monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

@georgeob1,

Well, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, (not a NATO ally), happened four years ago, so they reacted to it back then. The teamwork between us and our EU allies, with Germany being a big part of that, stuck a knife right into the heart of the Russian economy, as this Ruble to Dollar chart indicates. See where the Ruble was before the US-EU sanctions, and look what happened to Russian currency right after the sanctions. Ruble went down by more than half. Devastating.

That's why the Russians are buying off Trump's white house appointees, to try to get the US/EU sanctions lifted. The sanctions are killing them-and the Russian economy is barely alive even in the best of times.

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Cheese-eaters will never get it, eh?

Quote:

In an interview to be aired Sunday with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump was asked what he thinks about more Democrats lining up to call for the agency’s abolition.

“Well I hope they keep thinking about it. Because they’re going to get beaten so badly,” he said. “You know ICE, these are the guys that go in and take MS-13, and they take them out. Because they’re much tougher than MS-13, like by a factor of 10. And these are the ones – you get rid of ICE you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house.”

“I love that issue if they're going to actually do that,” he added.

Trump is joining a number of Republicans and immigration hardliners who are welcoming the Democratic shift on the issue, believing that it spells electoral victory for the GOP outside of Democratic enclaves like New York and California.

"Based on the last week, Democrats apparently want to campaign on open borders, mass migration, & abolishing ICE," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted this week. "Give them points for honesty. Let's vote."

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@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

What the hell has Germany ever done to protect the freedom and independence of Ukraine, or, for that matter, to eject Putin from Crimea?

I know that momentarily it's difficult time for relations between Germany and Ukraine: Berlin and Kyiv are at loggerheads over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
But before ... I'm sure, you've heard of Minsk II and what has been going on the years afterwards. You'll have missed, perhaps the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, and that the Ukraine is a priority partner withing the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Opinions are ... well, opinions. Do you know more about the author that you justify he wrote a "major league hypocrisy"?

I doubt that "Germany is Putin's prime facilitator in Europe", leaving aside Schröder, the Action for Germany (AfD) on the extreme right side of the political spectrum and The Left on the the opposite side.
But I do think that Putin gets a lot of support here: there are between six and nine million Germans, who speak Russian at home ... ...

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https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2018/06/IMG_1956.jpg?resize=600%2C505

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/06/the-week-in-pictures-scotus-smackdown-edition.php

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https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2018/06/Immigrant-Rozeanne.jpeg?resize=600%2C390

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/06/the-week-in-pictures-scotus-smackdown-edition.php

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@layman,

layman wrote:

You shouldn't oughta run around confusing the poor boy with no facts, George. It just aint no fair, I tells ya!

Since the author of that opinion hasn't signed it -how do you know that it is "a poor boy"?

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@layman,

layman wrote:

The Nation is about as far left as you can get, btw.

Not sure what point this was supposed to convey... it's not a secret that a substantial chunk of the far left tends to pooh-pooh the whole Russian threat, compare the warnings of Russian interference with McCarthyism, etc. The Nation also regularly publishes Stephen Cohen, who seems to have become one of America's foremost "Russlandversteher".

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@georgeob1,

An interesting report by the German service of 'sputnik.news':
The US wants to prevent Europe - especially Germany - from strengthening its influence in Ukraine. That is why Kiev is to receive weapons from the USA, Canada and Great Britain. This is what the independent security policy expert Igor Nikolaitschuk told the portal "rueconomics".

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@Walter Hinteler,

I doubt seriously the validity your unnamed author's presumption for the motives of the U.S. Government in selling arms to Ukraine. The arms for Ukraine issue has been visible here since the Russian insurgency started. The major opposition for it here referred mostly to divisions and corruption within the Ukrainian regime itself. My impression is that Germany resisted direct military aid to Ukraine during the earlier fighting, and has steadfastly refused to provide it since then.

German influence over Ukraine is no worse than Russian and may well offset it to some degree. Germany itself is increasingly burdened with the growing divisions within its EU empire, and is increasingly feeling some of the issues involved in it within its own internal politics. Why should we wish to add to its troubles?

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

Germany itself is increasingly burdened with the growing divisions within its EU empire,

I don't think that the EU is or was our empire. (Presidency of the Council of the European Union - Austria leads the EU from tomorrow onward.)

georgeob1 wrote:

Why should we wish to add to its troubles?

Ask your president.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

I don't think that the EU is or was our empire.

It didn't start out that way, but I have the strong impression many in Italy, Greece, Poland, and Hungary would now disagree with you.

I don't think that Trump is trying to harm Germany. We have some disagreements about trade policy and some security matters, and Trump is pursuing them in his characteristic brash and disruptive way. Beyond that the U.S. has been extremely supportive of Germany for a long time. Our self interest was involved during the worst of the Cold War, but, as that era wound down, our support continued and was a major factor in the reunification of your country. Gratitude is of course not a factor in national strategy.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

It didn't start out that way, but I have the strong impression many in Italy, Greece, Poland, and Hungary would now disagree with you.

There are four key institutions which work together to run the EU - the European Commission (proposes the legislation and oversees the functioning of the EU), the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union (provides the political direction of the EU) and the Court of Justice. Those four countries are there represented as well as the other (still) 24 member countries.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Thanks for the recitation of well known facts. The evident fact is that Germany is the major partner in the Franco German duopoly that effectively guides EU policy. My reference was to obvious east-west and north-south divisions that appear to be growing in EU Governance. In addition some of the issues involved in this are becoming major elements of the German domestic political scene.

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In time, she will be regarded as "Saint Angela" in muslim countries. In other countries, especially Germany, Merkel will be known as a disgraced traitor to her country, right up there with Quisling.

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@layman,

I'm certainly not a friend of Merkel or her party, but it's the first time I've seen that someone equalled her with a domestic Nazi collaborationist.

Besides that: why should Muslim countries call her a "saint" (a walī)? You think, Assad will pray to her?

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

Besides that: why should Muslim countries call her a "saint"

They call her a "kafir" like they call anyone else who is not a member of Islam. Would you like to explain "kafir" to your fans?

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@Walter Hinteler,

I suspect Merkel is caught between the values she believes she must support in the EU, and the new, nearly world-wide wave of intemperate populist resistance to the politically correct doctrines of contemporary political & social thinkers, increasingly out of touch with the real world. Now she has to face some of that stuff in her domestic political challenges as well - not an easy situation for her or other national leaders. They are discovering that history is indeed not over.

I have noted the close relations Germany has developed with Putin and Russia over the terms of the last three German Chancellors. I have not ever suggested that any of them were, in any way, Nazis. I believe that was an unseemly and unjustified reaction on your part.

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@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

. I have not ever suggested that any of them were, in any way, Nazis. I believe that was an unseemly and unjustified reaction on your part.

He was responding to my post, George. I didn't call her a Nazi, either, but I did offer my opinion that future historians would regard her as a traitor, especially after the Muslims come to dominate Germany in some future decade.

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@revelette1,

revelette1 wrote:

Quote:
U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who is viewed as one of the leading contenders to replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office.

Cool! As soon as this guy is on the Supreme Court, Trump can start shooting the "no borders, no nations" crowd on Fifth Avenue, eh!?

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@layman,

Thank you: I missed that. I don't think there was anything in your post that would suggest that either. "Quisling" is a widely recognized reference to one who betrays his/her country, not a Nazi. It seems obvious to me that, in the context of you post, this was indeed your point.

1 Reply

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