Head cop gave props to the target employees who helped evacuate the store. Having recently completed active shooter training.
So you work the deli counter, keeping an eye out for armed nutcases.
What a world.
The source is NBC news of all places. It will be interesting to see if it is picked up by other left wing news media.
“The House Jan. 6 committee concluded that the FBI and other federal security agencies could have prevented a violent mob from overrunning the Capitol had they acted on the large volume of intelligence collected beforehand, the chief investigator told NBC News in an exclusive interview — a judgment the committee left out of its televised hearings and final report.”
Indeed.
Especially since…
‘ “Objectivity Has Got To Go”: News Leaders Call For End Of Objective Journalism’— https://www.zerohedge.com/political/objectivity-has-got-go-news-leaders-call-end-objective-journalism
(No, April 1st hasn’t arrived early this year…)
Here’s Turley (opening graf):
‘ We previously discussed the movement in journalism schools to get rid of principles of objectivity in journalism. Advocacy journalism is the new touchstone in the media even as polls show that trust in the media is plummeting. Now, former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward have released the results of their interviews with over 75 media leaders and concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”….’
So there you have it: Objectivity is the enemy. Subjectivity, spin and lies of commission and omission have become the epitome of ethical journalism. The cutting edge of morality.
They are sorely, desperately afraid of the truth….
(And there will be “more to come”. Much more. So “stay tuned”….)
so the reporter who was doing the big expose on the afghan fustercluck, is surprise surprise, going to be charged with child pornography charges, shirley they can’t be serious
leonard downie wrote a roman a clef, back around 2009, about a news room like the post, and a democratic president, more clinton than obama, who passes away and is replaced by an attractive female vice president, who has more than a few skeletons in the closet, of course there has to be a secret corporate intelligence hits squad run by the usual sources,
I live in the Dallas area. We’re not accustomed to ice and snow. I wrecked my car. There will be a point. When my Mustang finished spinning and hitting concrete barriers (construction area) I was just ticked off. I restarted the car and drove home. Yes, I’m 60 and still drive a hot rod. Part 1.
The Omaha Target shooter situation reminds me a little of the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris. In that instance two cops in the balcony spied a terrorist out in the open about 40 yards away. They both bench rested their pistols and opened fire simultaneously and took him out. Later, one of the cops said that they train for that scenario twice per year. We knew exactly what to do.
Of course, there were at least three other terrorists secluded in other parts of the Bataclan. A much worse situation overall.
Power still on, steve57? As we learned a couple of years ago, the Texas power grid isn’t reliable in cold and ice.
I should have been scared but I wasn’t. I spent the rest of the night wondering why I wasn’t scared. Here’s the point finally. I’m so sorry about Gerard, Neo. I was afraid I was going to make things worse if I didn’t keep my mouth shut
are those mustangs durable, when they hit the concrete barrier,
Yes Kate. I still have power. I kind of wish I didn’t considering all the the money I spent on propane and generators. I wish I could try it all out
Miguel I made it home. I don’t want to be a smart ass. I hope Neo will allow rhat. I don’t know how else to put it.
I’m sorry Neo
See what I mean? Opening my mouth and making things worse
In case you were under the impression that Tyler Cowan is something other than a poseur, he’s at pains to disabuse you of it today.
miguel
What is the cyber equivalent of a throw-down bag of weed?
Sheryl Atkisson (sp?), a journalist who finds things out, said the fibbers threatened to put child pron on her husband’s computer.
You’ll find the propane and generators will be worth their weight in gold when you really need them. We do.
I should have been clearer skids are inhenrently dangerous im just not sanguine about modern designs
Grow bulb plants near a very big rock:
They love the warmth and it helps them grow.
Also better protection against moles and such.
Besides, they have a pretty backdrop, too.
My airbags didn’t deploy. There is that. That’s a reason the pros think my car can be fixed.
Neo if there a way I could prevent your loss I would. I’m very sorry that you’re going through this.
Tyler Cowen, continued…
Gratifying to see, though, that for that perverse, studied indifference he got quite a bit of well-deserved pushback in the comments.
Rather curiously, I noticed in his Wikipedia entry that he was credited with writing a NYT article titled, “Broken Trust Takes Time to Mend”…
Heh…
Poseur indeed…(though I suppose it’s always possible that his memory—and his sense of ethics—just isn’t what it used to be…)
Presumably the range of these is carefully calibrated to avoid WWIII. Backchannel communication has previously been utilized to avoid “miscalculations” (especially since the Cuban missile crisis). I doubt that the Biden administration is capable of this, and it’s not clear how it would be done even by intelligent diplomatic and defense officials. Moreover, an intelligent State & DoD regime would prioritize protecting Taiwan from China, leaving Europe to squander resources propping up Zelenskyy if they were so inclined.
Steve57:
Glad you’re not seriously hurt.
Presumably the range of these is carefully calibrated to avoid WWIII.
Russia can avoid further injury by removing its troops and sending them back to the barracks or back home.
@Brian E
This is a continuation of my discussions with Brian E on the previous Open Thread, posted here just in case.
@Brian E
Back at you.
I think it’s reasonable to conclude Baker was speaking for the administration. In negotiations, no one cares what the SoS’s personal opinion is. And if he were advancing a personal opinion, he would say he needed to go back to the President.
Agreed, and this was the conclusion I came to from analyzing the document in question here, https://www.thenewneo.com/2023/01/31/open-thread-1-31-23/#comment-2664344 , where I argued that Baker was stating the opinion of himself, the Bush Admin, and likeminded officials in NATO rather than anyone more or less.
Which is no small feat since it indicates a major US Administration – and the one that saw the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union – was at least claiming to be uninterested in expanding NATO. But it’s a far cry from Putin’s claims.
I agree it was a commitment that the Bush administration was making that could only be enforced while Bush was in power.
Well, there were ways to get that commitment to be enforceable beyond Bush’s administration. But that would require getting it in writing so to speak, and preferably passed through the Congress. And even that would only militate against it in the intermediate period rather than stop it entirely since Congress could simply void the treaty again.
This I think loops back to the point that Baker, Gorbachev, and others (including one of Gorbachev’s chief lieutenants, Shevardnadze), pointed out. That a diplomatic settlement that was acceptable to the Soviet Union/Russia could only be reached by intensive consideration of the former Pact and SR members as well as public opinion. Which is precisely the stuff that Putin and others have used these assurances (real or false) to try to ignore.
Gorbachev at that point had few bargaining chips, except blowing up the world, so I imagine Baker was seeking to reassure Gorbachev about NATO expansion. It was unacceptable to the Russians.
Agreed, but he also pointed out the limitations of his power and even that of the US and the importance of taking into consideration the nations there. It also implicitly talks on the risks of political pressures changing tides.
It also leaves something important unsaid. What happens if stopping short of NATO membership was unacceptable for say the Poles or Hungarians or the Baltics?
It’s actually worth noting that Ukraine was one of the relatively few nations in Europe that actually showed little interest in NATO membership (it WAS interested in cooperation with the US and NATO but not on the whole at the expense of Russia) and pursued a policy of either constitutional or quasi-statuary neutrality… Until the invasions of 2014. Which brings us back to the issues of perverse incentives.
And yes, American foreign policy in the last few decades must seem like one drunken sailor after another wandering down the street.
I’d argue for much longer than that – don’t even get me started on Kissinger – but it has had iits points. Moreover, I’ll note one of the frequent features was attempts to reach out to Moscow to come to a modus vivendi (sometimes at the direct expense of the nations in Russia’s “Near Abroad”, see Reset). Mark Steyn – who is thankfully much better now – pointed out the problems with this policy as far as it extended to Putin and Russia’s current political class not long after 9/11, and it seems like we have been slow there.
The default American view regarding Russia over the last few decades, is the Monroe Doctrine for me, but not for thee.
I completely disagree and I hate this argument with the passion of ten thousand suns precisely because it’s mangling what the Monroe Doctrine is, both in theory and in how it has been executed for decades. And while sure one can say that part of my irritation is nationalist prejudice as an American and that might not be completely untrue, it’s still an attempt to draw a false equivalence.
How do I know this?
Well, let’s go back to what Baker said.
10Baker: I said to Eduard yesterday: in April, May, and June last year, when I started saying for the first time that we want to help perestroika, that we trust Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, American conservatives attacked me with criticism. But now, when we are reconsidering the COCOM rules and discussing the possibility of your participation in international financial organizations, the same conservatives are saying: why do the Russians give Cuba MIG-29s? Of course, Cuba is not a threat to the U.S. But it is a certain threat to some small democratic countries in Central America. Castro continues to export revolution. There is only one person he criticizes more often than Bush, and that is Gorbachev.
The entire decades old existence of Castro’s Island Dystopia just off Florida’s shores and his continued bad behavior is one of the greatest testaments to both how the “Russia’s actions in its near abroad are comparable to the Monroe Doctrine” argument falls flat and to the limitations of American power and resolve, as well as its (often misguided in my opinion) tolerance. And while you might be able to argue that Baker admitted Cuba was not a threat to the US but to “democratic nations” in Hispanic America while Putin can claim Ukraine is a threat to Russia, there’s something to be said about the fact that the Castro Regime is the only one on planet Earth to have knowingly tried to spark a nuclear WWIII, first by (understandably enough) lobbying for Soviet transfer of nuclear weapons of both tactical (ie defensive, only able to land in its littoral) and strategic (ie able to strike the US), and then proceeded to try and pressure, manipulate, and lie to its Soviet patrons to try and trigger a nuclear first strike. Which only fell through due to a combination of Soviet frustrations breaking the blockade and fear of reports from Soviet missile crews that the Cuban military was acting weirdly on their perimeter and might be trying to seize the sites.
It is certainly true that the US’s relations with the Castros are not WARM (and in light of the nature of the Cuban regime I think this is absolutely appropriate) but they are also nowhere near as adversarial from the US’s POV as is often noted (and why I note that a vast majority of the alleged CIA Assassination Attempts on Castro are known only through the allegations of a book…. published by Fidel’s personal bodyguard… who has proven to have the moral character of a Himmler and also a willingness to lie to support the party line).
And that’s all the more acute since 1990 when this meeting was held Castro has indeed had horrifying great success exporting the revolution, such as helping the Sandinistas retake Nicaragua after being voted out and helping manage a nightmarish Chavista dictatorship in Venezuela, as well as many of the Bolivarians. These are threats at are at least in the same ballpark as that Ukraine supposedly presents, but which the US has responded to in a decidedly muted fashion
Simply put, Putin’s actions towards his neighbors would be AT BEST comparable to US enforcement of Monroe during its broadest and most violent term, from around the 1890s to FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy turn. And even then they likely go well beyond that.
Which is also why I note that Monroe was and is originally and primarily about foreign colonial expansion in the Western Hemisphere (at least without the acceptance of the US), and while several US administrations interpreted it more broadly and its implications might go beyond that it does not explicitly rule out US tolerance of home-grown, indigenous hostile regimes like Fidel and Raul, Hugo and Nicholas, etc.
The US has co-existed in an uneasy peace with a regime that tried to start a nuclear war for half a century. Putin invaded Ukraine because of an EU Association Agreement that turned violent, where his local vassal committed such crimes that his own party got sick of him (or at least distressed) and kicked him out of office following a failure to appear before the Legislature. That would’ve been a really extreme action for the US even during the Cold War and the “Banana Wars” in its “near abroad.”
I believe Putin was sincere about NATO expansion to Ukraine being a red line,
I agree, but I believe that Putin’s talk about NATO expansion to Ukraine being a red line is ultimately a red herring. He invaded Ukraine not because of talk of NATO expansion into it (which had been going around for years to little effect) but because of Euromaidan and the constitutional crisis there. Ironically pushing Ukraine towards considering joining NATO in a way it never really had (at least without Russian approval and co-joining).
Which is probably one reason why commentary on this – especially from the Kremlin – works to play up the NATO angle and even the idea of a “Biological Cuban Missile Crisis” (because apparently Kremlin simps think that probably-unethical offshored biological research equals Certain Biological WMD and that no Ukrainian administration – even the pro-Putin Yanukovych one- had any issue with this for years). Because it touches on legitimately deep strands of Russian political and cultural beliefs and is a lot easier to justify than “Yeah we invaded a country and lied about it because our Literal Mob Boss Client President got in trouble with his own Parliament for trying to massacre protestors about him going back on a campaign promise to negotiate a trade agreement iwth the EU.”
and I think he sincerely believes Ukraine is rightfully Russian. Like Kennen, he doesn’t think Ukraine is a country.
Agreed with the caveat that I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say Kennan doesn’t believe Ukraine is a country, though he acknowledges many in Russia do not. I have accused him of having an overly “Muscovite” view but he did not dismiss or deny the existence of Ukrainian nationalism.
While it may be posturing about the Baker guarantee about NATO expansion eastward, there were other events, including the coup overthrowing Yanukovich.
There was no coup overthrowing Yanukovych.
Yanukovych (and his cabinet) was confronted about his abuses of power and the Constitution by the Ukrainian Legislature that was on the whole Democratically Elected at the same time he was… and which by and large was dominated by *his own coalition.* And constitutionally they had every right to demand he and his members of cabinet appear before them to answer questions on conduct like most parliamentary systems.
Yanukovych (probably recognizing that even if he and his ministers could safely go to Kyiv to attest, that they had no legal or ethical answers to justify his conduct) instead decided to flee the country, making him incapable of carrying out the duties of Ukrainian President. Which led the Rada to backdoor a removal of power by essentially declaring him incapable.
It’d be a bit like if a US Presidential Cabinet initiated Article 25 not because the President was physically indisposed, but because they had abandoned their position and the like to flee to a country without an extradition treaty to avoid facing charges. That isn’t a perfect parallel (since Article 25 is instigated by the Cabinet and targets only the President while the Ukrainian case was instigated by Parliament/The Legislature/The Verknovna Rada and targeted the Cabinet as a whole), but it’s close enough to be illustrative. That it was a non-impeachment way of removing the President on the grounds that they were incapable of carrying out their duties. Which Yanukovych taking shelter in Russia obviously wasn’t, and whose prior conduct had caused plenty of… let’s just say “Doubt’ that he would actually abide by his legal duties anyway.
So the Rada essentially dismissed the Yanukovych Cabinet and began cobbling together a caretaker cabinet while preparing for general elections and holding hearings and trials about the atrocities Yanukovych and his co had committed during the crisis. And they were midway through doing this when the first Russian Fed Spetznaz hit.
Now, is there more to this story including in the forms of foreign involvement from scum like Nuland and other foreign actors? Absolutely. But that doesn’t make it a “coup.” It also wasn’t an overthrow of the Government but the dismissal of the Executive Branch by the Legislature.
This is also pretty important to understand things like what went on and how Ukraine was faring.
After the overthrow, no doubt Putin was concerned that the next pro-Western President (and likely even more nationalistic/fascistic (since I can’t use the word nazi)) would renege on the Sevastopol lease.
Which they would legally have EVERY RIGHT to do, as Putin admitted. Which is also why Putin and co have tried to play up the false “Coup” angle (because apparently a legislature removing a corrupt, tyrannical President from power legally is a “coup”… huh, where have I heard this rhetoric before? Gavin Newsom call your office) as well as the “Crimean and Donbas Self-Determination!*”
Because even he cannot deny the fact that a legitimate Ukrainian Government would have EVERY RIGHT to back out of the Kharkhiv Lease Agreement so long as it was done by its proper method. And why the invasions have been justified by faux-humanitarian and self-determination concerns rather than “OMG We might lose Sevastopol in a few years!”
And Ukraine was seeking NATO membership after its EU associate membership.
Not really. Even “Yats” (he of the infamous mention on Nuland’s phone) was at best lukewarm about NATO membership and pretty much until the first Russian troops seized Crimea there was limited appetite for joining NATO.
But in any case, even if I granted this assertion, the fact is that Ukraine had every right to seek NATO membership and the Russian Government acknowledged this no later than the Astana Declaration of 2012. Which is again why Putin is so reliant on “Nazi Baiting” and insisting that Yanukovych was overthrown in a “coup.” Because otherwise he has even less of a legal leg to stand on than he otherwise did.
While I think the Ioffe interview I watched was suspect,
Agreed, and why I do not use her.
she did make the point that Putin hated Khrushchev for gifting Crimea to Ukraine (even as part of the SU) and Gorbachev for being weak.
I agree this is true, but I also think this points to the limitations and prejudices Putin had.
The reassignment of Ukraine from the Russian SR to the Ukrainian SR by Khruschev is often remembered as a frivolous, pointless case of megalomania personally attributable to Khruschev. And that actually makes some degree of sense given the host of OTHER cases where Khruschev’s megalomania and whimsy played out… but it doesn’t fit here. The reassignment was an intensely studied thing that might have been spearheaded by Khruschev but dug in essentially the rest of the Central Committee/Presidium and many experts (real or so-called) and debate, and was floated around during Stalin’s last years.
And it had a brutally unsentimental reason. That the Russian SR’s administration had thoroughly botched its administration of Crimea, failing to properly develop it prior to the war and to help modernize its naval facilities and fortifications (thus helping to pave the way for the Nazi/Romanian Conquest of it), and screwing up the recovery.
Khruschev viewed this as an administrative reform, not a national statement. But acknowledging this would puncture some very notable holes in the predominantly nationalistic narratives about Crimea (and moreso in the Russian ones than the Ukrainian ones), which also touch on some of the problems Putin is facing trying to sustain the occupation now.
While Gorbachev was weak (though likely nowhere near as saintly as he’s portrayed), but he was also in charge of a fundamentally weak system and tried to save it.
What was the final trigger to the invasion?
I guess it’d depend on which invasion. I’m assuming we are talking about the open one early last year.
Did Putin think Biden was in Ukraine’s pocket and wanted to get ahead of an American response? Remember in Dec. 2021 Biden kept warning Ukraine publicly that Russia was going to attack? I thought that was odd at the time. Is it more likely Biden was provoking Russia to attack?
I don’t know, but it is ultimately not very relevant IMHO. The exact reasons Putin invaded will probably not be known until the Kremlin’s archives get opened (if that), and at least some of them were probably on false grounds (since it is very clear Putin got REALLY bad intelligence analysis, worse than even my gut feelings on the matter after watching the ugly fighting in the Donbas for 8 years or so) and many were opportunistic.
What I think matters more is how this dovetailed with Putin’s wider political habits and the opportunities. Suffice it to say, Putin has been quite able to dance around an issue until he finds an opportune moment (or what he thinks is) and then to jam a justification in. As someone who watched Georgia 2008 play out in real life I can attest to that.
Ioffe had nothing good to say about Trump– except she acknowledged that the Javelins Trump had sent to Ukraine was a key reason the original assault on Kiev failed.
Agreed, and I’m glad for that at least. Trump was hideously smeared as a puppet of Putin in spite of being willign to risk far more.
om, re: the Ioffe interview. I wasn’t sure whether I was listening to a journalist or Putin’s psychiatrist, based on her speculation what is going on inside Putin’s head. Here analysis is pretty standard fare.
Agreed. And while I might fall into some of that personally I try to minimize it to what I think can be demonstrated from his actions and some of his rhetoric.
Why is the fact she was born in Russia and her family left when she was seven relevant? She has a BA in history, with an emphasis on Russia.
She said she initially was worried the war would last several years, but now thinks “this war will be over soon.” We’ll see how good her predictive powers are.
For what it is worth – and I am by no means a flawless man (I thought Putin would not openly invade) – I think this will last at least another year. Likely more. This has been nasty attritional fighting and even if public support for one side or the other starts collapsing rapidly it’ll probably take a while to play out.
And all the fighting we have seen in this war so far and in many of its kin (like Georgia and Nagorno-Karabach) points to long, bitter fighting.
Turtler,
Uou need Vliff Notes on that comment. tl;
@Banned Lizard
US Preps Ukraine Package With Rockets That Can Reach Nearly 100 Miles
Presumably the range of these is carefully calibrated to avoid WWIII.
Probably, but it was also likely to address the issue of Russian artillery and rocket fire from across the internationally recognized border.
The Kremlin had been doing this for a LONG LONG time (you can find old Open Source analysis showing artillery fire from across the border during the Donbas War from years ago), but that was always a risky move. Moreso with the Kremlin making more emphasis on its bombardments and especially attacks on services (including water filtration, which is simultaneously essential and usually not targeted by the military because it is of limited military value in contrast to say power lines).
Counterbattery fire means the ability to reach out and touch the other guy’s artillery which he is using to touch you. Which is one reason for the pressure by Ukraine for longer ranged artillery has been so consistent. The US and other friendly powers have been hesitant to do this for the obvious reasons (fear of escalation), but that pressure would always be there. And as time went on it would become more tempting.
Backchannel communication has previously been utilized to avoid “miscalculations” (especially since the Cuban missile crisis). I doubt that the Biden administration is capable of this, and it’s not clear how it would be done even by intelligent diplomatic and defense officials.
I have absolutely little but loathing for Biden, but I think this is being too ungenerous. Biden and his handlers have shown CONSIDERABLE willingness to backchannel communicate with the Kremlin, as shown most evidently by trying to help broker another “Iran Nuclear Deal” sham with the Kremlin acting as “mediators.” And of course the Biden Family Graft speaks for itself.
That said, Slow Joe and co I think are more likely to bungle something here. But I’d say at least as much concerns me about the problems of the Kremlin or someone on its side fumbling things. Apparently one reason for the now-famous US/Kurds v. Wagner battle at Khasham was Wagner independently crossing a line without telling its “comrades” and the US getting on the deconfliction hotline to ask the regular Russian and Syrian Loyalist militaries what was up and if they had any units involved. The Russian Regulars answered in the negative, so the US and Rojava lit up Wagner.
Perun and some others have talked about these kinds of potentially lethal power struggles in Russia and their possible aftershocks, and I wouldn’t count them out.
Of course the US is hardly immune to those, as we see with the struggle for power in the name of Biden.
Moreover, an intelligent State & DoD regime would prioritize protecting Taiwan from China, leaving Europe to squander resources propping up Zelenskyy if they were so inclined.
I disagree with this on a couple levels.
Firstly: You write “propping up Zelenskyy” as if this was something particularly personal. It’s not. Zelenskyy has maintained a fair amount of support because his stances are fairly popular among the Ukrainian Public, and indeed he was one of the more Dovish candidates up until 2022. So even if he was removed he would probably be replaced with someone similar.
Secondly: Unfortunately a big problem with deterring the PRC will be in naval building, which will take years to play out. We should start now – we should have started earlier – but it will have limited effects in detracting from Ukraine.
Thirdly: I don’t see supporting Ukraine as “squandering resources.” Certainly much less so than pouring resources into supporting the Chinse KMT against first the Japanese and CCP in spite of the KMT’s far greater corruption and inhumanity. Russia is one of the world’s great powers and a strategic competitor, and Putin’s actions have made it an enemy. As such knocking the stuffing out of its forces will probably benefit the West and the US far more than it hurts us.
Fourthly: There is something to be said for deterrence, especially today. That if Russia gets beaten enough in Ukraine it will make the CCP hesitate from rash actions in the South.
@Steve57
Damn, I did not notice this until now. I’m glad your ok. Though a spinout is always terrifying, and to a Mustang! Shame.
But it can be repaired in a way life cannot.
Interesting that all the talk about starting WWIII is because countries are sending Tanks to the Ukraine. Nothing about WWIII when Iran sends UAV’s with missiles to Russia. Am I comparing Apples and Oranges? I don’t really think I am.
@SHIREHOME I think it is partially because drones are cheaper and more expendable than tanks, especially the Shaheeds Iran is sending (which are far cheaper than Bayraktars).
But another I think is that it is a rhetorical weapon largely stemming from the Kremlin trying to scare and dissuade support for Ukraine. Especially by US and European audiences and governments.
@Jahaziel Maqqebet
I admit it is a weakness and a strength for me. I write LONG.
Apologies for that.
Turtles, thank you . Sometimes I meet people who think it’s easy to drag race. Like it’s not hard to keep a 700 hp car going straight. Steering and braking is important. If everything worked as advertised my big block Mopar was making close to if not more than 700 horsepower. It started as a 440. Not a hemi
I hope nobody thinks I was bragging. I was young and stupid and thought more about horsepower than transmissions or brakes
I didn’t watch the start of The War in Ukraine, with great interest.
I watched it with some interest, but not with great interest.
So, I would like to ask:
Did Putin ever say: [I’m going to war with Ukraine, because NATO keeps expanding]?
I’m not trying to ruffle anyone’s feathers…but I sincerely would like to know.
@TR
So, I would like to ask:
Did Putin ever say: [I’m going to war with Ukraine, because NATO keeps expanding]?
Probably at some point. I don’t keep up to date with all of Putin’s proclamations (and he has shifted the stated reasons for the war). But he does like his NATO baiting and alleging that Ukraine attempting to join NATO was a great affront worthy of war to stop.
The issue is that he doesn’t want to state it too openly or straightly for a few reasons.
Firstly: Because as an objective fact the war in Ukraine didn’t start because of Ukraine seeking to join NATO (because it wasn’t at the time) but due to the aftermath of Euromaidan in 2014, which led to Putin invading using barely-deniable troops.
Secondly: Because as a matter of law it is recognized that Ukraine and other nations have every right to seek to join the alliance of their choosing or to remain neutral, and even Russia formally accepted this a bunch of times (even if it didn’t mean it).
In short, NATO expansion is far more of a tertiary reason or even fig leaf than the actual reason for the invasion. Albeit it is a popular one that the Russian public sincerely resent.
@Turtler
Cool. That’s the information I was looking for. [That’s likely me using bad grammar].
Thanks. 😀
TR. A lot of people said he said it. Or meant it. Or, having said it once, didn’t need to say it again.
But, what if that was all a surmise based on other things he said? It would probably be the same thing.
What is also in play is the proposition that he’s got some romantic thing going with Mother Russia and…Imperial Russia’s domains and stuff.
That would include Ukraine and so making Ukraine a harder target would necessarily annoy him.
My question is who’s next. And what are his ambitions? If he’s an oligarch with his own security battalion who stays away from windows and wants a peaceful, prosperous Russia because it’s easier to steal from it, then the war will likely end.
If he’s a hardliner who wants an army left over at the end of the day, he’ll probably end it.
I mean, right now, could they repel Poland? Finland makes a few noises in the Arctic and…here come the Poles not having forgotten, say, Katyn.
For this to continue, they’d need another Putin. Any of them hanging around?
Steve57,
Glad you are OK and I hope your car can be fully restored to its prior glory!
Don’t feel bad about the accident. I learned to drive in Chicago and had a lot of years of experience in severe, winter conditions.
Then I moved to Dallas, TX. For some reason precipitation often seems to start with a layer of ice in Dallas. Snow, even a foot or more, is a walk in the park compared with 1/8″ of ice.
Steve57, Rufus:
For 5th and 6th grade I lived in Dallas. One of my more vivid memories was the day it snowed hard in the morning and by afternoon we were boys in t-shirts throwing snowballs at one another.
My French quest continues…. Not that I expect it is a riveting concern, but I plead the OT.
A common argument I run into is that Americans ought broaden their views by traveling to other countries. That can work.
However, there is something to be said, maybe a lot, for just pulling up an armchair and immersing oneself in an another country’s language, history and art.
I am now a Francophile. The great thing about that is having a whole new frontier to explore. There is already much French culture I love. (To be sure there is much — not so much.)
So I’ve been watching French movies and got around to this Patricia Highsmith adaptation I had been wanting to see anyway. “Plein Soleil,” which is literally “Full Sun,” but is strangely translated for English audiences as “Purple Noon.”
I recommend “Purple Noon” (1960). “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999) adapted the same Highsmith novel and as great as the latter film is, I can’t choose it over “Purple Noon.”
That film launched Alain Delon’s career as a top European movie star. But it was his female co-star, Mary Laforet, who caught my eye. She branched out as a singer, a cousin to the Ye-yes, and I now love her too. Here’s her version of the Stones’ “Paint It Black.”
Her lyrics have nothing to do with the Stones’. Just kills me to hear a woman declaiming *something* in such passionate French to the Stones song.
Banned Lizard and other Vlad boys have soiled themselves again and are crying WWIII because of the 1 meter accurate 100 mile range combination of the 250 pound (not even kilogram) Small Diameter Bomb and M26 rocket motors. To be effective such a small bomb has to have precise coordinates to strike the target. Such as for ammo depots, bridges, railyard switching yards (?), command and communications centers, air fields, etc. You know military targets in Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, Ukraine is a big country, remember? They aren’t going to touch Moscow with such weapons Banned. (tool)
You do remember Banned, that JDAMS, came in much larger sizes, 500 to 2000 pounds? And that even those are precise weapons. We are giving JDAMS to Ukraine IIRC, but their planes can’t fly far from current Ukrainian front lines without being shot down. Vlad’s air force is deadly still to Ukrsinian pilots.
But enough about these 250 pound weapons of small destruction (massive if you are within 1 meter), have you noticed that Vlad has been sending comparatively huge, imprecise, missiles at Ukraine for months now. It appears that Banned knows nothing of this. (disgust)
Huxley: “Purple Noon” is a very enjoyable movie. With Maurice Ronet in the Dickie Greenleaf role, frenchified to Philippe Greenleaf in this version. Ronet was also in “Elevator to the Gallows” (“Ascenseur pour l’échafaud”–1958) with Jeanne Moreau and a score by Miles Davis, which should also be on your watch list.
Among more recent films, check out “Far from Men” (“Loin des hommes”–2014), with Viggo Mortensen. It’s set in Algeria in 1954, on the eve of the war for independence. Available on Amazon Prime.
Driving on ice: just think of it as tobogganing. You have to plan for the slide.
@om
This feels a bit harsh.
Banned Lizard and other Vlad boys have soiled themselves again and are crying WWIII because of the 1 meter accurate 100 mile range combination of the 250 pound (not even kilogram) Small Diameter Bomb and M26 rocket motors.
To be fair they are not the only ones. I still remember the host of “Article 5” memes over the collateral damage strike to Poland. People have been hysterical about the prospect of a world war and not all of them are Kremlin apologists by any stretch of the imagination.
To be effective such a small bomb has to have precise coordinates to strike the target. Such as for ammo depots, bridges, railyard switching yards (?), command and communications centers, air fields, etc. You know military targets in Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, Ukraine is a big country, remember? They aren’t going to touch Moscow with such weapons Banned. (tool)
To be fair, that was part of the point with Banned’s comment, that the ranges of the weapons were calibrated so to avoid the risk of WW3 by making sure they could not strike too deeply into Russia.
You do remember Banned, that JDAMS, came in much larger sizes, 500 to 2000 pounds? And that even those are precise weapons. We are giving JDAMS to Ukraine IIRC, but their planes can’t fly far from current Ukrainian front lines without being shot down. Vlad’s air force is deadly still to Ukrsinian pilots.
But enough about these 250 pound weapons of small destruction (massive if you are within 1 meter), have you noticed that Vlad has been sending comparatively huge, imprecise, missiles at Ukraine for months now.
Agreed.
It appears that Banned knows nothing of this. (disgust)
I would not assume that.
I disagree with Banned a lot on this topic, but this really seemed to be unnecessarily nasty Om.
Hubert:
Thanks for the recommendations! Noted.
Do you speak French or any other language? (Sorry if I forgot.) You seem like an intelligent fellow. What was it like to learn another language(s)?
I’ve given up on learning French “the right way” — whatever that might be.
I’m doing it the way I usually do, even when I learned English. Just get curious, wade in, absorb stuff, ask questions, try stuff, try more stuff and make connections.
If I do this long enough, I’ll get there.
I’m a human being. I’m doomed to learn a language if I stick with it long enough.
Huxley: I used to be pretty fluent in German and Russian. Rusty now. Retained my reading ability in both languages, plus French. Pretty good passive understanding of spoken French, but speaking it was always a challenge for me.
Not sure learning a language has to do with intelligence. A good ear is more important. I learned German from TV and tabloid newspapers. And just being there. Took me almost a year, but one day I realized I could read and understand the headlines and the stories in the paper without having to translate them in my head first.
Knew an Estonian guy in Munich who could pick up a new language in several weeks. I guess if you can learn Estonian, you can learn anything.
Best way to learn a language, however, is to have a native speaker girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse. Works like a charm.
Turtler:
It is passing strange how whenever Ukraine receives weapons that are effective in dealing with Roosian aggression, WWIII is sure to follow.
Roosia has been threatening to nuke any and all for quite some time. If Banned knows these things he hasn’t shown it.
And tp be fair, the SDBs on M26 rocket motors are much less expensive and much more abundant that ATACAMS for the HIMARS systems
Hubert:
It is interesting how many dimensions there are to language. Understanding the language, verbally and written. Expressing the language, verbally and written.
Very different tasks.
I can tell hearing French will be the hardest part for me, at least at the beginning. This business of leaving off the last letter and maybe the last syllable, when speaking, makes a lot of different words sound the same.
I’m intrigued by your acquisition of German. How much of a conscious effort were you making in addition to being there? I keep a constant stream of French coming at me. Sometimes I’m paying conscious attention; other times not.
I’ll work on a French girlfriend. (As it happens, my first real lover was French-American — thin, great cheekbones with a black belt in batting her eyes.)
Thanks for the information + responses to my [question about Putin and NATO], everyone. 🙂
@ Steve57, Rufus, huxley:
First to Steve: condolences on your car, but glad you are okay.
Two of the AesopSons got their cars totaled this winter in parking lot bash-ups (the other drivers got the tickets).
Even 5 MPH is too fast on the ice!
I went to college in Houston, but grew up in the Texas Panhandle.
Usually I flew back and forth for Christmas, but one year I drove back to campus with a high school friend who was working down south.
Along the freeway just west of Dallas, we went off the icy road, turned a complete 360, and ended up back on the pavement headed the direction we’d been going.
Fortunately, no other cars were close enough to get included in the carnival ride.
It snowed that February in Houston.
Local-born students were going crazy with snowballs and building snowmen.
I stayed inside where it was warm.
When we first moved to Denver metro nearly 20 years ago (!!), I refused to drive in the winter. Now I’ve gotten used to it, but ice is still scary.
We are hoping there will not be another Texas Snowmageddon this year, as another son moved back to the area the end of 2020, just in time for the first one.
For anyone still awake at this hour, here’s another little tidbit (for huxley: C’est une amuse-bouche) of entertainment brought to you by the Brandon administration: Ron Klain cried uncontrollably as he left office as chief of staff earlier on Wednesday: “Outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain broke down in tears over and over again Wednesday while handing over power to his successor Jeff Zients — going so far as to praise President Biden as a role model for parenting and Vice President Kamala Harris as a great officemate. ‘This is the best job I ever had,’ the 61-year-old Klain blubbered as he began his remarks at an East Room transition celebration, forcing his 80-year-old boss to supportively rub his shoulder as he regained his composure.”
We are not told whether JoJo sniffed Klain’s hair during the shoulder rub.
Kari Lake still fighting hard….
“AZ Senate rocked by claims of election violations, as Lake presses appeal in challenge to 2022 vote;
“State Senate Elections Committee hearing testimony from election integrity groups alleging maladministration of elections in Maricopa County.”— https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/amid-kari-lakes-legal-fight-az-senate-election-committee-hears-testimony
Key graf:
‘…”Today’s Senate Testimony CONFIRMS nearly 40,000 ballots illegally counted (10% of the signatures reviewed),” Lake tweeted on Jan. 23. “I think all the ‘Election Deniers’ out there deserve an apology.”…’
…But will it matter…?
– – – – – – – – – – –
Meanwhile “Biden”‘s game of chicken with the American People mysteriously “transforms” into a game of prairie chicken….
‘ Kansas AG Kris Kobach plans to sue Biden administration over lesser prairie chicken rule;
‘ “The Biden administration’s listing of this species will have a devastating impact on Kansas ranchers, Kansas oil producers, and Kansas wind farms. Moreover, it is illegal,” Kobach said.’— https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/kansas-attorney-general-kris-kobach-plans-sue-biden-administration-over
But of course the rules keep changing!
And for a “Hey, where’s Kamala?” moment of levity…
“White House asks of Kamala Harris, ‘What’s she doing? Where is she?’ “— https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/white-house-asks-of-kamala-harris-whats-she-doing-where-is-she
Opening grafs:
“Vice President Kamala Harris has failed to live up to her preelection hype and has fumbled requests from President Joe Biden’s chief of staff to increase her profile to help the boss, according to a key insider.
“Author Chris Whipple, given incredible access inside the Biden White House, said that Harris has had difficulty stepping into her role as vice president, becoming nearly invisible at a time she’s needed in public most….”
Um, Chris, you really, really DO NOT want Kamala to “increase her profile”. Trust me on this…
Besides, no one really cares all that much that she’s “[become] nearly invisible”.
Actually, most of us would heave a sigh of relief if she were to become nearly inaudible.
Er, make that totally inaudible.
True, we’d have to search elsewhere for our daily doses of comedy but in this administration—trust me once again—there’s no shortage…
+ Bonus:
“Ron Klain sobs uncontrollably, praises Biden’s parenting, VP at goodbye party”— https://nypost.com/2023/02/01/ron-klain-sobs-uncontrollably-praises-biden-parenting-harris-at-goodbye-party/
PA Cat, Klain’s description of Biden as a “role model for parenting” seems over the top, considering the serious life problems of two of his three children who survived childhood. Of course, good parents can have children who are troubled, but the evidence for Biden doing a good parenting job is rather thin.
I don’t know, Kate.
Just think of what Hunter’d be like if Joe Biden WASN’T an exemplary parent…
Oops… sorry about that PA CAT. Looks like I appropriated your link…without any attribution, at that…
(It does seem, though, that Biden is the grift that just keeps grifting…)
Huxley: I didn’t make a conscious effort to acquire German. I picked it up pretty much by osmosis. My employer provided a couple of months of free German lessons for new employees who didn’t have it, but that barely scratched the surface.
I think you’re doing all the right things to learn French: keeping it going in the background, making an effort to watch French movies and listen to French songs, looking for opportunities to use it in conversation (or just read it aloud to yourself). A French girlfriend would be great too: je vous souhaite bonne chance!
Couple of suggestions: if UNM offers French classes or has a “French table” (i.e. a group of students who meet regularly somewhere and agree to speak French only), you might consider signing up or sitting in. For reading comprehension, I found that the old Bantam dual-language books were a big help. These were paperback editions of classic literature–usually short stories–with the original language on one page and the English translation en face. Great for learning vocabulary and colloquial expressions, and how a language really works. Here’s a listing on Amazon:
Courage, mon vieux. You’ll get there–je vous en assure!
huxley,
You might try the film “La Piscine” (1969) with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider and a young Jane Birkin. A romantic drama supposedly set in St. Tropez. I saw the remake (2003) first which was so so, and saw the original years later which I liked very much.
I watched a WWII documentary once that had home movie footage of Hitler and friends at his Berghof retreat. Lo and behold, there was a 4 year old (perhaps) Romy Schneider with her mother Herta.
Wikipedia Hitler’s social circle at his Berghof retreat – which his intimates referred to as “on the Berg” – included Eva Braun and her sister Gretl, Herta Schneider and her children, Eva’s friend Marion Schönmann, Heinrich Hoffmann, and the wives and children of other Nazi leaders and Hitler’s staff who would all pose for an annual group photograph on the occasion of Hitler’s birthday.
Huxley: I didn’t make a conscious effort to acquire German. I picked it up pretty much by osmosis.
Hubert:
So cool!
Assuming you are not some linguistic freak… 🙂
Re: UNM.
Well, I enrolled in French 1, but as I related in an earlier comment, the first thing we had to do was introduce ourselves in French and Announce Our Pronouns and the pronouns of the previous student.
The teacher had made it clear in the syllabus she would be teaching French and Woke. I hoped the latter was an appeasement of the Woke Gods, but she was perkily serious.
Out o’ there.
There is a UNM French Club, which looks a chance to watch a French movie and engage in mild conversation. I’ll check that out.
I happen to know some Caribbean and African French speakers in town. One has offered to take me to a local French meet-up.
For bilingual, I’m working on an edition of “The Little Prince,” which includes French/English audiobooks on CD. Over my head, but not too far. Quite wonderful. Love the French speaker’s accent.
I’ve also been hitting three decks of vocab flash cards hard. French is still mysterious, but much less so than a month ago.
Huxley: sorry about your experience with the introductory French class at UNM. Your other francophone connections sound promising.
Trust me: I’m not a linguistic freak or prodigy. I’ve known a few of those, and I’m not in that league. Not even close. Most ordinary people learn a foreign language the same way I learned German: by immersion, osmosis, and association with native speakers while taking care of everyday business. Not in the classroom. There may be embarrassing moments–I still remember being publicly corrected by an assistant at the sausage counter in a big German supermarket–but don’t worry about that. Eventually you get the hang of it.
Hubert:
Thanks for the information and the encouragement!
Language is one of the most advanced human accomplishments. Yet just about all humans manage to learn language.
If we had to learn language from accredited teachers, I doubt we would have survived as a species.
I recently surveyed current language teaching methods and they are all over the map. Everything seems to work as long as the students keep working.
I conclude we are hard-wired to learn language. The odds are stacked in our favor, as long as we stay motivated.
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NY Post on Omaha hero cops below.
Most recent news is that the guy had 13 magazines.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/omaha-cops-thwart-active-shooter-armed-with-ar-15-and-plenty-of-ammunition-inside-target/ar-AA16Yglc?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=46f4f22608f24888ab7deb87ee16c63b
Head cop gave props to the target employees who helped evacuate the store. Having recently completed active shooter training.
So you work the deli counter, keeping an eye out for armed nutcases.
What a world.
Dar’s most recent is: I’ll Meet You Here by Dar Williams. Sadly the ITunes store’s link-copy is broken.
Here is her Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar_Williams?wprov=sfti1
The source is NBC news of all places. It will be interesting to see if it is picked up by other left wing news media.
“The House Jan. 6 committee concluded that the FBI and other federal security agencies could have prevented a violent mob from overrunning the Capitol had they acted on the large volume of intelligence collected beforehand, the chief investigator told NBC News in an exclusive interview — a judgment the committee left out of its televised hearings and final report.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/fbi-stopped-jan-6-capitol-mob-acted-intelligence-rcna68155
“…NBC news of all places…”
Indeed.
Especially since…
‘ “Objectivity Has Got To Go”: News Leaders Call For End Of Objective Journalism’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/objectivity-has-got-go-news-leaders-call-end-objective-journalism
(No, April 1st hasn’t arrived early this year…)
Here’s Turley (opening graf):
‘ We previously discussed the movement in journalism schools to get rid of principles of objectivity in journalism. Advocacy journalism is the new touchstone in the media even as polls show that trust in the media is plummeting. Now, former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward have released the results of their interviews with over 75 media leaders and concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”….’
So there you have it: Objectivity is the enemy. Subjectivity, spin and lies of commission and omission have become the epitome of ethical journalism. The cutting edge of morality.
They are sorely, desperately afraid of the truth….
(And there will be “more to come”. Much more. So “stay tuned”….)
so the reporter who was doing the big expose on the afghan fustercluck, is surprise surprise, going to be charged with child pornography charges, shirley they can’t be serious
leonard downie wrote a roman a clef, back around 2009, about a news room like the post, and a democratic president, more clinton than obama, who passes away and is replaced by an attractive female vice president, who has more than a few skeletons in the closet, of course there has to be a secret corporate intelligence hits squad run by the usual sources,
https://streetwiseprofessor.com/tanks-anyways/#comments
I live in the Dallas area. We’re not accustomed to ice and snow. I wrecked my car. There will be a point. When my Mustang finished spinning and hitting concrete barriers (construction area) I was just ticked off. I restarted the car and drove home. Yes, I’m 60 and still drive a hot rod. Part 1.
The Omaha Target shooter situation reminds me a little of the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris. In that instance two cops in the balcony spied a terrorist out in the open about 40 yards away. They both bench rested their pistols and opened fire simultaneously and took him out. Later, one of the cops said that they train for that scenario twice per year. We knew exactly what to do.
Of course, there were at least three other terrorists secluded in other parts of the Bataclan. A much worse situation overall.
Power still on, steve57? As we learned a couple of years ago, the Texas power grid isn’t reliable in cold and ice.
what I was referring to,
https://www.semafor.com/article/02/01/2023/fbi-set-to-announce-journalists-arrest-on-child-pornography-charges
surprise, surprise,
https://www.frontpagemag.com/biden-complains-scam-treaty-with-russia-is-a-scam/
I should have been scared but I wasn’t. I spent the rest of the night wondering why I wasn’t scared. Here’s the point finally. I’m so sorry about Gerard, Neo. I was afraid I was going to make things worse if I didn’t keep my mouth shut
are those mustangs durable, when they hit the concrete barrier,
Yes Kate. I still have power. I kind of wish I didn’t considering all the the money I spent on propane and generators. I wish I could try it all out
Miguel I made it home. I don’t want to be a smart ass. I hope Neo will allow rhat. I don’t know how else to put it.
I’m sorry Neo
See what I mean? Opening my mouth and making things worse
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/02/why-was-i-bored-by-the-twitter-files.html
In case you were under the impression that Tyler Cowan is something other than a poseur, he’s at pains to disabuse you of it today.
miguel
What is the cyber equivalent of a throw-down bag of weed?
Sheryl Atkisson (sp?), a journalist who finds things out, said the fibbers threatened to put child pron on her husband’s computer.
You’ll find the propane and generators will be worth their weight in gold when you really need them. We do.
I should have been clearer skids are inhenrently dangerous im just not sanguine about modern designs
Grow bulb plants near a very big rock:
They love the warmth and it helps them grow.
Also better protection against moles and such.
Besides, they have a pretty backdrop, too.
My airbags didn’t deploy. There is that. That’s a reason the pros think my car can be fixed.
Neo if there a way I could prevent your loss I would. I’m very sorry that you’re going through this.
Tyler Cowen, continued…
Gratifying to see, though, that for that perverse, studied indifference he got quite a bit of well-deserved pushback in the comments.
Rather curiously, I noticed in his Wikipedia entry that he was credited with writing a NYT article titled, “Broken Trust Takes Time to Mend”…
Heh…
Poseur indeed…(though I suppose it’s always possible that his memory—and his sense of ethics—just isn’t what it used to be…)
US Preps Ukraine Package With Rockets That Can Reach Nearly 100 Miles
Presumably the range of these is carefully calibrated to avoid WWIII. Backchannel communication has previously been utilized to avoid “miscalculations” (especially since the Cuban missile crisis). I doubt that the Biden administration is capable of this, and it’s not clear how it would be done even by intelligent diplomatic and defense officials. Moreover, an intelligent State & DoD regime would prioritize protecting Taiwan from China, leaving Europe to squander resources propping up Zelenskyy if they were so inclined.
Steve57:
Glad you’re not seriously hurt.
Presumably the range of these is carefully calibrated to avoid WWIII.
Russia can avoid further injury by removing its troops and sending them back to the barracks or back home.
@Brian E
This is a continuation of my discussions with Brian E on the previous Open Thread, posted here just in case.
@Brian E
Back at you.
Agreed, and this was the conclusion I came to from analyzing the document in question here, https://www.thenewneo.com/2023/01/31/open-thread-1-31-23/#comment-2664344 , where I argued that Baker was stating the opinion of himself, the Bush Admin, and likeminded officials in NATO rather than anyone more or less.
Which is no small feat since it indicates a major US Administration – and the one that saw the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union – was at least claiming to be uninterested in expanding NATO. But it’s a far cry from Putin’s claims.
Well, there were ways to get that commitment to be enforceable beyond Bush’s administration. But that would require getting it in writing so to speak, and preferably passed through the Congress. And even that would only militate against it in the intermediate period rather than stop it entirely since Congress could simply void the treaty again.
This I think loops back to the point that Baker, Gorbachev, and others (including one of Gorbachev’s chief lieutenants, Shevardnadze), pointed out. That a diplomatic settlement that was acceptable to the Soviet Union/Russia could only be reached by intensive consideration of the former Pact and SR members as well as public opinion. Which is precisely the stuff that Putin and others have used these assurances (real or false) to try to ignore.
Agreed, but he also pointed out the limitations of his power and even that of the US and the importance of taking into consideration the nations there. It also implicitly talks on the risks of political pressures changing tides.
It also leaves something important unsaid. What happens if stopping short of NATO membership was unacceptable for say the Poles or Hungarians or the Baltics?
It’s actually worth noting that Ukraine was one of the relatively few nations in Europe that actually showed little interest in NATO membership (it WAS interested in cooperation with the US and NATO but not on the whole at the expense of Russia) and pursued a policy of either constitutional or quasi-statuary neutrality… Until the invasions of 2014. Which brings us back to the issues of perverse incentives.
I’d argue for much longer than that – don’t even get me started on Kissinger – but it has had iits points. Moreover, I’ll note one of the frequent features was attempts to reach out to Moscow to come to a modus vivendi (sometimes at the direct expense of the nations in Russia’s “Near Abroad”, see Reset). Mark Steyn – who is thankfully much better now – pointed out the problems with this policy as far as it extended to Putin and Russia’s current political class not long after 9/11, and it seems like we have been slow there.
I completely disagree and I hate this argument with the passion of ten thousand suns precisely because it’s mangling what the Monroe Doctrine is, both in theory and in how it has been executed for decades. And while sure one can say that part of my irritation is nationalist prejudice as an American and that might not be completely untrue, it’s still an attempt to draw a false equivalence.
How do I know this?
Well, let’s go back to what Baker said.
The entire decades old existence of Castro’s Island Dystopia just off Florida’s shores and his continued bad behavior is one of the greatest testaments to both how the “Russia’s actions in its near abroad are comparable to the Monroe Doctrine” argument falls flat and to the limitations of American power and resolve, as well as its (often misguided in my opinion) tolerance. And while you might be able to argue that Baker admitted Cuba was not a threat to the US but to “democratic nations” in Hispanic America while Putin can claim Ukraine is a threat to Russia, there’s something to be said about the fact that the Castro Regime is the only one on planet Earth to have knowingly tried to spark a nuclear WWIII, first by (understandably enough) lobbying for Soviet transfer of nuclear weapons of both tactical (ie defensive, only able to land in its littoral) and strategic (ie able to strike the US), and then proceeded to try and pressure, manipulate, and lie to its Soviet patrons to try and trigger a nuclear first strike. Which only fell through due to a combination of Soviet frustrations breaking the blockade and fear of reports from Soviet missile crews that the Cuban military was acting weirdly on their perimeter and might be trying to seize the sites.
It is certainly true that the US’s relations with the Castros are not WARM (and in light of the nature of the Cuban regime I think this is absolutely appropriate) but they are also nowhere near as adversarial from the US’s POV as is often noted (and why I note that a vast majority of the alleged CIA Assassination Attempts on Castro are known only through the allegations of a book…. published by Fidel’s personal bodyguard… who has proven to have the moral character of a Himmler and also a willingness to lie to support the party line).
And that’s all the more acute since 1990 when this meeting was held Castro has indeed had horrifying great success exporting the revolution, such as helping the Sandinistas retake Nicaragua after being voted out and helping manage a nightmarish Chavista dictatorship in Venezuela, as well as many of the Bolivarians. These are threats at are at least in the same ballpark as that Ukraine supposedly presents, but which the US has responded to in a decidedly muted fashion
Simply put, Putin’s actions towards his neighbors would be AT BEST comparable to US enforcement of Monroe during its broadest and most violent term, from around the 1890s to FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy turn. And even then they likely go well beyond that.
Which is also why I note that Monroe was and is originally and primarily about foreign colonial expansion in the Western Hemisphere (at least without the acceptance of the US), and while several US administrations interpreted it more broadly and its implications might go beyond that it does not explicitly rule out US tolerance of home-grown, indigenous hostile regimes like Fidel and Raul, Hugo and Nicholas, etc.
The US has co-existed in an uneasy peace with a regime that tried to start a nuclear war for half a century. Putin invaded Ukraine because of an EU Association Agreement that turned violent, where his local vassal committed such crimes that his own party got sick of him (or at least distressed) and kicked him out of office following a failure to appear before the Legislature. That would’ve been a really extreme action for the US even during the Cold War and the “Banana Wars” in its “near abroad.”
I agree, but I believe that Putin’s talk about NATO expansion to Ukraine being a red line is ultimately a red herring. He invaded Ukraine not because of talk of NATO expansion into it (which had been going around for years to little effect) but because of Euromaidan and the constitutional crisis there. Ironically pushing Ukraine towards considering joining NATO in a way it never really had (at least without Russian approval and co-joining).
Which is probably one reason why commentary on this – especially from the Kremlin – works to play up the NATO angle and even the idea of a “Biological Cuban Missile Crisis” (because apparently Kremlin simps think that probably-unethical offshored biological research equals Certain Biological WMD and that no Ukrainian administration – even the pro-Putin Yanukovych one- had any issue with this for years). Because it touches on legitimately deep strands of Russian political and cultural beliefs and is a lot easier to justify than “Yeah we invaded a country and lied about it because our Literal Mob Boss Client President got in trouble with his own Parliament for trying to massacre protestors about him going back on a campaign promise to negotiate a trade agreement iwth the EU.”
Agreed with the caveat that I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say Kennan doesn’t believe Ukraine is a country, though he acknowledges many in Russia do not. I have accused him of having an overly “Muscovite” view but he did not dismiss or deny the existence of Ukrainian nationalism.
There was no coup overthrowing Yanukovych.
Yanukovych (and his cabinet) was confronted about his abuses of power and the Constitution by the Ukrainian Legislature that was on the whole Democratically Elected at the same time he was… and which by and large was dominated by *his own coalition.* And constitutionally they had every right to demand he and his members of cabinet appear before them to answer questions on conduct like most parliamentary systems.
Yanukovych (probably recognizing that even if he and his ministers could safely go to Kyiv to attest, that they had no legal or ethical answers to justify his conduct) instead decided to flee the country, making him incapable of carrying out the duties of Ukrainian President. Which led the Rada to backdoor a removal of power by essentially declaring him incapable.
It’d be a bit like if a US Presidential Cabinet initiated Article 25 not because the President was physically indisposed, but because they had abandoned their position and the like to flee to a country without an extradition treaty to avoid facing charges. That isn’t a perfect parallel (since Article 25 is instigated by the Cabinet and targets only the President while the Ukrainian case was instigated by Parliament/The Legislature/The Verknovna Rada and targeted the Cabinet as a whole), but it’s close enough to be illustrative. That it was a non-impeachment way of removing the President on the grounds that they were incapable of carrying out their duties. Which Yanukovych taking shelter in Russia obviously wasn’t, and whose prior conduct had caused plenty of… let’s just say “Doubt’ that he would actually abide by his legal duties anyway.
So the Rada essentially dismissed the Yanukovych Cabinet and began cobbling together a caretaker cabinet while preparing for general elections and holding hearings and trials about the atrocities Yanukovych and his co had committed during the crisis. And they were midway through doing this when the first Russian Fed Spetznaz hit.
Now, is there more to this story including in the forms of foreign involvement from scum like Nuland and other foreign actors? Absolutely. But that doesn’t make it a “coup.” It also wasn’t an overthrow of the Government but the dismissal of the Executive Branch by the Legislature.
This is also pretty important to understand things like what went on and how Ukraine was faring.
Which they would legally have EVERY RIGHT to do, as Putin admitted. Which is also why Putin and co have tried to play up the false “Coup” angle (because apparently a legislature removing a corrupt, tyrannical President from power legally is a “coup”… huh, where have I heard this rhetoric before? Gavin Newsom call your office) as well as the “Crimean and Donbas Self-Determination!*”
Because even he cannot deny the fact that a legitimate Ukrainian Government would have EVERY RIGHT to back out of the Kharkhiv Lease Agreement so long as it was done by its proper method. And why the invasions have been justified by faux-humanitarian and self-determination concerns rather than “OMG We might lose Sevastopol in a few years!”
Not really. Even “Yats” (he of the infamous mention on Nuland’s phone) was at best lukewarm about NATO membership and pretty much until the first Russian troops seized Crimea there was limited appetite for joining NATO.
But in any case, even if I granted this assertion, the fact is that Ukraine had every right to seek NATO membership and the Russian Government acknowledged this no later than the Astana Declaration of 2012. Which is again why Putin is so reliant on “Nazi Baiting” and insisting that Yanukovych was overthrown in a “coup.” Because otherwise he has even less of a legal leg to stand on than he otherwise did.
Agreed, and why I do not use her.
I agree this is true, but I also think this points to the limitations and prejudices Putin had.
The reassignment of Ukraine from the Russian SR to the Ukrainian SR by Khruschev is often remembered as a frivolous, pointless case of megalomania personally attributable to Khruschev. And that actually makes some degree of sense given the host of OTHER cases where Khruschev’s megalomania and whimsy played out… but it doesn’t fit here. The reassignment was an intensely studied thing that might have been spearheaded by Khruschev but dug in essentially the rest of the Central Committee/Presidium and many experts (real or so-called) and debate, and was floated around during Stalin’s last years.
And it had a brutally unsentimental reason. That the Russian SR’s administration had thoroughly botched its administration of Crimea, failing to properly develop it prior to the war and to help modernize its naval facilities and fortifications (thus helping to pave the way for the Nazi/Romanian Conquest of it), and screwing up the recovery.
Khruschev viewed this as an administrative reform, not a national statement. But acknowledging this would puncture some very notable holes in the predominantly nationalistic narratives about Crimea (and moreso in the Russian ones than the Ukrainian ones), which also touch on some of the problems Putin is facing trying to sustain the occupation now.
While Gorbachev was weak (though likely nowhere near as saintly as he’s portrayed), but he was also in charge of a fundamentally weak system and tried to save it.
I guess it’d depend on which invasion. I’m assuming we are talking about the open one early last year.
I don’t know, but it is ultimately not very relevant IMHO. The exact reasons Putin invaded will probably not be known until the Kremlin’s archives get opened (if that), and at least some of them were probably on false grounds (since it is very clear Putin got REALLY bad intelligence analysis, worse than even my gut feelings on the matter after watching the ugly fighting in the Donbas for 8 years or so) and many were opportunistic.
What I think matters more is how this dovetailed with Putin’s wider political habits and the opportunities. Suffice it to say, Putin has been quite able to dance around an issue until he finds an opportune moment (or what he thinks is) and then to jam a justification in. As someone who watched Georgia 2008 play out in real life I can attest to that.
Agreed, and I’m glad for that at least. Trump was hideously smeared as a puppet of Putin in spite of being willign to risk far more.
Agreed. And while I might fall into some of that personally I try to minimize it to what I think can be demonstrated from his actions and some of his rhetoric.
For what it is worth – and I am by no means a flawless man (I thought Putin would not openly invade) – I think this will last at least another year. Likely more. This has been nasty attritional fighting and even if public support for one side or the other starts collapsing rapidly it’ll probably take a while to play out.
And all the fighting we have seen in this war so far and in many of its kin (like Georgia and Nagorno-Karabach) points to long, bitter fighting.
Drip, drip, drip….
“CDC Aware Of Reports Of ‘Debilitating Illnesses’ After COVID-19 Vaccination: Official”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/cdc-aware-reports-debilitating-illnesses-after-covid-19-vaccination-official
Sure, “Aware”…But STILL, they’re low-balling the numbers, fudging their responsibilities, pushing those bromides and speaking just a bit too softly to be heard…
I’m not even sure their records and stats can even be relied upon. Scratch that. I’m certain they can’t be.
We’re living in “The Age of Coverups”
(With apologies to the Durants…)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Durant
Turtler,
Uou need Vliff Notes on that comment. tl;
@Banned Lizard
Probably, but it was also likely to address the issue of Russian artillery and rocket fire from across the internationally recognized border.
The Kremlin had been doing this for a LONG LONG time (you can find old Open Source analysis showing artillery fire from across the border during the Donbas War from years ago), but that was always a risky move. Moreso with the Kremlin making more emphasis on its bombardments and especially attacks on services (including water filtration, which is simultaneously essential and usually not targeted by the military because it is of limited military value in contrast to say power lines).
Counterbattery fire means the ability to reach out and touch the other guy’s artillery which he is using to touch you. Which is one reason for the pressure by Ukraine for longer ranged artillery has been so consistent. The US and other friendly powers have been hesitant to do this for the obvious reasons (fear of escalation), but that pressure would always be there. And as time went on it would become more tempting.
I have absolutely little but loathing for Biden, but I think this is being too ungenerous. Biden and his handlers have shown CONSIDERABLE willingness to backchannel communicate with the Kremlin, as shown most evidently by trying to help broker another “Iran Nuclear Deal” sham with the Kremlin acting as “mediators.” And of course the Biden Family Graft speaks for itself.
That said, Slow Joe and co I think are more likely to bungle something here. But I’d say at least as much concerns me about the problems of the Kremlin or someone on its side fumbling things. Apparently one reason for the now-famous US/Kurds v. Wagner battle at Khasham was Wagner independently crossing a line without telling its “comrades” and the US getting on the deconfliction hotline to ask the regular Russian and Syrian Loyalist militaries what was up and if they had any units involved. The Russian Regulars answered in the negative, so the US and Rojava lit up Wagner.
Perun and some others have talked about these kinds of potentially lethal power struggles in Russia and their possible aftershocks, and I wouldn’t count them out.
Of course the US is hardly immune to those, as we see with the struggle for power in the name of Biden.
I disagree with this on a couple levels.
Firstly: You write “propping up Zelenskyy” as if this was something particularly personal. It’s not. Zelenskyy has maintained a fair amount of support because his stances are fairly popular among the Ukrainian Public, and indeed he was one of the more Dovish candidates up until 2022. So even if he was removed he would probably be replaced with someone similar.
Secondly: Unfortunately a big problem with deterring the PRC will be in naval building, which will take years to play out. We should start now – we should have started earlier – but it will have limited effects in detracting from Ukraine.
Thirdly: I don’t see supporting Ukraine as “squandering resources.” Certainly much less so than pouring resources into supporting the Chinse KMT against first the Japanese and CCP in spite of the KMT’s far greater corruption and inhumanity. Russia is one of the world’s great powers and a strategic competitor, and Putin’s actions have made it an enemy. As such knocking the stuffing out of its forces will probably benefit the West and the US far more than it hurts us.
Fourthly: There is something to be said for deterrence, especially today. That if Russia gets beaten enough in Ukraine it will make the CCP hesitate from rash actions in the South.
@Steve57
Damn, I did not notice this until now. I’m glad your ok. Though a spinout is always terrifying, and to a Mustang! Shame.
But it can be repaired in a way life cannot.
Interesting that all the talk about starting WWIII is because countries are sending Tanks to the Ukraine. Nothing about WWIII when Iran sends UAV’s with missiles to Russia. Am I comparing Apples and Oranges? I don’t really think I am.
@SHIREHOME I think it is partially because drones are cheaper and more expendable than tanks, especially the Shaheeds Iran is sending (which are far cheaper than Bayraktars).
But another I think is that it is a rhetorical weapon largely stemming from the Kremlin trying to scare and dissuade support for Ukraine. Especially by US and European audiences and governments.
@Jahaziel Maqqebet
I admit it is a weakness and a strength for me. I write LONG.
Apologies for that.
Turtles, thank you . Sometimes I meet people who think it’s easy to drag race. Like it’s not hard to keep a 700 hp car going straight. Steering and braking is important. If everything worked as advertised my big block Mopar was making close to if not more than 700 horsepower. It started as a 440. Not a hemi
I hope nobody thinks I was bragging. I was young and stupid and thought more about horsepower than transmissions or brakes
where’s the other 5 billion
https://news.yahoo.com/sbu-searches-oligarch-kolomoiskys-residence-131700727.html
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/
I didn’t watch the start of The War in Ukraine, with great interest.
I watched it with some interest, but not with great interest.
So, I would like to ask:
Did Putin ever say: [I’m going to war with Ukraine, because NATO keeps expanding]?
I’m not trying to ruffle anyone’s feathers…but I sincerely would like to know.
@TR
Probably at some point. I don’t keep up to date with all of Putin’s proclamations (and he has shifted the stated reasons for the war). But he does like his NATO baiting and alleging that Ukraine attempting to join NATO was a great affront worthy of war to stop.
The issue is that he doesn’t want to state it too openly or straightly for a few reasons.
Firstly: Because as an objective fact the war in Ukraine didn’t start because of Ukraine seeking to join NATO (because it wasn’t at the time) but due to the aftermath of Euromaidan in 2014, which led to Putin invading using barely-deniable troops.
Secondly: Because as a matter of law it is recognized that Ukraine and other nations have every right to seek to join the alliance of their choosing or to remain neutral, and even Russia formally accepted this a bunch of times (even if it didn’t mean it).
In short, NATO expansion is far more of a tertiary reason or even fig leaf than the actual reason for the invasion. Albeit it is a popular one that the Russian public sincerely resent.
@Turtler
Cool. That’s the information I was looking for. [That’s likely me using bad grammar].
Thanks. 😀
TR. A lot of people said he said it. Or meant it. Or, having said it once, didn’t need to say it again.
But, what if that was all a surmise based on other things he said? It would probably be the same thing.
What is also in play is the proposition that he’s got some romantic thing going with Mother Russia and…Imperial Russia’s domains and stuff.
That would include Ukraine and so making Ukraine a harder target would necessarily annoy him.
My question is who’s next. And what are his ambitions? If he’s an oligarch with his own security battalion who stays away from windows and wants a peaceful, prosperous Russia because it’s easier to steal from it, then the war will likely end.
If he’s a hardliner who wants an army left over at the end of the day, he’ll probably end it.
I mean, right now, could they repel Poland? Finland makes a few noises in the Arctic and…here come the Poles not having forgotten, say, Katyn.
For this to continue, they’d need another Putin. Any of them hanging around?
Steve57,
Glad you are OK and I hope your car can be fully restored to its prior glory!
Don’t feel bad about the accident. I learned to drive in Chicago and had a lot of years of experience in severe, winter conditions.
Then I moved to Dallas, TX. For some reason precipitation often seems to start with a layer of ice in Dallas. Snow, even a foot or more, is a walk in the park compared with 1/8″ of ice.
Steve57, Rufus:
For 5th and 6th grade I lived in Dallas. One of my more vivid memories was the day it snowed hard in the morning and by afternoon we were boys in t-shirts throwing snowballs at one another.
My French quest continues…. Not that I expect it is a riveting concern, but I plead the OT.
A common argument I run into is that Americans ought broaden their views by traveling to other countries. That can work.
However, there is something to be said, maybe a lot, for just pulling up an armchair and immersing oneself in an another country’s language, history and art.
I am now a Francophile. The great thing about that is having a whole new frontier to explore. There is already much French culture I love. (To be sure there is much — not so much.)
So I’ve been watching French movies and got around to this Patricia Highsmith adaptation I had been wanting to see anyway. “Plein Soleil,” which is literally “Full Sun,” but is strangely translated for English audiences as “Purple Noon.”
I recommend “Purple Noon” (1960). “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999) adapted the same Highsmith novel and as great as the latter film is, I can’t choose it over “Purple Noon.”
That film launched Alain Delon’s career as a top European movie star. But it was his female co-star, Mary Laforet, who caught my eye. She branched out as a singer, a cousin to the Ye-yes, and I now love her too. Here’s her version of the Stones’ “Paint It Black.”
–Marie Laforêt, “Marie douceur Marie colère — Marie sweetness Marie anger” (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zuqX6gHriM
Her lyrics have nothing to do with the Stones’. Just kills me to hear a woman declaiming *something* in such passionate French to the Stones song.
Banned Lizard and other Vlad boys have soiled themselves again and are crying WWIII because of the 1 meter accurate 100 mile range combination of the 250 pound (not even kilogram) Small Diameter Bomb and M26 rocket motors. To be effective such a small bomb has to have precise coordinates to strike the target. Such as for ammo depots, bridges, railyard switching yards (?), command and communications centers, air fields, etc. You know military targets in Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, Ukraine is a big country, remember? They aren’t going to touch Moscow with such weapons Banned. (tool)
You do remember Banned, that JDAMS, came in much larger sizes, 500 to 2000 pounds? And that even those are precise weapons. We are giving JDAMS to Ukraine IIRC, but their planes can’t fly far from current Ukrainian front lines without being shot down. Vlad’s air force is deadly still to Ukrsinian pilots.
But enough about these 250 pound weapons of small destruction (massive if you are within 1 meter), have you noticed that Vlad has been sending comparatively huge, imprecise, missiles at Ukraine for months now. It appears that Banned knows nothing of this. (disgust)
Will Banned howl about DU too?
Apro[pow] of iceeland: https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/crazy-sliding-in-dallas-ice-storm/
Huxley: “Purple Noon” is a very enjoyable movie. With Maurice Ronet in the Dickie Greenleaf role, frenchified to Philippe Greenleaf in this version. Ronet was also in “Elevator to the Gallows” (“Ascenseur pour l’échafaud”–1958) with Jeanne Moreau and a score by Miles Davis, which should also be on your watch list.
Among more recent films, check out “Far from Men” (“Loin des hommes”–2014), with Viggo Mortensen. It’s set in Algeria in 1954, on the eve of the war for independence. Available on Amazon Prime.
Driving on ice: just think of it as tobogganing. You have to plan for the slide.
@om
This feels a bit harsh.
To be fair they are not the only ones. I still remember the host of “Article 5” memes over the collateral damage strike to Poland. People have been hysterical about the prospect of a world war and not all of them are Kremlin apologists by any stretch of the imagination.
To be fair, that was part of the point with Banned’s comment, that the ranges of the weapons were calibrated so to avoid the risk of WW3 by making sure they could not strike too deeply into Russia.
Agreed.
I would not assume that.
I disagree with Banned a lot on this topic, but this really seemed to be unnecessarily nasty Om.
Hubert:
Thanks for the recommendations! Noted.
Do you speak French or any other language? (Sorry if I forgot.) You seem like an intelligent fellow. What was it like to learn another language(s)?
I’ve given up on learning French “the right way” — whatever that might be.
I’m doing it the way I usually do, even when I learned English. Just get curious, wade in, absorb stuff, ask questions, try stuff, try more stuff and make connections.
If I do this long enough, I’ll get there.
I’m a human being. I’m doomed to learn a language if I stick with it long enough.
Huxley: I used to be pretty fluent in German and Russian. Rusty now. Retained my reading ability in both languages, plus French. Pretty good passive understanding of spoken French, but speaking it was always a challenge for me.
Not sure learning a language has to do with intelligence. A good ear is more important. I learned German from TV and tabloid newspapers. And just being there. Took me almost a year, but one day I realized I could read and understand the headlines and the stories in the paper without having to translate them in my head first.
Knew an Estonian guy in Munich who could pick up a new language in several weeks. I guess if you can learn Estonian, you can learn anything.
Best way to learn a language, however, is to have a native speaker girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse. Works like a charm.
Turtler:
It is passing strange how whenever Ukraine receives weapons that are effective in dealing with Roosian aggression, WWIII is sure to follow.
Roosia has been threatening to nuke any and all for quite some time. If Banned knows these things he hasn’t shown it.
And tp be fair, the SDBs on M26 rocket motors are much less expensive and much more abundant that ATACAMS for the HIMARS systems
Hubert:
It is interesting how many dimensions there are to language. Understanding the language, verbally and written. Expressing the language, verbally and written.
Very different tasks.
I can tell hearing French will be the hardest part for me, at least at the beginning. This business of leaving off the last letter and maybe the last syllable, when speaking, makes a lot of different words sound the same.
I’m intrigued by your acquisition of German. How much of a conscious effort were you making in addition to being there? I keep a constant stream of French coming at me. Sometimes I’m paying conscious attention; other times not.
I’ll work on a French girlfriend. (As it happens, my first real lover was French-American — thin, great cheekbones with a black belt in batting her eyes.)
Tucker Carlson is having a bit of a dustup with Boris Johnson over Ukraine, which accelerated when the PM bailed out of appearing on TCT.
Rattling good I do say!
Thanks for the information + responses to my [question about Putin and NATO], everyone. 🙂
@ Steve57, Rufus, huxley:
First to Steve: condolences on your car, but glad you are okay.
Two of the AesopSons got their cars totaled this winter in parking lot bash-ups (the other drivers got the tickets).
Even 5 MPH is too fast on the ice!
I went to college in Houston, but grew up in the Texas Panhandle.
Usually I flew back and forth for Christmas, but one year I drove back to campus with a high school friend who was working down south.
Along the freeway just west of Dallas, we went off the icy road, turned a complete 360, and ended up back on the pavement headed the direction we’d been going.
Fortunately, no other cars were close enough to get included in the carnival ride.
It snowed that February in Houston.
Local-born students were going crazy with snowballs and building snowmen.
I stayed inside where it was warm.
When we first moved to Denver metro nearly 20 years ago (!!), I refused to drive in the winter. Now I’ve gotten used to it, but ice is still scary.
We are hoping there will not be another Texas Snowmageddon this year, as another son moved back to the area the end of 2020, just in time for the first one.
For anyone still awake at this hour, here’s another little tidbit (for huxley: C’est une amuse-bouche) of entertainment brought to you by the Brandon administration: Ron Klain cried uncontrollably as he left office as chief of staff earlier on Wednesday: “Outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain broke down in tears over and over again Wednesday while handing over power to his successor Jeff Zients — going so far as to praise President Biden as a role model for parenting and Vice President Kamala Harris as a great officemate. ‘This is the best job I ever had,’ the 61-year-old Klain blubbered as he began his remarks at an East Room transition celebration, forcing his 80-year-old boss to supportively rub his shoulder as he regained his composure.”
https://nypost.com/2023/02/01/ron-klain-sobs-uncontrollably-praises-biden-parenting-harris-at-goodbye-party/
We are not told whether JoJo sniffed Klain’s hair during the shoulder rub.
Kari Lake still fighting hard….
“AZ Senate rocked by claims of election violations, as Lake presses appeal in challenge to 2022 vote;
“State Senate Elections Committee hearing testimony from election integrity groups alleging maladministration of elections in Maricopa County.”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/amid-kari-lakes-legal-fight-az-senate-election-committee-hears-testimony
Key graf:
‘…”Today’s Senate Testimony CONFIRMS nearly 40,000 ballots illegally counted (10% of the signatures reviewed),” Lake tweeted on Jan. 23. “I think all the ‘Election Deniers’ out there deserve an apology.”…’
…But will it matter…?
– – – – – – – – – – –
Meanwhile “Biden”‘s game of chicken with the American People mysteriously “transforms” into a game of prairie chicken….
‘ Kansas AG Kris Kobach plans to sue Biden administration over lesser prairie chicken rule;
‘ “The Biden administration’s listing of this species will have a devastating impact on Kansas ranchers, Kansas oil producers, and Kansas wind farms. Moreover, it is illegal,” Kobach said.’—
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/kansas-attorney-general-kris-kobach-plans-sue-biden-administration-over
But of course the rules keep changing!
And for a “Hey, where’s Kamala?” moment of levity…
“White House asks of Kamala Harris, ‘What’s she doing? Where is she?’ “—
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/white-house-asks-of-kamala-harris-whats-she-doing-where-is-she
Opening grafs:
“Vice President Kamala Harris has failed to live up to her preelection hype and has fumbled requests from President Joe Biden’s chief of staff to increase her profile to help the boss, according to a key insider.
“Author Chris Whipple, given incredible access inside the Biden White House, said that Harris has had difficulty stepping into her role as vice president, becoming nearly invisible at a time she’s needed in public most….”
Um, Chris, you really, really DO NOT want Kamala to “increase her profile”. Trust me on this…
Besides, no one really cares all that much that she’s “[become] nearly invisible”.
Actually, most of us would heave a sigh of relief if she were to become nearly inaudible.
Er, make that totally inaudible.
True, we’d have to search elsewhere for our daily doses of comedy but in this administration—trust me once again—there’s no shortage…
+ Bonus:
“Ron Klain sobs uncontrollably, praises Biden’s parenting, VP at goodbye party”—
https://nypost.com/2023/02/01/ron-klain-sobs-uncontrollably-praises-biden-parenting-harris-at-goodbye-party/
PA Cat, Klain’s description of Biden as a “role model for parenting” seems over the top, considering the serious life problems of two of his three children who survived childhood. Of course, good parents can have children who are troubled, but the evidence for Biden doing a good parenting job is rather thin.
I don’t know, Kate.
Just think of what Hunter’d be like if Joe Biden WASN’T an exemplary parent…
Oops… sorry about that PA CAT. Looks like I appropriated your link…without any attribution, at that…
(It does seem, though, that Biden is the grift that just keeps grifting…)
Huxley: I didn’t make a conscious effort to acquire German. I picked it up pretty much by osmosis. My employer provided a couple of months of free German lessons for new employees who didn’t have it, but that barely scratched the surface.
I think you’re doing all the right things to learn French: keeping it going in the background, making an effort to watch French movies and listen to French songs, looking for opportunities to use it in conversation (or just read it aloud to yourself). A French girlfriend would be great too: je vous souhaite bonne chance!
Couple of suggestions: if UNM offers French classes or has a “French table” (i.e. a group of students who meet regularly somewhere and agree to speak French only), you might consider signing up or sitting in. For reading comprehension, I found that the old Bantam dual-language books were a big help. These were paperback editions of classic literature–usually short stories–with the original language on one page and the English translation en face. Great for learning vocabulary and colloquial expressions, and how a language really works. Here’s a listing on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/French-Stories-Contes-Fran%C3%A7ais-Dual-Language/dp/0553128604
Courage, mon vieux. You’ll get there–je vous en assure!
huxley,
You might try the film “La Piscine” (1969) with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider and a young Jane Birkin. A romantic drama supposedly set in St. Tropez. I saw the remake (2003) first which was so so, and saw the original years later which I liked very much.
I watched a WWII documentary once that had home movie footage of Hitler and friends at his Berghof retreat. Lo and behold, there was a 4 year old (perhaps) Romy Schneider with her mother Herta.
Wikipedia
Hitler’s social circle at his Berghof retreat – which his intimates referred to as “on the Berg” – included Eva Braun and her sister Gretl, Herta Schneider and her children, Eva’s friend Marion Schönmann, Heinrich Hoffmann, and the wives and children of other Nazi leaders and Hitler’s staff who would all pose for an annual group photograph on the occasion of Hitler’s birthday.
Huxley: I didn’t make a conscious effort to acquire German. I picked it up pretty much by osmosis.
Hubert:
So cool!
Assuming you are not some linguistic freak… 🙂
Re: UNM.
Well, I enrolled in French 1, but as I related in an earlier comment, the first thing we had to do was introduce ourselves in French and Announce Our Pronouns and the pronouns of the previous student.
The teacher had made it clear in the syllabus she would be teaching French and Woke. I hoped the latter was an appeasement of the Woke Gods, but she was perkily serious.
Out o’ there.
There is a UNM French Club, which looks a chance to watch a French movie and engage in mild conversation. I’ll check that out.
I happen to know some Caribbean and African French speakers in town. One has offered to take me to a local French meet-up.
For bilingual, I’m working on an edition of “The Little Prince,” which includes French/English audiobooks on CD. Over my head, but not too far. Quite wonderful. Love the French speaker’s accent.
I’ve also been hitting three decks of vocab flash cards hard. French is still mysterious, but much less so than a month ago.
Huxley: sorry about your experience with the introductory French class at UNM. Your other francophone connections sound promising.
Trust me: I’m not a linguistic freak or prodigy. I’ve known a few of those, and I’m not in that league. Not even close. Most ordinary people learn a foreign language the same way I learned German: by immersion, osmosis, and association with native speakers while taking care of everyday business. Not in the classroom. There may be embarrassing moments–I still remember being publicly corrected by an assistant at the sausage counter in a big German supermarket–but don’t worry about that. Eventually you get the hang of it.
Hubert:
Thanks for the information and the encouragement!
Language is one of the most advanced human accomplishments. Yet just about all humans manage to learn language.
If we had to learn language from accredited teachers, I doubt we would have survived as a species.
I recently surveyed current language teaching methods and they are all over the map. Everything seems to work as long as the students keep working.
I conclude we are hard-wired to learn language. The odds are stacked in our favor, as long as we stay motivated.