Sorry, Cogito, but I do not agree with Dan Truitt. Not at all. Don’t want to argue sentence by sentence. There’s nothing he says that I do agree with (except his scorn for Biden).
How can Putin’s war on Ukraine be “the West’s fault”?
I seldom disagree with Trump, but if he really said that Putin is a genius and meant it, here’s one occasion when I don’t agree with him either.
What does Truitt know? What is the source of his expertise? I couldn’t find a biography. I think it is just opinion, a very shallow and not well-informed opinion.
I quote from a comment by C. Gee (under “Is Putin Mad?”):
If America or the “free” nations of Europe - whether under NATO flags or their own - don’t have the stomach to confront Putin militarily, let it not be on the excuse that Putin has valid strategic reasons, grounded in history, race, religion or morality to own the territories and populations he extorts, subjugates and terrorizes. No autocrat is entitled to an empire, even if it is called a “sphere of influence”.
I tend to agree with the assertion that the US provoked Russia to begin with by breaking our agreement not to expand Nato, and by interfering in Ukraine with that “Color revolution”, etc.
We’re now paying the price for our corrupt CIA and it’s obsession with meddling in and manipulating the politics of other countries.
Of course the USSR did the same thing to us.
How much better off would we be if our intelligence agencies had spent their time exposing and countering communist propaganda and influence operations here at home, instead of ignoring that and meddling in other countries?
Let me say right now that I sympathize with the Ukrainians and admire their courage and dogged defence of their country. Furthermore,I bear nothing but ill will to Putin. He is a corrupt, murderous, KGB gangster.
But I also understand nationalism, nation interests, and realpolitik.
If Canada struck up an alliance with the Chinese, who then installed both missiles and Wuhan type biology labs on the Canadian border with the US, I have no doubt that the US would, in the name of its national interest, take whatever actions it saw fit to eradicate this threat, and would ignore all claims of the violation of sovereign borders, democracy and freedom in Canada.
So, I do not seek to justify Putin but I fail to see that the matter of whether or not Ukraine joins NATO is in our national interest. It is certainly not of sufficient concern for us to be dragged into a (possibly nuclear) world war.
Like Truitt, I have no credentials here. This is merely my opinion.
Another irritant to me is that I have grave reservations about linking arm in arm with the anti-Putin brigades (Trudeau, Biden, Macron, CNN, BBC, NYT, Hollywood, academia) all of whom have spent the last two years demonizing, vilifying, marginalizing, and slandering those of us fighting for the real threats to Western Civilization - the twin fascisms of global warming and COVID.
I do not know who C. Gee is. I am unable to find any biography, but I wonder if he has “the stomach to confront Putin militarily”.
This is the crux of the matter. It is not a matter of whether Putin is morally justified or not. He is not. Period. It is not a matter of whether or not Ukraine has a right to join NATO. It does.
But the issue here is this. Should C. Gee (or all the Putin haters) be willing to go himself or send his children or grandchildren into the monstrous jaws of war merely to defend Ukraine’s right to join the EU or NATO?
I am not
Exactly. It is reckless to provoke a war (possibly leading to a World War) over something that does not immediately affect our national security or interests.
And the fact that this war is being promoted by the very people who have been lying to us about everything, while doing us irreparable harm for the last several years (and decades), is enough to convince me to take the opposite view from them.
Just because Trump recognizes Putin’s genius does not mean he thinks he is a good guy…he is an evil genius. Keep friends close and enemies closer.
How is Russia threatened by Ukraine, when Russia holds much of Europe over a barrel of crude oil?
Yes, Putin is evil. In what does his genius reveal itself?
Russia is not threatened by Ukraine. Nor by NATO. Has anyone here said that Russia was threatened by Ukraine?
As for NATO, I fear it is not so much a defensive alliance as a brand name, more to decorate T-shirts than to act in defense of liberty.
Rhetorical question…Putin says that is one reason why he had to invade.
Strategy, long-term strategy and political lies to Russians. How he has played the Russians and the world to get to where he wants. Perhaps not compared to Xi is he a genius, but…
Cogito writes: real threats to Western Civilization - the twin fascisms of global warming and COVID.
WEF’s Global Fascism (climate and Covid) versus Dugin/Putin National Fascism (armageddon restart).
Just a few of the statements Truitt makes that I challenge:
“Think Donald Trump minus all the hot air and Big Macs, and add a willingness to off his enemies.”
My comment: What hot air? What’s wrong with Big Macs? Trump “offed his enemies” several times when it was wise to do so. These insults, thrown off so casually by Truitt, are the usual petty snide puerile fatuous comments made by thoughtless and facetious snobs about the great man. Read any of Putin’s speeches, Dan? No hot air? Perhaps he likes stuffed cabbage - wouldn’t that be a giggle? He poisons people - you think that sets a good example?
“Ukraine belonged to Russia for centuries. The two countries have almost identical cultures and languages. Kyiv used to be the capital of Russia. Putin’s war is a war of defense. Russia (rightly, in my view) feels threatened by NATO expansion. Russia is a mainly land-based, continental power that desires a buffer with the West. Ukraine serves that purpose perfectly.”
My comment: It is NOT “a war of defense”. It is an invasion. Russia already has five borders with NATO, four land borders and one sea border. No buffers there. NATO, an alliance formed to DEFEND liberty is not a “threat” to Russia, a despotism - unfortunately. If Putin really feared NATO he might not have invaded Ukraine. And another thing: American colonies belonged to Britain for 169 years, and had the same culture and the same language - is that an argument for the territory to be retaken by Britain now?
“So Putin in the meantime brilliantly helped move along a green revolution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, leaving Europe, with its wind farms and solar panels, hungry for more energy, which it bought from Russia in the form of natgas.”
My comment: Germany made its own stupid decision to “go green”. The German governments were not manipulated or tricked by Putin into making them. Their mistake provided Russia with an opportunity and Putin took advantage of it. He did not plan it.
Yes, I didn’t like his snide comments about Trump, either. And good points about all the rest.
You’re right that Germany, and every other country that went “green” did it without Putins help.
I assume they did it because they are already, as part of the globalist elite, in on the plan to destroy capitalism and become the leaders of a global fascist State, aka “the New World Order”.
I’m not sure how Putin’s invasion of Ukraine fits into their plans, unless they want to start a world war as an excuse to extend their authoritarian usurpation of power.