Ukrainian appeal

[mister_coffee]

Oh, and today the Ukrainians sunk another Russian naval ship in the Black Sea. Not bad for a country with no navy.

[pasayten]

But Ken heard it on fox news...

[Rideback]

Biden hasn't started any wars in his Presidency Ken. Get a clue.

[dorankj]

Maybe we just need a president who hasn’t started a war every year of his time in office because he’s such a weakling and provocative to strongman types!

[just-jim]

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The last part of H. C. Richardson’s piece for Jan 30 says it well….

(First part is all about the Texas situation)

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.c ... ry-30-2024

“……. The cost of that obstruction has been clear in domestic politics over government funding, but it has now become a global issue over the question of U.S. support for Ukraine. Johnson had said he would not bring forward a bill to provide supplemental funding for Ukraine unless it included measures for increased border security; now his rejection of a bill to provide that border security threatens Ukraine aid.

Ukraine is defending itself against an invasion by Russia, but the struggle there is larger than one between two countries: it is the question of whether the rules-based international order put in place after World War II will survive, or whether the world will go back to a system in which stronger countries can gobble up less powerful ones.

Military aid for Ukraine is widely popular among Americans and among American lawmakers, who recognize the larger questions at stake. But extremist Republicans are siding with Trump, who has made his preference for Russia and its autocratic leader over Ukraine clear. The realization that a few extremist Republicans are scuttling Ukraine aid has prompted officials from both parties to warn of the consequences if the U.S. stops providing support to Ukraine.

In Foreign Affairs today, Central Intelligence Agency director Wililam Burns noted that the war has weakened Putin’s Russia significantly. Aid to Ukraine has amounted to less than 5% of the U.S. defense budget, “a relatively modest investment with significant geopolitical returns for the United States and notable returns for American industry,” he wrote.

“For the United States to walk away from the conflict at this crucial moment and cut off support to Ukraine would be an own goal of historic proportions,” Burns said. The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, has been in Washington, D.C., this week, urging Republicans to back the aid, if only on the grounds that most of the money appropriated goes to support jobs in the U.S.

The man behind the extremists, Trump, was in the news today for the fact that the political action committees that back him spent about $50 million covering his legal bills in 2023. That money came from donors and arrived primarily in the months after the 2020 presidential election, when Trump lied that he had actually won the election and needed financial support to challenge the results.
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[PAL]

Man you all are crackin' me up with the pictures.

[dorankj]

It was tongue in cheek Ray, everyone here knows you only censor, moderate and even provide armchair psycho analysis of those you disagree with politically.

[mister_coffee]

Ken’s pal….adderal addict…..

We all know he's on harder stuff than just adderal.

[mister_coffee]

I will note that the United States is not actually participating in combat operations in Ukraine, and I don't think that is even on the menu at this point.

What is happening is that Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, and it is both morally righteous and strategically advantageous for us to help them any way we can. Russia started this war, and when you start a war you are taking some chances.

[pasayten]

Actually I find it quite funny... There is little moderation on this site of free expression... Especially for humor...

"Freedom for all voices of the Methow Valley"

[dorankj]

None of us are interested in your fetishes, I don’t think this is the site for your fantasies. You’ll probably be moderated.

[just-jim]

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Ken’s pal….guilty, depends, adderal addict, tiny, LOSER, donnie…..
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[just-jim]

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Dont know what sort gibberish-ish news source you are drinking kool-aid from just now, Ken.

But, Im pretty certain that if Ukraine falls then your pal, guilty donnie - and his butt-buddy putin - will take down parts of Eastern and SE Europe as well as parts of Scandinavia.

Then - as some here have posited - since the US wont be a part of NATO and the UN….what’s next? You OK with Russia going into Poland? Germany?

Please let us know. It might make illegals coming across our southern border look pretty minor.
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[dorankj]

Gotta love you war mongers who scream PEACE whenever a R is president try and twist what you think are clever words to justify military action all over the world when your side’s in charge! You utter hypocrites, you den of vipers. It’s too bad Rs are too stupid to not fall for your demands of bipartisanship whenever you aren’t in control, you never return any such courtesy!

[mister_coffee]

Pax Americana is bad. Though probably often nowhere near as bad as the alternatives.

The classic history-based argument is that if we sit on the sidelines minor tussles will escalate into full-blown world wars. Kind of like what happened with WWII. The risk that the US might intervene would keep some would-be monsters from getting too frisky. How well that works in practice and how much sense it makes in 2024 is kind of an open question. But in fairness while it hasn't exactly kept the peace these last eighty years it has kept the lid from totally blowing off the teakettle.

Nobody is going to call Panama or Iceland during an international crisis. They are going to call the country with the largest economy and scariest military in the world. That just happens to be us. And probably better for everyone that they call us rather than, say, China.

Also, keep in mind that nearly all international trade is done in dollars gives us enormous power and reach and enormous economic benefits. Treasury bills are used as collateral on those trades, which means that there is a very wide and very deep market for US Government debt -- which directly impacts how much you have to pay in taxes. And a lot of the reason we have that economic juice is that we also have the military to back it up and are willing to use it.

Helping Ukraine, especially helping Ukraine by giving them old gear that we aren't going to need and have to spend billions to dispose of, just makes sense. That's really why R's object to it so vehemently.

[Jingles]

Sorry Just-Jim but where does it read in the Constitution It is the Resposibility of Congress to be the police force of the world? Their primary responsibility is to the CITIZENS of The United States
Yes we are unfortunately members of the UN and NATO and we provide the bulk of the money to both, but the UN is attempting, and quite successfully, to create a one world government, which would result in countries loosing their sovereignty, or as is the case right now aiding in the invasion of illegal immigrants.
Time for the US to get out of the UN and the UN out of the US.
Congress does not have to do anything to make the current Administration look bad it is doing it very successfully on it's own as this admin is a joke to the entire world

[just-jim]

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Professor Timothy Snyder, Yale Historian and expert on Eastern Europe has long been raising funds for Ukraine.

Here is his website…. https://u24.gov.ua/safeskies.
He is raising money - quite successfully- for the continued defense of Ukraine by building more alert systems, etc.

The fact that Ukraine has to go begging to the International Community is a DIRECT slam on the shameful behavior of US House of Representative republicans who continue to take direction from guilty donnie and refuse to do they business they were elected to do….and instead attempt to make the current administration look bad.
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