Let’s have a war!

[twocoach]

Once again, a helluva response to a post about gaslighting, twocoach.

If you REALLY want me to give you the reason, AGAIN, it’s that I don’t think we should trust the Ukraine war narrative cuz so many other war narratives turned out to be untrustworthy too.

That’s teed up for you now. If you want me to look like an idiot, then just articulate why the exact same dipshits who derped us about WMDs in Iraq are suddenly playing us straight on Ukraine.

It’s that simple!

Your move!

Or, if you want this thread to die, then simply stop replying, and I will too.

If I wanted you to look like an idiot, I'd just tell people to reread this thread.

[Overlander]

This thread is like one of those annoying dolls that screeches phrases when you pull its’ string.

But Oussy just keeps pulling the string….

[TDub]

This thread is like one of those annoying dolls that screeches phrases when you pull its’ string.

But Oussy just keeps pulling the string….

impressive that he can reach his own string tho

[Sparko]

Talkie Tina. Better be nice to him.

[ousdahl]

moving right along.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/12457634 ... le-strikes

The Israeli military has conducted missile strikes against Iran, a senior U.S. military official told NPR on Thursday. There are also reports of explosions in Iraq and Syria.

[jfish26]

https://cupofcoffee.beehiiv.com/p/cup-c ... il-19-2024

The Washington Post reports on a secret Russian memo obtained by European intelligence services which pretty much confirms what has been obvious as hell since at least 2016: that Russia has been waging propaganda campaigns within the United States in an effort to promote isolationist and extremist policies an in effort to undermine the country and its NATO allies:

Russia is seeking to subvert Western support for Ukraine and disrupt the domestic politics of the United States and European countries, through propaganda campaigns supporting isolationist and extremist policies, according to Kremlin documents previously reported on by The Post. It is also seeking to refashion geopolitics, drawing closer to China, Iran and North Korea in an attempt to shift the current balance of power . . .

“For Putin, it is absolutely natural that he should try to create the maximum number of problems for the U.S.,” he said. “The task is to take the U.S. out of the game, and then destroy NATO. This doesn’t mean dissolving it, but to create the feeling among people that NATO isn’t defending them.”

These efforts have been highly successful, as all manner of pro-Putin positions are, essentially, Republican Party and conservative media policy.

Republicans themselves are increasingly acknowledging this, with the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Texas Republican Michael McCaul, saying in an interview last week that Russian propaganda has “infected a good chunk of my party’s base” and suggested that conservative media is to blame. Earlier this week Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said that it was “absolutely true” that Republican members of Congress were repeating Russian propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine instigated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Some, like Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, aren’t trying to hide it. They’re coming right out and saying that we should enter into a “peace treaty” with Putin in which Russia is simply gifted a big chunk of Ukraine. There have been reports that Trump, if elected, will pursue exactly that policy. Meanwhile, the man currently considered to be the leading contender to be Trump’s vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, is openly advancing Putin’s agenda in so brazen and obvious a fashion that he’s parroting the dictator’s exact words.

We’re several years removed from the days in which we talked a lot about how Russia has compromising intelligence on Trump and is thereby forcing him to do their bidding or the idea that Russian bot farms have infected wide swaths of social media in an effort to spread propaganda or to alter the outcome of U.S. elections. But it’s pretty clear that that did indeed happen and that now there are literally sitting Members of Congress who are, formally or informally, Russian assets. And the man who could be our next president is one as well.

[ousdahl]

Lots of protests at (particularly Northeast) schools going on.

NYPD arrested hundreds of students at Columbia

Yale students staging a protest and hunger strike to show support

I honestly wish we could discuss this and compare historic parallels and such. But I know the only thing this place is good for is to ask:

why would Putin do this?

[TDub]

I wish you would take you're own advice and stop posting.

[MICHHAWK]

college kids are not the best gage.

[Shirley]

Lots of protests at (particularly Northeast) schools going on.

NYPD arrested hundreds of students at Columbia

Yale students staging a protest and hunger strike to show support

I honestly wish we could discuss this and compare historic parallels and such. But I know the only thing this place is good for is to ask:

why would Putin do this?

You're joking, right?

Yale University History Professor Timothy Snyder joins MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart to discuss why pro-Putin propaganda is so prevalent in the Republican Party.

Doing Russia’s bidding: Snyder calls out GOP ‘Putin wing’ to their faces in Hill hearing

[Sparko]

The Leopard who eats your face party needs young rubes too. "He won't eat my face."

[MICHHAWK]

I think the man is about to pass a 90 billion $$ aid package today to fund all of old uncles wars around the globe. I think it was mj that made it happen.

[ousdahl]

Lots of protests at (particularly Northeast) schools going on.

NYPD arrested hundreds of students at Columbia

Yale students staging a protest and hunger strike to show support

I honestly wish we could discuss this and compare historic parallels and such. But I know the only thing this place is good for is to ask:

why would Putin do this?

You're joking, right?

Yale University History Professor Timothy Snyder joins MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart to discuss why pro-Putin propaganda is so prevalent in the Republican Party.

Doing Russia’s bidding: Snyder calls out GOP ‘Putin wing’ to their faces in Hill hearing

Yes, I was joking. That “why would Putin do this” was meant as a sort of satire.

While I have agreed all along that Russian propaganda is an issue and we should be cognizant of it, I also think the knee-jerk dismissing of absolutely everything that doesn’t conform to one’s views as Russian propaganda is an issue, too.

Well, it’s either knee-jerk dismissal; or just making a point to ignore, avoid, or just not understand any and every conflict across the globe that our tax dollars are paying for if it can NOT be knee-jerk dismissed as Russian propaganda.

But, this is one of those stories that makes me really regret what’s become of this thread. I wish we could hit reset and not be up each other’s asses, and just actually discuss this shit from some genuinely curious point of view.

Cuz, honestly, I thought of you, Shirley, and wish I could ask you for your take here.

I know you were against the Vietnam war when that was going down, right?

There were protests at Columbia university against that war too, that apparently ended up being maybe kind of a big deal, and maybe some turning point toward trying to end the Vietnam war.

Could we compare and contrast the Vietnam protests across universities back then, with the Israel protests at universities today?

And, Pelosi and other dems writing a letter questioning support of Israel after they bombed U.S. humanitarian workers is, as far as I can think right now, the first time such powers that be have questioned such support in this conflict.

Eventually some lawmakers had to start questioning support for Vietnam too, right? Is there some worthwhile compare/contrast too?

Does really no one else find anti-war protests gaining momentum across universities to be kind of interesting?

Or am I gonna just get some sophomoric zinger like, “as far as ous can think right now cuz ous can’t think very far cuz ous is an idiot!”

[Shirley]

"...Yes, I was joking. That “why would Putin do this” was meant as a sort of satire..."

My bad.

Although, in my defense, among other things, effective satire tends to be to some degree absurd, exaggerated, or taken out of its normal context. IMO, based on your contributions here, although I admit I don't read all of them, your satire suffered from not being out of your "normal context", which seems so often to echo Russian propaganda. I know you don't want to hear that, and I don't say it with malice, but it's difficult to ignore.

And, once again, your premise of conflating US involvement in the Viet Nam war with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent American effort is a hill I don't care to climb.

[Shirley]

The Pro-Putin faction of the Republican party just keeps growing:

[Overlander]

Please let them get crushed in elections…

[jfish26]

Please let them get crushed in elections…

I have a feeling that Johnson’s sudden pivot has a lot less to do with the intelligence he’s getting on Russia, and more to do with the intelligence he’s getting on what’ll happen in November.

[Overlander]

It does feel like the MAGA movement is petering out, to some degree.

At least, I am hopeful.

Am I wrong to dream of a jet ski crash for Marge?

[jfish26]

It does feel like the MAGA movement is petering out, to some degree.

At least, I am hopeful.

Am I wrong to dream of a jet ski crash for Marge?

I think the Ukraine vote draws a fairly clear line around the true believers.

[ousdahl]

I knew it!

So the Ivy League students protesting our involvement in middle eastern conflicts IS Putin propaganda after all!

I thought I might at least get a “but those Ivy League students protesting is antisemitic!,” never mind that some of the Ivy League students arrested for protesting also happened to be “Jooze.”

As for this latest aid package that just passed, all I’d like to say for now is…

Is there any precedent for dozens of U.S. lawmakers waving a foreign country’s flag on the House floor?