The Politics Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Perhaps I might also post this in the Journalism/Media thread but I thought it would get a bit more 'sunlight' in this very active thread.

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Journalists tripping over their own racism.

[DRW50]

I'm already seeing the talking points from the Putin apologists/faux-leftists on his payroll that he is not fully fighting back and is being humane, unlike America in Iraq. These are the same people who insisted he would never invade, now just going back to the talking points that he had no choice. 

Seeing Trump contorting himself about Putin just shows how pathetic he always is (he did this with Iraq too). 

It's so obvious all of these people were out of the loop about his plans and also very much overestimated his acumen. I lost count of how many times I have heard that the Russian army would dominate because they don't have pronouns in bio. Now it's just oh they could if they want to - they are being lenient. 

The two most vocal Putin lovers, Greenwald and Snowden, have alternatively tripled down and gone silent. 

It won't be long before Ukraine is either conquered or they agree to his terms. When that happens I just hope some of these politicians and organizations that are temporarily claiming to oppose him, and all the money he and his backers funnel into their countries, and all gas they buy from him, will keep up their current tough talk. Even just one or two. 

[OzFrog]

 

 

[JaneAusten]

I am not going to jump the gun on this. I wish we could see people fight as hard in this country and others under attack from sociopathic politicians on the right, as we are seeing in Ukraine. Zelenskyy's election was a fluke but from the day he took office when he told the people not to hang pictures of him in their offices and homes but to hang pictures of their children and look at their faces when making important decisions in their lives, he was something different in a good way.

Ultimately despite the pressure, he didn't cave into the demands from Trump's extortion campaign, and he's shown more courage and leadership than I have seen in any leader in ages. In this country we have to look to our minority populations whether it is the African American community, particularly the women, or the LGBTQ community for examples of real leadership and the fortitude to fight.

 

[DRW50]

I think he and the people fighting are extremely brave. I just don't know if they will want to face nukes, and sadly I do think Putin is unstable enough to where that is increasingly likely. But I hope they find a way out of this.

[JaneAusten]

Well if Putin has really become this unstable, it's time for a nice cool drink for him. There have been rumors the past couple of years despite the narrative of Putin STRONG blah blah that he has become more unstable and isolated and has little touch on what's really going on in him own country and beyond.

[janea4old]

re: Ukraine and Russia:

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by janea4old

[JaneAusten]

This is worth reading;

A segment from this article

"In the wake of Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, Merkel talked to Putin and reported to Obama that, in her view, Putin had lost touch with reality. He was, she said, living in “another world.” Today, we are all living in it," writes Ivan Krastev"

 

Opinion | We Are All Living in Vladimir Putin’s World Now - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[janea4old]

 

[dragonflies]

I lost respect for him when he treated his now ex wife like sh*t

[Khan]

Life is funny, isn't it?  One day, you're a popular sitcom star; the next, you're a democratically elected leader of a developing country, and you're on the verge of being deposed and/or killed by a despotic madmen and his invading army.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Khan

[janea4old]

Fyi, scrolling through the twitter feed of Daniel Dale @ddale8

He's known for fact-checking stuff in US government news. Still does that, but recently he has been retweeting factchecks of Ukraine.  So if you see something happened in Ukraine, and you're not sure it's true, just scroll through his timeline and you might see something he retweeted for, example: "the explosion video you see here is actually something from Beirut in 2016" 

He was also debunking fake news from Canada last week.

Edited February 27, 2022 by janea4old

[Vee]

A lot from Julia Ioffe, who I disagreed with on Afghanistan but who is committed to this region personally. The sanctions are squeezing Russia and are some of the only things we can currently do, but she's right that it will not deter Putin individually who is a crazed ideologue. I do think it could close the vise from his own people.

 

And a Jewish one, a key point for the antisemitic Russian regime which is projecting and claiming Ukraine is full of Nazis.

[Khan]

This.  All this.

[Vee]

 

I do appreciate that the media is slowly admitting Biden's projections on Putin invading - which some insisted were a distraction from bad news domestically - were 100% right.