As events move quickly, I think it worth the time to acknowledge how smart the Biden administration was in publicly releasing intelligence about Putin's plans. This killed Putin's propaganda plans in the cradle.
Also great to see our intelligence agencies get so much right after some terrible failures in recent decades.
As events move quickly, I think it worth the time to acknowledge how smart the Biden administration was in publicly releasing intelligence about Putin's plans. This killed Putin's propaganda plans in the cradle.
Also great to see our intelligence agencies get so much right after some terrible failures in recent decades.
Comments from the Trump Pets and others are basically that Biden isn't doing enough, and at the same time, he's doing too much against Putin. You can't win against that total disconnect with anything real.
Plus, it's inconceivable that arming Ukraine has not been a top priority over the months since intelligence revealed Putin's plans. Obviously, that would not be something for Biden to beat his chest about... .
Also, how much armament can a supply chain absorb? Except for the fact that Trum will be back in office soon and no one will undertake such an inquiry, I would say we need to assign to the future a fuller examination of what mistakes were and were not made; at present, the need is to gather together with minimal recriminations to meet the exigent emergency.
Had it turned out the hawks were wrong and Putin really did just want no more than a neutral/complaisant security perimeter on his side of the new iron curtain, and Ukrainian subordination was only a nascent fait accompli, well, restraint would have proved the wiser course. I myself was deeply skeptical, but we've blundered into convincing opponents before that there was no hope of our acquiescence to an acceptable compromise. Arguably one should try.
We know now what the facts are. It's now the case that the allies and the world either recognize the urgency or they never will. And so far, I think the leadership of this administration has been exactly right -- just ahead of where it's pulling the team toward, but not so far ahead that it gives the wayward and reluctant space to stall the march. We will see how this works out.
One thing I do worry about: there is an element of anti-Biden whose calculation is, he's doing the right thing, but we so much don't want him to get credit for it that we are not going to allow ourselves to approve.
Respectfully, because I am angrier than I ever have been in my 67 years -- even angrier than I was at Jan 6th -- rather than say bloody ignorance -- say rather, I feel you are misinformed. Or misjudged. I'm trying to do this with the people who are saying idiotic things like, well, Trump had Putin frightened... Patience... patience...
I say this in sorrow because, as much as anyone, I am guilty of being discourteous and inclined to self-righteous anger. Especially with idiots.
I do myself wonder, what were we doing up until now. But I would suggest that -- Biden comes in, makes mistakes, but the previous occupant was
--at the very least, a Russian asset, and at worst, a knowing paid Russian Agent
--and impeded at every step efforts of the incoming administration to get set up and started on its foreign policy, and
--reluctant to possibly exacerbate tension unnecessarily, given the possibility that in Putin we were dealing with a Metternichian or Bismarckian opponent. At this point, events have rendered a decision on this last point. And it appears Biden has got the message, we will see.
Would I be forgiving of, say, DeSantis along the same lines? Hmm. I can't say for sure, I hope I would. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Carefully. It would take considerable self-control.
My feeling is -- having lived through the Vietnam era, and various other adventures of that kind -- including more than once being the best friend of our enemies in the opposing camp (Cuba, Iran) -- generally I want to err on the side of forbearance first.
Anyway -- even with someone who objectively merits a dope slap, delivering that correction rarely improves the ability of one's opponent to overcome his/her resentments and prejudices and move towards one's own point of view. (This refers to Bulwarkers, not Putin, and alas sometimes not MAGAs. )
I learned this early in my marriage, which so far has lasted more than 96% of the way to half a century. (Not that I ever dope slapped my spouse.) (And not that I never deserved the dope slap myself. Nor received one, except conceptually and justifiably.)
With Putin though -- I don't think this is a case of a discussion between interlocutors willing to settle for a negotiated modus vivendi. It's a case of creating conditions where the other side, considering all its options, elects to refrain from further aggression. So we need a non-defeatable tripwire in the Baltics and Poland.
As events move quickly, I think it worth the time to acknowledge how smart the Biden administration was in publicly releasing intelligence about Putin's plans. This killed Putin's propaganda plans in the cradle.
Also great to see our intelligence agencies get so much right after some terrible failures in recent decades.
Comments from the Trump Pets and others are basically that Biden isn't doing enough, and at the same time, he's doing too much against Putin. You can't win against that total disconnect with anything real.
Plus, it's inconceivable that arming Ukraine has not been a top priority over the months since intelligence revealed Putin's plans. Obviously, that would not be something for Biden to beat his chest about... .
Do you think the intelligence was unambiguous?
Also, how much armament can a supply chain absorb? Except for the fact that Trum will be back in office soon and no one will undertake such an inquiry, I would say we need to assign to the future a fuller examination of what mistakes were and were not made; at present, the need is to gather together with minimal recriminations to meet the exigent emergency.
Had it turned out the hawks were wrong and Putin really did just want no more than a neutral/complaisant security perimeter on his side of the new iron curtain, and Ukrainian subordination was only a nascent fait accompli, well, restraint would have proved the wiser course. I myself was deeply skeptical, but we've blundered into convincing opponents before that there was no hope of our acquiescence to an acceptable compromise. Arguably one should try.
We know now what the facts are. It's now the case that the allies and the world either recognize the urgency or they never will. And so far, I think the leadership of this administration has been exactly right -- just ahead of where it's pulling the team toward, but not so far ahead that it gives the wayward and reluctant space to stall the march. We will see how this works out.
One thing I do worry about: there is an element of anti-Biden whose calculation is, he's doing the right thing, but we so much don't want him to get credit for it that we are not going to allow ourselves to approve.
Respectfully, because I am angrier than I ever have been in my 67 years -- even angrier than I was at Jan 6th -- rather than say bloody ignorance -- say rather, I feel you are misinformed. Or misjudged. I'm trying to do this with the people who are saying idiotic things like, well, Trump had Putin frightened... Patience... patience...
I say this in sorrow because, as much as anyone, I am guilty of being discourteous and inclined to self-righteous anger. Especially with idiots.
I do myself wonder, what were we doing up until now. But I would suggest that -- Biden comes in, makes mistakes, but the previous occupant was
--at the very least, a Russian asset, and at worst, a knowing paid Russian Agent
--and impeded at every step efforts of the incoming administration to get set up and started on its foreign policy, and
--reluctant to possibly exacerbate tension unnecessarily, given the possibility that in Putin we were dealing with a Metternichian or Bismarckian opponent. At this point, events have rendered a decision on this last point. And it appears Biden has got the message, we will see.
Would I be forgiving of, say, DeSantis along the same lines? Hmm. I can't say for sure, I hope I would. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Carefully. It would take considerable self-control.
My feeling is -- having lived through the Vietnam era, and various other adventures of that kind -- including more than once being the best friend of our enemies in the opposing camp (Cuba, Iran) -- generally I want to err on the side of forbearance first.
Anyway -- even with someone who objectively merits a dope slap, delivering that correction rarely improves the ability of one's opponent to overcome his/her resentments and prejudices and move towards one's own point of view. (This refers to Bulwarkers, not Putin, and alas sometimes not MAGAs. )
I learned this early in my marriage, which so far has lasted more than 96% of the way to half a century. (Not that I ever dope slapped my spouse.) (And not that I never deserved the dope slap myself. Nor received one, except conceptually and justifiably.)
With Putin though -- I don't think this is a case of a discussion between interlocutors willing to settle for a negotiated modus vivendi. It's a case of creating conditions where the other side, considering all its options, elects to refrain from further aggression. So we need a non-defeatable tripwire in the Baltics and Poland.
Of course we were, and so were the rest of NATO. The point. Maybe you should read my comment for comprehension before lashing out.