Ukraine

Yup.

As I said.

CRAP ally.

Didn’t do Jack Squat in the Gulf War, did less than Jack Squat in Iraq, and barely did Jack Squat in Afghanistan.

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Gang,

Ok, here’s the answer to an earlier issue.

As of 2020, only 11 out of 29 NATO nations had reached the goal of 2% of GDP on defense spending.

That is an improvement over 2014, when only 3 of 29 (one of which was the USA) met that goal, but it’s nowhere close to ideal. So while Trump did improve that situation somewhat, he didn’t really have great influence on that either.

It is worth noting that Germany DID NOT meet this goal, even though countries like Romania, Slovakia, and the Baltic States did.

Sad.

Meanwhile, the USA, at 3.7% of its GDP, accounts for 71% of NATO defense expenditures.

We keep carrying Germany and other countries on our back.

DOUBLE sad.

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Real news source?
Real news source?
Presented a few days ago with a graph?
Did you read my reply or are you trying to purposely ignore it?
Here it is again the so called “real news source”
Vanessa Otero she is and how did Vanessa spend her hard earned money? Let see…again.
So your npr source is Vanessa Oero?
Does she have a political bias? You decide.

Any questions regarding your npr source?

She is so objective that one of the few things we can find about her on the web is that she gave more than ten times more money to democrats than republicans. This was over a seven years span. So she is indeed highly consistent with her “preferred” choices. Get your facts right NRGcoog and do not try to push a narrative or real news vs others. It does not work.

Come on now.

You don’t honestly expect anyone to take the New York Post and FoxNews seriously, do you?

Those sources are nowhere close to objective. You weren’t around for the old politics board, but there were Lefties that used to post from sources like addictinginfo.org, occupydemocrats, and the daily kos.

FoxNews and the New York Post are like right-wing equivalents to those.

NPR is far more respected and objective than they are.

If you are going to use right-leaning sources, at least use the WSJ or Rasmussen Report. Those sources have at least somewhat of a reputation for objectivity.

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This is why the dems went after Trump when he put this major/huge/mega issue on the front page.
We heard the following:
He is destabilizing NATO.
Our allies are mad at us.
Our allies do not trust us.
The litany went on and on. Today we now have the same “double face” not to be trusted Germany is and has been playing nice with Russia. How is that for a NATO ally? Do you think for a minute Germany will try to put any pressure on Russia? Germany by their actions clearly DEFINED their “security” policy. What is mostly troubling in this and is probably the most important point that can now come to light is the real German “connection” to Russia. We can take a few steps back prior to merkel coming to power and ask ourselves the following questions:
Who is Germany’s real “friend”? You have to ask the question.
We spend an enormous amount of money each year and for what return? Indeed without us spending $T’s since WWII Europe would be in constant state of war. History proves it.
What is the best way of dealing with germany and what do we have to gain from staying the course?
Consistently germany has wanted for us to keep our military bases. It fuels their local economy at our expense. You see the double standard there.

Media:
How convenient is it to not accept other media outlet than the ones you and some others have mentioned?
It goes both ways friends. This is your opinion and mine.
Example:
The waspost and nytimes rags report **FROM AN UNDISCLOSED SOURCE WE CAN REPORT THAT ** such and such Trump related family, friends, prostitutes etc…is a terrible man. for four plus years that narrative was pushed by whom?
Your so called objective media. Friends it always takes two to tango. That is why less than 18% of the population believes in our media.
The only thing we can’t debate about are facts:
We know what the facts are prior, during and after the big bad orange man came and left office. Today we are right back when Crimea went on a “platter” to Russia. Who was President then?
Not altogether gang.
obama
Who is the current President with Ukraine about to get “slapped” by the same Russian
Not altogether gang
“The ice cream I have to purchase this morning even though Ukraine might be invaded” President that is.
The scoreboard/fact(s) DO NOT LIE You might not like it. You might try to “massage” it every which way you can. Facts do not lie.

I agree that Germany sucks as an ally.

As I said. Don’t blame Biden for this Ukraine mess and don’t think that Trump would make any difference on this.

Blame Putin and Germany’s leadership. I can promise you that Trump wouldn’t be able to change their minds on this pipeline any better than Biden has, much less prevent its completion. It continued to be constructed during Trump’s presidency over his protests and threats; he was ineffective at stopping it. Had he been re-elected, you’d most likely see more of the same.

Concerning alliances, ya gotta have em.

Germany is obviously not reliable. Their economic interests (gas), and unreasonable post-WWII pacifism ensure that.

But Trump couldn’t affect that when he was President (didn’t stop construction, and didn’t get Germany to spend to the NATO goal on defense) and today, wouldn’t be able to change that were he still in office. It’s beyond any US President.

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This is for all to see.

You did read this?
“Today’s actions demonstrate the administration’s commitment to energy security in Europe, consistent with the President’s pledge to rebuild relationships with our allies and partners in Europe,” Blinken said in a release
The big bad orange man was terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible according to the dems. How is it going this morning in Ukraine?
The ice cream President and his feelings toward the pipeline?

Did you notice the date? Dec 2021
Quite puzzling don’t you think Eddy?

Ohhhh the dems change their tunes:

I wonder why?
From forbes:

From other sources. Wait they too must be unreliable as I read it above.

Actions or in this case deliberate non actions like it or not have consequences.

We’ve already discussed that.

You’re not getting it.

Of course Biden reversed course in May after previously opposing this, subject to promises from Germany to take action if Russia gets out of line.

But that’s neither here nor there. That’s beside the point.

The point is that NOTHING Trump did prevented this, stopped this, or even slowed it down. Trump FAILED on this. I’m sorry if that isn’t obvious to you, but the facts demonstrate that it should be.

Germany and Russia both IGNORED Trump on this. Trump was totally INEFFECTIVE in his leadership as far as stopping this is concerned. Unless and until you acknowledge that FACT…you haven’t demonstrated that you can accept factual reality, and are apparently living in some sort of counter-factual alternate reality. That’s BAD Bro. With all due respect, you need to fix that.

All Biden really did in May is finally accept and acknowledge that past efforts, Obama’s, Trump’s, and Biden’s own, had all FAILED to stop this. At that point, all you can really do is hope that Germany will at least do something if Russia aggresses Ukraine. That’s why Biden asked for the promises from Germany that he did.

But I wouldn’t put money on Germany doing anything, given what a crap ally Germany has been.

In any event, DON’T Blame Biden because a) Trump failed at this as well, and b) NO President could have stopped this. This is NOT proof that Trump is better, or that Biden is worse. FAR from it, given Trump’s own failures to stop this. So if that’s what you were using this for (and it sounds like it was)…then EPIC FAIL ON YOUR PART MAN!!!

Blame Germany’s leadership and Putin if you are looking for someone to blame…and pray that Putin doesn’t try to retake Ukraine, or even invade Ukraine the same way that he did Georgia. If Putin does though, then again, it won’t be Biden’s fault because Biden can’t control what Putin does. Unless you think that Biden (or Trump, were he still in office) should put an embargo on Stoli or Smirnoff…simply accept that American political and military power/influence simply doesn’t reach that far, because I can’t imagine any President (including Trump) using military force to stop Putin from invading the Ukraine if he wanted to, and I don’t see what other instruments of national power might work to stop Putin. If you think that Trump might somehow threaten Putin into backing down were he still in office, then take a cold shower.

Believe me, the rest of the world saw Trump negotiate an instrument of surrender with terrorists in Afghanistan. Given that, if you think that someone like Putin would be intimidated into changing course on Ukraine by someone like Trump…then I don’t know what to say. The whole world saw how easily Trump was willing to give up and give in to America’s worst enemies. I’m really surprised that YOU don’t.

“Real news source”. There arent any these days!

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I think in the coming weeks it will be clear where Germany actually stands as lines are
crossed.

Though I’m admittedly cynical at times, I don’t truly believe that. I do see people can’t accept
reality and facts and invent alternate facts and seek out sources to confirm their beliefs, because
reality doesn’t fit their internalized world views. It’s been a good business model for Mr Murdoch.

NRG, CNN and MSNBC are the same thing. Its all news entertainment.

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If people want to watch a REALLY Pro-Trump news network, then they should try One American News (OAN).

https://www.oann.com/

ATT and Verizon Fios cable used to carry it, but I believe ATT/DirectTV just kicked them off, probably for being too conspiratorial and misinformational.

When that network first debuted (before Trump was President), I used to watch it, simply because with the exception of their evening political talk shows (which were always very right-wing), they spent most of the day broadcasting fact-based news. That’s what I wanted to see.

Then, Donald Trump ran for President, and everything changed. They became the Trump ass-kisser network, and ran all sorts of pro-Trump stories that no other news network would touch, simply because those stories were all too insanely non-credible and conspiratorial.

Donald Trump, for his part, has praised OAN’s White House Correspondent, Chanel Rion, who, at one point, was kicked out of the White House Press Corps for violating mask protocols, as I recall. Rion has been known for doing very non-insightful interviews with Trump, in which she avoids asking him any tough questions, and gears the interview towards presenting him in the most favorable way possible.

Regarding Ukraine, Turkey’s Erdogan (who I have long regarded as an extremist of sorts), had some stern words for Russia.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkey-warns-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-would-not-be-a-wise-act/ar-AATcxmT?li=BBnbfcL

Yes I believe that’s true for the cable “news” shows , which collectively have a small viewing
audience ( fox, cnn, msnbc).

I don’t know if people refuse to realize the fact Germany loss 8 million, and Russia lost 25 million of there people in WWII. That’s like roughly the equivalent of losing 120-150 millions American today in a conflict. Individual’s in those countries can tell you about losing a family member or whole entire family in that conflict. Be it the immediate family or their parent or grandparents family because there are still individuals who lived during those dark days. If we loss 125million Americans would be so gung ho about engaging in a conflict? we as a country been giving instead of receiving mostly when it comes to inflicting death on the world post WWII. But that can easily change now with ICMB’s and other mass weapons of destruction 2 oceans don’t protect against those. Pray it nevers comes to pass. Man needs to put an end to war or war will put and end to man. The choice is ours

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Russia, despite having lost over 25 million people in WWII, has hardly become a pacifist country as a result.

Japan, though officially pacifist under its Constitution, at least sees the real threat from China and North Korea and has become a very reliable US ally.

Germany…lordy lordy!!!

I have visited 25 countries around the world and it is my experience that there are beautiful women in all of them and that would lead me to believe there are beautiful women in every country in the world. However, some may have a higher % than others. But since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I can’t say what anyone else’s opinion would be.

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That’s the thing, we may not be able to understand the Russian psyche for excess security
because of that fact. Clearly Ukraine has been leaning towards the west in the last 8 years or more. But at same time I just feel Putin wants the old “respected and feared” Russia back and he is a power hungry dictator. With all the advances in weaponry, a buffer zone country seems to be a rather dated ineffective concept to strive for.

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If you understand Russian mentality and their attitude Russia has been historically invaded from the West Napoleon, WWI, WWII. They have a legitimate mind think about not having enemies on their border, can’t say I blame them. Exactly the reason I said in earlier post we should have brought them into NATO when they were open to it under Gorbachev and possibly under Yeltsin and Putin. The people perish because of the lack of knowledge and faith.

Ya know, it’s a shame that Ukraine doesn’t have a team competing in Winter Olympic hockey.

Russia v. Ukraine would be ONE HELLUVA GRUDGE MATCH!!!

As it stands now, our best chance at a mass brawl on the ice will likely be Russia v. Finland.

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