Tag: Putin

Brotherhood Of The Traveling Poop

**Is this a true report or some ‘Onion-like” sarcasm?**

I leave out today with the most fascinating story of the day (at least for me)….it details things that happen when Donny met Vlad in Alaska….

There seem to be a problem with American toilets….he is not allowed to leave any dumps on American soil….

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump recently met in Alaska. While the Russian leader made several stops on his trip to the U.S., he didn’t make any to the bathroom — because his bodyguards won’t let him defecate into an American toilet.

In 2022, a group of investigative journalists alleged that Russia’s Federal Protection Service collects Putin’s bodily waste during foreign trips, storing his urine and feces in a special briefcase to prevent others from obtaining information about his health.

This actually makes a weird sort of sense, as rumors about Putin’s ill health have been swirling for years, and leaving any excrement that can be tested would allow any opposing nation to score some propaganda points by discovering he has, I don’t know, mumps or something.

Still, if your job involves you dropping the kids off not at the pool, but in a briefcase, you might want to consider a career change.

(ebaumsworld.com)

Now there is a dream job….collecting Putin poop and then lugging it around.

Hows did the MSM miss this story?

It is far more interesting than then lameass meeting the two ‘super stars’ held recently.

Sorry I could not resist this story.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Meeting Was A Dud

Last Friday Donny and Putin held their head to head talks on ending the Ukraine debacle….and how did that go?

President Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke for three hours on Friday, but they did not cinch an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. “We haven’t quite got there, but we’ve got some headway,” Trump said at a cordial news conference afterward, reports the New York Times. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.” Trump said he would now call Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and other world leaders to update them on the details of the talks, which were not divulged during the news conference. Trump said some major sticking points remained, without elaborating, but he also called the meeting “extremely productive.”

Putin, for his part, praised Trump and thanked his “dear neighbor” for hosting the “long overdue” summit, per the Washington Post. He said the two nations had reached an “understanding” on a path toward peace, and he warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress,” per the AP.

  • “Russia is interested in ensuring that the settlement in Ukraine is long-term,” he said. “I hope that today’s agreements will be a starting point for achieving peace in Ukraine.”
  • Putin also said he agreed with Trump’s past statements that the war would not have started had Trump been in the White House.
  • He also invited Trump to come to Moscow for another summit at some point. Trump joked that he might take “some heat” about that but called it a possibility.

“Extremely productive”?

In what sense?

President Trump said on his flight to Alaska that there would be “severe consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t agree to a ceasefire during their meeting Friday. “I’m in this to stop the killing,” the president said on Air Force One. But Putin did not agree to stop the fighting, there were no consequences, and by Saturday, Trump had abandoned the idea of a ceasefire altogether. The result, Peter Baker writes in a New York Times analysis, is that Putin has been given a free pass to keep waging his war on Ukraine indefinitely, without fear of penalty.

“Even in the annals of Mr. Trump’s erratic presidency, the Anchorage meeting with Mr. Putin now stands out as a reversal of historic proportions,” Baker writes. A former US ambassador to NATO under Barack Obama said Trump’s longtime priority changed fast after the friendly tarmac greeting, chatty limousine ride, and brief sessions. “He got played again,” said Ivo Daalder. “For all the promises of a ceasefire, of severe economic consequences, of being disappointed, it took two minutes on the red carpet and 10 minutes in the Beast for Putin to play Trump again.”

Skipping the ceasefire step makes the peace talks based on Ukraine turning over territory it controls to Russia, per the Times. The tough new sanctions Trump had threatened to impose on Russia, complete with deadlines, appear to be off the table, as well, per a CNN analysis by Stephen Collinson. “Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump told Fox News later Friday.

As usual the gas bag of a president accomplished NOTHING that he said he would…..as usual any threats made were idle words.

Next up is a visit from Zelenskyy today…..but what will this accomplish…..will it be yet another ambush?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he’ll meet US President Trump in Washington on Monday after a Russia-US summit in Alaska ended without an agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine after 3 1/2 years, reports the AP. Meanwhile, in a reversal only a few hours after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said an overall peace agreement, and not a ceasefire, was the best way to end the war. That statement echoes Putin’s view that Russia isn’t interested in a temporary truce and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscow’s interests into account. More:

  • Zelensky: The Ukrainian leader, who didn’t receive an invite to the summit, said he had a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump early Saturday and that he’s looking forward to meeting with Trump in DC to “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”
  • Trump: The US president spoke to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Friday after the summit, calling his Putin get-together a “10 out of 10” and a “very warm meeting between two very important countries,” per Fox News. “I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he added, but “Ukraine has to agree to it.”
  • Trump II: The president wrote early Saturday on Truth Social that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.” He added that he’d be willing to have up a three-way meeting with himself, Zelensky, and Putin “if all works out,” which he reiterated to Hannity. “Not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done—and we have a pretty good chance of getting it done,” he told the Fox News host, per Fox.
  • Europe: The general sentiment among leaders on the Continent is one of wariness, especially with one big issue at hand for Europeans, per the New York Times: “They have no strategy of their own for bringing the war to a close, let alone for defeating Moscow.”
  • Ukrainians I: The vast majority of people in Ukraine don’t trust Putin, and the sentiment around the summit is one of “deep skepticism,” per the BBC. “Many soldiers gave their lives for these territories, for the protection of our country,” a Ukrainian sniper says. “A freeze [on the front lines] would mean demobilization would begin, wounded and exhausted soldiers would be discharged, the army would shrink, and during one of these rotations the Russians would strike again. But this time, it would be the end of our country.”
  • Ukrainians II: A minority of Ukrainians, either due to war fatigue or due to pro-Russian sentiment, are OK with compromises on ceding territory. “My belief is that the war should be stopped in any way possible,” a retired factory worker in Donetsk tells the BBC. “The further it goes, the worse it becomes.”

What will this repeated meetings with Donny actually accomplish?

Is any of this truly about ending this deadly conflict?

Or is it just semi-clever stagecraft?

I Read, I write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Will Putin Do It Again?

Will he launch more drones on Ukraine?

Will he try another massive military push in Ukraine?

Good questions but for this post they are moot….it seems some analyst thinks Putin will make a move on Moldova and soon.

A US intelligence expert believes the nation will be making ‘another offensive military campaign’, as it was suggested another post-soviet State would be attacked: Moldova, on the border of Ukraine.

The small country has been subject to severe pressure from Russia in the past and has a large Russian-speaking population.

Ivana Stradner, who studies Russia’s security strategies and military doctrines, explains in The Telegraph that its media spreads ‘outlandish claims’ that Moldova is laced with Western intelligence services. Adding to reasons why the nation may target the Eastern European spot, the media also claims ‘MI6 is taking control of the Moldovan elections’.

Plus, Moscow has even made claims that intelligence in Moldova has been working with Ukraine to ‘sabotage Russia’.

So, these claims would suggest Moldova is being used as a weapon against Russia by the West. Therefore, it could lead to it falling into the same situation as Ukraine.

US intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler also explained the idea Russia may launch another attack in the coming years.

“As a military intelligence analyst specialising in Putin’s thinking and Russian military strategy, I agree with Rutte’s assessment about Russia’s readiness for another offensive military campaign in just a few years,” she wrote for The Telegraph.

“I’m less convinced that a NATO country is likely to be the Kremlin’s next target, unless the alliance directly intervenes in Ukraine by deploying troops onto the battlefield.

“Nevertheless, what NATO does or doesn’t do in the next few years could be highly significant in determining whether Putin decides to attack another post-Soviet state, such as Moldova.”

(ladbible.com)

My thoughts are…..first does he have the assets to start another conflict?  I mean he cannot close his adventure into Ukraine so does that bode well for another conflict?

Granted I do not have access to classified info but by the accounts that are in the public domain I do not see another adventure in the best interests of Putin.

Moldova might be an easy target for him but will it really help the situation in the region?

Donny has given Putin 10 or 12 days to bring the Ukraine adventure to a close….but will that just be another yo-yo policy from the administration?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Russia: Another Ultimatum

After he was elected to his second non-consecutive term as president Donny promised to end the Russia/Ukraine mash-up within 24 hours….(damn that is the longest 24 hours I have spent)….he has issued another of his now famous ultimatums….how will Russia respond?

“I use trade for a lot of things,” President Trump said Monday. “But it’s great for settling wars.” During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, Trump threatened to hit Russia with “very severe tariffs” if there was no deal to end the Ukraine war within 50 days, the AP reports. “We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days. It’s very simple,” Trump said. “And they’ll be at 100%. And that’s the way it is.” The Washington Post reports that with “secondary tariffs,” Trump was likely referring to tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy, not to Russian exports to the US. A bipartisan group of more than 80 senators has been urging Trump to hit buyers of Russian oil and uranium with 500% tariffs, the New York Times reports.

  • Trump described Vladimir Putin as a “tough guy” who has “fooled a lot of people,” including previous presidents. “He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden—he didn’t fool me,” Trump said. “I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done. And I always hang up and say, well, that was a nice phone call. And then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and (I say) strange,” Trump said, per Reuters. “And after that happens three or four times, you say the talk doesn’t mean anything.”
  • Trump said a deal had been reached for other NATO members to buy billions of dollars in US-made weapons to send to Ukraine. “We make the best equipment, the best missiles, the best of everything, the European nations know that, and we made a deal today,” he said, per the Guardian. “We are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.”
  • “I have to tell you, Europe has a lot of spirit for this war,” Trump said, per the Times. “When I first got involved, I didn’t think they did, but they do.” He said he wanted to stress that “this is not Trump’s war.”

How will this fiasco end?

Will Russia bow down and kiss Donny’s fat white ass?

In the first six months of his second term, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his love for three things: deals, tariffs, and ultimatums.

He got to combine these passions during his Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday. Only moments after the two leaders announced a new plan to get military aid to Ukraine, Trump issued an ominous 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. “We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don’t have a deal within 50 days,” Trump told the assembled reporters.

The threat is unlikely to change Putin’s calculus, however, or bring the conflict to a near-term conclusion. Instead, Trump’s deadline is likely to make his own life more difficult, limiting his future flexibility, putting the settlement he craves farther out of reach, and forcing him to take steps that harm rather than advance U.S. interests.

Trump’s intention to impose “secondary tariffs” on Russia if Putin does not meet his deadline was not well-explained in his press conference with Rutte. Nor was it immediately clear if the planned punishment for Putin’s continued intransigence would include tariffs on Russian trade with the United States or “secondary sanctions” on Russia’s trading partners — or some combination of the two.

Whatever the details, however, looming economic consequences are unlikely to intimidate Putin or convince him to accept an early ceasefire. For starters, if Trump is indeed talking about tariffs on Russian trade with the United States, then his threat is an empty one. The United States imported only about $3 billion in goods from Russia in 2024, meaning that U.S. tariffs will impose little, if any, new costs on Moscow.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-50-day-deadline-russia/

I am sorry but this tariff thing is a cop-out to avoid doing the hard work of finding a good negotiated ceasefire.

We will see what Vlad the Invader has to say.

This is too good to ignore.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Trump/Putin Gab Fest

While Donny was in the Middle East signing deals that would make some lots of cash and accepting delivery of his new ‘flying palace’ he made a statement on the Russia-Ukraine War….

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to bring the war to an end, but said earlier this week that no progress would be made in the peace talks until he personally met with Putin. Following the negotiations on Friday, Trump said his administration was working to set up just such a meeting.

“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” he told reporters, later adding, “[Putin] and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not. At least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it’ll be very interesting.”

That meeting was top be in Turkey but he had to hurriedly rush back home to meet his new grand kid, number 11 I believe.

So the meeting is off.

Then on Sunday we hear it will be a phone call not a face to face….

Monday has the potential to be a big day with regard to the Russia-Ukraine war: President Trump speaks with Vladimir Putin by phone on Monday morning, followed by a call later to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. “Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” Trump wrote on Truth Social over the weekend, per the New York Times.

“Tomorrow, President Putin must show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted afterward. The Kremlin is paying deference to Trump—”if the political services of the US—which we highly value and are grateful to the American side—if they actually help us reach our goals with peaceful means, that would indeed be preferable” to war, said spokesman Dmitri Peskov on Monday.

Then the phone call happened…..and guess what the result was….

Monday held great promise for progress in ending the Russia-Ukraine war. The gist of coverage on Tuesday is that there is no resolution in sight after President Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin, and also with Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

  • Trump suggested progress: “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” he wrote on Truth Social, and he told reporters later at the White House that he thought “some progress is being made,” reports Reuters. But this fell well short of the hoped-for breakthrough. The war will continue, with no ceasefire in sight, only the promise of the continuation of talks.
  • “The ground shifted again,” is how Anthony Zurcher of the BBC puts it in an analysis. Trump once promised to end the war in his first 24 hours in office, then said it would be resolved only after he and Putin put their heads together. Now, after the two-hour call, Trump “said that the conditions of a peace deal could only be negotiated between Russia and Ukraine—and maybe with the help of the pope.”
  • The New York Times similarly finds that Trump “appeared enthusiastic to surrender his mediating role to a higher power: the pope.” Trump even floated the idea of the US washing its hands of the war: “I tell you, big egos involved, but I think something’s going to happen. And if it doesn’t, I just back away and they’re going to have to keep going,” he said, per CNN.
  • After his call with Putin, Trump spoke with Zelensky, along with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Finland, and the European Commission in a conference call. They hoped to hear that he had convinced Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire, perhaps under pressure of US penalties. But, according to Axios, the leaders “seemed surprised that Trump seemed relatively content with what he heard from Putin, and presented it as a new development, even though the Russian leader did not seem to have changed his position at all.”
  • The Washington Post sees a pattern emerging after Trump’s third call with Putin since his inauguration: The US “demands on Putin to show that he is serious about peace, countered by the Kremlin insisting that the complexity of a broader peace deal prevents an immediate ceasefire.”

The ‘call’ basically worries world leaders…..why?

Several world leaders were shocked by how submissive Donald Trump was to Moscow’s demands following a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Shortly after hanging up Monday with his favorite autocrat, Trump hopped on the line with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and a few other world leaders to update them on negotiations.

Sources told Axios that some of the leaders seemed “surprised” and “shocked” when Trump reported that Putin had agreed to begin negotiations toward a ceasefire—something that the Russian president had previously done, as talks had already taken place in Istanbul last week.

When Zelenskiy pointed this out, Trump did not respond.

Additionally, Trump reportedly pushed back on commitments to impose penalties on Moscow, after previously discussing levying sanctions on Russia with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer if Russia refused calls for a ceasefire. While Trump declined to ramp up pressure on Putin, Starmer followed through, imposing 100 new sanctions on Russia Tuesday.

https://newrepublic.com/post/195501/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-call-global-leaders-terrified

I guess the conflict that he said he would end on Day One will continue to be hot and destructive.

There was a time when Donny coveted a Peace Prize….if he really wants one then Ukraine/Russia would be the perfect vessel….I guess he wants one but does not want to work at it.

Donald Trump was going to end the war in Ukraine in 48 hours five months ago, but it has not been so easy! Especially when he is not sure invaded who, and which one is the dictator. Still, he wants you to know, he’s tried everything.

Everything?  Really?

What Trump has not tried:

  • Demanding a timeline for a ceasefire
  • US involvement
  • More sanctions
  • Insisting Vladimir Putin sit down with him and Zelenskyy at the same time

or

  • Putting any kind of pressure on Putin whatsoever, unless you count pretending to be mad.

Job well done.  (And that my friends is how you do sarcasm).

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Putin: The Next Peter The Great?

I know while we await the big event of the evening to begin let’s talk about Putin…..every armchair expert’s favorite subject.

Some think that Putin is trying to regain the lost territory from the USSR days….while others think he is trying to become yet another Peter the Great…..

Even Vlad the Invader is thinking of myself as another Peter the Great…..

Russian energy giant Gazprom is reported to have been hit particularly hard by sanctions imposed as a result of the war with Ukraine. An internal report – obtained and published by the Financial Times – has forecast that the company is unlikely to recover gas sales lost as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for at least a decade.

But Gazprom chairman Alexey Miller is apparently pressing ahead with his plan to build an 82-metre triumphal column in front of his company’s landmark St Petersburg Lachta Centre skyscraper. The column will celebrate the defeat of Sweden in the great northern war, after which Russia declared itself to be an empire for the first time.

The conflict was fought by Russia at the head of a coalition including much of what would become Poland and Germany as well as Britain, by virtue of its king, George I, also being the ruler of Hanover. It pitted one of the dominant historical figures of the age, Charles XII of Sweden, against Peter I of Russia – also known by the epithet “the Great”.

On September 10 1721, Russia and Sweden signed the Treaty of Nystad, which awarded Estonia and large parts of what is now Finland to Russia and enabled Peter to declare Russia to be an empire. St Petersburg, which the tsar had founded in 1703 at the mouth of the River Neva on the Baltic Sea, was the seat of the empire and would remain so until February 1917 and the abdication of then tsar Nicholas II.

So Vladimir Putin’s enthusiasm for the project could be said to reflect his own aspirations and ambitions for 21st-century Russia under his leadership. There are a number of parallels the Russian president is keen to stress as part of his projection of himself as a modern-day Peter the Great.

https://theconversation.com/how-vladimir-putin-projects-his-image-as-a-modern-day-peter-the-great-232612

I know a lot has been said about Putin’s ambition and this article takes a good look at those ambitions.

Is he the next Peter the Great?

My thought is no he is not…..in his mind he may be but in action he will fall way short.

Does anyone have a thought they would like to share?

I Read, I Write, you Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Russian News….(None Of It Good)

0500 hrs and it is 87 degrees….top that!

Right now there is a laser focus on the carnage that is Gaza and a lot of news around Ukraine/Russia mash up goes under reported.

I will try to let my readers know of things that are a changing…..this is not in support of Russia just me reporting on news that fell through the cracks of the MSM.  (So please withhold in lame misguided BS)

Star Wars!  Oh my bad…. Space Wars……

War Department has said that there is a new Russian weapon in orbit….

The militarization of space is really heating up after the Pentagon accused Russia of launching a satellite that national security officials believe is capable of attacking other satellites in orbit, the BBC reports.

And most chillingly, this satellite, which the Russians launched last week, is on the same orbit as a US government satellite.

“Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely a counter space weapon,” said Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder on Tuesday, as reported by the BBC.

“Obviously, that’s something that we’ll continue to monitor,” Ryder told ABC News. “Certainly, we would say that we have a responsibility to be ready to protect and defend the space domain and ensure continuous and uninterrupted support to the joint and combined force. And we’ll continue to balance the need to protect our interests in space with our desire to preserve a stable and sustainable space environment.”

https://futurism.com/the-byte/pentagon-russia-orbital-weapon

If you are a worry wart then maybe the time to do so is now.

Vlad the Invader (Putin) has offered up a plan for a ceasefire with Ukraine….

Vladimir Putin insists that Russia is ready to keep fighting in Ukraine, but he’s reportedly also amenable to “freeze the war” there—with one big condition. Russian sources tell Reuters that their leader is prepared to negotiate a ceasefire, but one recognizing that territory currently under Russian control would stay that way. Those sources say Putin thinks he can sell such a concession as a win to the Russian people, and that he’d rather avoid another national mobilization, as the last one he ordered caused his popularity to plummet. Freezing the conflict now along battlefield lines would leave Russia with “substantial chunks of four Ukrainian regions” in its possession, or about 18% of Ukraine. Asked for comment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was open to dialogue on the matter and didn’t want “eternal war.” More:

  • Ukraine’s take: Kyiv likely won’t agree to any deal in which Russia gets to keep territory it has already seized, notes the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine has its own peace plan, including a summit in Switzerland next month—”a real diplomatic track that has every chance of contributing to a just peace,” National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently said Ukraine will take back all of its territory seized by Russia, including Crimea, and in 2022, he signed a decree saying talks with Putin were “impossible,” per Reuters.
  • US take: Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he didn’t think Putin was serious about wanting to negotiate peace. A US State Department rep tells Reuters that “the Kremlin has yet to demonstrate any meaningful interest in ending its war, quite the opposite,” and that any peace talks must respect Ukraine’s “territorial integrity, within its internationally recognized borders.”
  • Macron weighs in: The French president similarly doesn’t think Putin is at all serious about a goal of peace, specifically because the Russian leader has rejected a truce with Ukraine at the Olympics, reports the Hill. “This is a big clarification moment, because every week until now President Putin was claiming to be available for peace,” Macron said in an interview that aired Thursday on CNBC. “So for everybody in the world, it’s clear he is the one who decided to launch his war, and he is not ready to make peace.” Zelensky also ruled out an Olympics truce.
  • White House debate: Meanwhile, citing sources involved in the discussion, the New York Timesreports there’s “vigorous debate” in the Biden administration over allowing Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons to strike targets across the border in Russia for the first time. The sources say Blinken now supports what would be a dramatic shift in policy because Russia is attacking Kharkiv with weapons placed just over the border, knowing that Ukraine can only respond with non-US weapons.

Tee Hee!  This is a none starter.   Why?  Neither Zelensky or the War Department will accept this…..but to me at least there may be an opening for talks on ending the carnage in Ukraine.

Blinken, who is Sec of State, is pushing for US weapons to be used inside Russia.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is leading a push within the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to use US-provided missile systems and other weapons to hit Russian territory, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The report said there is a “vigorous debate” within the administration in the wake of Russia’s new offensive in Kharkiv, which was launched from over the border in Russia’s Belgorod oblast.

It’s unclear how many other high-level officials agree with Blinken, but the pressure is growing on President Biden to lift the prohibition on Ukraine using US weapons on Russian territory, a ban that, according to the Times, is designed to “avoid World War III.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and many other members of Congress are also calling to lift the ban. Ultra-hawk Victoria Nuland, who left the State Department in March, appeared on ABC News this week to make the pitch for Ukraine to extend its use of US weapons to Russian territory.

“I think there’s also a question of whether we, the United States and our allies, ought to give them more help in hitting Russian bases, which heretofore we have not been willing to do,” Nuland said.

Moscow recently warned the UK that if Ukraine used British weapons on Russian territory, Russian forces would target UK military sites in Ukraine “and beyond.” The warning came after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Ukraine had the “right” to use British arms in attacks on Russia.

Russia is currently conducting tactical nuclear drills that it launched in response to provocative rhetoric from Western officials about sending troops to Ukraine. The Times report said that the US was also considering deploying troops for training, although Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown said there were “no plans” to do so at the moment.

(antiwar.com)

This is a decision to be made by those above my pay grade….my only concern is when did America’s top diplomat start working for the War Department?

A warmongering jerk like Blinken has no place in the State Department which is suppose to focus on diplomacy not starting wars.

But alas the conflict will rage on.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Are Putin’s Plans?

I know there are many that think Putin will finally give the word and launch a nuclear strike against the West…(personally I do not think he will but that is just my thought)….I read a couple of articles in recent days that I think some readers will find interesting.

Putin’s State of the Nation speech left some speechless…..

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has warned of the “destruction of all civilization” in a major threat to the West.

It has been just over two years since Putin first launched his invasion of Ukraine, and threats appear to be ratcheting up over the West’s support of the country and its army.

In his annual State of the Nation address, Putin gave his most chilling and explicit threat yet as he suggested nuclear weapons could be utilised causing the end of civilisation.

Putin suggested that sending NATO troops to fight in Ukraine “really risks a conflict using nuclear weapons, which means the destruction of all of civilisation”.

His comments come just days after French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine.

Putin added: “They think this is some kind of game. They are blinded by their own superiority complex.”

Elsewhere in his speech, Putin warned the West against going to war with Russia, suggesting, “the consequences for potential invaders will be far more tragic” than in the past.

https://www.indy100.com/news/vladimir-putin-nuclear-weapon-threat

Threats yes….but where would he target….

The Pentagon, the Norfolk Naval Station, the Comfort Suites Kings Bay Naval Base Area, the Barksdale Air Force Base, the Whiteman Air Force Base, the United States Strategic Command, the VLF Array Lualualei Facility in Hawaii, the Kirtland Air Force Base, the 21st Force Support Squadron, the Warren Air Force Base, the Minot Air Force Base, the Hill Air Force Base, the Malmstrom Air Force Base, and the Naval Radio Station Jim Creek.

While Putin’s threat hinges upon the possibility of NATO and EU troops in Ukraine, an idea that was floated by French President Emmanuel Macron at the meeting between NATO and EU member states in Paris, several participants of the meeting refused to join the call to avoid drawing into a direct conflict with Russia.

Where Would Putin Strike in the U.S. After Threatening Nuclear Attacks?

An impressive list.

I am sorry but I think this was all so much chest thumping….for Putin knows the retaliation would be swift and destructive.

I may be wrong….but I hope I am not proven wrong any time soon.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

America’s Newest ‘Useful Idiot’

(I should have posted this last week but I just did not have the desire but then I thought the readers should know what a fool looks like.  I wrote this the day after the interview and could not decide when to publish….so here it is.)

Very soon dictionaries will a picture of this person to define the term ‘useful idiot’…..and that person is Tucker Carlson.

A few days ago the former FOX blowhard was granted an interview with his high highness Vlad the Invader….and it went about as most everybody thought it would go….

Tucker Carlson asked Vladimir Putin to release American journalist Evan Gershkovich during the interview with the Russian leader that aired Thursday, but he did little else to challenge Putin during a two-hour talk at the Kremlin that began with Putin delivering a very long lecture on Russian history. Four takes on Putin’s first interview with a Western journalist since the invasion of Ukraine:

Putin was “fully in charge.” Carlson’s “fixed, fascinated expression slipped a few times,” especially while Putin talked about history going back to the 9th century in an attempt to justify Russian claims to eastern Ukraine, writes Sarah Rainsford at the BBC. “But for the most part, Carlson seemed to lap up what Russia’s president was telling him,” she writes. “Putin was fully in charge of this encounter and for large parts of it his interviewer barely got a word in.” Rainsford notes that none of Putin’s statements were “challenged in essence” and Carlson made no attempt to address Russian war crimes in Ukraine. David Folkenflik at NPR writes that Putin “appeared to have done opposition research worthy of the KGB agent he once was. He needled Carlson at separate moments about having been a history major and having applied (unsuccessfully) for a position at the Central Intelligence Agency.”

A win for Kremlin propagandists. Eva Hartog and Sergey Goryashko at Politico say the interview was a win for the Kremlin, with Carlson “failing to extract any stirring insights into the Russian president’s actual war aims” and Putin taking “full advantage of the opportunity to plant seeds of doubt about America’s aid for Ukraine and the US political system.” They note that anyone “who can dent Putin’s armor is kept lightyears away from the president.”

An “olive branch to the West.” Anton Troianovski at the New York Times sees the interview, in which Putin called for the US to “make an agreement” to end the war by allowing Russia to remain in control of territory it has seized, as an “olive branch to the West.” The “uncharacteristically restrained” Putin did not resort to his usual “fiery rhetoric” when Carlson asked about Russia’s defense of “traditional values,” he notes. Putin said there’s “nothing wrong” with the Western way of doing things, which he described as more “pragmatic,” while Russians “think more about the eternal, about moral values.”

  • Carlson’s “not exactly sure” what he thought. After the interview, Carlson said he was surprised by the history lecture. “I’m not exactly sure what I thought of the interview,” Carlson said in a video posted on his website. “It’s going to take me a year to decide what that was.” He said Putin seemed sincere. “Putin is not someone who does a lot of interviews. He is not good at explaining himself,” Carlson said, per the Washington Post. “But he’s clearly spending a lot of time in a world where he doesn’t have to explain himself.” He said that while Putin denied it, it’s “obvious he’s very wounded by the rejection of the West.”

Semafor reports that Carlson also met with two Americans during his time in Moscow. He spent hours with NSA leaker Edward Snowden on Thursday and also taped an interview with Tara Reade, who, during the 2020 campaign, accused then-presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her when she was a Senate aide in 1993.

Carlson proved to me that he was the very definition of a ‘useful idiot’ and what is more he does not know what a fool he looked like.

But do not take my word for it….here is a transcript of the interview……

https://www.miragenews.com/full-text-transcript-of-tucker-carlson-putin-1171489/

Is there anybody that still thinks Carlson is a credible information source?

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another Putin Victim?

I have written about what I call the “Falling Russian Syndrome’ which is about all the opponents to Putin that have seemingly decided to end their lives by falling to their deaths.

Plus over the years some opponents of Vlad the Invader have also been poisoned….and it seems that another Russian has succumb to a poison….this time it is a Russian space bigwig….

Moscow’s scientific community has lost renowned Russian rocket scientist Professor Vitaly Melnikov, who died at the age of 77. 

Knrewz.com is reporting that the circumstances surrounding his death have not been confirmed but initial reports claim that he succumbed to “mushroom poisoning” just weeks after Russia’s failed moon landing mission.

The source of his poisoning, per a “preliminary” investigation, was credited to inedible mushrooms. Local publication Moskovsky Komsomolets (via The Sun) reports that despite the best efforts of doctors, Professor Melnikov could not be saved and died after battling severe poisoning for over two weeks.

Professor Melnikov was the head of the Department of Rocket and Space Systems at RSC Energia, one of Moscow’s leading spacecraft manufacturers. 

He had also built an illustrious career, working as a chief researcher at TsNIIMASH, a division of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. 

With 291 scientific articles to his name, he was highly regarded among the international space science community and had throughout his career collaborated with foreign colleagues, including those at NASA.

His death comes in the wake of the failed moon landing mission orchestrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Moscow’s first moon mission in 50 years, termed Luna-25, ended in disaster when the probe crashed into the lunar surface. 

The failed landing was a devastating blow for Melnikov, who had considered it his magnum opus. He described it as his “last hope to see the revival of our lunar program.”

It is important to note that Russia has witnessed a series of mysterious and suspicious deaths over the past two years, coinciding with Putin’s war in Ukraine. 

(knewz.com)

Was this a suicide or a Putin ‘getting even’ death?

Did he kill himself because of this failure or did Putin have a hand in it?

Whatcha think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”