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The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost,
Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration,
politics without God, heaven without hell.
William Booth
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.”
― William Saroyan
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill
Ignorance is not an opinion, liberals
I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C. S. Lewis
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
THERE WILL BE NO THREATS OF ANY KIND AT THIS BLOG, TO POLITICIANS OR OTHER COMMENTERS. thank you.
geeez2014
GeeeZ ....
Amidst the rubble and carnage from WWII, an exhausted world in a deep mind funk like a drunken WestPac sailor after a weekend binge in Manila created a global harrumphing society on the East River as a deterrent mechanism for stifling wars.
And the world has been at war ever since.
So I’m gonna go with Burns and Washington on this’n: the most noble of plans often come back to deplete your treasury and feed anxiety to your people, so avoid getting involved in foreign civil wars.
Redrawing borders is the most popular drawing-room pastime for Europeans, and killing each other with rifles and artillery is their favorite outdoor sport.
If they wanna off each other, sell ‘em guns and stay outta their way; let Someone in MUCH higher authority sort it all out when the smoke clears . . . and I do NOT mean Vladimyr or Volodymir or the Delaware Unaware or António Guterres.
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We have always had the thoughtless and stupid among us. Only difference is now, thanks to the internet-powered 24/7 global outrage machine, 10 impulsive adolescents with underdeveloped pre-frontal cortexes can make world news.
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I wish Ukraine all the best, and I would love to see Russia humiliated, but it ain’t worth WW III, and we have no vital national interest in Ukraine, despite the State Department running an investment arbitrage out of the Kyiv embassy.
Ukraine is being destroyed. Imagine the billion$ to be made in US-approved contracts that spend US taxpayer money to rebuild. BlackRock is already in the game.
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I almost agree with Silverfiddle, but not quite. I don’t wish Ukraine any great success because they are even more corrupt than Democrats or the Russian Mafia, and I wouldn’t want to encourage more of the same.
No matter what you think of Putin (I have no feelings for him one way or the other), Vladimir is the first Russian to lead Russia since Tsar Nicholas II (who didn’t share his fate). Most Soviet Union leaders came from either Ukraine or Georgia.
In the future, we will be able to look at smoldering Ukraine with pride and say, “We did that — another shovel-ready project.”
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SF “Ukraine is being destroyed”…..I can barely watch the beautiful old streets destroyed…I’m such an architecture nut. It’s AWFUL. Obviously, it’s MORE awful that so many people are being killed and destroyed in other ways.
I’d like to see Russia utterly humiliated, too…..or , at least, PUTIN.
I have always thought that, any day, someone from the inside would get rid of him, since the reports show so many Russians are not only upset but permanently leaving Russia because of Putin’s actions. (Sadly, too many are going to Armenia, by the way, which has always been used as a vacation place but is now turning into the Florida of Russia :-() MANY moving there.
And yes….that Colorado basketball thing is a tiny thing but it says so much about young dopes……it’s a shame those things get such coverage, but I hope it teaches those thoughtless, heartless jerks a big lesson having been exposed.
BOCOPRO….I wish we’d avoided it…or at least forced more of Europe to help.
MUSTANG: Ukraine has been corrupt and they actually thought Zelensky would SOLVE THAT!! 🙂 I keep thinking about that dramatic black/white photo of him and his wife on VOGUE and ask myself “Gee, who but a corrupt jerk would be in a war where his people are starving and pose like that?”
I don’t wish the Ukrainian PEOPLE bad, I know too many here in America, too, and they’re wonderful, normal people who deserve better…and I don’t believe all the people are corrupt but, heck WE voted Biden in…so we can’t blame them much for having been taken in by THIS jerk 🙂
“Smoldering Ukraine”….you’re right. SO SO awful, so sad.
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I would NOT shout like that at a ball game – infantile virtue signaling without understanding. (Or demand Anna Netrebko’s contract be rescinded either.)
SF + Mustang + 1. “Imagine the billion$ to be made in US-approved contracts.” Yup.
“I keep thinking about that dramatic black/white photo of him and his wife on VOGUE.” Yeah, and Vogue ran the same kind of spread on the tyrant Baby Al-Assad (or his wife) and quickly scrubbed it from all over the internet. The same magazine that could not rise to feature America’s most glamorous first lady on its cover (or anywhere). Pffft!
Zelensky and the whole structure of governance in Ukraine since the fall-of-the-wall has been a disaster. It’s the only former Soviet block area that has not seen a strong rise (or any rise) in income and standards of living as places like Poland, Czech and others. I do not feel sorry for the ‘country’ but certainly for most of the people and sufferings on bad leadership. Not the ones who are the philosophical descendants of partisans who murdered Jews and other Ukrainians who helped Jews in WW2, like the noble Vasiuta Wegrzynowska. They are still there, too. God knows who is who. May He protect the righteous and sort it out (as we sang last week “He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat”).
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BAYSIDER, you know, we really just do have to trust God on this one….There are horrid people and Godly people..but that’s not particular to Ukraine!! It’s just that they’re in the spotlight.
We have to remember, also, that Zelensky was billed as MR NON CORRUPT who was going to save Ukraine from corruption!!!…and he was elected…..AND then the talk was “Well, you can’t fix corruption in a few years…” Ya, ya, ya…………….
And yes, we had a legitimate MODEL in the White House but Vogue couldn’t publish HER on a cover!! OR anywhere, yes… Which was actually laughable IF you were’t a liberal.
And I STILL wonder at the probably ASTONISHING body guard situation Putin has around him because there are said to be PLENTY of bigwigs in the Kremlin who do NOT want Ukraine to go through this, do not want their family members killed there, and WANT PUTIN OUT, considering him a bit insane. Still…there he is 😦
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I trust the good lord to sort things out; otherwise, it would take humans 70,000 years before they could sift through the no-longer radioactive waste. Now here’s what I really think. The U.S. (as leader of the so-called free world) had a perfect opportunity to change Russia’s direction following the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Did we do that? No. Why? Because American diplomats are the galactic laughingstock of the interstellar diplomatic community. Someone (or a few someone’s) at Foggy Bottom thought it would be just peachy to invite Ukraine to join N.A.T.O. Now — given all we know about Russia’s innate paranoia, raise your hand if you can imagine this was a good idea. Note: Everyone with their hand in the air probably voted for Obama and Biden. Who was in charge of the White House back then? Why, Clinton, of course. This completely brainless decision to wipe the floor with the Russian federation flag moved the entire world closer to catastrophe — and that result remains “pending.” The United States is no closer to world peace today because none of our highest officials can think out of the box or get beyond “stupid.”
P.S. What country is Pripyat located in? What happened there in 1986? And what caused it, again?
Meanwhile, some statistics reflect as many as 830,000 humans have been affected by radioactive fallout, and thyroid cancer among children has soared. Can I just go ahead and say it? Gross incompetence. And we’re arming these people?
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Mustang, there is more than one reason it’s called Foggy Bottom. And you just said it.
We promised NO NATO for Ukraine, then fudged and fudged and fudged. Anyone with more than a cursory knowledge of Russian history and character would understand this is a bad idea. You’re right. That probably does not include any Obama voters. Just what was Victoria Nuland (who was in both Rep and Dem admins) et al doing there? Nuland wanted the UN -that great wailing wall in Turtle Bay – to be involved in a ‘political solution’ there. More bad news!
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MUSTANG: You know a lot about this…I’d love your best answers to:
Is it only because it ticked Russia off to have Ukraine invited into NATO that you’d be against it?
If they’d joined NATO, Putin would know for certain they’d get help if he attacked them/etc, right??? They did, anyway, so do you think he didn’t expect that?
Do you think he’d have gone in if Trump was still in office?
Is it that Putin just felt way too threatened by Ukraine joining NATO?
Not challenging, just totally curious….I think I know the answers but would like to hear your responses to the above!!! (hope you’re not too busy)
Pripyat…don’t worry; experts say that in 3000 years, it might be habitable again!! YIKES!
TELL ME WHAT YOU’D HAVE DONE FOR UKRAINE….left it TOTALLY alone? Just let Russia take it? Forced other closer countries to kick in and help somehow?
I’m not sure I’m against any of that…just would like to hear your ‘solutions’….
thanks!
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@ Z
Z — Is it only because it ticked Russia off to have Ukraine invited into NATO that you’d be against it?
Russia has two fascinating histories: territorial expansion and territorial defense. As a people, Russians are universally paranoid — not terribly unlike the Ukrainians. I’m against Ukraine joining N.A.T.O. for two reasons. First, because N.A.T.O. has become the problem rather than the solution. Second, the world is in greater danger with Ukraine in N.A.T.O. and, therefore, an enemy of Russia. I don’t have to argue this point — you can see it unfolding in the news. People forget that Russia still has its allies. This fight can get awfully uncomfortable for many innocent people in a hurry; I don’t want to see this happen.
Z — If they’d joined NATO, Putin would know for sure they’d get help if he attacked them/etc, right??? They did, anyway, so do you think he didn’t expect that?
Russia is always going to do what Russia thinks is right for Russia. It is what the Russian people expect of their president. They (the people) have a right to expect that. Now, if you were the president of Russia, you would be responsible for your people. Would you be happy to have Ukraine join N.A.T.O.? Because here’s the thing: the Russians know the Ukrainians better than we do. I think Russia did expect that … and we should have expected it too.
Z — Do you think he’d have gone in if Trump was still in office?
I think we should butt out of everyone else’s business. That’s what I mean about N.A.T.O. being a problem. I would have preferred that Trump “back out” of N.A.T.O. — because we pay the most … and give up the most people on the battlefield. How does that arrangement benefit America? Isn’t that what the U.S. president should be doing … benefitting Americans?
Z — Is it that Putin just felt way too threatened by Ukraine joining NATO?
Yes, that’s my thinking. What would I do? Look for ways to find peace rather than conflict. Remember, though, this has been going on since around 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq. At that moment, Putin understood that he would need allies. And he made them. He’s now a friend of all our “enemies.” Why? Because Poland joined N.A.T.O., and Georgia tried it. Poland worked, but Georgia didn’t. From that Georgian moment, Putin began sending Russian-speaking people into Crimea as a prelude to when Ukraine attempted to follow Poland. He knew then he wouldn’t stand for it. We should have known after Georgia where this was going. This is why I so despise our state department. They are so, so stupid.
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@ Baysider
Nuland is a patriot in the same way that Jamie Gorelick is a patriot. Not-so-much.
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MUSTANG…thanks so much. I appreciate your insight and I TOTALLY agree about NATO…..and our getting OUT.
Yes, Russia’s making friends with our enemies and enjoying touting the visits, etc….Why wouldn’t he? Great points.
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The history of the Ukraine is one bloody tale, starying with the don Cossacks. IMO, they are a unique country scooped up by Lenin and crew..and like us, prefer to be
independent. As to tales of corruption there, I have no info, but golly Putin’s enemies have a strange way dying by violence. With out us, USSR most likely would have been over run by Hitler (we sent a heck of a lot of stuff there- with no thank you. IMO, if
2 Ukranian soldiers equal 10 Russian troops who have no idea of why they are there, our help is a nice two-for: saving an independent country (Geo Washington thanks you, LaFayette) and having aggressive commies commit hari-kari.
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