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‘Vladimir, STOP!’
"Vladimir, STOP!"
So came the manifestly impotent squeal from TruthSocial, where Donald Trump on Th
“…manifestly impotent squeal” – chef’s kiss
Rubio should book Four Seasons Landscaping now to announce his next failed presidential campaign.
Trumps says “Thank you” to Vlad.
Rubio, Barrasso, all the republican leaders are in the amen corner now, so don’t be surprised when we see things that at one time made us sick !
We are a weak state with Trump at the helm. Europe should take control of the process and help Ukraine.They need to stop the neighborhood bully.
I am happy to see some resistance to Trump, but I am concerned about how he will react. Putin and Xi both saying “no” to him very publicly. SCOTUS ruling against him on Maryland Man. The need for public backtracking on Powell. None of these things will sit well with Trump, who fancies himself the most powerful man in the world. His history does not suggest that he will simply shrug his shoulders and say, “Well, live and let live.”
Swamp Thang – very good point. As you said, “live and let live” is a foreign notion to the man. “Don’t get mad, get even” appears to be his overarching ethos. That does merit concern.
Seems to me “get even” has been his ethos since grade school. The man displays a perpetually angry scowl 24/7.
The history of Crimea, their leadership, their elections and their flip flop allegiance to Russia and/or Ukraine, is as clear as mud. In more recent times, but before 2014, the occurrences of 1992-1995 were full of volatility and high drama.
The UK commitment to Ukraine did not last long.
UK could scrap plans to send thousands of troops to Ukraine
https://www.thetimes.com/article/5b446875-f8ae-420e-994d-a7de9ee512eb?shareToken=604147bb1b37fd9079dbe26345501f2b
America has half a shadow and fading fast…
It’s impossible to say what’s most mystifying about all this, so I’ll just focus on Rubio. What’s so baffling is that he went into this eyes open. Vance and Trump’s views on Ukraine and Russia were no secret. Vance was the most vocal anti-Ukraine voice in all of Congress during his brief tenure as a Senator. Trump’s fondness for Putin and association of Zelenskyy with his impeachment were well known. There’s no way Rubio couldn’t see all this coming.
Contrast this with e.g. Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, General Jim Mattis. There’s no way–zero–he could have anticipated that Trump would betray the American allied Kurds to Turkey in order to protect his brand new Saudi BFF from an embarrassing spot of extra-territorial journalist murder. Then when it happened, Mattis chose the honorable path and resigned.
The only way you can square Rubio’s decision to take the Sec State job is to assume that 1) he has no honor (an easy & correct assumption), and 2) he has no wits (I’m convinced).
Witkoff sure goes to Moscow alot to get his firmware up(down)graded!
I’d like to announce my new favorite epitaph for a certain person in all of our lives.
“MANIFESTLY IMPOTENT”
I put it in all caps (just like a certain person does, on those infrequent occasions he wants to let us know he’s serious).
Vladimir, STOP!
The high school parlor games continue. What kind of bully on the block gets his way whining in protest? I can only think that Mar-A-Lardo has forgotten what it’s like to be bullied, and is relying on what any number of women have likely screeched at him in recent years when he was the one doing the attacking (i.e., groping, peeping).
But when Mike Pompeo is your North Star, well, that’s when you should stop wondering whether you are well and truly fucked. As to Rubio, adding to WMD’s comment above, many seem to consider him a craven tumbleweed, following the path of least resistance and most reward. Call me a kook, but when I see these 180 degree inexplicable heel turns, the most sensible explanation for me has become (since 2016) Kompromat. Some heel turners seem more obvious to make that divination (longtime confirmed bachelor Lindsay Graham), but the flavor doesn’t matter, just the otherwise inexplicable turn. There are just too many examples to ignore.
Nevertheless, it would appear that Putin’s prized student is graduating to advanced level coercion. As effective as Kompromat is, you still have to go to the trouble of collecting it and then exploiting it – it’s a lot, and can really get in the way of your hockey (golf) game. Much easier to just get the richies in the room and threaten their money until they give it to you or fall out a window. Our “window” may be the stock market (and tariffs), since unlike their Russian counterparts, our oligarchs have an awful lot of their money tied up in the national equity market, so maybe no need for window treatments here. (Yet).
Rubio is a political whore. What did you expect?
It’s fantastic how you can write this up so delicately while still touching on all the sore spots (no sarcasm). I could only be so blunt in describing these men and their actions that’s it’s best to just not write it up.