Capitol Hill Blue Forums Thread Like Summary - The long and winding road to Dumbass

Looks like the expansion of the Empire has reached a full boil and we’re gunna find of a few things in the next coupla weeks.
Not sure how stone cold thrr red Libs are feeling about taking it next level with hypersonic middles pointed straight into high NATO’s back yard. As our ruling classes seem ‘agreement incapable’ and no letter of response has come from our side, we see things moving along certain tracks, though I’m not sure anyone has a handle on it.

A very good assessment of the current situation:

“The Russia-US-NATO-OSCE meetings this week have come and gone. The Russian verdict was succinctly delivered by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov, who explained even before the OSCE session was over that the talks have come to “a dead end” and it was unlikely the Russians will participate in any follow-on talks.

This opens the question to what comes next.”

I invite you to place your bets

If I was going to lay money, I’m not sure where I’d land. I would say that the Russian government is extremely tired of getting the arse from the west, the US in particular but has, up till now, shown good diplomacy and restraint, considering all out state and spook hijinks since 92’. I think they are resolved in the matter and who can blame em? Who would appreciate their weapons systems and military units on our borders?

I’d say the situation is moving along the early predictive lines of Doctorow‘s with respect to:

“ So what comes next? In successive articles on this website, I have set out several scenarios, or algorithms. My most recent prognosis in yesterday’s piece was that Putin’s Plan B would likely be purely “military-technical” in the sense of roll-out of medium range nuclear capable missiles in Kaliningrad and Belarus, to place all of Europe under threat of attack with ultra-short warning times, such as Moscow finds unacceptable coming from U.S.-NATO encirclement of its territory.”

It’s been stated these trains are headed west…

Swipe left to see more

"Some people are saying" this is what was supposed to happen:

Trump wins 2020 re-election, and moves the US out of NATO and re-aligns with Russian Federation, China, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Russia invades Ukaraine. Not a peep from the US.
China invades Taiwan. Not a peep from the US.

Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia partner in building nuclear reactors. The US doesn't say a thing.

...but ol' Joe winning in 2020 and the good guys of NATO supporting Ukraine and the US defense of Taiwan, threw a monkey wrench into the whole works.

It looks as though the sanctions are rippling through an already shaky Russian economy.

Do you reckon Vlad Putin has bit off more than he can chew...?

All an incredibly stupid waste of money that Russia could use to improve things a lot for their citizens. Likewise an incredibly stupid waste of money the US spends on "nuclear superiority". When you consider that ANY sufficiently nuclear-armed country could destroy all human life by merely detonating 100 nukes on their own territory, 5000 nuke arsenals, ICBMs, long-range bombers, nuclear-armed submarines, etc. are all idiotic.

They are just a bunch of frustrated old men waggling their droopy bits at each other.

I’m sorry Jeff. I didn’t know realize this is about your feelings. How could anyone else have an opinion or view without having your life’s experience. Especially as it concerns everyone on the planet where nukes are concerned.

Nah really, eff your feelings. We all got skin in the game here and your drama doesn’t really do much one way or the other for the outcome. You don’t like an argument I’m making? Fine. Make a better one. Stop hiding behind your parents history to snipe at me. You got a problem with me saying Putin’s an accomplished politician? Boo hoo. Get over it. Up until invading, he was.

Cripes! Making this geopolitical situation about your feelings. Only you Jeff.

I am not interested in debating whether Ukrainians made sound choices in Zelensky, but the fact is, he's enjoying robust support.
I can't vote in Ukraine and neither can anyone else in this forum, so it's a moot point.

Here is what I am interested in...the long term goals of Vladimir Putin, namely dismantling democracies around the world and replacing them
with authoritarian regimes.
BONUS HINT!! They won't be COMMUNIST regimes, or even remotely leftist, that's a guarantee.

If Ukraine was, in fact, already a part of the Russian Federation since 2000, or even since 1998, would it be safe to say that Putin might attempt to leverage some kind of assault on another country in the buffer region?
I think so. I think he'd set his sights on destabilizing Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Moldova, Estonia, Turkey, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Slovenia, and finally... ??

He can do that with a lot less effort if NATO itself is destabilized and effectively neutered, yes?
Let's see, which American president did his level best to neuter NATO?
Name's on the tip of my tongue...

Does anyone actually think that Putin would be satisfied enough to withdraw if he takes Ukraine?
Does anyone actually believe that getting rid of NATO solves our problems?
Does anyone think that it is remotely possible that some folks on the Far Left believe that Putin knows what's best for the world today?

SEE: Useful idiot Donald Trump

No one's asking you to. Their record is our record. We're all aware of it. We're all ashamed of it where we should be and proud of it where we can be.

A million dead Iraqis don't make a million dead Ukranians okay.

NATO was formed to prevent Soviet encroachment on Europe. This is Soviet encroachment on Europe. When this is all said and done Russia might need to join the EU to save their economy.

Yeah, there are scholarly reports out there on the subject and the history is real.

But however you look at it, if Vlad Putin wants the Ukrainian people to join his crusade against the West he must ask them nicely and respect their wishes if they say no.

Bombing the sh*t out of them to get your way looks a lot like rape.

Don't the Russians teach their boys any manners?

Could be high time they transitioned to permacultural practices in farming (avoiding most of the diesel costs), nutrients from composting, syngas for heating from pyrolysis (no more big profits from natural gas given to useless children), carbon returned to the soil from the atmosphere via biochar produced during pyrolysis, and new manufacturing of bioenergy/biochar equipment.

Looks like an opportunity for a win-win-win-win-win situation!

You mean this? Donbas region. No, I haven’t. Actually, I couldn’t find anything related to “… shelling by Ukraine forces into civilian areas…”
You are too eager to mischaracterize my statements into things that fit your need for argument. I have not taken any position, except to say that I see no upside or justification to what is going on. I would say that Putin’s invasion is clearly an act of escalation, do you agree?

My question is what is an appropriate response, as I stated earlier. I could assume what your opinion is, but prefer that you tell us in your own words… what is an appropriate response to Putin’s invasion?

Does anyone care about how Ukraine feels about this invasion?
If Ukraine IS a sovereign nation (which most seem to agree it is) does it not have the right to align itself with whoever and whatever it wants?
In this case, it's obvious that they felt more aligned to democratic ones.

Mostly because Russia is a dick.

Yes Chunks, the US is also a dick and should eat s*** and die. Twice.

Ukraine might have been playing both ends against the middle.

But still, no matter how many excuses for bombing the sh*t out of Ukraine you come up with, I'm not buying any of them.

I never mentioned collusion, because collusion isn't something that can be addressed by the law.
In fact I think several of us, including folks much smarter than me, arrived at the realization that you can't charge a president with collusion because collusion is not technically a crime.

If you're referring to Mueller's investigation, that's a horse of a different color, but you seem to be obsessed with something called Russiagate.
Trump was playing the Putin playbook to the hilt. Putin wanted NATO fractured, he almost got what he wanted, and President Trump was eager to give it to him.
Imagine where "s*** would be right now" along the banks of the Dniper River if NATO had been gutted.

If you're okay with all of that plus much more happening in Europe, just say so.
If you're okay with Putin calling the shots in Washington, just say so.
You won't have a lot of friends among the independents, or the liberals, or even sane conservatives.
But as I am guessing, you don't want any of those kinds of friends.

And Murrika is crawling with them, we're up to the gills with those kinds.

I can't do a damn thing to force Congress to finish up and figure out if they can charge Trump with a crime.
If they don't, count on him finishing the job he started, you know, the one where you wind up with some rather odd friends?
If they do, and they put Trump and co in prison, your life will go on, I promise you.
If they do, and Trump wins, you will find out very quickly who your friends really are in this world.

But in any case, I don't hold office, I'm not a billionaire so I don't own any politicians, and I don't wear a badge.
All I can do is vote.

Seems you're feeling better about the folks who want to put a muzzle on voting, because you somehow proved Russiagate didn't exist?
Is that what you're backing now?
I'm having a tough time deciphering, and an even tougher time understanding why I am the bad guy, but I guess I can't make everyone happy.

Oh wait...was Russiagate that thing where people accused Trump and Putin of conspiring to put some large heavy thumbs on the voting machines?
There isn't much bang for the buck in that. What you really have to do is to [censored] up the average person's understanding of what a free and fair election really
is and build a monster fake narrative about Democrats committing crimes with emails and then pay a bunch of foreign agents to help you with your stories
so that a compliant media will be compelled to give it as much airtime as possible...

But all of that is okay?

A lot of us wanted to see Trump fall and we don't have much to go on besides the daily news. Perhaps LaFigaro had the truth of it, or some other Ueropean newsroom knew that Trump was innocent and would never collude with Russia because he...

Was too rich, too honest, too patriotic to ever do anything like that!

They probably also reported the truth about Junior Biden's laptop.

And they have been wisely against NATO for over a century. I even have reports that if LePen wins then France will give itself up to annexation by Russia!

But alas...corn has reached a decade-high price and the end of the world is nigh!

Repent! Throw down your red and blue hats! And accept the gospel of Chunkstyle if you hope to be saved from the ravages of the American political system and be raptured into...

What is it exactly, you want us do do Chunks...? We just watch the goings-on and react and react the same as you do.

But it appears your reactions are the only right reactions and ours are twaddle not worth mentioning.

That's a really good list alright.
Not much else I can say or do except shrug.
How DOES this finally end?

I don't know if you remember Vaughan Meador's comedy LP "The First Family", but it came out during the JFK "Camelot" admin.
One clip involves a diplomatic lunch ,and Kruschev says;
"Oh...you don't have to order special for me.
I'll have a bite of everybody else's."

Some things never change.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
War, at first, is the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off. -Karl Kraus, writer (28 Apr 1874-1936)

I watched an hour-long video that really explained what went wrong for Russia, the gist of which is, they didn't prepare for this war, and blew their budget on prestige items and legacy junk. The title is "All Bling, no Basics - Why Ukraine has embarrassed the Russian Military"

Watching it now, that young feller is pretty smart.

Funny that Poland is accepting Ukrainian refugees by...what is it, the millions now...or close to it, right?
You'd think Poland would say "Not only no, but Hell no", yet there they are, opening their country in a compassionate welcome to what you say must be their mortal enemies.
And at the request of Ukraine's Jewish prezzy.
Something in your argument isn't adding up.

Reader Rant.

We read, we rant.

It is what it is. We are the last ones standing.

You've offered up your evidence...now we wait to see who's right.

I say Russia has f*cked up and will pay a steep price.

You say NATO has f*cked up and will pay a steep price.

"How to break your arm" has been a popular Google search in Russia since the mobilization...all flights out are booked solid.

Russia is not a happy place this morning if you are of fighting age. Thousands of protestors have been jailed.

Europe and the West have signaled that they will die on this hill. Russia's allies have told them to end it.

I had previously given Putin another decade of corruption at the Russian people's expense.

Three years tops, he'll be gone, more likely in the next six months...

Neville Chamberlain still insists that if we just give Hitler what he wants everything will be okay...

It is. I Googled it.

WE even got our share of villainization for using nukes and that was in response to Japan's continued attacks PLUS their plans to keep attacking others as well.

Unlike USA vs Japan, Ukraine did not declare war on Russia, so I would imagine that ANY use of nukes, even their so called "TACTICAL" ones (which carry larger yields than Fat Man and Little Boy) would result in pretty much EVERY nation on the planet cutting ties and trade with Russia, even the ones that need their oil and gas.

I think even China and Iran would take a step back and rethink.
Once Russia drops a nuke, there IS NO MORE reasoning with them, they are no longer a rational actor.

Yesterday, Trump and Putin lost. The anti-Trump, anti-Putin, pro-Ukraine rebellion that began in the Senate, continued in the House when twenty-two Republicans joined Democrats to approve aid to Ukraine.