To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale. As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever. Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength. Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors. ~Ronald Reagan, from his first inaugural address.
I saw this yesterday.Tucker Carlson is essentially advocating for Russia to invade Ukraine and for us to just...let them.
I mean, come on, what the fuck?
Ever seen "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford?
You know, the massively improbable 1990'a informed plot where a bunch of Russian nationalist terrorists sneak aboard AF1 disguised as reporters and somehow manage to take over the aircraft, while the President, played by Ford, who is an ex-AFSOC helicopter pilot, fights the terrorists and eventually eliminates most of them singlehandedly. Okay, whatever, it wasn't a bad movie unless you know enough to catch all the screw-ups, which I mostly do. I still owned it on VHS at one point.
That said, the line from it that I've always remembered the most is from when the President is communicating with his team in Washington D.C. by radio and he tells the vice-President (she's been negotiating with these maniacs) "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want a glass of milk."
Note: Years later I found out this is actually a quote from and the title of a rather hilarious children's book.
Anyway, among other things, I don't get how "Conservatives" these days don't understand that. Putin doesn't just want Ukraine, he wants to rebuild the entire Soviet Bloc, if not the Russian empire before it. That means the Baltic States, Belarus, Finland, Poland and all the other former East Bloc satellite states are threatened to one degree or another. I mean, for fuck's sake Putin spent five years actively using Trump to try to knock us out of this 21st century version of the "Great Game."
Appeasement won't work. "If you give a mouse a cookie..."
But of course, Tucker Carlson, who spent a week broadcasting his show from Hungary and continually managed to confuse Viktor Orban's cock with his microphone the whole time, doesn't give a shit about that. Tucker doesn't like Democracy. He wants some kind of autocracy/caste system or monarchy with a nobility where his being a TV-dinner heir alone basically makes him Baron Von Fish-sticks.
I mean, do you even America, bro?
But there's two problems with that:
#1 Vladimir Putin was once a KGB Officer, Sword and Shield of The Party...and it sure as hell wasn't the Republican Party. Putin had to be a Communist's Communist just to be able to apply to work at 2 Dzerzhinsky Square...and whatever his claimed politics, Putin's behavior is pure Soviet Union at this point and it's been that way for years.
And #2 the Communists shot the members of the nobility, exiled them, or straight ran them out of Russia. I mean, sure, a lot of the Russian nobles were leaders of the White movement and its armies, but how did that work out? And how many of those fuckers, when push came to shove a couple decades later were recycled and put back into circulation fighting against the Soviets by the fucking Waffen-SS?
Autocracy, Communism, Fascism, Stalinism etc. indeed any form of extremism and political authoritarianism only begets more of the same and by definition those who practice such aren't your friends.
At least our government is realizing this and finally acting accordingly.
But people like Tucker are hell-bent on destroying America and fomenting their own version of Iron Felix's Red Terror. They want to, basically, destroy all those Federal checks on their power and on the behavior of the wealthy and then use the mob they've ginned up to kill all the rest of us.
And then they'll let it starve for lack of Cabbages for a few years to break that threat to their power.
You think there's been supply issues since COVID-19? These fuckers would be happy to make all those fake-ass photos of empty shelves a very real reality because people who don't have any money, who have to spend hours out their day waiting in line for bread, potable water and toilet paper would be a lot easier to control.
And control and power over other people is what modern "Conservatism" is all about. They absolutely see shit like the 1930's Soviet genocide-by-famine against Ukrainians to be aspirational.
What the fuck do you think the "Conservative" response to COVID-19 even is?
There is life eternal within the Eater Of Souls, nobody is ever forgotten or allowed to rest in peace. There are fates worse than death, you know.
At this point, it looks like the situation in Ukraine is going to come to blows (again) and there's no way we're not going to get sucked into it.
I mean, the US and NATO allies are already working hard to arm and train the Ukrainian military including training in insurgent tactics...as we should. But if the Russians get Ukraine there's basically no way these fuckers don't try to make a move on the Baltic States, Moldova, or Poland next...and probably just change the labels and absorb Belarus while they're at it.
If it takes us going to war to prevent that, Okay. I don't like it, but I understand sometimes you have to do the things that have to be done. If we don't fight now, we will have to in 20 years when these shitheads decide they want Alaska back.
It's better if M1A1 Abrams vs. T-72, Deadliest Warrior the real game, happens in Lithuania or Poland than if it happens in Alaska or Pennsylvania.
And don't think Republicans as they are now wouldn't just roll over and let them take it...and it doesn't really matter what "it" is...with people like Tucker Carlson cheering them on and decrying those who fight back. They don't see Russia as an enemy, they see the majority of their fellow Americans as the enemy.
And they increasingly see horrors like Stalin's Gulags as aspirational, so long as they're not in them.
Thing is, the Baltic states and Poland are NATO members, and Ukraine wants to be. If we don't act to defend our allies...and to help people in countries like Belarus and Kazakhstan to free themselves...what the fuck are we even doing here?
For people like Hero Of Socialist Labor Comrade Tucker Carlson, for Donald Trump, and Mitch McConnell the answer to that question is easy: They don't want the government to defend or help or support our own people.
So for them, the answer is easy.
What's a few million Ukrainians thrown under Neo-Soviet tank treads, but a cheap cost to spread autocracy in the world?
I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty shitty answer.
For the rest of us?
Don't be these fucking people.
We Welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ~Ronald Reagan
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