Yeah, I watched his press conference and it was a masterful performance in dodging what anyone with half a brain knows. The only way to stop this megalomaniac is to take away how he finances his military. With the sale of gas and oil to the West. He is financing this war and will finance future adventurism with dollars and euros. Pain at the pump does not compare to the pain of seeing several European nations conquered by force of arms to satisfy the visions of a mad man.
I get it Biden is under pressure from an effective Fifth Column in the current GOP but until he stops waffling and starts acting like a war time President (in case a lot of us haven't figured it out Putin has, effectively declared war on the free world) he is going to die the death of a thousand cuts. Best he simply do what he is going to have to do eventually . Cut off Putin's nuts as in his access to petro dollars and euros.
Another airline weak point is the fact that Russian airlines use Boeing and Airbus planes, almost exclusively. Which means they need Western parts for routine maintenance. It’s possible, but unlikely, they’ve laid in a big store of spares, including engines, so even without explicit denial of landing rights, lack of access to Western parts would ground the fleet in pretty short order.
i think clamping down, freezing, and shutting out all and any freedoms russians enjoy in this country, and elsewhere in the democratic nations of the world would be appropriate and best be done quickly. also, include rescinding citizenship of "tourist babies" from russians.
however wdr, LKTIV, i believe Biden's repetitive warnings to Americans about shortages and increased costs for gas are justified what with the average American's limited awareness of global conditions and the muddied greymatter that sits between their ears preventing them from comprehending anything unless it's pounded into their heads. all this is necessary b.c i know damn well that Faux News will try to blame biden for gas price increases.
I'm glad somebody brought up the fact that, as a country, we seem to have developed (with the help of certain corporate and political "entities") a chronic information deficit, especially when it comes to the rest of the world, and it's always been very dangerous. I think today demonstrates that pretty thoroughly.
Amen to all, and do it now. All of nato should also instigate these measures. We need massive economic force, and Europe needs to take a united stand in ways not yet imagined or spoken on public channels.
I agree 100% with the Truscott sanctions. However, we have to keep in mind that none of these sanctions "work" without total agreement across 30 NATO nations, plus Japan, Australia, etc. and staying power for many months. Lots of cats for Biden to herd.
I also want to point out how thoroughly this makes clear the limitations of "soft power" as a be all end all. Not that I think it was ever a good idea to support Ukraine with troops. It was not. However, we on the left have to be prepared to support NATO allies 100% against any Russian threat.
We’re in position to unite the world against authoritarian government by making Russian life as uncomfortable as humanely possible in every level of their society and making it absolutely clear that their condition is the direct result Putin’s ambition. However…
This will require the full resolve and active participation of our economic and mass communication resource.
‘Simple choice, Autocracy or Democracy.
‘And those who defer to Autocracy do not deserve the fruits of Democracy.
Biden and the West have the spine of a jellyfish. These "sanctions" do little to stop the invasion. Biden might as well start calling himself Neville.
I agree that it's time to do everything on Lucian's list - deport every Russian, seize their property and bank accounts (keeping them safe for some future date) and then watch as the rich and famous of Russia, denied their champagne wishes and caviar dreams demand Putin quickly restore their lives of opulence - or else.
Imagine what would be happening at this very moment had the US and the West put some real teeth in these sanctions that immediately put these wanna be Rodeo Drive denizens into a Southwest Air no frills flight for six or seven hours non-stop: no snacks or drinks and dump them like so many foreign tourists at a Bus Russia St. Petersburg terminal at midnight.
Putin would be out before the end of the business day.
Totally agree with this post. Make it hurt. Deportations and confiscations. Make it so fucking miserable for the ordinary Russian that in the end, they will themselves stand up and remove Putin and put an end to this.
Biden is not Trump, which is why I voted for him. Beyond that, I view him as a tool of the corpocracy that pushed out Sanders and Warren in favor of "play ball" DNC candidates that allow for everyone to move up the political ladder. Watching his righteous fury about Putin's actions I couldn't help but think back to 2002 when he was at the forefront of beating the war drum, sending America into Iraq on pretexts even flimsier than Putin used. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/17/joe-biden-role-iraq-war
Let's chill out a bit on beating up on Joe Biden over sanctions. I spent enough years working in high level government operations to know that making haste slowly is the best way not to derail the train. In fact, the old-time warning sign you would see at railroad grade crossings - 'Stop, Look, and Listen' applies to these kinds of negotiations for response planning. These trade shutdowns have a drag effect on European banks, businesses, and commerce equalling or exceeding the intended targeted economic entities in Russia. New suppliers of natural gas need to be found, and payments need to be made in the short term for gas supplies either already delivered or contracted for. Food commodities that Russia supplies under contract need to be paid for.
Changing course takes time and effort. Energy costs in Europe are soaring, and we need to pay attention to the limits of the tolerable. It's like the masking up mandates for stemming the spread of coronavirus. They change every few days, and a third of the population refuses to wear them or get vaccine. This needs to be managed carefully, even if it takes longer to get the job done. Time is the essential variable here, and emptying every ATM machine in Moscow and St. Petersburg tomorrow won't get Vladimir Putin to turn his army around and return to Russia any time sooner. Recall how long it took to degrade and destroy Germany's supply lines in World War II, then under constant air attack, more than a year if you count the pre-invasion bombardment from February 1944 to D-day, and Germany had to feed its war machine from what it could expropriate from the shrunken economies of Occupied Europe. An we're not even considering fielding an army to liberate Ukraine.
We're counting on ordinary Russians to get fed up with the degraded circumstances under which they have to live, but we're using American and European living standards as the metric to project how much misery the Russian people are willing to suffer through before they rebel against Putin. The answer is inevitably going to be, quite a bit more than we in the West are likely to submit to. The United States was in Vietnam for ten years and in Iraq and Afghanistan for twenty years before we called it quits. This will take more time than we're willing to predict right now, assuming that the Theater of Operations remains within Ukraine's current borders. And that's a big assumption indeed.
This is Biden's legacy. And probably the defining moment of the 2022 election and perhaps even the 2024 elections. This is all about the Russian Economy. I am guessing the Russian Army has been told to do a little damage as possible to the infrastructure of the Ukraine. Hopefully, our legislators will get together for once and fight fire with fire. Lucian is absolutely right turning the screw one revolution does no good. Talk is cheap. You have to punch a bully in the mouth. As Mike Tyson said so eloquently. "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". Right now, we are punching way below our weight. Someone needs to get in Biden's ear and make him understand he can't screw this one up. If he does, we could find ourselves in a real bind.
I turn on CNN, and it's D-Day+3 of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Your predictions have the oder of an abbatoir -- a factory of death. But, in the habit of Russians, it's noisy, bombastic,... and messy. And innocent people are getting killed. And things are just now getting started. These are not surgical strikes, although the initial target were military command and control assets.
Putin has too few soldiers to subdue Ukraine town by town, street by street, block by block, house by house, room by room. Ukrainians are fighting back, and with real passion. This is guerilla warfare in which atrocities are a guaranteed outcome. Expect to see summary executions of teenage fighters. CNN will have a terrible time sanitizing the video footage. This isn't 1941, where whole villages were rounded up and marched off to a local ravine and shot. There are fewer villages, and fewer Jews within those villages to shoot. But it will happen, but at a lesser scale. There will be no 'winning hearts and minds' campaigns, like we tried with little success from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Russians let their enemies' fear do their persuading for them. Rape and murder are their stock in trade. And Ukrainians don't see us in the same way. Expect a bloodbath with no holds barred. Expect occupation troops to be on the defensive from the moment they arrive.
Our job is to make Russia bleed money and people, and to encourage regime change in Russia. Undercut Putin's power by any means available. Making Russians pay in blood for following Putin worked in Afghanistan; we want to get that message across again, this time in Ukraine. Telling the Russian military that we will punish them for war crimes at the end of the day. And we'll have the receipts. Declare Putin and his cronies to be international criminals from the get go.
Yeah, I watched his press conference and it was a masterful performance in dodging what anyone with half a brain knows. The only way to stop this megalomaniac is to take away how he finances his military. With the sale of gas and oil to the West. He is financing this war and will finance future adventurism with dollars and euros. Pain at the pump does not compare to the pain of seeing several European nations conquered by force of arms to satisfy the visions of a mad man.
I get it Biden is under pressure from an effective Fifth Column in the current GOP but until he stops waffling and starts acting like a war time President (in case a lot of us haven't figured it out Putin has, effectively declared war on the free world) he is going to die the death of a thousand cuts. Best he simply do what he is going to have to do eventually . Cut off Putin's nuts as in his access to petro dollars and euros.
Precisely.
Exactly so. Also let's round up Trump, drop him off at the Kyiv airport for a little glad handing with the locals.
Don’t forget the spawn.
Another airline weak point is the fact that Russian airlines use Boeing and Airbus planes, almost exclusively. Which means they need Western parts for routine maintenance. It’s possible, but unlikely, they’ve laid in a big store of spares, including engines, so even without explicit denial of landing rights, lack of access to Western parts would ground the fleet in pretty short order.
this sounds right to me.
yes.
i think clamping down, freezing, and shutting out all and any freedoms russians enjoy in this country, and elsewhere in the democratic nations of the world would be appropriate and best be done quickly. also, include rescinding citizenship of "tourist babies" from russians.
however wdr, LKTIV, i believe Biden's repetitive warnings to Americans about shortages and increased costs for gas are justified what with the average American's limited awareness of global conditions and the muddied greymatter that sits between their ears preventing them from comprehending anything unless it's pounded into their heads. all this is necessary b.c i know damn well that Faux News will try to blame biden for gas price increases.
How would that work, and where would would it end. Internment camps, maybe? Be careful what you wish for.
I'm glad somebody brought up the fact that, as a country, we seem to have developed (with the help of certain corporate and political "entities") a chronic information deficit, especially when it comes to the rest of the world, and it's always been very dangerous. I think today demonstrates that pretty thoroughly.
Catering to 'stupid' is a luxury we could never afford, and certainly not now.
Amen to all, and do it now. All of nato should also instigate these measures. We need massive economic force, and Europe needs to take a united stand in ways not yet imagined or spoken on public channels.
I agree 100% with the Truscott sanctions. However, we have to keep in mind that none of these sanctions "work" without total agreement across 30 NATO nations, plus Japan, Australia, etc. and staying power for many months. Lots of cats for Biden to herd.
I also want to point out how thoroughly this makes clear the limitations of "soft power" as a be all end all. Not that I think it was ever a good idea to support Ukraine with troops. It was not. However, we on the left have to be prepared to support NATO allies 100% against any Russian threat.
LKT4 for President!
Can you bend Biden’s ear, Lucian, or do you know anyone that could?
Not only am I not in the ear bending game with Presidents, I was never in it.
Dang, ratzafraz! I think you missed your calling 😊
I don’t think Putin cares about his citizenship
No, but a secure leader doesn’t have to jail, kill or imprison his political opponents. Or arrest 1000 protesters in one day. Only a paranoid does.
We’re in position to unite the world against authoritarian government by making Russian life as uncomfortable as humanely possible in every level of their society and making it absolutely clear that their condition is the direct result Putin’s ambition. However…
This will require the full resolve and active participation of our economic and mass communication resource.
‘Simple choice, Autocracy or Democracy.
‘And those who defer to Autocracy do not deserve the fruits of Democracy.
Biden and the West have the spine of a jellyfish. These "sanctions" do little to stop the invasion. Biden might as well start calling himself Neville.
I agree that it's time to do everything on Lucian's list - deport every Russian, seize their property and bank accounts (keeping them safe for some future date) and then watch as the rich and famous of Russia, denied their champagne wishes and caviar dreams demand Putin quickly restore their lives of opulence - or else.
Imagine what would be happening at this very moment had the US and the West put some real teeth in these sanctions that immediately put these wanna be Rodeo Drive denizens into a Southwest Air no frills flight for six or seven hours non-stop: no snacks or drinks and dump them like so many foreign tourists at a Bus Russia St. Petersburg terminal at midnight.
Putin would be out before the end of the business day.
I totally agree with every comment you make and with every response here to those comments. You don't fight a tiger with a net.
Totally agree with this post. Make it hurt. Deportations and confiscations. Make it so fucking miserable for the ordinary Russian that in the end, they will themselves stand up and remove Putin and put an end to this.
Biden is not Trump, which is why I voted for him. Beyond that, I view him as a tool of the corpocracy that pushed out Sanders and Warren in favor of "play ball" DNC candidates that allow for everyone to move up the political ladder. Watching his righteous fury about Putin's actions I couldn't help but think back to 2002 when he was at the forefront of beating the war drum, sending America into Iraq on pretexts even flimsier than Putin used. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/17/joe-biden-role-iraq-war
Let's chill out a bit on beating up on Joe Biden over sanctions. I spent enough years working in high level government operations to know that making haste slowly is the best way not to derail the train. In fact, the old-time warning sign you would see at railroad grade crossings - 'Stop, Look, and Listen' applies to these kinds of negotiations for response planning. These trade shutdowns have a drag effect on European banks, businesses, and commerce equalling or exceeding the intended targeted economic entities in Russia. New suppliers of natural gas need to be found, and payments need to be made in the short term for gas supplies either already delivered or contracted for. Food commodities that Russia supplies under contract need to be paid for.
Changing course takes time and effort. Energy costs in Europe are soaring, and we need to pay attention to the limits of the tolerable. It's like the masking up mandates for stemming the spread of coronavirus. They change every few days, and a third of the population refuses to wear them or get vaccine. This needs to be managed carefully, even if it takes longer to get the job done. Time is the essential variable here, and emptying every ATM machine in Moscow and St. Petersburg tomorrow won't get Vladimir Putin to turn his army around and return to Russia any time sooner. Recall how long it took to degrade and destroy Germany's supply lines in World War II, then under constant air attack, more than a year if you count the pre-invasion bombardment from February 1944 to D-day, and Germany had to feed its war machine from what it could expropriate from the shrunken economies of Occupied Europe. An we're not even considering fielding an army to liberate Ukraine.
We're counting on ordinary Russians to get fed up with the degraded circumstances under which they have to live, but we're using American and European living standards as the metric to project how much misery the Russian people are willing to suffer through before they rebel against Putin. The answer is inevitably going to be, quite a bit more than we in the West are likely to submit to. The United States was in Vietnam for ten years and in Iraq and Afghanistan for twenty years before we called it quits. This will take more time than we're willing to predict right now, assuming that the Theater of Operations remains within Ukraine's current borders. And that's a big assumption indeed.
This is Biden's legacy. And probably the defining moment of the 2022 election and perhaps even the 2024 elections. This is all about the Russian Economy. I am guessing the Russian Army has been told to do a little damage as possible to the infrastructure of the Ukraine. Hopefully, our legislators will get together for once and fight fire with fire. Lucian is absolutely right turning the screw one revolution does no good. Talk is cheap. You have to punch a bully in the mouth. As Mike Tyson said so eloquently. "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". Right now, we are punching way below our weight. Someone needs to get in Biden's ear and make him understand he can't screw this one up. If he does, we could find ourselves in a real bind.
I turn on CNN, and it's D-Day+3 of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Your predictions have the oder of an abbatoir -- a factory of death. But, in the habit of Russians, it's noisy, bombastic,... and messy. And innocent people are getting killed. And things are just now getting started. These are not surgical strikes, although the initial target were military command and control assets.
Putin has too few soldiers to subdue Ukraine town by town, street by street, block by block, house by house, room by room. Ukrainians are fighting back, and with real passion. This is guerilla warfare in which atrocities are a guaranteed outcome. Expect to see summary executions of teenage fighters. CNN will have a terrible time sanitizing the video footage. This isn't 1941, where whole villages were rounded up and marched off to a local ravine and shot. There are fewer villages, and fewer Jews within those villages to shoot. But it will happen, but at a lesser scale. There will be no 'winning hearts and minds' campaigns, like we tried with little success from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Russians let their enemies' fear do their persuading for them. Rape and murder are their stock in trade. And Ukrainians don't see us in the same way. Expect a bloodbath with no holds barred. Expect occupation troops to be on the defensive from the moment they arrive.
Our job is to make Russia bleed money and people, and to encourage regime change in Russia. Undercut Putin's power by any means available. Making Russians pay in blood for following Putin worked in Afghanistan; we want to get that message across again, this time in Ukraine. Telling the Russian military that we will punish them for war crimes at the end of the day. And we'll have the receipts. Declare Putin and his cronies to be international criminals from the get go.