Althouse: "Vladimir Putin, Unsurprised by Trump’s Remarks, Says Russia Wants No Nuclear Arms Race."

December 23, 2016

"Vladimir Putin, Unsurprised by Trump’s Remarks, Says Russia Wants No Nuclear Arms Race."

NYT headline.

97 comments:

Big Mike said...: Damned right they don't.; 12/23/16, 9:08 AM
Wince said...: Interesting headline.

NYT asserts what Putin really thinks about Trump's remarks, but merely quotes the Russian leader on his desire to avoid a nuclear arms race.

Translation: Putin knows what Trump will say, but you can't trust what either of them say.; 12/23/16, 9:17 AM
Once written, twice... said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/23/16, 9:25 AM
Once written, twice... said...: Trump's tweet about "nukes" yesterday was very troubling and downright kooky. But Ann can't even find a critical post of Trump in that.

Good job in keeping your streak going Ann!

12/23/16, 9:25 AM Delete; 12/23/16, 9:25 AM
Gahrie said...: Of course he doesn't want an arms race, he wants the US to unilaterally disarm.; 12/23/16, 9:30 AM
Michael K said...: Once written is pretty kooky all be herself.; 12/23/16, 9:30 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: I'm supposed to be outraged that Trump wants to ensure our nuclear deterrence capability doesn't lose its ability to deter?; 12/23/16, 9:33 AM
Curious George said...: "Once written, twice... said...
Trump's tweet about "nukes" yesterday was very troubling and downright kooky.

But Ann can't even find a critical post of Trump in that."

Good job in keeping your streak going Ann!"

How liberals argue ^

Step 1: State opinion as fact.

Step 2: Use that fact as basis for position.

You are a boring no trick pony.; 12/23/16, 9:40 AM
Once written, twice... said...: I predict the Putin/Trump bromance will have an ugly breakup within two years.; 12/23/16, 9:41 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger Once written, twice... said...
I predict the Putin/Trump bromance will have an ugly breakup within two years.
Didn't you predict a Hillary landslide?; 12/23/16, 9:47 AM
mccullough said...: Trump and Putin agree that Islamic terrorism is a big threat. Differences can be worked around if there are mutual interest.; 12/23/16, 9:48 AM
rcocean said...: Again, the MSM and trump-haters need to get their story straight.

Is Trump (a) Madman trying to go nuclear war - toe to toe with the Ruskiees or (b) a traitor in the pocket of Putin.

He can't be both.; 12/23/16, 9:53 AM
rcocean said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/23/16, 9:53 AM
rcocean said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/23/16, 9:53 AM
HT said...: I'm with mccullough on this. They have a mutual enemy. However, in all things Trump, it's hard to know. I say that because from the pundits, I learned that every president (well the past 2) both have said good things about Putin and looked forward to working with him, but things ended worse than anticipated. So is there real affinity there or is this just another case of looking deep within the dictator's eyes, into his soul? If so, what will happen if/when things go south for Trump (whose son by the way is looking for some non-Americans to work the family vineyard in central Virginia, where I just was)?; 12/23/16, 9:54 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Trump not being a gelding, sent a message to Russia. FYI, the current treaties end in 2021 and this is the first salvo in making a deal.; 12/23/16, 9:55 AM
rcocean said...: BTW, the MSM hatred for Trump -and their desire to waste newsprint and pixels to attack him - has gotten so extreme it getting hilarious. New Headline form Politico:

-Drivers License casts doubt on Trump's height claim.

Its like reading shit from the Onion.; 12/23/16, 9:55 AM
JPS said...: Once written, twice...:

The only part I read was "The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes."

I'm not sure what's troubling and kooky about that. I would disagree with the "expand" part. Modernization and reliability assurance would count as strengthening, and there I'd support wholeheartedly.

I hold no brief for Trump, and I hate nuclear weapons. But more dangerous than just having them is having them, counting on them for deterrence, and letting them degrade because it's so damned expensive to keep them up, and anyway who would ever mess with us while we have them?; 12/23/16, 10:00 AM
Gahrie said...: I predict the Putin/Trump bromance will have an ugly breakup within two years.

Eh...we'll just give Russia another reset button...no problem.; 12/23/16, 10:01 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: I think that Trump believes that the US and Russia have common interests, and that those common interests can be leveraged into a working relationship. Trump is a leverage guy.
Russia has less than half the population of the US, and its GDP is less than 1/10 the GDP of the US. There is no chance that Russia would ever be the senior partner in such a relationship, or even an equal.; 12/23/16, 10:01 AM
JAORE said...: I'm sure Putin was much happier with the present path of the US. Deny anti ballistic missiles to our friends, get nothing in return.

Unilaterally draw down our arsenal and slow walk any upgrades.

Plus an impotent man at the helm.

It boils down to a growing advantage to the Russians at no cost.

What's not to like?; 12/23/16, 10:03 AM
JPS said...: rcocean,

"-Drivers License casts doubt on Trump's height claim."

Now that's funny. He claims 6'3" but may only be 6'2"!; 12/23/16, 10:04 AM
Martin said...: What does it say when Putin shows a better understanding of American politics and 20th Century American History, than does Obama and the Democratic Party?

It is not a good thing that the Democrats are so delusional.. we need two viable parties and while the Democrats command a lot of votes, they are not fit to govern until they get back in touch with reality.

rcocean--there's a third possibility that the Dems and media also put forward, that Trump is an idiot. We are supposed to believe all 3: he's an idiot, he's Putin's dupe, and he'll get us into WW3 with Putin. Just like we were supposed to believe that Bush 43 was both stupid and a diabolical evil genius. Logic has nothing to do with it--the haters can pick whichever approved hate they want to feel at a point in time, and change as they see fit.; 12/23/16, 10:05 AM
Kevin said...: Bush 43 was as an idiot while Rove and Cheney were the evil geniuses. That was the story they eventually crafted.

So is Bannon going to be the evil genius? Can white supremacists even be geniuses? Time (magazine) will tell.; 12/23/16, 10:11 AM
hstad said...: Sorry Prof. Althouse, I no longer give any information published by the NY Times any credence. The NY Times is the poster child of political propaganda 24/7!; 12/23/16, 10:29 AM
Joe said...: I think Putin is misunderestimated by the western press. He is charicatured either as a handsome version of Kim Jung Il or as Darth Vader, but he is anything but. Putin is extremely vain, but he's also very smart. He correctly perceived the "reset" button fiasco as a intrinsic sign of weakness and a signal that the US wasn't interested in confronting Russia. And it hasn't.

Putin is a dangerous man and going forward, US-Russian relations are going to be tricky, but less tricky than they were 50 years ago. As with China, the relationship is exacerbated by the fact that the Obama administration has an incoherent foreign policy which alienates friends and helps our enemies--I don't believe on purpose, but due to incompetence.

Regardless, listening to Putin is worthwhile. His geopolitical analysis is pretty damn good and less jingoistic that his communist predecessors. This doesn't mean you have to agree with him or even like him, but to dismiss him is naive and makes him even more dangerous.

As for those criticizing Trump, even though he's still not yet President, what is your solution? Seriously. Sticking your head in the sand by pretending Putin is the boogyman who must be kept at a distance? Reducing the world to caricature? I'm also confused by the demonization of Putin, yet the insistence that the US suck up to China.; 12/23/16, 10:29 AM
Joe said...: Now that's funny. He claims 6'3" but may only be 6'2"!

I'm 5'7 1/2". I never know what to put in the height box. I generally round down, but have no issue with someone who rounds up.

Is anyone exactly the height and weight they put on their License?; 12/23/16, 10:33 AM
HT said...: Maybe he'd prefer to measure in inches.; 12/23/16, 10:34 AM
Original Mike said...: "Vladimir Putin, Unsurprised by Trump’s Remarks, Says Russia Wants No Nuclear Arms Race."

Another Trump win!; 12/23/16, 10:40 AM
Mary Beth said...: Russian presidential news conferences usually last 4 hours?

(I'm sorry. Out of the whole article, this is what got my attention.); 12/23/16, 10:44 AM
HT said...: I hear he has one per year, that may be why.; 12/23/16, 10:49 AM
khesanh0802 said...: It's going to be fun watching Trump negotiate in public. Perhaps someday someone in the "press" will figure out that almost every thing Trump says is calculated to move along either a negotiation or an action. I' m convinced that the Chinese returned that drone because they don't want to antagonize Trump- they could care less about Obama the wimp. They know that Trump will be willing to publicly excoriate them and, like it or not, they need to avoid further angering the American public. I would have expected Trump's reaction in office would have been to send a couple of destroyers into the Spratelys to remind the Chinese who the naval power is.; 12/23/16, 10:50 AM
Anonymous said...: So Putin doesn't want a nuclear arms race and Trump does. And you people voted for someone who just heated up the Cold War. Strange times, maybe Putin and Trump will be allies in the coming nuclear conflagration...or enemies, who the hell knows anymore. Congratulations to you people who voted for Trump, I recall you often saying how you wanted to see it all blown up. You might just get your wish, but not in the way you thought. Fools.; 12/23/16, 10:57 AM
David said...: A four hour news conference?

I realize it's Russia and all that, but can you even imagine an American president doing that?

Trump might but I don't think he has the attention span.; 12/23/16, 10:59 AM
David said...: " I' m convinced that the Chinese returned that drone because they don't want to antagonize Trump- they could care less about Obama the wimp."

Or they achieved their objective, which did not require holding the drone for an extended period of time.; 12/23/16, 11:00 AM
Original Mike said...: "And you people voted for someone who just heated up the Cold War."

Obama heated up the Cold War. This is how you cool it back down.; 12/23/16, 11:01 AM
Anonymous said...: You people are delusional.; 12/23/16, 11:02 AM
David said...: "I think that Trump believes that the US and Russia have common interests, and that those common interests can be leveraged into a working relationship. Trump is a leverage guy.
Russia has less than half the population of the US, and its GDP is less than 1/10 the GDP of the US. There is no chance that Russia would ever be the senior partner in such a relationship, or even an equal."

They don't need to be the dominant partner everywhere.; 12/23/16, 11:03 AM
traditionalguy said...: Russian history always ends up following the same paths. Putty just wants his paths back.

Long before the Leninist Bolsheviks declared capitalist's and state authority regulated manufacturing with its companion religion had been replaced by a Political Party, Russia was already a massive continent size Empire ruled by the Czar's apparatchiks based in Moscow and St Petersburg. And it wanted to secure its borders from the usual European suspects, who were France and Germany. Both those countries invaded Russia with mass Armies that beat all they encountered but the Winter Weather.

Great Britain used its Seapower, world trade and finance to surround them all and play off each against, the other including Russia. Since WWII the USA has replaced Great Britain.

And Putin understands it all. Ergo: he will deal with Trump but he first of all wants the power that we give to Germany and France to contain and then attack Russia to wither away.

Putin achieved an elected pro Russian government of the Ukraine, and Germany and France using Obama's power stole it from him and he is fighting back . In Syria Putin had an alliance with Syria for Naval Bases, and the Muslim Saudi Jihadists using Obama's power stole it from him, and he is fighting back.

Trump can read a map. He will release Putin to fight Putin's enemies, but draw a line on how far he goes.; 12/23/16, 11:04 AM
Original Mike said...: Inga, Russia has been modernizing its nuclear arsenal. We've been letting ours decay. Concurrently, Russia has been increasingly belligerent.

You figure it out.; 12/23/16, 11:05 AM
HT said...: but draw a line on how far he goes. Oh sure. What makes you think Trump is wilier than your average Russian, not to mention Putin?; 12/23/16, 11:06 AM
narciso said...: Truly and putin is updating his stockpile to penetrate our missile defense.; 12/23/16, 11:16 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Those of us old enough to remember the left's hysterical anal leakage meme of Reagan as the "nuclear cowboy", also remember what he accomplished in arms control. Trump knows like Reagan Russia can't afford an arms race and will negotiate.; 12/23/16, 11:20 AM
Anonymous said...: HT,
They give so much credit to Trump's mouth, while ignoring the fact that there isn't much brain behind that mouth.

While all Trump's surrogates tried to distance Trump from the idea that he wants a nuclear arms race, Trump blurts out that he really DOES want one. Let's all pretend that some people will survive a nuclear Third World War. Does anyone think that Little Kim would be deterred by tough talk from Trump?What fools, this cannot be said enough.; 12/23/16, 11:21 AM
mikee said...: Hey Unk, how did that exact same argument work when Reagan was president?
I recall Reagan being correct and your opinion, expressed back then by Dems too, being completely wrong.

What has changed to make your incorrect opinion now have more correctness?; 12/23/16, 11:25 AM
Original Mike said...: "Those of us old enough to remember the left's hysterical anal leakage meme of Reagan as the "nuclear cowboy", also remember what he accomplished in arms control."

Yep. Strength is no guarantee, but weakness is.; 12/23/16, 11:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Trump, Putin's useful idiot. "Cooperation" as Putin sees it, yes indeed.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/311653-trump-shares-letter-from-putin-his-thoughts-are-so-correct

"President-elect Donald Trump on Friday praised Vladimir Putin and shared a Christmas letter the Russian president sent him.

"A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct," Trump said in a statement. "I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path."

In the attached letter, Putin emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two countries.

"I hope that after you assume the position of the President of the United States of America we will be able – by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner - to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level," the Russian leader wrote."; 12/23/16, 11:30 AM
narciso said...: Russia won the Ukraine in two wars with the Turks and it took another two wars to hold it,

Flexibility was not pointing volodya was rearming; 12/23/16, 11:31 AM
YoungHegelian said...: I watched the pundits on CNN hyperventilate about this yesterday. It was just unconscionable to do foreign policy by tweet, they said.

So much better for the diplomats & pundits to produce millions of words. That'll hold those nasty Russkies in check!

One of my clients is a think tank in DC. It's full of old Russian/Soviet hands. I asked one of them something about Crimea, & he said "Putin is a bully, and he behaves just like a bully." Now is this "true" or "useful"? Who knows. But if you think that the model for Putin's behavior is that of a bully, the first thing you do when dealing with a bully is to let him know he has passed the bounds of acceptable behavior & that there will be immediate consequences if he doesn't stop.

That's what Trump did with that tweet. An immediate, short, & visceral reaction to the bully. "Vlad, this is a bridge too far. The US of A will not sit still for this. Details to follow." I don't see any real problem with this.; 12/23/16, 11:32 AM
Original Mike said...: I don't get it. Inga both does and doesn't want us to be on good terms with the Russians.; 12/23/16, 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Trump acting tough with the bully Putin. More like acting like Putin's lapdog.

"A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct,"; 12/23/16, 11:37 AM
Susan said...: Maybe Trump should consider Michelle Obama for social media guru.

#bringbackourgirls was awesome. So effective, so caring.... At least according to people who are currently dismayed by diplomacy by tweet.

I wonder what's changed?; 12/23/16, 11:40 AM
Rusty said...: Unknown said...
So Putin doesn't want a nuclear arms race and Trump does. And you people voted for someone who just heated up the Cold War. Strange times, maybe Putin and Trump will be allies in the coming nuclear conflagration...or enemies, who the hell knows anymore. Congratulations to you people who voted for Trump, I recall you often saying how you wanted to see it all blown up. You might just get your wish, but not in the way you thought. Fools.

Shhh. You're not paying attention. Pay attention. You might learn something.; 12/23/16, 11:41 AM
traditionalguy said...: The Cold War lasted for 40 years with hot wars by surrogates along the way, but it only took Reagan 40 months to end it in USA victory once he started doing what Trump just said are going to do again.; 12/23/16, 11:46 AM
Joe said...: Unknown, you seem particularly clueless about this. Right now there IS no real relationship between the US and Russian. Obama is indifferent. His profound weakness has directly led to Putin's and, therefore, Russia's actions, especially in the Crimea.

As for Trump's comments; he's stating the truth. I've read many of Putin's various recent statements and the man makes a much better analysis of US politics and the realities of US foreign policy (or complete lack thereof) than Obama or anyone in his government. It is within this context that Trump has too operate. Appealing to Putin's vanity may be a right strategy or a wrong one, BUT IT'S A STRATEGY. (I think it's the right strategy.); 12/23/16, 11:48 AM
Michael K said...: Unknown/Inga is completely clueless about what what has been happening to our nuclear weapons as they deteriorate.

China, meanwhile, has just tested a mobile long-range ballistic nuclear missile that can hit U.S. targets, which is just part of their expanding nuclear capability. They also have begun building a ballistic missile submarine force. India and Pakistan continue to earn analysts’ predictions that their border is the most likely spot on earth for a nuclear exchange. Each recently has fielded new missiles for their nuclear forces. To top it off, Vladimir Putin is modernizing Russia’s massive nuclear and missile force as he regains Moscow’s influence in Europe and Asia.

Yet while the world has been embracing the atomic bomb, the U.S. nuclear mission degraded. Only the U.S. and UK, among all declared nuclear powers, are not currently modernizing either their weapons inventory or delivery systems. Standards in the U.S. nuclear force have also fallen. The Air Force suffered a series of embarrassing mishaps in the 2000s, for example, mistakenly ferrying live nuclear weapons across the country and shipping nuclear triggers to Taiwan. The deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, the successor to the Cold War Strategic Air Command, was relieved of duty in October 2014 for using fake poker chips at a casino, which is a criminal offense. A week later, the Air Force very publicly fired the two-star general in charge of America’s 450 ICBM’s for personal misconduct while on an official visit to Moscow. In January, the news came that dozens of ICBM launch teams cheated on tests.

Reading something besides HuffPo would be good for Unknown/Inga.; 12/23/16, 11:50 AM
Quaestor said...: Abie Someone wrote: So Putin doesn't want a nuclear arms race and Trump does. And you people voted for someone who just heated up the Cold War.

Unknown/Inga/The Brain I Want in a Jar, in poker your are what is known as the sucker.; 12/23/16, 11:54 AM
Quaestor said...: Reading something besides HuffPo would be good for Unknown/Inga.

It's not so much a reading problem, it's the much more intransigent problem of comprehension.; 12/23/16, 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Reading something other than Breitbart and Infowars might benefit the majority of you fools.

Trump's "strategy" is to talk tough. He doesn't have the intellect to know what his words mean to the rest of the world. So foolish, so very very foolish.; 12/23/16, 11:58 AM
Anonymous said...: BTW, Michael K, I've never linked to HuffPo. Maybe in your poor senile brain you mistakenly thought I did.; 12/23/16, 11:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Rusty, go work in your garage, that's more your speed.; 12/23/16, 12:01 PM
roesch/voltaire said...: As William Perry points out in his memoir My Journey at the Nuclear Brink the decline of a relationships between US and Russia began with the premature NATO expansion for Eastern Europe which caused Russian to embark on a major arms program including building a new generation of nuclear weapons (pg152). As Putin famously said in an interview losing the Baltic states was a mistake-- which I believe he now want to correct and has moved strategic nuclear weapons to the border. Now we could enter the arms race as Trumps suggest and so many poster here seem willing to pursue, or we could try for another approach, but given that countries often are not rational and operate against their own interest, I fear the worst; 12/23/16, 12:12 PM
JPS said...: Joe, 10:33:

Yeah, I truncated my comment a bit, but I was laughing at Politico for apparently thinking this is a story. Being between inches, I would round either way, before deciding just to round down and be done with it.; 12/23/16, 12:19 PM
JPS said...: Unknown,

"And you people voted for someone who just heated up the Cold War."

- No, I didn't.

- No, he didn't.

Other than that you are spot-on.; 12/23/16, 12:22 PM
rcocean said...: BTW, does anyone know why my comments are repeating?; 12/23/16, 12:22 PM
Michael K said...: "BTW, Michael K, I've never linked to HuffPo. Maybe in your poor senile brain you mistakenly thought I did."

Inga/Unknown, you are worth reading just for the silly concept that you think. I don't know who or what you link to because I am not interested in your links. If you read my comment, I didn't say "link."

Of course, I was making an assumption; that you could read.; 12/23/16, 12:32 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Unknown:
Maybe you've never linked to HuffPo, maybe not. But you did accuse others of reading only "Breitbart and InfoWars" when one of them had just linked a Forbes article, which makes you look stupid and dishonest.; 12/23/16, 12:33 PM
MacMacConnell said...: Original Mike said...
"Strength is no guarantee, but weakness is."

Yes, there is a reason bar bouncers don't look like Obama. The great bouncers never harm anyone, they just talk. Peace through strength, trust but verify..; 12/23/16, 12:36 PM
JPS said...: Mac McConnell,

"The great bouncers never harm anyone, they just talk. Peace through strength, trust but verify..."

And be nice. Right up until it's time to not be nice.; 12/23/16, 12:37 PM
Michael K said...: "And be nice. Right up until it's time to not be nice."

"Be polite, be professional and have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

James Mattis SecDef designate.; 12/23/16, 12:51 PM
JPS said...: Michael K:

"Secret Service wary of Mattis having plan to kill everyone he meets at Trump Tower" - Duffelblog, which has worshipped Mattis for years, on the occasion of his meeting with Trump to discuss the SecDef position.

http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/11/mattis-trump-secretary-of-defense/; 12/23/16, 1:07 PM
Michael K said...: "Secret Service wary of Mattis

:) I think they know who the hazards are.,; 12/23/16, 1:26 PM
NumberingRavens said...: Huh; 12/23/16, 1:27 PM
n.n said...: She chose. She conceived. She aborted.

The Russians are pragmatic people. Better a prophylactic than a double-edged scalpel.; 12/23/16, 1:28 PM
trumpintroublenow said...: If Trump will only speak to citizens of the United States in 140 characters at a time, we are going to have a lot of confusion over the next four (eight?) years. He loves it of course but I think for many it will get old real soon.

Does anyone remember his last press conference? Does anyone remember a president-elect who gave no press conferences? Shows the contempt he has for us little people.; 12/23/16, 2:13 PM
Gahrie said...: Does anyone remember a president-elect who gave no press conferences? Shows the contempt he has for us little people.

Stevie, Stevie, Stevie....you aren't paying attention....or you're being deliberately obtuse.....

Trump is isn't showing his contempt to the people, little or otherwise. He is talking straight to us, through Twitter among other ways.

He's showing his contempt for the MSM, that they have earned 100 times over, by ignoring them. if you were rational, you'd have contempt for the MSM too.; 12/23/16, 2:20 PM
Quayle said...: A classic from Yes Prime Minister.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJh3qKjSMk; 12/23/16, 3:12 PM
Anonymous said...: What folks are missing is that my country has been running its nuclear bomb factories in a loop, melting down the old, manufacturing from the scrap, which given we never had your technology would work if we used tire lug nuts to fasten these d@mn things together, you on the other hand need the precision of silicon manufacturing, and you couldn't build one today if you had five years. Good news is that what you have in the museum is still pretty frightening, but who knows if it works. You won't test and we don't have too because our drunken sergeants can maintain, secure and launch the simple rockets we use. Now you have sold these missile defense thingy’s, we need to make sure our delivery systems and warheads can survive the interference so they can still deter. Then again, if we're such great hackers, maybe we're spending money on the wrong thing anyway since we and a few others no how to turn the d@mn things off remotely anyway, Even better since neither one of our militaries want to spend money on something they know they'll never use, except the contractors. But we also need to prove to the world that any tiny country can have these weapons so land invasions can never happen again, which makes all of our lives so much simpler.Non-proliferation, what's that? A poem? Or lifetime employment for a bunch of elites who like to make work, especially expensive make work. So if NK can do it anyone can, and already has built one. Curious that NK is able to extort so much money and groveling from the U.S. and S.K just to let the west pretend to their people that no one has these, so land invasion is possible so military budgets need to be 10-100x what's needed, the defense contractors love it, and keep feeding the snake that's eating is own tail. Mr. T. and Mr. P. will end it I think, brining and end to Eisenhower’s Defense Military Complex whose end can't come to soon. Both of you desperately want to stop spending half of your GDP on defense, mostly borrowed money, though you could argue that the people doing that work don't know how to do anything else, and you closed the coal mines and steel mills where you don't need a college education. That F35 sure is pretty, almost a work of art. Make you a deal, give me an artist’s rendition and spend the rest on real art, even teaching art and history, or better yet capitalism 101.; 12/23/16, 3:42 PM
MacMacConnell said...: If Putin is as great a best friend to Trump as Unknown assures us he is, expect a couple of ex-KGB from the Russian embassy to knock the the teeth out of the husband & husband that harassed Trump's daughter on JetBlue. Would that improve their sex lives?; 12/23/16, 3:49 PM
steve uhr said...: Gathrie -- a press conference allows trump to speak directly and unfiltered to the people. What are you afraid of -- that the meanie media will ask him trick questions and confuse him? Poor Donald.; 12/23/16, 3:53 PM
Gahrie said...: Gathrie -- a press conference allows trump to speak directly and unfiltered to the people.

Ha ha ha...that's a good one...and here I thought you had no sense of humor.....

What are you afraid of -- that the meanie media will ask him trick questions and confuse him? Poor Donald.

I'm not afraid, and I bet Trump isn't either. he just doesn't see the need to reward his enemies.; 12/23/16, 3:58 PM
Michael K said...: "a press conference allows trump to speak directly and unfiltered to the people."

He'll do them.

I'm so sorry your candidate was such a crappy one and lost so badly.; 12/23/16, 3:58 PM
MacMacConnell said...: steve uhr
I like that Trump tweets, it's hilarious to watch the press shit themselves every time he does.; 12/23/16, 3:58 PM
Jon said...: "Russia has less than half the population of the US, and its GDP is less than 1/10 the GDP of the US."

GDP measured by exchange rates is not only extremely volatile (from 2000-2014 Russia's GDP increased by 1000%, then from 2014-2015 it fell by 50%, and now it's rising again), but also very misleading, because a dollar goes 3-4 times father in Russia than it does in the USA. Adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity, Russia's GDP is the same as Germany's.

Measured by exchange rates, the USSR's GDP was only slightly more than 1/10th that of the USA.

I remember Mike Pence boasting in the VP debate about how we didn't need to worry about confronting Russia in Syria, because of how small Russia's GDP was compared to ours. Which was really dumb. In 1940, Japan's GDP was only about 1/16th that of the USA, but it was still a great power, whose defeat required millions of troops and over 150,000 casualties (and of course Japan didn't have thousands of nukes).; 12/23/16, 3:59 PM
MacMacConnell said...: The USA had the second largest navy divided into two oceans in 1939. The USA had the 17th largest army in 1939, behind Portugal.

We weren't prepared for WWII.; 12/23/16, 4:11 PM
Quayle said...: "What are you afraid of -- that the meanie media will ask him trick questions and confuse him?"

All news outlets are businesses. They need eyeballs. So how to get eyeballs?

Tell the truth? That's like trying to design, build, and market a car that will satisfy all car buyers.

No, they make more money by getting their target audience to watch, and then to come back for more tomorrow.

How do they do that?

They appeal to the passions and fears of their target audience. They skillfully hone their messages and the pattern of their messages to get the viewer to come back tomorrow to see how today's issue is resolved. Then tomorrow there is another issue, for which they hope the viewer will come back the next day to monitor.

Put plainly: the news today is a business which (a) has a clearly defined and understood target audience, (b) seeks to appeal to their audiences' fears or passions, (c) seeks to flatter their audience, and (d) stirs up controversy solely for the sake of making money.

They sow civil disunity for the sake of making money.

Trump has no need to do anything for them. He won despite their full-tilt opposition. He owes them nothing. They have nothing they can take away or threaten to take away that would hurt him in any way.

He doesn't need them at all. He's proven that. Except, perhaps, he needs them to keep acting in the outdated and ineffective way they have in the past.; 12/23/16, 4:12 PM
Jon said...: Pretty much all the problems we have with Russia can be traced back to the stupid, arrogant, and counter-productive decision by the Clinton and G.W. Bush administrations to expand NATO. After the Cold War ended, NATO should have been disbanded along with the Warsaw Pact. Expanding it right up to Russia's border, was basically just spiking the football, and may have been the single biggest foreign policy blunder since the harsh terms imposed on Germany after WWI.; 12/23/16, 4:12 PM
roesch/voltaire said...: The posters here seem to have such little sense of the dynamics of history which they reduce down to bar bouncers who play with nuclear weapons and a bad Obama. My Journey on the Nuclear Brink is a short book and easy read that maps nuclear development and treaties, remember those, signed and not, since 1945 that will expand the tweeter history by a few characters.; 12/23/16, 4:15 PM
tcrosse said...: Gathrie -- a press conference allows trump to speak directly and unfiltered to the people. What are you afraid of -- that the meanie media will ask him trick questions and confuse him? Poor Donald.
Remind me how many press conferences Hillary held. Of course, she was a genius who figured out how to lose an election while getting the most votes and at two times the expense. Poor Donald, indeed.; 12/23/16, 4:23 PM
MacMacConnell said...: "The dynamics of history", would that be how Obama and the European left reversed the Crusades in Europe?

Actually, William Perry's theories coincide with the bar bouncer theory.; 12/23/16, 4:36 PM
Michael K said...: Japan's GDP was only about 1/16th that of the USA, but it was still a great power, whose defeat required millions of troops and over 150,000 casualties (and of course Japan didn't have thousands of nukes).

Of course, there is always the possibility of a suicide cult taking over a nation. That was what happened with Japan. If you have done any reading about it, you know the Japanese Navy was opposed to war because they had traveled and had visited the US. The Army was insular and dominated by the Shinto cult of honor, a little bit like Arabs are dominated by honer/shame concepts.

Iran is a real risk of a suicide cult and I think they are a pretty good analogy to Japan in 1940.

The Arabs are a smaller but annoying threat,; 12/23/16, 5:54 PM
Robert Cook said...: "I'm supposed to be outraged that Trump wants to ensure our nuclear deterrence capability doesn't lose its ability to deter?"

If the power we already possess to inflict catastrophic annihilation with our nuclear arsenal is not sufficient to deter now, it cannot get sufficiently bigger to do so.

We do not build nukes to deter, but to intimidate.; 12/23/16, 6:53 PM
Joe said...: After the Cold War ended, NATO should have been disbanded along with the Warsaw Pact.

Agreed.; 12/23/16, 7:29 PM
Original Mike said...: "We do not build nukes to deter, but to intimidate."

And the difference is?; 12/23/16, 10:39 PM
Rusty said...: Unknown said...
"Rusty, go work in your garage, that's more your speed."

In all its glory. The lefts contempt for the working man.

And to add insult to injury I am working in my garage.I'm constructing a gantry type CNC mill to make 1/4 scale aircraft parts. I don't fly 1/4 scale RC aircraft. My neighbor does. I just found the project interesting. Like making bamboo fly rods, or wooded tool boxes.
At least I skilz.; 12/24/16, 11:58 AM
Rusty said...: wooden

Oh. And Merry Christmas.; 12/24/16, 12:05 PM
JAORE said...: "Strength is no guarantee, but weakness is."

Don't recall who said it. But years ago I came across, "You'll never know if you have spent too much on defense. But you will know if you have spent too little".; 12/25/16, 10:14 AM