Like most Americans, I'm surprisingly comfortable with Russia incinerating Washington. Do they make lo-carb nukes with minimal fallout?
There's one tiny bit of shortsightedness in your reporting, a myopia you share with Taibbi and lots of other independents I greatly respect. The story that got us here was not a series of random twists and turns. Yes, smugnorant liberals are preprogrammed to hate Putin because of Russiagate. But Russiagate wasn't an accident. There is an unbroken line between the Wolfowitz/Nuland grand vision of petroimperial conquest of Russia, the selection of Hillary as candidate, the blaming of Putin for Hillary's loss, the coordinated media-wide disinfo campaign against Russia, the wetting of the Bidens' beaks in theUkraine, the forced elevation of last-place candidate Biden to the presidency, the vampiric resurrection of Victorian Nuland, the intentional provocation of Russia to war, and the current coordinated state and media total information war against Russia.
The neocons have been driving this war. They are almost at the gates. And they plan further aggressions they have not told us yet. Anybody who still sees this story as one of western reaction to russian action is blind.
I will never be okay with my country being attacked and I am not okay in principle with military aggression by anyone, but neither am I a pacifist. Having said that, I reluctantly think you could right about the intent of provocations.
The question is what happens when they get what they want? At best this is posturing for public consumption, but they act like children. On the other hand I have seen terrible outcomes already in my lifetime even when millions of Americans were protesting
I'm with you. I've thought about this. If they decide they're going to bomb us, I'm going to start looking up coordinates for DC and a bunch of others.
And, yes, this is a long time in the making with a hundred missteps that the media have omitted to mention.
The number of major US political figures calling for a "no fly zone"—which everyone now understands would entail direct military confrontation with Russia—is truly one of the most reckless and terrifying developments I've seen in recent years... and that's saying something. Yet nevertheless, I doubt that America's security establishment has any intention (at least for the moment) of getting involved in a shooting war with Russia. I fear the actual objective is to "lead on" the Ukrainians, providing them false hope, so they'll keep fighting and making poor strategic decisions with respect to their future prospects vis-à-vis Russia and Europe. I recently wrote an article entitled, "America and Her Allies Will Stand United and Fight Russia to the Last Ukrainian," and delves into this notion a little deeper if anyone wants to check it out.
It really is a tragedy for everyone involved, though of course, mostly for the Ukrainians. Yet from an American perspective, it is very sad that the government so frequently does stuff like this in our name.
Every one of the saber rattling pols in DC should be required to have their sons and daughters join the military and shipped to the front lines in the event of the war the want the US to join. As has been the case since the second world war, politicians drum up war fever so they can send other people's kids to die. War is sometimes necessary, but for the US this one ain't. As unjust as this war is, the US doesn't have any vital interest in its outcome. The argument for joining in it based upon the notion that Russia will just invade other countries afterward is specious and simple bootstrapping. How about we wait and see if that happens before we jump into another world war.
I've started telling friends that if you really want to support Ukraine, get a one way ticket to Kiev and pack a lunch and of course, some body armor and the usual 2nd amendment accoutrements (semi-auto, scoped rifle, hunting knife, etc) - if you aren't willing to fight for the death for it, why send your neighbor's son or daughter? People are strange.
What's important to remember is how successful America has been spreading democracy with bombs. Nothing says freedom like living in rubble with mercenary factions, armed to the teeth patrolling your streets.
All the noise is meaningless. I've seen strong evidence that the leadership realizes that intervention is suicidal. This is the usual noise; no one will get what they want, or if they do they will get the moonscape that such a foolish policy deserves. I have much less fear of that now than a week ago.
We've been doing a lot of stupid things lately, and like Putin, the elites in DC would walk over a mountain of corpses to stay in power, but I do hope you're right.
Depends on which corpses and who gets the blame. That might be the only way they stay in power. Mob mentality is an incredible thing if you can harness it, and dead bodies are a great distraction.
Thank you for just reporting and any "bias" I see is just pointing out the obvious: that if we "close the skies," we de facto are declaring war on Russia and we want to understand the consequences of doing that. This isn't Hollywood where we all die at the end and then miraculously show up in the sequel.
Close the sky! Don't import or use any oil (especially from say, Russia or Anwar or from dirty Canadian pipelines)! Don't Drill (except in foreign countries) NIMBY! Fight Despots (except the ones that can send us oil or, say, iPhones)! Don't complain! Just wear a mask! Eliminate cows (too much CO2)! Putin apologist! VAXX everyone! I feel like I was forced to sit and watch 2 years of NCAA cheerleading competitions except this is not as entertaining and much, much dumber. Is anyone amused that we are now asking Saudi Arabia and Iraq for more oil (while they toss gays off buildings and treat women like, well, never mind) and would prefer to lay waste to Israel in one nuclear strike, if they could? I want to get off this carnival ride. Make it stop! Stop the Spread!
Like most Americans, I'm surprisingly comfortable with Russia incinerating Washington. Do they make lo-carb nukes with minimal fallout?
There's one tiny bit of shortsightedness in your reporting, a myopia you share with Taibbi and lots of other independents I greatly respect. The story that got us here was not a series of random twists and turns. Yes, smugnorant liberals are preprogrammed to hate Putin because of Russiagate. But Russiagate wasn't an accident. There is an unbroken line between the Wolfowitz/Nuland grand vision of petroimperial conquest of Russia, the selection of Hillary as candidate, the blaming of Putin for Hillary's loss, the coordinated media-wide disinfo campaign against Russia, the wetting of the Bidens' beaks in theUkraine, the forced elevation of last-place candidate Biden to the presidency, the vampiric resurrection of Victorian Nuland, the intentional provocation of Russia to war, and the current coordinated state and media total information war against Russia.
The neocons have been driving this war. They are almost at the gates. And they plan further aggressions they have not told us yet. Anybody who still sees this story as one of western reaction to russian action is blind.
I survived the attack on Kauai! No big deal! Slept through it, had coffee, it was all over with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Hawaii_false_missile_alert
Interesting responses. Are Tracey fans a self-selecting group?
I will never be okay with my country being attacked and I am not okay in principle with military aggression by anyone, but neither am I a pacifist. Having said that, I reluctantly think you could right about the intent of provocations.
The question is what happens when they get what they want? At best this is posturing for public consumption, but they act like children. On the other hand I have seen terrible outcomes already in my lifetime even when millions of Americans were protesting
I'm with you. I've thought about this. If they decide they're going to bomb us, I'm going to start looking up coordinates for DC and a bunch of others.
And, yes, this is a long time in the making with a hundred missteps that the media have omitted to mention.
But they weren’t missteps. Not from their point of view. They’re part of a plan.
Agree. Sorry, poor choice of words.
The number of major US political figures calling for a "no fly zone"—which everyone now understands would entail direct military confrontation with Russia—is truly one of the most reckless and terrifying developments I've seen in recent years... and that's saying something. Yet nevertheless, I doubt that America's security establishment has any intention (at least for the moment) of getting involved in a shooting war with Russia. I fear the actual objective is to "lead on" the Ukrainians, providing them false hope, so they'll keep fighting and making poor strategic decisions with respect to their future prospects vis-à-vis Russia and Europe. I recently wrote an article entitled, "America and Her Allies Will Stand United and Fight Russia to the Last Ukrainian," and delves into this notion a little deeper if anyone wants to check it out.
https://colinsims.substack.com/p/america-and-her-allies-will-stand?s=w
It really is a tragedy for everyone involved, though of course, mostly for the Ukrainians. Yet from an American perspective, it is very sad that the government so frequently does stuff like this in our name.
Every one of the saber rattling pols in DC should be required to have their sons and daughters join the military and shipped to the front lines in the event of the war the want the US to join. As has been the case since the second world war, politicians drum up war fever so they can send other people's kids to die. War is sometimes necessary, but for the US this one ain't. As unjust as this war is, the US doesn't have any vital interest in its outcome. The argument for joining in it based upon the notion that Russia will just invade other countries afterward is specious and simple bootstrapping. How about we wait and see if that happens before we jump into another world war.
I've started telling friends that if you really want to support Ukraine, get a one way ticket to Kiev and pack a lunch and of course, some body armor and the usual 2nd amendment accoutrements (semi-auto, scoped rifle, hunting knife, etc) - if you aren't willing to fight for the death for it, why send your neighbor's son or daughter? People are strange.
Is that so, Theophilus?
Oh, sorry. I thought you were referring to my comment. My bad.
What's important to remember is how successful America has been spreading democracy with bombs. Nothing says freedom like living in rubble with mercenary factions, armed to the teeth patrolling your streets.
"In order to win a war, doesn’t one have to wage it first?"
Declaring the war first would be appreciated but seemingly unnecessary.
All the noise is meaningless. I've seen strong evidence that the leadership realizes that intervention is suicidal. This is the usual noise; no one will get what they want, or if they do they will get the moonscape that such a foolish policy deserves. I have much less fear of that now than a week ago.
We've been doing a lot of stupid things lately, and like Putin, the elites in DC would walk over a mountain of corpses to stay in power, but I do hope you're right.
I don't know how a mountain of corpses would keep them in power in this situation.
Depends on which corpses and who gets the blame. That might be the only way they stay in power. Mob mentality is an incredible thing if you can harness it, and dead bodies are a great distraction.
You must not remember the dozens of times the world almost ended unintentionally.
I hope you are correct
I feel pretty confident based on what I am seeing.
Thank you for just reporting and any "bias" I see is just pointing out the obvious: that if we "close the skies," we de facto are declaring war on Russia and we want to understand the consequences of doing that. This isn't Hollywood where we all die at the end and then miraculously show up in the sequel.
Thank you for this report Michael. It makes sense to me, esp that it is older [males] with memories who don't want WW3 right away
FYI -- Last summer Vladimir Putin wrote an article about the historical relationship between Russia and Ukraine.
https://russiaeu.ru/en/news/article-russian-president-vladimir-putin-historical-unity-russians-and-ukrainians
In summary - US made Putin intervention "regrettable but NECESSARY".
Don't want you to miss this: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/12/russia-calls-western-arms-shipments-ukraine-legitimate-targets
It’s moments like this that remind how deeply irresponsible Biden and the DNC were in their VP pick. Biden has to see out the next 2.5 years.
Close the sky! Don't import or use any oil (especially from say, Russia or Anwar or from dirty Canadian pipelines)! Don't Drill (except in foreign countries) NIMBY! Fight Despots (except the ones that can send us oil or, say, iPhones)! Don't complain! Just wear a mask! Eliminate cows (too much CO2)! Putin apologist! VAXX everyone! I feel like I was forced to sit and watch 2 years of NCAA cheerleading competitions except this is not as entertaining and much, much dumber. Is anyone amused that we are now asking Saudi Arabia and Iraq for more oil (while they toss gays off buildings and treat women like, well, never mind) and would prefer to lay waste to Israel in one nuclear strike, if they could? I want to get off this carnival ride. Make it stop! Stop the Spread!
This did not happen. You lie. Tell me you’re lying. Omg.
NOOOOOOO. It’s worse than I expected. The planes carried a message clearly written by a retarded seven year old.