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Biden’s greatest accomplishment has been to repair much of the damage to our international relations done by his predecessor.

Biden has made us great again.

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Sorry. No time today for posting. We are busy organizing our house against flying glass just in case. I have not looked at Twitter. Tanya has been watching TV so I have some idea. My thanks to all of you for your support. We need a no fly zone but that is impossible. The Russian soldiers are just kids who where lied to about where they were going .

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Ugh! I could barely stomach reading the treacherous accusations hurled at President Biden by the likes of US Senators & Congress critters who cheer on behalf of Team Putin.

The American people deserve to know in greater detail where each Republican stands on key points. I agree with Jennifer Rubin, who proposes that each of them should go on the record with their answers to these questions:

* “Is Putin a war criminal? Would you reject a political leader who praised him? Is such a person fit to be commander in chief?

* Is Putin a “genius”? Are you comfortable that Russian state networks think remarks from Trump-acolytes are so effective that they air them on TV?

* How can you criticize President Biden for being weak when Trump appeased Putin for four years and still roots for him?

* Why did you not stand up to Trump during his presidency when he attempted to extort Ukraine and so often sided with Putin? Was that “America First”?

* How can you call yourself an advocate of a strong U.S. foreign policy if you’d support Trump for president again?

* Don’t you think fawning over Putin gives him the impression that the West is divided? Doesn’t this aid his invasion?

Republicans should not be allowed to run away from reporters asking such questions or move on to other topics. For once, they need to be held accountable for their tacit approval, if not active participation, in an anti-American, antidemocratic, pro-authoritarian movement that marries defense of political violence at home (“legitimate political discourse”) with encouragement for authoritarian rogue states.

. . . . . .

In the midst of an assault on democracy and the concept of a rules-based international order, a major political party has thoroughly debased itself and boosted the enemy of both. To reaffirm objective reality and identify the threats to democracy, the public has a right to know: Are Republicans on Team America or Team Trump/Putin?”

To read Ms. Rubin’s entire opinion piece, click here:

https://wapo.st/35q1D5F

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It feels so unbelievable! Watching the scenes coming out of Ukraine, people living an ordinary life one day are huddled in subway tunnels the next day. Trying to leave, running out of gas and supplies. It makes our lives so far from it feel tenuous. I just feel so much sorrow and compassion for them!

Then I see “friends” on social media posting how it’s none of our business and stop the sanctions. How can they be so callous and uninformed? I’m stunned by their lack of sympathy.

Putin lives in an illusion of an archaic Cold War scenario. Long over and long gone. I hope the Russian people continue to fight against him and fight for freedom!

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Hallelujah for Anonymous in taking down Russia’s media site! It appears Biden has gathered all of the musketeers together for a united front. I pray the US and our allies take Putin down and soon. I do wish NATO had approved Ukraine’s entry when Zelensky took power. He was fairly elected by the Ukrainians and won by over 73%.

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I saw a photo earlier today of a Ukrainian woman speaking to some Russian soldiers.

Apparently she told them they should keep sunflower seeds in their pockets so years from now people would be able to tell where their bodies had fallen.

This is the country Putin chose to invade...

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Feb 25, 2022·edited Feb 25, 2022

PUTIN IN UKRAINE: GRABBING A TIGER BY THE TAIL?

Days ago American intelligence reported that the Russians had a list of Ukrainians targeted to be killed and others who would ‘disappear.’ Plans were crafted for a puppet government. Special troops appear to have been infiltrated into Kyiv ready to execute these orders. President Zelensky announced that he was #1 on the list. Russian troops seem poised to encircle Kyiv and move to seize the capital city within 24-48 hours.

Ukraine has over 42 million citizens, including a few million in two eastern provinces that Putin declared to be ‘independent countries.’ The great majority of Ukrainians are proud nationalists who totally oppose the Russian invasion.

Assuming that an overwhelming Russian force can occupy much of the Ukraine and install a puppet government, this is the beginning of a long-term occupation and smoldering insurrection.

Occupying a city of 1-3 million population is far easier than controlling it. An organized guerrilla force can inflict significant casualties on an occupying Russian army with the fig leaf of a Quisling government.

I recall an incident during the Russian 1956 crushing of the Hungarian Revolution, the murder of Imry Nagy and others, and the installation of a puppet government.

There were reports that some Russian troops were swiftly puzzled to encounter a broadly-backed Hungarian revolution that contradicted the official Soviet line. There were reports that some of these troops hesitated in following orders to crush these Hungarians.

Russian troops were briefly withdrawn from Budapest. The press reported that Asian troops were brought in to re-enforce a brutal suppression of the Hungarian Revolution.

According to an unconfirmed report, a platoon of Russian soldiers has already surrendered to Ukrainian military because they had been deceived about the reason for ther invasion. Were Putin to occupy major Ukrainian cities and much of the countryside, combat troops would be replaced by occupation troops. They could expect a hostile population and organized guerrilla warfare.

Ukraine is distinct from Afghanistan, where Soviet troop morale sagged as soldiers realized the futility of their mission. As casualties mounted, Soviet citizens increasingly became aware of the human cost of this forever war. In Ukraine, where millions of individuals have common familial links between Ukraine and Russia, it will be even more difficult to maintain the charade that Ukrainians are the ‘enemy.’

Under Hitler, the SS would eliminate entire villages in reprisal for guerrilla activities. I doubt that this would be possible in Ukraine. Over months, perhaps years, the stench of Russian occupation could become insufferable.

I don’t know how the Gordian’s knot will become untangled, but Putin would be the ultimate loser, as long as the West and others maintain lock-step unity against Putin’s calumny.

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Again, thank you, Heather. Your commitment to and passion for the principles of democracy came though loud and clear on your FB Live session Thursday afternoon. Clearly those in the US who are standing with Putin never understood democracy and are willing to throw it away. They are disgraced for all eternity.

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Putin hedged his bets on a Republican Party 'fifth column' being a more reliable co-conspirator (than a not so useful idiot working his own angle.) And Republicans are falling all over themselves to deliver. Shameful.

This is no time for GOP 'business as usual' sniping and obstructionism. There is a war going on. A big question right now is, what's happened at Chernobyl? It is possible that the war now has a nuclear component.

Republicans are making themselves complicit in Putin's crimes and irrelevant to America's part in the world wide response.

Meanwhile, Russians are protesting in major cities. Putin talked about bringing Ukrainians to trial/jail in Russia. The facilities may be too full of Russians.

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Thank you Heather for keeping us updated on this horrific invasion though I could have done without the delirious Elise et al. alternate universe. Tfg-idjt and his wannabe bullies are clearly involved. Not surprising that the same treasonous legislators who were eye witnesses and probably participants to Jan 6 and 4 years of pals with Putin are still lying but where are the rest of the republicans?

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When you describe Pres. Biden's actions or speeches, it's not necessary to mention comments by three outliers in the Congress, i.e., the GOP woman from Western CO, the other GOP woman from NW Georgia and the soon-to-be-convicted GOP felon from FL. In so doing you're giving oxygen to these three miscreants.

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I beg everyone to scroll up to Andrew Worthman's tweet and call out every traitorous republican. calling President Biden weak. It is easy to do. He lists them with their twitter name and you can just click on it.

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For a bombastic and bellicose reactionary regime, Vladimir Putin's Russia has not shown itself particularly adept in carrying out this invasion of its nonthreatening neighbor. Given the overall resources that Putin assembled to carry out the invasion, it appears that Russian forces are already meeting substantial resistance from Ukraine. More importantly, Vladimir Putin has garnered little or no international support for this effort. What he has done was to trigger the trade and economic sanctions that President Biden assured the world that he would impose, and those sanctions can only grow stronger with time. Sadly, the Ukrainian people must bear the cost of the military defeat being inflicted upon them until the sanctions take hold. It is also regrettable that for those sanctions to fully take effect an extended timeline will need to be projected for the enforced economic isolation measures to show positive results. One surprising development was the degree of dissent that has been publicly registered against the invasion by the Russian people. In 2014, when Crimea was seized, there was virtually no protest; but today was a different story. Relatively large demonstrations appeared in Moscow and St. Petersburg that were filmed by the international media. Those demonstrations signify a degree of weakness in the Putin regime's popular approval that Russian officials would be loath to admit.

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The news this morning made me physically sick. It is clear to me (and many others) that there is an allegiance from the far right wackos and FOX News Corps to Putin. Paul Manafort worked for Putin’s puppet pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych and then Mueller's investigation found that as Trumps campaign manager he is guilty of associating with Russian intelligence, lies to the FBI and Muellers team, convicted and then pardoned by the leader if these wackos. Yet the Republicans think that consorting with the enemy of democracy is “strong” and “smart”. Ugh. They are as one woman put it “Traitorous pigs”; giving support to a crazed dictator who would destroy a thriving democratic nation in order to control it.

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We are on high alert. A Russian fighter circled Zhovti Vody and we have no idea what it means. Lina, friend Lenchik and son from town have moved to our home for the duration. We are rural enough to be safe. Glued to TV and Twitter.

If they bomb every small town of 40 thousand like us they will be busy. I think it is a false alarm but we thought the whole war was a false alarm.

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