७ मार्च, २०२२

"Spies in Russia’s infamous security apparatus were kept in the dark about President Putin’s plan to invade Ukraine, according to a whistleblower who described the war as a 'total failure' that could be compared only to the collapse of Nazi Germany."

"A report thought to be by an analyst in the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB... said the FSB was being blamed for the failure of the invasion but had been given no warning of it and was unprepared to deal with the effects of crippling sanctions.... FSB officers had been ordered to assess the effects of western sanctions, they said, but were told that it was a hypothetical box-ticking exercise. 'You have to write the analysis in a way that makes Russia the victor... otherwise you get questioned for not doing good work,' they wrote. 'Suddenly it happens and everything comes down to your completely groundless analysis.'"

The London Times reports.

That makes it sound as though the spies are trying to save their ass by saying that before the invasion they were trying to save their ass. We weren't wrong, we were deceptive, and we didn't think it would matter. We did bad work, yes, but it was all because we wanted to meet your standard of doing good work.  

A bit more from the unnamed analyst:

The war, the writer said, had been given a “provisional deadline” of June because by then the Russian economy will have collapsed.

“I have hardly slept at all recently, working all hours, in a brain-fog,” they wrote. “Maybe it’s from overwork, but I feel like I am in a surreal world. Pandora’s Box has been opened.”

The author said they could not rule out international conflict and that they were expecting “some f***ing adviser to convince the leadership” to send an ultimatum to the West threatening war if sanctions were not lifted.

“What if the West refuses?” they wrote. “In that instance I won’t exclude that we will be pulled into a real international conflict, just like Hitler in 1939.”

Elsewhere in the letter they said: “Our position is like Germany in 1943-44 — but that’s our starting position.”

७४ टिप्पण्या:

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Nazi Germany ran out of oil so couldn't resupply the troops.

gilbar म्हणाले...

..threatening war if sanctions were not lifted. “What if the West refuses?” they wrote
“In that instance I won’t exclude that we will be pulled into a real international conflict,
just like Hitler in 1939.”


WELL! if That don't make you sleep well at night; i'm not sure what would!

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

Sounds like Putin was right not to trust them.

Michael K म्हणाले...

They sound just like the FBI but they are admitting it.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"Our position is like Germany in 1943-44"

Why? They are meeting stiff resistance but to my knowledge have not been pushed back. Their economy is suffering but not yet on the brink. Even now, the West needs Russian oil and gas and nickel. China has not turned against them. Hitler did not get his nukes in time, Vlad already has them.

"total failure"? I suspect the costs are much higher than the Russians calculated, though I don't think the butcher of Chechnya had or has any illusions. But the initial failure was ours: we failed to prevent the invasion. The second failure was Vlad's: his troops did not move as swiftly as they should have, exposing weakness, increasing the human cost, and uniting the Europeans. If Vlad's regime collapses, that would be total failure. But effective control of Ukraine may be miserable, it won't be "total" failure.

How far is the West prepared to go? Are we aiming to assure "total failure"? We did nothing to stop Vlad. Our sanctions have not repelled him. We are exacting some revenge. An excited commentator on this blog his calling for regime change, so far a step ahead of any announced policy. If the very high sanctions, thus far not reciprocated by specific anti-Western moves, don't do the trick, what else is there?

Jaq म्हणाले...

It's important for the propaganda to be entertaining and have some literary flair. Just calling it propaganda doesn't mean it doesn't contain some unknown measure of truth, it's just impossible to know.

I don't think that the Russians will be able to end sanctions with a gun to Europe's head, because companies will want to avoid the "reputational damage" of dealing with Russia even if it is legal, in those circumstances. They better have a better plan, for their sake.

Europeans are suffering a nasty energy crisis today, after following the "green energy" policies, that Biden fully supports and Trump opposed, a policy whose supporters were funded by Putin. Biden's policies and those of like minded politicians in the US and Europe led to this crisis by emboldening Putin. This should be obvious to anybody, and pointing out that we destroyed our energy security and that it played into Putin's hand is not to "support" Putin.

Enigma म्हणाले...

It seems that both the US and Russia are playing the last inning of the post-WW2 global political framework. Elderly Biden was rolled out of his crypt by the federal establishment then "elected under protest" and governs as a puppet. At the same time, former KGB autocrat Putin is attempting to redo the sad end of the USSR 30 years ago in hopes of a better outcome this time.

Neither the US nor Russian establishments seem to have foreseen the negative reactions or ineffective governments that resulted. Neither the US nor Russia can move forward by looking toward evaporated old rules and absent respect. The old establishment personnel are plainly unable to learn or adapt.

Both countries may be very different within 5 or 10 years. Whether they change in a good or bad way I can't say.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Today Biden doubles down on his pro Putin energy policies:

Joe Biden@JoeBiden

United States government official
We have to treat climate change like the existential threat it is. As president, I will:

- End subsidies for fossil fuel corporations
- Ban new drilling on federal lands & waters
- Hold oil executives accountable
- Rally the world to raise the commitments of the Paris Agreement


https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1239364431294926848

doctrev म्हणाले...

Just remember that Western media was uncritically reporting on Christopher Steele as verifiable Russian information five years ago.

I'd be surprised if anyone was stupid enough to believe them now. With a few exceptions.

David Begley म्हणाले...

Putin has nukes. Does he have the smaller battlefield nukes? What if he nukes Kiev? The West won’t respond. Ukraine will surrender.

Possession of nukes changes everything. This is why Iran can’t have nukes. I can’t believe fucking Joe Biden is about to enter a deal with Iran. We should be bombing Iran’s nuke facilities now!

David Begley म्हणाले...

Tim:

That Biden tweet is 2 years old. But the sentiment is real.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Thanks, Dave, sorry, well, that's why I link them, in case I got something wrong. It hasn't aged that well, has it?

Browndog म्हणाले...

If this is true, all or part, it sounds just like our "intelligence community".

Wait-no. Our intel never admit to bad/false intel reports, so at least in this case the Russians have more integrity. Again, if true.

Do Russians put former intel leadership on cable news-every hour on the hour? They should. It's rating gold.

rehajm म्हणाले...

Elsewhere in the letter they said: “Our position is like Germany in 1943-44 — but that’s our starting position.

My thoughts: First- At least they haven’t lost their sense of humor, and B: Congratulations on the improvement in efficiency.

MartyH म्हणाले...

This sounds like the ass covering by State, DOD, and Intel after the Afghanistan debacle.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Energy execs in the US won't increase output without guaranties that the investments won't immediately be stranded and lost by the next random peroration of the nut jobs in charge of US policy.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

I think it's unlikely, but suppose Putin falls, what then?

Are the Russians going to come to us with their hats in their hands and beg us to send our best and brightest to insure they're governed properly from now on?

How'd it work out when we toppled Saddam? Or the Taliban? Or Gaddafi? Or Yanukovych?
Putin sucks, but there are people in Russia even worse than Putin.

And what kind of a grade would you give the people who have been governing us in recent years?
Do they seem like they know what they're doing?

rehajm म्हणाले...

'You have to write the analysis in a way that makes Russia the victor... otherwise you get questioned for not doing good work,

That’s nothing. In the United States you have to write the analysis in a way that makes the liberals look the good guys…otherwise you get cancelled and your career is over.

Leland म्हणाले...

The headline makes it seem the FSB was the only agency in the world that didn’t know Putin has been planning for this war. I can understand disbelief that he would actually do it, but not when your agency is telling him, “sure boss, we can take Ukraine.”

Jaq म्हणाले...

Now that Russian funding for the groups opposing Keystone XL has dried up, maybe we can get that done.

Mid-Life Lawyer म्हणाले...

This reminds me of the movie, The Death of Stalin, from 2017. It's hilarious with great acting if you haven't seen it.

Temujin म्हणाले...

Again, the thing about wars is that they rarely have ever started with one giant calling out another giant onto a battlefield to have it out. Usually it's small things, done regionally, that spill over. One event leads to another Once the fuse it lit, it burns, but not as expected. Never as expected. Things take on their own momentum, and all the blowhards in all the international meetings cannot control with words what is happening on the ground.

The thing started becomes something else entirely. And no one knows where it'll go. It’s as if you hesitantly press a button to start up a machine and too late realize that the machine you started up is sitting on a larger machine that is part of an enormous organism, so massive you cannot even make out a small section of it, and you then realize that you’ve just pushed the ‘on’ button to something you cannot conceive or control.

This is how large wars get started.

The Vault Dweller म्हणाले...

This reminds me of a photo I saw of a dead Russian Cosmonaut. The body had been very badly burned. There had been some failure of one or more systems in the reentry capsule and he had been charred by the heat of reentry. The story accompanying the photo stated the Cosmonaut expected this to happen. He knew of the problems before launch but the launch was going ahead anyway so he took the position instead of a younger Cosmonaut who was supposed to be on the mission. This feels like a similar situation where many if not most people in Russian military/intelligence knew or expected disaster but no one could stop the mission. Where Americans have a sense of Manifest Destiny and we can create our own future, Russians seem to have fatalistic bleakness and just accept and endure whatever enormity is looming over the horizon. That and giving unwanted criticism might earn you a pot of polonium tea.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

Spy vs Spy

Fritz म्हणाले...

A buddy of mine, a recently retired Col, who has actually planned at the Pentagon, is giving a talk on YouTube today at 4:00 PM. See it or stay ignorant. Your choice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t21Pd15OBc

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

Spies in Russia’s infamous security apparatus were kept in the dark about President Putin’s plan to invade Ukraine, according to a whistleblower

Correction:

Some spies in Russia’s infamous security apparatus were kept in the dark.

For example, this "whistleblower" was kept in the dark.

--------

Also, what's with the word "infamous" here?

Does this writer ever use the expression "the USA's infamous security apparatus"?

Jaq म्हणाले...

Listen to Joe Biden, prior to his dementia, provide a cogent analysis of the risks of NATO expansion, he makes points that are now considered beyond the pale Putin fan boy stuff now.

https://twitter.com/AlexeiArora/status/1500824118454898689

This aged a lot better than his tweet.

Wince म्हणाले...

Didn't Putin's dressing down of his own intelligence chief suggest the ostensible issue was whether to recognize (using the active voice in the present tense) the independence of the two eastern Ukrainian areas?

Another old lawyer म्हणाले...

That disconnect between Putin and his security org wouldn't have continued if Putin had gone on Undercover Boss before ordering the invasion.

Mike of Snoqualmie म्हणाले...

It would be "defeatist" if the FSB had told the truth about the determination of the Ukrainians to remain free. So, that had to be buried. To do otherwise would have been delirious to the health of the FSB analysists. As in, "Off with their heads!"

That is the biggest problem with dictatorships and empires. The boss winds up surrounded by yes-men since he killed off the truth tellers when they told him something he didn't like. The same pattern is propagated to lower and lower levels until everyone is lying. Witness the poor state of the invading army.

The Soviet workers used to say "They pretend to pays us and we pretend to work."

gilbar म्हणाले...

tim in vermont raises a good point, when he said...
Now that Russian funding for the groups opposing Keystone XL has dried up, maybe we can get that done.

Assuming, that Russian funding really does stay stopped up for a while; it will be interesting to see what happens to the Entire green movement.
Opposition to fracking
Opposition to oil leases
Opposition to LNG exports

Currently madame nancy's still saying she's totally opposed. What happens when/if the money dries up?
What happens after november if Russian money is still tied up?
Drill baby Drill?

Achilles म्हणाले...

tim in vermont said...

Now that Russian funding for the groups opposing Keystone XL has dried up, maybe we can get that done.

Democrats hate Texas and the midwest more than they hate Russia.

They will never allow it.

Howard म्हणाले...

Only fools believe the reports. The only part that rings true is they were kept in the dark about the invasion. That makes sense because even Vlad didn't know he was going for a full invasion until Trump invited him into Ukraine.

This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fuels.

The West's biggest mistake was forsaking nuclear energy. You people will be soon against new nukes when you figure out Bill Gates is behind molten salt technology.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

@Althouse, do you imagine it’s any different in the CIA or FBI? Or in MI5 or MI6?

Conrad म्हणाले...

If the aim of this war is to re-establish Russia's reputation as a superpower, I think it has already failed. Putin may conquer Ukraine militarily, but only with difficulty, and subject to enormous future costs in terms of maintaining an occupation force, coping with economic sanctions, eroding his support within Russia, and sacrificing whatever was left of Russia's international prestige. Ukraine itself doesn't seem to be worth those costs, especially if Putin is moved to destroy Kiev and other major cities and infrastructure in order to secure victory.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

50/50 odds this is nothing but a completely fabricated story. One wants to believe it, but that should warn one not to.

rcocean म्हणाले...

More anonymous quotes supporting the MSM that the leader of a powerful country is nuts, or miscalculated, or is on the ropes. Based on Intelligence agents.

Putin - the walls are closing in. Next, someone in Putin's circle claims to be part of the #resistance. Instead of Russiagate its Ukrainegate.

rcocean म्हणाले...

I mistrust any MSM article based on anonymous quotes that pushes their propaganda agenda. could be true, may be false. They can't be trusted.

Achilles म्हणाले...

Howard said...

Only fools believe the reports. The only part that rings true is they were kept in the dark about the invasion. That makes sense because even Vlad didn't know he was going for a full invasion until Trump invited him into Ukraine.

This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fuels.

The West's biggest mistake was forsaking nuclear energy. You people will be soon against new nukes when you figure out Bill Gates is behind molten salt technology.



Even now Howard is preparing to destroy his real enemies: Trump supporters.

Biden started this war and is extending this war on purpose. But Biden and his supporters hate Texas more than they hate Russia.

Super majorities in the US know this war never happens if Trump is president.

But just like all of hte other lies that Howard has pushed over the last 6 years which are legion, Howard clings to the lies that his political opponents are allies of Russia.

Howard is a dishonest fascist piece of shit.

He will cling to any lie he can to avoid taking responsibility for what he and his policies have done.

And he will conveniently use his lies to justify Mastercard and Visa crushing his political opponents and Social Media tech giants to censor them.

Just watch.

Mr. Forward म्हणाले...

Howard said "This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fuels."

This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fools in the White House.
FIFY

Jaq म्हणाले...

You people will be soon against new nukes when you figure out Bill Gates is behind molten salt technology.

I know you are certain that we are all idiots, but we do know about blind squirrels and nuts.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Nickel is up 40% today. Good thing that a month ago, Joe Biden killed the Twin Metals mine. But that was not pro-Putin in any way.

Jaq म्हणाले...

"Burn After Reading" is another movie that this brings to mind.

wildswan म्हणाले...

"Howard said...
This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fuels."

Policy update or trial balloon?
Soooo ... if we do cut off Russian oil, how would you guys feel if we just didn't replace it but used the opportunity to force reductions in fossil fuel use in your bloated, useless, deplorable lives? Furnaces in the Upper Midwest; fuel for trucks delivering food - all cut back, cause there ain't gonna BE NO DAMN FOSSIL FUELS. And there won't be no escape trains to the West, 'cause you ARE the West, you worthless fools.
But will that work?
We're talking no Amazon deliveries; no grocery store deliveries; school shutdowns 'cause no buses; internet shutdowns 'cause internet server farms are massive energy hogs so no streaming of various kinds including the most popular and Zoom.
No More Disparate Impacts, Hurt Everyone - Vote Dem 2022
Will that resonate? Just asking.

Bring Us Down Together - Vote Dem 2022.
With endless millions of dollars poured into PR and elections, they can make that plane fly but where do they plan to land it?

mccullough म्हणाले...

Spies are those people in other countries who provide information. Intelligence officers are the ones who recruit and manage spies. Analysts are the ones who evaluate information.

And the SVR, not the FSB, is primarily responsible for recruiting and managing spies.

This article sucks

rcocean म्हणाले...

That makes it sound as though the spies are trying to save their ass by saying that before the invasion they were trying to save their ass. We weren't wrong, we were deceptive, and we didn't think it would matter. We did bad work, yes, but it was all because we wanted to meet your standard of doing good work.

Agree completely.

Achilles म्हणाले...

Howard said...

This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fuels.

Howard's got his story and he is sticking to it no matter how obviously wrong it is.

And he is going to demand that anyone who disagrees with him is destroyed financially and censored.

Because that is what fascists do.

PM म्हणाले...

How soon are we going to hear that the First World's concentration on the plight of Ukrainians is because they're white? Asking for a friend.

Michael म्हणाले...

Why in the good name of everlasting fock would anybody believe the blah, blah, blah of an unnamed analyst. Does anyone have any faith that the London Times isn't just pulling this out of their azz?

Michael K म्हणाले...

This situation is another first order reason why we need to move beyond fossil fuels.


Howard, moving "beyond fossil fuels" will take a century, at least. You lefties are the ones blocking nuclear power. Why ? Because the KGB convinced you all that nuclear power was bad and US nuclear weapons were a threat to Comrade Stalin.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

Total bullshit story.

Unlike US 'Intelligence' agencies, Russian security doesn't sell out their own country...

Peter Spieker म्हणाले...

“What if the West refuses [to lift sanctions under threat]?” they wrote. “In that instance I won’t exclude that we will be pulled into a real international conflict, just like Hitler in 1939.”

So the scenario is: Aggression leads to sanctions, sanctions put a regime in a box, and the regime response wildly with much wider aggression? Seems to me Japan in 1941, not Germany in 1939 is the analogy for that. On the one hand, I have a hard time believing Putin is that crazy (although he might think it in his interest to make us think he is), on the other hand, Pearl Harbor did happen, and it was a pretty crazy thing to do.

n.n म्हणाले...

An anonymous whistleblower, a handmade tale, in the model of Democrats 16+ trimester cover-up of domestic and foreign collusion through braying, insurrections, and impeachments.

Ignorance is Bliss म्हणाले...

The author said they could not rule out international conflict...

Wow, that's some top-notch analysisization right there...

Browndog म्हणाले...

Fascinating interview with Russian POW

Kinda long, but I couldn't stop watching. Very interested in reaction.

Christopher B म्हणाले...

PM said...
How soon are we going to hear that the First World's concentration on the plight of Ukrainians is because they're white? Asking for a friend.


That ship has already sailed.

Biff म्हणाले...

Temujin said..."Things take on their own momentum, and all the blowhards in all the international meetings cannot control with words what is happening on the ground."

I was in an Uber in a country in Europe last week where I don't really the language. The driver had a news commentary program on the radio, and the subject obviously was Russia, Putin, and Ukraine. Since I didn't speak the language, I listened to the tone of the blowhards - sorry, commentators. Everyone had the sound of complete, unshakable confidence in their loudly expressed opinions that is so common on US cable news networks. I expect that six months ago none of them thought war in Ukraine was possible, of course.

Howard म्हणाले...

I believe in the power of free market capitalism Doc Mike. Texas is a shining example for the world.

Howard म्हणाले...

No one is coming for you or your Trumper kith and kin, Achilles. It's you scorned feminized snowflake whiners who have long memories. You will be a forgotten footnote as a minor speed bump. Just like no one GAF about the Freedom Trucker vanity cruise around DC.


takirks म्हणाले...

Joe Smith said:

"Total bullshit story.

Unlike US 'Intelligence' agencies, Russian security doesn't sell out their own country..."


Hmmm. Ever heard of one Vasili Mitrokhin?

I could name others, but I suspect that if you are ignorant enough to make this laughable assertion, you'd be pretty unlikely to recognize them. You might want to educate yourself before commenting on something like this.

StephenFearby म्हणाले...

Michael said...
Why in the good name of everlasting fock would anybody believe the blah, blah, blah of an unnamed analyst. Does anyone have any faith that the London Times isn't just pulling this out of their azz?


If you bothered to read the most pertinent excerpts from the London Times article...which I posted in last night's cafe...your question would have been answered:

'...The 2,000-word document was published by Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net.

Christo Grozev, an expert on the Russian security services, said he had shown the letter to two FSB officers, both of whom had had “no doubt it was written by a colleague”.

Grozev, who reported the identities of the Salisbury poisoners with the investigative website Bellingcat in 2018, said: “Ukraine had previously leaked fake FSB letters as psy-ops.

“This letter appeared different, though. It came via a reputable source [Osechkin] and it was way longer than a forger would choose to make it.”'

So, Grozev has chops. Osechkin (who has lived in France since 2015) also has chops.

The Russian FSB analyst who wrote the report didn't leak it...because he would have been shot on the spot. Consequently, the FSB has now engaged in a massive mole hunt.

It was the mole who leaked it to Osechkin. Capiche?

Chris Lopes म्हणाले...

"No one is coming for you or your Trumper kith and kin, Achilles. It's you scorned feminized snowflake whiners who have long memories. You will be a forgotten footnote as a minor speed bump. Just like no one GAF about the Freedom Trucker vanity cruise around DC."

The hatred dripping from that post is the same poison that's in everything you write here. It's impossible to take what you say seriously when one knows it isn't really about adding anything to the debate. It's about dumping on people you don't like. It's about (as I have said before) shitting in other people's punch bowls. Even when you are saying things I agree with, you do it with such vitriol that the point gets lost.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

"You have to write the analysis in a way that makes Russia the victor... otherwise you get questioned for not doing good work"

Gee, kind of like "you can write about any male-female differences you want, so long as you make the female side look better."

So, "race", "trans", any failures by Democrats (where the story is "Republicans pounce", not "Democrats screw up"), Hunter Biden's laptop.

Basically, the US press has been following teh Communist / Russian playbook for years

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

..threatening war if sanctions were not lifted. “What if the West refuses?” they wrote
“In that instance I won’t exclude that we will be pulled into a real international conflict,
just like Hitler in 1939.”


No. This would be like Hitler being pulled into a war in 1937, when defeating him would have been easy.

As opposed to delaying for years, so Nazi Germany could build up its forces and drive the cost a million times higher

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

Howard said...
No one is coming for you or your Trumper kith and kin, Achilles

Do you always live with your head up your ass, Howard?

AG Garland announced he was going to go after parent protesting at school board meets as if they were "domestic terrorists".

This to be distinguished from the actual domestic terrorists in America: Antifa. But Garland and co support anti, because every group of would be fascist dictators needs their own set of Brownshirts.

Jan 6 was a protest, not an insurrection. It was a far more orderly, far less destructive, protest than what the Dems did in 2017 to complain about Trump's Inauguration. Or did in 2018 to try to block Kavanaugh's confirmation to SCOTUS

But the scum and the DoJ most certainly HAVE been "going for the Trumpers" on that one.

Because there's no rule of law for the DoJ, they're just the Will to Power.

We're not going to accept that from Putin, Howie

And we're not going to accept it from your scum, either

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

tim in vermont said...
Europeans are suffering a nasty energy crisis today, after following the "green energy" policies, that Biden fully supports and Trump opposed, a policy whose supporters were funded by Putin. Biden's policies and those of like minded politicians in the US and Europe led to this crisis by emboldening Putin. This should be obvious to anybody, and pointing out that we destroyed our energy security and that it played into Putin's hand is not to "support" Putin.

Pointing out that anyone who is anti-fracking, anti-drilling for oil on Federal lands, anti-Keystone II pipeline, and / or anti-nuclear is objectively pro-Putin is a good thing to do
Calling out the Biden* Admin for the fact that they're funding Putin with their environmental policies is the right thing to do
Pointing out that "true patriots" are the ones who want US energy independence like we had under Trump, not the Russia / Iran / Saudi Arabia / Venezuela dependence we have under Biden* is also the right thing to do

OTOH, rooting for Putin to win, or opposing reasonable measure to beat him? Those are the wrong thing to do

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

Bob Boyd said...
I think it's unlikely, but suppose Putin falls, what then?

Then they're back to being run by corrupt oligarchs who just want to get rich, rather that a corrupt dictator who wants to "re-create" "Greater Russia" with his poor of corrupt oligarchs.

Which puts the Russian people slightly better off (corrupt oligarchs don't need an aggressive secret police), and the rest of the world much better off.

Saddam was a State sponsor of terrorism, and he financed attacks all over the world. Ever since President Trump got rid of ISIS, Iraqi problems have remained in Iraqi.

You don't have to engage in nation building in order to make the world a better place

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

tim in vermont said...
Listen to Joe Biden, prior to his dementia, provide a cogent analysis of the risks of NATO expansion, he makes points that are now considered beyond the pale Putin fan boy stuff now.
This is the kind of stupid shit that's really embarrassing to read from usually intelligent commenters

Putin doesn't like NATO expansion because it makes it harder for him to bully and ur enslave Russia's neighbors.

The only threat it's ever posed is to Putin's ego.

If Putin's willing to go to war to stop NATO expansion, then he's equally willing to go to war to bully any neighbor that does give in to slowly being digested by "Greater Russia" anyway.

Putin is, always has been, and always will be America's enemy

If you don't have your head up your ass, you want to confront enemies when they're weaker, rather than after they've been able to absorb resources and become stronger. Since we were going to have to fight Putin eventually, fighting him now, when most of Ukraine is on our side, and doing most of the fighting and dying, is a much superior option to letting him digest Ukraine, and using them to fight and kill us, rather than having them fighting and killing Russians.

What part of that is unclear to you?

Michael K म्हणाले...

If you don't have your head up your ass, you want to confront enemies when they're weaker, rather than after they've been able to absorb resources and become stronger. Since we were going to have to fight Putin eventually, fighting him now, when most of Ukraine is on our side, and doing most of the fighting and dying, is a much superior option to letting him digest Ukraine, and using them to fight and kill us, rather than having them fighting and killing Russians.

What part of that is unclear to you?


Do you need any help with your air fare to Ukraine? I could probably come up with a few bucks, as long as it's a one way fare.

Michael K म्हणाले...

You will be a forgotten footnote as a minor speed bump. Just like no one GAF about the Freedom Trucker vanity cruise around DC.

Howard is anticipating when the real fascists take over. Re-education camps for us Trumpers. I think Bill Ayres wrote a book about it. Killing 25 million was his estimate.

Bunkypotatohead म्हणाले...

tim in vermont said...

Now that Russian funding for the groups opposing Keystone XL has dried up, maybe we can get that done.

There's nobody at the input side of that pipeline anymore. The city of Alberta and TC Energy lost billions when the fickle American leadership halted it. And with watermelon Trudea as the head of government, there won't be any effort from Canada to get it completed. Essentially they are "going Galt" although they would claim they are saving the environment.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

Michael K said...
Do you need any help with your air fare to Ukraine? I could probably come up with a few bucks, as long as it's a one way fare.
I'll take that ticket to Ukraine right after you fly to Moscow

Until then, I'll continue to support funding those who are fighting Putin, since it means we get to stop an enemy without risking US lives.

What part of that bothers you? the part about not putting US soldiers lives at risk?

Or just the part about stoping a US enemy from getting more powerful?

Stephen St. Onge म्हणाले...

PM said...
How soon are we going to hear that the First World's concentration on the plight of Ukrainians is because they're white? Asking for a friend.
__________________

        Already heard it.  Search on 'ukraine white people u.s.'.  Or dive into the wonderful hell site that is Twitter, and look up @TariqNasheed for one.

Stephen St. Onge म्हणाले...

        All the stuff in the article that’s supposed to make me believe the document is genuine sounds a lot like the stuff that was supposed to make me believe the Steele dossier was genuine.  So I’m having trouble trusting it.