Russia issues furious warning after Ukraine aid bill.

reading that ....okay....I get that you are proud of America and proud of being an American as you should. You're country is a shining example to many. The tenor of your response though seems merely pointed towards some unspecified inaction which you think may or may not occur at some unspecified moment in time in Europe based on an assumption which I'm uncertain about. My thoughts to the other guy were more of a reflection on how America got to where it was and why it got there and how it potentially continues to interact on a global basis. As I think I said to the other guy, my thoughts on international relations are that, in a nutshell, they are essential for any country and especially so for a country as large as America who rely on those relationships diplomatically, militarily, economically and socially. Even legally considering extradition treaties and the operations of the DEA et al. Forgive me if I'm wrong but from the tenor of your post my impression was that should the White House and the State Department etc. be under your influence the nuance and foundations of these relationships would become to a certain extent meaningless instead being viewed as merely transient in nature and functionally transactional in operation?

 

Because many act as though securing U.S. borders is the job of the U.S. military. But it has never been a primary function of the U.S. military. It is a law enforcement one for specialized agencies like the Border Patrol

 

talking of Maggie Thatcher....from her speech to the Conservative Party Conference October 1988.....

...but we did.....in very short order.....

 

What does that have to do with beloved Ronald's desire to secure the border .. and your lack of desire for secure borders. Ronald would not be pleased

 

You don't seriously think Maggie gave a flying fart about democracy do you ? and all that platitudinal jingoism .. "freedom - the will of the people"

Really ?

 

What does that have to do with your dislike of border security ? So what if Border Patrol is specialized agency and not the military .. Reagan just wants the borders secure .. by hook or by crook .. apparently you and Reagan don't see eye to eye.

 

Again, none of our inalienable rights have anything to do with the Battle of Europe. Stop trying to link us together. This government is obligated to follow the Constitution whether Kiev falls or doesn’t fall.

Europe has absolutely nothing to do with our way of life or governing procedures. And as I mentioned our navy will guarantee our trade routes.

We easily could have sent a fleet to crush the Russian grain blockade but that would be HARD military power that simply has no support in the public

Indeed the only way any of your post applies to the US is a not so subtle suggestion that European powers could project themselves in the Atlantic Ocean.

But our navy is vastly superior to the UK in its heyday let alone any of the other European powers.

So this attempt to coerce Americans into Europe won’t work and I’d humbly suggest not to touch the shared interests in the Atlantic.

 

That's not how it works.

Putin acts as badly as possible no matter what Ukraine does. He always tries to murder the maxium number of civilians.

That means Putin threatening to act more badly is an empty threat, because he can't act more badly. He's hit the max there.

Oh, we note how you're running cover for Putin's terror-bombing of civilians, by blaming Ukraine for it. "Now look what they made us do!" is the cry of every abuser.

 

It's supposedly for the defense of the USA.

 

And the USA is being over run right now.

 

Completely made up false nonsense mamoo .. you are confusing Bibi and Genocide Joe and the Gaza Concentration camp extermination program with Vlad the Gentle Giant and his special operation of denazification.. which has killed very few civilians .. as opposed to Gaza where most of those killed are civilians.

 

sure I get that....but maybe consider the wider context of what "defence" means....if for example your "enemies" are landing on your beaches and scaling your cliffs then maybe your "defences" have already failed!! Defence includes diplomacy i.e. the application of soft power, basically winning friends and influencing them. Also, Intelligence work where for example as a result of the high level of trust between nations you have forged the AUCUS agreement and 5 Eyes to name but two...Intelligence services only co-operate at this level if they have complete trust and faith in their counter-parties. If all you have is hard power then to a certain extent you have already lost the battle....for example....you loan a lawn mower to your neighbour who forgets to return it, do you go round to him and a) shove a gun in his face and demand it back, or b) take a couple of cold beers, have a chat and hint that you need to mow your own lawn.

I could go on but would only say that if as a nation one's only frame of reference for the defence of one's nation's social, legal, economic and intellectual capacity is brute force, well I would argue that you're on a path to oblivion.

Cheers mate
Take care and I hope you've got some nice plans for the weekend!

 

yes you've already said that...but I was discussing the application of soft power; for example the more nuanced approach and use of international relations.

 

You just described NATO.

 

What has happened to the Republican Party that so many Republicans want Russia to win an unprovoked, unjustified war of aggression?

 

No one in NATO wants to invade Russia. Russia is the aggressor against Ukraine.

 

I have yet to see one of them want Russia to win. They are arguing about what is on the best interests of the US and it's taxpayers though. Personally, I support assisting Ukraine in defending itself as we signed a treaty to do that and our word needs to be good. Plus Putin has said he wants to invade parts of NATO then threaten nuclear blackmail. I would prefer Russia to lose in Ukraine so he never has a chance to do that.

 

Such as the boats loaded with illegal immigrants landing on California's beaches and others scaling the border wall.
So yes, our defenses have failed.

 

You are smart enough to know that virtually all terrorists are civilians don't you?

An operation that slaughters only terrorists will inevitably kill mainly civilians.

 

More war crimes by Russians.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-troops-went-drunken-killing-spree-occupied-ukraine-reports

 

My Lai all over again, but fortunately not on the same scale.

 

That would indeed be a very good first step in the right direction. I’ve been calling for a new Congress of Vienna to end the war. The last time all of Europe actually got together at a table you guys had peace for a century.
Simply put, arms can’t secure peace now or at any time.

All arming up to the teeth does is create tensions

 

I think he’ll advance on NATO regardless of the war in Ukraine. That’s the big intelligence miscalculation in Washington. Why? Because NATO opened up the Balkan States(Finland and Sweden)

The Fins specifically share a common border on the strategically important St.Petersburg. We keep believing that the Russians are blustering but having forces so close to them is really tempting fate

Ukraine’s importance on the battlefield probably ended when NATO expanded into the balkans.

Indeed at this point it’s more important to our prestige then it is to the NATO-Russian conflict

 

Your initial premise is quite false as many terrorists are not civilians -- which is quite funny given your comment on being smart enough to know .. but, surely you are smart enough to know that what conclusions based on a false premise are not worth much -- yours no exception to the rule.

What was the point you were trying to make ? .. were you trying to say that the Hamas Operation to slaughter only terrorists inevitably killed a bunch of civilians and so was justified on the basis that most virtually all terrorists are civilians .. and so they didn't know the difference ?

 

It takes two to tango .. .. Ukrainian aggression was prior to Russian intervention .. .. agree that no one in NATO wants to invade Russia.. and I would be willing to bet that most civilians in nato nations don't want Ukraine conducting terrorist attacks against Russian Homeland with NATO weapons.