Given that the stock market is blithely ignoring the trade war so far, they’ll only be getting hurt once we’re in full economic melt-down (by which point it’ll be far too late to do anything about anything).
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That’s my fear; that these fuckers wont “wake up” until the entire house is already on fire…
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It’s like somebody wants the whole shitshow on fire.
(We’re fucked, aren’t we?)
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Perhaps we always have been, and the extent of the fucking is just now becoming evident.
Come what may, I won’t go down without a fight…
Speaking of which:
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/16/.../maria-butina-indictment-russia-spy-trump
They got one on actual US soil…
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from the transcript:
Is that allowed? Here the rules are pretty clear that any gifts received while head of state are to be received as gifts to the country, not gifts to the person. The head of state can’t take those gifts for personal use, or re-gift them. (Although handing the ball on to the organising committee for the 2026 World Cup would be legit).
(Yes, this is very small beer amidst all the other fuckery going on in Helsinki)
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As far as I can tell, the house is fully engaged and anyone with any sense is leaning out of the upstairs windows, shouting and waving their arms hoping that Robert Mueller will be able to get a ladder up to us. And all the while in the background, Mitch McConnell is playing the “Devil Went Down to Georgia” on his fiddle and Paul Ryan is toasting marshmallows on the second floor landing.
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Yeah, that’s roughly how I feel… 
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Blame racist rural America, then. But somehow Obama was able to bridge that divide.
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May we live to see the dawn…
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Stop dwelling in the past; we live in the NOW.
Obama/Clinton are not relevant to the current goal; which is surviving this hellacious nightmare with enough of the country still intact, so that we can hopefully start to rebuild.
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I don’t disagree with much of what you are saying, mostly on Crimea. What I would like is not having an aggressive stance with the world’s largest nuclear power anymore. We made it over a decade without fucking cold wars, why fire it back up?? If there is a chance for a fucktard like Trump to end ground hostilities, I would like to see it.
I also doubt there is any country or major business in the world not trying to influence our elections, however, and the scope of the Russian influence is dwarfed by private players like the Kochs and Murdochs of the world. I think $2 million was bandied about for the cost of the confirmed Facebook ads. Which went to people already Trumpified.
It’s not about an aggressive stance, it’s about calling expansionist autocrats on their shenanigans instead of cozying up to them in a way that goes far beyond detente, as Dolt-45 did so shamefully today.
I agree, but if this regime won’t take a foreign power to task for almost openly meddling in our elections we can’t expect it to address the Kochs or Murdochs or other domestic enemies of liberal democracy.
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Both a response to your comment and a good summary of what this is really all about:
Attempting to get to the bottom of the meddling of a foreign power in a US presidential election isn’t about trying to hurt Trump. It’s way, way, way bigger than that. It’s about trying to protect democracy from those who would tear it down from the inside out. A President who can’t or won’t see that is someone who is actively dangerous not only to the United States but to the world.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-press-conference/index.html
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You are saying that John McCain (for instance) is “asschapped about Hillary losing”? Seriously?
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You give Trump way too much credit.
What does someone like Trump care about what happens to Crimea? He doesn’t care if there’s war there or in Georgia or anywhere else. Even if he did, Trump hasn’t had a plan about any single piece of policy yet, so why would he have a plan on this?
In any case, groveling in front of murderous thugs like Putin never, ever stops them from carrying out their goals. In fact, that kind of behavior just encourages them.
Thugs like Putin only understand and respect one thing: blunt displays of force and consequences. It’s the same with common criminals: you do a crime, you get locked up. They don’t respond to diplomatic niceties, and neither do authoritarian leaders.
That’s why appeasement never works with autocrats like Putin. That’s why it’s so important that the EU enacted economic sanctions on Russia when it invaded Crimea. That’s why it’s so important to constantly reaffirm Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, to indicate the consequences that will take place if Russia decides to, say, invade the Baltic States.
It’s also important to point out that the previous two US Presidents also attempted to have good relations with Russia, but Putin shat all over them and their efforts. A strong, forceful stand is the only thing he understands.
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Well, as far as autocrats the US has cozied up to for the last hundred years, Putin is refreshingly sugar. And he is so concerned with his own personal wealth building, it is downright pleasant compared to a Stalin style autocrat, who arguably had less power. Appeasement won’t ever work, but maybe his orange headed fatness can take some leverage off of Russia. Especially since Europe dicking with their economy is fueling expansionistic policy. IDK, things still haven’t stabilized for the common people of Russia. But Americans are having a rough time on the bottom end, too.
Hmmm, anyway, the Shah and Pinochet being two autocrats we backed I have issue with, off the top of my head.
I’d disagree there. He’s just another military-intelligence thug who shimmied his way up the greasy pole. Pretending the pole wasn’t partially greased with human blood doesn’t do anyone except Putin any good.
Only if the Stalin-style autocrat is incompetent. Stalin himself had power that Putin can only (and does) dream of.
Apppeasement is exactly what I’m expecting from Il Douche the next time Putin tries an expansionist move on Ukraine or the Baltics while he’s in office.
What? Putin’s expansionist policy has been baked into his platform from the beginning. The restoration of “Russian greatness” in that way is one of the main appeals for his Know-Nothing base.
Putin has been in power since 2000. The time is long gone when anyone can credibly blame Europe or the West for Russia’s kleptocratic economy. If the common people want out of that morass their best starting point is to find a way to get Putin and his cronies out of power.
We all know about the rotten history of the U.S. in re: “our SOBs.” Just so you’re aware, though, whataboutism isn’t something people on this BBS buy. Someone just got a timeout from the mods for it.
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Nobody said this was desirable.
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FDR: I asked Japan if they attacked Pearl Harbor. They said ‘No’. What else can I do?
JFK: I asked Russia if they put missiles in Cuba. They said ‘No’. What else can I do?
James Madison: I asked Britain if they kidnapped our sailors. They said, ‘No’. What else can I do?
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What? Putin’s Russian Greatness policies have always been an economic appeal to the Russian proletariat, not per se expansionist. If anything, he has corralled the oligarchs who raped the Soviet Union’s heavy industries, via iron fisted tactics. Using his intelligence apparatus to fuel his personal wealth via intimidation.
Look, I get it, I am a contrarian dickhead, I get it, but the response of herr derr everything Covfefe does here is horrendous seems repugnant to me, just like when Republicans were being assholes over Obama and ISIS. A broken clock is right twice a day,(unless it is digital) and I am not against the commander in fucktardiness’s ventures for peace. However ill conceived. Maybe it is time for Oceania to stop being at war with Eurasia and time to focus on Eastasia.
