my pleasure..I'll ask for my "like" button back now that Rune isn't hear to junk it up with endless groaning#135 Excellent anatta. Thanks.
my pleasure..I'll ask for my "like" button back now that Rune isn't hear to junk it up with endless groaning#135 Excellent anatta. Thanks.
To seek the general in the specifics?
You can't see Putin's play is superior, despite a weaker hand?
"stronger" is inaccurate -it's stupid mano a mano simplicity.Here's the Pence quotation:
"Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country."
Obama, by far!"Who is the better geo-politicaly skilled?"
Obama, by far!
Invading and annexing Crimea is the act of boor, a troglodyte.
With the high concentrations of ethnic Russians in Crimea, Putin could have sponsored a plebiscite. They could have voted themselves back into the fold; and there wouldn't have been a peep out of NATO or the West.
Instead:
Putin has:
- Bounced himself out of the G8
- plunged the Russian ruble
- tanked the Russian economy
- degraded Russia's standing in the world.
And Syria's Assad is a wildly unpopular and ruthless dictator.
Putin supports Assad.
And Russian military ops are blamed for very high collateral casualty warfare to prop Assad up.
Putin is a thug.
And if your idea of strength is thugishness then I hope you won't be voting this November.
You think I'm kidding?
Testosterone poisoning is fine.
But perhaps the most powerful leader in Western Europe doesn't even have external gonads.
She's Germany's Angela Merkel. And she punches above her weight class both in NATO & in the E.U.
The problem with thinking as simple-minded as yours is, as in this case, it's so often simply WRONG.
It became a necessity when Kyiv was being lobbied from the west.Obama, by far!
Invading and annexing Crimea is the act of boor, a troglodyte.
yes there would have been a peep, that a plebiscite was not legitimate. Why take a risk of failure, or get bogged down in questions of legitimacy.With the high concentrations of ethnic Russians in Crimea, Putin could have sponsored a plebiscite. They could have voted themselves back into the fold; and there wouldn't have been a peep out of NATO or the West.
Russia's standing amoung it's allied has never been stronger. They are even getting some working security /economic relations with China, that weren't there before..Who cares about the G-8? as mentioned before it's cheap gas that is hurting Russia.nstead:
Putin has:
- Bounced himself out of the G8
- plunged the Russian ruble
- tanked the Russian economy
- degraded Russia's standing in the world.
with the carnage in Syria -Russian bombings of hospitals are barely noticed. the country is a cauldron- 9000dead by Russian bombers goes un-noticed.And Syria's Assad is a wildly unpopular and ruthless dictator.
Putin supports Assad.
And Russian military ops are blamed for very high collateral casualty warfare to prop Assad up.
Thug or not he is effectively winning his gambits. The countries of the middle east do not seeany moral leadership by Obama as worthy.Putin is a thug.
And if your idea of strength is thugishness then I hope you won't be voting this November.
Merkel's only strength is she is PM of Germany. I don't see her as effective, other then the fact Germany is the most powerful counrty in the EU.But perhaps the most powerful leader in Western Europe doesn't even have external gonads.
She's Germany's Angela Merkel. And she punches above her weight class both in NATO & in the E.U
Putin's message at the U.N. podium Monday was a simple one: U.S. interventions and unilateralism have backfired in the Middle East, and it is time to try something new.
Not our problem. They uninstalled Bush's hand picked govt., and they made a decision based on the wishes of the people.Are you ignoring the fact that they came to realize that was a bad idea as everyone knew they would ?
By your logic, Obama should invade Mexico instead of worrying about a border wall?It became a necessity when Kyiv was being lobbied from the west.
It was an act of a Russian bear , not a boor - don't try to corner Putin away from his naval base
yes there would have been a peep, that a plebiscite was not legitimate. Why take a risk of failure, or get bogged down in questions of legitimacy.
Carpe diem by seizing the national security needs of unfettered access
I Russia's standing amoung it's allied has never been stronger. They are even getting some working security /economic relations with China, that weren't there before..Who cares about the G-8? as mentioned before it's cheap gas that is hurting Russia.
with the carnage in Syria -Russian bombings of hospitals are barely noticed. the country is a cauldron- 9000dead by Russian bombers goes un-noticed.
Assad is still the elected ruler. But no one in Syria is widely popular. It's completely fractured.
Allof whis is of secondary importance to Russia - expansion with hard/soft power into the mideast is the goal.
Syria is now a naval and air base to do it.
Thug or not he is effectively winning his gambits. The countries of the middle east do not seeany moral leadership by Obama as worthy.
The only thing that matters is power, and alliances, and Putin is expanding his, while our's falter.
Merkel's only strength is she is PM of Germany. I don't see her as effective, other then the fact Germany is the most powerful counrty in the EU.
Her leadership adds nothing to Germany's extant
Agree. Even though Pence remained cool, the issues that Kaine raised will be at the top of the news cycles once the Monday morning quarterbacking is done. Pence's lies are already being debunked.
He's a gifted ass-kisser.
Why not lobby from the East?"It became a necessity when Kyiv was being lobbied from the west." a #167
Putin got into the G7 in the first place, by whining."It was an act of a Russian bear , not a boor - don't try to corner Putin away from his naval base"
You've presumed."that a plebiscite was not legitimate."
Right."Russia's standing amoung it's allied has never been stronger."
Putin."Who cares about the G-8?"
If that's the case then the U.S. should invade and conquer Canada immediately."it's cheap gas that is hurting Russia."
anatta added:"The only thing that matters is power" anatta
"The primitive simplicity of their minds (the masses) rend them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell the big ones ... The victor will never be asked if they told the truth. ... Success is the sole earthly judge of right & wrong."
"Truth is not as important as success." Adolph Hitler
I know a thing or two about Germany."Her leadership adds nothing to Germany's extant" a
#166
I virtually NEVER follow un-teased links. If it's not important enough for you to quote from it, it's not important enough for me.
Why not lobby from the East?
The sad thing is:
a) Putin wanted more respect for Russia. What he's gotten is the opposite. Russia is now a pariah.
b) The long suffering Soviets are now (in Russia, and perhaps in Ukraine) plunged back into needless loss of prosperity and hardship.
Putin got into the G7 in the first place, by whining.
Now he's out because of thuggery.
Lookit anatta: my apparent hypocrisy is not lost on me *. I'm asserting territory should not be obtained by military conquest, from a nation (the United States of America) that was obtained by military conquest.
None the less, Russia is paying a steep price for something it could have had that would have burnished rather than burned its reputation.
You've presumed.
Whatever the case (depending on wording and electoral corruption) likely more legitimate than rolling tanks. Votes express the will of the people. Tanks express the will of their commander. And the U.S. is Founded on at least the fig-leaf of doing the will of the People. Why should not even Crimeans have a right of self-determination? That's not what military annexation is about.
Right.
I didn't say there's no benefit to robbing a bank. The expression is "crime doesn't pay".
Fabulous. So Putin has improved his status among thugs, a den of thieves. Do you really think sucking up to Syria will benefit Russia 10 years from now more than being a reliable trading partner with the West?
Putin.
It's a club of economic titans. Putin got in not with economic prowess but with arm-twisting and pouting.
If that's the case then the U.S. should invade and conquer Canada immediately.
anatta added:
I know a thing or two about Germany.
I've owned German cars.
I've lived in Germany for years.
I married a German woman.
Think what you will. Obviously a plurality of the German electorate did not agree with you. And while Putin rolls tanks and drops bombs to get what he wants, Merkel is a bit more genteel.
* I did not vote for manifest destiny. I simply observe I am the apparent beneficiary, again, at enormous cost. The loss to humanity of the American nations wiped out by Westward expansion is incalculable.
Who is "they"?"And yet, where would they be without us?"
I don't have the Trump quotations before me, but I gather my following comment on Pence applies equally to Trump:"all Trump meant when referring to Putin is that he is an effective world leader."
Putin has substantially LOWERED the standard of living of the Russian people. The international economic sanctions imposed on Russia for Putin's aggressions are severe.CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
PREAMBLE:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [defense], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Right."And it's hard to argue the point when Putin's the biggest thorn in ISIS's side."
man what is with the facile statements? The Ukraine is historically Russia -Mexico and the US are not .By your logic, Obama should invade Mexico instead of worrying about a border wall?
Ukraine was briefly Soviet. Does perpetuating military conquest constitute justice?"The Ukraine is historically Russia"
andUkraine (y¡-krân´)
A region and republic of eastern Europe. Inhabited in early times by Scythians and Sarmatians, the area was ruled by a number of conquerors until it came under the control of Lithuania in the mid-14th century. The Ukraine later passed to Poland and then to Russia (between 1680 and 1793). A short-lived independent republic was proclaimed in 1918. Ukraine was constituent republic of the U.S.S.R. from 1922 to 1991. Kiev is the capital. Population, 50,840,000.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.
I'm vehemently, adamantly opposed to NATO expansion near the Russian border, PRECISELY because of this. It's an IDEAL pretext for Russian mischief."Putin has NATO expansionism up his western border"