Trump, just wait and see, blackmail back fires.
Yes, to all, Lee, They are not even HIDING what whey plan to do, and it’s exactly what you described.
OK, so voting “uncommitted” in a primary is a way to get someone’s attention. So be it.
And let’s hope Biden listens to all the constituents he wants on his side …
And then, when it’s time to vote…“Please, God, let them Vote Blue!”
{And I am an atheist, so you know I’m desperate …}
Biden can't listen to all constituents, because his constituents have competing claims, win A and lose B.
What people have to come to grips with is the fact that as disappointed with Biden they may be, the alternative is much, much worse.
Biden may have sent Arms to Israel, but Trump has promised to eject all Arabs, even those born here.
This Israel/HAMAS war is a nut buster. The Israeli right has been harassing, shooting and driving Arabs out of their homes in the west bank.
However the ideology of Islam is that there is no Israel and it needs to be obliterated (that means 10 million Jews obliterated or more likely driven to America or Europe.
It is wishful thinking that Muslims and Jews can live side by side in peace. Wishful thinking if you eve read the Quran and Hadiths (sacred text of Islam).
On the other hand there are 2 million Arab citizens of Israel, with the right to vote, and some have served in the knesset. You can't say the same about Jews in a Muslim land, if you can find one that is.
There are even some Arabs serving in the IDF.
Problems have solutions. The situation between the Jews and Muslims have no solution, ergo not a problem, but a difficulty and a damn one that will plague the world so long as people believe in religions.
Meanwhile we are facing our own Christomegadon.
Yes — what they have tried, they will try again, with lessons learned from the last time.
We DO need to get out the vote.
And we DO need to protect the vote.
Lots for the Left, for the states, and the Biden administration to be aware of and on top of.
But, but, but it is all about the economy so says the corporate media and their press ho's.
On ground level it is about the culture war. What do you think the immigration fight is about, not about "wetbacks" taking away artichoke picking jobs from starving and hungry Americans, as the asshole tongue waggers on TV pretend, it is about an influx of brown people and the "great replacement" idea floated by Carlson and Fox. Actually it predates both.
Which is strange from one point of view, because Latino's are ultra conservative, culturally, superstitiously religious, misogynistic, homophobic, anti abortion, and hang on every word of the Pope and the Evangelical and Pentecostal "ministers" that converted them.
In fact there is a Hispanic red wave acoming, Univision is pro Trump now, and I just heard a Latina from south Texas, name of Mayra Flores, interviewed on MSNBC, she is 110% MAGAt and right winger. Her parents were born in Mexico, illegal migrants, and she is vociferously anti migrant, especially from south of the Border, NYT described her as a far right Latina.
In fact, the constant influx of these Latin American immigrants could provide a never ending source of support for the Republican Party with their conservative thinking. Initially more may be Democratic, probably due to gratitude for a more welcoming attitude by Democrats, but eventually, due to their cultural & religious background, they begin shifting rightward, as can clearly be seen now.
If they’re able to destabilize our democracy, they don’t even NEED to take us over — just get a consortium of “Strong Men” running things, Oligarchs owning things, and the rest of us serving them.
That sounds so draconian, but look at the countries where it has happened. South America, Eastern Europe, Asia {and we rarely even hear about Africa!!}… When Posobiec said they plan to bring down Democracy, what did we think he meant?
Two years ago, Ukraine unfroze the conflict in the Donbass by initiating its long-awaited invasion, precipitating immediate Russian retaliation. There's a complicated background story, involving American meddling -- in violation of the principles of international law -- to overthrow Ukraine's former corrupt and vulnerable Russia-friendly government in 2014.
We've been shoving Russia since the 1990s and our move on Ukraine precipitated a Russian "Cuban Missile Crisis" reaction against what they perceived as an existential threat.
But around here, many people parrot bellicose Biden administration talking points, heedless of the fact that our industrial capacity is so depleted and our technology so outdated that we have little chance of winning a hot war against Russia.
Ukraine did no such thing! It's the exact opposite of what actually did happen: a totally unprovoked massive Russian invasion of Ukraine. You & that other troll, Libor Soural, have picked the wrong place to try to deceive the readers & commenters. We're a lot better educated & more internationally aware than most Americans, & we can spot a russofascist Putin apologist troll right away. What rational being in this world is going to believe that Ukraine would do such an irrational, suicidal thing as invading Russia when we saw very clearly the exact reverse?
WooHoo, Jaime!! I love your response to that idiot!! Way to go!!! These trolls only come on here to ruffle feathers. All we need to do is hit them with the truth and the simple fact that we are not like the mouth drooling magas who believe ANYTHING!! Keep taking it to them, Jaime!!
We need dialog, and for dialog to be productive it must be respectful.
Victor, yes, we need respectful dialog; however, the only thing republicans are doing right now is screaming in your face, insulting, intimidating, hate-filled diatribes with no room for anyone to have any kind of meaningful dialog. their little orange leader stood up and made fun of our President's speech impediment and ALL of them laughed and egged him on!! Do you think that is respectful??
The claim that the US and/or NATO somehow provoked Russia into invading Ukraine is simply false, as anyone who had been following events in that part of the world knew from the start. It's an assertion based on false premises, including the claim that NATO had formally promised Russia it wouldn't expand to the east, the claim that the US overthrew Ukraine's pro-Russian president (when it was the Ukrainian people who did it), and the claim that NATO was about to admit Ukraine and Putin was only trying to forestall that (there was no prospect of Ukraine joining NATO or even the EU before the war, though now Putin has made it much more likely).
Incidentally, the Koch brothers-backed Cato Institute is not exactly an unbiased source.
Paul, just because one media source makes a claim does not make it real. It is true Ukraine has been a near-ally for a long time, but there was a chance that Russia might have been one too, but alas, they or rather, their leaders chose a different route and it was not a positive one for anyone on or near Russia's borders. Putin is paranoid and wants to get everyone to believe the world is against him and Russia. No sane person attacks their neighbors. We should know that from our past "invasions of Mexico and Caribbean nations. Russia attacked Ukraine for their own gains, not due to anything we in the US did.
Cato Institute. “Admit it.” Apolitical? Right-wing think tank is hardly apolitical.
And here we have another Putin Troll. I knew it, thanks for outing yourself "Paul", what is the Russian for Paul?
The Cato institute is a right wing supposedly libertarian organization, but now that The Trump cult is full blown and unapologetic fascist, we can expect to see more of your ilk jump into the Putin/Orban/Trump tank.
The Cato Institute was founded by Charles Koch, so you have to take what they say with a grain of poisonous salt.
Another Troll!!!
Maybe we need to stop feeding them.
That’s from the fascist CATO INSTITUTE which was started and funded by the Koch brothers whose father was a known Nazi sympathizer and who called for the assassation of JFK. Cato is less responsible of a news source than Fox. Wake up.
We can always count on you to interject with your disinformation & take the side of russofascist, antidemocratic, anti-American trolls.
Troll
Jaime, was he claiming somehow that the Donbass was “legitimately Russian”? Just because Russia, during the Iron Curtain years, had seeded that part of Ukraine with Russian speakers moved in to lay claim to the territory {for the luvva Pete, Volodimir Zelensky was primarily a Russian-language speaker!! But even the Russian speakers in Donbass are fighting valiantly to drive the Russians OUT, because it’s NOT true they want to be part of Russia. Ukraine wants to be Ukraine!}The US did not spur the anti-Russian wave that swept Zelensky into office. That was Ukrainian throwing out a corrupt Putin-loving Oligarch.
No one in the Glasnost period even wrote or signed a binding agreement to keep hands off Eastern European countries, especially those that WANT to associate more with Europe than with Russia, and no one could have promised that those countries would never have the right to self-determination as to associating with the EU or NATO.
That was thirty years ago. No treaty or agreement on those issues.
Russia did not go the way Gorbachev would have liked. And now Putin has been leaning on once-Soviet states, and some of those once-Soviet states {like Ukraine and Rumania} are nervous about it! Finland and Sweden joined NATO because they are afraid of Russia —
Egad, Trolls!! Learn some HISTORY.
Exactly as you say! Sending Russians to that region is typical of what they do to any country they want to conquer. Of, course, Ukraine has been in & out of their control many different times in their history, & have suffered many massacres under the hands of Russia over the centuries, so they know what subjugation under Russia is like & they naturally want none of it.
I wouldn't want that either, Jaime!! Vote Blue, America!!!
Right Jaime: The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians
They did Putin's version of history. Too bad he haven't seen all of the agitprop session with Phucker Carlson.
If Putin really wants to go back into history, then Russia belongs to Mongolia.
Lee — THAT was ludicrous, wasn’t it?
If my eyes roll any more, they’re going to fall out of my head.
China should focus on getting back Outer Mongolia which was stolen from them by the Czars. They might be watching now to see how the second best army in Ukraine fares against an out numbered foe.
Jaime, he is a Putin Troll, I reported him you can also just click the three .dots ... to the left under his post.
This not the wrong place to post views opposed to yours. Don't be an authoritarian!
You don't have a rebuttal; all you have are trollish sneers.
What rebuttal to made-up stories & outright lies is there other to deny them?
By the way, why do you say "we" ("we've been shoving Russia")? You're clearly not an American, not a patriotic one, anyway.
He is not an American, period Jaime.
We unleashed the "shock therapy" genocide that killed off all the old people in Russia.
(LOOK OUT Baby Boomers -- your turn is coming.)
We pushed NATO east to Russia's doorstep, after promising not to.
Then we supported a "color revolution" against the Russia-friendly President of Ukraine, but he got voted back into office because Russian speakers were a small majority in hodge-podge, cobbled-together Ukraine.
Then we supported a "color revolution" that overthrew he Russia-friendly government of Georgia; Russia created a "frozen conflict" that blocked Georgia from joining NATO.
Then in 2014 we supported another "color revolution" in Ukraine, this time with neo-Nazi thugs to make it stick.
Russia took back Crimea and created another "frozen conflict," blocking Ukraine from joining NATO.
Actually, there was a pathway to peace through this frozen conflict -- the Minsk Agreements -- but Merkel and Macron both admitted that they didn't take the Minsk Agreements seriously; it was just to give Ukraine time to rearm.
Then Zelensky got elected on a promise to make peace, and moved toward implementing the Minsk Agreements. But neo-Nazi war-mongers threatened to kill him, so he capitulated and started building up to invade the Donbass.
Finally Zelensky was ready for his Donbass invasion, with a 3-to-1 superiority of troops on the line of contact. Russia built up their troops on Ukraine's border and signed mutual defense treaties with the breakaway Donbass republics.
When Ukraine began its pre-invasion bombardment, Russia intervened.
Anyone who uses a modified Yiddish pejorative for a name can’t be real anyway. Just another nazi schmuck.
Hahahahahaha, I had to laugh!! Two trolls arguing with one another!!! Victor and John keep arguing with each other and hopefully your circuits will blow!!
YOU should READ the rebuttals before claiming they don’t exist. John!
But, of course, you aren’t going to read what you don’t like, are you, Schmeekle.
I do need to stop feeding the trolls.
Pat, pushing back on these trolls with facts, as we've done quite well today, can be effective in discouraging them. They look like fools as well as the liars they are.
Except that you lied "John" or whoever you are. It was Putin that invaded Donbass two years ago, not the Ukraine, two years ago Donbass was part of Ukraine and still is, despite Putins phony referendum.
He’s a Troll, Lee.
I wonder to what degree, too.
There are times when he tries to be “approachable” and “amenable,”” and then he gets aggressive and vitriolic.
Totally troll.
Do you fuckers really eat horse meat? That's gross!
So says the Putin Troll.. What is your real name, it sure isn't John Schmeekle, how about Evgeny or Ivan, maybe Mischa. Ivan that is it, Ivan in England is John.
“We've been shoving Russia since the 1990s and our move on Ukraine precipitated a Russian "Cuban Missile Crisis" reaction against what they perceived as an existential threat.”
I won’t dispute that the US could have treated Russia far better than we did after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but your analysis is flawed on many levels.
First off, we gave aid to Russia the same way US AID works around the world. Most of the money is given to US corporations and NGO’s that support the host countries economic initiatives. Less than 20% would be actual cash changing hands. And Russia was broke thanks to its military folly in Afghanistan and self imploded; not because of the US, unless you include our support for the Mujahedin. However, then you’d have to include Russia’s meddling in Vietnam, Cuba and Korea.
That said, are you familiar with the Budapest Memorandum? It was a nuclear nonproliferation agreement signed by the US, Russia, Ukraine, China, France and Great Britain. Ukraine abided, and handed over its nukes, or we decommissioned most of the nuclear arsenal for them.
In the deal, all parties agreed that Ukraine would give all 20,000 nuclear weapons (second largest stockpile after Russia) in exchange for its independence and territorial integrity. This included Crimea, which was gifted to Ukraine by Khrushchev in 1954 and the Donbas region which was always considered part of Ukraine.
As for many of the Baltics and Eastern European countries joining NATO and the EU, it was a choice made by independent countries that feared Russia. They have every right to pursue their own economic interests outside of the Russian Federation, as well as their own security interests, regardless how Russia perceives these countries to be threats.
If Russia wasn’t a clear and present danger to their very existence, none of these countries would feel the need to join a western alliance.
And Putin has been interfering in Eastern European countries as well as western nations elections since he took power in 1999. First, invading Chechnya in 1999 on false terrorism charges that were carried out by FSB members, and later in Georgia.
Putin has always been the aggressor. He’s interfered in elections in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Chechnya and most recently Great Britain during Brexit and the US in 2016. Our Cyber command has recently stated that Russia is already interfering with our 24’ election by promoting propaganda on social media networks.
You say America was meddling in Eastern Europe nations in violation of international law? Please state how and when? Russia has been in violation of far more international laws than the US; at least when it comes to Eastern Europe. The Middle East is another story.
As for Ukraine “unfreezing” the conflict in Donbas, please elaborate? Donbas was part of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Bucharest Memorandum, so your point is irrelevant, and just another Putin propaganda talking point.
Well said!! Robert, you and Jaime have hit him with the facts. All he will be able to do is insult and try to intimidate. He has nothing in his arsenal except insults!!
Peggy, and he also has a full quiver of lies and misinformation as well as a bunch of folks out here who want to be lied to because the lies support their own agendas of hate and distrust. So, it is up[ to the people who care about democracy and freedom, not just the words to stand against their whining and lies.
The actual history includes Russia literally starving Ukrainians. Look it up, folks.
The US and the West did not do that. Russia did.
Ruth, as someone else mentioned, we're likely to find more & more of these trolls as we get closer to the election. As we argue with them & rebut them with facts, it's good practice for us. We can all learn from each other & learn about the history & evidence that supports our arguments, which makes our arguments even stronger the next time we face them. As much as their lies may enrage us, we should welcome this opportunity to get the truth out there.
Another Trollish person, if not a Troll.
Paul, just stop it
And that is enough out of you Mischa, or whatever your real name is "Paul", that fact that this Ivan or John, spewed lies, and disinfo, and you call it history is damning.. for you.
You can't help but expose yourself Mischa>
👏👏👏👏👏
(Part 5)
When assessing the rights and wrongs of all that has unfolded between Ukraine and Russia, a critical question is the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the Maidan Revolution.
See https://therealnews.com/iiopatonok0810ukraine
and
https://mate.substack.com/p/by-using-ukraine-to-fight-russia
Did the United States violate the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of another state?
https://pesd.princeton.edu/node/551
If so, was this part of an ongoing campaign to subjugate and/or dismember Russia?
The United States, by supporting regime change in Ukraine in 2014, imposed a reverse "Cuban Missile Crisis" on Russia with the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO and hosting NATO missiles pointed at Russia. We backed Russia into a corner, and they lashed out at us.
In addition, the post-revolution Ukrainian rump parliament began by passing a law to ban the use of the Russian language in government, in a multi-ethnic country where Russian was the first language of about half the population. This ban was enforced by making the far-right leader Arsen Avakov the Interior Minister, in charge of the police.
With Avakov in charge of the police, bigoted far-right extremist gangs operated with impunity in Ukraine, in an environment of lawless terror.
See "Far-Right Extremism as a Threat to Ukrainian Democracy":
https://freedomhouse.org/report/analytical-brief/2018/far-right-extremism-threat-ukrainian-democracy
The U.S.-sponsored Maidan Revolution brought ongoing civil war to Ukraine, in which neighboring Russia intervened.
It is well-known in Africa that Kenya licks the boot of the American neo-imperialists. Putin is respected in Africa for his resistance to American imperialist meddling. African countries on good terms with Russia include Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Mali, Algeria and others.
Right, Russia doesn’t interfere in Africa. I guess all the Wagner Group mercenaries working on Outin’s behalf for brutal crooked African regimes doesn’t count?
Seriously, this is about legitimacy. And Putin doesn’t get to tear up agreements to suit his interests. The Budapest Memorandum is real, and legitimate; end of story.
Putin also said that we should give Alaska back to them, because Czar Peter the Great made a very bad deal.
Of course, Russia was broke because of the Crimea War in 1867, but let’s not let details and facts get in the way of a Putin narrative!…:)
By Putin’s logic, we should give France back the Louisiana Purchase because Napoleon made a bad deal after Haiti declared independence, and they lost a profitable sugarcane industry.
Seriously dude, this isn’t how the world works!
God, this guy just keeps rolling on with his tripe.
Russia has over & over proven itself an unreliable negotiating partner with all the international agreements & treaties it has abrogated.
There’s a difference between being “respected” and being abjectly feared.
Putin inspires fear.
The chorus went off the rails. If you want to save democracy at home and help Ukraine, you must focus on the US and not allow Trump and his fascists carry the US flag. If you don't wrest the flag from him, we are doomed!
Some of the most backward , impoverished countries of the world, led by despots, at least by the time Wagner/Russia gets through with them
(Part 4)
Robert Jaffe,
The Budapest Memorandum is like the old treaty of alliance between the revolutionary U.S.A. and the King of France. After the French Revolution and the resulting French terror regime, President Washington decided that the treaty with the old regime was no longer valid. The same goes for Ukraine after the U.S.-sponsored Maidan Revolution.
OHHHHH, Schmeekle, so a signed memorandum is invalid, because “changing situation.”
But a No Actual Signed Agreement About NATO Expansion is the cause behind all the trouble, even though the No Actual Signed Agreement was, like, nearly 40 years ago, with loads of “changing situations,” and it didn’t actually exist.
OK. I see your “logic,” guys.
NOT.
Pat Goudy O Brien,
You are comparing apples and oranges. The issue of NATO expansion relates to Russia's possible inclination to attack because they feel threatened, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
When does it become too late to act?? We and our proxy Ukraine provoked a Russian preemptive strike.
Perhaps the Russians miscalculated the perceived existential threat? Or perhaps not. These questions can be discussed respectfully, even among those with differing views.
(Part 3)
President Biden has exposed the abject weakness of American and European munitions supply, as Ukraine runs out of artillery ammunition and their soldiers fall back.
Biden, fulfilling his earlier threat, destroyed the Nordstream pipeline. Together with sanctions cutting off trade with Russia, the German economy is starting to buckle under the weight.
The U.S. misadventure in Ukraine has awakened darker-skinned countries' fears of western imperialism: Russia has been winning the propaganda war in Africa.
Now "everybody" wants to join the BRICS countries with their common agenda of de-dollarizing international trade.
For decades we have been exporting inflation, creating fiat dollars that are absorbed by other countries trading among themselves. The end of the Almighty Dollar is at hand, thanks to the stupidity of Joe Biden. The result, as dollars come sloshing home and other countries politely decline to buy any more U.S. Treasury bonds, will be hyperinflation here in the U.S.A. (creating dollars to service the UnpayableDebt), thanks to Joe "mashed potato brain" Biden.
Yet inflation is lower in the US than the rest of the world. But yes, Putin & MBS, with Trump's prompting, are scheming to cut oil & gas production in order to spike inflation & create fuel shortages just before the election to sabotage Biden's chances. The fascists & authoritarians of the world are uniting against Biden.
The evidence implicates Russia more than the US in the destruction of the Nordstrom Pipeline. The Russians did something very similar on a pipeline between Finland & some island in the Baltic Sea? (I may have the details wrong from a vague memory). The same Russian boat was spotted in the area during the time of both disasters.
The running out of ammunition by Ukraine is largely on the House Republicans guided by the russophilic sadonarcissist Benedict Donald, but also due to the poor planning of all NATO nations in not having sufficient quantities in production.
(Part 2)
Post-Soviet Ukraine was like post-Communist Yugoslavia. Both countries were artificial amalgamations imposed by outside forces without any voting by the people. Both countries, after the end of Communism, devolved into civil war, but that process took longer in Ukraine.
NATO intervened in the Yugoslav civil war as progressed Saturn was exactly conjunct the Ascendant in the correct U.S. horoscope (set for May 15, 1776 at 5:00 p.m. in Philadelphia.)
Here's a map of Ukraine in 1917 in the middle of a civil war (outlined in red) showing all the other parts that were added over the years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novorossiya#/media/File%3AUkraine_Historical_Borders.svg
Ukraine in 1991 was an artificial creation that had been cobbled together by arbitrary Soviet decisions, apparently driven by the desire to keep the Russian-speaking population above 50%. This led to Ukraine’s civil war after the Maidan Revolution and the rise of the neo-Nazis who targeted Ukraine's bare native Russian-speaking majority.
Now do a map of Russia's gigantic expansion over the centuries to become over half again as large as the next largest country, & that's still not enough for the insatiable imperialists.
Robert Jaffe,
You have served up a lot to rebut. I'll start it off as follows:
Ukraine's oppressive neo-fascist thug regime is not "democratic." In Ukraine, all the opposition parties have been suppressed after Zelensky capitulated to neo-Nazi war-mongers and reneged on his campaign promise to bring peace to the Donbass region.
A few months ago, both Zelensky and Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau applauded as the Speaker of Canada's House of Commons praised a Ukrainian who was a real-life Nazi, a member of a Nazi SS unit that committed genocide against Poles during World War II. After international condemnation, Speaker Anthony Rota quickly resigned.
When Zelensky became President, he initially moved toward fulfilling the Minsk Agreements that had "frozen" the civil war in the Donbass and outlined a pathway toward peace. But then he capitulated to the Neo-Nazis (who controlled Ukraine's Interior Ministry, in charge of the police stations) and eventually re-ignited the frozen war, precipitating the Russian invasion. We are being lied to.
In August, after U.S. Secretary of State Blinken announced more aid for Ukraine, Zelensky posted a video showing him with Ukraine's most prominent Neo-Nazi Andriy Biletsky:
https://mronline.org/2023/08/21/zelensky-holds-court-with-ukraines-most-notorious-neo-nazi/
See also "Ukraine is Brutally Repressing the Left, Criminalizing Socialist Parties, Imprisoning Activists"
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/03/21/ukraine-repressing-left-criminalizing-socialist-parties/
See also "How Zelensky Made Peace with Neo-Nazis"
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/04/how-zelensky-made-peace-with-neo-nazis/
See also "How One Ukrainian Billionaire Funded Hunter Biden, President Volodymyr Zelensky, And Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion"
https://greatgameindia.com/hunter-biden-zelensky-neo-nazi/
See also (from 2019) "Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine":
"Five years ago, Ukraine’s Maidan uprising ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, to the cheers and support of the West. Politicians and analysts in the United States and Europe not only celebrated the uprising as a triumph of democracy, but denied reports of Maidan’s ultranationalism, smearing those who warned about the dark side of the uprising as Moscow puppets and useful idiots. Freedom was on the march in Ukraine.
"Today, increasing reports of far-right violence, ultranationalism, and erosion of basic freedoms are giving the lie to the West’s initial euphoria. There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
“Ukraine's oppressive neo-fascist thug regime is not "democratic." In Ukraine, all the opposition parties have been suppressed after Zelensky capitulated to neo-Nazi war-mongers and reneged on his campaign promise to bring peace to the Donbass region.”—John Schmeeckle
All speculation, and please name the Nazi warmonger? Ukraine was fighting for its life. And it suppressed 11 political parties with links to Russia: they committed treason.
“A few months ago, both Zelensky and Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau applauded as the Speaker of Canada's House of Commons praised a Ukrainian who was a real-life Nazi, a member of a Nazi SS unit that committed genocide against Poles during World War II. After international condemnation, Speaker Anthony Rota quickly resigned.”
It was a mistake, and as you noted, Rota immediately resigned. What does this have to do with anything?
“When Zelensky became President, he initially moved toward fulfilling the Minsk Agreements that had "frozen" the civil war in the Donbass and outlined a pathway toward peace. But then he capitulated to the Neo-Nazis (who controlled Ukraine's Interior Ministry, in charge of the police stations) and eventually re-ignited the frozen war, precipitating the Russian invasion. We are being lied to.”—John Schmeeckle
Nonsense. There were growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine in early 2022, and Russia officially recognised the DPR and LPR on February 21, 2022. Following that decision, on February 22, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk agreements "no longer existed", and that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for their collapse.
Just because Putin says Ukraine broke the agreement doesn’t mean it’s true. I suppose you believe it was Ukraine who invaded Russia, not vice versa?
Zelenskyy, and Ukraine is fighting for their lives. And Andriy Biletsky is not a neo-Nazi, they are white nationalists. I don’t see you criticizing Trump for saying “stand back and stand by” after White nationalists (anti-semites) attacked and injured over 31 people, killing one in Charlottesville? Or how CPAC and so many republican members of Congress associate and speak at white nationalist gatherings.
I won’t bother disseminating the rest of your comments since it’s pointless. Everything you write is irrelevant to the topic at hand.
I do t need to see a map of Ukraine in 1917. Russia also disintegrated around that time with the Bolshevik Revolution. Pre-Soviet Union boundaries no longer exist. East Germany no longer exists. The UN recognizes the 1994 boundaries, not Putin’s delusional wet dream!
The Budapest Memorandum defined Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty in 1994. It was agreed to by all parties. Ukraine gave up its nukes, and until 2014, all was fine until Putin invaded Crimea and the Donbas region.
I’ve read part two and three, and again, all speculation and irrelevant conclusions. Sorry I don’t have the time to debate. You bog yourself down with irrelevant minutiae.
So sorry John, That’s all she wrote!…:)
"How Zelensky Made Peace with Neo-Nazis"
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/04/how-zelensky-made-peace-with-neo-nazis/
You are a fraud and a liar for Putin, Ivan.
Accusing Ukraine of being NAZI.
Zelensky is a JEW.
"How One Ukrainian Billionaire Funded Hunter Biden, President Volodymyr Zelensky, And Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion"
https://greatgameindia.com/hunter-biden-zelensky-neo-nazi/
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
6:58 AM (2 minutes ago)
If Trump's efforts result in his reelection in 2024, Democracy in this country will be given a back seat to Autocracy. Trump hates the election system in this country because he can't control it. To Donnie Boy, what good is a system if you can't find a way to cheat it? The school yard bully who tried to topple a government by overturning an election is a heartless, insensitive, product of a relationship started by Fred and Mary. These two weren't much on parenting and results are proof positive. Donald Trump is a weed of a man with absolutely no reverence for law and order. To allow this creep to find his way back into power in this country would spell the end of everything we hold as dear. However, if the worst happens, upon winning Trump will make a phone call and arrange to have an attractive young woman "Escort" him into the future, where even God is absent.
Paul--The termination of the EC is a must, those days when it was needed have left us. Trump only wants the people who support him to be allowed to vote. Not much of a free election system. The man is an abject criminal.
Paul--A democracy is ruled by the voice of the people, the "Majority." The EC is undemocratic in nature because it circumvents the will of the people it's supposed to represent. The Democratic party has won a number of elections only to lose them because of an outdated "blue law." Yes, I know it's not a blue law but it sure is as stupid as one.
Nonsense, John. I get it that Russia and Putin have been paranoid for generations, but blaming the US for what Russia did to Ukraine is just nuts!
Succinct summary, thanks, Ruth. Nuts, brutal, obscene. It got Sweden and Finland to join NATO. They would not have joined without Putin’s invasion.
As I responded further down the thread, this is all distortions and lies.
The commonly made (by pro-Russian propagandists) claim that the US "promised" Russia it wouldn't expand NATO eastward is false. The only promise of that sort was made by then-Secretary of State Baker to Gorbachev, and Baker wasn't authorized to promise anything of the sort. For such a promise to be meaningful, there would have to be a formal, written agreement, and no such agreement was made.
Another claim popular among pro-Russian conspiracy theorists is the assertion that the US was somehow behind the 2014 Maidan revolution that overthrew Yanukovych. Anyone who was paying attention at the time knows that this is false. Yanukovych's administration was utterly corrupt, and was by the time the protests started it was very unpopular. Even members of Yanukovych's own party had begun to abandon him. The protests were a massive, grassroots movement, as virtually all successful mass protest movements are. The US of course supported the protestors, as did anyone else who was pro-democracy and anti-corruption, but it didn't start or control them in any way. It was the Ukrainian people who overthrew Yanukovych. "Neo-Nazi thugs" did not play a significant role in the success of the protests, or in Ukrainian politics since that time.
Finally, anyone who was paying attention knows that it was Russia that in early 2022 first began a military build-up in Donbass and on the Ukraine-Russia border. Ukraine was not preparing to invade Donbass. And the claim that you make below that Ukraine began a "pre-invasion bombardment" is so utterly contrary to what we all saw happen that it's unbelievable that anyone could seriously make such a statement.
Sounds like you're channeling Vladimir Putin. Congratulations. Why don't you tell us how China is just waiting for Russia to expend its Armies to the point they can't defend themselves and China will march into Siberia? Then Russia will definitely have a 2 front war. Putin is so smart.
Terry Franzman, you appear to be fantasizing withour reason.
Putin sympathizer like you need to stay the fuck out of Americas politics - Russia is a screwed up dictatorship with a mentally corrupt person at the helm of their sinking ship … Putin will fail as Russian people are questioning why Navalny was “ MURDERED “ in a Siberian jail. You can’t control people forever, they will rise up to free.
One good conspiracy theory deserves another. Except mine is closer to reality than yours.
Your scenario is reality-based. China has been laying low, watching things proceed, which in many ways have gone badly for Russia as they expend their defensive capabilities. China also has a more justifiable claim on certain land in Siberia that Russia stole from China long ago than either China has over Taiwan or Russia has over Ukraine (or other countries it's contemplating invading).
I like good conspiracy theories. The better ones approach intelligence assessments.
I smell a stinky fucking cabbage pirozhki.
According to Seth Abramson, Putin may be subsidizing Chubb Insurance and Trump.
https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/experts-said-for-weeks-that-trump
Thanks for the link Daniel I have been looking for information on this. I assume Putin "may" do whatever he can get away with, and that includes backstopping loans to Trump, feeding misinformation to the starving R's in the House (Smirnov and hs BS about Biden), etc. Still it's difficult to ascertain the truth about many matters. I just now looked at Seths ss and I have no reason to think he is a reliable source.
Daniel, I suspect a whole lot of people assumed a Putin connection or one from Musk when they heard about the bond. It is clearly someone who is hoping for a Trump victory in November so Trump can repay the gift with interest. How is it our courts permit it?
Does Putin have the half a billion to cover the half a billion penalty of the Letitia James trial.
You are so full of B*** s***.
RNC--
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
7:22 AM (1 minute ago)
Trump is revamping the RNC. He is preparing for the eventuality of a loss in 2024 and by placing key people in positions to aid his efforts Trump plans on winning the next election even if he loses it.
No doubt about it. They appear smug about regaining power no matter what. They have their schemes well-plotted out.
Putin's puppet spews the party line.
Tell ya what Shmuck, let’s let Ukraine win then we can see for ourselves if what you are so busy throwing around here and HCR’s newsletter is accurate. Does that work for you?
SPW, Once again, insulting someone because of his surname is like insulting someone because of the color of his skin.
Ukraine is now at risk of collapsing.
It makes sense to pay attention to what the other side thinks, because we might have to negotiate with them sonner than you think.
Oh yeah - Putin and his thugs said in January 2021 as they were amassing military along Ukraine border - were just doing war exercises, nothing to see here - that scumbag and Trump are worthless pigs willing to kill innocent people for their own fragile egos. Our equipment and technology far EXCEEDS Russian crap - plus most of the Russian soldiers are “ forced into service “ so the Russians citizens don’t want to support Putin stinking ideas but are afraid of him.
Susan Beall, I hope you will consider the possibility that you don't have your facts straight.
A consideration you never make for yourself
OK John, from where do you post St Petersburg or Moscow. So it was Ukraine that invaded the Donbass huh.
No it was Russia. You just outed yourself as a Putin disinfo troll.
You misrepresent what I said.
What utter nonsense. Exactly the opposite of the truth.
Dana, one could compare points of view and fact sets and find specific points of contention. I don't suppose you do that.
The truth, 180 degrees away from what you peddle in the comment, is something you apparently never absorb.
John Schmuckala, I guess you just want to roll over and bare your butt to Trump and Putin. I prefer to fight and in a war against totalitarianism, there are no rules or polite play.
So you're the kind of guy who likes to think about rolling over and baring your butt.
You still haven't figured out that they're using Joe "mashed-potato brain" Biden to throw the election to Trump.
The only thing Putin did to tarnish Uncle Joe was to openly say that he wanted Joe to win. Obviously a simpleton’s ploy to get some of the non thinkers in the electorate to think that he’s afraid of Trump He’s not. He’s counting on the Repiglicans to win so that they will hand him Ukraine. Not too hard to figure out.
But, don’t fret too much your man will probably win because all these fundamentalist Jesus Christers think Trump is the second coming. I can make a case, even as an atheist, that Trump is probably the Satanic entity which they should fear; but they are lost in the trance of his awkwardly woven lies.
Of course Putin wants Biden to win, because Biden's brain is turning into mashed potatoes.
In the extremely remotely likely event that I should cross paths with an incognito Uke "Seal Team 6" bent on doing what they must do, I'll shake their hands, stand them a round of their favorite tasty beverages, and send them on their way wishing them "happy hunting!"
Our military budget is a very small part of our GNP. Why don’t we use some of that “black ops” money to really fund Ukraine to win and not advertise to the world that we are doing it? Why do we always telegraph our punches to these criminals? We should just do it.
Absolutely! What better use for them? Great idea, Scott!
Paranoia and rabid nationalism will destroy ya ... and quite possibly the whole World. Hope you are digging and supplying a bomb shelter. I have never seen more justifications from both Democrats and Republicans for all out war against other nuclear superpowers as now .... this makes Bush's axis of evil rhetoric look like child's play. People need to get the BS laden, crazy virus out their heads, before it's too late.
So far it's been to stop or counter unprovoked imperialist aggression against a sovereign nation. The fault is all Putin's.
"The sooner we stop Russia" using US dollars and Ukraine and Ukrainians as human cannon fodder ? "The Sooner we stop Russia" from an imaginary threat to the free world, sold as a Vietnam worthy domino theory? Cold war fear mongering for better warmongering buy in? The point is Putin will not / cannot invade a NATO licensed country without a World War...so arguing otherwise is highly illogical and plain hysterical. It is logical , in its national security interests to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, if it can. Does Russia "want Ukraine" or does it want Ukraine to stay "militarily neutral" ? What does the evidence and facts support?
Zelensky said from the beginning "we will do all the fighting. We're not asking you to send your own troops. Just for your military & financial assistance". (paraphrasing from memory)
I blame our government for not being more forthcoming, & delaying the delivery of necessary armaments until too late.
The evidence, facts & their own rhetoric & actions support the thesis that Russia will pursue its centuries-long ambition to control as much of the world as they can by invading country after country for as long as they are able to. If they annihilate a people along the way, well, that is a pleasure they are more than happy to engage in.
All other US engagements in conflicts since WWII could be reasonably deemed unnecessary if not reckless, but this has the same global import as WWII with its impact on international security, sovereignty, democracy & peace. The sooner we nip it in the bud, the better for all. We've already let this go on too long by being too hesitant & weak in our support of Ukraine, especially since the Republican House took over.
What you term evidence and facts I call a great error in judgement based on irrational Cold War , red scare thinking and rhetoric . it ought to be pretty clear how dangerous this Doctor Strangelove mind set is becoming.
Your answer is appeasement & "let them do whatever the he'll they want". Well, it didn't work on Hitler's Germany, & it won't work on Russia, which has shown us what it's all about every century its been in existence, which is attacking & invading its neighbors, acquiring territory, committing genocide & expanding empire. You really want to encourage that? It's only going to keep getting worse, & the stakes higher if we let it go on, to say nothing of other countries getting a cue from our weakness to invade the countries they want to take over.
The more like that, the merrier.
To wake people up we need to tell personal stories of how lives will change if those speakers that are quoted in this newsletter are followed.
Tell of the parent that doesn’t come home because they were taken in. Tell of the child who repeats what they heard at the kitchen table and then sees their father arrested.
Tell of people being fired to give the job to a party worker.
The authoritarians have countries with plenty of victims. Make those stories as gut wrenching as Katie Britt made her story when she lied.
I am afraid that many people do not understand what is valuable about democracy and if we don’t make it clear like we are talking to children, we won’t get to them. Spell it out in stories why democracy is important. What happens if you can’t speak your mind, if the media is only state propaganda, if people in power can never be removed and will make you disappear if you complain. What will your family do if you simply never came back from work or school or a walk in the park? That is what the authoritarian regimes are promising.
I was an attorney in the 60's working with a Black housing group when the police came in the morning and rounded up every Black person on the street (tens of people) regardless of who they were or what job they needed to go to because some Black person somewhere at some unspecified time had allegedly committed a burglary. I thought we had gotten beyond that but bigotry seems to be on a rebound. Democracy for all is what we need.
Agreed.
I remember as a child my parents and grandparents relating stories of the Gestapo coming to relatives' homes in the middle of the night. As a child I was terrified.
I am old enough to remember some of world war 2, heard Hitler ranting on the radio, saw photos of liberation of death camps IRT - we of that generation are dying out and young people live in a different world, and their ideas of that time are far less vivid. I fear that, as we have done since descending from the trees, we will repeat, repeat, forget and then repeat again
Gina ; without education, the next generation will repeat and forget.
My parents, refugees from then Communist Czechoslovakia, always said the answer to everything was “education, education, education.” We can see how, now it is the non-college educated (and white) middle class (mostly men), now Perpetual Victims as the Evangelical Right, furiously accusing the “Deep State” of victimizing them, their heads in the sand about their real victimizers, billionaires and the industrial military complex, and who are now led by the Victim King and Orange Dictator Wannabe, who displays extraordinary skills at convincing them of their victimhood and that only he can bring them salvation, being brought to them as the Second Coming of Christ, and especially retribution, despite having been convicted by a jury of his peers of “sexual assault” (the NYC legal nomenclature for rape) and indicted on 91 felony counts in 4 different court jurisdictions. It just boggles my mind. And terrifies me. This may be our last free election!
Your parents were right. " If you think education is expensive: try ignorance" is a bumper sticker I have seen now and then.
Rose Maly ; It helps tRump to spread his lies that he had Fox 'news' as his Megaphone!. I suppose Newsmax and OAN also helped him get his message out. Also, Eveangelicals are especially impressionable. If you can suspend your disbelief in a snake oil salesman in a Mega church, why not at a political rally? These folks are ripe to swallow lies hook line and sinker! They want to be saved, and visit their enemies with hellfire and brimstone! It does not even matter that tRump does not show a whit of integrity. Or love for anyone. Ripping off a charity for children with cancer! He is no longer allowed to run a charity! He hates women, and treats them like 🐕 dogs! Which he also hates!
If they don't try to stop it or block votes!
An older college friend in the 70s relayed an experience she had visiting Berlin a couple years previously. I do not recall how she also visited the East German side, but she told me she spent an enjoyable evening with a few people in someone's apartment. Some people had guitars, and they had been singing folk songs, including some popular in the US. A day or so later, the person whose apartment they had been in had "disappeared" to be "reeducated."
The conquer America strategy of the Russians has always been to buy their way into democracy. They don’t need to invade us across the Bering Sea.
Russians are having trouble doing logistics and their invasion of the Ukraine. They’re really not up to invading the United States buy our political leaders Trump Mike Johnson, Mitch McConnell. It’s much easier and cheaper to buy off Americans through third-party subterfuge if necessary then it is to take us on in a military one on one fight.
Republicans are leading the way to the third world war by being weak weak weak on communism.
It’s even possible that the Republicans are too stupid to notice that they are being bought off by the Russians …
This is a shameful time in American politics. What would Eisenhower or Roosevelt or Kennedy or Johnson or Reagan? Say they’re definitely spinning in their graves …
Mike Johnson Donald Trumpet 🎺, Mitch McConnell…
Dr Doug Gilbert ; As NATO members. If any NATO country is attacked. we are at war, because that is how the alliance works.
Even if "The Predecessor" pulls the U.S. out of NATO we would end up in WWIII. China would likely attack Taiwin and U.S. assets there. That would trigger a response. Then we end up with Putin declaring war on the U.S. the same way Hitler did in 1941. Putin could also look at a nuclear strike on a city such as Berlin.
Isn't it time to ask the question-what the hell is wrong with Europe- the democratic countries of Europe? The US has since 2016 demonstrated itself to be unreliable in many ways. Even with the election of Biden in 2020 that was no reason for Europe's complacency given the obvious state of our politics.
The European "arsenals of democracy" have had time to crank up so that they could be providing more of the essential weapons to Ukraine. Even with the economic dislocations of the past years. The war is, after all, in their backyard.
Of course the US should continue to support Ukraine.
My "backyard" stops at my fence line. Beyond that, it's someone ELSE's backyard.
alas, our backyards are all part of a larger interconnected society
But I don't treat something as "my backyard" unless it is truly mine.
Good fences make good neighbors.
Until the mess in Europe spills over in the Atlantic or pacific regions. “ Penny of Prevention is Better than a Pound of Cure”
"Peace in our time"---Neville Chamberlain. Will we never learn from history?
Have to read it before you can Learn anything. Reading history only happens in college professors offices.
I'm remembering a documentary series on PBS in the 1980's called "World At War" which pictorially showed the autrocities of WWII world wide, but also mentioned that world wide casualities, military and civilian were closer to 140,000,000 +.
Are we willing to let these 'promoters' of what could become WWIII get away with their 'making the world great again' ? And what will this effort (win or lose) cost the entire planet and ALL ecosystems and their probable crash ? ? ?
This is REALLY chilling!! I was sent a voluminous copy of records kept during the Russian “Iron Curtain” days, detailing the tactics Russia used against dissidents and people they accused of resisting their state control of satellite countries. The person who had them wanted to put them in shape for publication. They had been worked on at one time by some academics in NYC. {Columbia, I think}
I had to stop reading the accounts of how they broke people down in order to create compliant behavior and dispel challenges.
It made me sick to my stomach and gave me nightmares. And there was very little physical violence involved in those records. It was psychological manipulation, but it kept me awake at night, afraid of the dreams I’d have.
You point out, Dr. Gilbert, that none of the former Soviet republics in the Baltics want to see Russia in charge again … Wow, you can bet they don’t!! People have no idea … It’s what Ukraine is desperately fighting against…Because Putin is exactly in line with the likes of Stalinists and their ilk…
Yes, Putin and his party want to stay in office and will kill any opponents challenging him. Putin must keep his people isolated and uninformed to control them - the Russians are scared of being arrested and die in a gulag. Trump wants the same here, control by misinformation and threats of violence for the opposition. We need to get rid Trump and most of the MAGAts in congress like Jordan Gaetz Greene and all of the Trump weasels unwilling to defend democracy worldwide. My father fought in WW2 - he would throw up in disgust listening to Trump and his DICKtator friends.
There was just yesterday an attack on Vilnius, Lithuania, on Navalny’s top strategist. https://apnews.com/article/russia-lithuania-navalny-leonid-volkov-attack-b951ca8c07e0c441563b91b6468d55f8
Dr. Doug Gilbert: The truth is WWIII began in earnest when Putin got away with invading Crimea in 2014. He broke international law. The harder truth to face is WWIII began when the US broke international law by invading Vietnam and Iraq and allowed the interference in Venezuela. I don't know enough world history to name how many other nations also contributed to the start of WWIII. Perhaps the real truth is that just as the American Civil War never really ended, WWII never really ended.
Biden & Co. support Ukraine's oppressive far-right terror regime.
That is false russofascist propaganda.
Rachel Maddow did a great job describing and informing about this type of propaganda on her show last night. She also reminded us that Biden said, "I will stop you" at attempts to dismantle Social Security and Medicare in the SOTU address. Reassuring.
Biden's SOTU address was reassuring in many ways.
Here is a split screen, picture if you will, on the one hand, the Grand Ole Poo Party, that be of course the GOP, they say and demand or rather quietly, there must! be cuts to save, "so called" entitlements and with the other hand, saying, we want more tax cuts for the billionaire class, the one half of one percent. the ones who do not need the various programs, stand to gain from that decision from their cronies in Congress, say it with me folks, PRIVATIZE.
Renewing $3 trillion in tax cuts for the billionaire class sounds like "entitlements" for the rich. Protect and expand Social Security and Medicare!
Gloria, this propaganda will only intensify as the election draws closer. I am cheering for Robert Jaffee and Jaime Ramirez on this feed because they are deflecting the propaganda with truth. The trolls don't have truth, they have lies and insults so the contrast is what everyone on here needs to see. President Biden's State of the Union was very reassuring and called on all of us to keep up the fight!! Vote Blue, America!!!
Love...Love Rachel, she "rocks."
Thanks, and am glad you agree.
Gloria J Maloney: I still don't understand how people can vote for the destruction of something they depend on like social security. Do they think something magic will happen and all will be well instead of figuring out, "Okay. No more social security money so how do I pay for food, shelter and maybe medical care? Now what do I do?"
TrumpTards have a few marbles missing in the cranium
a mystery of the ages
Hey, the magic of the stock market will save you, except when it falls, as it sometimes does.
On a related topic—Medicare, I have read, has an overhead of about 3%. Quite different from for-profit health insurers.
She also that Trump's desperate need for some half a $Billion to pay his court fines is an unacceptable conflict of interest
I replied here (and I have more to say):
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-global-anti-democracy-movement/comment/51475369
No one wants to hear it.
You're getting weaker! Maybe you should power down and try a reboot!
Indeed, the guy, is one of those internet trolls, spreading his crapola of lies and just when you thought, that here, might be a totally safe place, think again, there are simply those that are not happy, unless they are spreading more hate and division, just ask their Dear Leader, Adolf Trump
I just keep scrolling. When I see his name, I know the fool comes here often spewing his nonsense. I no longer read his post. Don't give him the time he seeks.
Oh but Linda, let him post so that the rest of us can use the truth against him. He wants so desperately to rile us up; however, we know exactly what he is. We don't get riled, we tell him the truth. If we do it often enough, who knows? maybe he will finally see the light!!!
Lol, I don't think he will ever see the light. But you do what you feel is right. I'll keep scrolling.
darkness-dwellers burrow deeper to avoid the light
Peggy, or he'll leave the thread which would be OK too.
"Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine"
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
I deleted him
Sometimes our patience is exhausted.
"Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine"
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
I replied here (and I have more to say):
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-global-anti-democracy-movement/comment/51475369
You have nothing to say that didn't originate in the Kremlin.
"Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine"
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
You have nothing to say schmuck
To insult someone because of their family name is like insulting someone because of their skin color.
They’re brainwashed in a cult and literally want to be locked down masked up and jabbed up forever. Don’t waste your energy on them; painful as it is to see your fellow man cheering for their own deaths.
"Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine"
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
I deleted him
Of course it is, but we keep giving the troll more opportunities to insert himself and his propaganda here.
"Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine"
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
Nope, do some proper, unbiased research. Start with mine, facts from MSM.
https://liborsoural.substack.com/p/nutzie-u-crane-z-sob-pow-x-planed
Hmmm, Russia is already doing what Reich & Hartmann have been warning they will do: populating the internet with bots & trolls to spread disinformational propaganda to help Putin & Trump, 2 of the most dangerous, destructive & despicable people to have ever populated the Earth.
I've been following the totally unprovoked, barbaric Russian invasion of Ukraine very closely as well as the criminal & treasonous antics of the Siberian Candidate, Traitor Trump, getting my information from all sides.
You are here simply to stir things up with false russofascist claims.
Indeed, to paraphrase it, Trump and Putin's political ambitions are inseparable. Its okay for Putin to do whatever the hell he wants in Ukraine because when I'm in power I can do whatever the hell I want. Our allies and the rule of law be damned.. .Prime Minister Victor Orban has his ear. Orban was elected, but once.in power he took control of the courts, the media etc. Project 2025 that Trump endorses seems to be the same blueprint that Orban used to dismantle democracy.
Betty, and if Orban had anything of value to offer, he would not have believed he had to take over everything in the nation that would have served as a check on his power. It seems Trump has already taken over our House of Representatives and Supreme Court as well as several of the lower courts. It would be rather easy for him to get the rest. Russia already had a system of repression going on since the Czar days, so people were used to it. People here are not and I suspect even Republicans who want to do as much harm as they can to the people who don't believe as they do, will find they don't like a man in the throes of dementia and under the hand of puppeteers like Steve Miller and Steve Bannon running things, and will find their freedoms slipping away to the point they will not be happy with their Baby Donnie anymore. Unfortunately by that time, this nation will be a wreck. Trump won't care because he will be insulated from all of it. He will be dragged out to give his stupid rally speeches with paid people who will cheer for him. Poverty will rise to extremes and the oligarchs who wanted to take over all along will be able to return to slavery days with people working for as little as the oligarchs can manage. Maybe their brand of warped christianity will give them some comfort as their kids are starving and they are working 16 hour days for a tiny fraction of what they should be paid. Then, there's global warming that could put an end to all our suffering by that time because Baby Donnie and friends are into "drill baby drill" and only want science if it makes their own life better. Mar-a-Lago will be underwater by then and Trump won't notice because his dementia will have taken over his brain. Yeah, Republicans, that's a lovely future. I can't imagine what you see in it that fascinates you.
So true, Betty!! We must hold on to our Democracy!! Vote Blue, America!!!!
Not only was Orban elected, but with WIDE majorities in each election.
Unprovoked? LOL Hell no!!!!!!!! The Ukro Nutzies had some 50 000 troops in full gear gathered to attack severely the pro-Russian freedom fighters in the separatist republic, who refused the illegal Maidan coup to the democratically elected, however corrupt, more pro-Russian than pro-EU, president Yanukovich, who had to flee the country. Russia, like any responsible superpower, just had to stop them, had to invade, said enough is enough, to hell with the West, look to the East, just like in the Hollywood movie Lord of the Rings, what an irony! You would surely democratically, mostly peacefully, let your Nutzie neighbor mess with you, wouldn't you? Give yourself a break, bra! I'm Czech, another Slavic nation, we know everything about Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Hungary, etc. We've been there, experienced things. It's normal racism in Ukraine, the cause of today's conflict.
Just another typical ploy for Russia to gain territory. Their method is (& it's been their MO for centuries) to stir up conflict in a neighboring country, express their support for the rebels, send troops to help the rebels, encourage the rebels to declare an autonomous region, & eventually declare that region Russian territory, eliminating the natives & replacing them with Russians while invading the country to try to take over the whole country. They'll use any pretext to disingenuously justify their behavior.
I’m Czech. Hovno do kalhot, má drahá! Learn better English you Vlad-Bot! “Pro-Russian” and “freedom fighters” are complete oxymorons!
Do you also believe the Earth is flat and the Moon is made of green cheese? The only part of your statement that has any relationship to reality is the first part: "Biden & Co. support Ukraine". The rest is utter nonsense.
Hahahahahaha!! Good response, Eric!!
I replied here (and I have more to say):
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-global-anti-democracy-movement/comment/51475369
You are deleted
Look Putie lover - we don’t need or want your sicko messsge - you’re a Russian sympathizer-
And what regime would that be? The democratic government of Ukraine? Is Zelenskyy a far right fascist? I think not!
Your statement is pure Putin propaganda. The European’s fear Putin, not Ukraine. Norway and Sweden never felt the need to join NATO during the Soviet Union and Cold War, yet now they do; why is that? When your neighbors fear you, it speaks volumes.
Your statement is complete and utter nonsense! Not even worthy of a response!…:)
Norway has been a member of NATO since its inception in 1949.
You are referring to Finland, which lost a sizable chunk of territory to the USSR in 1939.
Thank you, I meant Finland…:)
Zelensky has limited power. Starting in 2014 the Interior Ministry, in charge of the police, has been controlled by far-right extremists, with Arsen Avakov the name to look up.
As though Russia doesn’t have its far right militias? Have you heard of the Wagner Group? It was started by Dmitry Utkin in 2014, who was a Nazi sympathizer and had several Nazi tattoos. He named the mercenary group after German, Richard Wagner, a famous composer of Adolf Hitler.
And we certainly have our share of white nationalists and neo-Nazi’s in America; it doesn’t make our country a fascist, Nazi country.
So once again, I’m not impressed.
кремлеботы
🧌
@ Dr. Doug. Whatever you said.
Also supports hating dogs and stealing from kids with cancer.
Kremlinbot with a Troll emoji. Trying to address people in their native language.
I have studied the Ukrainian situation, including reading maps, enough to recognize & be able to transcribe most Cyrillic letters, at least enough to read & understand what you said. And it's not the only Kremlinbot to have already invaded our space tonight, unfortunately.
Apparently some have a permanent assignment.
Way to go, Dr. Gilbert!! I can't speak Russian but I can tell you I agree!!
I replied here (and I have more to say):
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-global-anti-democracy-movement/comment/51475369
Poor bot - you’re in a loop and can’t get out
Hahahahahaha!!! Reason enough for me not to support them!!!!
Are you back again, Member of Cult 45 frothing talking points of the Orange Man and Vlad from your mouth??? I know you don’t believe in the US Constitution, so your First Amendment right to Free Speech is hereby revoked! Go back to Russia, you Vlad Bot, and bloody-well fricken stop posting on Substack, where you belong like arsenic, cyanide, or Novichok!
Rose, I think y'all broke the bot!!! It just keeps repeating the same thing over and over!! " I replied here (and I have more to say)" Try saying that in a robot's voice!!! Oh well, I am sure they will repair him and he will be back with his insane trolling!!! I love the responses from our substack community!! Hopefully, putin, trump and anyone else sending them on here will get the message that we are not gullible like their cult followers!!!
I replied here (and I have more to say):
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-global-anti-democracy-movement/comment/51475369
WHAT??? Still not in bed yet???
Sorry Schmuck-ele … but your Putin language is not welcome here - does he pay you by the word or by vowel to post ? If vowel … dicktatorship will no doubt prove to make $$$
Trump & Co. support Russia's far more oppressive far-right(or left - that far out directions are all-same) terror regime
Having an opinion is an American Right Being a funnel For Russian Nazi propaganda is a violation of several Federal Laws and of your agreement to participate on this Forum.
I hope your paid well.
Citizen J, on this other post you exposed yourself as a flaming, hate-filled bigot:
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-global-anti-democracy-movement/comment/51482029
John A. Perkins, in his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, aptly called what we are living under as a "corporatocracy".
I've been calling us a corporatocracy for 20 years or more, because that's what we are. Not that we can't be other things simultaneously, like a plutocracy or theocracy. We were some of the worst kind under Trump, including mafiocracy, kleptoctacy, idiocracy, & kakistocracy.
I doubt A third WW will occur; although as Russia girds for war with a 7 % of of their GDP going to.Defense and a free world reluctant to re arm; is almost an invitation for Putin/ neo- Hitler is pushing around the little states of Europe.
Stupid Policies that hinder the Ukraine from using the high tech weapons Such as ROCKET Systems from being used against targets in Russia itself . Signal a reluctance to fight , the intellectual approach to statesmanship was a disaster in Vietnam . We are repeating the same intellectual nonsense with war Russia started and invaded Ukraine .
Give the Ukraine the weapons they need and let them employ those weapons however the Ukraine sees fit , attempting to micromanage a war from Washington is ridiculous and invites failure for the people of Ukraine.
The Washington’s experts are dealing with theoretical and the Ukraine 🇺🇦 is dealing with reality. War is not a chess game it’s a blood bath Washington insists on Putting lipstick on a pig and calling it a police action. Let the Ukraine be The Ukraine kill Russians their way.
Kill Russians
Kill Russians ,
KILL MORE RUSSIANS !!!
Ukraine is losing.
Ukraine is exhausted.
They are running low on new cannon-fodder conscripts.
They are running low on artillery ammunition.
The Russians have just begun mass-producing super-sized versions of their "smart" glide bombs that are pulverizing Ukrainian fortifications.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
This song goes out to the Russians:
https://youtu.be/TvQWBXJOgAI?si=v9QBNy9WvKxHC_98
What scares me the most are Trump's feelings for Putin. Donnie Boy doesn't respect what Putin has he wants it for himself, lock, stock, and barrel. Trump wants to "be" everything that the Russian bear is. "God" in a cheap suit.
Well Trump is a sick puppy - he’s not too knowledgeable on anything. His only job is his ego needs to be fed daily
If trumpet 🎺 goes to jail he will quickly die from lack of camera time. When and if he lives long enough and survived jail he will become a star on a porn channel with Melania and/or her replacement…
I’m pretty sure fat bald guys with orange complexions are not really a big draw…
The Russians will remain loyal until the end… they always try to swap their spy’s out of jail…
Susan--And it has an insatiable appetite.
We already are in WW3. My guess is that Orban has his eyes on Moldova and chunk of Ukraine. If he and Putin foment a rebellion in Moldova NATO is likely to get directly involved. Even if Putin refrains from using nuclear weapons, China and N. Korea are likely to take full advantage of the chaos in west.
Europe had better get involved, and I mean boots on the ground, because the treasonous Trump cult has totally abandoned Ukraine, because that is what OrbanTrumpsky wants.
This is a replay of 1938 Munich Conference Trump being Chamberlain, but more vile and treasonous, Zelensky being Edvard Benes, and Orban being Hitler.
History certainly does rhyme.
But Putin waves his nuclear phallus and the surrender monkey's in the west (including America) foul their underwear. They would rather live under the terror of a dictatorship.
On the nuclear threat, we might remember that when Chernobyl erupted, the fallout went eastward. Wind patterns.
Winds shift. Some of that radioactive cloud did reach Sweden, most of Europe and even Canada.
It is like pollution, it just doesn't affect one country, it affects the world.
The Jungles of the Amazon are gifted with sand and soil that originates in Africa, and there is coral life in the Caribbean that is the beneficiary of Sahara sands blown in by the winds.
But that doesn't matter. M.A.D. is still in effect. If Putin looses his nukes, there will be hell to pay in Russia, Moscow and his precious Dacha's for his mistresses and daughters.
Professor Reich: i can't help but wonder what the radical right would think if they won and ended up being having to live under the regime they've openly and enthusiastically espoused? it's mind-boggling: such a regime goes against everything they claim to believe in.
Conscription Russian style should frighten a few. If someone is arrested for protesting, there is a high chance they will be on the Ukranian front as cannon fodder in a few weeks. Behind on your debt payments? There is a place for you at the Ukranian front!
This and similar practices have a long tradition dating back especially to Alexander III. Minorites and dissidents have often been used as cannon fodder. My grandmother's family fled Czarist Russia for this reason. As Germans in Russia they were seen as cannon fodder in the lead up to the Russo-Japanese war. The Russians even required conscripted soldiers to bring food for the officers' horses!
You found the turd in the soup. They always forget that eventually a more extreme version of themselves comes along and decides that things aren’t extreme enough.
I too am mystified by the contradictions. A repressed society stops being innovative, for one thing
The radical right is incapable of thinking that far.
I very much agree with these 2 comments! THIS is THE problem! The Make America Great Again "radical right" are being used by politicians who are being used and funded by wealthy and powerful donors to attain more wealth and power.
Professor Reich; How can we "reach out to" the MAGA voters and get them to read, think, understand and accept the truth in what you say? They do not ever see your writings or hear your podcasts. And if they did, they will NOT read or listen to your message. And if the DID read or listen to you message, they would not understand or agree with it!
Fraid they are denouncing the US Constitution.
I've been thinking that too.
Trump is not hiding it and, if the past is any guide, we would be well advised to listen to what he says. If elected, it will likely be worse than the oral diarrhea coming from his mouth.
LOL https://liborsoural.substack.com/p/gimme-the-rocket-man
I can barely believe this is happening in this country. It seems the very rich would much rather have a dictator than a democratically elected government. Make no mistake about their complicity in this scheme to take power. I’m beginning to have nightmares about trump. This worldwide phenomenon is being supported by the very rich. Funding was key to Hitler and is key to trumps rise. No political movement can survive without backing. It’s a sorry mess we have!
Stephen I have been having nightmares since 2016 and they started to ease up with the win 2020 installing Biden but even then I felt uneasy as I had pandemic nightmares losing family members extended family and friends grief has been on my plate as it has for so many. What the hard truth about our current situation is this is something that has been rumbling in the underbelly for many years “the destruction of our democracy” and capitalist’s total control of America. I believe you are correct most Americans understand democracy and possibly take it for granted but fail to remember or don’t about know the Cuban missle crisis the Cold War or WWII those still run chills in my spine. I believe the wake up call is not loud enough and should have come sooner that said what is clear as a pane of freshly cleaned glass the American government and WTP are under attack from Russia and the enemies within our government and country that support them. I believe that the majority Americans actually support democracy and Biden’s agenda knowing that so far he has proven himself “job well done” but needs to continue with a path forward for 4 more years so it will take EVERY single person that wants to fight against the mentioned enemies to VOTE because every one COUNTS we must have numbers so overwhelmingly huge to support President Biden at the polls it will not stop the election deniers but we can win if we ALL VOTE BLUE every election state local and federal election but without a doubt if we don’t keep President Biden in the White House it will be lost to the majority of patriotic Americans. That is my Nightmares.
The elections won’t end it. We will have to keep fighting.
Many Americans also do not know what it’s like to have unregulated capitalism. The corporations don’t like to be regulated. We may find out what it was like before OSHA, before labor regulations etc. if the anti-democracy movement continues.
Exactly - what happens when employers no longer pay into unemployment or workers comp insurance or support social security and Medicare - what will happen to our society ? The poor, the handicapped, mentally unstable, elderly ?
Looks as though we’ve been locked in the same nightmare. I remember what Nikita Kruschev said at the UN too.
EVERYBODY has to get crackin’, and absolutely do every thing in their power to talk to every family member and friend, repeatedly sign up for DNC phone banks, donate every possible dollar to the Biden-Harris campaign, attend every pro-democracy rally, wear Biden-Harris pins everywhere, put up Biden yard signs prominently in your front yard, fly the American flag, wear American flag pins, make sure everyone you know is registered to vote, AND, above all, VOTE!!!
You hit the nail on the head. It’s all about money.
Yep. This evil story goes all the way back to the John Birch Society and the Nazi roots of the Koch Brothers. I admit I was asleep at the wheel as were many. I was telling a friend today I thought I was scared in 2016. This is times 1000. I'm updating my Will and will have a Plan B just in case.
Witness CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon’s spoken support of Dump.
“Republicans in Congress, CPAC, and Tucker Carlson have made it abundantly clear that this election pits democracy and freedom against what is fast becoming a global anti-democracy movement, co-chaired by Trump and Putin.”
Every great empire is never beaten in War, it dies a slow death from apathy, internal strife and exhaustion. The Roman Empire fell due to many factors; however, a major factor was the infiltration and influence of religious zealots, who we now call Christian’s.
America’s death will be at the hands of the same demonic forces, including an illiterate and apathetic electorate, and a religious fundamentalist movement, that has infiltrated every government institution.
The true enemy is from within..:)
The fall of the Roman Empire.
Two theories.
1. It was a miracle it lasted any length of time at all since often a change in dictators was accompanied by civil war. So the question is backwards.
2. All the emperors claimed to be descendants of the king of Troy. You know, the guy that fell for the giant horse gambit. Descended from an idiot is not the calling card it was thought to be.
Fair enough…:)
Past generations have stood strong against the oppression it’s our turn
Do we have the courage?
Speaking of courage, I wonder why all those disqualified members of Congress are allowed to even be in Congress? They work for tRump . and, therefore, Putin. They have violated their oaths of office. according to the 14th amendment section three, the disqualification clause, they should not hold seats in government. If the current Supreme Court has not allowed violators to be removed by the states (at least not for federal elections) , why can't states at least remove their own violating members of Congress? Why can't we throw the bums out? Also, I wonder which state former Congressman George Santos is running from? I read that he was at the SOTU. , and is running for office again. In Congress? How can he be qualified to do that? This lawlessness nonsense has got to stop! Why is Tommy Tuberville still holding a seat in government?
Laurie, all really good, pertinent questions. The same questions I keep asking. It looks like (not appears or seems) that our government does not represent us any longer. SCOTUS is bought and sold, one man, Mike Johnson, is deciding the fate of western democracy and world order by not allowing a vote on funding for Ukraine and a draconian immigration policy that Republicans have been demanding. It’s insanity, pure and simple, driven by greed, power and fear. Biden’s SOTU address was inspiring, but it takes legislation to do what he outlined in his address. I don’t see it happening before the election. The only reason Trump has so much power and influence is that the world, not just the USA, is now run by money, not people, and the corporations that run the world know that Trump will let them do whatever they want as long as he stays out of jail and continues to line his pockets. It’s pretty frightening and I don’t scare easily. I will vote blue up and down the ticket, but even if Biden wins, unless we have a majority in the senate and congress, we are doomed. This is quite literally “next level existential shit.” Pay attention America! Our freedom, our future as a species on this planet, is at stake. Seriously. Vote. Blue. Then, if we win, we have to get down to the ugly, but utterly necessary task of fundamentally existing in this world without destroying it and all the life we share it with. There is enough wealth in this world to make everyone safe, secure, well fed and taken care of medically, financially and psychologically. We have to let go of tribalism and become one human species , living in balance with all other species. Tall order, but if ignored, we are certainly doomed. I will be personally happy to see humans wiped off the face if the planet if we don’t get this right. Now! Time is quickly running out. Don’t believe me, pull your head out of your collective asses and take a long, hard look at what is going on all over the world. Top level: Russia invading Ukraine. Mike Johnson kowtowing to Trump to stop funding Ukraine. Israel and Hamas. Where does it end. China will invade Taiwan if Trump wins. More dictators like Orban will pop up all over the world. Our level: Handmade’s Tale? It’s possible. Definitely higher prices for everything, basic human rights stripped away. Dobbs was just the start. No more safety net. I have paid in to SS and Medicare since I was 14 years old. I am 62. I am definitely “entitled” to receive benefits from programs I have diligently contributed to all my hard working, quickly disappearing, middle class life. I am a nurse. Why is it that I save lives and barely make ends meet while CEOs make 350 times what their employees make?! I cancelled Amazon, won’t give them another dime of my hard earned money. I buy local, support small businesses and vote local. Wake up America, we are in a world changing crisis. Big tech, oil, pharma, banks, food conglomerates. They rule the world. Can we take it back? It’s going to be hard and painful and bloody but if you want freedom, better be ready to fight, not just with guns, but with solidarity, protests, work strikes, media exposure, hacking. Whatever it takes. We have to do this, or submit to lives run by billionaire despots. Good luck.
Mark Mooney : actually, I don't think anyone in this forum (except trolls) have "Their heads up their asses" , nor do I hope that we are wiped off the face of the Earth. But if tRump was in power, I bet he would be trying to see what his position of Commander in Chief would allow him to do. How long would a Bin Laden be allowed to go around making threats to everyone? Why are we respecting the Supreme Court and it's illegitimacy; installed as the 'right' wing 6' have been, by 'presidents' who lost the popular vote? 🤔. We have laws that are remedies for much of what ails and threatens US : why not enforce them!? The 'Sergeant in arms' may need a company! These traitors are running roughshod all over the People's House! They need to be evicted: straight to jail! Do not pass 'Go"!
Mike Mooney ; The worst challenge is if 'Speaker' Mike Johnson decides to mess with the certification of the votes, and somehow gets away with it!
The worst challenge legislatively. Who knows what challenges we'll face physically or militarily?
amen
Laurie, even more basic is why anyone who has been proven to be dishonest shouldn't be immediately thrown out of office, Dem or Repub (most recently, Katie [in the kitchen] Britt comes to mind). Santos & ilk would be disqualified from even running. Do we ultimately need a law mandating honesty to hold public office, with automatic expulsion for lying? Most of us learned that in kindergarten.
Look at all the baggage that tRump was lugging before he was elected! the infamous "grab 'em by the P#$$EE tape, the TRump University scandal, who knows how many lawsuits going, the Children with cancer charity he pilfered from, and I'm sure there's more...And that was BEFORE he got into the Oval Office! Like the election interference case involving a porn star! Does anyone think he was properly vetted? Qualified for a security clearance?!! Corruption can get you places, it seems! It can destroy our Democratic Republic, too, and end our Freedom of Self rule dreams.
I'm looking forward to the Porn Star Payoff Trial- wish it was televised. The more craziness that is publicized, the better.
If tRump loses republican votes, that would help! I find it hard to believe that it would take something like that. It is pretty clear who he is already!
We have so few qualifications for President, & none regarding knowledge or moral character.
Don McIntyre ; Apparently, we do need an honesty requirement! After Mr Santos' fake resume, (and his constituents basically being blamed for not being thorough enough in evaluating him before voting ), We saw how difficult it was to get rid of him! Of course, the illegitimate Congress run by 'speaker' McCarthy, needed the votes from him, even though he was unfit to have that power! Elections have consequences!
Sad commentary on the state of affairs, that our government has been reduced to this level of dysfunction, magnified by the behavior of the Orange Menace.
Yes, sadly, our government is corrupted by dirty money and greedheads galore.
Oppression takes many forms. There are many amongst us who have spent a lifetime fighting it, who have never had the social luxury to indulge cowardice.
If you truly love anyone more than your
Self than courage will manifest.
Courage, like loyalty, is only a word until it is tested. Then it becomes an embodied process and manifests in differing ways in each of us. Both are perceived clearly through their enabling effects upon others.
By their fruits we shall know them. 🐈⬛
By nature I am timid, but if I see injustice, I can't help but speak out. This is why I will always oppose bullies like Trump & Putin.
40% of Americans are useful idiots. We need to render them useless in November.
Mike Hammer ; I hope it is an even smaller number than that.
I hope you are correct but it is still going to be every single pro democracy voter to show up to the polls when we win (my optimism) then it will still be a continuation of our current battle fighting for democracy and our constitution freedoms and rights against those that want to destroy our country.
Christi Brown : I never said there would be no challenges. If Democracy still exists, we have to continue to strive for "a more perfect Union' or even an imperfect one, which is pretty much what we have had.
The "Union" part is questionable, Laurie.
I fear it could be larger.
I agree. Way too many people with their heads up theirs back ends.
Ed Coster : There are some Republicans who have been encouraged to vote for Biden. There are those who have had death threats and were purged from the former Republican Party, which is now the cult of MAGA and tRump/ Putin! The purged and primaried don't need encouragement to vote blue. Also, some Republicans have said that convictions for crimes could keep them from voting for tRump.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
And another 12% are dead and also voted for Biden!
Haha- good joke.
uh-huh
The saddest thing is that all of these far-right leaders are aligning themselves with Trump because it gives THEM legitimacy on the world stage. America gets nothing from it, other than the ego-stroke Trump so desperately needs every ten minutes. Why is it so hard for our people to see that they to are being used to fuel his narcissistic need for power? Hard to believe that a so-called Christian nation is mired so deeply in their view of us vs. them. It really misses the point.
Trump=megalomanic and the GOP, which is actually, long gone! replaced by MAGA, are all in to bring dictatorship to America and to imagine, do they all really think their lives will be better, I guess, if their hurting other people, aka "the other" then their all too content with that notion and all too happy living under the thumbscrew dictatorship of a wannabe dictator, for with Trump, he has never met a dictator he did not like, that says it all, along with him having his beloved copy of Mein Kompf next to his nightstand
Ex-Republicans. https://rvat.org/
They are hiding behind his bully language - as if Biff
I think it's wrong to consider Putin and Trump co-chairs. Trump is only a lieutenant to Putin representing the US faction of billionaires in that movement.
Vau Geha ; and Putin does the bidding of the Russian Oligarchs who installed him.
Not even an agent -- willing idiot!
Killing idiot!
I do so wish that we did not have to waste time talking about a fool. BP (Biden's predecessor, bowing to Biden's clever avoidance of the orange one's name - courteous disrespect) is not capable of being the leader of the antidemocracy movement. This is Putin's schtick, along with assistance from China, Hungary, and others. Yet behind it all are the corporate entities that really run things, helping make Putin and his buddies the richest oligarchs in the world. (And yes, I include Bezos, Musk, Theil, Dimon and even Bill Gates with a host of others wealthy elites in that mix who are really anti-democracy.) We are heading to a cliff, the road marked by climate change, and the more we drive (not a metaphor, we are driving) down that road the closer we get to a cliff. The cliff does not destroy democracy, it destroys all. This year is the warmest on record. Every month setting a record for that month. Things are blooming a month early. Nature is confused and chaotic. Unless we can push back the forces opposed to necessary change, which is to only agenda the MAGA crowd have, we collapse. It is that stark.
Climate will thus be doomed and mankind along with it.
The sooner humans step off the stage the better off this planet will be.
I completely agree and thank you for being brave enough to speak the naked truth.
It’s always follow the carrot with this ass.
He looks to repeat Putin - extort the oligarchs, shut down the opposition, destruct the universities. However, he has zero patience and zero intelligence so he will throw the world into its final spin cycle - the one where the washing machine sounds like it’s going to explode. Ever the coward, he’ll be the first into the bunker.
Yes. Cadet Bone Spurs, aka Convict 45, probably the only casino owner ever to bankrupt it, will definitely be first into the bunker at the sound of the first gunshot. The biggest mistakes our country ever made are: 1. Create the Electoral College, by which Dump won the presidency in the first place (Hillary won the popular vote), and 2. Provide US Secret Service protection for life as a result.
Citizens United did not help, and the filibuster too. The 60 vote threshold by the Senate along with Gerrymandering . With the bought and stacked court, we need to rebel! Where is Leonard Leo? The billionaires? The traitors!? The Federalist Society? The Heritage Foundation!? What they are doing and have done should be illegal with consequences, and Enforced!
I agree, but I don’t think Trump will extort the oligarchs, he will just be their puppet, their plaything to reach their goals. What those goals are is anyone’s guess. World domination by total control of OUR assets only spells total destruction of the planet.
The only statement I would dispute in Reich’s otherwise flawless account is the last sentence, wherein Reich portrays Trump and Putin as co-equals. In my view, the global anti-democratic movement is led by Putin and Jinping; Trump, at best, is a means for helping to fulfill their vision.
The leaders in the States perhaps most convincingly positioned to nail my thesis regarding Trump to the post with confirming evidence are the generals who served in the Trump Administration—John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, Jim Mattis, and Mark Milley. Though I would hope, despite protocol, to help defeat authoritarianism here at home, they would address the American people and reveal the full truth they withheld about Trump throughout their tenure serving in his administration, in the interim, we have Journalist Jim Sciutto’s forthcoming book The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War, wherein Sciutto reports conversations with John Kelly and John Bolton. “He’s not a tough guy by any means, but in fact quite the opposite,” Kelly said. “But that’s how he envisions himself.”
Trump is already been revealed His failures have been on public display for decades. His need as a narcissist was fulfilled with the 2016 election. That’s why the January 6 insurrection he can’t accept it’s not possible in his pea brain so it’s up to all of us who love America, our democracy our rights freedoms and constitution to get to the polls and leave no doubt with an overwhelming majority of our country voting saying we are defending democracy. There will still be deniers and first in line will be Trump in his cult. They will fight back, but we must win or lose our country.
Christi, I would note, given Trump has absorbed the Congress and largely the judiciary, I repeatedly have maintained we are all we have to preserve our rights and our freedoms. That said, considering my principal reason for writing was to refute the notion that Trump and Putin are co-equals, I viewed this as an opportunity, despite protocol, to comment on the particular impact I believe the generals who served in the Trump Administration could have on the 23% who said they wouldn’t vote for Trump were he convicted. You will note all the criminal trials that could have exerted an impact have been delayed most likely until after the election.
Yes I agree Americans will not see or get justice before the November election because they have been delayed by our imbalanced compromised and corrupted SCOTUS. That is why losing in November is NOT an option we must hold the White House and then continue our long road ahead of fighting back the enemies within and external which Putin is the head of that list.
Christi, We don’t disagree. My sole point was to underscore that generals who served in the Trump Administration know things I expect have not been exposed and could help carry the weight to prevent Trump from ever getting reelected.
Barbara, the generals may convince some, but it seems there are many that won’t care. They just want power.
Midwest, In a tight election, “some” sounds pretty good to me, particularly if those voters reside in swing districts in swing states.
IMHO Trump knows that he is doomed, and is desperate. Those comments about Social Security and Medicare are a plea to people like the Kochs who have been on the sidelines to fund him. I don't believe in "sit and squirm" analysis, but he is beyond nutsy koo koo and is facing a criminal jury starting in 2 weeks, when he has to fork over a half a million supersedeas.
It's up to US to get out the word, because the media refuses to report. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Daniel, I would note I am especially outraged by the media’s failure to fulfill its role in helping people understand what their government is up to. Accordingly, while you raise valid points, I won’t rest until Biden is inaugurated for a second term.
Barbara said, "Trump, at best, is a means for helping to fulfill their (Orban, Putin, and Jinping) vision."
I agree. I'll keep an eye out for Sciutto's book.
Gloria, Thank you for writing. I would note, while I mostly stand by my original comment, I revised a bit to elevate its accuracy.
Bullies are generally cowards.
Ed, I believe you just validated Kelly’s remarks.
I would characterize it as an international fascist syndicate headed by Putin, with Trump, Orban & others you mentioned mob bosses. Very foreboding!
Yeah, what a bummer. It's hard to see any optimism looking at that crowd.
Don’t forget Bezos, Musk, Zuckerburger and all of the rest of the billionaires that literally rule this planet. Oh, and don’t get me started on the military industrial complex. Who, exactly, is profiting off of sending bombs to Israel or any other shady country that wants to destroy, dominate or oppress other people. There is far too much money being made off the status quo and the folks raking in the money are not going to ever give it up.
We are facing a global movement to end democracy. It doesn’t get more serious than that. We still have the ability to vote these people out here. We had certainly better do that. These people are ruthless and will stop at nothing. We have to be more determined. History will not forgive us if we fail. Vote!!
Purge the disqualified from Congress, the Senate and the Courts! Impeach, whatever it takes!
Expel them as Section 3 of Amendment 14 commands, even though the anticonstitutional Supreme Court chooses to defy it.
We need to get the democrats in and then impeach Clarence Thomas and any insurrectist in the government. Too many are still in congress, senate and judiciary.
Jaime: the Supreme Court has 'only' said i14th section 3 can't be used in Federal elections. Why not use it to remove bad actors from the states, like representatives and Senators from the states?
But the Court said that Colorado (i.e., a state) can't remove someone. Or maybe I've got it wrong. But because of that I don't see hoe they can remove their senators and representatives.
Paula B. ; I think that when a state chooses a representative to , well, represent them in Washington, that is a state election, isn't it? the Reason Colorado could not remove tRump was because he was running for President ; in a Federal election. But the Constitution states Any office, from county commissioner to President of the United States! The Crooked Court moved the goalposts! They have got to go! there is NO respect For them! They have disqualified themselves when they did not respect the rule of law in the plainly stated Constitution! the 6 "Conservatives" (Read radical MAGAs) , Are disabled under the rule of law! they were All appointed by 'presidents' who did not win the Popular vote!, and are, therefore, illegitimate!
Laurie, I hope you're right. So what is the process? Do you think red states would really do this?
Jaime ; It would be Great if President Biden could be the Commander in Chief and do something to stop these insurrectionist traitors! Declare martial law if necessary! I hope he has good advisors because this thing could go further "South' even with a Joe Biden win!
Oh, for sure. They won't accept a Trump loss, even a landslide. They have plans already in place on how to steal the election, & they're confident of success ("finishing what we started on Jan. 6, 2021" as 1 CPAC speaker put it).
Since it is right out in the open. I hope Biden and his advisors are looking at defense of our Nation. And they have plans!
How?
“Carlson also provided a Potemkin-village view of Moscow’s subway and a department store — propaganda Russia couldn’t have paid for.”
Ah, but they DID pay for it.
There is one thing linking ALL the autocrats and their spokespeople that Prof. Reich cites: MONEY. Whether all of them believe all their rhetoric or not, and to the same degree, is irrelevant because there’s likely not one of them who isn’t having the equivalent of millions, if not billions, of dollars funneled to their bank accounts by the ultra-rich and corporate interests they serve. No wonder they and the Republicans, whose party exists for no other reason, have such an affinity for one another.
I visited my daughter working in Moscow almost 20 years ago. The Moscow GUM department store and the subways Stalin built were indeed beautiful, and each one different. GUM was for the elites only, or wealthy tourists. Daughter’s Soviet style apartment block had the water cut off for three days every summer to do maintenance.
In the grocery stores, you had to put your purse, backpacks, etc., in lockers before you could shop. Maybe grocery store shoplifting says people are not so well off. Or maybe people must be accustomed to control measures.
We do have in this country some organized smash and grab thefts of small, expensive items that can be sold on the internet. Grocery shoplifting by customers, rare.
Shoplifting in grocery stores is actually commonplace, though creative” use of self-checkout makes it largely unnecessary these days.
Well said and sadly true.
A ruthless, bloodthirsty, gang of tyrant dictators in expensive suits, completely devoid of genuine patriotism or concern for any living being, colluding to ravage, pillage, and plunder their own people and nations, as well as other nations, to serve their insatiable, highly-insane egos.
That sums it up.