Vanity Fair reports that Twitter is a-twitter because of Trump’s little mash notes to Vladimir Putin.
Trump does have a crush on Putin.
He didn’t know that Russia had invaded Crimea, and now that he knows he doesn’t care.
He doesn’t know that businessmen who dare to cross Putin lose everything and are imprisoned.
He doesn’t know that dissidents and journalists have been murdered for daring to criticize Putin.
Or maybe he does know, and doesn’t care.
I am weary with commenters who defend the tyrant Putin and say that “we” (the U.S.) are trying to recreate the Cold War, that we are warmongers, and that Russia is an innocent victim of our hysteria. Listen, the Russians are not Communists any more. Putin is a dictator and a tyrant. He plays Trump like a violin. Trump is a chump. Trump’s innocence and ignorance put the former Soviet satellite colonies in Europe at risk of a Russian re-invasion. Putin has no ideology other than power and control. He would love to see Trump break up NATO. He hacked into our election and supported Trump. Trump recognizes his debt to Putin. That’s why he continues to blow him kisses.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Or Putin has something on Trump. I can’t imagine the Russians only hacked into the DNC + what may have been recorded during one of Trump’s business trips??
Yeah, today we learned that Russia hacked into a Vermont power station. Just practice.
Time to get a password manager and get all your existing lame and duplicate passwords into one secure collection, and then work on fixing duplicates and upgrading password strength. You’re welcome.
Cranston Tutor,
Thanks for reminding me about the passwords.
It is one thing you can do to try to protect yourself. I said, try.
Maybe if we had a law requiring a presidential candidate to release of three years of tax returns, we could connect the dots. We cannot rely on reasonable decency to prevail with a candidate that is indecent.
Funny thing, retired teacher.. I was working for hours yesterday filling out the CSS Profile, the VERY detailed financial aid form that is propagated by the College Board -home of “wonderboy”/destroyer of public education David Coleman….
Students and families navigating the college financial aid labyrinth have to lay the financial life bare…..black lung anyone? How old is our house? How much money will I make next year? (What???)
Meanwhile, Trump can hide his money and essentially give the majority of people who did NOT vote for him the finger.
Welcome to America, 2016.
Let’s hope for some good news in 2017!
I wonder if those returns would reveal that he is in debt to Russia? I just have a gut feeling about it, but I would love to know the truth.
I agree. Trump’s continuing praise of Putin is puzzling, The fact of Putin helping Trump in the election is not enough to explain it. The election is over. The continual Putin-ass-kissing is not helpful to Trump politically, as it even alienates some of his own party, including influential Senators, pits Trump against US intelligence agencies be well have to work with, etc. Not to mention his appointment of Putin-buddies like Tillerson to high foreign pokicy positions.
So then-why does Trump continue ass-kissing Putin? Of course fun to speculate on “bromance”, like the funny painting of them kissing. But probably not something personal.
Therefore, one really has to wonder if the Russians have something on Trump, and he has no choice but to say and do exactly as Putin tells him to. That he really is a puppet of Putin, as HRC said in a debate. The possible consequences of that are terrifying.
Of course that is speculation, but one really has to wonder about it. Congress needs to investigate it, including subpoenaing any financial documents showing his business transactions in Russia. (and the CIA should follow any leads they can as well.
I am glad that Congressional leaders (including Republicans like McCain and Graham are calling for further investigation of the email hacks. But IMO they really should go farther than that, and thoroughly investigate all of Trump’s dealings with Russia. Might it help if we write to Congresspeople and Senators about that?
Maybe Trump owes $1 billion to Putin
Yeah…where was the great almighty Obama for 8 years handling Putin??
He sure wasn’t kissing up to him or putting on his best negligee to prep for their meetings.
The outrage at Russia’s actions interfering in our election given the USA record of — how many times, in how many nations- including assassinations – all over the world. Read
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/something-about-this-russia-story-stinks-w458439
Matt Taibbi — Something About This Russia Story Stinks – Rolling Stone
Hell, I’m suspicious of the Russian hacking story the way Obama has been presenting it. Just look at recent history:
Taibbi has no qualms in believing Putin was capable of doing it.
Norm- Has the USA ever done anything bad in the world? Yes.
Does that mean we should not protest a foreign government meddling in our elections to install the fascist Trump? HELL NO! (And by the way, Putin has been trying to install fascist neonazi anti-immigrant parties throughout Europe) (with some success, as in Poland)
Your recitation of the “bad things the USA has ever done” is totally irrelevant to the current situation with Russia. (But it is likely part of their propaganda line, and appeals to a reflexive anti-Americanism of some on the left, creating some “useful idiots” (term coined by another Russian) to defend the fascist Putin, putting you right. In bed with Trump, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, and all the white supremacist neonazis who idolize Putin.
See my response to Ed below.
I am not dispuring your list of “bad things the USA has done (I don’t have time to study it carefully, I am sure probably some of it is true), but it is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to the discussion, as that does not mean we should lay back and allow a foreign dictator to install Hitler as our leader, because you feel so guilty about being an American.
Thank you, Mike. This attempted equivalence is BS. Yes, our country interfered in other nations, shamefully. But that does not make it ok for Putin to install Trump as our president and his lapdog. As you note, Putin is supporting fascist parties across Europe.
This is true, too!
It is not irrelevant if we don’t condemn these actions by everyone including us. Do you think we have stopped tampering? Do you know how much CIA money has gone and most likely still goes to either undermine or help keep certain people in power? Do you think the change of govt in Ukraine that so enraged Putin had no hint of our involvement? Randi wr weingarten if I remember correctly raced over there in support. There have long been reports of the role the aft played in trying to undermine left unions around the world. If we do it arecyiu saying no one else had the right to fight back?
Change,
You think that helping oppressed people throw off their chains is the same as hacking into a democratic election to elect a fascist president?
I was in Moscow in 1988, in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania in 1990. Do you think that people loved being controlled by the USSR, having no free press, no free elections, no freedom of religion? I saw otherwise.
Rah, rah, sis boom bah! Make Amurika great again. Wait isn’t that a Trumpster thing?
Right ON, Diane!
As much as I despise all that trump and his cronies stand for, I implore you not to become part of the Russia-demonizing neocons who want to risk war with Russia to achieve their goal of U.S. hegemony.
Obama and his neocon cronies want to accelerate Cold War 2.0 against Russia. The election “hack” story fits right in with the demonization of Putin and Russia, along with the lies about Ukraine and Syria.
Neocons foolishly and dangerously believe that Russia can be isolated and its government overthrown, leading to a puppet such as Boris Yeltsen was, enabling the U.S. corporate state to plunder Russia’s immense energy resources.
This is why NATO has moved to Russia’s borders in violation of the promise President George H.W. Bush had made to Mikhail Gorbachev, why the U.S. and NATO have been stationing troops and weapons on Russia’s western borders, why Obama has started a one trillion dollar “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal so that “more usable” (smaller, more accurate) nukes will be stationed in Europe, and why the always-compliant corporate media has been pushing this “evil Putin/Russia” propaganda.
See this alarming article:
America’s Secret Planned Conquest of Russia
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/12/americas-secret-planned-conquest-russia.html
Also:
WWIII? The US is threatening to shut down Russia’s electrical grid
http://glitch.news/2016-11-11-wwiii-the-us-is-threatening-to-shut-down-russias-electrical-grid.html
The US had a top-secret operation that could destroy Iran’s infrastructure – Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/nitro-zeus-iran-infrastructure-2016-7
Keep these articles in mind when you hear or read about other nations’ threats to shut down the U.S. power grid in a cyber warfare attack.
Nonsense. Some people will believe anything.
Putin is an evil man. He kills people who disagree with him. He called the dissolution of the USSR “the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.” He would like nothing better than to reconquer Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
I am not a neocon. I know neocons. I used to publish in their journals. I knew Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, and Midge Decter, the founders of neoconservatism. I split with them.
You don’t have to be a neocon to worry about Putin, now Trump’s best friend.
Quite right, Diane. Putin seems to be able to influence some on the far left as well as right (the former with reflexive anti-American instincts). Nothing at all progressive about defending a fascist like Putin. Strange bedfellows. See my direct response to Ed.
Ed, you are blindly repeating Russian propaganda, and citing references from their vast propaganda network.
Do you consider it “progressive” to defend a far right-wing kleptocratic oligarch, who murders journalists and opponents, who committed genicide in Syria, who supports far right wing white nationalist neonazi parties throughout Europe, who invades neighboring countries, who suppresses human rights in his country (including terrible treatment of gays), etc. Progressive to defend such a person? Might it be a kneejerk reflexive reaction of some on the “left” to automatically sympathize with anyone who is “anti-American”, and/or an automatic “anti-cold war” stance (although that rivalry between the US and USSR war over decades ago, and has nothing to do with the current situation?
The argument about “some want war with Russia” is ridiculous. There is cyberwarfare, going on, but not started by us. No one wants actual war with Russia, which could mean the end of the world through nuclear war. (I would be more worried about Trump getting into nuclear war with North Korea, as both leaders are such immature narcissists.) But should no one criticize Putin’s actions, lest they be accused of “wanting to start a war with Russia”. (common accusation in Russian propaganda).
It is strange how such reflexive reactions of some on the left (as described above), put them right in bed with far right white supremacists (who idolize Putin), Trump, and a corporate oligarch like Rex Tillerson, who received a major award from Putin.
Strange bedfellows indeed.
One can condemn the US’s blatant wars of aggressions and sponsored killings all over the world without “being in bed” with foreign kleptos. Your argument is a false one.
Are you afraid, Mike? Are you afraid that the “great Amerika” won’t be “great” anymore? Are you too weak intellectually to take the telephone pole out of your eye to see that pointing out America’s undisputed role in many, many coups over the last half century, in its supporting far right wing dictators who have done as much harm to common folk as Putin and the Obomber have doesn’t mean that one condones others who have done the same???
Gimme a break with the “false equivalencies” and the Amurika right or wrong nationalism disguised as a false patriotism.
Duane, you don’t need to be a super patriot to be angry that an incompetent narcissist will lead a war against unions, healthcare, public education, and the environment for the next four years. You are responding to ugly reality with smugness.
Let it be strident smugness at that then. If you believe that I write these things with an “exaggerated self-opinion” you know me not. If you believe I “enjoy” pointing out the insanities that this country has perpetuated on smaller, less powerful countries over the decades you know me not! If you believe that turning a self imposed blind eye to those common and recurrent atrocities, condemning those of us who point them out, well, I truly feel sorry for you.
I don’t turn a blind eye to anything, Duane. I don’t appreciate your smug acceptance of Trump as “we deserve him” and “he can’t be worse than Georgie the Least.” There is a fascist movement sweeping Europe and America, and a collapse of belief in science and facts. Your attitude of “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” is horrifying to me. You remind me of the Jews and intelligentsia in Germany in the 1930s who refused to see that their world was in deep trouble.
I’ve never said “we deserve him”. I’ve not said that “he can’t be worse that Georgie the Least”. Those are your words not mine. And it is not right to attempt to put them in my mouth.
I have stated that THETrumpster (which is meant with strident derision) won the electoral college vote and that is what legally matters. I have also said “we will survive him just as we did with Georgie the Least”. That last sentence in no fashion means that “he can’t be worse than GtL.”
I am not the one who “refuses to see their world was in deep trouble”. Again you have me wrong on that. I point out that America has already become that “Germany of the 30s” so to speak in that many in this country seek to blame the rest of the world for the atrocious behaviour of this country for the last 50 years.
If you believe that I support the “collapse in science and facts”, then you are completely wrong, again.
You are shooting the messenger, Diane!
Some of us her what you are saying, too. There is a much larger truth here, and somany voice to stop us from seeing through.
No point continuing the discussion, Duane. You have written about 100 times that it doesn’t matter who is elected president. You are about to learn that it matters quite a lot, as Trump launches attacks on the environment, healthcare, public schools, unions, and science.
You got the wrong dude, Diane.
If I may adjust/correct your thought “You are about to learn that it matters quite a lot, as Trump (launches) CONTINUES the attacks on the environment, healthcare, public schools, unions, and science. (Gee, I won’t even mention that Hillary would have continued those assaults also.)
You see, my point of view is one of an outsider. One that corresponds in many ways with those who don’t vote because they know that it doesn’t matter for them on a personal level.
But it does matter to me, otherwise I wouldn’t be here typing this now. And obviously what I intend to say and how it is interpreted by some here, yourself included, has not been adequately explained by me. Alas, I know not what to do with those politically blinded, not willing to listen and attempt to understand where someone is coming from.
Como dijiste, basta con esto.
Thank you Duane, for expressing my feelings so exactly.
Thank you Susan for the kind words!
It’s quite possible that Littlefingers Donald Trump wants to be the same kind of leader Putin is. Littlefingers admires dictators.
What will happen when Littlefingers attempts to throw editors and reporters in jail and crack down to impose censorship on his publicly vocal critics.
Will Turmp issue a Presidential order to WordPress, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to blacklist and remove all those critics from their sites?
Diane said: “I am weary with commenters who defend the tyrant Putin and say that “we” (the US) are trying to recreate the Cold War, that we are warmongers, and that Russia is an innocent victim of our hysteria.”
Some of the comments on this topic are straight out of the playbook of Trump where the objective is to change the subject, implicate Obama, or Hillary, or the our nation’s unbridled greed and pursuit of power as if these claims can and should take precedence over the fact that Putin rose to power from the KBG, and yearns to compromise the USA, weaken NATO, and reclaim as much of the old Soviet Union as he can.
Combine gross ignorance with super high ego and you get catastrophe.
Some people wanted change. They are getting it – right in the neck.
Democracies have a habit of not lasting long. I HOPE we are not in that category but with Trump – I would not bet on it.
It may not make a difference any way. With Trump’s thin skin and a hand on our nuclear arsenal a nuclear winter may be just in the offing.
If so
Homo Sapiens was a noble experiment that came to an end like the proverbial lemmings mad suicidal dash to the sea and oblivion.
Gangster always protect each other until happens to upset their individual gangster criminal activities. I wonder how long Putin will put up with Donnie Boy Trump’s B__and ignorance? Not long I suspect. Putin is so much smarter than Donnie Boy that it is ridiculous. Now Donnie Boy will have a 15 member Cabinet and a Vice-President who will run him and the country, not the other way around. Donnie Boy cannot control that many people with brains and intelligence.
Eugene,
Putin wanted Donald for a reason. He is, as Lenin said, a useful idiot. Easily manipulated.
A quote from Fred Klonsky:
“2017 promises to be a challenging year.
We have political leaders who cannot possibly be examples of the best the human race has to offer.
They have made the planet a more dangerous place”
posted it at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Trump-Loves-Putin-by-Dian-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Diane-Ravitch_Ignorance_Putin_Trump-Idiot-in-chief-170101-769.html
go and see the image that I chose.
I also wrote this comment: “Oh Diane… there are a few of us who are sick at the behavior of this man who will represent us.
it is what it is, and if we are lucky we will survive this ignorant psychopath…just maybe.”
Here is a strange one: My wife is Russian. She is glad that 35 diplomats at the Russian Embassy are being expelled. She (and her Russian friends) have never received good service at the embassy. The staff are discourteous, and unskilled. She says “good riddance”
Why didn’t Obama expel all the Russian staff–it must be thousands–and close the embassy?
Because he’s part of the oligarchy now just as he’s been for his political career.
Your comments mirror my thoughts exactly!
“Trump does have a crush on Putin.”
That was beneath you, Diane.
Dienne,
Should I call Trump Putin’s poodle? Putin’s puppet? What would you call their bromance?
This one is dangerous. Putin is not a nice man. He is a KGB guy and he knows how to play ignorant fools like Trump.
Don’ miss this revealing article about Trump’s Russian connections, including some history of how Russia became a kleptocracy (rather than the democracy that war hoped for) after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
How about reading “The Shadow Elite” by Janine Wedel which helps explain how US interests (and the elite’s private interests) were well served in making Russia a kleptocracy.
Assaud said ( in a TV interview on Hannity) that he received no information from any other states (countries). Another fellow came out as the intermediary from those who leaked the information from within the DNC (sorry, I read the article and forgot his name). The problem is fake news. Unless I see and hear it personally, I am very doubtful about anything that the news media comes up with. That goes for this Putin-Trump scenario. Let it rest. Give Trump and his new administration a running chance. He has some very strong and accomplished people lined up for his cabinet (with a couple exceptions that also need a chance) Such negative comments leaves one to believe that you want this president and our country to self destruct.
We have known how all electronic information is subject to possible hacking or leaking by our friends and enemies. Democrats would like to shoot the messenger but the fact is that the information was truthful. It was not hacked (altered) but rather it was leaked. Assaud said that he had some Republican information but it was already public. News flash: Don’t print information that you would be embarrassed to have exposed.
Trump is a narcissistic fascist and grifter. It’s no surprise he would pander to Putin who interfered in our election to his pet’s benefit. The only saving grace is that more than half of the electorate opposed this grotesque creature.
Incidentally, his cabinet is a horror show.
Annie Coffman,
Right.
“The only saving grace is that more than half of the electorate opposed this grotesque creature.”
“e•lect•or•ate (n.) A body of qualified voters (from American Heritage Dictionary, online)
Less than 28% of the American electorate voted for THETrumpster-226 million electorates and 63 million voted for him.
But he legitimately won the Electoral College vote so we have to live with that result. We survived Georgie the Least for 8 horrendous years, followed by 8 more years of the Obomber presidency, we can survive THETrumpster.
April wrote, ““he has some very strong and accomplished people lined up for his cabinet …”
I disrespectfully disagree!
Littlefingers Donald Trump lost his chance (for me) to prove that he might end up being a fair and honest president as soon as he started to put together his cabinet with the exception of one or two on the list.
No, I do not think, as you allegedly do, that most of the people Littlefingers has picked for his cabinet are strong in the way we need strong.
Most of them, obviously from their individual histories, will do all they can to dismantle the power of the national govenrment to protect the people from con-men out to fleece them and subvert the very U.S. Constitution that was written to protect the people from haters and scoundrels like them.
The very fact that Littlefingers defends Russia and Putin against all of the U.S. intelligence services reveals even more about our groping, liar-in-chief, and there is a long history (more than 50 years) of Littlefingers’s bulling, lies, groping, and frauds to back that up.
Obviously the country is divided like it has never been before and historically that usually leads to civil wars. Are you ready for that when it arrives?
General Sherman of the U.S. Civil War was right when he said “War is Hell”, and I know because I am a combat vet. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone but eventually, if the ignorant hating Alt-Right is not stopped and contained, what’s coming our way will be almost impossible to avoid.
This is beyond politics. This is total insanity.
https://www.google.com/amp/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_586813c3e4b0d9a5945bb091/amp?client=safari
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings
Putin bombed an apartment building in Russia (killing nearly 300 and wounding over 1000) and blamed it on the Chechens. The bombing allowed him to grab power in Moscow and start a war in Chechnya. There is nothing about Putin that makes him worthy of respect. Perhaps Mr. Trump does not know this. Or, as you suggest Diane, perhaps he knows and doesn’t care.
I agree with the criticisms of Putin as whatever he is. But let’s keep context in mind.
I see the hysteria as defense mechanisms over the failures of the Democratic party. We saw the Sanders campaign degraded by so many – even in this space. Trying to make it seem that Putin is the one who lost it for them is a defense mechanism.
People who study history should not forget it or minimize it.
I wonder it Putin had hacked Trump and helped Clinton win if we would see the same outrage here. Let’s talk about a nation interfering in another nation. Do we equate the Russian hacks with the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan? Remember the Reagan invasion of Granada because we didn’t like who they elected? Do the Putin hacks equate with the Obama drones that have killed so many as collateral damage? We may all have loved the Bin Laden assassination — but we know he could have been captured and brought to trial. And remember – it was America going into another nation to kill him. And how about the taking down of Allende in Chile — he was a communist so that made it OK? And the attempts on Castro. Speaking of which — a 50 year war against Cuba because there dared to be a communist nation 90 miles from us. But when Russia gets in a snit about NATO creeping close to their borders that doesn’t matter. Or the attempt to put defensive missiles — or supposed defensive missile on Poland. Just imagine if someone put missiles in Mexico.
Now does Russia do the same thing — yes — they killed people in England who they viewed as enemies. They even poisoned people. We know that. But we can’t go on saying that we do is not relevant or that our actions over a century and a half – especially in central America, the middle east and the Caribbean has no causal affects. That we can do anything because we have the moral right to justify anything to fight communism – even if it means helping keep the most brutal dicatorships in power – gives us the right but not anyone else. TO me that is a level of Trump type nationalism coming from Democrats.
Norm,
I don’t approve or justify any past misdeeds or criminal actions by our government. But I don’t see them as a reason to excuse Putin’s manipulation of our election. Putin is helping nationalist, fascist parties across Europe to destroy NATO. If you don’t care about the rise of fascism, keep justifying it.
“If you don’t care about the rise of fascism, keep justifying it.”
That is a very false assumption, Diane. Because someone points out the abuses and atrocities committed in the foreign policy realm by the US, doesn’t mean that one “doesn’t care about the rise of fascism.”
Au contraire.
All fascisms need to be exposed and denounced, including and most importanantly the American fascism that has paraded around as patriotism since the second world war.
Norm would be the last person to justify fascism.
Abigail, I know Norm and I agree that he would never justify fascism.
I don’t see the point of discounting Russian hacking of the American election by agreeing with Trump. Trump believes Putin rather than the US government. Reciting CIA mistakes of the past does not prove that the Russians did not hack our elections. We are not discussing Uncle Joe, but Vicious Vlad. Cui bono?
I’m trying to make it clear that putting the hacks in context does not mean we are condoning them. We are talking about one nation interfering in the internal affairs of another. This is not only about our actions in the past but ongoing today. Putin is rightly accused of murder etc. I believe they kill dissident journalists. This is Russia after all. There is a level of hysteria because our candidate lost. I believe that if Putin hacked trump and caused him to lose some people on this thread would be cheering. Everything is context. Do we see the same level of upset over the use of drones to kill people, including innocent bystanders or is that ok in the name of national security? There is an imbalance in the reaction. It is emotional because hillary lost. There is a lot of blame going around about mistakes made. That an awful trump should not have had a chance if not for hillarys flaws compounded by bad decisions. That the dem party must be changed. Now if you are still a clintonista and don’t want change in the party that spent the last 8 years destroying public education the way to keep the status quo is to place the main blame on Putin and comey and not clinton or the party and head toward the next potential disaster in 2020. Sure there was an impact but that didn’t make 64 million people vote for trump. If people think there are that many deplorables we are in deep trouble no matter what Putin did. I know we are supposed to close our eyes and stuff our ears but it was certainly interesting to see our Randi in action in some of those emails where she promised to get that lousy nurses union for supporting Bernie and their little dog too.
Norm,
I would be outraged about a foreign government hacking into our presidential election no matter which candidate or which nation. If Russia picked Hillary, I would be outraged. If China picked our next president, I would be outraged. You seem to take some strange solace in Hillary losing. I don’t. I will not enjoy the assault on public schools, healthcare, the environment, and unions over the next four years.
Diane. I voted for Hillary and take no solace I her loss. I felt she was not an ideal candidate but she was anointed by many without looking at alt. See aft and Nea endorsements and look at how many teachers wouldn’t vote for Hillary. I fought it out with people believe me. But we have to move on and figure what is next. Given the state of the Democratic Party and the focus on Putin and comey I don’t have much hope because that analysis leads us to nothing really needs changing because we really won. I look at the dem choices and see a fiend of ed deformers. 2020 looks scary esp since the republicans will try to take the North Carolina model national and turn us into a 1 party system.
I am with you, Norm.
I also forgot the bloodbaths taking place in Central America. Didn’t we intervene not long ago in an election in Honduras? We know people automatically equate leftist leaders and govt with right wing fascism i.e. A castro is no different than Hitler. And that gives us the moral right to intervene often by economic destabilization with some political thrown in. Putin’s goal is to mock our system and undermine faith in it. But our system has been doing a pretty good job of undermining itself without his help. I’m as worried about the rise of fascism in this country as I am in Europe. Another massive economic crash and who knows? I think Putin will be the least of our problems as he will also be facing serious issues himself as he tries to extend his influence- he wants to be a great power – look at the cost to us around the world. An often clueless trump and Bernie both touched on the role we play. We just gave Israel 37 billion over next 10 years and we give loads to other nations. Do we think we should have tried to put misilles in Poland? Get Lithuania in NATO? I don’t know but each action causes a counter reaction. History has shown that we have been ok with right wing fascist dictatorships. If it’s left wing, that is a threat and requires intervention. We are a few years away from celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Monroe doctrine. Let’s find someplace in South America to invade as part of the celebration.
Minor addition to one of your thoughts: “That we can do anything because we have the PRESUPPOSED moral right to justify anything to fight communism
Enough already with the BS equivalency arguments. The point is, this stuff tends to get outed by concerned citizens in a democracy, & change can be made. Duane’s “moral right to justify anything to fight communism” is not a thing presupposed by anyone, it is just a tagline that was used to cloak empirical and strategic US govtl actions & sell them to the public, & a lot of it came unwound late ’60’s-mid-’70’s.
It took 7 or 8 yrs, but eventually citizens fed up w/VN war escalation put enough feet in the street to force LBJ not to run again. Another 4 yrs of demonstrations & voting & congressional investigations put Nixon out of office & shut down the war. Daniel Ellsberg was not secretly assassinated & the Pentagon Papers quashed, as might happen in Putin’s Russia. Charges against him were dropped when congressional investigation revealed Nixon’s Watergate plumbers were involved in trying to discredit him.
There were 8 congressional investigations into the CIA in the ’70’s, making the various actions you all deplore mainstream public info– that’s how you finally got the truth– & resulting in huge reining in. Meanwhile a band of resisters secretly stole FBI papers proving Hoover’s FBI’s decades of widespread domestic spying abuses, w/ similar consequences. In the ’80’s, 2 investigations into Iran-Contra resulted in a dozen endictments, & exposed rogue activity & coverup/shredding under cover of ‘nat’l security interest’. Actions like that– & all the anti-war actions– simply could not happen in a totalitarian govt. Yes, they prove all the bad stuff we did, but also prove that our laws & our brand of democracy encourage citizens to monitor their govt, & that change through political organizing & pressure is possible.
I was speaking with my nephew over the holidays who lives in OK and he said they national guardsmen shipping out to Ukraine. I did not ask him any questions at all because we do not ever talk politics (except he grew up in D.C. and he realizes there is a lot of xenophobia in OK where he and his wife live now)
I receive newsletters that describe the conditions of elderly women in Ukraine and they are not pleasant… but it seems like Trump has handed over territory already
He didn’t know that Russia had invaded Crimea, and now that he knows he doesn’t care.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com