The world’s weak leadership isn’t
up to the Ukraine crisis
Posted By: Dreadnought, 3/3/2022 10:17:49 PM
The world is facing its biggest political/military crisis since the end of the Cold War, and for better or worse, the leadership of its largest countries has serious problems. Probably for worse. Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, seems angry and out of touch. Putin clearly expected the invasion of Ukraine to be a walkover. A translation of the public statement intended for Feb. 26, declaring victory in Ukraine, reveals his thinking to be both grandiose and unrealistic. Putin used to be a secret policeman, a trade in which accurate information is important. But in his many years at the top,
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Elon Musk overnight said "some governments" had asked SpaceX to block Russian state media on its Starlink internet satellites but said, "We will not do so unless at gunpoint."
He specified it wasn’t a request from Ukraine, adding, "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist." When a commenter argued that Russia state media was propaganda, Musk replied that "All news sources are partially propaganda, some more than others." Earlier, he tweeted that SpaceX had prioritized "cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming," having said a day earlier that in some parts of Ukraine Starlink was the only non-Russian communications system working and it was likely to be targeted.
Imagine you are a ruthless despot who miscalculated in launching an unprovoked war against a small and non-threatening neighbor, and the military operation is going pear-shaped. Not only is the military operation bleeding you to the tune of a couple of hundred men per day (Russia Releases the First Official Casualty Count From Its Ukraine Adventure), and a dozen or so countries sending large quantities of very capable weapons to the country you invaded, Western sanctions are throttling your country. More importantly, the oligarchs who keep you in power are seeing their personal balance sheets hammered. Your ability to find a way out
New Russian law on Ukraine war reporting
threatens journalists with lengthy prison sentences 5 replies
threatens journalists with lengthy prison sentences 5 replies
As the war in Ukraine grinds on, most Russians are unaware of what is really happening amid a new crackdown by President Vladimir Putin on the few remaining independent media outlets. On Friday morning, Russian lawmakers passed a law introducing jail terms for anyone who publishes so-called fake information about the country's armed forces.
The law carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison for journalists or other people who spread military information that the Kremlin deems to be untrue. At least two independent media outlets have been taken off the air this week after officials accused them of reporting false information, which means basically anything that is not being published by official Russian sources.
Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk called on the United States to increase its domestic oil output in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while also acknowledging that his electric car company would be negatively affected by that move.
"Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately," Musk tweeted Friday. "Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures." Musk added, "Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports." The Biden administration has faced increased criticism from both sides of the aisle in recent days for not doing more to focus on American energy production
Has the Joe Biden Comeback Started?
20 replies
Joe Biden has had one of the most disastrous first years of a presidential term in US history. Yeah, Abraham Lincoln had the Civil War and George W. Bush had 9/11, but there’s a difference between events being forced on a president and a president causing events.
Biden managed to completely screw up the response to COVID despite being handed vaccines upon taking office. More people ended up dying on his watch than under the Trump administration. Then there are the foreign policy boondoggles, from Afghanistan to what’s currently happening with Russia. But if that wasn’t bad enough, Biden also turned the border into a humanitarian disaster.
The Texas GOP made substantial gains during the Republican primaries in the the four counties that make up the Lone Star State’s Rio Grande Valley, Politico reported on Thursday.
In Texas’s southernmost counties — Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Starr — where Hispanics “make up more than 90 percent of the total population,” Republicans improved turnout by leaps and bounds compared to the last midterm election in 2018. The report states:
In Brownsville’s Cameron County, GOP votes made up 35 percent of the total share, compared to 23 percent in 2018. In smaller Willacy County, GOP votes jumped to 26 percent of the vote share, from 8 percent in 2018. In Hidalgo County
Why Are Covid Restrictions Coming Off?
12 replies
Across America, jurisdictions are ending covid-related mandates and shutdowns. No more masks! No more vaccine certificates! Get the kids back in school! Of course I think these developments are all good; I have argued from near the beginning of the epidemic that shutdowns and mask mandates are useless and counterproductive. But why are liberals in government now throwing in the towel?
The standard explanation is that the extreme measures taken to “combat” covid have worked, along with vaccination. Thus, because of the great progress we have made, life can get back to normal. Joe Biden framed it in typical fashion
Washington- The Supreme Court on Friday reimposed the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, reversing a federal appeals court ruling that had voided it.
By a vote of 6-3, the court rejected defense claims that the judge at Tsarnaev’s 2015 trial improperly restricted the questioning of prospective jurors and was wrong to exclude evidence of a separate crime two years before the bombing. Tsarnaev was convicted of joining his older brother, Tamerlan, in planting and detonating two pressure cooker bombs at separate spots near the marathon finish line in 2013. The blasts killed three people and left hundreds of others with serious injuries.
As we previously reported, the usual suspects flipped out over a story about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The left pitched it as DeSantis made a kid take off his mask. Naturally, that wasn’t true. DeSantis told kids that they didn’t have to wear masks behind him if they didn’t want to, championing an individual’s choice as he always has.
“You do not have to wear those masks,” DeSantis said to them. “I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous." As we noted, the media went after him
Retired Navy Seal Morgan Luttrell snagged the Republican nomination in the Lone Star State’s 8th Congressional District, according to a projection from the Associated Press on Thursday.
Luttrell, who was one of 11 Republicans vying for retiring Rep. Kevin Brady’s (R-TX) seat, received 52.2 percent of the votes in his district (34,019 votes). Political activist Christian Collins — Luttrell’s biggest competition — garnered 22.2 percent of the votes (14,503 votes.) Navy veteran and attorney Jonathan Hullihan received 12.6 percent of the vote, and none of the rest of the GOP candidates surpassed 3 percent. Laura Jones was the lone Democrat in the 8th District primary, easily securing the nomination and drawing attention to the conservative-heavy
American CEOs are rising to the occasion and pledging to send humanitarian support to Ukrainians as they fight against Putin’s invasion into their country. Two CEOs are speaking out about what they are doing to help in response to pleas for aid.
Goya Europa, the European arm of Goya Foods Inc., will distribute hundreds of thousands of pounds of food to Ukrainians. Goya’s European facilities and distributors are positioned to quickly mobilize and provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Poland. Poland is taking in thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
“Through our Goya Gives global initiative, Goya has always been at the forefront of disaster and humanitarian relief efforts,
The world is facing its biggest political/military crisis since the end of the Cold War, and for better or worse, the leadership of its largest countries has serious problems. Probably for worse.
Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, seems angry and out of touch. Putin clearly expected the invasion of Ukraine to be a walkover. A translation of the public statement intended for Feb. 26, declaring victory in Ukraine, reveals his thinking to be both grandiose and unrealistic.
Putin used to be a secret policeman, a trade in which accurate information is important. But in his many years at the top,
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Senator Lindsey Graham has called for 'somebody in Russia' to assassinate their president Vladimir Putin. The Republican Senator invoked a Julius Caesar-style assassination of the Kremlin strongman—currently leading an invasion of Ukraine—during an appearance on Fox News' Hannity show and in a series of incendiary tweets on Thursday. 'Is there a Brutus in Russia? he asked. 'Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?' he tweeted, referencing the army officer who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler. 'The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.(Snip)Graham's call for Putin to be assassinated drew a stern rebuke from Russia
Democratic strategist James Carville said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that President Joe Biden was born to be president in this moment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Melber said, “The State of the Union is the night where people trying to watch other programs are forced to watch a president, and you see an eight-point bump.”Carville said, “I think people were just involved because obviously, the situation in Ukraine. I think a lot of people want this president to succeed. He’s gotten nothing but praise for the way he handled this. I’ve seen remarkable low criticism.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov pounced on Sen. Lindsey Graham's comment calling for someone to take out Russian Vladimir Putin—questioning his sanity and suggesting he was drunk. The slap from Putin's mouthpiece came after Graham Tweeted Thursday night that it was time for a 'Brutus' to emerge amid Putin throwing Russia's forces into a bloody invasion of Ukraine—a comment that U.S. commentators immediately warned could fuel Russian propaganda.
'Unfortunately, in such an extremely tense atmosphere, there is a hysterical escalation of Russophobia,' Peskov responded. 'These days, not everyone manages to maintain sobriety, I would even say sanity, and many lose their mind,' he added.
Be skeptical about media coverage of Ukraine
28 replies
If you have been monitoring the coverage of the conflict in Ukraine, it is amply clear that a narrative is being pushed.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being compared to Winston Churchill during World War II; he is leading his people during perilous times to become an inspiring figure. He refused a safe passage offer from the U.S. with the quip: “I need ammunition, not a ride”. He streams videos from the deserted streets of Ukraine and posts photos with his cabinet. Photos of Zelenskyy surface in military gear on the battlefront. To sum it up, Zelensky is being portrayed as Churchill, Rambo and social media influencers all rolled into one.
For nearly two years, the White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has appeared at least weekly, if not daily, on news and opinions shows touting the latest Science related to covid. (Snip) Ohio congressman Jim Jordan (R) indicates an investigation into Fauci is a priority if they regain a majority in November’s midterms. The first investigation suggested by Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, was into “all the lies [and] the misinformation, the disinformation” from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
First Lady Jill Biden joined President Joe Biden on Wednesday for a trip out of Washington, DC, taking the stage for an unusually defensive speech about her husband.
The First Lady began her speech recalling Inauguration Day when she watched Joe Biden take the oath of office just a year ago.
“In that moment, he was the man I fell in love with so many years ago,” she recalled, joining her husband to address a small crowd in Superior, Wisconsin.
The president reacted visibly with surprise to her comment, prompting the crowd to burst into laughter, interrupting the first lady’s speech.
“I guess I don’t tell him enough,” she replied after Biden
Diary of disturbing disinformation and dangerous delusionsThis claim:“Vladimir Putin was counting on being able to split up the United States. Look, how would you feel if you saw crowds storm and break down the doors of the British Parliament and kill five cops, injure 145 — or the German Bundestag or the Italian Parliament?”— President Biden, March 2 -We say: We’ve seen plenty of bad takes on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but this one from the ostensible leader of the free world might be the most preposterous. The Russian strongman, who started grabbing Ukrainian territory in 2014, decided to attack again because of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot?
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Friday the alliance of Western nations will not fight for Ukraine. NATO will not send in ground troops and will not close the Ukrainian air space.Whatever promises were made to Zelensky and the Ukrainians in the past were just tossed out a window. Reuters reported: NATO allies rejected Ukraine’s demand for no-fly zones on Friday, saying they were increasing support but that stepping in directly would lead to a broader, even more brutal European war so far limited to Russia’s assault on its neighbour.
Washington—Former Vice President Mike Pence urged Republicans to move on from the 2020 election and declared that "there is no room in this party for apologists for Putin" as he further cemented his break from former President Donald Trump. Pence, in a speech Friday evening to the party's top donors in New Orleans, took on those in his party who have failed to forcefully condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. "Where would Russian tanks be today if NATO had not expanded the borders of freedom? There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin," Pence said, according to excerpts from the speech
Has the Joe Biden Comeback Started?
20 replies
Joe Biden has had one of the most disastrous first years of a presidential term in US history. Yeah, Abraham Lincoln had the Civil War and George W. Bush had 9/11, but there’s a difference between events being forced on a president and a president causing events.
Biden managed to completely screw up the response to COVID despite being handed vaccines upon taking office. More people ended up dying on his watch than under the Trump administration. Then there are the foreign policy boondoggles, from Afghanistan to what’s currently happening with Russia. But if that wasn’t bad enough, Biden also turned the border into a humanitarian disaster.
President Joe Biden had the lowest viewership for his State of the Union than any of his four predecessors first addresses with less than 40 million tuning in, according to Nielsen ratings. In a tracking of the 16 networks that aired live coverage of the address on Tuesday evening, 38,197,000 individuals were watching from 27,408,000 different households in the U.S. The figures from Biden's speech come amid an ongoing war in Ukraine and increasingly dire approval rating numbers for the president and Democratic lawmakers going into the 2022 midterm elections.
As a retired oilfield training engineer, I have traveled to 38 different countries. I have worked in Russia and China. I have never been in Ukraine but I have been in Romania, which is just across the border. Not once in my travels to these countries has any of their citizens come to me and said, “We love Americans and want them to like us. To promote greater friendship with America, we make American visitors feel welcome. To do so, we give them large sums of money. We would like to give you three million dollars. Yours is in this package.