Weekly Roundup
Putin starts WWIII, Biden is exactly the POTUS we need in this moment, and Republicans commit treason… Again
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Putin starts WWIII:
So, I was wrong. Vladimir Putin really is batshit crazy enough to start World War III. Yesterday, Russia invaded Ukraine and set the stage for war in Europe between Russia and Ukraine, along with America and our NATO allies. As an added twist, he had Russian troops seize the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. You know, that’s the one that leaked radiation so severely, it created a nuclear winter in 1986 that made Pripyat, Ukraine uninhabitable for the last thirty-five years. Putin is so batshit crazy and obsessed with acquiring Ukraine, and on a larger scale, reinstating the old Soviet Union, his invasion set Russian stocks in free fall and destroyed the value of the ruble, on top of the latest round of economic sanctions America placed on Russia this week with more to be imposed directly on Putin himself.
It turns out, Putin is so batshit crazy, he has decided to risk the wrath of the rest of the world’s most powerful countries and tank his own economy in the process just to bring back another Cold War, with Russia ruling over the losing side. Again.
And why an abandoned toxic nuclear plant? Is his plan to threaten the leak of more radiation all over Ukraine and Belarus (because Chernobyl still isn’t fully contained) and their surrounding neighbors if NATO doesn’t give him what he wants? If Ukraine doesn’t just surrender itself to him and fall under the control of Russia again, followed by all the other countries Russia lost when the Cold War ended? This is like something Trump would do, an insane power grab just to watch the world burn, and I honestly thought Putin was smarter than this.
America doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, and Putin is nothing more than a terrorist. Just because Putin hasn’t moved on from the Cold War, doesn’t mean the rest of the world hasn’t. Does he seriously think democratically free countries are just going to roll over and let him take them back to the 1950s?
Does Putin seriously not understand just how alone Russia is this time around? Almost all the world’s most powerful countries are allied against him, and he is about to feel the severe adverse economic impact of his ill-conceived plan. And for what? NATO is not going to let him have Ukraine against their will, and it will likely result in Ukraine becoming an outright NATO member, something to which Putin has expressed venomous objections.
Allies to Ukraine who have sided with America and NATO to oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and attempted expansion in Europe: All have imposed economic sanctions, bans or some other kind of economic punishment on Putin and Russia, and/or publicly voiced their support of defending Ukraine’s right as a sovereign country.
The United States of America; the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden); The United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland); Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
Countries who have already or are expected to align themselves with Russia:
Belarus and China.
I do not see this ending well for Putin.
February 24, 2022
Biden is exactly the POTUS we need in this moment:
From here on out, I am calling President Joe Biden “Honest Joe,” because when he said “No Malarkey!” on the campaign trail, it wasn’t just a catchy sound bite he could put on the side of the bus, Biden absolutely meant it. He really has no tolerance for bullshit, domestically or abroad, and I am loving every single minute of it.
In just one year in office, President Biden has managed to repair the damage his predecessor caused to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and unite NATO in full force against Russia to defend Ukraine and stop Putin’s ambition to re-establish the former Soviet Union and start a second Cold War; and he managed to do this even though Ukraine is not even yet a full member of NATO.
As opposed to the reactionary bloviations of his predecessor, Biden calmly reassured a nervous American public that American troops will not be fighting Russian forces on the ground, but defending our NATO allies positioned in Germany, forcefully stating “An attack on one is an attack on all,” that “cannot go unanswered.” He has throughout this crisis remained calm, poised, absolute, resolved, honest and straightforward, and transparently disgusted with Vladimir Putin.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022, Biden immediately launched a full-scale invasion of his own, in the form of massive economic sanctions and other measures against Russia, Putin’s inner circle of kleptocrats, and possibly Putin himself on a scale that has never been imposed before on anybody.
Does he believe this will stop Putin? No. Biden is playing the long game, expecting the economic hardship to gradually take its toll on both Putin and the Russian people who have been victims of Putin’s propaganda. Forces in Moscow have already had to arrest over 1,000 protestors against the war.
Announcing the coordinated efforts of “A coalition of partners representing half of the world’s economy,” who have committed to ensuring “Russia will be limited in its ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, yen…” President Biden has proven his diplomatic skills on the world stage, as well as his understanding of the American people’s reluctance to get involved in yet another war; and he has managed to bridge the gap between the two.
These partners consist of twenty-seven members of the European Union, among others.
Refusing to even talk to Putin, Biden assured us that “Putin will be a pariah on the international stage” flapping in the wind alone surrounded by enemies who will no longer engage with him in business or politics, starving Putin of both money and an audience. It is fucking brilliant.
Unconcerned that this crisis has created a “total rupture” in U.S.-Russia relations, Biden simply stated the facts as he saw it: “He’s [Putin] going to test the resolve of the West to see if we stay together. We will.”
Republicans commit treason… Again:
To hurt President Biden and score political points in time for the midterms, you know who isn’t disgusted with Vladimir Putin? Former American President Donald Trump and his Republican minions, who are using this crisis to amplify Putin’s propaganda in their effort to blame President Biden for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and paint Biden as “weak” in a coordinated messaging campaign in complete alignment with Russia. Trump went as far as to call Putin “smart” and his tactics “genius” on the Laura Ingraham show by stating Putin wouldn’t have dared invade Ukraine under his watch, which is a non-sequitur, even for him.
And his statements supporting Putin were then aired in Russia.
Of course Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine under Trump’s watch, not because Trump is some kind of strong opponent or Putin would have been less “smart” and “genius” in his effort, but because Trump would have simply given Putin the keys to the whole country, and then declared Ukraine new Russian territory at Putin’s behest as he withdrew America from NATO and told them to suck it.
Trump’s love of Putin is hardly a secret. Trump wants Putin’s business. He wants to be a player in Russia. He wants his hotel in Moscow, and he has been very clear about his loyalty to Putin over the United States of America, which has, apparently, extended to Republican leadership as well.
This new messaging campaign is so ridiculous, even Mitch McConnell is struggling to give it a half-assed try in a would-have, should-have, could-have hindsight quarterbacking kind of way, stating that Biden simply didn’t do the sanctions and other stuff early enough or fast enough or hardcore enough, while Republicans also desperately try to credit Mitt Romney for ominously foreseeing this entire crisis back in 2012 on the presidential campaign trail. Remember that? It was when Barack Obama famously told Romney, “The 1980s are calling to ask for their foreign policy back,” because Romney said Russia was America’s greatest geopolitical threat.
This might have actually made sense, giving Romney some much-deserved credit for recognizing this elephant in the room everybody else was publicly ignoring at the time, if only Republicans hadn’t foisted Putin-loving Trump on us and actually opened the door to the Russian invasion we are dealing with now, because they refused to hold Trump accountable for being the treasonist bastard that he is when they had the chance.
The only great thing in all of this is that the sanctions Biden imposed against Russia include severe punishments against any American who tries to do business with Russia. It seems Putin’s “smart” and “genius” invasion just destroyed any chance Trump had of getting his hotel in Moscow.
Weekend Music Roundup:
Part of President Biden’s blatant disgust with Putin, he said, is because Putin’s reason for invasion is based on the “made-up threat” that Russia’s security was somehow at risk. “War” by Edwin Starr is a timeless classic that is always appropriate as America begins the weekend forced into a new war that, as Biden rightly said, could not “go unanswered.”
Have a fabulous weekend, everybody. Stay safe out there.