Gary, you write: "But Trump keeps helping his buddy Putin." True, and for a long time I thought (still do) that Putin was blackmailing Trump with photos of Trump in hotel rooms in Moscow with Russian females. I thought that that was Putin's leverage. But now I also believe that Trump is enamored of Putin's autocratic power and wants to emulate that here in the U.S.
Gary, you write: "But Trump keeps helping his buddy Putin." True, and for a long time I thought (still do) that Putin was blackmailing Trump with photos of Trump in hotel rooms in Moscow with Russian females. I thought that that was Putin's leverage. But now I also believe that Trump is enamored of Putin's autocratic power and wants to emulate that here in the U.S.
I don't think he has to blackmail drump. The orange cocksplat funded his BS "empire" with "all the Russian money we need"--dopey Eric said. Drumpf is Putin's fanboy, he doesn't need blackmail, bribery works just fine.
And the Republicants are thrilled to represent the worst impulses of humanity. That a scheming zealot like Johnson came from nowhere and witless to run the Spewkership. Now there's an impeachment and sedition charge waiting to happen.
You are so right! What makes sinister Mike so dangerous is, from that demonic tribe, he looks so normal. And I totally agree with you that putin did not have to resort to blackmail--just tell him how smart and what a great leader he is and offer him the oligarchs' money....
I agree Richard. Has Trump ever said anything negative about Putin?
Trump is delusional enough to think that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day even though it has been going on since before he became President--at least in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Trump is praying that the US economy tanks and millions are out of work so he will win the election. Unfortunately, Mike Johnson is willing to help him if he can, by continuing to do nothing in 2024.
Not sending weapons degrades our national security AND decreases both revenue and job growth here. How many Americans understand that the opposite is happening in Russia today? Putin has the Russian economy on a war footing. Every factory available has transformed to building/producing for the military! We need to match this strategy here in order to defeat them. Trump, Speaker Johnson, the entire Republican Party are more than useful idiots for Putin. It is a disgrace. History will be righteously cruel to these scoundrels. Their legacy will be that of Charles Lindbergh.
I was reading about Russia's GDP being strong, but if most of your GDP is making weapons and selling oil to other countries, how does that help the freezing and starving Russians?
Plus Russia has lost billions of dollars in weapons and over a million revenue producing bodies due to fleeing working age Russians and dead and wounded military personnel.
Russia is not a rich country, but its wealth is highly concentrated at the top. Hungry Russians is nothing new but I haven't read anything about starving Russians in or around St. Petersburg and Moscow. Note that very few white Russian soldiers are dying in Ukraine from Moscow or St Petersburg. The Russian soldiers that are dying are their ethnic minorities from far off oblasts/provinces' like Dagestan, Chechnya, and further east. ( something I thought of when I saw the 3 US serviceman killed in Jordan, all three were African American and two under 25 btw...just pointing out a similiar demographic we have with Russia's military at the enlisted (not officers) demographic). Russia is rich in population compared to Ukraine. Putin can afford to expend Russian lives from his minority population that are from far off places like the Caucus, Dagestan/Chechnya, and Siberia, Asian oblasts. Its only when the people in Moscow and St. Petersburg start to protest that he has a problem. The war footing is an issue. Putin is not wasting time. He has converted all possible factories to make more artillery shells. I think he can't make higher tech weapons like drones and smart missiles because he can not get more computer chips to do so. It is artillery and tank rounds that Ukraine can not keep up with. Russia is firing 10,000 rounds of artillery shells a day, while Ukraine is firing 5,000 or less a day. Russia is still making 1 billion a day in profits from oil and gas sales, mostly to China and India. There was a report a that India is re selling Russian gas to the west and that this is difficult to track. The US could easily match this but it would take I think either Congress or Presidential order to order a private US manufacture to convert production to military contracts.
Putin will do whatever it takes, he doesn't care about starving Russian People. That is his problem not ours. If they are starving then protest against Putin, then that is good for the US, Europe, and Ukraine. Anything that weakens Putin domestically is a bonus for Western Democracy in my humble opinion.
The story yesterday about the CIA and likely many other foreign intelligence services being able to recruit spies inside of Russia could be Putin's undoing. Russian cannot begin to defend all of the military and fossil fuel infrastructure as it is and with the help of spies inside Russia, obscure and well hidden high-value targets can be identified and eliminated.
This is likely how Ukraine will win the war (if they do).
The Ukrainians have done a good job of targeting Russia already, but as other valuable targets are identified this could become a game changer.
That seems logical. Attack Russian oil infrastructure. Probably hurts their cash flow more than anything. That is interesting because Russia makes 1 billion a day in oil and gas profit to fund their Army supply and operations. Clandestine attacks on oil and gas infrastructure make sense.
Using smart weapons to target command and control centers is another logical strategy.
Turkey, Romania and Bulgarian Navies are helping in the Black Sea by clearing mines set by the Russian Navy. Cruise missiles to target the Russian Black Sea Fleet is helping. I think the Kurtz bridge should be taken out completely.
Putin over 20 years has also amassed a fortune of 200 billion dollars ( estimate according to Bill Browder, who did business in Russia for many years, also responsible for the Magninsky Act, Author Red Notice). So, we should also just allocate the frozen Russian accounts and oligarch accounts of 300 million to go to Ukraine to pay for more western weapons.
Even if tfg wasn't so pro Russia Pro Putin, I don't ever see him capable enough to make war time decisions. And Looking forward, his wealth depleted by lawsuits, he would use US Policy as a way to selfishly restore his wealth. He should never be allowed to have any seat at any office let alone the presidency.
The Kurtz bridge must be very well protected as I'm sure it's been a target for most of the war. I wish the F-16s would be deployed in Ukraine. That could really help.
I'm guessing the war has put a dent in Putin's 200 billion especially those funds frozen offshore.
At the end of WWII the allies bombed Dresden killing tens of thousands of German civilians. It would be nice to see the Ukrainians bomb each of the known Putin mansions as well as his armored train. Some civilians would be killed, but it would send Putin the message that none of his assets are safe.
tfg-putin.putin-tfg. The old divide and conquer, with an extremist minority willing to do US in for the sake of their "fearless leader". None dare call it treason.
Putin never had to go as far as using blackmail. He took one look at trump and read him perfectly. All he had to do was complement him, then boldly tell him exactly what he wanted from him. Remember their two-hour meeting, after which they confiscated the interpreter's notes? And we will never know what their quid pro quo agreement was....
Sophia, I remember wondering at the time why someone (official inquiry) couldnтАЩt depose the interpreter, Marina Gross, for her recollections of the conversation. I just now did a quick тАШnet search & some online articles from years back pose the same question (I have not yet read any of them, but see that it was an issue brought up by several publications). DonтАЩt know anything about interpreter тАЬrulesтАЭ, so maybe there is a legit reason.
I've thought of why the interpreter has not been subpoenaed or even coming forward on her own and write a book to expose what she witnessed. But then again, if I were in her shoes, I'd be terrified to spill the beans unless I had moved out of the country....
Makes me recall the Gary Larsen cartoon of several deer standing around (upright on two legs), one has a bullseye on his chest. The caption was one deer telling the other тАЬBummer of a birthmark, HalтАЭ. Yeah, and just like the judge in the E. Jean case (maybe, hard to keep them straight as there are so many!) advising jurors NEVER to tell anyone theyтАЩd served on the caseтАж..because just in caseтАж..donтАЩt want to become a target.
Trump wants to emulate Putin's power because that is Trump's only salvation. Trump will go to jail if he fails to win in November. (I trust so anyway.)
Trump has sold more condos to dark LLCтАЩs funded by PutinтАЩs oligarchs to buy influence. Trump properties have been funded via Deutsche bank from Russian oligarch private banking loans. Why would Trump ever go against his biggest INVESTOR? Without PutinтАЩs oligarchs investors the Trump Organization does bankrupt! Our real estate laws are too damn loose. Our real estate economy is the #1 legal money laundering scheme in the world. We need a whistle blower inside Deutsche Bank, an oligarch to defect, a Kremlin defector to blow this story wide open. IтАЩm amazed that this has not happened. It is as if our Justice Department is scared to do it! Why?
The U.S. Department of State aided, supported, abetted all those U.S. Ivy League and other grads of MBA programs who flooded Russia, the other former Soviet republics, and countries of eastern Europe in the early 1990s. They invested billions of western currency to prop up the most corrupt of the former nomenklatura -- who then stole all the public assets to become the newly corrupt oligarchs.
This U.S. financing of corruption was normal given the growth of dark money in the U.S. ever since the Powell memo's far right foundations facilitated the growth of most greedy commercialism, killing of humanities in schools, offshoring of millions of U.S. jobs, and alliances with dictators, nationalists, Chinese cadres, and royal fossil fuel murderers worldwide.
Let's add to that list, "Godfather of the Kremlin," by Paul Klebnikov, U.S. citizen, journalist ("mysteriously?" assassinated on a Moscow street one night 20 years ago, not long after his book was published in the U.S.).
Gary, you write: "But Trump keeps helping his buddy Putin." True, and for a long time I thought (still do) that Putin was blackmailing Trump with photos of Trump in hotel rooms in Moscow with Russian females. I thought that that was Putin's leverage. But now I also believe that Trump is enamored of Putin's autocratic power and wants to emulate that here in the U.S.
I don't think he has to blackmail drump. The orange cocksplat funded his BS "empire" with "all the Russian money we need"--dopey Eric said. Drumpf is Putin's fanboy, he doesn't need blackmail, bribery works just fine.
And the Republicants are thrilled to represent the worst impulses of humanity. That a scheming zealot like Johnson came from nowhere and witless to run the Spewkership. Now there's an impeachment and sedition charge waiting to happen.
You are so right! What makes sinister Mike so dangerous is, from that demonic tribe, he looks so normal. And I totally agree with you that putin did not have to resort to blackmail--just tell him how smart and what a great leader he is and offer him the oligarchs' money....
Oooo! A new word to describe the vile, wannabe emperor! Thanks, Jen!
Spewkership. Now there is the word of the week!
I love тАЬcocksplatтАЭ. Might have to use it myself if you donтАЩt mind. IтАЩm running out of trumpian invectives.
I agree Richard. Has Trump ever said anything negative about Putin?
Trump is delusional enough to think that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day even though it has been going on since before he became President--at least in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Trump is praying that the US economy tanks and millions are out of work so he will win the election. Unfortunately, Mike Johnson is willing to help him if he can, by continuing to do nothing in 2024.
Not sending weapons degrades our national security AND decreases both revenue and job growth here. How many Americans understand that the opposite is happening in Russia today? Putin has the Russian economy on a war footing. Every factory available has transformed to building/producing for the military! We need to match this strategy here in order to defeat them. Trump, Speaker Johnson, the entire Republican Party are more than useful idiots for Putin. It is a disgrace. History will be righteously cruel to these scoundrels. Their legacy will be that of Charles Lindbergh.
I agree with all of your points.
I was reading about Russia's GDP being strong, but if most of your GDP is making weapons and selling oil to other countries, how does that help the freezing and starving Russians?
Plus Russia has lost billions of dollars in weapons and over a million revenue producing bodies due to fleeing working age Russians and dead and wounded military personnel.
Russia is not a rich country, but its wealth is highly concentrated at the top. Hungry Russians is nothing new but I haven't read anything about starving Russians in or around St. Petersburg and Moscow. Note that very few white Russian soldiers are dying in Ukraine from Moscow or St Petersburg. The Russian soldiers that are dying are their ethnic minorities from far off oblasts/provinces' like Dagestan, Chechnya, and further east. ( something I thought of when I saw the 3 US serviceman killed in Jordan, all three were African American and two under 25 btw...just pointing out a similiar demographic we have with Russia's military at the enlisted (not officers) demographic). Russia is rich in population compared to Ukraine. Putin can afford to expend Russian lives from his minority population that are from far off places like the Caucus, Dagestan/Chechnya, and Siberia, Asian oblasts. Its only when the people in Moscow and St. Petersburg start to protest that he has a problem. The war footing is an issue. Putin is not wasting time. He has converted all possible factories to make more artillery shells. I think he can't make higher tech weapons like drones and smart missiles because he can not get more computer chips to do so. It is artillery and tank rounds that Ukraine can not keep up with. Russia is firing 10,000 rounds of artillery shells a day, while Ukraine is firing 5,000 or less a day. Russia is still making 1 billion a day in profits from oil and gas sales, mostly to China and India. There was a report a that India is re selling Russian gas to the west and that this is difficult to track. The US could easily match this but it would take I think either Congress or Presidential order to order a private US manufacture to convert production to military contracts.
Putin will do whatever it takes, he doesn't care about starving Russian People. That is his problem not ours. If they are starving then protest against Putin, then that is good for the US, Europe, and Ukraine. Anything that weakens Putin domestically is a bonus for Western Democracy in my humble opinion.
The story yesterday about the CIA and likely many other foreign intelligence services being able to recruit spies inside of Russia could be Putin's undoing. Russian cannot begin to defend all of the military and fossil fuel infrastructure as it is and with the help of spies inside Russia, obscure and well hidden high-value targets can be identified and eliminated.
This is likely how Ukraine will win the war (if they do).
The Ukrainians have done a good job of targeting Russia already, but as other valuable targets are identified this could become a game changer.
That seems logical. Attack Russian oil infrastructure. Probably hurts their cash flow more than anything. That is interesting because Russia makes 1 billion a day in oil and gas profit to fund their Army supply and operations. Clandestine attacks on oil and gas infrastructure make sense.
Using smart weapons to target command and control centers is another logical strategy.
Turkey, Romania and Bulgarian Navies are helping in the Black Sea by clearing mines set by the Russian Navy. Cruise missiles to target the Russian Black Sea Fleet is helping. I think the Kurtz bridge should be taken out completely.
Putin over 20 years has also amassed a fortune of 200 billion dollars ( estimate according to Bill Browder, who did business in Russia for many years, also responsible for the Magninsky Act, Author Red Notice). So, we should also just allocate the frozen Russian accounts and oligarch accounts of 300 million to go to Ukraine to pay for more western weapons.
Even if tfg wasn't so pro Russia Pro Putin, I don't ever see him capable enough to make war time decisions. And Looking forward, his wealth depleted by lawsuits, he would use US Policy as a way to selfishly restore his wealth. He should never be allowed to have any seat at any office let alone the presidency.
The Kurtz bridge must be very well protected as I'm sure it's been a target for most of the war. I wish the F-16s would be deployed in Ukraine. That could really help.
I'm guessing the war has put a dent in Putin's 200 billion especially those funds frozen offshore.
At the end of WWII the allies bombed Dresden killing tens of thousands of German civilians. It would be nice to see the Ukrainians bomb each of the known Putin mansions as well as his armored train. Some civilians would be killed, but it would send Putin the message that none of his assets are safe.
tfg-putin.putin-tfg. The old divide and conquer, with an extremist minority willing to do US in for the sake of their "fearless leader". None dare call it treason.
Gary, you write: Unfortunately, Mike Johnson is willing to help him if he can, by continuing to do nothing in 2024.
There is no fix for stupid or a way in which to influence the True Believer. Those brains are impenetrable by hard core facts.
He would just help Putin and his murderous hoard march in!
Putin never had to go as far as using blackmail. He took one look at trump and read him perfectly. All he had to do was complement him, then boldly tell him exactly what he wanted from him. Remember their two-hour meeting, after which they confiscated the interpreter's notes? And we will never know what their quid pro quo agreement was....
Sophia, I remember wondering at the time why someone (official inquiry) couldnтАЩt depose the interpreter, Marina Gross, for her recollections of the conversation. I just now did a quick тАШnet search & some online articles from years back pose the same question (I have not yet read any of them, but see that it was an issue brought up by several publications). DonтАЩt know anything about interpreter тАЬrulesтАЭ, so maybe there is a legit reason.
I've thought of why the interpreter has not been subpoenaed or even coming forward on her own and write a book to expose what she witnessed. But then again, if I were in her shoes, I'd be terrified to spill the beans unless I had moved out of the country....
Makes me recall the Gary Larsen cartoon of several deer standing around (upright on two legs), one has a bullseye on his chest. The caption was one deer telling the other тАЬBummer of a birthmark, HalтАЭ. Yeah, and just like the judge in the E. Jean case (maybe, hard to keep them straight as there are so many!) advising jurors NEVER to tell anyone theyтАЩd served on the caseтАж..because just in caseтАж..donтАЩt want to become a target.
Trump wants to emulate Putin's power because that is Trump's only salvation. Trump will go to jail if he fails to win in November. (I trust so anyway.)
Trump has sold more condos to dark LLCтАЩs funded by PutinтАЩs oligarchs to buy influence. Trump properties have been funded via Deutsche bank from Russian oligarch private banking loans. Why would Trump ever go against his biggest INVESTOR? Without PutinтАЩs oligarchs investors the Trump Organization does bankrupt! Our real estate laws are too damn loose. Our real estate economy is the #1 legal money laundering scheme in the world. We need a whistle blower inside Deutsche Bank, an oligarch to defect, a Kremlin defector to blow this story wide open. IтАЩm amazed that this has not happened. It is as if our Justice Department is scared to do it! Why?
Good question, Ted.
Simple answer.
The U.S. Department of State aided, supported, abetted all those U.S. Ivy League and other grads of MBA programs who flooded Russia, the other former Soviet republics, and countries of eastern Europe in the early 1990s. They invested billions of western currency to prop up the most corrupt of the former nomenklatura -- who then stole all the public assets to become the newly corrupt oligarchs.
This U.S. financing of corruption was normal given the growth of dark money in the U.S. ever since the Powell memo's far right foundations facilitated the growth of most greedy commercialism, killing of humanities in schools, offshoring of millions of U.S. jobs, and alliances with dictators, nationalists, Chinese cadres, and royal fossil fuel murderers worldwide.
Good Reads on Russia 1990s
RED NOTICE by Bill Browder
Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia by Peter Pomerantsev
This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsev
Other authors about Russia and Putin from 1990's to present.
Putin's Russia Anna Politkovskaya
Winter is Coming Gary Kasporov
Everything ever written by Masha Gessen
Bad Blood: The Mysterious Life and Brutal Death of Alexander Litvinenko
Thank you, Ted.
Let's add to that list, "Godfather of the Kremlin," by Paul Klebnikov, U.S. citizen, journalist ("mysteriously?" assassinated on a Moscow street one night 20 years ago, not long after his book was published in the U.S.).
We should lob a few cruise missiles at PutinтАЩs coastal Black Sea estate/manchion. His тАЬ VersaillesтАЭ
IтАЩm with you. IтАЩm very hopeful in Jack Smith's ability to put him in prison for life/death.
Sick and true