As an army veteran I am proudly anti-war. And right now, we have war zones right here that need to be dealt with. We still have the fallout from the "pandemic" to deal with. We have monsters right here that need to be brought to justice. I refuse to let what's happening in a place that we have no business interfering with get me sidetracked. After all, the monsters haven't finished right here with their insane shots, masks, passports, destroying currency, locking down, carbon taxes and the list goes on and on and on. The "powers" hope we'll just forget what they've done while they meddle somewhere else. I'm having none of it. Focus on America and her insane "leaders".
Having taught at the Air Force Academy in the philosophy department, I’ll add that “Just War Theory” has helped neither us nor those to whom we’ve exported it. If we could drop that, regain energy independence, and stop over-committing/over-meddling militarily, we could be formidable once again. But as it stands, cat, you are right. Sigh.
Well said. The US should stop empire building. And above all, stop telling the rest of the world how to live. Rainbow flags. Reparations. Mask-distance-jab. Men in women's bathrooms. Green energy. Stop it! Putin can at least tell men from women.
There is some substance to Russia's claims. Maybe not enough to justify war, but the provocations about NATO and shellings were real.
The best argument for American isolationism I’ve ever read! The idiots In the swamp need to focus on fixing our country and let the world handle their own issues. One day we’ll face a nation that will bring the war to us. Maybe then we’ll see the error of our ways. High price to pay for our history of arrogance.
That's exactly it. Some people read history, some people endlessly watch the news.
Those who read history realise that history keeps on going, and while the personalities and technologies may change, people and their motives don't, and nations and empires continue to rise and fall. Those who endlessly watch the news think that history began yesterday, that we are in an entirely new situation, and that what their politicians are telling them is the honest truth.
Prof John Mearsheimer makes that point in his excellent address at the University of Chicago in 2015 - entitled "Why is Ukraine the West's fault?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4
Excellent piece. I can see our administration, frustrated at its impotence against Putin, lashing out against its citizens at home. This endless chatter about the threat from non-existent "white supremacists" is setting the stage for such an action.
I supported the Canadian truckers, but am fearful about the US trucker convoy. The potential of the multitudinous nefarious characters inhabiting the DC swamp staging another "insurrection" and using it to declare martial law has presented itself on a platter. At this point I put nothing past these dissembling, self-righteous liars.
A better move for the truckers would be to simply stay home until all mandates were dropped. William Briggs had an excellent piece on this maneuver over on his substack.
But you're underlying premise is that Russia is to Ukraine as the allegorical scorpion is to the turtle: always expansionist and therefore fated to pursue this course of action.
Sadly, we'll never know the truth. Due to America's short-sidedness we have reneged on our promise to limit the growth of NATO - an organization that should have ceased to exist either the day after the USSR dissolved or at least when Germany decided to stop contributing to its own defense.
Russia, whether you like them or not, has legitimate national defense interests. And they are massively threatened by the presence of advanced weapons systems in Warsaw-pact countries. America's overthrow in 2014 of the democratically elected pro-Russia Ukrainian government is what made today's action inevitable. Other arguments may have weight, but they are superfluous. It didn't happen during the Trump years because it was unnecessary: Trump respected other nations' sovereignty, unlike every other US president of recent vintage. Also, Trump was not weak-kneed and demented.
As an old cat who was a kitten during the Cuban Missile Crisis and remembers Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the UN and saying "We will bury you"--you are spot on when you talk about Russia playing the long game. There is another thing that the US is not good at, which its "allies" and "friends" would be wise to consider, and that is keeping its promises. Ask any Native American tribe about that. Frankly I am surprised that ANY country would trust us any more. I certainly wouldn't. And attacking Russia from the West is simply suicide. Napoleon tried it, Hitler tried it; the British had some success in the Crimea but it came at a horrific cost. I think we have more than enough problems right here at home, leave Russia and Ukraine alone.
El gato’s general theme of US foreign policy being utterly disastrous is well taken, but some of the the historical examples are suspect. For one, the US did not have supreme influence on the terrible terms imposed on Germany by GB and France after WWI. A non-idiot, which Wilson wasn’t, would have made the case for a much-eased and thoughtful reconsideration of the harsh terms of reparations, but Americans didn’t spearhead the placing of that time bomb into Europe’s living room. For another, Yalta was no frivolous give away to the USSR. The fact was that the USSR largely defeated the Nazis—the US had by far the minor role. Was the US seriously going to challenge Stalin over territory that the Russian Bear had secured from the Germans? The Japanese had yet to be defeated and it was crucial that the US secure Russia’s support in that exhausting effort. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin were all extremely tough and smart. If anything Truman’s and Eisenhower’s subsequent policies, guided by foreign policy architects Allen and John Foster Dulles (both of whom were rabid anti-commie fascists) doomed the fate of Central Europeans and Russians for decades thru their crazed pitbull foreign policies, negatively impacting hundreds of millions of people all around the globe.
Our current debacle is a direct outgrowth of the Dulles brother influence (1930s - 1960s), which gave away the farm to the military industrial complex resulting in the strange profit-oriented foreign policies that have guided the US ever since WWII. This shift away from national interest is why our policies make little sense at all and why we’ve screwed up nearly every thing we’ve touched in the foreign policy realm. It’s the same disease that has driven our Covid response from the outset: Profits Over People.
Was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inevitable? Given promises in the 1990s by the Americans that NATO would not expand to Ukraine and the subsequent over-all disrespectful, contemptuous policy toward the wounded Russian bear after the fall of the USSR, yes, it was inevitable.
The grifter class needs conflict to create opportunities of dependence, those foreign aid packages of small arms and ammo aren't going to sell themselves.
Besides, the USA and European "leaders" need a distraction to take all of their citizen's eyes off the increasing deaths caused by the vaxx. About the only thing they have left rhat is sensational enough is a cold war with the world's boogeyman, Putin.
As an army veteran I am proudly anti-war. And right now, we have war zones right here that need to be dealt with. We still have the fallout from the "pandemic" to deal with. We have monsters right here that need to be brought to justice. I refuse to let what's happening in a place that we have no business interfering with get me sidetracked. After all, the monsters haven't finished right here with their insane shots, masks, passports, destroying currency, locking down, carbon taxes and the list goes on and on and on. The "powers" hope we'll just forget what they've done while they meddle somewhere else. I'm having none of it. Focus on America and her insane "leaders".
Having taught at the Air Force Academy in the philosophy department, I’ll add that “Just War Theory” has helped neither us nor those to whom we’ve exported it. If we could drop that, regain energy independence, and stop over-committing/over-meddling militarily, we could be formidable once again. But as it stands, cat, you are right. Sigh.
Well said. The US should stop empire building. And above all, stop telling the rest of the world how to live. Rainbow flags. Reparations. Mask-distance-jab. Men in women's bathrooms. Green energy. Stop it! Putin can at least tell men from women.
There is some substance to Russia's claims. Maybe not enough to justify war, but the provocations about NATO and shellings were real.
The best argument for American isolationism I’ve ever read! The idiots In the swamp need to focus on fixing our country and let the world handle their own issues. One day we’ll face a nation that will bring the war to us. Maybe then we’ll see the error of our ways. High price to pay for our history of arrogance.
An outstanding piece Gato! Thank you.
"Players like Russia think in decades.
The US thinks in terms of news cycles."
That's exactly it. Some people read history, some people endlessly watch the news.
Those who read history realise that history keeps on going, and while the personalities and technologies may change, people and their motives don't, and nations and empires continue to rise and fall. Those who endlessly watch the news think that history began yesterday, that we are in an entirely new situation, and that what their politicians are telling them is the honest truth.
Prof John Mearsheimer makes that point in his excellent address at the University of Chicago in 2015 - entitled "Why is Ukraine the West's fault?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4
And he is still right on target this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbj1AR_aAcE
Excellent piece. I can see our administration, frustrated at its impotence against Putin, lashing out against its citizens at home. This endless chatter about the threat from non-existent "white supremacists" is setting the stage for such an action.
I supported the Canadian truckers, but am fearful about the US trucker convoy. The potential of the multitudinous nefarious characters inhabiting the DC swamp staging another "insurrection" and using it to declare martial law has presented itself on a platter. At this point I put nothing past these dissembling, self-righteous liars.
A better move for the truckers would be to simply stay home until all mandates were dropped. William Briggs had an excellent piece on this maneuver over on his substack.
I agree with nearly everything you wrote.
But you're underlying premise is that Russia is to Ukraine as the allegorical scorpion is to the turtle: always expansionist and therefore fated to pursue this course of action.
Sadly, we'll never know the truth. Due to America's short-sidedness we have reneged on our promise to limit the growth of NATO - an organization that should have ceased to exist either the day after the USSR dissolved or at least when Germany decided to stop contributing to its own defense.
Russia, whether you like them or not, has legitimate national defense interests. And they are massively threatened by the presence of advanced weapons systems in Warsaw-pact countries. America's overthrow in 2014 of the democratically elected pro-Russia Ukrainian government is what made today's action inevitable. Other arguments may have weight, but they are superfluous. It didn't happen during the Trump years because it was unnecessary: Trump respected other nations' sovereignty, unlike every other US president of recent vintage. Also, Trump was not weak-kneed and demented.
For me it feels like a chess move but not Russia against Ukraine/EU/US but rather elites against us, ordinary folks.
All eyes are on Ukraine and now suddenly
Inflation,
excess deaths,
vaxx genocide,
piece of sars-cov2 furin cleavage site on 2018 Moderna patent,
WHO contarcting T-Systems to make global vaccine passports
are all topics that are not so important.
It's Putin's part of the script and he is playing it.
As an old cat who was a kitten during the Cuban Missile Crisis and remembers Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the UN and saying "We will bury you"--you are spot on when you talk about Russia playing the long game. There is another thing that the US is not good at, which its "allies" and "friends" would be wise to consider, and that is keeping its promises. Ask any Native American tribe about that. Frankly I am surprised that ANY country would trust us any more. I certainly wouldn't. And attacking Russia from the West is simply suicide. Napoleon tried it, Hitler tried it; the British had some success in the Crimea but it came at a horrific cost. I think we have more than enough problems right here at home, leave Russia and Ukraine alone.
It’s all Woodrow Wilsons fault. It really is. Scott Horton explains it in 5 minutes too. https://youtu.be/UUnly2clTMo
PS: this latest charade was to pivot away from Covid narrative collapse and legal shit hitting the fan.
“The only winning move is not to play.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpmGXeAtWUw
El gato’s general theme of US foreign policy being utterly disastrous is well taken, but some of the the historical examples are suspect. For one, the US did not have supreme influence on the terrible terms imposed on Germany by GB and France after WWI. A non-idiot, which Wilson wasn’t, would have made the case for a much-eased and thoughtful reconsideration of the harsh terms of reparations, but Americans didn’t spearhead the placing of that time bomb into Europe’s living room. For another, Yalta was no frivolous give away to the USSR. The fact was that the USSR largely defeated the Nazis—the US had by far the minor role. Was the US seriously going to challenge Stalin over territory that the Russian Bear had secured from the Germans? The Japanese had yet to be defeated and it was crucial that the US secure Russia’s support in that exhausting effort. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin were all extremely tough and smart. If anything Truman’s and Eisenhower’s subsequent policies, guided by foreign policy architects Allen and John Foster Dulles (both of whom were rabid anti-commie fascists) doomed the fate of Central Europeans and Russians for decades thru their crazed pitbull foreign policies, negatively impacting hundreds of millions of people all around the globe.
Our current debacle is a direct outgrowth of the Dulles brother influence (1930s - 1960s), which gave away the farm to the military industrial complex resulting in the strange profit-oriented foreign policies that have guided the US ever since WWII. This shift away from national interest is why our policies make little sense at all and why we’ve screwed up nearly every thing we’ve touched in the foreign policy realm. It’s the same disease that has driven our Covid response from the outset: Profits Over People.
Was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inevitable? Given promises in the 1990s by the Americans that NATO would not expand to Ukraine and the subsequent over-all disrespectful, contemptuous policy toward the wounded Russian bear after the fall of the USSR, yes, it was inevitable.
The grifter class needs conflict to create opportunities of dependence, those foreign aid packages of small arms and ammo aren't going to sell themselves.
Besides, the USA and European "leaders" need a distraction to take all of their citizen's eyes off the increasing deaths caused by the vaxx. About the only thing they have left rhat is sensational enough is a cold war with the world's boogeyman, Putin.
Right on.
We should defend our borders, not theirs.
If I was king of Taiwan I would be mining the strait immediately