I totally forgot to attach the notes for tonight’s letter! Sorry about that. Here they are: Notes: https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskiy-ukraine-defiant-munich-security-conference-speech-russia-threat/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-20/belarus-says-extending-drills-with-russia-near-ukraine-border
Thank you, Heather, so much for your analysis and the resources and links you shared. There is so much for us to understand in this battle for democracy and against fascism. I don’t want to believe this is happening in 2022.
WW III began when Trump was elected. Jeffrey Epstein’s films will serve a second purpose. Who is hiding them? The daughter of Robert Maxwell knows. Let’s hope she doesn’t follow her ex boss. Was he a suicide? Where is Bill Barr, son of the man that hired Epstein? Both were fired from The Dalton School. Les Wexner knows. LTD CFO Robert H. Morosky is dying in The Keyes. He saw it all. Knew. Talks. This WW III won’t take long. Moscow is rotten to its core. Gorbachev loved his wife and country, his people. Putin loves money and power. He will end up poor. So will Trump. MBS will get it. Our INTEL is better. Blinkin’s Uncle Alan is dying. Biden knows enough. Putin will implode. Ukraine will not.
What a wonderful reminder that we have a historian that sources her posts in real time! Thank you Heather for your continued insights and bibliography.
The Chatham House report highlights the role of big money from Russian oligarchs in British financial affairs. No doubt a similar situation exists in the U.S. The corruptive influence of foreign big money in politics is bad enough but when it also enables the theft of money that should have been used to support national institutions is the ultimate corruption. Too many people in government and fiscal agencies feed off this massive theft and keep it under the radar. Biden needs take advantage of the Ukraine situation to expose these illicit cross-border money transfers and seize assets.
Dr. Heather—do you think the timing of Putin/Russia threat of war is coincidence as Jan 6th commission prepares to air hearings live in America w/evidence of Trump coup and exposure of those with him? Plus the legal actions delving into financial evidence? Quite the “distraction” designed to preempt this and perhaps get enough Americans to feel if Trump c/b Prez again friendly times w/Russia vs escalating war? It’s just the timing keeps making noise in my head. If possible address in the letters or on the FB talk??
Let’s step back from the Biden-Blinken moves. One danger of polarization is confirmation bias that produces cookie-cutter opinions. Heather Cox Richardson’s analysis of domestic danger is brilliant. But remember key events in post-1989 European History. In 1990 James Baker agreed not to expand NATO, tacitly endorsing what Gorbachev envisioned as a London-to-Vladivostok disarmament zone. When Boris Yeltsin was president in 1997, at the NATO Summit in Paris, participant nations, including Russia pledged not to expand NATO beyond its 16 members. Today 30 nations belong. News media hype 100,000 Russian troops at the border, while saying nothing about the 350,000 US military personnel stationed in Europe. Our 50-year Cuba boycott remains in place. Rather than facilitating China-Russia détente, Biden-Blinken should break free of Cold War delusions of the US as a global power. .
A US-NATO diplomatic offensive could pressure Ukraine to fight corruption and meet its obligations under the Minsk II agreement. Fighting oligarch overreach is not a bargaining chip. U.S. policy should escalate its opposition in any case.
Democracy (and the Democratic Party) are healthy when they confront conundrums – like a Black mayor’s approach to policing, AND an anti-war views of the Ukraine crisis. Reflect on earlier confirmation bias re: the war in Viet Nam, the Iran Contra affair, Afghanistan occupation, and the Iraq invasion. If you have time I recommend Andrew Bacevich’s After the Apocalypse.
If you are rushed, ponder the anti-war position (which is NOT the Fox News stance) at Code Pink or the Quincy Institute. Claudia Koonz
So I guess the real question is what it would take to get Putin to back off. Behind that is what does he really want? To re-establish the old USSR? To allay the insecurity and nervousness that Russian leaders have always had about their borders, their influence, and what Western Europe thought of them? Or, has he considered what he might have to lose, assuming that the sanctions everyone is talking about really work (do they usually)? And geopolitics being what they are, what was NATO thinking when it decided to expand to Russia's borders? Apparently Zelensky is already hinting that maybe it doesn't need the EU or NATO. Neville Chamberlain's ghost aside, might ceding to Russia what it already has work, or would that only lead to more Russian expansionism?
Ah ha! Proof that these newsletters are crafted by brilliant humans, are not AI generated!🤣🤣🤣
Thank you, Heather, so much for your analysis and the resources and links you shared. There is so much for us to understand in this battle for democracy and against fascism. I don’t want to believe this is happening in 2022.
WW III began when Trump was elected. Jeffrey Epstein’s films will serve a second purpose. Who is hiding them? The daughter of Robert Maxwell knows. Let’s hope she doesn’t follow her ex boss. Was he a suicide? Where is Bill Barr, son of the man that hired Epstein? Both were fired from The Dalton School. Les Wexner knows. LTD CFO Robert H. Morosky is dying in The Keyes. He saw it all. Knew. Talks. This WW III won’t take long. Moscow is rotten to its core. Gorbachev loved his wife and country, his people. Putin loves money and power. He will end up poor. So will Trump. MBS will get it. Our INTEL is better. Blinkin’s Uncle Alan is dying. Biden knows enough. Putin will implode. Ukraine will not.
What a wonderful reminder that we have a historian that sources her posts in real time! Thank you Heather for your continued insights and bibliography.
The Chatham House report highlights the role of big money from Russian oligarchs in British financial affairs. No doubt a similar situation exists in the U.S. The corruptive influence of foreign big money in politics is bad enough but when it also enables the theft of money that should have been used to support national institutions is the ultimate corruption. Too many people in government and fiscal agencies feed off this massive theft and keep it under the radar. Biden needs take advantage of the Ukraine situation to expose these illicit cross-border money transfers and seize assets.
Thank you! It is so helpful to have these sources so close at hand.
Dr. Heather—do you think the timing of Putin/Russia threat of war is coincidence as Jan 6th commission prepares to air hearings live in America w/evidence of Trump coup and exposure of those with him? Plus the legal actions delving into financial evidence? Quite the “distraction” designed to preempt this and perhaps get enough Americans to feel if Trump c/b Prez again friendly times w/Russia vs escalating war? It’s just the timing keeps making noise in my head. If possible address in the letters or on the FB talk??
You're just TOO HUMAN...Heather !
Let’s step back from the Biden-Blinken moves. One danger of polarization is confirmation bias that produces cookie-cutter opinions. Heather Cox Richardson’s analysis of domestic danger is brilliant. But remember key events in post-1989 European History. In 1990 James Baker agreed not to expand NATO, tacitly endorsing what Gorbachev envisioned as a London-to-Vladivostok disarmament zone. When Boris Yeltsin was president in 1997, at the NATO Summit in Paris, participant nations, including Russia pledged not to expand NATO beyond its 16 members. Today 30 nations belong. News media hype 100,000 Russian troops at the border, while saying nothing about the 350,000 US military personnel stationed in Europe. Our 50-year Cuba boycott remains in place. Rather than facilitating China-Russia détente, Biden-Blinken should break free of Cold War delusions of the US as a global power. .
A US-NATO diplomatic offensive could pressure Ukraine to fight corruption and meet its obligations under the Minsk II agreement. Fighting oligarch overreach is not a bargaining chip. U.S. policy should escalate its opposition in any case.
Democracy (and the Democratic Party) are healthy when they confront conundrums – like a Black mayor’s approach to policing, AND an anti-war views of the Ukraine crisis. Reflect on earlier confirmation bias re: the war in Viet Nam, the Iran Contra affair, Afghanistan occupation, and the Iraq invasion. If you have time I recommend Andrew Bacevich’s After the Apocalypse.
If you are rushed, ponder the anti-war position (which is NOT the Fox News stance) at Code Pink or the Quincy Institute. Claudia Koonz
Did not receive the letter but did get the notes!
So I guess the real question is what it would take to get Putin to back off. Behind that is what does he really want? To re-establish the old USSR? To allay the insecurity and nervousness that Russian leaders have always had about their borders, their influence, and what Western Europe thought of them? Or, has he considered what he might have to lose, assuming that the sanctions everyone is talking about really work (do they usually)? And geopolitics being what they are, what was NATO thinking when it decided to expand to Russia's borders? Apparently Zelensky is already hinting that maybe it doesn't need the EU or NATO. Neville Chamberlain's ghost aside, might ceding to Russia what it already has work, or would that only lead to more Russian expansionism?