Threatening Russia’s control of Crimea—and inflicting grave damage to its economy and society—will, of course, be difficult. But it is a more realistic strategy than the proposed alternative: a negotiated settlement while Putin is in office.
Putin has never agreed to respect Ukrainian sovereignty—and never will. If anything, Russia’s rhetoric about the war has become more annihilationist, invoking the Russian Orthodox Church and suggesting that the conflict is something like a holy war, with existential consequences.
Any negotiation in the current circumstances would at best leave Ukraine crippled, partitioned, and at the mercy of a second Russian invasion. At worst, it would eliminate the country altogether.
No sustainable, long-term peace can emerge from negotiations with an aggressor that has genocidal intent.
Ukraine and the West must either win or face devastating consequences.
(EXACTLY!)
Despite its massive investments, Moscow’s capabilities are not infinite.
Each month, for instance, Russia is losing as many vehicles as its manufacturers produce, and it is burning through its stockpiles of older armored vehicles at an unsustainable rate.
And, importantly, Russia is facing both a labor shortage and resources shortage, the latter partially thanks to a combination of Western sanctions, export control measures, and a Ukrainian bombardment campaign that is limiting Russia’s capacity to refine and then sell oil.
In this war, resources, funds, and technology all overwhelmingly favor the West.
If they are channeled to Ukraine in sufficient amounts, including to the country’s defense industry, Kyiv can win.
Russia simply lacks the military power to defeat a Western-backed Ukraine, and so its only hope lies in manipulating Western concerns.
It is therefore well past time for NATO governments to stop falling into Putin’s trap.
For the West to achieve a victory, it must stop fearing it. In doing so, it can attain security for itself and Ukraine—which has sacrificed so much, both for its own cause and for the larger cause of freedom.
@TruthSandwich
AFAIK, these are some agreed-upon data points.
In the months prior to Putin‘s birthday last fall, represent
from Hamas visited Moscow at least twice.
Also, it’s common knowledge that Netanyahu is more or less the Trump of Israel, has been tried for corruption, and will cling to power at any cost. For some reason, he inexplicably dismissed intelligence warning of the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7.
(coincidentally, or not, Putin‘s birthday).
US military support for Israel is vast and long-standing, there could be no doubt there would be a serious response to such an attack.
Putin and Hamas have both been happy to sacrifice innocent lives to achieve their goals. Dead Palestinian children arouse the fury of the American Left.
So, if one were to engineer a situation that would drive a wedge in the global Left, help reelect Trump, and trick naïve college students into finding common cause with the uber-antisemitic Hamas, would it be any different than what we’re seeing today?
@TomSwirly it's not about age: they shunned Sanders and propped Mayor Pete. It's about willingness to comply with establishment. The real reason the DNC is so afraid of progressives is they know those will really start fighting corruption, and the cozy era of tit-for-tat with lobbyists and always having another side to blame will be over. This is why the DNC would actually prefer Trump over, say, Sanders: in 4 years of Trump they didn't lose their campaign contribution or status.
Time to tap those toes! Join George Jetson and me for your Saturday night spin session (and recording of 'your daily soundtrack' post).
Live and in full effect 7pm to 10pm (pst) tonight. LP #CoverArt in a thread below this post. Big Love to the Mastodon Massive, going on a full year of posting here and leaving the bird behind!
@Eetschrijver@kallekn@markmetz Great cartoon even with the typos. And happy we are able to do this ”both-and” discourse here, because too often pointing out something that could be better is taken as an insult diminishing from what was good. And clearly this is not the case in this situation.
We humans have this strong illusion, some people call it ego, that we do everything for a reason. But in reality we mostly act on simulations of reason called emotions.
Emotions unfortunately represent binary on/off rather than complex situations like this. So it’s really easy to to get tripped by your own mind, because u lost the feeling..
The non-linear thinker in me has a hunch that the best way to solve the Israeli/Palestinian problem in the long-term is to kick Putin‘s ass out of Ukraine once and for all.
Speaker Johnson: Christian Nationalism in the Speaker’s Office?
🧵/1
“This white paper was developed by the Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC), a group of
twenty members of Congress who reflect the religious diversity of America—Christians, Jews,
Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, other believers, and nontheists. CFC members share a commitment to
protecting the constitutional separation of church and state; ensuring public policy is based on facts,
science, and reason; and defending religious liberty in the United States and abroad.
Since Mike Johnson’s election as Speaker, much has been written about his deep religious faith. We
respect, celebrate, and treasure his right—and the right of every American—to freely practice his
faith as guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
2/
But, apart from the freedom to pursue his individual private faith, Speaker Johnson’s public record
on the religious freedom of other Americans raises troubling questions. Although the Free Exercise
Clause guarantees an individual’s right to worship freely (or to not worship at all), the Establishment
Clause prohibits the government from establishing, endorsing, or favoring any religion or dogma
over another faith or belief system. For if any religious group can dominate the state, they can—and
will—use government power to infringe upon the religious freedoms of other Americans.
It is well understood that these two religious First Amendment clauses reinforce one another and
stand best when they stand together. These central First Amendment clauses, and the clause
forbidding any “religious test” for public office, created what Thomas Jefferson called a “wall of
separation” between church and state.”
11/
“"A group of Russian nationals donated to newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson's campaign in 2018... One of the men behind the company, Nikolaev, an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also found to have financially backed Maria Butina, a Russian citizen. Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 after admitting to acting as an unregistered foreign agent to infiltrate conservative political groups and influence foreign policy to Russia's benefit before and after the 2016 election."
Continuing with more of the slow stony psychedelic Miles Davis.
“We Want Miles”
Live Tokyo 1981
🎵 on the air right here, right now ➡️ https://MarkMetz.Mixlr.com