When will the NY Times apologize to Mitt Romney for laughing at him for this?
“When you were asked, what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said ‘Russia.’ Not Al-Qaeda; you said Russia,” Obama charged. “And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
That was a big point in the 2012 election, and hurt Mitt, with media folks taking him to task. Others have noted that Mitt was rather correct, and now
It’s Putin’s World. We Just Live in It.
Its economy, already smaller than Italy’s, may be sputtering but, two decades after a virtually unknown former K.G.B. spy took power in the Kremlin on Dec. 31, 1999, Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, have just had what could be their best year yet.
The United States, an implacable foe during the Cold War but now presided over by a president determined to “get along with Russia,†is convulsed and distracted by impeachment; Britain, the other main pillar of a trans-Atlantic alliance that Mr. Putin has worked for years to undermine, is also turning inward and just voted for a government that vows to exit the European Union by the end of January.
The Middle East, where American and British influence once reigned supreme, has increasingly tilted toward Moscow as it turned the tide of war in Syria, provided Turkey, a member of NATO, with advanced missile systems, and signed contracts worth billions of dollar with Saudi Arabia, America’s closest ally in the Arab world. Russia has also drawn close to Egypt, another longtime American ally, become a key player in Libya’s civil war, and moved toward what looks more and more like an alliance with China.
It has been barely five years since President Barack Obama’s dismissive 2014 judgment of Russia as a “regional power†capable only of threatening its neighbors “not out of strength but out of weakness.†Its successes raise a mystifying question: How has a country like Russia, huge in size — it has 11 time zones — but puny when measured by economic and other important metrics, become such a potent force?
Not really mentioned is Obama ignoring the dangers from Putin controlled Russia for 8 years. Nor Obama telling Medvedev on a hot mike that he’d have more flexibility when he won the election. There was no real pushback against Russian expansion. What did he really do when Russia invaded Crimea?
But, then, what could be done? Would we go to war? Russia isn’t Iraq. It has submarines and carriers and attack ships and lots more troops and tanks and missiles, and, oh, yeah, nuclear weapons. Obama and Hillary tried to muck around with Russian elections (which led to Russia mucking around in an attempt to make sure Hillary lost). Russia has always punched above its weight class, due to its outsized military. Otherwise, it would be a true 3rd world shithole.
“Maybe he’s holding small cards, but he seems unafraid to play them,†said Michael McFaul, a former United States ambassador to Moscow and now a scholar at Stanford. “That’s what makes Putin so scary.â€
Mr. Putin acknowledged as much in an interview with the film director Oliver Stone. “The question is not about having much power,†he said. “It’s about using the power you have in the right way.â€
And Putin likes to use that power. But, here’s the most telling paragraph
Russian mind games have been particularly successful in the United States, which Mr. Putin and his officials regularly accuse of paranoid Russophobia but whose fixation on Russia has only multiplied the force of its influence. Moscow’s efforts to sow division through Facebook and other social media platforms were low-budget and often primitive, but they have had a disproportionate effect on the American political process.
And the NY Times and the rest of the Democrat supporting news outlets have fallen for it time and again, just like the rest of the Democrats.
Russia is a country that is ruled by criminals
Russia is trying to regain those countries that gained freedom when the USSR. Dissolved
Reagan would be appealed at Trump acting like Putin’s poodle bitch
According to you commies the United States is a country ruled by criminals so what’s the difference? That’s the problem you radical, crazy leftists have once you go nuclear on the description adjectives there is no way to separate the factions. Christians become murdering monsters just like Mohammadans and America is run by criminals just like Russia and if we go along with the interstate highway system we’re now communists.
It’s not that you’re wrong about some things it’s that you’re wrong about everything.
Trump 2020 Keep the criminals in Russia.
Kye,
You describe exactly YOUR own behavior. Everyone who thinks Trump is unfit is a “commie”, a “radical, crazy leftist”. All Muslims are murdering monsters. All brown immigrants are rapists and drug mules. Obama officials were all criminals who should be prosecuted.
You want all brown immigrants, all Muslims, all LGBTs, all liberals deported and would support a gov’t that would do that. Should women who get abortions be jailed?
You hate today’s America.
Everyone who thinks Trump is unfit is a “commieâ€, a “radical, crazy leftistâ€. All Muslims are murdering monsters. All brown immigrants are rapists and drug mules. Obama officials were all criminals who should be prosecuted.
He never mentioned the Choom Gang or Hispanics, so you betray your own thoughts.
Actually, you state the truth quite nicely.
Clock.
Stopped.
You know the drill.
First, the word is appalled.
Second, the Russia thing is dead. you just look like a fool.
“Its economy, already smaller than Italy’s,”
This bit of nonsense shows up all the time. Russia’s economy (PPP) is at least 10% larger than Germany’s. That ought to be obvious to anyone who knows anything about the two countries. Of course, the Russian output is spread over twice as many people and at least 40 times as much area, so Russians are relatively poor.
The Russian industrial economy is more diverse and has a wider range of products than does the US’ economy, and US sanctions have allowed noncompetitive Russian companies to thrive. Import substitution has been a roaring success.
Russia runs a trade surplus even without oil and gas. It is a major agricultural exporter, the largest in wheat. It has virtually no foreign debt and very little government debt.
Russia has a manned space program. The US does not. The US uses Russian rocket motors to put it spy satellites into orbit.
Finally, since the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has become a rogue terrorist state, the main one on the planet: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo/Serbia, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, et al., with coup attempts in Egypt, Iran and Turkey.
When Yeltsin was in power, Wall Street financial houses like Goldman Sachs financed the looting of Russia by Russian oligarchs. (They did the same in Ukraine.) Putin drove out the oligarchs and Wall Street vultures and largely restored the Russian economy. He certainly restored the Russian military, which is now somewhat more modern than the US’, we having squandered trillions of dollars in our imperial adventures in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa.
A Russian bot?
Sounds like one more of your cartoon characters.
Hate to tell you, but, according to the UN, IMF, and World Bank, it’s the Krauts, the Eyeties, and the Russkies in that order.
We, of course, are #1.
Thanks, of course to Donald Trump.
US #3 in PPP. Thanks, of course, to Donald Trump. We used to be #1.
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a theory that measures prices at different locations using a common good or goods to contrast the real purchasing power between different currencies. In that case, PPP produces an exchange rate that equals the price of the basket of goods at one location over the price of the basket of goods at a different location. The PPP exchange rate may be different from the market exchange rate because of transportation costs, tariffs, and other frictions. PPP exchange rates are widely used when comparing GDP from different countries.
US is 10th (tenth) in GDP/capita. Commie and Muslim nations like Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, Qatar, Brunei, UAE, Kuwait… are ahead of the US.
Rank
GDP
(millions of current Int$/PPP)
1
China
27,308,857
—
European Union
22,774,165
[11]
2
United States
21,439,453
3
India
11,325,669
4
Japan
5,747,496
5
Germany
4,444,368
6
Russia
4,349,423
7
Indonesia
3,737,484
8
Brazil
3,456,357
9
United Kingdom
3,131,199
10
France
3,061,143
“Purchasing power parity†WTF? Who cares what it costs somewhere else?
But wait!! I thought this was still Obama’s economy? Or is it Obama’s EXCEPT for this one, meaningless area?
But honestly, who gives a flying f#$% what my purchasing power is someplace I will rarely, if ever, buy anything. All I care about is what my purchasing power is right here, right now. And it is MUCH better than it was 4 years ago.
I think it would be good if Fredo moved in with his commie and Mohammedan comrades so he too can enjoy their superior PPP rate. Is there anby of those countries you would rather live in, Fredo? Tell us.
The PPP rate doesn’t mean shit! It’s amusing to watch America haters devise new ways of disparaging America just to hate Trump. Cause all they have is Hate, hate, hate!
Trump 2020 Shove the meaningless PPP rates up their asses.
But Dildo, we thought the US was superior in all ways to the commie and Muslim nations?
It’s easy to understand why you’re always so angry and violent and hateful. But why the obsession with men’s asses?
Tell us, Dildo, why do you stay in an America with Americans you can’t stand? Why not move to a nation where abortion is banned, Dildo? The Dominican Republic would be a good choice for you. Close to the US, very religious, abortion is absolutely illegal and there are only a few thousand Muslims!
According to you commies the United States is a country ruled by criminals so what’s the difference? That’s the problem you radical, crazy leftists have once you go nuclear on the description adjectives there is no way to separate the factions. Christians become murdering monsters just like Mohammadans and America is run by criminals just like Russia and if we go along with the interstate highway system we’re now communists.
It’s not that you’re wrong about some things it’s that you’re wrong about everything.
Trump 2020 Keep the criminals in Russia.
The Russkies should be so lucky.
But Dildo, we thought the US was superior in all ways to the commie and Muslim nations?
I guess our little Jeffery is envious of Kye, calling him a sex toy and all since he must thing Kye is always up.
Unlike his.
And the US is superior. Kye was just being sarcastic. Talk about not knowing satire when he sees it.
It’s easy to understand why you’re always so angry and violent and hateful. But why the obsession with men’s asses?
Sounds like you’ve got the fascination. you keep talking about penetrative sex implements
Tell us, Dildo, why do you stay in an America with Americans you can’t stand? Why not move to a nation where abortion is banned, Dildo? The Dominican Republic would be a good choice for you. Close to the US, very religious, abortion is absolutely illegal and there are only a few thousand Muslims!
Your question seems rhetorical. You’re here with all those Americans you can stand.
Whites.
Christians.
Heterosexuals.
Conservatives.
America Firsters.
How do you stand it here when you hate it so much? And you’re going to hate it a lot more after next year. 16 more years of Trump. Economic prosperity. Democrats banished to the political wilderness.
Why don’t you go there, The place is going to pot and needs Commies like you to tell them how to fix the country. /sarc
But, if we’re talking abortion, wait until Trump appoints a couple more SCUS justices. Then it will be illegal here, too.
Sibley, our little Idiotwiz, never learns.
Our little village idiot typed: You’re here with all those Americans you can stand.
You’re right. I CAN stand all those Americans, although the stupidity of the nuConservatives and the America Firsters make them almost intolerable. Almost. You didn’t type “white nationalists or white supremacists.
It’s the white nationalist right who want to destroy America. We won’t let them.
One would think all those nationalists and supremacists are Americans, so you lie again. you can’t stand them.
It’s the white nationalist right who want to destroy America. We won’t let them.
As if you have a choice. The Left is going down in flames, so what you want is irrelevant.
I’m proud to stand beside those white nationalists like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and thousands of other patriotic founders.
You hate America, you hate Christians, you hat Trump and his family who have never harmed you because all you have left is hate.
You’re not standing beside the founders, who are all dead, you are standing beside Donald Trump.
Trump is harming us all.
All you have is hate, and it’s growing every day.
Not just a river in Egypt, is is?