"... as he told the nation that Russia was recognising the independence of two Kremlin-backed breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine, his rhetorical skills seemed to desert him. In a rambling speech that lasted almost an hour, the Russian leader veered off into an often bizarre history lesson. 'Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia,' Putin said, adding that Vladimir Lenin was the 'author and architect' of Ukraine. He spoke about Ukraine’s policy of removing Soviet-era statues and renaming towns named after Communist officials, saying: 'You want de-communisation? ... don’t stop halfway. We’re willing to show Ukraine what real de-communisation means for it.'... Sergey Naryshkin, head of the SVR foreign intelligence service, stammered through an exchange with the president, at one point slipping up and saying that they should be annexed by Russia. 'We’re not talking about that, we are not discussing that,' Putin said, with a smile and a shake of the head."
When it comes to garbled speech about Ukraine, the U.S.A. is making even less sense: "Kamala Harris slammed for ‘word salad’ response to Ukraine-Russia questions" (NY Post).
“I mean, listen, guys, we’re talking about the potential for war in Europe,” Harris said at one point Sunday in response to a question about how the Biden administration saw the situation’s “endgame” playing out. “I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about,” the veep went on. “It’s been over 70 years. And through those 70 years … there has been peace and security. We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe.”
One can imagine Putin smiling and shaking his head.
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88 comments:
Harris has only been competent at one job, and that was with Willie Brown.
Seventy years? I saw someone noting that Kaaaammmmala needs to talk to some of our Army guys that got deployed to Bosnia, et al not all that long ago, and not just from the US but Brits and Frogs as well. Heck, if you're gonna count the Ukraine as Europe, I recall something happening there about 2014 ... but that might be a bit inconvenient for the guy who is the Oval Office Resident right now.
Speaking of that, do the Western Euros really see the Ukraine as part of Europe? A good chunk of the southeastern part of the continent was under Ottoman control for several hundred years. Hitler's opinion of the Slavs as inferior probably wasn't generated entirely in his own head. So is Harris just channeling Whoopie's opinion that the long history of conflicts is just white people fighting amongst themselves?
"I mean, listen, guys, we’re talking about ... "
Evincing both a lack of clear thought and an inability to speak like a serious person. Pretty damn pathetic.
Putin controls a huge amount of energy required for Europe. He doesn't need war to take control, he can turn the valves on some strategic pipelines and bring it to its knees.
Kamala deploys the "Chewbacca defense."
"It's a technique so advanced that nobody understands it."
This started with Obama.
It’s interesting only their political opponents recognize Kamala and Joe are idiots.
But she and her boss won with more votes than anybody ever, OK?
If Trump was still President, this never would have happened.
If Biden was serious and not corrupted by the Green lobby, he’d reverse himself on KXL, open ANWR and restore all Trump era energy policies. In fact, fire his Energy Secretary this week.
None of this will happen. OPEC, Russia and China now own us. The minerals needed for solar and wind are in Russia and China.
We’re fucked.
It sounds unrelated, but we could defund Putin's army by forcing down the price of oil, where killing Keystone XL actually helped to fund Putin's army. So did killing the alternative pipelines to Nord Stream 2 So did opposition to fracking. Putin relies on high oil prices, and the Democrats have done all they could to deliver.
I’m half listening to MSNBC and they are struggling to cover for Biden. They all know that Biden fucked this up. But, hey, Trump is gone!
Correction. Ukraine is fucked. Germany is fucked.
I want these fucking Green assholes to explain themselves.
Democrats sure enjoy dressing up and play acting as responsible adults.
So many of them are not only out of their element, they’re out of their fucking minds.
If ever was I thought we should have a parliamentary it is now so we could have a vote of no confidence to remove these two and replace with someone else.
’ Germany is fucked.’
Good. Any nation foolish enough to end their nuclear energy program for ‘renewables’ should suffer frostbite.
If Macron was a real leader, he’d tell the world that France will crank up its nukes to power Germany.
France saves Germany with superior French engineering. Oui!
Now do Biden and his weird whispering act.
Under Carter, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
Under Obama, the Russians invaded Crimea.
Under Biden, the Russians will continue to swallow Ukraine.
See a pattern here?
And this is very interesting...if accurate: Speaking on December 27, Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky told the whole world what was about to happen but no one was listening...
In Putin's version of history, apparently the Soviets were starving out millions of their own people in the late 30s. He assumes the world has forgotten, or worse, has never been taught about Holodomor. Wait...he may be onto something.
"I’m half listening to MSNBC and they are struggling to cover for Biden. They all know that Biden fucked this up. But, hey, Trump is gone!"
It is a ludicrous display. At WaPo, I see Eugene Robinson came up with: "With Biden standing firm, Putin must wonder: Where’s Trump when I need him?"
"If Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to gobble up another chunk of Ukraine at little or no cost to his own interests, he should have done it while Donald Trump was still president. With President Biden leading the response, Putin’s potential costs are rising — while his hoped-for benefits have evaporated.To be clear, Putin can send his tanks across the border whenever he wants, and nobody can stop him. His recognition of the “independence” of two separatist regions in Ukraine, which call themselves the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, is an ominous development. But his threat to invade has not divided and weakened the Western alliance. Thanks largely to Biden, it has had the opposite effect...."
Is this the simple you were looking for Althouse?
Nothing focuses the mind like someone bringing you to your knees due to your dependency on them for a critical need. Germany must be re-thinking its power supply chain right now…. Putin showing his soul will hopefully serve to bring about more truly independent states. Trump was so right about this.
The adults are back in charge, right?
"Jess said...
Putin controls a huge amount of energy required for Europe. He doesn't need war to take control, he can turn the valves on some strategic pipelines and bring it to its knees."
Sounds simple. It also turns off the income associated with it.
From Zerohedge, Germany halts NS2 certification…
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/germany-halts-nord-stream-2-major-sign-impending-russia-sanctions-will-be-tough
Someone should make a movie, a la Big, about a dopey 17-year-old girl who one day wakes up to find herself the Vice President of the United States.
One can almost hear the grinding of the gears, teh Dripping of teh Sweat as the carriers of teh Water struggle to prop up Ol’ Mushhead Joe.
Sen. Rubio on Fox News now. Of all the candidates I met in Iowa, he was in the top 2-3 in intellect and is especially good on foreign policy. Impressive guy. Keen insight.
Compare Rubio to Harris or Blinken.
Kamala is the sort of pretty, not very bright high school girl who screws all the guys on the football team.
You know I'm right.
Rubio: Ukraine produces 90% of the world’s neon gas. Neon gas is essential to the production of semiconductors.
Rubio: The unconventional thing to do now is to ramp up US energy production.
The 20th Century called to offer its foreign policy but no one is there to pick up the phone.
This is only a minor incursion so Biden's cool with it.
Seriously: I read that Biden would consult with our allies today regarding which sanctions to put on Russia. Shouldn't they have already had a plan in place?
Remember Trump trying to get our freeriding allies to pay more for their defense?
Even if Putin stops now, he's become a larger menace to Ukraine and the other former SSRs.
'Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia,'
Ah!. What's in a word? "Bolshevik," Majority Faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party. But was it? Was it ever more than a ruthless, brutal minority faction of one-of-many Parties - until through murder and terror all opposition had been eliminated or subjugated?
So there we have it in Putin's words. 'Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia....' Much like modern New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California were entirely created by the United States.
What if I told you the people screaming RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA! don't really believe Russia is their enemy?
The perfect lie is not a lie that cannot be proven. The perfect lie is one that is the polar opposite of the truth, so no one even thinks to look.
Under Obama, Russia got everything they ever wanted. The Steele Dossier could not have happened without cooperation from Russia. Under Biden, Russia is set to greatly expand it's GDP.
All it took to go from Hillary and her "reset" button, Jen Psaki posing in a Soviet hat in Moscow to "Russia is our greatest enemy ever!" was,.....the election of Donald Trump.
The video of Harris is even worse than reading the excerpt. Watch this one minute clip:
https://twitter.com/Tarallucci_Vino/status/1496111333061836803
Her facial expressions, her hand gestures, the tone of her voice, the banal phraseology, the historical ignorance... She looks and sounds like a lousy high school teacher. "Listen, guys"? And why the hell is she wearing a mask?
I've never seen a worse politician at the national level in my lifetime.
“I mean, listen, guys, we’re talking about the potential for war in Europe (...) I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about”
Harris uses "I mean" the same way Biden uses "Look".
Russia's Sputnik News summarized President Putin's recent speech about the current situation. That summary includes the following excerpt:
[quote; emphasis added]
The conflict in the Donbass has its origins in the February 2014 Maidan coup d'etat in Kiev, in which Ukraine's unpopular but democratically elected government was overthrown by political forces favouring integration with the European Union and NATO at the expense of ties with Russia.
In the spring of 2014, demonstrators across eastern and southern Ukraine opposed to the new government's pro-Western orientation and perceived efforts to clamp down on the Russian-speaking regions began organising protests and independence movements. The strongest of these were concentrated in the Russia-bordering regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev responded to the independence push by trying to crush these movements with military force, leading to the formation of local militias by local residents seeking to defend their homes, and the proclamation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in May 2014. Elsewhere, in major eastern and southern regions including Kharkov, Nikolayev, and Odessa, anti-Kiev and pro-independence protesters were systematically jailed, assassinated, and disappeared.
A full-scale civil war raged throughout Donbass between May 2014 and February of 2015, killing at least 13,000 people, injuring thousands more and prompting over 2.5 million of the region's residents to flee their homes, with over a million seeking refuge in Russia.
In February 2015, the leaders of Ukraine and the three guarantor states of Russia, France, and Germany met in the Belarusian capital of Minsk to hammer out the Minsk Agreements, a comprehensive ceasefire and peace deal aimed at ending the conflict in the Donbass and reintegrating Donetsk and Lugansk back into Ukraine in exchange for broad, constitutionally mandated autonomy. Successive Ukrainian governments failed for years to make any progress on implementing the deal's political portion. In 2019, an attempt to do so by then newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky was aborted after tens of thousands of protesters, including veterans of the Donbass war and ultra-nationalist militias, gathered in Kiev and threatened to overthrow his government.
The uneasy ceasefire in the Donbass region was interrupted late last week by artillery and mortar shelling, sniper attacks, saboteur bombings, and other acts of violence, with Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe observers registering hundreds of violations of the ceasefire by both sides. Last Friday, in response to the escalation, DPR and LPR leaders announced a general mobilisation and began to evacuate their civilian populations to Russia. On Monday, DPR and LPR heads Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik formally asked Putin to recognise their status as independent nations.
[end quote]
In the above excerpt, I have emphasized several passages. How often do you see that information reported in the USA's mass media?
How often do you see, for example, that this crisis began in 2014, when a coup d'etat overthrew a democratically elected President?
How often do you see, for example, that hundreds of thousands of Russians have felt compelled to flee from their homes in Ukraine to Russia?
How often do you see, for example, that in 2019 there were threats by Ukrainian zealots to overthrow the new President Zelensky if he followed through on his campaign promises to resolve the crisis by implementing the 2015 Minsk Agreements?
As i pointed out last night, those provinces are strategic mineral and industrial chokepoints that will not be effectively sanctioned
The first impeachment was about the country team covering for the looting of burisma owner who fields those rogue militias
Her facial expressions... And why the hell is she wearing a mask?
??
During Barack Obama's Presidency, when did Vice President Joe Biden become the administration's "point man on Ukraine"?
Specifically, was Biden the "point man on Ukraine" during the 2014 Maidan protests that overthrew Viktor Yanukovych, the recently elected President of Ukraine?
What role did the USA -- specifically the CIA -- play in supporting, funding and encouraging those protests in early 2014?
Why was Hunter Biden hired by Ukraine's major natural-gas company in 2014?
For sure, Joe Biden was the "point man in Ukraine" in 2016. That was when Vice President Biden compelled the Ukrainian President to fire that country's Attorney General, who had begun an investigation of the natural-gas company that employed Hunter Biden.
"Her facial expressions..."
She is acting like she's speaking to children — to people who have no realistic concept of what war is....
But she's talking to European leaders!
"Kamala Harris slammed for ‘word salad’ response to Ukraine-Russia questions"
There's one for your Dictionary of Received Ideas: "Harris, Kamala: lazy and unprepared, say she speaks in word salads."
The lazy recognition of laziness: Flaubert smiles. Particularly since many received ideas are true, boring though they are to Althouse, except when toyed with knowingly.
How long was the truckers' protest in Ottawa? A couple weeks?
The Maidan protest in Kyiv lasted three months.
Suppose that the truckers' protest in Ottawa had lasted three months. Suppose further that this protest ultimately had caused Prime Minister Trudeau to quit his office.
A major issue about the protest in Canada was its funding. The protesters were receiving money, and so Trudeau's government has acted aggressively to expose and stop that funding.
Who was funding the Maidan protest in Ukraine? Did Joe Biden -- the USA's "point man in Ukraine" -- play any role in funding that protest?
She is acting like she's speaking to children — to people who have no realistic concept of what war is....
But she's talking to European leaders!
She said there hasn't been war in Europe in 70 years. I guess she smoked too many blunts with Tupac during the Clinton years.
Hey, Kamala's got this handled. Now who in the hell are the %39 of Americans who think Biden is doing a good job?
Dems: you told us not to care about Iraq and Iraqis. Now we are supposed to care about Ukraine and Ukrainians. Why? I mean, we know you don't give a damn about stopping ruthless dictators, or about whether other people have more or less democracy. You're cool with interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs, as Biden boasted. So, why? Because it's useful for domestic politics?
More Kamala:
’ Abso – we strongly believe – and remember also that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as the United States, but a shared perspective among our allies, and the allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one, especially because remember also, we still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment. And within the context, then, of the fact that that window is still opening – open, although it is absolutely narrowing, but within the context of a diplomatic path still being open, the deterrence effect we believe has merit.’
Listen, guys - one heartbeat away.
The more Kamala speaks, the more I miss Mike Pence.
Now that Donetsk and Lugansk are "independent states", they will be able to conduct referendums about joining Russia.
In 2014, Crimea conducted such a referendum, and the population voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. That is how Crimea has joined Russia.
We all should expect that Donetsk and Lugansk likewise will vote overwhelmingly to join Russia.
=====-
These referendums where the populations vote overwhelmingly to join Russia are a problem for the narrative that Russia is seizing these regions from Ukraine.
In Ukraine's Presidential election of 2013, those regions voted overwhelmingly for the candidate Viktor Yanukovyh, who ran on a political platform of improving Ukraine's relations with Russia. Yanukovych won that election, and the European Union's observers declared that he won fairly.
A few months later, however, Yanukovych (the recently and fairly elected President) felt compelled to flee his elected position -- to flee the entire country.
Yanukovych fled because of moths-long street protests by Ukrainian zealots in Kyiv. (Think of the truckers' protests in Ottawa lasting three months.)
Yanukovych fled because he was undermined constantly by Ukraine's own "Deep State", which preferred that Ukraine join NATO and the European Union rather than improve relations with Russia. (Think of how our own President Trump was undermined by our own country's Deep State.)
That is why the ethnic-Russian regions of Ukraine decided in 2014 that they should secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
People here in the USA should understand how the Ukrainian crisis has developed form 2014 until now.
but Kamala has the correct skin tone. Isn't that all that matters?
“Vladimir Putin doesn't want me to be President. He doesn't want me to be our nominee. If you're
wondering why - it's because I'm the only person in this field who's ever gone toe-to-toe with him.”
— - Joe Biden 2/21/20
It was a competition of oligarchs those in the east like akmatov those in the west like kolomoisky one funded the dems the other some of the gop
The time has come for the world's largest producer and user of oil to shut down the 600,000 BPD that we import from Russia at higher prices than we can pump our own crude. Immediately we open up more jobs, get cheaper prices at the pump, and we hit Russia where it hurts by denying them access to the US Dollar. Why are we importing any oil not arriving by pipeline while our own sweet crude is not being pumped? Fuck OPEC and sell our commodity at our own supply and demand prices since we consume over 17 million BPD - far bigger than anybody - and the controlled world pricing becomes a thing of the past. With only pipeline imports from Canada and Mexico we can rely on ourselves to drive crude oil prices.
Whatever deals that are out there with OPEC and OPEC-related countries such as Russia should go away with the Ukraine War. Wars cost money and Putin's Oligarchs need to feel painful cash outflows when incomes decline and assets kept elsewhere get seized.
That crack about "real decommunisation" is actually quite accurate. The borders of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic were drawn by the Bolsheviks for their own political reasons, not to accurately demarcate predominantly Russian and predominantly Ukrainian areas. So a significant part of eastern Ukraine is ethnically Russian. Undoing what the Bolsheviks did would involve giving that part to Russia.
OMG we're going to lose the Ukraine! When did we ever have it?
I suppose all the macho keyboard warriors will now get upset. Cue Miss Lindsey and Mittens shrieking about putin conquering the world. Its munich all over again!!!
I just looked up what Mittens said:
Vladimir Putin’s KGB mentality drives his malevolent obsession for repression and regression: he shamelessly abuses the sovereignty of a democratic nation to foster his foolhardy dream of rebuilding a soviet empire. The response from NATO must be unified and withering.
Thank god this stupid clown lost in 2012. He'd be starting WW III right now.
When you get past all the hysterical warmongering and jingoism all that's happened is that Ukraine-Russia had a border dispute, and Putin has put troops in areas that are majority Russian.
That's it. Nobody's marching on Berlin. Nobody's marching on Kiev. Mittens can sreech about "Putin rebuilding the Soviet Empire" but its not true. Of course, Mittens behaved like a hysterical old woman on Jan 6th, crying and claiming the captial hill police "Saved his life". So, maybe he's just emotional.
Mock Putin at your own peril.
A reminder that there are times when "humorlessness" is the appropriate posture to take.
Mike Sylwester, thanks for that review in your 8:29 comment.
We sure like to threaten people with sanctions. Could they be just a little too painless for us?
AND, respond to this situation with mocking Harris at your own peril. To respond with snark against her is to totally miss the gravity of what is going on here.
"Abso – we strongly believe – and remember also that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as the United States, but a shared perspective among our allies, and the allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one, especially because remember also, we still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment. And within the context, then, of the fact that that window is still opening – open, although it is absolutely narrowing, but within the context of a diplomatic path still being open, the deterrence effect we believe has merit.”
Dear God, please stop this woman.
Putin has put troops in areas that are majority Russian
Just like Germany put troops in areas that were/are majority German. And China will put troops in an area across the water that is majority Chinese.
"Under Carter, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan."
And under Bush/Cheney, we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
Biden has been outplayed from the beginning, not that I really believe Biden is in charge of anything at this point. The US executive administration has been badly beaten here. Putin called the bluff, and did a minor incursion. He was never going to invade the rest of Ukraine- it isn't worth it- but the two autonomous regions will now hold referenda just like Crimea did in 2014-15, and will join Russia. Ukraine is better off without those regions as long as Russians live there- the only realistic option for Ukraine to hang on to them was to move the Russians out, and that won't happen in my lifetime or anyone elses.
I imagine there will some sanctions, just like there were in 2014, but they won't change a thing.
How is Putin not getting what he wants? He gets effective control of the Eastern Ukraine regions without the cost of a war and can shrug off the pansy sanctions of Biden. This is what winning looks like.
Mark,
Harris and Biden are pathetic. And everyone knows they are pathetic. And the Femocrats' leadership is a combination of stupidity and evil. But mockery and prayer are the only options we have until November. So stfu.
I saw some of that performance and Putin looked bloated, ill-at-ease, and self-satisfied at different times. The speeches from his myrmidons seemed to bore him.
That said, it's done. Time for the world to move on.
Blogger Mark said...
AND, respond to this situation with mocking Harris at your own peril. To respond with snark against her is to totally miss the gravity of what is going on here.
Poor Mark. Harris has had no "gravity" since the first blowjob she gave Willie Brown.
Why are we importing any oil not arriving by pipeline while our own sweet crude is not being pumped? Fuck OPEC and sell our commodity at our own supply and demand prices since we consume over 17 million BPD - far bigger than anybody - and the controlled world pricing becomes a thing of the past. With only pipeline imports from Canada and Mexico we can rely on ourselves to drive crude oil prices.
OMG ! gadfly has become a Trumpist !
"Just like Germany put troops in areas that were/are majority German. And China will put troops in an area across the water that is majority Chinese."
The morality of what Putin did is really beside the point. He's there and the Ukrainians will have to attack him to get him out. That makes them (and the West) the aggressors. We either accept the reality of his being there or we engage in a long drawn out test of wills. My guess is we will here a lot of heated talk for a week, then it will fade away. Ultimately, no Western nation is really willing to sacrifice its young men and women for the cause of Ukrainian sovereignty.
I'm inclined to agree with rcocean on this.
According to the Biden whisperers, Putin didn't invade when Trump was POTUS because Trump wasn't the kind of a guy who could make a deal like Biden.
"When you get past all the hysterical warmongering and jingoism all that's happened is that Ukraine-Russia had a border dispute, and Putin has put troops in areas that are majority Russian."
Green light! Putin just picked Biden's pocket, and because Bideen is an openly corrupt pathological liar, there is nothing he can do about it since nobody believes anything he says about Ukraine, except maybe he and gadfly can pick up rifles and head over there themselves.
'The more Kamala speaks, the more I miss Mike Pence.'
No worries.
She is proficient in other oral skills.
Allegedly...
Putin has an accurate reading of the situation in D.C. and understands that the Biden Bunch are all smoke, mirrors and horseshit.
A weak U.S. administration invites mischief and deserves everything it gets. Unfortunately, American citizens pay a heavy price for this incompetence.
He spoke about Ukraine’s policy of removing Soviet-era statues and renaming towns named after Communist officials, saying: 'You want de-communisation? ... don’t stop halfway. We’re willing to show Ukraine what real de-communisation means for it.'
Putin is very bitter about the demise of the USSR. Given the ability, he will bring it back, and continue its war against the US.
Putin isn't doing what he's doing because "Nato is treating Russia", he's doing it because he wants to conquer the world.
I'd appreciate it if all the Putin apologists would at least TRY to pull their heads out of their asses, and deal with reality:
Putin does not have any "legitimate interests".
Russia does not have any "legitimate interests"
Both are sworn enemies to all that is valuable in the world
There may be times when there's a more important enemy to fight. But there's never a time when anything that increases Putin's or Russia's power is legitimate.
Unless, of course, your'e a Communist wannabe like Putin is
Veep Harris’s words makes her sound like an airhead who is in way over her head. How in the hell did she earn her law degree at the at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law or pass the California Bar speaking like a Valley Girl talking nonsense? I have a degree from a community college and I could put together a much more coherent statement about Russia’s aggression on a bad day for me. Mrs. Scott has an IT degree from a community college and has by far better judgement AND temperament to be the VPOTUS (and for that matter, POTUS, compared to the current occupant of the White House) based on what we have seen since they were inaugurated 13 months ago. Seriously, I have written in Mrs. Scott numerous times over the years because I felt she was better qualified and would do a better job than the candidates on the ballot for either major party.
"Putin wants to conquer the world."
Evidence?
These times call for a lefty warrior who will stand strong and resolute.
Lt.Col. Vindman… C’mon down and let loose the Bearclaws of War!
Blogger Scotty, beam me up... said...
I could put together a much more coherent statement about Russia’s aggression on a bad day for me
===========
define "aggression" please
why in hell is USA sticking nose into this? especially Biden and his coterie? their $$$ laundering is thwarted!
@Browndog,
Very well, her "upper facial expressions." Watch the video, and see for yourself.
tim in vermont said...
It sounds unrelated, but we could defund Putin's army by forcing down the price of oil, where killing Keystone XL actually helped to fund Putin's army.
=========
Putin is actually using Army vehicles to transport fuel to Belarus where his soldiers are selling fuel from their vehicles!!!
which is better than [fo]ra[va]ging the countryside
"AND, respond to this situation with mocking Harris at your own peril. To respond with snark against her is to totally miss the gravity of what is going on here."
It's precisely because the situation is so grave that it is appropriate to have contempt for Biden, Harris, and our leadership class. That includes Blinken, Austen, Psaki, etc. They're not even mediocrities. They're children, when we need adults. Mockery and snark are the least we can do.
At the moment we do not have a functional President or Vice-President, and our Secretary of State is barely functional and not in a good way. Putin, for all his flaws, is a smart man and rules through strength. This outcome is not unexpected, unfortunately, and it is not going to get better under this regime. Historically, inexperienced leaders can make terrible mistakes, learn from them, and improve. Biden is an idiot, has always been an idiot, is proud of his idiocy, and now has dementia. Harris's talents are useful for getting in positions of power but not actually doing anything useful with them. Our State Department is still obsessed with ideas that have repeatedly failed over decades, but refuse to face reality and seem incapable of being influenced by reality.
On the other hand, as someone who's been to Danetsk, I wouldn't give you 10 cents for the whole place.
My company bought a mining operation there in the late 1990's. The mineral deposits were top notch, and it is situated in a great place to serve the European market. But we gave up after three years and wrote the whole thing off. Between the corruption, non-existant infrastructure, and total lack of anything like a logistics network, even a company like ours with world class technology and mountains of capital couldn't make it work.
Good luck with that, Putin.
"do the Western Euros really see the Ukraine as part of Europe?"
"Asia begins at Landstrasse." - Metternich
Well, the utter incompetence of Harris stopped being funny.
Yes, our soon to be President Harris is a disaster. But there is nothing humorous about it anymore.
The incompetence and ignorance of our current leadership aren't funny haha, but they garner sardonic amusement.
Russia is in no condition to take over the world or even to digest the whole of Ukraine.
I try not to be cruel or insulting about Harris's life and personal choices. Demanding that she not be criticized for her incompetence and idiocy is asking too much.
Crimea’s Water Crisis Is an Impossible Problem for Putin
The Russian-occupied peninsula is thirsty, with reservoirs running low. It’s an unwelcome predicament at a time when pressures on the Kremlin are rising.
There is a canal from the Dnieper River — in central Ukraine — to the Crimea. The Ukraine government cut off the canal seven years ago. Crimea is semi-arid. Much of the industrial capacity depended on the canal for feedstock water.
Last month, the Simferopol reservoir was 7% full. Without water from the Dnieper River, Crimea’s arable land has shrunk, from 130,000 hectares in 2013 — already a fraction of Soviet-era levels — to 14,000 in 2017. Thirsty crops like rice have shriveled.
This is a real issue. This water shortage has caused Russia to have to subsidize Crimea to the level of about $1.5 billion US dollars a year.
gadfly said...
Crimea’s Water Crisis Is an Impossible Problem for Putin
This is a real issue. This water shortage has caused Russia to have to subsidize Crimea to the level of about $1.5 billion US dollars a year.
Then I guess they should get the fuck out of there, now shouldn't they
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