The global elite are now saying amongst themselves - "I didn't see that coming."
Through Russia and the US, the global elite have been using Ukraine. They even installed a comedian as the President of the country. Oops...
Turns out that comedian has some leadership chops. This was supposed to be over and forgotten in a couple of days, and "everyone" - except Ukranians - would be happy and richer.
Thank you so much for publishing these first-person accounts. I see the images of bombed buildings and think there’s no way the Ukrainians will be able to withstand so much violence. And then I read this. And it is clear the Ukrainians will fight to the last. God bless them.
Tell me one specific government policy or practice of Trump that was tyrannical. Trump was the most available to the press president in history. Is that something a tyrant does? Trump moved power from DC to the states. Is that something a tyrant does? Trump reduced taxes on the middle class. Is that something a tyrant does? Trump does mean tweets and you can read them or not; tyrants use sharp swords and you never see it coming. Trump did not imprison or persecute his political opponents; that is something tyrants (like the Biden admin now) do.
I know, I know that is is oh so fashionable among the coastal elites to mindlessly follow the NYT and WaPo and call Trump a tyrant. But the facts do no support that position - not that it makes any difference.
If Trump does run in 2024 and gets elected, I may hope that he does turn tyrant and unleashes the fury of the federal machine against all his political opponents. If that's the game that the left wants to play, play it hard and take no prisoners.
I know many people say that about Trump, but if that is true why did he return power to states? Why did he try to reduce the size of the federal regulatory book? Why does he believe in state control of elections - surely that would be a dead giveaway that he doesn't pursue total political control. I have yet to be provided any evidence of Trump increasing the power of the federal government.
Thank you for your response. Donald Trump may have weakened the federal government, but he seems to have strengthened his own power just the same. And not by concentrating power in the office of the President, but by focusing power through himself.
The "Ukraine is full of Nazis" thing from Russia seems to come up a lot. I found this to be a well-researched article. Summary: One unit of the UKR National Guard definitely has solid Neo-Nazi connections, and there is other stuff too, but there is no way to tie it into the whole government, most of the people, and the military overall.
Many of the leaders of the 2014 "insurrection" were Far Right and/or Nazis (more the descendants of unreformed Nazis than Neo-Nazis). For their role, they were given appointed positions in the government. As a consequence, to this day, these people have an outsize role in (the corrupt) Ukrainian government, compared to what their meager showing in elections would suggest.
So while the majority of the Ukrainian people are not voting for Nazi candidates, they nevertheless seem willing to tolerate their government's embrace of "Nazi heroes." And Ukrainians (in the west part of Ukraine, at least) do consider Nazis to be their WWII heroes. It was Nazis vs Russians then, and they hated the Russians.
While all of this logical in terms of Ukrainian history, the long and short of it is that there is more tolerance for lingering Nazi ideology in Ukraine than most of the rest of the world considers acceptable. What is particularly disgusting is that the Obama Administration got in bed with these Nazis in order to replace a pro-Russian president with a pro-West president.
To all the Chicken Hawks posting here ....this is not our war.....We did far worse to the Vietnamese (Go-Ks)...I remember we were napalming women and children or carpet bombing Hanoi and Cambodia. All the "team America" folks want another chance to prove we have another Granada in us. Our Military genius's have no moral authority ( we just droned a family of Children in Afghanistan!!!!!!) and need to be replaced We are strong and we need to let Europe fight this one.
Right or wrong, Russians consider the Ukrainian situation an existential matter and may fight to the last man, possibly dragging the world into nuclear destruction. Why so few people can see that? Why do we lack the imagination to anticipate that a country which lost 30 millions + people during ww2 (some they deliberately preferred to let starve to death rather than losing ground) and which is energy and food independent will not care about losing Netflix or replacing their iPhone with a newer model?
How is it helping the Ukrainians, and the world, to continue fuel tensions in Ukraine by sending ammunition? Why don’t our leaders try to do what Reagan did successfully, relate to Putin, Lavrov and Peskov on a human level, instead of demonizing them all the time? We have been pissing off Russians for 20 years and it would only be faithful to our values to be honest and recognize our own mistakes.
We have been using Ukraine as a pawn, and they are paying the price. I'm not excusing, in any way, the immorality of Putin but we have to recognize we played a big role in this.
Thoughts on UKR situation for whatever they're worth:
1. Clearly, Russia had some grievances based in reality and the Ukraine in NATO thing, which the US was supporting as recently as a few months ago, was one.
2. Clearly, invading Ukraine over these grievances is off the charts terrible and unjustifiable.
3. Why didn't Putin use his economic leverage and just end energy exports to EU until his goals were met or negotiated? Those goals are: recognition of the two Russian-dominated breakaway nations Luhansk and Donetsk; recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea; and some form of "Ukraine doesn't join NATO."
4. My predicted endgame: Russia grinds towards some sort of favorable military situation, suffering large casualties and inflicting large civilian casualties. Fighting ends with Russia annexing all of Donbas, or maybe just the two breakaway republics, and pulling back to a new LOC (Line of Control) which becomes the new de factor border, since it won't be internationally recognized. Basically the same status as Crimea since 2014. Russia and China are drawn much closer as a result.
Since we are here, and I just watched Karmela's heartwarming press conference in Poland: how many of you think refugees are really funny? I mean, they are hilarious, one of the funniest things ever, don't you think?
Why, SG, you’re more woke than a left-wing liberal, your so sensitive to the plate of the refugees, just like them there lefties, who are sensitive about discrimination, why I’m impressed. But if I’m not mistaken, Kamala wasn’t laughing about the plight of war-torn refugees, I think she was laughing about the plight of Poland dealing with the refugees, but I could be mistaken.
There are moments, dear friend, when it is better to refrain from laughing, are you familiar with the word "inappropriate"? A VP should know better. The world is not impressed with Karmela, her polls say it pretty loud and clear. Cheers.
Vice president Kamala Harris’s nervous laughter has upset the conservatives, not unlike tan gate, or the tan suit controversy, of the black president, 44. Hmm, color couldn’t have anything to do with this, could it? Why that’s too silly to consider, or is it? The conservative news is all aflutter about Kamala’s laughter. Why it’s a diplomatic faux pas that will embolden Vladimir Putin, we must impeach her immediately!
Yep, it's all about race. Everything is about race. There is nothing in the world but race. Race is the excuse for everything. Oh, and sexism. It's all about sexism. So, it's all about sexism and race.
Whew, I now feel morally superior. At least for a few minutes until I look in the mirror again.
Here comes the (woke culture warrior), riding on his trusty steed with Lance in hand. Ready to skewer any social advancement in America. These warriors are sworn to take us back to the dark ages, before the age of Enlightenment, where women must be barefoot and pregnant while serving their man!
There's that white, male chauvinist coming to the rescue of people they consider to be inferior and in need of protection again. Such a gallant knight! The maidens are swooning! I am forever in your debt, my liege! Will you protect me forever, for I cannot withstand the cruelty of barbarians who would ask me to explain myself? Must I forever live in fear of questions? Oh please kind sir, banish those demons of critical thinking!
I am not a US citizen and find your obsession with the race card, and related wining, quite boring. That said Harris is not, in my view, up to the job. Good luck.
Obviously, your superior whining is far more important: “… Karmela’s heartwarming press conference…” “…refugees are really funny? I mean, they are hilarious, one of the funniest things ever, don’t you think?” Then my in-kind reply, that you find boring, so I recommend the superior you, not waste your time on insignificant me, by replying! Ta-ta.
It is terrifying to think we have three more years of this catastrophic US Presidency. One year, just, and we are on the verge of a global war and a domestic mess. God help us all.
You are an antisemite? So sorry, there are many things you can do to open your mind and be more compassionate and accepting of others, I hope you are curious enough to explore your own mind. I take great offense to the author's claim: "The latest unanswerable argument in favor of the Jewish state ..." Really? Unanswerable? This dude is definitely a mashugana.
My college friend texted me in 100 messages how she escaped from Kiev with her children and parents, who only agreed to leave after a night under bombs and her husband stayed behind. He joined the troops… Her 100 messages were 1-2 words each. She couldn’t handle writing a full paragraph. I had spent last ten days in watsup and messengers checking the times of my Ukranian friends logins and sharing a sense of doom with my Russian friends. I left Russia for California in 2001. Our Russian Ukranian circle that consist of people who left ex-USSR 20-15 years ago is collapsing. I don’t feel anything any longer. I keep myself occupied translating Mattias Desmet interview about masformation and psychology of totalitarianism into Russian. I don’t really know whom i am doing this for… Just have a vague feeling it’s needed.
Thanks Joe Biden for nothing!
Attention Bari Weiss: if you want serious people to take this site seriously, you'll have to ban clownish trolls like Jahbulon.
Even if this war escalates to what would be called World War III it should never be called that. It should always be called Putin's War.
I ran across this today and thought I'd share it. Let's not get stampeded.
"1. Putin is a murderer and thug.
"2. Zelensky is trying to bait easily duped Westerners into a catastrophic conflict.
"These two things can both be true."
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) March 4, 2022
The global elite are now saying amongst themselves - "I didn't see that coming."
Through Russia and the US, the global elite have been using Ukraine. They even installed a comedian as the President of the country. Oops...
Turns out that comedian has some leadership chops. This was supposed to be over and forgotten in a couple of days, and "everyone" - except Ukranians - would be happy and richer.
Thank you so much for publishing these first-person accounts. I see the images of bombed buildings and think there’s no way the Ukrainians will be able to withstand so much violence. And then I read this. And it is clear the Ukrainians will fight to the last. God bless them.
Tyranny on the right: Trump. Tyranny on the left: Wokeism. Tyranny unclothed: Putin. All of it very ugly.
Tell me one specific government policy or practice of Trump that was tyrannical. Trump was the most available to the press president in history. Is that something a tyrant does? Trump moved power from DC to the states. Is that something a tyrant does? Trump reduced taxes on the middle class. Is that something a tyrant does? Trump does mean tweets and you can read them or not; tyrants use sharp swords and you never see it coming. Trump did not imprison or persecute his political opponents; that is something tyrants (like the Biden admin now) do.
I know, I know that is is oh so fashionable among the coastal elites to mindlessly follow the NYT and WaPo and call Trump a tyrant. But the facts do no support that position - not that it makes any difference.
If Trump does run in 2024 and gets elected, I may hope that he does turn tyrant and unleashes the fury of the federal machine against all his political opponents. If that's the game that the left wants to play, play it hard and take no prisoners.
Let God sort it out later.
Trump’s aim is total political control. Wokeism’s is total mind control. Putin’s is total world control. Bad news all.
I know many people say that about Trump, but if that is true why did he return power to states? Why did he try to reduce the size of the federal regulatory book? Why does he believe in state control of elections - surely that would be a dead giveaway that he doesn't pursue total political control. I have yet to be provided any evidence of Trump increasing the power of the federal government.
Biden, and his admin, on the other hand...
Thank you for your response. Donald Trump may have weakened the federal government, but he seems to have strengthened his own power just the same. And not by concentrating power in the office of the President, but by focusing power through himself.
I don't understand that.
Recmmendations of worthwhile charities to contribute to? Feels like sending money is all I can do to help.
The "Ukraine is full of Nazis" thing from Russia seems to come up a lot. I found this to be a well-researched article. Summary: One unit of the UKR National Guard definitely has solid Neo-Nazi connections, and there is other stuff too, but there is no way to tie it into the whole government, most of the people, and the military overall.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ukraine-has-nazi-problem-vladimir-putin-s-denazification-claim-war-ncna1290946
Many of the leaders of the 2014 "insurrection" were Far Right and/or Nazis (more the descendants of unreformed Nazis than Neo-Nazis). For their role, they were given appointed positions in the government. As a consequence, to this day, these people have an outsize role in (the corrupt) Ukrainian government, compared to what their meager showing in elections would suggest.
So while the majority of the Ukrainian people are not voting for Nazi candidates, they nevertheless seem willing to tolerate their government's embrace of "Nazi heroes." And Ukrainians (in the west part of Ukraine, at least) do consider Nazis to be their WWII heroes. It was Nazis vs Russians then, and they hated the Russians.
While all of this logical in terms of Ukrainian history, the long and short of it is that there is more tolerance for lingering Nazi ideology in Ukraine than most of the rest of the world considers acceptable. What is particularly disgusting is that the Obama Administration got in bed with these Nazis in order to replace a pro-Russian president with a pro-West president.
To all the Chicken Hawks posting here ....this is not our war.....We did far worse to the Vietnamese (Go-Ks)...I remember we were napalming women and children or carpet bombing Hanoi and Cambodia. All the "team America" folks want another chance to prove we have another Granada in us. Our Military genius's have no moral authority ( we just droned a family of Children in Afghanistan!!!!!!) and need to be replaced We are strong and we need to let Europe fight this one.
Right or wrong, Russians consider the Ukrainian situation an existential matter and may fight to the last man, possibly dragging the world into nuclear destruction. Why so few people can see that? Why do we lack the imagination to anticipate that a country which lost 30 millions + people during ww2 (some they deliberately preferred to let starve to death rather than losing ground) and which is energy and food independent will not care about losing Netflix or replacing their iPhone with a newer model?
How is it helping the Ukrainians, and the world, to continue fuel tensions in Ukraine by sending ammunition? Why don’t our leaders try to do what Reagan did successfully, relate to Putin, Lavrov and Peskov on a human level, instead of demonizing them all the time? We have been pissing off Russians for 20 years and it would only be faithful to our values to be honest and recognize our own mistakes.
We have been using Ukraine as a pawn, and they are paying the price. I'm not excusing, in any way, the immorality of Putin but we have to recognize we played a big role in this.
And then we send Kamala to try to fix it.
Geez....Xi is laughing his ass off!
Thoughts on UKR situation for whatever they're worth:
1. Clearly, Russia had some grievances based in reality and the Ukraine in NATO thing, which the US was supporting as recently as a few months ago, was one.
2. Clearly, invading Ukraine over these grievances is off the charts terrible and unjustifiable.
3. Why didn't Putin use his economic leverage and just end energy exports to EU until his goals were met or negotiated? Those goals are: recognition of the two Russian-dominated breakaway nations Luhansk and Donetsk; recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea; and some form of "Ukraine doesn't join NATO."
4. My predicted endgame: Russia grinds towards some sort of favorable military situation, suffering large casualties and inflicting large civilian casualties. Fighting ends with Russia annexing all of Donbas, or maybe just the two breakaway republics, and pulling back to a new LOC (Line of Control) which becomes the new de factor border, since it won't be internationally recognized. Basically the same status as Crimea since 2014. Russia and China are drawn much closer as a result.
Since we are here, and I just watched Karmela's heartwarming press conference in Poland: how many of you think refugees are really funny? I mean, they are hilarious, one of the funniest things ever, don't you think?
Why, SG, you’re more woke than a left-wing liberal, your so sensitive to the plate of the refugees, just like them there lefties, who are sensitive about discrimination, why I’m impressed. But if I’m not mistaken, Kamala wasn’t laughing about the plight of war-torn refugees, I think she was laughing about the plight of Poland dealing with the refugees, but I could be mistaken.
There are moments, dear friend, when it is better to refrain from laughing, are you familiar with the word "inappropriate"? A VP should know better. The world is not impressed with Karmela, her polls say it pretty loud and clear. Cheers.
Vice president Kamala Harris’s nervous laughter has upset the conservatives, not unlike tan gate, or the tan suit controversy, of the black president, 44. Hmm, color couldn’t have anything to do with this, could it? Why that’s too silly to consider, or is it? The conservative news is all aflutter about Kamala’s laughter. Why it’s a diplomatic faux pas that will embolden Vladimir Putin, we must impeach her immediately!
Yep, it's all about race. Everything is about race. There is nothing in the world but race. Race is the excuse for everything. Oh, and sexism. It's all about sexism. So, it's all about sexism and race.
Whew, I now feel morally superior. At least for a few minutes until I look in the mirror again.
Here comes the (woke culture warrior), riding on his trusty steed with Lance in hand. Ready to skewer any social advancement in America. These warriors are sworn to take us back to the dark ages, before the age of Enlightenment, where women must be barefoot and pregnant while serving their man!
There's that white, male chauvinist coming to the rescue of people they consider to be inferior and in need of protection again. Such a gallant knight! The maidens are swooning! I am forever in your debt, my liege! Will you protect me forever, for I cannot withstand the cruelty of barbarians who would ask me to explain myself? Must I forever live in fear of questions? Oh please kind sir, banish those demons of critical thinking!
I am not a US citizen and find your obsession with the race card, and related wining, quite boring. That said Harris is not, in my view, up to the job. Good luck.
Obviously, your superior whining is far more important: “… Karmela’s heartwarming press conference…” “…refugees are really funny? I mean, they are hilarious, one of the funniest things ever, don’t you think?” Then my in-kind reply, that you find boring, so I recommend the superior you, not waste your time on insignificant me, by replying! Ta-ta.
yawn
It is terrifying to think we have three more years of this catastrophic US Presidency. One year, just, and we are on the verge of a global war and a domestic mess. God help us all.
All beautiful except the hypocrisy of the Zionist Jew briefly leaving the sanctuary of his apartheid state Jesus!
Did not know antisemites were visiting here. Baruch haba!
You are an antisemite? So sorry, there are many things you can do to open your mind and be more compassionate and accepting of others, I hope you are curious enough to explore your own mind. I take great offense to the author's claim: "The latest unanswerable argument in favor of the Jewish state ..." Really? Unanswerable? This dude is definitely a mashugana.
Surprised Brian's comment was not deleted, when I see that the editors have been willing to delete other comments they find unacceptable.
My college friend texted me in 100 messages how she escaped from Kiev with her children and parents, who only agreed to leave after a night under bombs and her husband stayed behind. He joined the troops… Her 100 messages were 1-2 words each. She couldn’t handle writing a full paragraph. I had spent last ten days in watsup and messengers checking the times of my Ukranian friends logins and sharing a sense of doom with my Russian friends. I left Russia for California in 2001. Our Russian Ukranian circle that consist of people who left ex-USSR 20-15 years ago is collapsing. I don’t feel anything any longer. I keep myself occupied translating Mattias Desmet interview about masformation and psychology of totalitarianism into Russian. I don’t really know whom i am doing this for… Just have a vague feeling it’s needed.