Makes it worse, I think.
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I agree. 2016 was somewhat easy for me to wave away as a combination of people not knowing the candidate and electoral college nonsense since Trump lost the popular vote. This year, a majority of voters signed up for four more years of his act. I find that depressing.
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Meanwhile, here in Germany the ruling coalition descends into slap fights, flouncing and handbags at dawn. Expect a no confidence vote in January (Scholz) or tomorrow (Merz), or just as soon as we can set fire to this Reichstag and/or have tea with Putin (the AfD/BSW). The FPD will surely head for well-deserved oblivion whatever happens as they limbo under the 5% hurdle with room to spare, which is a shame as they’re kind of my best match politically, but fuck ‘em.
Meanwhile UK politics continues to be a shitshow of lunatics and incompetents. I don’t think I’ve gone from optimism to disillusion quite so quickly ever.
Truly a proud week for liberal democracy.
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After spending a good part of the morning raking and bagging leaves (how do our tress have that many? Are neighbors dumping their leaves on our lawn somehow?), I came in and told my wife about the idea I had thought of for the Dems to actually do something useful right now other than fret and wring their hands. They will never do this, but it’s a great move, IMO.
President Biden should immediately send a bunch of troops and weapons to the Ukraine, directly to the front lines. He can do this solo, without Congressional approval or the Joint Chiefs. The troops should fight and use our weapons and do all the damage they can to Russian forces. Several things would happen:
–Politicians on both sides of the aisle would lose their minds. Privately, Biden would tell the Dems to distance themselves from him, accuse him of going rogue, whatever. Let the media and other politicians rake him over the coals–he has nothing to lose, and global democracy has everything to gain. It would be the thing he’s remembered for as a president, rather than being the old guy who dropped out of the race. He has everything to gain by doing this.
–Putin would lose his mind. If he starts killing US troops, things get very ugly, very fast. It would give Biden more reason to escalate weapons and attacks while uniting our allies. If Putin does nothing, his troops get massacred. My bet is he would start killing US troops. I can’t see Putin sitting back and letting us kick him in the nuts for two months, even with the promise of an ally in the White House at the end of it.
–Trump is essentially check-mated on foreign policy from Day 1 of his term. If he brings the troops home immediately, he looks as though he doesn’t care about the loss of US lives and begins his term looking weak internationally. If he keeps them there, he makes an enemy of Putin. Trump would never do that. He has no good move in this scenario. “Blame Biden” will only go so far.
–Emboldened by the US sending troops, NATO grows a spine and sends troops and equipment. Even if Trump pulls US troops out in January, by then NATO is in there, using US arms that we will never see again.
–After US troops leave, Ukraine and NATO troops can get aggressive about hitting Russian targets with that US missile tech we “forgot” to bring home. A few strikes on Moscow will rattle Putin’s supporters enough that he might just accidentally fall out a window.
To me, this is the Dems’ only real move right now, and I think it’s a good one.
My wife listened politely and then said, “I see one major flaw.” I bewilderedly asked what it was, and she replied, “You said, ‘Trump would never do that.’ There’s nothing Trump would never do.”
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There’s another major flaw in your plan.
Have you seen what Dr. Jill was wearing on her way to vote?
Did you notice in Joe’s speech to congratulate Trump on the victory that he was more coherent than he’s been at any point since before the first debate?
Do you think she and Joe actually voted for Kamala?
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I’m trying to avoid spinning political fantasies. It just makes me perseverate on my grievances, which saps my appreciation for the people I can help and my emotional energy for doing so.
I confess, my success has been less than total. But hosting a game night for the local school last night helped me focus more on the good I can do in the world than the evil the world will do.
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I’d love to see it, but I don’t think the US can send NATO into this (because even a defensive US presence is an Article 5) headlong because the US leadership is about to change, and your wife is right. Trump will absolutely pull out from any conflict he didn’t start, there’s nothing he won’t do, and that invites further fragmentation of NATO, as other countries would see their own way out in US withdrawal. Trump would just blame Biden.
His current efforts at peacemaker are little other than telling Zelensky to surrender and concede, likely highlighting that with control of the US government, the flow of aid will be turned off.
There’s no easy answer to this one. The best thing Biden and everyone else in NATO can do is stack up massive aid and send it ASAP. The UK and US need to remove range and engagement limits and essentially signal that the time for those has passed. Full strike depth while the striking is good. Make the most of it.
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Your big plan is to get American soldiers killed. Wonder how their families would feel about it.
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In biffpow’s defence, lives have been spent for worse causes with less thought put into them; the men and women involved knew the risks when they signed up. We’ve had multiple very nasty conflicts in our lifetimes that have all been well-publicised. No-one has been conscripted, no-one’s ignorant of the consequences. There are Americans and Brits and a dozen other nationalities fighting there now.
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As someone with family and friends in our military, I would not feel good about it either. If I offended you, I apologize.
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Not offended, just wanting to make sure we really say something with the weight it merits. I want Ukraine to defend itself, but I’m personally not interested in seeing American blood spilled just so they can hold on to Donbas.
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Take, for example, our insistence on the right of nuclear first use to defend our allies. This is supposed to be the glue that holds the world together, part of “extended” deterrence — our proffered nuclear umbrella. But does anyone truly believe that the United States would follow through?
The context for first use is splashing the Soviet hordes streaming through the Fulda Gap with tactical warheads.
More important, did the Soviet really believe that to be true?
The Soviets thought MAD was a bit of a NATO mind game anyway, there isn’t a Soviet war plan that doesn’t use NBC weapons. They knew the US would have to respond with tactical nukes if they invaded, they expected to respond with tactical nukes. They did not believe escalation was inevitable.
The clear communications required to tamp down nuclear escalation require consistency, focus, trustworthiness and coherence. These are traits that seem to be absent in Trump’s makeup. As an isolationist, he may be less likely than others to rush into a war, but he is also demonstrably ill equipped to manage the crisis once an unintended war breaks out.
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No-one could have foreseen this.
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Amazing! Siri seems to become a new synonym for stupid suggestions.
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