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.
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.