How does the World view America these days?

[user]

8 hours ago, chenGOD said:

 

So who's dragging who where?

 

Why go to twitter when you get the information straight from Putin's mouth? It's not like there isn't plenty of video of Putin saying exactly what he means.

I don't really care about who's dragging who where. Russia invaded Ukraine, that's a given, no going back from that. Presenting situations like this as if it's a match and you're asking people who they're rooting for is totally absurd to me. I can only feel empathy towards citizens, not states. I can't fathom speaking about a war in this binary, for or against, way that you are asking me to do. Citizens die, people lose their homes and lives are destroyed. Who cares who started it? I was voicing frustration about Biden's boilerplate (as I understand a bit more clearly now) response. I kind of expected the excessive expletives and ridiculous yearning for Trump would make it obvious that my post was intended as a way to blow off some steam. Is it cool to do that here? Probably not, but I feel safe here, on WATMM.

I don't go to Twitter for information. The only reason I have a Twitter account is so that I can troll the Dutch cryptofascists (the Dutch FVD party that is trying to destabilize society and politics in the Netherlands in a similar way that Trump and associates did in the US) that have been gaining traction. It's a pointless and shameful waste of time but I allow myself to indulge in it from time to time. I just happened to be on Twitter when the invasion started and my twitter/trolling session spiraled out of control.

Anyone able to extract the true meaning from Putin's speeches and is able to extrapolate from this what his intentions are, I am in awe of. Truly.

[chenGOD]

16 minutes ago, user said:

I can't fathom speaking about a war in this binary, for or against, way that you are asking me to do.

War isn’t binary, there are a thousand stories that make up a war. I think it matters who started it because without the aggressor there would be no response, if that makes any sense. 
 

sorry for misinterpreting your statement on Twitter. it is easy to get sucked into doom scrolling on Twitter and Reddit.

Putin’s intentions are not difficult to discern: he yearns for the old days of Soviet strength, and he has made that clear in his speeches, and more importantly, his actions. 

of course you should feel safe to vent as you want here, and my retorts were never meant with any ill intent (I don’t harbour any ill will to any current WATMM members), so my apologies if they came off as such. 

[chenGOD]

So with respect to those truckers in Canada, the CBC's very good Fifth Estate show produced this episode. It's a pretty decent overview:

 

[ignatius]

 

[joshuatxuk]

Regarding Biden: there's no reason to have a strong opinion about his handling of this. He deserves neither praise nor criticism, the U.S. and NATO have essentially one option: continue supplying weapons, man the borders of NATO neighboring countries, assist with the influx of refugees. That's it. More aggressive acts and Putin responds with direct war with NATO and nukes come into play. Refuse to assist Ukraine in any capacity as "neutral" and the country is truly at risk of full occupation and puppet state installation. 

I know it's frustrating to watch Putin get Russians and Ukrainians killed to expand Russian sphere of influence with no massive recipricated consequence. It was just as frustrating when the U.S. did so in Iraq. Biden knows this. Putin knows this. It's cliché AF to say this but this is the frustrating horror and disheartening reality of a world that engages in geopolitical maneuvering with nationalist sentiments to stroke as needed. 

[ignatius]

edit: 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by ignatius

[Nebraska]

this non racist woman was last seen doing community outreach for this friendly gathering of like-minded citzens:
https://www.kxly.com/we-will-never-remain-silent-north-idaho-community-braces-for-aryan-freedom-network-gathering/

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[Nebraska]

open air concept with japanese shou sugi wood burning technique in the up and coming south central area of lost angeles, where things are rarely good or bad. they're just complicated

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[marf]

I wonder why Putin didnt do this when Trump was in office

[J3FF3R00]

3 minutes ago, marf said:

I wonder why Putin didnt do this when Trump was in office

I was thinking about that very question earlier today. My thought is that he probably assumed that trump would win a second term with his help and then donald would step aside when it happened (especially when it came to sanctions, UN, NATO, etc). He must have just gotten a raging war boner and figured now or never. I’d imagine he’s been planning this for years.

I’m hoping Putin’s inner circle did some maths and came to the conclusion that DT wouldn’t win the 2024 election. I really hope. 

[ignatius]

7 minutes ago, marf said:

I wonder why Putin didnt do this when Trump was in office

it's probably when they started insulating themselves from sanctions by hoarding lot's of cash etc.  maybe his plan was to do it now all along and he thought trump would be in for his 2nd term? in which case trump wouldn't be doing much.. certainly not leading/helping to organize a group of nations to sanction russia while providing assistance to ukraine.

but who knows.. could be putin just wasn't ready yet.

[joshuatxuk]

It's hard not to assume he was waiting for the next Olympics. I'm sure the 2019 Ukrainian election came into play, which was shortly after Putin's own re-election. Same with COVID-19. Waiting for the pullout of Afghanistan, which ended a US led and mostly NATO manned mission was also likely a motivating factor timing wise.

Putin def overestimated Ukrainian resistance and more notably their conventional forces skill and tactical aptitude. The Ukrainian military and militias have performed well, holding off and forcing retreats in key spots and disrupting logistics and supply. Russia is still making small gains and there's still a chance they could encircle the East but overall they've been bogged down in places and initial momentum is gone.

I think it's early to speculate in detail but I think more notably their propaganda, psych-ops, and false flag plan efforts have fallen apart as well, and they usually excel on that front. It's been pretty evident with the firing of one of his main generals and the announcement by Kazakhstan they were not going to send in forces to assist Russia, which is telling considering they are very pro-Kremlin and Russia just put down civil unrest there. 

The big irony to all of this - NATO support is up, the US and EU are uniting, Germany has pivoted to being more overt in it's military support and, this is big kicker, the Republican party might actually being splitting up over this and dooming many 2022 runs. I have been anticipating a hellish return of Republican majorities and more wing-nuts in office but if the last week has been an indication their mask is off to generally more apolitical Americans in terms of just how insanely authoritarian and dedicated to Trump they are over the actual country and democracy in general. Their isolationism motivated by greed and bigotry and closeted fascism is striking fascinating parallels to the isolationists among the GOP in 1939 to late 1941. 
 

I remember seeing this guy on FOX a couple years ago spending a good 20 minute segment with the host praising Trump's foreign policy. They can't even suggest they disagree with Trump without committing political suicide.

[zero]

36 minutes ago, joshuatxuk said:

the Republican party might actually being splitting up over this and dooming many 2022 runs. I have been anticipating a hellish return of Republican majorities and more wing-nuts in office but if the last week has been an indication their mask is off to generally more apolitical Americans in terms of just how insanely authoritarian and dedicated to Trump they are over the actual country and democracy in general. Their isolationism motivated by greed and bigotry and closeted fascism is striking fascinating parallels to the isolationists among the GOP in 1939 to late 1941. 

I sure hope so man. but sadly, I can see this all getting squashed in roughly a sentence by team donald once the conflict starts getting less attention in the media. something like "what happened in Ukraine is bad, very bad, but Putin is a smart guy, I know him well. but the real problem is the DEMS blah blah blah" - and then all is forgotten. the heard moves on to the next media frenzy.

time and time again I am amazed at how narcissistic so many trump supporters are. they willingly elect to block out seeing the smoke coming from the dumpster fire that has been burning now for years in this country. the 2022 elections are many months away, so many more media cycles to make it through before getting there. the R's will distance themselves from the conflict, and continue the focus to be an all out assault on the Dem's, and democracy in general.

[joshuatxuk]

1 hour ago, zero said:

I sure hope so man. but sadly, I can see this all getting squashed in roughly a sentence by team donald once the conflict starts getting less attention in the media. something like "what happened in Ukraine is bad, very bad, but Putin is a smart guy, I know him well. but the real problem is the DEMS blah blah blah" - and then all is forgotten. the heard moves on to the next media frenzy.

time and time again I am amazed at how narcissistic so many trump supporters are. they willingly elect to block out seeing the smoke coming from the dumpster fire that has been burning now for years in this country. the 2022 elections are many months away, so many more media cycles to make it through before getting there. the R's will distance themselves from the conflict, and continue the focus to be an all out assault on the Dem's, and democracy in general.

Yeah I agree, your breakdown is a good example of the more realistic and skeptical take that we should have. I think what makes Ukraine a bit different is it isn't domestic, it's international and literally involves potential global and nuclear war. The more establishment folks can bullshit their way like weasels on domestic differences, hell the shameful brushing under the carpet of January 6 is a good example, but this is something that establishment Republicans have Pentagon and corporate technocrat backing on. It's more than just a holdout of a few Republicans who still have some values, there's a pragmatic aspect to opposing Trump and his base on this issue. 

[ignatius]

sooner or later he's just going to be a floating bobble head. 

 

[Nebraska]

On 2/27/2022 at 5:52 PM, marf said:

I wonder why Putin didnt do this when Trump was in office

because a lot of oligarchs have invested in trump properties. if this war had started then, that would have fucked up Big T's bag. like the case of viktor yanukovich who made out with billions from the ukrainian treasury, then used an array of shell accounts to launder the money through cyprus using the golden visa program and funneling some coins into big T's pockets. one of those oligarchs involved got stiffed for first class tickets to his inauguration while another- this guy-  helped tidy up the affair by buying the shell companies and liquidating the assets. 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Nebraska

[Nebraska]

Quote

WASHINGTON — The United States conducted a drone strike against Al Shabab militants in Somalia this week, the first such military action against the Qaeda affiliate in East Africa since August, the military’s Africa Command said on Thursday. The MQ-9 Reaper strike on Tuesday followed a Shabab attack on allied Somali forces in Duduble, about 40 miles northwest of Mogadishu, the capital, the command said in a statement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/us/politics/somalia-shabab-us-airstrike.html

[zero]

18 hours ago, Nebraska said:

because a lot of oligarchs have invested in trump properties. if this war had started then, that would have fucked up Big T's bag. like the case of viktor yanukovich who made out with billions from the ukrainian treasury, then used an array of shell accounts to launder the money through cyprus using the golden visa program and funneling some coins into big T's pockets. one of those oligarchs involved got stiffed for first class tickets to his inauguration while another- this guy-  helped tidy up the affair by buying the shell companies and liquidating the assets. 

 

thanks for the refresher. now if only someone could dumb this down enough to explain this to Big T's voting base, to help them understand what a piece of shit he is. but no. even if they fully understood, his deals with the russians are translated into MAGA talk as "smart business man behavior," of which I have heard from countless T supporters that is why they think he's so qualified to be pres.

[Nebraska]

@zero these guys were on the case but even they admitted it was extremely difficult to trace, charge and prosecute all involved parties especially when some are juiced in

according to the guy @ nabu (tasked with investigating the missing money) "for every missing $1M we're able to find just under 1 cent"

[user]

On 2/25/2022 at 2:13 AM, chenGOD said:

War isn’t binary, there are a thousand stories that make up a war. I think it matters who started it because without the aggressor there would be no response, if that makes any sense. 
 

sorry for misinterpreting your statement on Twitter. it is easy to get sucked into doom scrolling on Twitter and Reddit.

Putin’s intentions are not difficult to discern: he yearns for the old days of Soviet strength, and he has made that clear in his speeches, and more importantly, his actions. 

of course you should feel safe to vent as you want here, and my retorts were never meant with any ill intent (I don’t harbour any ill will to any current WATMM members), so my apologies if they came off as such. 

Thanks for the considerate reply Chen. You don't come off as harbouring ill intent or anything, I guess I was just clarifying why I felt (and still feel :)) free to post venty or naive stuff on here. Cheers.

[Nebraska]

are the french going to pull up and check desantis for coming outta pocket like that? 

[ignatius]

25 minutes ago, Nebraska said:

are the french going to pull up and check desantis for coming outta pocket like that? 

and just before that.. 

 

[ignatius]

ugh.

 

[Rubin Farr]

On 3/2/2022 at 7:01 PM, ignatius said:

and just before that.. 

 

1,207 Floridians died of COVID in the past week, this little shit is a spineless fuck. He needs to be defeated.

[ignatius]

15 minutes ago, Rubin Farr said:

1,207 Floridians died of COVID in the past week, this little shit is a spineless fuck. He needs to be defeated.

he's gonna run for president probably