Kut's Trump Approval Thread #1 (Starts Out at 100%)

[ATM]

...but I gotta ask...



Shouldn't that just be "history" too?

Yep, but marketing. We tell the same history no matter where you were born.

 

[JTScribe]

So, uh, how would a presumably private conversation between two heads of state be so accurately described? Sorry, the press has lost any chance at the benefit of the doubt from me. I call BS.

Told you so.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bu...rime-minister-phone-call-2017-2?client=safari

 

[KG1]

Told you so.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bu...rime-minister-phone-call-2017-2?client=safari

You are correct. Never give the media the benefit of the doubt. They have an agenda.

 

[ATM]

You are correct. Never give the media the benefit of the doubt. They have an agenda.

Unless it was terrorists. No agenda there.

Ever.

 

[KG1]

Told you so.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bu...rime-minister-phone-call-2017-2?client=safari

Also it looks like Sen. John McStupid ran off half cocked and stepped on his dink again.

 

[BugI02]

If it weren't for quibbling, there would be just 5 posts in this thread! Lol!

So, I beg to differ. His sanctions are roughly equal, perhaps exceeding (devil in the details), Pres Obama's sanctions on Russia for allegedly attempting to destabilize our elections. "Our elections! The life blood of our nation!" to pseudo quote the media.

If they test another missile, look for UN Ambassador Halley to start beating the drums for global sanctions... sidesteps even having to re-look at the nuke deal (which is empty anyhow, Iran got the money). Smart move and just a first step.

On a different front, if he doesn't address Ukraine within the next week, as in halt and withdraw otherwise anti-tank missiles will be on the ground in Ukrainian hands within 24 hours, then that'll be at least a -2, perhaps a -5 if Putin is emboldened and doubles down.

Both bad actors are testing Pres Trump and should be addressed with appropriate and escalating responses.

Yeah, because sophisticated weapons that could endanger US forces never fall into the wrong hands after the crisis is over

 

[BugI02]

WWRPD?

Reagan wasn't libertarian enough.

Nobody is

 

[jamil]

Told you so.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bu...rime-minister-phone-call-2017-2?client=safari

You are correct. Never give the media the benefit of the doubt. They have an agenda.

Indeed.

Nobody is

Huh? The grey god-king is. Don't be blaspheming Ron Paul.

 

[ATM]

Huh? The grey god-king is. Don't be blaspheming Ron Paul.

Not to worry, it wasn't teal.

Purple heresy may be pardonable.

 

[SheepDog4Life]

Yeah, because sophisticated weapons that could endanger US forces never fall into the wrong hands after the crisis is over

That's why I said to give them 6 to begin with... which should be enough burned out hulks to let Putin know we mean business. IF not, then it's like the heroin needle program, bring us a used one and get a new one.

 

[skulhedface]

Also it looks like Sen. John McStupid ran off half cocked and stepped on his dink again.

Not an easy task considering that equipment seems to have been missing for quite a while.

 

[BugI02]

Not to worry, it wasn't teal.

Purple heresy may be pardonable.

Yep, sarcasm. Referencing the fact the Libertarians and their eponymous party eat their own young first

 

[foszoe]

Yep, sarcasm. Referencing the fact the Libertarians and their eponymous party eat their own young first

I think you should do sarcasm with purple and teal on alternating characters just so we can be sure it's real sarcasm a

 

[BugI02]

That's why I said to give them 6 to begin with... which should be enough burned out hulks to let Putin know we mean business. IF not, then it's like the heroin needle program, bring us a used one and get a new one.

SD4L, nothing about this has a whiff of Viet Nam for you? Attempting to prop up a government in a country with a significant internal insurgency against an adversary with much shorter supply lines by supplying them (first) with relatively sophisticated
weaponry. And in this case the adversary is more than ideologically motivated, he is motivated by a threat to access to one of only a few warm water ports available to him. Perhaps Ukraine and Georgia should not have taken the US having their back as carte blanche to conduct their relations with Russia in any manner they wished, no matter how provocative

 

[SheepDog4Life]

SD4L, nothing about this has a whiff of Viet Nam for you? Attempting to prop up a government in a country with a significant internal insurgency against an adversary with much shorter supply lines by supplying them (first) with relatively sophisticated
weaponry. And in this case the adversary is more than ideologically motivated, he is motivated by a threat to access to one of only a few warm water ports available to him. Perhaps Ukraine and Georgia should not have taken the US having their back as carte blanche to conduct their relations with Russia in any manner they wished, no matter how provocative

Reading between the lines, I think, I agree with you that Obama was on "the wrong side of history" with regards to Crimea. It had been part of Russia since 1784 save for an edict by the USSR while a Ukrainian was at the helm that gave Ukraine administrative control. A move, I think was mostly to ensure that critical region was under the control of his loyalist, not Russians within the USSR who could leverage the critical region to regain control of the union, since dissolved.

Added to that, the fact that Crimea is high majority ethnic Russian that wants to be part of Russia. There's a good case to be made that Putin used Obama's weakness to "right" this "wrong".

The incursions into Ukraine-proper are a different story that just follow a familiar plotline, IMO.

 

[indiucky]

I'm not sure if that got funnier or less funny, but whatever ...high five!

It's a combo...Kut being Kut and ATM being ATM....I rarely agree with either of but you two give me more grins per post than most (hey that thar rhymed) and this little exchange involving the both of you was pretty funny....

You two would be fun to drink with...(As long as Kut stayed off the Zima...I couldn't handle Kut when he's on a Zima binge...)

 

[BugI02]

Yeah. I guess I'm torn because I suspect Ukraine's position is untenable. I don't want to abandon them before we even try to help, but I think they need to see their position in the great game as something like Norway's. If they cannot grasp realpolitik, then we may need to cut our losses sooner rather than later. This in turn chafes because I support any peoples' yearning to be truly free, but I don't want to encourage them to set themselves up to be crushed - a circumstance wherein if the Russians decide to accomplish it at all costs; the only thing we'll be able to do is raise the cost, not affect the outcome

 

[ATM]

...You two would be fun to drink with...

Fun? Absolutely! Make mine a quad espresso.

 

[SheepDog4Life]

Yeah. I guess I'm torn because I suspect Ukraine's position is untenable. I don't want to abandon them before we even try to help, but I think they need to see their position in the great game as something like Norway's. If they cannot grasp realpolitik, then we may need to cut our losses sooner rather than later. This in turn chafes because I support any peoples' yearning to be truly free, but I don't want to encourage them to set themselves up to be crushed - a circumstance wherein if the Russians decide to accomplish it at all costs; the only thing we'll be able to do is raise the cost, not affect the outcome

I think bloodying Putin's nose with the promise/prospect of Afghanistan level zinc coffins brings Putin to the table. I think the ultimate plan is returning all/most of the Ukrainian-proper territory to Ukraine in exchange for self-determination for Crimeans in a monitored referendum which I don't think anyone doubts that if free-and-fair means Crimea rejoins Russia. To the Ukrainians, accept or be left to Russian wolves and rely upon the UN.

Then, everyone happy, or at least mollified, we can return to stability... at least until Democrats regain control and Russia again sees opportunity in the region though US weakness.

BTW, if we were to somehow "force" Putin to return Crimea, his regime would fall and Russia would be de-stabilized... then the world suddenly becomes an even more dangerous place. The devil you know and all that...

 

[BugI02]

Do the folks we would support in Ukraine have the will to be the sharp end? Or is it another Diem government?

And blowback from that Afghanistan level of zinc coffins was international jihad and an oversupply of mujahideen