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[US Foreign Policy] A Generation of War

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Posts

  • Crimson KingCrimson King Registered User regular
    if turmp wants to give iran fifteen billion dollars i'm absolutely for it, i don't really care what his thought process is

    they won't actually do it though, obviously

  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    My guess is that trump tore up the iran deal as a combination of petty swipe at obama, red meat for the base and because he figured it would be easy to bully and intimidate Iran.

    Unfortunately for him, the Iranians are made of sterner stuff then he thought and having voided the agreement on the thinnest of excuses they ultimately had the moral high ground in the eyes of the co signers particularly after trump began blind firing tariffs in every direction.

    So small wonder he's desperate to get out of this quagmire the same way he has every problem he couldn't bully or bullshit: bribery.

  • TarantioTarantio Registered User regular
    Julius wrote: »
    Tarantio wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    moniker wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    For the record, Putin does have popular support. While there was obvious voter fraud during the 2018 elections, Russian democracy is free enough that it didn't do more than make the win seem more overwhelming than it really was.

    A lot of Russians like Putin and what he has to say. And this should not in any way be a surprise to anyone, least of all Americans.

    The United States, while struggling, is generally still considered a democracy. The Russian Federation is not.

    Well sure all the western democracy indices don't consider it one because of all the repression, but it still functions as one and holds elections that are decently led and in which the outcome mostly resembles opinion. They don't hold sham elections or plain don't have them like some countries.

    Which is besides the point because the issue was popular support. Putin is popular, even while election results paint him as more popular than he is. Any foreign policy or analysis working on the assumption that he isn't is going to fail.

    How many of his electoral opponents wind up in the dock or in the morgue again? An election that isn't allowed to have an actual opposition is a sham election.

    Putin ran against like 7 people in 2018 who are all alive and free afaik. Navalny is probably in jail at the moment, but for the most part opposition it allowed.

    Sham elections are usually actual shams, not just incredibly heavily stacked in favour of one side. Putin and United Russia don't hold sham elections because they don't really need to.

    Russian elections are only legitimate if you think it's ok to ban public assembly of opposition, have no access to viable media platforms to campaign from and require putin's consent to form a party.

    I never said they were legitimate, whatever you mean by that. I don't think the Russian democracy is fine or acceptable. The current Russian government is repressive and authoritarian as shit.


    But if people here are just going to blindly repeat whatever dumb propaganda they heard, I am going to disagree with the false shit.

    Nothing you've disagreed with is false.

    I mean Honk said a blatantly false thing on the previous page and it got like 40 agrees.

    No, it was not blatantly false.

    They changed the rules to give some official powers of the President to the Prime Minister just before Putin went from being President to Prime Minister.

    Putin maintaining power that would otherwise be constitutionally prohibited by changing the law is precisely what happened.

    Did you not known that happened?

  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »

    So the asset we pulled out Russia because of Trump's bungling was like a direct check on Putin, holy bug fuck balls.

    So.... you know how this happened?

    Well.... it seems that the Russian Government has filed a request with Interpol to find Oleg Smolenkov, for some reason.

    I wonder who that could be...


    "Oleg Smolenkov is the alleged Russian CIA asset who was extracted in 2017, and whose whereabouts were reported in recent days."
    - Natasha Bertrand is national security writer for Politico.

    So... be careful of umbrellas and tea for the next couple of forevers, Oleg. Because the US President is a massive security risk.

  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    New York Times reporter:

    His intelligence people could really explain how wrong he is with tons of evidence, but he would just ignore them.

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Couscous wrote: »
    New York Times reporter:

    His intelligence people could really explain how wrong he is with tons of evidence, but he would just ignore them.

    They've probably stopped trying to tell him.

    THIS IS FINE

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    Hevach on
  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works.

    Yup. But remember, Trump doesn't want people spying, because well... that leads to shit like the Steele Dossier. And so he's thinking he can will spying out of existence.

    And anyone who doesn't think allies (Israel, UK, EU, etc) are spying on Trump, is fucked in the head. Why are they spying? Because he's compromised as fuck, and they need to know when the next figurative bombshell is coming. Other countries spy because they want to know when the next literal bombshell is coming.

    The fact is, this Administration is as irrational as shit. So, knowing even a couple hours in advance of Trump saying or doing something incredibly stupid, is important for their own national security.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    It goes farther than that - all those places were spying when Obama was president, and Bush, and Clinton, and etc etc etc. They want to know if we're doing something different than we say we are, they want to know who's pulling the strings, they want to know which departments have leaks in them so they can sanitize the information they give those departments (and then we spy to find out what they're hiding).

    I mean, yeah, getting ahead of the next holy shit moment probably outweighs polishing up the economic reports these days.

    Hevach on
  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    It goes farther than that - all those places were spying when Obama was president, and Bush, and Clinton, and etc etc etc. They want to know if we're doing something different than we say we are, they want to know who's pulling the strings, they want to know which departments have leaks in them so they can sanitize the information they give those departments (and then we spy to find out what they're hiding).

    I mean, yeah, getting ahead of the next holy shit moment probably outweighs polishing up the economic reports these days.

    Oh, absolutely. Even in the best of times, it happened.

    It's just doubly important now, because who knows when Trump is considering having his next brainsnap and deciding to fuck over your country, that a quick flattering conversation, and a promise to frequent one of his properties, will defuse.

    The psyop playbook on this dipshit is at best a pamphlet. He's as complicated as a 4 piece jigsaw. That's already got three pieces connected.

  • NSDFRandNSDFRand FloridaRegistered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    The other Five Eyes tend not to because we share quite a bit.

  • monikermoniker Registered User regular
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    The other Five Eyes tend not to because we share quite a bit.

    And the Maldives don't have a spy agency.

  • MortiousMortious The Nightmare Begins Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    The other Five Eyes tend not to because we share quite a bit.

    I thought one of the pros for that arrangement is to get around domestic spying restrictions by having one of the others do it and just pass it on?

    Move to New Zealand
    It’s not a very important country most of the time
    http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
  • RchanenRchanen Registered User regular
    moniker wrote: »
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    The other Five Eyes tend not to because we share quite a bit.

    And the Maldives don't have a spy agency.

    That you know of...

  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Rchanen wrote: »
    moniker wrote: »
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    The other Five Eyes tend not to because we share quite a bit.

    And the Maldives don't have a spy agency.

    That you know of...

    They don't have a bad spy agency.

  • NSDFRandNSDFRand FloridaRegistered User regular
    moniker wrote: »
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Israel is spying on us. Russia is spying on us. Saudi Arabia is spying on us. The UK is spying on us. Everyone is spying on everyone, and that's how the fucking world works. Everyone's steaming the envelopes, the difference is who's stealing the checks.

    The other Five Eyes tend not to because we share quite a bit.

    And the Maldives don't have a spy agency.

    I know this felt clever to type, but we have extensive sharing and cooperation with the other members of Five Eyes.

  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    Honk wrote: »
    I might have confused what the relevant law change was about at the time but double checking now, it was indeed the case that he was not permitted to run for a third term. To then step down to the second highest highest office while your friend keeps your chair warm until next time is pretty much the same thing in essence. He was never not the top man except on paper. The point was that he is a dictator.

    Ok so it wasn't actually what you said but you're still right because of something?

    like come on man I don't want to sound like a dick but you first said he changed the law to get more terms and then when it turns out he did no such thing and just followed the law it doesn't matter? It's the same thing in essence??


    Putin followed the '93 constitution and did not change the relevant rule. That makes him an obvious dictator on account of how dictators always just follow the rule of law.

  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    Like, elections are actually monitored by international organizations, guys. The OSCE concluded that the political environment is repressive and unfair, but the actual election was conducted openly and reasonably fair. Other organizations basically concurred.

    Oh my god what are you talking about.

    The OSCE didn't actually use the word "sham," but their statements make it very clear they considered the 2018 presidential election an efficiently-operated farce. The leader of the OSCE mission explicitly said there was no real choice to be had, with opposition candidates trod on to a degree that he questioned the point of the election.

    The report talks about four hundred and seventy reported complaints of election shenanigans (only two of which were actually even looked at by the state), ubiquitous media censorship and self-censorship, widespread coercion of voters, extrajudicial blocking of opposition speech online, criminalization of "insulting state officials," fully half the candidates for president being denied permission to run for election, and three-fifths of polling stations engaged in one form or another of irregularities ranging from non-secret ballots to overt stuffing of the boxes.

    Also, "fair election" and "repressive political environment" cannot coexist as concepts and I'm entirely fucking baffled that that isn't absolutely self-evident. You can have one, or you have the other, but you cannot have both.

    Ok yes absolutely fucking true and I am very glad that you agree with me that the USA doesn't have fair elections!

    If you don't though you can understand that there is a way that election can be fairly conducted, in the sense that votes are honestly tallied and reported, while the environment is such that it is not a reflection of an open, free political environment. People can have a free vote without having a truly free choice.

  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Julius wrote: »
    Honk wrote: »
    I might have confused what the relevant law change was about at the time but double checking now, it was indeed the case that he was not permitted to run for a third term. To then step down to the second highest highest office while your friend keeps your chair warm until next time is pretty much the same thing in essence. He was never not the top man except on paper. The point was that he is a dictator.

    Ok so it wasn't actually what you said but you're still right because of something?

    like come on man I don't want to sound like a dick but you first said he changed the law to get more terms and then when it turns out he did no such thing and just followed the law it doesn't matter? It's the same thing in essence??


    Putin followed the '93 constitution and did not change the relevant rule. That makes him an obvious dictator on account of how dictators always just follow the rule of law.

    It is yes.

    PSN: Honkalot
  • KetBraKetBra Dressed Ridiculously Registered User regular
    Russia not being an autocracy is a really weird take post-2012

    KGMvDLc.jpg?1
  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    Julius wrote: »
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    Julius wrote: »
    Like, elections are actually monitored by international organizations, guys. The OSCE concluded that the political environment is repressive and unfair, but the actual election was conducted openly and reasonably fair. Other organizations basically concurred.

    Oh my god what are you talking about.

    The OSCE didn't actually use the word "sham," but their statements make it very clear they considered the 2018 presidential election an efficiently-operated farce. The leader of the OSCE mission explicitly said there was no real choice to be had, with opposition candidates trod on to a degree that he questioned the point of the election.

    The report talks about four hundred and seventy reported complaints of election shenanigans (only two of which were actually even looked at by the state), ubiquitous media censorship and self-censorship, widespread coercion of voters, extrajudicial blocking of opposition speech online, criminalization of "insulting state officials," fully half the candidates for president being denied permission to run for election, and three-fifths of polling stations engaged in one form or another of irregularities ranging from non-secret ballots to overt stuffing of the boxes.

    Also, "fair election" and "repressive political environment" cannot coexist as concepts and I'm entirely fucking baffled that that isn't absolutely self-evident. You can have one, or you have the other, but you cannot have both.

    Ok yes absolutely fucking true and I am very glad that you agree with me that the USA doesn't have fair elections!

    If you don't though you can understand that there is a way that election can be fairly conducted, in the sense that votes are honestly tallied and reported, while the environment is such that it is not a reflection of an open, free political environment. People can have a free vote without having a truly free choice.

    But the report did not say the votes were honestly tallied and reported. It says that non-secret ballots were used in contravention of law and that overt ballot stuffing happened. 3/5ths of precincts had significant voting irregularities!

    And Putin has changed laws regarding how long he can be President. Or do you think there was a legitimate reason to extend it to 6 year terms? He centralized power as soon as he was in his first term! There are current talks about removing term limits! (finding text for the amendments isnt easy and this isnt worth the time to refute since the idea is ridiculous)

    wbBv3fj.png
  • TarantioTarantio Registered User regular
    Julius wrote: »
    Honk wrote: »
    I might have confused what the relevant law change was about at the time but double checking now, it was indeed the case that he was not permitted to run for a third term. To then step down to the second highest highest office while your friend keeps your chair warm until next time is pretty much the same thing in essence. He was never not the top man except on paper. The point was that he is a dictator.

    Ok so it wasn't actually what you said but you're still right because of something?

    like come on man I don't want to sound like a dick but you first said he changed the law to get more terms and then when it turns out he did no such thing and just followed the law it doesn't matter? It's the same thing in essence??


    Putin followed the '93 constitution and did not change the relevant rule. That makes him an obvious dictator on account of how dictators always just follow the rule of law.

    But he did change the law to move powers from the Presidency to the Prime Minister just before going from being President to being Prime Minister.

  • Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    this is how the OSCE summarized the two elections:
    US 2016 wrote:
    “The 8 November general elections were highly competitive and demonstrated commitment to fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association. The presidential campaign was characterized by harsh personal attacks, as well as intolerant rhetoric by one candidate. Diverse media coverage allowed voters to make an informed choice. Recent legal changes and decisions on technical aspects of the electoral process were often motivated by partisan interests, adding undue obstacles for voters. Suffrage rights are not guaranteed for all citizens, leaving sections of the population without the right to vote. These elections were administered by competent and professional staff, including on election day, which was assessed positively by IEOM observers, despite some instances of long queues and malfunctioning voting equipment”.
    the 18 March presidential election took place in an overly controlled legal and political environment marked by continued pressure on critical voices, while the CEC administered the election efficiently and openly. After intense efforts to promote turnout, citizens voted in significant numbers, yet restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression, as well as on candidate registration, have limited the space for political engagement and resulted in a lack of genuine competition. While candidates could generally campaign freely, the extensive and uncritical coverage of the incumbent as president in most media resulted in an uneven playing field. Overall, election day was conducted in an orderly manner despite shortcomings related to vote secrecy and transparency of counting.”

    The US election was competitive. The Russian election was not. Both elections were competently administered but Russian votes were not always counted properly.
    The comparison here seems quite straightforward.

    Dongs Galore on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    Focusing on the actual voting and vote counting seems weird when rigging an election can involve a ton of other means like censorship and ensuring the competition is the competition you want.

  • TarantioTarantio Registered User regular
    There's also been an on-cue massive raid of opposition party leadership and organization on trumped up bullshit charges.

    At least 200 individual raids.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/12/russian-police-raid-homes-and-offices-of-opposition-activists

  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    Totally a free country

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    but look, they still have elections, gawwwwd, what do you want

  • Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    Hell the Soviets had elections...

  • Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    Like, yeah, US democracy has major systemic flaws and bad actors. I don't recommend anyone emulate our model wholesale. But the constitution and this dumbass republic we have are fundamentally good enough, albeit sometimes embarrassing.

    Russian democracy is not permitted to embarrass the state.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    Couscous wrote: »
    Focusing on the actual voting and vote counting seems weird when rigging an election can involve a ton of other means like censorship and ensuring the competition is the competition you want.

    There's a ton of ways to rig an election, and the OSCE and other observers basically said that Putin was filling his Pokedex on them.

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Like, yeah, US democracy has major systemic flaws and bad actors. I don't recommend anyone emulate our model wholesale. But the constitution and this dumbass republic we have are fundamentally good enough, albeit sometimes embarrassing.

    Russian democracy is not permitted to embarrass the state.

    and the state, c'est Putin.

  • BlindPsychicBlindPsychic Registered User regular
    im endlessly fascinated by the utter failure of our participation in INTERPOL. Like at some point in the last few years it became an international arm of China and Russia's secret police

  • DarklyreDarklyre Registered User regular
    I couldn't figure out where else to post this, because no matter where you stand on US foreign policy this shit is hilarious in the worst way.

    Trump shouts "Where's my favorite dictator?" at meeting with Egyptian officials.

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    im endlessly fascinated by the utter failure of our participation in INTERPOL. Like at some point in the last few years it became an international arm of China and Russia's secret police

    This application thing is usually denied when Russia tries it. They are just being dicks about it.

  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Darklyre wrote: »
    I couldn't figure out where else to post this, because no matter where you stand on US foreign policy this shit is hilarious in the worst way.

    Trump shouts "Where's my favorite dictator?" at meeting with Egyptian officials.

    Really just shows that not only is Trump okay with dictators, he literally doesn't see anything wrong with them.

    The man is mostly just envious, and wishes that's how it worked at home. The irony is, he's arguably such a fucking lazy coward, he likely doesn't have the drive or strength of will to do what'd be necessary, even if Republicans and the military and political bureaucracy surrendered completely.

  • CelestialBadgerCelestialBadger Registered User regular
    Darklyre wrote: »
    I couldn't figure out where else to post this, because no matter where you stand on US foreign policy this shit is hilarious in the worst way.

    Trump shouts "Where's my favorite dictator?" at meeting with Egyptian officials.

    He’s going to make Putin and Kim Jong Un cry....

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Darklyre wrote: »
    I couldn't figure out where else to post this, because no matter where you stand on US foreign policy this shit is hilarious in the worst way.

    Trump shouts "Where's my favorite dictator?" at meeting with Egyptian officials.

    He just did that to make Sisi feel good, he's top five at best.

  • JaysonFourJaysonFour Classy Monster Kitteh Registered User regular
    Yeah,
    MorganV wrote: »
    Darklyre wrote: »
    I couldn't figure out where else to post this, because no matter where you stand on US foreign policy this shit is hilarious in the worst way.

    Trump shouts "Where's my favorite dictator?" at meeting with Egyptian officials.

    Really just shows that not only is Trump okay with dictators, he literally doesn't see anything wrong with them.

    The man is mostly just envious, and wishes that's how it worked at home. The irony is, he's arguably such a fucking lazy coward, he likely doesn't have the drive or strength of will to do what'd be necessary, even if Republicans and the military and political bureaucracy surrendered completely.

    Trump wants unconditional love and support from the American people- like the kind he forced his workers to give him and his family when he was CEO- but then he had a whole board willing to translate and run things so he didn't have to deal with any of it. I don't think he's used to not having people love him automatically- and that causes him to lash out for the praise he gets heaped on him by the band of geese that vote and support him. He's, for lack of a better word, a whore for praise. He'll do what he thinks will get him the most love and praise from those that like him, even if they're horrible little oiks that don't care how bad they're being hurt, just as long as someone else they approve of is getting it worse.

    steam_sig.png
    I can has cheezburger, yes?
  • HandkorHandkor Registered User regular
    I haven't seen the US's response yet to "Drone strikes knock out half of Saudi oil capacity, 5 million barrels a day"
    The next couple of days are about to be tumultuous.

    The price of the barrel will climb quickly and also Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility plus intelligence warned that the Houthi rebels were given drone capabilities in 2018 by Iran, I'm glad Bolton is gone.

    Hopefully we don't see too many strings getting pulled by friends of Trump.

  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    Handkor wrote: »
    I haven't seen the US's response yet to "Drone strikes knock out half of Saudi oil capacity, 5 million barrels a day"
    The next couple of days are about to be tumultuous.

    The price of the barrel will climb quickly and also Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility plus intelligence warned that the Houthi rebels were given drone capabilities in 2018 by Iran, I'm glad Bolton is gone.

    Hopefully we don't see too many strings getting pulled by friends of Trump.

    Lindsey Graham went with his reaction to everything: bomb Iran.

    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
This discussion has been closed.