You have to separate the "he" and the "it" to make sense of it.
Here's the video. I'll quote from the transcript:
Tapper: So, French President Macron told me that he doesn’t think that Putin is acting rationally. And he said that he thinks a lot of this is because of how isolated Putin was for two years during the pandemic. And others who have dealt with him, Condi Rice and Bob Gates and James Clapper have used words like erratic and unhinged to describe Putin’s behavior today. Do you think Putin is a rational actor?
Biden: I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly. I think he thought… You may recall, I pointed out that they were going to invade, that all those hundred thousand were troops there, and no one believed that he was going to invade Ukraine. You listen to what he says, if you listen to the speech he made after, when that decision was being made, he talked about the whole idea of he needed to be the leader of Russia that united all of the Russian speaker… I just think it’s irrational.
So, according to Biden, Putin is rational, but he came up with an idea that happened to be irrational. The idea, as put by Biden, was that Russian speakers should be united under one leader. To call that irrational is to set a low threshold for what counts as irrational, so then why isn't Putin irrational? Presumably, it's just not pragmatic to reject the person when you need him to listen to you. Impugning his idea is a better move.
But Tapper didn't notice this move:
Tapper: So if he’s not rational and...
Biden: No, I didn’t say he’s not rational.
Tapper: You said the speech is [not rational].
Biden: I think the speech, his objectives were not… Jake, I think he thought he was going to be welcome with open arms, that this has been the home of Mother Russia and Kyiv, and therefore he was going to be welcomed. And I think he just totally miscalculated it.
Tapper: So, you talked about this a few days ago, the search for an off-ramp for him, because his back is against the wall, there are questions about how rational he is. He already was a brutal dictator. What is the off-ramp? Is there any acceptable way that he can leave, in his mind, without seizing territory in a way that would not be acceptable to Ukraine?
Biden: I don’t know what’s in his mind, but clearly he could leave. He could just flat leave and still probably hold his position together in Russia. The idea that he’s been able to convince the Russian people that this is something that he thought made sense, but now he’s accomplished what he wanted to do and it’s time to bring Russians home....
Tapper: When people hear the word Armageddon, they get scared, used by a US president, they get scared. Do you think in any way discussing this type of thing publicly, openly, Putin’s possible use of nuclear weapons might have the opposite effect of what you want? It might make some of our wobblier European allies be even more scared of confronting Putin?
Biden: Well, no, I don’t think so at all. I think, look, it was a directed… What I’m talking about, I’m talking to Putin. He in fact cannot continue with impunity, to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon as if that’s a rational thing to do. The mistakes get made and the miscalculation could occur. No one can be sure what would happen, and it could end in Armageddon.
Tapper: And you still are afraid of that though, that it could?
Biden: Well, no, I don’t think any rational person is saying the initial use of a nuclear weapon killing thousands of people does not have the prospect of leading to something that can be way out of control....
He said "no," but you can see in context that he answered Tapper's question "yes." He is warning that if Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon, we might end up in a full-scale nuclear war.
Was it rational of Biden to speak about nuclear war like that — calling it "Armageddon" and saying "mistakes get made" and you never know what would happen?
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63 comments:
Tapper should have asked Biden to add 63 and 29 so that everyone will know the mental capacity of our President.
Why is Jake Tapper interviewing a rutabaga about the policies of Victoria Nuland?
Consider the sources. Jake Tapper is on CNN...obvious propaganda source where reason and rationality have no place. Tapper then says:
"And others who have dealt with him, Condi Rice and Bob Gates and James Clapper have used words like erratic and unhinged to describe Putin’s behavior today. Do you think Putin is a rational actor?"
James Clapper is the poster boy for the deep state and an establishment boot licker. These character traits have nothing to do with reason and rationality.
Joe Biden's brain left his body perhaps several decades ago, and he "leads" as a marionette with Party Operatives pulling his strings and speaking through a tube out of his mouth. Joe Biden wouldn't understand reason and rationality if his puppet masters took him to the Oxford English Dictionary and made it appear that he was reading their definitions.
Kabuki Theater.
Kabuki Theater.
We are all dead because of World War Stupid.
Kabuki Theater.
I saw a couple minutes of this Tapper-Biden interview, but my wife and I were watching mainly Bachelor in Paradise. Here are my questions about that reality show:
* Are Jacob and Jill rational?
* Is Kira rational ???????
Look, "rational" means able to reason correctly. If someone asks you to add 63 to 29, it may be ration to answer 82. Depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Saying that someone is being irrational implies that you know what he is trying to do, and you could do it better. Probably not a real good starting point for dealing with people who have nuclear weapons.
“I think he thought… You may recall, I pointed out that they were going to invade, that all those hundred thousand were troops there, and no one believed that he was going to invade Ukraine. “
Beiden has a higher IQ (and can do more pushups) than you, man. So he has to interrupt himself to do an I told you so. But he did not prepare for the invasion and gave Putin tacit approval to take a bit of Ukraine. He also participated as vp, in the 2014 revolution against the Ukrainian President that created the fiasco, he was the point man. So don’t act so smug Joe.
It's a rational idea that borders should be drawn -- and perhaps re-drawn -- so that the Russian nation generally lives in one country.
However, Vladimir Putin has raised that one consideration above all other considerations. Other considerations include:
* the peaceful resolution of international conflicts
* using the United Nations to resolve such conflicts
* avoiding attacks on civilians and on civilian infrastructure
A man of Putin's experience should recognize such considerations and know how to deal with complexities and trade-offs. He should know how to use Russia's diplomatic resources.
In that regard, Putin seems to be mentally disturbed.
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I now understand better how the USA's 2003 invasion of Iraq looked to much of the rest of the world.
He's probably worried about Nazi birthing farms. A rational fear.
The Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring with redistributive "benefits". Ironically, Russians stand with Ukrainians in this proxy coup without borders. Change, indeed.
Putin’s biggest concern is China.
What does Xi think. Putin doesn’t care about the US and Europe. They are weak.
Biden precipitated this crisis when he dared Putin to invade. Trump would have made rational offers, including Ukraine not joining NATO. Biden provoked this for some reason. Maybe the Military Industrial Complex has enough on Biden's corruption. Why in the world the Democrats picked this stooge is the real mystery.
You have to determine what you mean by 'rational actor'. This generally means someone who pursues their goals in a logical fashion and responds in a reasonably predictable way to incentives and setbacks. It doesn't say anything about whether their goal is ultimately achievable. I may be acting rationally in creating a diet and exercise plan, and working on my jump shot, but as a 60-year-old white guy I'm highly unlikely to achieve a goal of getting drafted by the NBA.
The problem for the Biden regime is they want it both ways. They want to claim Putin will respond rationally to the setbacks occuring in his 'special military operation' and not pop a nuke while also claiming that he wasn't acting rationally to a specific set of circumstances (the Afghan withdrawal debacle, U.S. energy industry shutdown, the 'minor incursion' flub, and Blinken's laughable diplomacy) when he decided to launch it.
Having a conversation with dirty old man Joe is similar to having a conversation with the family dog. Joe just cant lick his balls, but if he could..........
The power to destroy a thing is absolute power over the thing itself.
Destroy it, and you have power over nothing. Threaten to destroy it and you control it.
There is a reason why the US foreign policy does not want other nations to share that power. It's not out of kindness, but desire to control.
There is a reason why the USA and Russia (and increasingly other nations) talk up nuclear weapons, but never use them. Ask yourself why Russia would watch the USSR completely fall apart and not threaten member states of have some causis belli for nuclear weapons in order to maintain power.
These nations get more out of talking about and threatening nuclear weapons than actually using them. Russia will not use nukes. The USA will not use them. Biden will not hesitate to stop talking about armageddon, and neither will Russia, because it increases the amount of control and influence they have.
Tapper: Why do you suppose Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was president? You were part of the left's insistence that Trump was a Russian asset. Right?
journalism, not taken.
Eat, drink and be merry! There is no getting off this ship of fools.
Theater for those who think that Biden is a rational actor.
Is it good enough for the true-believers and lefty loyalists?
Probably.
The rest of us? We understand what a pathetic puppet Biden is. His words are poison. Biden dared Putin - and now the Industrial War Complex is back up and running. All on Crook Biden's watch.
Do you actually think old Crook Biden cares about Armageddon?
LOL
Christopher B - well stated.
Forgot to ask Biden about our own border. Just slipped his mind.
How is it that our media is so compliant?
Jupiter when I'm asked to add 63 and 29 I come up with 92. Joe, if he could grok the concept, might well some up with 82, or maybe 73, or maybe 81. I dunno--Joe does tend to flutter about a bit in this thinking.
As for my use of the word "grok" I'm revealing a sort of late 1960s mind myself.
"Biden" and "rational" should never be used together in the same sentence. "Rational" abandoned Joe many, many years ago. If it was ever there.
Another stupid CNN interview. Why not ask Biden some tough questions about what Biden is doing? Instead we get goofy talk about "is Putin C-R-A-Z-Y?" which is the current lib/left party line. tapper seemed to be upset that Biden didn't say he was K-K Crazy.
And what's with all the Nuke talk? biden and gang are constantly bringing this up. Putin has not threated to use Nukes. And there's ZERO reason for him to use Nukes. Putin has repeated Russian doctraine, that Nukes could only be used in retaliation or if the state was under a threat so severe that Russia's very survivial would be threatened. Is Biden getting us used to the idea of nuclear war?
All this "Putin is crazy" reminds me of "Boy, that Sadaam sure is CRAZY". Its a way of refusing to deal with your opponents demands and motivations. Hey, we'll just have to invade Iraq, we can't talk to Sadaam, HE'S CRAZY, he'll use WMD. And now its, Putin is CRAZY, guess we'll just keep this war going till Putin leaves office, because how can you negotiate with him? He's K-K CRAZY!
His mind is going Blank Now! We've established that. As for Jake Tapper interviews, it only proves halitosis is better than no breath at all.
It's confusing to make sense out of ANYTHING that is coming out of the Delusional ones mouth anymore.
Next up:
Tapper: "Do you think Putin is a rational actor?"
Biden: "Do I think Putin is a rational actor? Millard Fillmore was the thirteenth president of the United States. And the capital of Djibouti is Djibouti!"
Tapper: "Thank you, Mr. President. You have a mind like a steel trap."
I'd rather have the Corn Kid in charge than Biden.
Corn Kid makes more sense.
"Biden provoked this for some reason...Why in the world the Democrats picked this stooge is the real mystery," said Michael K.
They thought he was the smartest guy in the room?
Two irrational people discussing the rationality of a third. This is CNN. I realize it was on CBS to follow up, but how about asking is it rational to declare the pandemic over while pushing an EO based on emergency powers granted by the pandemic? Or as Jupiter suggests, add 69+23.
Since we are blowing up off-ramps (Nord Stream, Kremlin assassinations, demanding Russian regime change), I would say that Biden and our Deep State are increasingly relying of Putin's being a rational actor: i.e., even when faced with utter defeat and his own demise as leader, he won't push the button of a nuclear attack. NATO is openly backing Ukraine's every attack, sharing satellite intel and providing ever more sophisticated weapons capable of reaching targets deep within Russian territory, all the while counting on the fact that Putin will allow the terms of his military response to be dictated by NATO at every step.
We see the US military and media this week gleefully describing Putin as crouching like Hitler in his Berlin bunker. (Of course, every enemy leader since 1945 has sooner or later become Hitler.) But somehow, in their little minds, it is inconceivable that even Hitler would have used nukes had he had them. He was, after all, a "rational actor". Thus even MAD has been transformed into an offensive weapon in the minds of our Deep State.
Biggest softball interview of all time.
'How is it that our media is so compliant?'
Tapper and the rest of the MSM always have a huge jar of lube on hand.
They keep taking it up the ass from Dem politicians and they seem to like it.
‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’ When can Joe get his "genius" test like the last guy did? The testers were so amazed.
I’m far more worried that rogue Russophobic elements of the UK-Poland security state will explode a nuclear device to frame Putin and bait him and the belligerents into escalating the conflict. Like they did with Nordstream.
Biden cannot do nuance. At this point, he cannot do coherent.
For the record, a rational actor is, by definition, acting rationally. Being rational is making logical decisions based on the premises: assumptions, aspirations, known information, etc. It does not mean decisions that you like and/or are mutually beneficial, and a rational decision for one person may be irrational for someone else. Historians like to point out that most pirates, despite being a scourge on civilization, were/are acting rationally from their point of view. To be irrational requires being illogical or holding premises that are obviously wrong.
Putin's assumptions pointed to an easy victory over Ukraine with minimal global fallout. If his army had been as good as he thought and if Europe cowered in face of freezing to death this winter due to cut off natural gas supplies, he was probably correct. Unfortunately for him, his army is far worse than he or anyone else thought, and Europe showed a spine for once.
Look, "rational" means able to reason correctly. If someone asks you to add 63 to 29, it may be ration to answer 82.
It's seldom rational to answer 82, only if it's a case of miscalculate or die.
Biden's reply makes sense, but the question is for simpletons. Putin's rationality isn't in question, so Biden's opinion of his rationality or the rationality of his goals is irrelevant.
It's generally agreed that mathematics is the highest form of reasoning. If you've ever taken a theorem-proving course, you'll know what I mean. Ted Kaczynski's rationality is of the highest order. His manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, is both rational and persuasive, at least to persons already inclined toward neo-Luddite extinctionism. Even his murders were rationally conceived to advance his goals, which is why Kaczynski is serving ten life sentences and why the insanity defense is such a steep hill to climb. The Devil isn't crazy.
I assume Biden meant to imply that Vladimir Putin is rational, but his goals are not. That's an example of a simpleton's mind doing its best work. Evil ends by rational means is an ancient story.
wendybar: "It's confusing to make sense out of ANYTHING that is coming out of the Delusional ones mouth anymore."
It's just a stutter, H8ter!
All this "Putin is crazy" reminds me of "Boy, that Sadaam sure is CRAZY". Its a way of refusing to deal with your opponents demands and motivations. Hey, we'll just have to invade Iraq, we can't talk to Sadaam, HE'S CRAZY, he'll use WMD. - rcocean
Then you must remember how successful that was for the Bush administration and how strongly supported it was on this blog. But it's a poor comparison, Saddam was contained and was being inspected regularly by the IAEA. The situation with Putin is completely different.
Temujin: "Forgot to ask Biden about our own border. Just slipped his mind.
How is it that our media is so compliant?"
They are all solid New Soviet Democratical party loyalists.
Putin is starting to exhibit late-war Hitler tendencies, namely, bent on national suicide of his country's own people.
If you think Putin is bad, look at what JOE is doing to American citizens that HE put in their DC Gulag because they protested like many before them have. It makes me sick to my stomach, and everybody SHOULD be outraged, but hate is deep, and the lies keep coming. Read it and weep for America.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2022/10/12/severely-abused-in-d-c-jail-jan-6-prisoners-ask-for-transfer-to-guantanamo-n1636402
"They thought he was the smartest guy in the room?"
Well, it was a room full of democrats.
Thinking that Putin would just pack up and go home without any gains (and without being soundly defeated militarily) would seem to be irrational.
Don't we see this in real life? You can always rationally back down without losing faith. I rationally cannot. That is because your interests and your status are negotiable. Mine aren't. It takes more insightfulness to distinguish when opponents are being rational and when they are being irrational than Biden has now.
Biden's saying that a minor incursion wouldn't be contested. Was that rational or irrational? Biden's saying that Putin had to be removed? Rational or irrational? Somebody in this is from Mars and somebody is from Venus, but I'm not sure who's which.
C'mon Readering, Howard, gadfly hpuddin' et al. defend your guy. Support your reason for nuclear war and why you voted for it. Tell us all why nuclear war is a good idea in this case.
How is the Ukraine critical to the strategic interests of the United States?
Answer: It isn't. And it's certainly not worth bringing Russia to the brink of starting nuclear annihilation against the United States.
Our President, the idiot Joe Biden, is the irrational one here. He should stand our military-industrial complex down before he gets us all killed. And the quicker we get this doddering idiot out of his little Fake Oval Office the better.
How is the Ukraine critical to the strategic interests of the United States?
Answer: It isn't. And it's certainly not worth bringing Russia to the brink of starting nuclear annihilation against the United States.
Our President, the idiot Joe Biden, is the irrational one here. He should stand our military-industrial complex down before he gets us all killed. And the quicker we get this doddering idiot out of his little Fake Oval Office the better.
Putin divided by 1 is Putin.
Therefore, Putin is rational.
I now understand better how the USA's 2003 invasion of Iraq looked to much of the rest of the world.
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and much of the world made $$$$$$$$ from supply contracts and kickbacks
1. We have a moral obligation to help Ukraine based on the Budapest Memorandum.
2. Up until 2022 Russia repeatedly violated the Budapest Memorandum and faced no consequences.
3. It was rational of Putin to assume he could launch a full invasion of Ukraine based on past history.
Mike, how many ethnic Russians did Ukraine kill in the last eight years of US caused civil war? It’s easy to be certain about things when you ignore the facts. I will tell you, 14,000 civilians.
We knew he was going to invade because the Ukrainians unleashed massive artillery barrages on the ethnic Russians while Putin’s troops were massed on the border. Putin had a weakness, and we exploited it, he cares about ethnic Russians. Leaders of great powers should not have such easily exploited weaknesses, Biden certainly doesn’t care how many Ukrainians die in this border dispute over a Russian speaking enclave.
Rusty: "C'mon Readering, Howard, gadfly hpuddin' et al. defend your guy. Support your reason for nuclear war and why you voted for it. Tell us all why nuclear war is a good idea in this case."
It shouldn't be too difficult for Team New Soviet Democratical. They have already turned:
- unemployment into funemployment
- inflation into funflation
- recession into funcession
- starvation/hunger into funger
How hard can it be to turn nuclear war into funclear war?
The meat of this interview was the answer to the off-ramp question:
“Biden: I don’t know what’s in his mind, but clearly he could leave. He could just flat leave and still probably hold his position together in Russia.“
Whatever one may think about the Iraq situation, this ain't it.
Putin has nukes.
Saddam was (arguably) trying to get nukes.
Big difference.
I agree with Left Bank (wow!).
Joe Biden diplomacy. The smug assumptions underlying that "still probably" may get us all incinerated. Some "off ramp."
"Putin divided by 1 is Putin.
Therefore, Putin is rational. "
A categorical variable can't be used in arithmetic, without more adjustments than you have given.
tim in vermont said...
Mike, how many ethnic Russians did Ukraine kill in the last eight years of US caused civil war? It’s easy to be certain about things when you ignore the facts. I will tell you, 14,000 civilians.
**********
Can you show us dated visual evidence to support your claim? If 14,000 ethnic Russians were killed as you say, that area should have been mostly rubble before Putin invaded.
I'm neutral on this, so I just want the facts you claim to have.
AMDG said...
1. We have a moral obligation to help Ukraine based on the Budapest Memorandum.
*********************
If Ukraine had kept their nukes we wouldn't be in this situation. It was STUPID on our part to disarm them in the first place.
“ How hard can it be to turn nuclear war into funclear war?”
Funicular war?
Funiculi, funicula!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTSAZAHiOa8
JSM
How is the Ukraine critical to the strategic interests of the United States?
Answer: It isn't. And it's certainly not worth bringing Russia to the brink of starting nuclear annihilation against the United States.
The Sudetenland wasn't strategically important to Great Britain or France either.
As for my use of the word "grok" I'm revealing a sort of late 1960s mind myself.
I'm a big fan of the word. I wish it had entered wider usage.
Putin's action in attempting to take Ukraine can be considered rational when you think how easily he took Crimea in 2014. He probably had full access to Hillary's diplomatic communications and knew the US state department and administration weren't going to provide any military pushback. Putin held himself in check during the Trump years but once Biden was elected, he suspected the door to more successful aggression was back open. The US fecklessness in Afghanistan proved to him he was correct.
I suspect, Drago, that it will be a long wait.
The Sudetenland wasn't strategically important to Great Britain or France either.
Actually, it was. It held much of the defensive line that might have made the Czechs too much for Germany to handle. Once it was gone, they were almost defenseless.
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