I will soon be off to Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan. It is an old pub and restaurant, where George Washington said farewell to his troops.
While I visit a place made famous by our greatest president, it is impossible to tune out the noise coming from the worst. Every five minutes he or the Bearded Poodle is insulting one of America’s friends, or is acting to sell them out.
Leadership is always in short supply. We can all agree that the brave President Zelenskyy is the most admirable leader that the world has today. He has led his people against a savage invader for more than three years now. He has certainly made his mistakes, he remains outgunned, But there is no quit in this guy, or in his nation.
13 comments:
Totally agree. Russia & China are chortling over our plummet in influence and descent into chaos, and the rest of the world is horrified the implications for humanity going forward. Handing the reins over to dictatorships, eliminating efforts to control diseases and mitigate natural disasters, removing the ability to research problems before they start, limiting education to the top 10% who have access to private schools...the list of horrors goes on. I can't imagine how we will get out of this morass, unless the courts and business step up in a meaningful way.
He certainly is a great man and a great and courageous leader. All the more so when you consider that he wasn't steeped in politics, diplomacy and rubbing shoulders with political and diplomatic peers for decades before stepping up.
He was a comedian suddenly thrust into a situation which few have ever experienced. It would have crushed most people. Most would have accepted Biden's ride instead of showing defiance and calling for ammunition.
I would remind the MAGA crowd that Trump ducked service in Vietnam. He deserved to have Z remind him of that in the Oval Office.
LMAO..... OH I'll be back for this on.... god I missed this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fulz4ytZ54&list=RDMM&index=27
He is in an almost impossible situation. From Europe he hears that a peace deal without US backing is impossible, and that he has to make up with Trump one way or another. But the guy he is forced to make friends with is the one who believes the war is his fault, that he has no cards left to play, that Ukraine is doomed anyway (Trump today) and that he is the one standing in the way of peace.
("You've been in there for three years and done nothing".
In there? His country was bloody invaded and, yes, he stayed "in there"; stayed in the capital city when it was under constant bombardment and surrounded by what was considered the world's 2nd strongest army and when everyone was predicting its immanent collapse. That would have meant surrender to the Russian barbarians, all of whom were eager to cut the throat of the man they hate most of all because they know they cannot beat him).
It was his sullen and dead-pan attitude that gave the Ukrainians the will to resist. He is now, especially after Trump's personal and political attacks on him, more popular than ever in Ukraine, definitely the most popular leader that country country has ever had. Even the opposition - who used to use every opportunity to attack him - are now full of praise and support for Zelensky.
Mind you, he could have been more diplomatic at that WH visit. There was a culture clash there. After the cautious British and the suave French leaders, Zelensky's rough Slavic manner was seen as impolite and disrespectful.
So what's the solution? Are there any adults left in the Trump administration? Anyone with principle?
A big part of the blame lies of course on the Europeans, who were lulled into stupid complacency by a generation of pacifist latter-day hippies, and who for years were spending as much on refugees as they were on defence. (I cod you not: For many years before the invasion, Germany and Sweden were each spending 1.5 pc of GDP on refugees and the same amount on defence.)
Now they are caught with their pants down, and military power can't be built up overnight. Practically the only thing I agree with DT on is that Europeans were getting an almost free ride on defence for too long.
The very thin silver lining is that now the sane countries of the world are coming closer with more determination than ever. Canada, Britain and the leading EU countries are now girding their loins; slowly, but they're doing it. Leaving the wretches of the US, Russia, North Korea, Israel, Belarus (just look at them, what a gang of thugs) to form a kind of Hitler-Stalin pact based on might is right. (Had to laugh to see all five vote against the last UN resolution condemning Putin's invasion. They didn't abstain, that would have annoyed Putin; they voted against).
Sooner or later, something is going to get broken. Well, the democracies and countries based on the rule of law and common decency finally won the last time. We'll see how long Trump's anti-rational and anti-human experiment will last. There are so many good people on all sides in the US; they can't stay asleep forever.
Lets go over what the Tin Pot has done, shall we ?
Banned all news created one channel that he controls what is said.
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/08/1110577439/zelenskyy-has-consolidated-ukraines-tv-outlets-and-dissolved-rival-political-par
a nice little propaganda piece by npr, but it's lipstick on the pig.
Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/zelensky-defender-democracy-opponent-religious-freedom-opinion-1766012
Yet a closer look at life in Zelensky's Ukraine reveals that it is not the paragon of democracy and Western values that everyone seems to think it is. Ukraine is a deeply corrupt country with wealthy oligarchs playing the same role there as they do in Putin's Russia. Using the war as an excuse, Zelensky has banned his political opposition and shut down all media not controlled by his regime.
The latest example of his authoritarian style is even more egregious.
Zelensky's attempt to bar Orthodox churches that answer to the Russian Orthodox Church ought to dispel any notion that Americans are supporting Western values of freedom in this war.
but hey he's the paragon of a leader, even before the invasion
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/21/why-did-ukraine-suspend-11-pro-russia-parties
yes Aljazeera I know, but it doesn't make it not true. Also business insider
https://www.businessinsider.com/zelesnkyy-suspends-ukrainian-opposition-parties-with-ties-to-russia-2022-3
He's canceled Elections, with only a 4% approval rating I don't blame him.
https://www.newsweek.com/has-zelensky-canceled-ukraine-elections-what-happened-1842001
Zelensky is a thug and a puppet, the government before him and his have been propped up and puppeted by the CIA. To mention him in the same breath as Washington is Blasphemy.
He's a little man that served a purpose for the last American Administration the perfect poster boy for the disgruntled democrat left to continue their persecutions of Russia for having the audacity to fail at communism. They believe if they ran it, it would have succeeded so It has been their desire to punish the Russians since the fall. A failure at a system they believe is superior to our system in spite the fact of world history has proven it time and time again.
Yes Putin is an animal, worse than Zalenskyy, yet Russia could have been and still could be a great partner with the west. The American left has done and will do everything they can to prevent normalization.
Troll -
There's a lot of unexamined nonsense in those links. Yes, Zelensky banned the Russian Orthodox Church because it is an instrument of Russian state power. Its primate is Patriarch Kirill, a KGB man whose priests bless the weapons which kill Ukrainians. Z would have been a fool not to kick out those enemies.
Yes, he banned pro-Russian parties because Russia is attempting a literal genocide on Ukraine. On what planet would a responsible leader allow its invaders such platforms to poison the country?
Z did not cancel elections. The Ukrainian parliament declared martial law when the invasion began and the Ukrainian constitution forbids elections during martial law.
Trump's claim that Z has a 4% approval rating is complete crap. Since February 2022 a largwe and clear majority of Ukrainians have stronglt or somewhat approved og him:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100076/volodymyr-zelensky-s-approval-rating-ukraine/
Perenial reminder: watch what Trump does and disregard what he says. He often talks from ignorance and even when he talks from knowledge he often lies.
Yes watch what he does, like create peace. The US started this war with Obama, Biden reinvigorated it. Trump has ended it. Ukraine lost the most, but Russia suffered too. The U.S. is the only winner here. We win by default, but we are responsible for the whole problem.
Noel says the US, Russia, North Korea, Israel, Belarus (just look at them, what a gang of thugs) to form a kind of Hitler-Stalin pact based on might is right.
Your sentiment is wrong Noel, but you are partly right. Might does make Right, the only thing that tops it is fuel. When you have both you can do as you please. Europe has to face the facts, which are that they really have neither. The only counterbalance to Russia is either the US or China, and the Chinese have no desire to care about Europe, at least the US does.
Be grateful that Trump is motivated by Fair Trade and not dominance. We want nothing but your business.
Pete I took precious care to pull only links from leftest and non-conservative publications. If you like I could give you the conservative ones they are much more critical of "Z" if you like?
Troll -
I'm correct regardless of the sources. The idea that the US would allow pro-Chinese parties and pressure to exist in the event if a Chinese invasion of the UF west coast is absurd.
It's as absurd as much of the pro-Putin conservative comment around this war, which amounts to "Putin's not woke so I support him". I expect nonsense from the Left but the Right has been a revelry of ignorance.
It'll change if Trump gets a peace deal. At that moment Trump will be all "Zelensky's a great guy, he's brave and really put it out there. Oh did I abuse him in the Oval Office? I don't remember doing that ..."
At the moment the MAGA crowd will claim they knew all along that Z is a great guy.
I still love Trump's chutzpah. 24 hours ago he berated the Republic of Ireland for being a predator which attracted US firms with low taxes. An hour ago he cheered his planned tax cuts - because they will attract firms to the US from around the world.
I'd love to waltz through life so shamelessly and un-self aware. It must be bliss.
Pete the key to World Peace has been and always will be free trade. If you want to tie Russia's hands go into business with them. It is time to invest in Russia before the Chinese do.
As for Zelenskyy he's a putz that will wind up living in England or France with all his stolen booty.
Trumps longterm goal is the return of Manufacturing and Business back to the US, so his statements in regard to Ireland were right on the mark, and totally aware.
We are conducting a World War and a Revolution, both bloodless and both Economical. The next 4 years will reshape the World for the following 20.
I've been in Taiwan this past week and I just can't avoid the superlatives - probably the nicest, friendliest and most helpful people I have ever come across, living in the cleanest, safest and generally most decent city I have ever been in (haven't left the capital yet.)
Strangely, the political party that was once the sworn enemy of Red China (Kuomintang, the party set up by Sun Yat Sen and brought to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-shek[) is now the most accommodating and willing to make compromises with China. After all, they share a lot of the same terminology, world view, background and goals with Peking. But fortunately the young are growing into political maturity and they are for the most part very pro independence, and the soft-on-China crowd are losing ground.
They are all watching Ukraine very closely, of course, and are very wary of a US president who probably couldn't find the Pacific on a map of the world and who's completely without principles.
A really great people, very open but conservative by nature.
I miss you all
I must apologize because I miss being able to discuss the rightness and wrong of things. You people are what I consider among the few I could ever be honest with. One of the things growing up the way I did was an understanding of the balance of things. Good exists, Evil, exists both can never be stopped. They can only maintain a fragile balance that is always in ebb and flow, and I've only felt comfortable discussing that with the few of you/
Forgive me for being maudlin it's just where I am at.
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