Sorry to be so blunt as I myself am rushing to this point, but old shits are not the way. They are limited in ability to keep up. The world is for the young. Yes, old jackasses make the calls. But it is a perpetual lag with popular sentiment. This is why Uncle STFU trots out the “I used to be an idealist, but then…” at Thanksgiving as he ruins it. He isn’t wise, he has quit. He does control the room, but the room is just waiting for him to die out of a misplaced sense of obligation. The new generation always makes this mistake. He’s old, bitter, and ass-wounded, and we all wait for nature to restore him to his basic elements. Young people have been socialized to accept this. The world will be a better place once people reject this idiotic standard. If you’re a slave to nostalgia, recall that Hamilton was 21 in 1776. GW and TJ were 30’s and 40’s. You can find a Franklin or so to rebut. But essentially the world is young people desperately trying to fix old people who have lost the energy to adapt. Instead they use their limited energy to solidify their entrenchments. All those old people in Russia supporting Rooty Poo have also quit life. Rooty himself apparently has, as it is apparent that he has created a bubble that shields him from the scary idea of the passage of time and what that inherently entails. It is much easier to mentally freeze time and spend all waking hours manipulating that moment. It’s also weak, and not real. Adapting to the only thing that never changes, which is change itself, is hard. Biden calling for P to go down today was almost unbelievable to me. It is precisely what is true, and I am shocked to hear a non-AdMonkey say it. I will never support a Biden statue. But I’d pay good #teacherdough to etch that moment forever. He said it out loud. And on The Stage. That’s some brass, bruh.
Another one bites the dust...highest ranking officer yet. That makes 7 for those of you keeping track Top Russian general who bragged invasion would only take hours killed in Ukraine (msn.com) A lieutenant general in Russia’s military was killed in a strike near the city of Kherson on Friday, the highest-ranked officer to be killed in the war so far. Lt. Gen. Yakov Rezantsev is reportedly the seventh Russian general to die amid the country's invasion of Ukraine and the second of his rank to be killed. Morale is believed to be low among Russian soldiers, with some troops fatally turning on their own commanders in recent days. “Yakov Rezantsev is the second Russian lieutenant general to die in the war against Ukraine,” Ukraine’s defense ministry said Friday. “Torn apart Georgian Abkhazia, bombed-out Syria and finally inglorious elimination in Ukraine. This is becoming a typical track-record of Russian generals.” ...................................... Russian forces have lost other military officials over the last week, with at least one commanding officer being run over with a tank driven by his own troops, according to local journalist Roman Tsymbaliuk. Russian Col. Yuri Medvedev had both of his legs injured and was then transported to a hospital in Belarus, where some officials reportedly said he later died, according to the Washington Post.
He did basically call for regime change, which was rather shocking, and also walked back since the official line has been we aren’t demanding regime change. He said nothing of assassination. Just that “this man cannot stay in power”.
Doubt the whole “his own troops ran him over” story. General morale, entirely believable. You will not be able to Jedi Mind Trick 200K soldiers who see it with their own eyes. I don’t doubt the power of propaganda and how that can animate a scary high number of individuals. But not all of these soldiers are assimilated, and a non-negligible percentage are horrified by what they see with their own eyes. I am not the type, but I can’t imagine how I could ever witness the destruction of the ability to exist and not lose my sense of mission. And yes, I am aware of analogs in Viet Nam and Korea. But those things were not the same. Even then it wasn’t systematic and brazen. Movies are made about each individual atrocity. Because it wasn’t SOP. The closest modern example is likely WW2 Tokyo. But there were no boots on the ground. Imagine the horror that a guy from Shitbird, Nebraska would feel clearing that.
I think the Russian people know more than you think. The older ones realized when the USSR collapsed that they were being lied to their entire lives. They also know that Russia has not yet won the war that was supposed to only take a few days. They also know it can be dangerous to admit that you know the truth when confronted with an angry liar from the government. They will not participate in any protests, but it does not mean that they are completely unaware of the truth.
I disagree. Good leadership requires a combination of wisdom & experience and new ideas. Don't forget that our Founding Fathers were unable to resolve the slavery issue--they punted (and kept their slaves). There probably were not enough Benjamin Franklins (and Franklin was a city-guy with limited understanding of the challenges of rural life, agriculture, etc.). They still did an amazing job of putting the country together in spite of their inexperience, but there were significant personality conflicts along the way. New ideas are not always good ideas, and sometimes it takes wisdom & experience to filter through those ideas. We have been disappointed by America's incompetent leadership and their lack of wisdom AND new (good) ideas, but that's more because of the qualities that we use to select our leaders. Television has essentially ruined our democracy. We value a good-looking, charismatic, polished, well-spoken leader that can insult their competition in less than 30 seconds, which is the extent of the average American's attention span. We are less interested in a president with a realistic and achievable vision for the country, the intellect to solve complex problems, or even the willingness to confront difficult problems. We demand leaders that tell us what we want to hear, not leaders that tell us the truth. Basically, we can't handle the truth.
That was the dumbest thing ever said by any leader in the last 200 years. He basically gave Putin all the more reason to use nukes. He just threw negotiations out the window because Putin will now know that the ultimate ending is his removal.
If he was reading that off of the teleprompter his speechwriters need to be fired. If he was speaking off the cuff then we have a problem, he can't be saying that stuff. How many of his comments has the White House had to "walk back" on this trip alone. Correct answer should be none.
I don’t know about the last 200 years but for sure about as stupid as it can be. I have no doubt he went off script again. There’s a reason they try to limit his unscripted time in front of the press.
While I agree with you, how many Trump statements should have been walked back but his staff was too inbfear of retribution to do so? Sad reflection of the voters when those are our 2 choices
Can’t really put myself in their shoes. Supposedly Putin has been “popular” over there despite all he’s done to backslide them towards autocracy/totalitarianism. But you have to think that’s taking a big hit even with a lockdown on information. As I said, the young and educated would obviously be more equipped to hear a western point of view. An older person who recollects the USSR might suspect something is “off”, I agree there must obviously be a set of people that can detect the bullshit based on their lives behind the iron curtain. But the less tech savvy would have no way to hear anything but state propoganda, so my point had more to go with their tangible access to good information rather than their “feelings”. Not that any of it matters, at this point Putin cannot be voted out.
When was Trump 80 miles from a war zone? I don't recall any Trump comment that called for removal of a foreign head of state. You had this Putin comment, his comment of sanctions totally contradicting all of his aides and staff, and his comments to the US troops that they would see for themselves when they go to Ukraine.
Hyperbole much? He’s actually 100% correct. He just said the quiet part out loud. Maybe intentional to put it out there, then walk it back? That was my thought on how that went down. It could also have been him going totally off the cuff, but I don’t dismiss either possibility. I believe Obama said something similar about Assad and he’s still in power, nor did we particularly try to remove him. But we sure as hell aren’t going to go back to looking at Putin as legitimate, he crossed that rubicon. Obviously we aren’t going to go in and force regime change in Russia. But we can (and should) make it clear that that they aren’t currently on a path where we can work with them.
This is because Trump has nothing but love for dictators, especially Putin. Why would he call for their removal? He envies them. Most of Trump’s attacks during his term were aimed at countries like Canada and European NATO allies. All his worst ire aimed at democratic allies and the rule of law. His only call for “regime change” to my knowledge is his fraudulent desire to “rescind” the 2020 election!
