[rjnwmill]

“This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen people, including officials in the Biden administration and people with knowledge of the president’s thinking, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss private conversations.”

Geez, didn’t the press learn anything from from the Russia coverage? Another one sided memorialization of history.

”Immediately after Merrick B. Garland was sworn in as attorney general in March of last year, he summoned top Justice Department officials and the F.B.I. director to his office. He wanted a detailed briefing on the case that will, in all likelihood, come to define his legacy: the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.”

An interesting characterization on the significance of this case. If I’d been hired for the job, I’d think the open investigation of family corruption on the part of the guy who hired me was perhaps more significant?

This positioning seems like the basic three shell find the pea carnival game. Focus on the carnival barker and the unarmed insurrection, not the grifting of the first family and the potential conflicts of interest associated with the war in Ukraine and the use of Putin as our agent in discussions with Iran?

But perhaps the political sleight of hand has real value here. I lose sleep thinking that Biden begets Harris who begets Pelosi, who begets Schumer, who begets Blinken, who begets Yellen, who begets Austin.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

That’s better than Sullivan or Blinken or Austin or Psaki or Harris have come up with.

They’re still assuring us that undefined threats of sanctions will “deter” Putin.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

[quote quote=5877][quote quote=5876][/quote] Well, you went out on a limb picking that one! That’s like calling the winner of race between Usain Bolt and rjnwmill. Biden continues to shine in an irritating way. Maybe he is fooling all of us. Might be a stroke of political genius sending Kamala to Europe. No one will pay attention to her.[/quote]

You are of course right. I recently lost a match race against a sloth and a penguin. No surprise on the penguin. He tobogganed on his belly. Those fatties can slide fast.   I haven’t mastered the technique yet.

What  best demonstrates the incompetence of this administration:

1.  Harris thinking she can resurrect her political standing by getting all over this slow motion disaster in Ukraine?
2. Blinkin announcing we’re all in with Polish planes to Ukraine before the political types say we don’t have the stomach for something so provocative?
3. Bio weapons facilities in Ukraine that we ignored/elected not to disclose for months as Russian troops staged on the border?  (Did Faucci fund these too?)  Is this worse than $80 billion in arms abandoned in Afghanistan?
4. Funding terrorism globally with elevated energy prices and ridiculous sourcing decisions so we can unilaterally shut down our domestic energy industry…without a replacement available for decades?
5. The head of the Joint Chiefs focusing our military on climate change and systemic racism, with assigned reading no less.
6. Biden and his “Baghdad Bob” Press Secretary saying Putin is responsible for energy price increases…and expecting people to believe it.
7. Super secret sanctions that were strategically shelved until after they might have  impacted Russia’s decision to go forward with the invasion.
8. The DHS Secretary assuring us our southern border is closed.

All this in 13 1/2 months?  Perhaps scariest, we were assured this administration would mirror America. My friends, we’re a bunch of incompetent fools…or at least the Biden voters in 2020 are.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

[quote quote=5873]First Biden wouldn’t ban US purchases of Russian oil. After huge pressure from both sides of the aisle, he relented. Now he won’t allow Poland to give the Ukraine MiGs. Whose side is he on?[/quote]

absolute incompetence to be sure.

Ukraine is going down. Biden has earned us higher energy pricing, general economic disruption, demonstrated inability to achieve foreign policy goals, notoriety for the effectiveness of our crushing super secret sanctions and Blinken promising Polish jets. And coming soon, the termination/trial of the Ukrainian leader. And Kamala wrapped herself in this to resurrect her reputation?

Good luck in the midterms. Good luck with that January 6th shit Liz.

And did I mention, with this backdrop the Fed starts raising rates this month?

And let’s be honest…in 2020 who thought this was preferable to “mean tweets”, Russia collusion, unilateral NATO disarmament by our European “partners”, increased energy dependence on Russia and now funding the economic growth and nuclear ambitions of Tehran and Venezuela?  The choice was flawed to be sure, but it’s pretty clear we made the wrong one, no?

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

For what little it’s worth, I believe in a couple of principles, inertia and don’t fight the “Fed”/trend line.

Accordingly, I’m not convinced China goes after Taiwan. They see the mess Putin is in. Why do they want in on that?  What’s left after a victory?  The expansion of the Chinese global influence over the last forty years has been achieved without firing a shot outside their borders.

They also surely recognize that their adversaries are self immolating; that they have successfully accelerated that process. They’ve increased their role and positioning in an increasingly interdependent  global economy, see the “rust belt” and the shifts in supply chains, and the results therefrom; see Europe, the energy market and our inability/unwillingness to resist Russia in Ukraine.

I also think China is mastering their ability to influence our policy and institutions. They are effective “peacefully”. Why change?  Too many politicians are on the payroll. Biden and his son are an example, but so is McConnell and his wife’s shipping interests. There are too many stories to doubt their approach and their effectiveness. Hello Fang Fang!

The Chinese are also playing an expanding role in our “thought leadership” with their investments in our universities and the active participation with their visiting students. A part of their leadership has been trained in the West.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2012/05/harvard_and_the_chinese_communist_party_top_chinese_officials_are_studying_at_elite_u_s_universities_in_large_numbers_.html

I think the Chinese are also working with our politicians to fracture our body politic. Their long term interests align closely with our guys perceived short term self interests and our medias pursuit of market share. Over the last 40 years narrative has taken over our political dialog…news and policy accountability are less in evidence. See our reaction/management of our self imposed energy dependence…let’s reflate Nicaragua, Iran, Russia and the broader Middle East. They all love us. Let’s go green and ruin our economic competitiveness as Russia, China and India go coal?  How does shifting the consumption of “cheap energy” to our competitors as we invest in expensive energy impact our positioning?  We’ve actually got a fool like John Kerry on the public payroll?

So who changes the trend line?  I don’t see our competitors pulling another “Putin”, do you?  In fact the Chinese facilitated his folly by sharing our intelligence. They surely haven’t tried to stop this disaster as it’s spreading like the CCP virus.  Aren’t they positioned to be the winners in this disaster?

I think the “progress” of the last 40 years is likely to continue until we/the west collapse. But I’m not certain that’s helpful in projecting what’s next?  I have no read on how the repressive Chinese regime will evolve. They too must manage the technology driven evolution of public institutions. Middle of the fifth inning and they are in the lead.

Ps:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/07/stephen-roach-on-russia-china-relations-amid-ukraine-war.html

The guy is right as to where the power rests but I think he’s dead wrong on his reading as to where Xi’s interests lie.

Let his adversaries damage each other for a while…and burn coal baby.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by rjnwmill.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

In an interview Tim Kaene put a stake through the Whitehouse narrative that they are leading the coalition on Eukrain policy. When asked if the imposition of the current sanction regimen might have precluded the invasion if it had been imposed 90 days ago, the Senator stated it might have. However he notes 90 days ago our team couldn’t convince the Europeans to go along with the approach.  The Europeans elected to do nothing until after the invasion commenced.  He further states US sanctions alone would have been much less impactful. Who exactly have we been “leading”?

Now this:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senators-meet-zelenskyy-lethal-aid

We’re stopping the Poles from providing aircraft. Seems problematic that we have to wait for the president of Ukraine to release the details of our policy?  A tough choice, but the White House should be more transparent?

Between this and the unwillingness to impose oil sanctions one has to ask who and how are we balancing the trade offs?  Are we sold out for a Russian brokered Iran deal?

Time for policy disclosure and discussion?

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

[quote quote=5850]This is one of those situations where privilege gets in the way.[/quote]

I don’t understand your point.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

If we have the ability to achieve that outcome, why advertise?   If not, how do we benefit from additional threats of more “super secret crippling sanctions”?

I don’t see how Graham advances our interests.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

How long till we step up and put an end to the indiscriminate killing of civilians?

The Russian convoys heading to Kiev look like the Iraqis fleeing Kuwait. A kill zone. Perhaps it’s also time for a no fly zone?  A twelve hour warning?

Failing that, how do we dissuade further military expansionism by our competitors?  The shits hit the fan. Thanks Obama. Can you rush more blankets and MRE’s?

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

Isn’t this yet another effort by Cheney to dissemble?  MTG & Gosar are outspoken but who do they represent. I don’t know the politics of their districts.

Rightly or wrongly I presume AOC, Talib, Omar et al speak for their districts. I presume Budin, Gascon et al represent the views of their counties. If not the local voters have recourse.

What is Cheney suggesting here?  That republicans should sanction voters from districts that don’t subscribe to her viewpoints, the viewpoints of the ADL, the viewpoints of the SPLC?  This as voters in her own district are currently evaluating their choice to send Cheney to represent their interests in DC. She may not reflect the policy preferences of her voters. That’s how the system works, no?

Cheney’s pronouncements with respect to two other members is at best misguided?

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

[quote quote=5825]A few days ago it was the West’s fault for goading Russia into this war and now you’re complaining that we didn’t send in enough arms over the last few months which would have been even more provocative.[/quote]

If western governments were pleased with past support levels why then, with the benefit of hindsight are they daily undertaking course corrections?  Ratcheting up their response?

As you say, engagement is risky.  After Putin has threatened Norway and Sweden directly, after an implied nuclear threat, it seems to me that the delay in the decision to ship in weapons becomes more difficult to accomplish and certainly as provocative from Putin’s perspective.

The west’s acknowledgment of past policy problems, specifically the decision to delay support for the Ukrainians, is seen in full relief with each subsequent course correction.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

I didn’t realize until today that Ukraine had a force in Afghanistan in support of our initiative.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

Fox is reporting that Ukrainian citizens are asking a couple simple questions; If you saw this coming for 60-90 days, why didn’t you do anything until after the fact?  Why sanctions as opposed to weapons?

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

Though to be clear, our fearless leader “shut down” the pipeline that hasn’t gone operational as yet. The operation of the active pipeline continues uninterrupted.

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

[rjnwmill]

Reading your text, I happily reflect upon a DC visit where I was fortunate enough to spend an hour in a conversation with Sandra Day O’Conner. Leaving the meeting, I was amazed by the precision of her language. I thought at the time how fortunate for us that a jurist with such skills was on the Court.

Recently, we had suggestions planted in the media that Harris might be an appropriate candidate to fill Bryer’s seat. I guess because she’s both black and Indian, that she’s a female?

So now we have Sotomayor and her fascinating mortality statistics in place and Harris is advanced as a credible candidate for the court. Folks, we’re in deep shit. Nominees for our most significant and influential positions, lifetime appointments are being advanced without regard to necessary skill sets, qualifications or the critical functioning of our most important institutions.

We are being poorly led. When will voters give these clowns an unequivocal FU!

Here's a toast with one last pour, may it last forever and a minute more;
Good fortune seems to you have sung, to live and love way past long

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