Tag: Public Opinion

Is It Anger Or Outside Agitators?

The glory that is our Congress, especially thye GOP, have been having townhalls after a month of His Highness’ program to ‘save America’ and it has not been going so well….Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri townhalls have shown the anger that has been leveled at the Reps when they are at home (these are just the ones that I know off first hand there may be more)…..and now the GOP has slammed on the brakes on such meet and greet with the peasants.

Well, we guess Republican congressmen have tried this town hall thing and it went poorly for them, so now they’re going to go back to hiding from voters. It’s not like they believe in democracy or answering to their constituents anyway. What’s the point of Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s fascist Nazi takeover if Republicans have to be held accountable or face re-election? As Trump said on the campaign trail, just come out and vote this time — he was talking to white supremacist Christian nationalists — and you won’t have to vote anymore, ever again.

No more people who jeer at you and tell you to fuck yourself when you tell them their unemployment is all part of God’s glorious plan. No more people to scream at you to do your job or get offended when you say them asking you questions is just like January 6. Don’t these peasants understand their congressman’s job is to help Dear Leader usher in a new golden age dictatorship of autocracy and Nazism?

NBC News reports that House Republicans have decided to “hit the brakes” on all this town hall rigaramarole. They’re “weary and wary,” says the article. And the party leaders are saying “oh bless your hearts!” and “oh you poor things!” and saying they shouldn’t do town halls anymore if they’re scary, and they ARE very scary:

Party leaders suggest that if lawmakers feel the need to hold such events, they do tele-town halls or at least vet attendees to avoid scenes that become viral clips, according to GOP sources.

A GOP aide said House Republican leaders are urging lawmakers to stop engaging in them altogether.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/republicans-quitting-town-halls-to

In typical fashion the GOP is blaming outside agitators for the problem….because apparently they want to believe that their assaults on the people’s lives is nothing for them to get angry at so it must be those damn outside agitators.

First and foremost….who are these ‘outside agitators?

Does GOP seriously believe that their actions could not anger anyone of their faithful?

This way they do not have to actually hear in person from people upset with them or their clueless leader.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine: Are Cracks Forming?

I recently made a comment about the cracks that are forming around the support for Ukraine….and I waited to see if there would be any push back on that single comment.

And I waited.  (Was that crickets?)

Since that has not been forthcoming I will take the lead….

One issue is over Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in battle for over eight months. Biden administration officials think Ukraine has expended too many resources defending Bakhmut and worry it will impact their ability to launch a counteroffensive this spring, but officials in Kyiv have decided to keep fighting for the city.

Another point of contention is over Crimea as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists they will retake the peninsula, which has been under Russian control since 2014 and is populated by people who are happy to be part of the Russian Federation.

While some Biden administration officials have vowed support for Ukrainian attacks on Crimea, the POLITICO report said other US officials believe Zelensky’s insistence that there will be no peace talks until the peninsula is taken will only prolong the war. But publicly, President Biden and other US officials maintain that negotiations will only happen under Kyiv’s terms.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also acknowledged the risk of escalation that would come with a Ukrainian attempt on Crimea, calling it a “red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Pentagon has said it’s unlikely Kyiv can take the peninsula.

The US also appears to be tired of Zelensky’s constant demands for weapons. Two White House officials told POLITICO that there are “grumblings” in Washington over Zelesnky’s constant requests and lack of gratitude. Despite the massive amount of support provided by the US and its allies, Ukrainian officials have frequently said that it’s “not enough” and are demanding fighter jets and longer-range missiles.

The POLITICO report mentioned the Nord Stream sabotage and how US officials are now linking the attack to Ukraine while insisting the Ukrainian government was not involved. But the vague claims are likely an attempt to shift blame from the US following the bombshell report from investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that alleged President Biden ordered the bombing of the pipelines.

Publicly, Biden still maintains he will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” but there are other signs that the US is thinking about winding down its support. CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv in January and told Zelensky that Congress might not pass any more massive aid packages for the war. Ukrainian officials are concerned that the administration might use Congress as an excuse to scale down assistance.

(antiwar.com)

On a side note….a recent report does not lead me to have confidence in anything happening in Ukraine….

A senior Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post that Kyiv doesn’t have the resources to pull off a big counteroffensive in the coming months as Ukraine is lacking skilled troops, munitions, and other equipment.

“If you have more resources, you more actively attack,” said the official, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity. “If you have fewer resources, you defend more. We’re going to defend. That’s why if you ask me personally, I don’t believe in a big counteroffensive for us. I’d like to believe in it, but I’m looking at the resources and asking, ‘With what?’ Maybe we’ll have some localized breakthroughs.”

The official said Ukraine doesn’t have “the people or weapons” to pull off a counteroffensive. “And you know the ratio: When you’re on the offensive, you lose twice or three times as many people. We can’t afford to lose that many people,” the official said.

The Post also spoke with a Ukrainian battalion commander who went by the name of Kupol and detailed the grim situation on the frontlines. Kupol said his battalion previously withdrew from the town of Soledar, which is near the eastern city of Bakhmut, and came under Russian control in January.

Ukrainian Official Says Kyiv Doesn’t Have the Resources for a Counteroffensive

I understand the troop thing….but the resources thing is baffling…..I mean we are pouring resources into Ukraine (or as we are told)….

Is this proxy conflict the death of Ukraine?

Proxy wars are notoriously hard to control, especially when the aspirations of those doing the fighting and those sending the weapons diverge. They also have a bad habit of luring sponsors of proxy wars, as happened to the U.S. in Vietnam and Israel in Lebanon, directly into the conflict. Proxy armies are given weaponry with little accountability, significant amounts of which end up on the black market or in the hands of warlords or terrorists. CBS News reported last year that around 30 percent of the weapons sent to Ukraine make it to the front lines, a report it chose to partially retract under heavy pressure from Kyiv and Washington. The widespread diversion of donated military and medical equipment to the black market in Ukraine was also documented by U.S. journalist Lindsey Snell.

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/ukraines-death-by-proxy

Of course we can not talk about Ukraine without some mention of Crimea…..that part of Ukraine that has been annexed by Russia….what about the future of this region?

Well it seems that Crimea may be up for negotiations….with a caveat.

An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Financial Timesthat Kyiv would be “ready” to negotiate the status of Crimea with Russia if it launches a successful counteroffensive and captures the territory Russia controls that borders the peninsula.

“If we will succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we will be on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” said Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office.

Sybiha’s comments are the first sign that Ukraine might be willing to seek a diplomatic solution with Russia over Crimea. Kyiv cut off peace talks with Moscow in April 2022. Since then, Zelensky and his top aides have called for a complete Russian withdrawal from all the territory it controls, including Crimea, before any negotiations can resume.

The Zelensky posse may not be on the same page….on Crimea.

A Ukrainian official said Thursday that Kyiv’s goal of kicking Russia out of Crimea hasn’t changed after an aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested Ukraine might be open to negotiating the issue.

“Ukraine will choose the way to bring Crimea back, using political and military means,” Tamila Tasheva, Zelensky’s envoy for Crimea, told POLITICO.

Andriy Sybiha, the deputy of Zelensky’s office, said a day earlier that Kyiv would be “ready” to negotiate over Crimea if it launches a successful counteroffensive up to the peninsula’s borders. The comments were the first sign Kyiv might rethink its position that peace talks can only happen when Russia is expelled from the territory.

More to come.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Messaging

Trump has had his day in court…..so can we get back to stuff that is really important?

As I watch the daily news dump I see a lot about the war in Ukraine.

I would say that the messaging management of the conflict in Ukraine has been spot on.

The comments here tells me that few look beyond their favorite news media.

But the truth of the matter is that the messaging public and private are not the same thing.

“I want Russia to be defeated in Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron publicly told the media. But it’s not what he privately told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also said that now is not the right time for dialogue with Moscow and that France is ready to sustain “a longer conflict.” That’s not what he told Zelensky either.

“America…will stand with you as long as it takes,” President Biden publicly promised Ukraine in his State of the Union Address. But it’s not what his administration privately told Zelensky.

“The war I know about is not the war you are reading about,” investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said recently.

Managing public perception about the war to control the narrative and maintain support seems to have required a divorce between what NATO officials are telling Ukraine privately and what they are telling the public they are telling Ukraine.

Biden’s public mantra has been “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” and “will stand with you as long as it takes.” Privately, neither seems to be true.

Contrary to the public message of as long as it takes, as long as it takes has a private expiration date. “We will continue to try to impress upon them that we can’t do anything and everything forever,” a senior administration official said. CIA Director William Burns secretly communicated to Zelensky that “at some point assistance would be harder to come by.”

Contrary to the public message that the U.S. supports Ukraine’s aspirations to reclaim all of its territory, the private message to Ukraine is that that is not going to happen. After the war, Ukraine will be a divided nation.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/public-vs-private-managing-perceptions-of-the-war-in-ukraine/

The key to this disconnect is what the article called “managing the perception of war to control the narrative”…..I have been telling readers about this disconnect and few have seen the problem….basically because Putin is an ass (simplistic dribble).

Even a US general does not see this ending well at all….

Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine is unlikely to end on the battlefield and will instead come to a conclusion at a negotiating table, the top US general predicts.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said he believes that neither Russia, nor Ukraine, will likely be able to achieve their objectives through military power. The highest-ranking US military officer recently told the Eurasia Group Foundation in a podcast that he believes diplomats from various countries will be the ones to eventually put an end to the fighting.

“At some point people will figure out that the cost of continuing to execute this war through military means is extraordinarily challenging. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done. And I applaud the Ukrainian will and their courage and their resilience,” Milley said on the podcast, which was released on Tuesday, according to a transcript of his remarks. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/costs-ukraine-blood-treasure-kick-russia-invaders-out-us-general-2023-3

Zelensky has hired a bevy of PR firms and lobbyists to help sell the war to Congress and the public…..and it is working if the comments here are any indication.

This is probably basically a fart in a hurricane….the comments will tell.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Do Americans Think Of War?

My regular visitors will know that I am a staunch opponent of war…..after serving in Vietnam for 2 and half years I saw the obscenities of war close-up and personal…..once I returned to the US I became a hardcore anti-war activist and protester……but that is just me.

But it will be interesting just what do Americans think about war…..and the site fivethirtyeight.com took a great ;look at the question.

It’s hard to remember now that it’s over, but the war in Afghanistan was overwhelmingly popular when it began. 

Merely a week after Sept. 11, then-president George W. Bush signed a joint resolution from Congress authorizing the use of force against those responsible, and the U.S. and British, with international support, began bombing Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces Oct. 7. The American public almost universally approved this rush to war: A Gallup poll conducted soon after found that 90 percent supported the war and only 5 percent opposed it. 

The circumstances, of course, were very particular: There had been an attack on American soil. When Bush’s war on terror expanded to Iraq in 2003, more Americans questioned the reasoning behind going to war — skepticism that turned out to be justified — and there were high-profile protests against the Bush administration, but still an overwhelming majority supported the effort: About 76 percent approved and 20 percent disapproved, according to Gallup.

With time, though, both wars became less popular. A Pew Research Center survey conducted last August, after the U.S. had fully withdrawn from the country, found that a majority of Americans supported the decision to leave Afghanistan, even as a plurality thought the Biden administration had handled the withdrawal badly, while a July 2021 Gallup poll found that 47 percent of Americans thought the war had been a mistake. Many younger Americans had grown up entirely during the war’s 20-year duration and so hadn’t formed an opinion at the war’s inception, while many older Americans had changed their minds as its costs multiplied over time.

What Do Americans Think About War?

Almost daily we hear one pundit after another telling us all about the horrors that the people of Ukraine are suffering….but I do not remember there being that much concern for others that we had fought in the past and what it did to the civilian population.

To be honest there was reports scattered around the news cycle….but nothing like the 24 hours of constant visual theater.

Personally, to answer the question I do not feel that the American people really care about war…..as long as they can continue to go to Starbucks for $10 coffee all is well in the world.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden On Ukraine

The Ukraine situation has illustrated that there is a wealth of mindless rhetoric and armchair generals most of which shows me that there is little understanding of how this whole conflict is working.

Just how will the American people feel on the handling of Biden over the invasion of Ukraine by Vlad the Invader?

I read that over 50% of the American people want Biden to do more on the Ukraine situation…..

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will have far more serious repercussions around the world than on U.S. domestic politics. We at FiveThirtyEight are experts on the latter, though, so here’s a look at how the conflict might affect President Biden’s political standing. (With war breaking out only this week, it’s too early to say anything for sure, so consider this a scene-setter of sorts.)

First, Biden starts off this crisis with low marks from the American public on foreign policy. In five polls conducted this month,1 between 52 percent and 58 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Biden’s handling of foreign policy; only 35-44 percent said they approved.

How Will Americans Grade Biden’s Handling Of The Crisis In Ukraine?

I agree that Biden’s foreign policy sucks…..but what could he do better?  My thought is make diplomacy the primary aim of the State Dept. not war as a knee jerk reaction.

Interesting that a majority disapproves or has no opinion on Ukraine aid……

One-third of Americans say they approve of President Biden’s handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a new poll released on Friday.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 33 percent of Americans say they approve of the president’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine situation, while 47 percent say they disapprove and 20 percent say they have no opinion.

Close to half of Americans polled — 48 percent — also said that they believed America’s leadership in the world had gotten weaker under Biden. Meanwhile, 23 percent said they believed it had gotten stronger and 26 percent said they believed it had stayed the same.

(thehill.com)

Americans want Biden to do more on Ukraine….what would that be?

Crippling sanctions in place, aid to Ukraine both lethal and humanitarian, rallied the world,….basically all that is left to do is commit troops.  Are these uninformed trolls really ready for that?

After twenty years of wasted lives and money and now some want it to happen again….what are they thinking?
 
These polls just illustrate just how uninformed the American people have become….they depend on ignorance to cloud their thinking.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Not Weary, Apathetic

Just recently I wrote a post that got a good conversation started…..https://lobotero.com/2019/07/23/are-we-war-weary/

When I returned to civilian life after Vietnam I was amazed it just how little people knew of the country that were bombing into the stone age.  They knew there was a war that the country was fighting but had NO idea where it was or why were fighting other than some moronic slogan.

After I wrote my post I read another one that is accurate as well……

In May 2019, retired general and former national security advisor H.R. McMaster lamented that a narrative of war-weariness is hurting America. “A young student stood up and said ‘all I’ve known my whole life is war,’” said McMaster, referring to a recent town hall he watched. “Now, he’s never been to war, but he’s been subjected, I think, to this narrative of war-weariness.” Of course, one student is not necessarily representative of an entire population. And while McMaster isn’t wrong, the focus on war-weariness obscures the more general and arguably more pernicious fact that the American population is broadly disengaged from American foreign policy and the places it takes soldiers like myself. In fact, during CNN’s series of hour-long town hall events with five leading 2020 Democratic candidates in April, only three questions were asked about foreign policy. None of them were about America’s nearly two-decade-long post-9/11 wars.

When I told my family and close friends that I would be deploying to Syria, the common reaction was confusion. “Wait,” one civilian friend asked me, “we have troops in Syria?” Indeed, when President Donald Trump announced that he would be withdrawing American forces from the country last year, the few posts I saw from friends on Facebook conveyed surprise—not at the president’s sudden policy reversal, but at the fact America had invested blood and treasure there in the first place. These are neither uneducated nor politically disengaged citizens. On the contrary, many are college-educated, civically aware people who are as likely to share a think piece from the Atlantic as they are the latest Game of Thrones meme. Their attention was just focused elsewhere—immigration, healthcare, and the latest speculation about the Mueller investigation.

https://mwi.usma.edu/americans-arent-war-weary-theyre-war-apathetic/

It is a shame that a young soldier can go on a deployment into a war zone and the population could care less.

They care when they are told to care but on their own they could care less…..more people care what happens to those on “Naked and Afraid” than what happens to a soldier.

Makes me ashamed.

I may have left the military and laid my weapon aside in exchange for pen and paper and I fight on.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

The Saudis Are At It Again

I do hope that everyone enjoyed their Sunday…..but now it is time to get back to the seriousness of the world around us.

The Saudis have been getting some pretty bad press lately……their war in Yemen, their beheadings, their lousy human rights score, etc….things are so bad that they hired a PR firm to help improve their image……and I admit that it does need work and lots of it…..

The Crown Prince called MbS has come to America to start his rehabilitation…….and he went straight to the Jews to get the PR off on a positive footing……

Amid recent reports of improving Saudi-Israel ties, at least behind the scenes, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is visiting the United States, has met with the leaders of a number of US Jewish organizations.

The prince visited with officials from AIPAC, Stand for Israel, the American Jewish Committee, ADL, the Jewish Federation of North America, and others. The visits were revealed in a leaked copy of his itinerary, and were not meant to be publicized.

It’s not just that these groups are Jewish, as such, or even that they’re broadly pro-Israel. Much of the controversy is seen as many of the groups are both involved in the Israeli settlement venture, illegal under international law and widely criticized in the Middle East, and are anti-BDS groups.

Analysts familiar with the situation say that these meetings are being done broadly for the benefit of how the Saudis believe it looks to the Trump Administration. The Saudis apparently think such meetings show the prince as much more willing to engage with Jewish groups, and by extension to align themselves with the administration’s pro-Israel policy, than previous Saudi leaders have been.

(antiwar.com)

If they can get the Jews on their side then the US will weasel in behind them…..

Then I read a report that MbS has stated that the US was behind the spread of radical Islam, as the tin foil hat group likes to call it………

In a sensational interview with the Washington Post, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and de-facto leader Muhammad bin Salman has blamed the US and its allies for putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to export the extremist Wahhabi ideology during the Cold War as a means to counter the influence of the Soviet Union in the wider Muslim world.

Slaman’s statement is unequivocally true as the US constantly worked to prop up monarchical regimes in the Arab world at the expense of secular Arab Nationalist governments whose style of government and geo-political struggle for post-colonial liberation automatically drew them closer to the USSR. In Asia, during the Soviet intervention on behalf of the legitimate Afghan government in the 1980s, the United States collaborated with Riyadh to fund and arm the Mujahideen which ultimately mutated into Al-Qaeda.

http://www.eurasiafuture.com/2018/03/28/saudi-crown-prince-muhammad-bin-salman-blames-america-for-spread-of-wahhabism-as-petroyuan-beckons/

There is more…….

“Asked about the Saudi-funded spread of Wahhabism, the austere faith that is dominant in the kingdom and that some have accused of being a source of global terrorism, Mohammed said that investments in mosques and madrassas overseas were rooted in the Cold War, when allies asked Saudi Arabia to use its resources to prevent inroads in Muslim countries by the Soviet Union.” [emphasis added]

http://theantimedia.com/saudi-crown-prince-america-isis-ideology/

The extreme form of Islam is called Wahhabism and it originated in Saudi Arabia…..it is possible that the US tried to use religion to halt the spread of Communism….but I think that MbS is trying to put a US spin on his country’s radicalism….

The tour, the PR tour continues, and he will get whatever he wants from the Trump White House including the nukes he so desires.

Now think about that for damn minute.

In case it is too much to ask then here is what I mean……nukes in the hands of radical Islamists….the very fundamentals that fuel AQ and ISIS…..get it now?

America’s War-Weary Public | Consortiumnews

Keeping with the theme of the day….the topic is WAR.

The crisis in the Ukraine has returned all our wannabes back to the microphones and cameras….these mental midgets are out there thumping their chests like some sex crazed primate…..but all that macho talk these people are forgetting one simple truth…the American people are war weary…….

 

America’s War-Weary Public | Consortiumnews.

Celebs For The PR

Before I go on my little rant for the day….I have a thought to share…..we are in an extreme cold weather cycle and with all said I have an explanation……..IT IS WINTER!  Enuff said?

We hear almost hourly that some celeb is pushing this charity or the other…..they tell us all the good your cash will do….the all but beg for cash to continue the work that has been started….but let me ask….after you donate what is result of your generous donations?

I am glad I ask that……I found a few results of all this good will that our dynamite celebs have given us and the world…..remember after Katrina when Brad Pitt was getting all that PR about building new homes for the homeless?  Well here is part of the result……

Newser) – Brad Pitt got a lot of good press when he built a number of affordable, eco-friendly homes in New Orleans’ devastated Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina … but here comes the bad press. Some of the houses are starting to rot, and the wood will need to be replaced. “The wood turned gray and it was also black,” one homeowner tells Radar. “Also some parts it was buckling and it had mushrooms growing out of it.” Of the 100 houses built by Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, 30 used wood from TimberSIL, which claims to use non-toxic ingredients to prevent rot. Though not all 30 are yet rotting, all of them will have that wood replaced, the New Orleans Advocate reports.

The absence of chemicals in the wood apparently left it “unable to withstand moisture,” says a Make It Right rep, “which obviously is a big problem in New Orleans.” The wood was guaranteed for 40 years, but some of the homes in question were built as recently as three years ago, and the replacement project will cost Make It Right $150,000. The organization is considering legal action.

To be honest I heard after I wrote this draft that Pitt’s organization will make it all right……thus he will most likely forgo a lawsuit…..

Brad Pitt is not alone…for instance remember when George Clooney was all over the tube pushing for some sort of justice in Sudan….especially in the South where many people had been killed and maimed by militias….you may not recall…but I do….and that is…..WHY I AM HERE!

Here is part of the PR problem for Clooney and other celebs that jumped on this bandwagon…..

(Newser) – Hollywood stars like George Clooney and Don Cheadle have argued passionately for nation-building in South Sudan. Only problem: They didn’t quite see the whole story, writes Daniel Howden at the Guardian. Film stars and other activists delivered “a narrative about the new country that borrowed from a simple script”: After two decades of war and two million dead, the south needed to break free from “an Islamic and chauvinist north led by an indicted war criminal.” And only “huge development support” was required.

But most of the fighting was actually between rival militia groups in the south, often fueled by ethnic tensions, writes Howden. And when the war ended in 2005, no effort was made to ease those tensions. So when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked his government to stop then-Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer, from taking power, the two groups naturally started fighting. Now, “the only way out … will be another round of payoffs to military commanders and a reluctant return to square one on the state-building board, accompanied by an admission of past failures.”

Ple4ase do not get me wrong…….these people try to do good work but they need to be warned that their actions have consequences and some of them are not so pretty………and it is a shame that we need celebs to speak up before some of the problems are noticed….to me that is the saddest part….few care less unless some overpaid acting hack tells them they need to care….so very sad!