Is it me or is it now literally a daily occurrence that President Potato runs his mouth and his OWN PEOPLE have to run and clean up after him and explain that he "misspoke" and "what he MEANT to say was..."

WTAF! We are living in a complete clown show now.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Someone pointed recently out that Biden now has the incontrollable head shake that is associated with dementia, they are going to have to start hiding this guy away from the public and not let him speak off the cuff anymore lest he start a war.

I figure that the White House has a nice basement.
Put him back in the basement.

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
On the bright side given a yes/no question, there's a 50% chance he'll get it right...

Only if he's smart enough to flip a coin. He's not.

At this point we'd be better off having a Magic 8 Ball dictate policy.

All the people in favor of escalation here you go:


Pentagon Chief Says Ukraine To Get Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles From Denmark

https://www.zerohedge.com/mili...hip-missiles-denmark

On Monday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hosted a meeting of over 40 nations to discuss military aid for Ukraine and announced afterward that Denmark will be providing Kyiv with Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

"I’m especially grateful to Denmark, which announced today that it will provide a harpoon launcher and missiles to help Ukraine defend its coast, " Austin said at a joint press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Reuters reported last week that the US was looking for ways to get Harpoons and Naval Strike Missiles in Ukraine’s hands. The transfer of Harpoons marks an escalation in NATO military aid for Ukraine as the missiles have a range of about 300km, making Russian warships blockading the Ukrainian port of Odesa potential targets and widening the area where Kyiv can use Western-provided arms.

On Friday, a Ukrainian official said the US was readying plans to destroy Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. "The US is preparing a plan to destroy the Black Sea Fleet … Deliveries of powerful anti-ship weapons are being discussed," Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Twitter (which he later deleted). The Pentagon denied Gerashchenko’s characterization of the US push to get advanced anti-ship weapons in Ukraine’s hands, likely out of fear of provoking Moscow.

Austin said that about 20 countries pledged new military aid for Ukraine at Monday’s meeting, which was held in a new forum known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. "

We also heard some very welcome announcements this morning about even more security assistance for Ukraine. That includes some 20 countries that announced new security assistance packages," he said.

Austin said that Italy, Poland, Greece, and Norway will be sending Ukraine artillery systems and ammunition, and he thanked the Czech Republic for providing attack helicopters, tanks, and missile systems. Austin said other countries made commitments for new training programs for the Ukrainian military.

^^^ Cool. Time to open up the Black Sea, take pressure off of Odessa and cut down on Russian naval artillery and missile attacks on the south and east of Ukraine.

Let's hope the Ukrainians have figured out the delivery platforms for the Harpoon, and wind up getting longer range antiship missiles. They're going to need some help with antisubmarine warfare at some point in the future too.

It's a damned shame Turkey sucks so much as an ally, but then again their navy is probably no great shakes either.

What's Biden's End Game In Ukraine?

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Last week, President Biden signed a massive $40 billion military aid bill for Ukraine. Who cares that inflation is killing the American economy and mothers can't even get baby formula. For Washington, spending on war and empire always seems to trump America’s interests.

To put this giveaway to Ukraine in perspective: just since late February, the US has provided nearly $60 billion in "assistance" to Ukraine. That is almost half that country's entire 2020 GDP! Washington has literally adopted Ukraine in our name and on our dime.

The Biden Administration claims that Ukraine is winning the war with Russia and that such an expenditure to protect Ukraine's borders is critical to our national interests and worth risking a nuclear war over.

But protecting Ukraine's democracy is no longer the stated goal of the Administration. Defense Secretary Austin outlined the Administration's new intention not long ago when he said that the real goal is to weaken Russia.

Biden’s neocons are fighting a war with Russia, but once again Congress has no interest in voting on a war declaration or even in debating whether war with Russia 30 years after the end of the Cold War is a good idea.

There is a reason our Constitution grants war powers to the legislative branch. Forcing Members of the House and Senate to declare the US to be in a state of war also enables them - through the powers of the purse-string - to define the goals of the war and particularly what a victory looks like. That prevents the kind of mission-creep ahd shifting objectives that have characterized our endless wars in the 21st century - including this current proxy war with Russia.

Even the US mainstream media is beginning to notice. Last week the New York Times’ Editorial Board published an editorial originally titled, “What is America’s Strategy in Ukraine?” complaining that the Biden Administration has yet to answer any questions to the American people regarding its involvement in Ukraine.

While, as could be expected, the paper attacked the “isolationists” in the US Congress who opposed the $40 billion giveaway, the NY Times editorial board nevertheless registered what can only be seen as the first major sign of dissent among the usual media war cheerleaders.

They wrote:

...it is still not in America’s best interest to plunge into an all-out war with Russia, even if a negotiated peace may require Ukraine to make some hard decisions. And the US aims and strategy in this war have become harder to discern, as the parameters of the mission appear to have changed.

While warning that Americans’ interest in Ukraine will begin to wane without more clarity from Washington as to its goals, the paper went on to directly contradict the Biden Administration’s predictions of a Ukraine victory:

A decisive military victory for Ukraine over Russia, in which Ukraine regains all the territory Russia has seized since 2014, is not a realistic goal.

Congress - with very few exceptions - has opened a financial spigot to the government in Kiev without asking a single question about how and why the money is to be spent.

When Senator Paul simply asked for someone to keep track of the $60 billion we shipped over there he was met with near-unanimous opposition.

An endless supply of US taxpayer money to Ukraine with zero stated goals and zero oversight. Isn’t it time to stand up and demand that both parties in Congress start asking some hard questions?

https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...ens-end-game-ukraine

I wish I knew what I don't know about what is going on in Romania, a NATO country, just a hop skip and a jump down the coast from Odessa. I'd have to imagine NATO is doing something interesting in the Black Sea through our Romanian friends..

Soros says Ukraine may be start of World War Three (at The World Economic Forum -Davos)

https://news.yahoo.com/soros-s...start-173709929.html

DAVOS (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have been the beginning of World War Three so the best way to preserve free civilisation was for the West to defeat President Vladimir Putin's forces.

Soros, 91, a legendary hedge fund manager who earned fame by betting against the pound in 1992, cast the Ukraine war as part of a broader struggle between open societies and closed societies such as China and Russia which were in the ascent.

"The invasion may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilization may not survive it," Soros told Davos, according to a text of his speech released by his office.

"The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible. That's the bottom line."

More at link

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
DAVOS (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have been the beginning of World War Three so the best way to preserve free civilisation was for the West to defeat President Vladimir Putin's forces.

Simple reality. If Soros is for something, you can rest assured it won't be good for the US.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
DAVOS (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have been the beginning of World War Three so the best way to preserve free civilisation was for the West to defeat President Vladimir Putin's forces.

Simple reality. If Soros is for something, you can rest assured it won't be good for the US.

That is why I posted it. People need to think about what is really going on. Soros has been trying to destroy Western civilization for a long time.

Then...why let Soros decide which side you're on? The guy just picked a bandwagon to jump on.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
Then...why let Soros decide which side you're on? The guy just picked a bandwagon to jump on.

Birds of a feather and all that.

Are we in a war yet? confused!

quote:

On Monday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hosted a meeting of over 40 nations to discuss military aid for Ukraine and announced afterward that Denmark will be providing Kyiv with Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

Reuters reported last week that the US was looking for ways to get Harpoons and Naval Strike Missiles in Ukraine’s hands.

Gee, you don't suppose Denmark is being paid under the table by the US as yet another proxy to ship Ukraine these missiles? Nah, I'm sure its just a coincidence.

Keep pushing Putin tighter and tighter into the corner, and when/if he does finally let a tactical nuke off the leash, Biden and the GD morons accepting his checks will be totally to blame. This conflict needs to end, not escalate, given the devastating effects its having across the international economy. But when you're retarded and owned lock, stock, and barrel by the defense industry, anything other than blowing shit up is simply not an option.

^^ You know, it's funny. I was watching an excerpt from the big media opinion show in Russia on another website. (Apparently it's big enough for Putin to keep two stone loyalists in charge of the show.)

One of the two anchors of the show, a woman, FWIW, asked the panel to consider the same possibility a couple of times.

The first time, a few weeks ago, she asked if the West doesn't realize that they're pushing Putin into a corner where he has to use nukes against them and finished up by saying (apparently, in all seriousness) "of course we'll all die, but the Russians will be with the angels". Everyone else on the panel - and these guys have all been diehards - just looked at the floor in front of them and said nothing.

The second time was within the past few days. Again, she said that Putin was being pushed into a corner. This time, though, she spelled it out: the West doesn't realize that Russia will accept mutual nuclear destruction if it can't have its way in Ukraine. Again, everyone else just looked at the floor and said nothing.

I don't think the support is there for Putin to actually launch nukes, and he needs at least four other people to agree to launch the way Russian launch procedures are arranged.

And I'll be damned if I understand why the "devastating effects" in the international economy are somehow the West's responsibility rather than the responsibility of Russia since Russia launched this war and Russia can end it at any time. Whether Biden is "retarded and owned lock, stock and barrel by the defense industry" doesn't actually seem to matter here except insofar as people are less likely to back down from a confrontation by accommodating Putin's absurd demands.

So - how do we get Putin to turn off the war without doing anything to encourage him to restart the war at some point in the future?

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
And I'll be damned if I understand why the "devastating effects" in the international economy are somehow the West's responsibility rather than the responsibility of Russia since Russia launched this war and Russia can end it at any time. Whether Biden is "retarded and owned lock, stock and barrel by the defense industry" doesn't actually seem to matter here except insofar as people are less likely to back down from a confrontation by accommodating Putin's absurd demands.

My point is that Putin created the problem initially, then Biden and his cabal of mentally retarded morons have done nothing but thrown gas on a raging fire instead of looking for a solution to end it. 'If' the food shortages that people are projecting to happen later this year and into next year do occur, the famine that could create in developing countries around the world could result in orders of magnitude more deaths than those who died in Ukraine. And that doesn't even take into account the monumental damage to world economies (including the US) the collateral damage from this encounter will do at a time where those economies are increasingly vulnerable.

And if you want to get down to basics on this, I'm furious that we're being lied to daily about what this is 'really' about, while both the military garbage in Washington and elected scumbags laugh and chuckle about the US being at war with Russia. Wanna F-ing go to war with Russia? The get your GD fat asses out there and sell the reasons to the American public, and then pass a resolution of war through the F-ing US congress like the Constitution requires. Can you tell I'm pretty much totally over Washington and their BS at this point?

quote:

So - how do we get Putin to turn off the war without doing anything to encourage him to restart the war at some point in the future?

The better and more appropriate question IMO is 'why' is it the United States' responsibility to be meddling in this conflict at all? No one has yet to explain to the American people what US national security interests are at risk, or what positives our participation in this conflict will reap for the US, or even what success/victory in this conflict looks like. What's the GD end game? Short of Raytheon making record profits and the filthy politicians pocketing their campaign kickbacks, I see no upside at all to any of this.

Last gasp to prop up the dollar

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Birds of a feather and all that.

I used to buy that argument when I was a kid.

Then the KKK endorsed Reagan and Reagan had to go to the trouble to repudiate the endorsement because the Dems were actually making political hay out of calling Reagan and the Klan "birds of a feather".

To me it's clear that Soros and the WEF weasels are trying to exploit Ukraine to build their own popularity, and that Ukraine would be fighting back against Russia no matter what those little would-be "masters of the universe" decided to do. You can't blame Ukraine for that, and it makes no sense to not support Ukraine because of it.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
My point is that Putin created the problem initially

And he's still the only one who can shut off the tap or leave it open. That's true of the upcoming famine as well.

As for economic devastation, it beats the hell out of letting any random asshole with a nuke do whatever he wants while the world sits by helplessly. IOW, you can survive an economic war a lot better than you can survive a nuclear war. By the way, it's also denying Putin the chips, navigation systems and other tech he needs to build tanks, manufacture smart bombs and guide jets to deliver smart bombs. Yep, there's actually an argument that its helping limit and wind down the war.

And, no, the Chinese clearly aren't filling in by providing that tech to Russia or the Russians wouldn't keep de-mothballing ancient tanks and sending in SU-25s low to drop a bunch of dumb bombs.

As for why the US is involved, we've already been over that subject in detail. That means that the only relevant question is the one I asked - how do we get Putin to turn off the war without doing anything to encourage him to restart the war at some point in the future? No answer to any other question can possibly solve the problem since anything else is simply addressing the symptoms rather than the disease itself.

quote:

Originally posted by oldbill123:
Last gasp to prop up the dollar

And that's based on...what, exactly? How would it prop up the dollar in the first place?

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
As for why the US is involved, we've already been over that subject in detail.

Yep, read them all, disagree with about 95% of the 'reasons'. And no comment at all about the US operating this little overseas adventure completely free of Congress fulfilling any of its responsibilities under the Constitution? Is funding multi-billion dollar aid bills, that 95%+ of Congress hasn't even read and for which there is 'zero' accountability for where the funds and weapons go and who eventually ends up with them enough for you? If you're good with all that, then you and I have nothing more to discuss, and will agree to totally disagree on this topic.

quote:

That means that the only relevant question is the one I asked - how do we get Putin to turn off the war without doing anything to encourage him to restart the war at some point in the future?

Unless you're with Lindsay advocating for assassination of Putin (and even that is no guarantee of future non-aggression), there is no way to guarantee against future aggression, short of electing people with functioning brain stems (that means about 400+ elected officials need to leave Washington now) that recognize that Russian aggression is always there and making sure international policy is such that Russia and Putin are kept too weak financially to fund another international foray into warfare. 'Or' we could just elect another retarded old man intent on destroying the US petroleum industry, whereby throwing the entire international oil industry into flux pouring hundreds of billions into Putin's bank accounts and subsidizing his next international adventure.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
And no comment at all about the US operating this little overseas adventure completely free of Congress fulfilling any of its responsibilities under the Constitution?

Um, gee - that would actually cover the overwhelming bulk of legislation that gets passed. Does that mean I like it that way? No. It means that it makes no more sense to simply throw up our hands and walk away because of that than it does to throw up our hands and walk away because Uncah Ho is squatting in the White House. These things don't happen when it's convenient for us, or they'd never happen at all.

quote:

Unless you're with Lindsay advocating for assassination of Putin (and even that is no guarantee of future non-aggression), there is no way to guarantee against future aggression, short of electing people with functioning brain stems (that means about 400+ elected officials need to leave Washington now) that recognize that Russian aggression is always there and making sure international policy is such that Russia and Putin are kept too weak financially to fund another international foray into warfare.

Then getting such a Congress in office (to the best of our ability) is what we'll need to do. But all of us knew that already.

As for keeping Russia weak financially to the point that it can't wage aggressive wars, we may or may not be able to control that. Russia and China will both certainly do everything they can to deny us that unless they go to war with each other like Hitler and Stalin did.

What we can do right now is ensure Russia gains nothing by aggression and therefore has no motivation to be aggressive again. That means backing Ukraine all the way into the Donesk and Luhansk regions in the east and Crimea in the south. The alternative is to watch a series of wars break out every time Russia and China decide the US has a particularly weak government.