Listening to Putin live. Instead of merely talking about recognizing LPR/DPR, he seems to be laying the groundwork to somehow "justify" attacking all of Ukraine. I hope I'm wrong. pic.twitter.com/iaiJjnECEn
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 21, 2022
Putin basically says Ukraine shouldn’t exist. “A steady statehood didn’t occur.” Almost the same words that Stalin said about Poland in 1939.
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) February 21, 2022
Smoke and mirrors. Putin just recognized an area in Ukraine he already controls by claiming to be stopping a genocide that isn’t happening.
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) February 21, 2022
Gonna be wild if/when Putin’s grievance-ridden, erratic, revisionist history erasing Ukraine’s existence becomes standard talking points on American right wing media and among Republican politicians…
— Nope. (@JoyAnnReid) February 21, 2022
After Hitler annexations and wars, We created the UN Security Council to create laws and norms against annexation, against great powers taking territory from smaller powers. Putin just did that. The world has to respond now. Right now.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) February 21, 2022
Putin says it’s “madness” former Soviet republics were allowed to leave the USSR. Think of the many independent democratic nations beyond Ukraine that he’s referring to, including NATO allies Estonia Lithuania and Latvia.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 21, 2022
Breaking from Psaki: "We have anticipated a move like this from Russia and are ready to respond immediately. Pres. Biden will soon issue an Executive Order that will prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 21, 2022
Breaking:
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union says it will slap sanctions on those involved in recognizing Ukraine's breakaway regions as independent.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 21, 2022
According to Democratic Cold Warrior-warmongers like Sen Chris Coons, Putin has “gone too far” and Biden should “stop” talking to him.
Warmongers believe that Russia doesn’t know “its place in the world” and that most of what passes for history in Russia is a “fabrication.”
There is more than one country and a not insignificant number of Americans who have similar feelings about the USA.
Potin is a brutal, corrupt, narcissist who has, so far, out-foxed Biden and his diplomatic advisors.
That could be because our 19 intelligence agencies don’t appear to have the slightest idea about what Putin is up to.
According to the intelligence community “an invasion is imminent.”
What happened yesterday was ‘not’ an invasion.
Instead of diminishing Putin’s stature and his grip on power, Biden has managed to increase his status.
The time has come to trash the 75-year-old Containment Policy (the reason for NATO’s existence) and move ahead with a new world order 2.0 by sitting down and talking to Putin.
A summit between Biden and Putin should be scheduled for the earliest possible date and China should be kept in the loop.
It’s either that or Apocalypse soon.
I won’t dispute the thoughts and strong feelings expressed in this post. But it is one-sided. Putin is a narcissistic, oligarchic, delusional thug, yada, yada.
Hate to admit it, but Tommy Friedman, who stupidly beat the drum for the Iraq invasion among other idiocies, gives a more balanced presentation in his op ed in the NYT today.
This long quote is the core of the “other side” of the situation:
“On May 2, 1998, immediately after the Senate ratified NATO expansion, I called George Kennan, the architect of America’s successful containment of the Soviet Union. Having joined the State Department in 1926 and served as U.S. ambassador to Moscow in 1952, Kennan was arguably America’s greatest expert on Russia. Though 94 at the time and frail of voice, he was sharp of mind when I asked for his opinion of NATO expansion.
I am going to share Kennan’s whole answer:
“I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. This expansion would make the founding fathers of this country turn over in their graves.
“We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way. [NATO expansion] was simply a lighthearted action by a Senate that has no real interest in foreign affairs. What bothers me is how superficial and ill informed the whole Senate debate was. I was particularly bothered by the references to Russia as a country dying to attack Western Europe.
“Don’t people understand? Our differences in the Cold War were with the Soviet Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime. And Russia’s democracy is as far advanced, if not farther, as any of these countries we’ve just signed up to defend from Russia. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then [the NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are — but this is just wrong.”
It’s EXACTLY what has happened.”
If you don’t know who George Kennan is, you probably shouldn’t be weighing in authoritatively on a very complex situation that has a long history.
We have been under attack by Russia for 15 years at least. They are chaos agents who were the source of the most divisive disinformation campaigns we’ve seen (including anti-vax propaganda BEFORE covid) AND they put Donald Trump in the White House. While we’re all supposed to live by the rule of law, more foreign policy than we care to admit is an expression of “That’s for all the times I didn’t catch you.”
Still, it’s a thoughtful response. Thanks.
Thanks for reading my long winded comment. I would only quibble that Kennan’s analysis on NATO expansion, at least, was more than thoughtful. Prophetic comes to mind.