And then there is the other side to the equation: now Finland and Sweden have far more better relations with Russia than NATO countries and both would be happy if things would be OK as now — ssu
If so, who then the US sees as a reliable and effective ally? Or is like with Trump that the US needs no allies?I don't think the US military sees Europe as a reliable or effective ally. — frank
If so, who then the US sees as a reliable and effective ally? Or is like with Trump that the US needs no allies? — ssu
So a small incursion is OK? — ssu
Finland admitted that it has increased it's military readiness due to the present tense situation. — ssu
It really happened when the Soviet Union collapsed. The best example of this when you had the liberation of Kuwait by older Bush and the occupation of Iraq by his son. The great diplomatic lengths that Bush senior went, the huge alliance consisten of Pakistan, Egypt, GCC countries, Morocco and even Syria (whose armed forces actually during his vice Presidency the US had bombed and had lost aircraft shot down) show how that wasn't the unipolar moment. After it, it was. Many same guys where there with the younger Bush and basically didn't care a shit about others. Not even France, a long term ally of the US, didn't bother. (And the US response was Freedom Fries!)I'm sure you realize that American unilateralism started before Trump — frank
Definately not. Just as Sweden, the US isn't a military threat. Why would the US put sanctions, threaten with occupation or annexation Finland? In the 19th Century the US was a similar bully as Putin's Russia towards it's neighbors and in the case of it's northern neighbor back then, it got it's ass kicked in a humiliating way. Hence you have warm relations now, I guess.What does that mean in practical terms? I thought you said that the Finnish prefer Russia to the US in terms of hegemony. — frank
would say bluntly, that for the US to behave reasonably, to take into account other countries and to form alliances, the country needs a real threat of nuclear weapons — ssu
But then again, something like a large invasion of Ukraine might trigger that and the countries could see that "enough is enough". — ssu
You really only need allies when you're fighting for your life. Otherwise, why care what Europeans want or need when they wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire?
That's just the 21st Century reality I think. — frank
Uumm...because they have already done that? You see, there already is a war going on in the Donbas. Or that they had made demand the West cannot accept (based on Westphalian sovereignty). It's hard to deny something that has already happened, as you are saying.But whence this idea that Russia wants to invade Ukraine?? — baker
Really?This is pure provocation on the part of the US and their EU allies. — baker
I only hope that you would also look at how Russia has been behaving here towards it's neighbors as it's actions, it's wars and annexations of parts from two neighboring countries is the reason for all this.They've been treating Russia as if it was a rebellious teenager who needs to be put in place. They've been pretty much telling Russia words to the effect of "You're bad, and you're doubly bad because you don't admit that you're bad". — baker
Yes, it's a lengthy historical text, but do notice the open hostility towards the current independent Ukrainian administration is clearly evident. Even the independence of Ukraine as an sovereign state is put into question. — ssu
But now it would be as if Austria would demand "a sphere of influence" over Hungary and the Czechs and Slovaks. — ssu
But now it would be as if Austria would demand "a sphere of influence" over Hungary and the Czechs and Slovaks. — ssu
And this just shows that there is truth to what they say about EU and NATO: that these organizations make members to be team players, or at least not to have open military hostilities with each other. Greece and Turkey, two NATO countries with the worse bilateral relations, have barely avoided war. Yet without them being NATO members, they would surely have had a war or two between the two armed forces since WW2.Maybe not Austria, but the Hungarian rightist government still thinks it should be granted its 'greater' pre-WWI borders. This is the gut feeling Putin has for Ukraine and many Ukrainians are sympathetic to Russia. — magritte
What are the options? The end of democracy in America in 2024 or another world war. — magritte
new Medicare privatization scheme developed under President Donald Trump and now being expanded under President Joe Biden is forcing hundreds of thousands of seniors onto new private Medicare plans without their consent.
The development represents a troubling new dimension in the fight by corporate interests to privatize Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people sixty-five or older. Medicare Advantage, which allows for-profit health insurers to offer privatized benefits through Medicare, already results in unexpected costs for routine procedures and wrongful denials of care. Private plans have cost Medicare an astonishing $143 billion since 2008, and are now driving some health insurers’ record profits.
The new Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) program similarly adds a private sector third party between patients and Medicare services. Medicare allows these intermediary companies to offer unique benefits, like gym membership coverage. But as for-profit operations ranging from private insurers to publicly traded companies to private equity firms, these intermediaries are incentivized to limit the care that patients receive, especially when they are very sick.
Biden's looking like a rock star. Couldn't Putin have waited a couple more years to do this? — frank
I think Biden is still unpopular. So perhaps a rock star who has lost his fans, perhaps gained too much weight, cut his heavy-rock hair and now reminds the previous fans of their dad.I thought his ratings were in the toilet. But anyway, do you think he'll run again? — Baden
Seven in 10 Americans expressed low confidence in the president's ability to deal with Russia's invasion of Ukraine as Biden's approval fell to 40 percent in new NBC News poll.
Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners invested $500,000 in the San Francisco pathogen research company Metabiota and raised millions more through firms that included Goldman Sachs, according to the e-mails found on the computer, which was abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in April 2019 as Joe Biden ran for president.
Hunter introduced Metabiota to officials at Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company where he was a board member, for a “science project” involving biolabs in Ukraine, the e-mails show.
While many aspects of Hunter Biden’s financial arrangement with CEFC China Energy have been previously reported and were included in a Republican-led Senate report from 2020, a Washington Post review confirmed many of the key details and found additional documents showing Biden family interactions with Chinese executives.
Over the course of 14 months, the Chinese energy conglomerate and its executives paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle, according to government records, court documents and newly disclosed bank statements, as well as emails contained on a copy of a laptop hard drive that purportedly once belonged to Hunter Biden.
The Post did not find evidence that Joe Biden personally benefited from or knew details about the transactions with CEFC, which took place after he had left the vice presidency and before he announced his intentions to run for the White House in 2020.
But the new documents — which include a signed copy of a $1 million legal retainer, emails related to the wire transfers, and $3.8 million in consulting fees that are confirmed in new bank records and agreements signed by Hunter Biden — illustrate the ways in which his family profited from relationships built over Joe Biden’s decades in public service.
Don't ever think there is any logic to it. For Republicans, everything that Trump did was good. Everything (same) that Biden does is bad.Again, how it is that Trump supporters are not avid fans for Biden is beyond me. — StreetlightX
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