Today, Wednesday, February 16, 2022, Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine. This is the second month of a crisis involving an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine that has, thankfully, not yet materialized. With the 24-hour news cycles, it seems a lot longer. This particular bit of the crisis began last Friday afternoon when PBS NewsHour’s foreign policy correspondent, Nick Schifrin tweeted: “NEW: The US believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and has communicated that decision to the Russian military, three Western and defense officials tell me.” A follow-up stated: “The US expects the invasion to begin next week, six US and Western officials tell me, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last night.” At the time the tweet went out, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was addressing the issue in a White House press conference, warning that - given all the Russian military movement U.S. intelligence had observed - there was a “very distinct possibility” that Russia would invade “on a very swift time frame.” But he stopped pretty far short of saying it would happen this week. “As we’ve said before, we are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time should Vladimir Putin decide to order it.”
Bang! The current fly in the ointment is the incessant, fear mongering Pavlov is dog that is the 24 hour news cycle. If we keep em scared, they will never turn the channel.
As a student of history, good /effective diplomacy is like a well tuned Symphony orchestra.
Or a chess game. That's why people who work in the State Department are career diplomats.
Trump fucks it all up by having good, decades long staff leave because he can't pour shit out of a boot if the directions were written on the heel.
Again, couple this with a mainstream media that masturbates all over itself with war fever and you'll swear the spirit of Bernard Shaw under a desk in Baghdad is alive and well. For an excellent and funny look ( yes, ha, ha) on this check Stephen Colbert's monologue tonight, 2/16.
Yeah, we had yellow journalism, the press drooling for war, NYC with 12 daily papers, "Remember the Main", it is so much worse now.
And it ain't getting better. With a willfully stupid public constantly distracted by small shiny objects ( I like them my self), that twists itself into a pretzel over not making white people feel bad about history, just pour all these ingredients together and there's your shit storm right there.
Thanks for letting me vent. It's my second favorite thing to do.
TC, I had trouble following WARMONGERS OR PEACNIKS?. It started out with Biden Information War. Putin's will he or won't he take some sort of military action against Ukraine mixed in with that. Out of the blue came your eastern European friends who used to be strong advocates of democracy and are now supporting Russia's position. You don't say why. Missile bases in Romania and Poland do represent a threat to Russia. NATO - US aren't budging on those. I needed more exposition to get the drift of this one.
I make it a practice to read German news every day, and to watch news from German tv in German. What I saw last night for example was a report from a 37 year old Ukranian (of Russian descent) who said straight out that he has no intention of giving into Putin's threats and if there is war, he and others will fight for their country. Yesterday there was a huge pubic outpouring for peace in Ukraine and resistance to Putin and his plans. As another local journalist reported (one who is still reporting although chances are her opinions will soon have her shut down) is that Putin needs to distract people from the disasters happening in Russia. He's imprisoning every opponent, although he has re-written the Russian constitution allowing him to remain in charge for the next 15 years! If the west, if Europe, if the U.S., if NATO do not stand up together against this kind of coercion, then lights out people. As another Ukrainian stated "Putin is a bully and there is only one thing to do about a bully." What we do not hear in the U.S. is that the Minsk "accords" were signed when Poroshenko, a leading supporter of Russia, of Putin, and Ukraine staying in the orbit of Russian influence, is that there was an agreement to have Ukriane cede the "break away" Dombas to Russia and call it an "autonomous zone". The events that forced Poroshenko from power and had him hurry off to Russia, brought real elections to Ukraine. And now there are people in place who are determined to get out from under Russia's thumb. What about the whole NATO / EU thing? Well those documents were signed in Munich way back in 1997. In them (and Putin was somewhere in the mix although it was his immediate predecessor who agreed to the terms) it was determined that all the former republics that had by then broken away from Russia (USSR) were sovereign and allowed to make their own decisions free of coercion. That could mean depending on the situation, former USSR states joining NATO. The Baltic states did that. They are the eastern flank now bordering Ukraine and Russia. It is a messy history but it is my opinion the U.S. media is not smart enough to explain the long sweep of the past 25-30 years since the USSR collapsed into economic rubble, much like East Germany did at the end of 1989. We are not getting the story. AND on top of all of that TCL is correct - the Ukrainians remember Stalin and what happened to them under Stalin. And Chernobyl's wreck is located in Ukraine. Not to mention a raft of nuclear weapons. And now Belarus is likely to become the place Russia stations nuclear weapons. Good old Lukaschenko, a clone of Putin.
Bang! The current fly in the ointment is the incessant, fear mongering Pavlov is dog that is the 24 hour news cycle. If we keep em scared, they will never turn the channel.
As a student of history, good /effective diplomacy is like a well tuned Symphony orchestra.
Or a chess game. That's why people who work in the State Department are career diplomats.
Trump fucks it all up by having good, decades long staff leave because he can't pour shit out of a boot if the directions were written on the heel.
Again, couple this with a mainstream media that masturbates all over itself with war fever and you'll swear the spirit of Bernard Shaw under a desk in Baghdad is alive and well. For an excellent and funny look ( yes, ha, ha) on this check Stephen Colbert's monologue tonight, 2/16.
Yeah, we had yellow journalism, the press drooling for war, NYC with 12 daily papers, "Remember the Main", it is so much worse now.
And it ain't getting better. With a willfully stupid public constantly distracted by small shiny objects ( I like them my self), that twists itself into a pretzel over not making white people feel bad about history, just pour all these ingredients together and there's your shit storm right there.
Thanks for letting me vent. It's my second favorite thing to do.
Mark Galeotti called it Schroedinger's war. I love it
TC, I had trouble following WARMONGERS OR PEACNIKS?. It started out with Biden Information War. Putin's will he or won't he take some sort of military action against Ukraine mixed in with that. Out of the blue came your eastern European friends who used to be strong advocates of democracy and are now supporting Russia's position. You don't say why. Missile bases in Romania and Poland do represent a threat to Russia. NATO - US aren't budging on those. I needed more exposition to get the drift of this one.
I make it a practice to read German news every day, and to watch news from German tv in German. What I saw last night for example was a report from a 37 year old Ukranian (of Russian descent) who said straight out that he has no intention of giving into Putin's threats and if there is war, he and others will fight for their country. Yesterday there was a huge pubic outpouring for peace in Ukraine and resistance to Putin and his plans. As another local journalist reported (one who is still reporting although chances are her opinions will soon have her shut down) is that Putin needs to distract people from the disasters happening in Russia. He's imprisoning every opponent, although he has re-written the Russian constitution allowing him to remain in charge for the next 15 years! If the west, if Europe, if the U.S., if NATO do not stand up together against this kind of coercion, then lights out people. As another Ukrainian stated "Putin is a bully and there is only one thing to do about a bully." What we do not hear in the U.S. is that the Minsk "accords" were signed when Poroshenko, a leading supporter of Russia, of Putin, and Ukraine staying in the orbit of Russian influence, is that there was an agreement to have Ukriane cede the "break away" Dombas to Russia and call it an "autonomous zone". The events that forced Poroshenko from power and had him hurry off to Russia, brought real elections to Ukraine. And now there are people in place who are determined to get out from under Russia's thumb. What about the whole NATO / EU thing? Well those documents were signed in Munich way back in 1997. In them (and Putin was somewhere in the mix although it was his immediate predecessor who agreed to the terms) it was determined that all the former republics that had by then broken away from Russia (USSR) were sovereign and allowed to make their own decisions free of coercion. That could mean depending on the situation, former USSR states joining NATO. The Baltic states did that. They are the eastern flank now bordering Ukraine and Russia. It is a messy history but it is my opinion the U.S. media is not smart enough to explain the long sweep of the past 25-30 years since the USSR collapsed into economic rubble, much like East Germany did at the end of 1989. We are not getting the story. AND on top of all of that TCL is correct - the Ukrainians remember Stalin and what happened to them under Stalin. And Chernobyl's wreck is located in Ukraine. Not to mention a raft of nuclear weapons. And now Belarus is likely to become the place Russia stations nuclear weapons. Good old Lukaschenko, a clone of Putin.