US US Politics General - Discussion of President Biden and other politicians

 

[mandatorylurk]

Palin's lawsuit again the NYT was thrown out by the judge today, while the jury was deliberating.

This feels like a white pill to me, that they were so screwed the judge had to step in just to deliberately fuck it up (Weeb Wars people know it as Chupping it up) and let it languish in appeals like it did for five years prior.

 

[Getting tard comed]

Unlike Russia, we're shockingly uninterested in total domination.

I which is why we have bases all over the world including Germany where there are 30k troops stationed at all times, which incidently means, in the historical and definitional context, a protectorate of the US.

If we were, back in 1945 we would have sliced up Germany, France, and Italy between us and the UK, and claimed all of Japan for ourselves. Instead we gave our foes their independence and spent the money to rebuild them as allies, not subjects.

Which is why all of those places mentioned still have US troops actively there.

You know what would help everybody here. Recognize the United States is the Evil Empire now. Has been for several decades.

 

[Snekposter]

I which is why we have bases all over the world including Germany where there are 30k troops stationed at all times, which incidently means, in the historical and definitional context, a protectorate of the US.

Which is why all of those places mentioned still have US troops actively there.

You know what would help everybody here. Recognize the United States is the Evil Empire now. Has been for several decades.

First, Germany's pretty much just a transit hub. We moved moved of the troops out of there a little while ago, a substantial chunk headed east to Poland. Secondly, those places are all grateful to have us around since every American soldier standing watch is one less soldier of theirs they need to spend money on. Or did you forget that when Trump asked Europe to chip in more to NATO they threatened to leave and make their own European army with blackjack and hookers... and then very quietly just began increasing spending to match Trump's request?

As to that evil empire bit.. if we're evil, what the fuck does that make all the empires before us? Mega-giga-turbo evil? As @Aldeland said, we'd rather have allies and business partners over subjects, which is so far removed from the usual evil empire things of subjugation and exploitation I'm not sure what to call what we're doing.

 

[HTTP Error 404]

Palin's lawsuit again the NYT was thrown out by the judge today, while the jury was deliberating.

View attachment 2985427

This feels like a white pill to me, that they were so screwed the judge had to step in just to deliberately fuck it up (Weeb Wars people know it as Chupping it up) and let it languish in appeals like it did for five years prior.

"Oh god they're actually deliberating for more than an hour, fuck, the corpos are gonna be PISSED. QUICK, ABORT ABORT ABORT! The Judicial process was never meant for wrongthinkers to win!"

 

[soy_king]

I which is why we have bases all over the world including Germany where there are 30k troops stationed at all times, which incidently means, in the historical and definitional context, a protectorate of the US.

Which is why all of those places mentioned still have US troops actively there.

You know what would help everybody here. Recognize the United States is the Evil Empire now. Has been for several decades.

you are aware NATO is a protective alliance and that those troops are leftovers from those deployments, right?

 

[Seventh Star]

As to that evil empire bit.. if we're evil, what the fuck does that make all the empires before us? Mega-giga-turbo evil? As ] said, we'd rather have allies and business partners over subjects, which is so far removed from the usual evil empire things of subjugation and exploitation I'm not sure what to call what we're doing.

What a bunch of bullshit. That's why you meddled in the affair of other countries and entire continents (South America and Africa) for decades? You're delusional, the US is an evil empire in the eyes of anyone except fervent Burgerboos, Canada and a few delusional euros.

 

[mandatorylurk]

Joepedo gave a speech today about defending freedom in the generic if you don't do it now, when? but seems to have completely caved at doing any sort of military action. To make it more of a joke this morning there was news of Russia moving some troops off the front line that everyone saw as a sign of easing tensions, but it seems they are still there, and the new DC panic is if Putin attacks Ukraine he's going to also sweep into Belarus and Moldova.

Around noon there were attempts to tout Joepedo as standing firm and making Putin blink, but instead it looks like he's just going to be ignored because Putin has Europe by the balls with energy and Chyna will help him with any financial sanctions.

 

[AGreatDipAtAFairPrice]

That and the sanctions and international credit and banking restrictions and all that, Russia has been developing countermeasures to that for 20 years and they accelerated the pace after seeing Arab Spring and Syria. If I was Putin, I'd see all the stuff that happened to Gaddafi before they assassinated him and said, 'Well, we gotta make sure we're protected from that. Don't wanna get Gaddafi'd." US doesn't really have anything apart from starting World War 3 to threaten Russia with, they're protecting themselves from that stuff.

 

[The Nothingness]

A Reddit user working at a gas station? That sounds about right.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

A Reddit user working at gas station? That sounds about right.
View attachment 2986455

Again, funny how putting stickers of Brandon next to the exorbitant prices that he helped cause is "stupid", and yet shit like this:

made people like the above clap like retarded seals. It's almost like criticism against TPTB is only OK for certain people.

 

[Non-breath oblige]

Can't post screenshots, but the DefiantL's twitter has been suspended.

 

[Ruin]

Can't post screenshots, but the DefiantL's twitter has been suspended.

The new post Jack Twitter rules say you can't post anyone's personal information including screencaps of their tweets if they use their real name.

I'm like 95% certain that rule was exclusively put into place so they could have a pretext to ban those x posts their Ls online accounts.

 

[Lards and Lasses]

The new post Jack Twitter rules say you can't post anyone's personal information including screencaps of their tweets if they use their real name.

I'm like 95% certain that rule was exclusively put into place so they could have a pretext to ban those x posts their Ls online accounts.

The most homosexual thing I've heard all day.

 

[ForTheHoard]

The new post Jack Twitter rules say you can't post anyone's personal information including screencaps of their tweets if they use their real name.

I'm like 95% certain that rule was exclusively put into place so they could have a pretext to ban those x posts their Ls online accounts.

Since when was someone's twitter handle "personal information?"

 

[Absolutego]

The new post Jack Twitter rules say you can't post anyone's personal information including screencaps of their tweets if they use their real name.

I'm like 95% certain that rule was exclusively put into place so they could have a pretext to ban those x posts their Ls online accounts.

lmao no that's 100% percent in place to prevent anyone from making fun of checkmarks, who are overwhelmingly more likely to be tweeting in their real name.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

Since the site's been down for most of the day, here's a few updates on the whole Russia/Ukraine mess
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Article: https://longisland.news12.com/putin-russia-ready-to-discuss-confidence-building-measures
Archive: https://archive.is/MFD8o

Spoiler: Putin: Russia ready to discuss confidence-building measures

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow is ready for talks with the U.S. and NATO on limits for missile deployments and military transparency.

Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the U.S. and NATO rejected Moscow’s demand to keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe.

They agreed to discuss a range of security measures that Russia had previously proposed.

Putin said that Russia is ready to engage in talks on limits on the deployment of intermediate range missiles in Europe, transparency of drills and other confidence-building measures but emphasized the need for the West to heed Russia’s main demands.

The statement followed the Russian Defense Ministry’s announced a partial pullback of troops after military drills, adding to hopes that the Kremlin may not be planning to invade Ukraine imminently. The Russian military gave no details on where the troops were pulling back from, or how many.

Russia has denied any plans to invade Ukraine.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia said Tuesday that some units participating in military exercises were returning to their bases, adding to glimmers of hope that the Kremlin may not be planning to invade Ukraine imminently. But it gave no details on where the troops were pulling back from, or how many.

That muddied efforts to determine the significance of the announcement, which buoyed world financial markets and the long-suffering ruble after weeks of escalation in Europe’s worst East-West standoff in decades. It came a day after Russia’s foreign minister indicated the country was ready to keep talking about the security grievances that led to the Ukraine crisis - a gesture that changed the tenor after weeks of tensions.

Yet hours before the Russian Defense Ministry statement about the troops, a U.S. defense official said Russian units were moving closer to the Ukrainian border – not away from it. And Western officials continued to warn that the Russian military could attack at any time, with some floating Wednesday as a possible invasion day. NATO's chief said the alliance had no proof yet of a Russian retreat.

The fears of an invasion grew from the fact that Russia has massed more than 130,000 troops near Ukraine. Russia denies it has any such plans, despite placing troops on Ukraine’s borders to the north, south and east and launching massive military drills nearby. U.S. and other NATO allies, meanwhile, have moved troops and military supplies toward Ukraine’s western flank, although not to confront Russian forces, and promised more financial aid to the ex-Soviet nation.

Moscow brandished Tuesday’s pullback announcement as proof that fears of war were fabricated by a hostile, U.S.-led West: “February 15, 2022, will go down in history as the day Western war propaganda failed. Humiliated and destroyed without a single shot fired,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova tweeted.

Yet Ukraine remains effectively surrounded on three sides by military forces from its much more powerful neighbor, and even if the immediate threat recedes, longer-term risk remains. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and some 14,000 people have been killed in fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia separatists in the country's east.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not indicate where the withdrawing troops had been deployed or how many were leaving.

It released images of tanks and armored vehicles rolling onto a train, and a tank commander saluting his forces while a military band played. The ministry did not disclose where or when the images were taken, or where the military vehicles were headed, other than “to places of permanent deployment.”

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the troops were returning “according to plan.” He said such drills always adhered to a schedule - regardless of “who thinks what and who gets hysterical about it, who is deploying real informational terrorism.”

Ukraine's leaders expressed skepticism.

“We won’t believe when we hear, we’ll believe when we see. When we see troops pulling out, we’ll believe in de-escalation," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Speaking in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “So far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground, not seen any signs of reduced Russian military presence on the borders of Ukraine.”

However, he added that there are “some grounds for cautious optimism” for diplomatic efforts, given the signals coming from Moscow in recent days.

Stoltenberg said Russia has in the past moved into areas with troops and equipment, then pulled back leaving military materiel in place for rapid use later. He said that NATO wants to see a “significant and enduring withdrawal of forces, troops, and not least the heavy equipment.”

European leaders have been scrambling to try to head off a new war on their continent, after several tense weeks that have left Europeans feeling caught between Russia and the U.S., and further pushed up household energy prices because of Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a day after sitting down with Ukraine's leader in Kyiv. In his opening remarks in the Kremlin, Scholz addressed the Ukraine tensions but also noted Germany's economic ties with Russia - which complicate Western efforts to agree on how to punish Russia in case of an invasion.

Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau of Poland, one of Russia's most strident European critics, met in Moscow with Lavrov, and they discussed ways to use the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for more talks aimed at easing tensions around Ukraine.

The day before, Lavrov suggested more efforts at diplomacy in a made-for-TV meeting with Putin that seemed designed to send a message to the world about the Russian leader's position. The foreign minister argued that Moscow should hold more talks, despite the West’s refusal to consider Russia’s main demands.

Moscow wants guarantees that NATO will not allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members. It also wants the alliance to halt weapons deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.

The U.S. reacted coolly.

“The path for diplomacy remains available if Russia chooses to engage constructively,” White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “However, we are clear-eyed about the prospects of that, given the steps Russia is taking on the ground in plain sight.”

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated that the danger of an invasion still exists, telling Sky News that it “could be imminent.” Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt issued a similar warning, and Estonia's foreign intelligence agency said the Russian armed forces could launch an operation "from the second half of February.”

A U.S. defense official said small numbers of Russian ground units have been moving out of larger assembly areas for several days, taking up positions closer to the Ukrainian border at what would be departure points if Putin launched an invasion.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not publicly released.

Maxar Technologies, a commercial satellite imagery company that has been monitoring the Russian buildup, reported increased Russian military activity in Belarus, Crimea and western Russia, including the arrival of helicopters, ground-attack aircraft and fighter-bomber jets at forward locations. The photos taken over a 48-hour period also show ground forces leaving their garrisons and combat units moving into convoy formation.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers urged Putin to recognize rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house, voted to submit an appeal to Putin to that effect.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the issue of recognizing the self-proclaimed republics is “very, very relevant to the public.” But it was unclear how Putin would respond or how this could influence Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

While the U.S. warns that Russia could invade Ukraine any day and Kyiv alerted residents to find their nearest bomb shelters, the drumbeat of war was hardly heard in Russia itself.

The Kremlin has cast the U.S. warnings of an imminent attack as “hysteria” and “absurdity,” and many Russians believe Washington is deliberately stoking panic and fomenting tensions to trigger a conflict for domestic reasons.

Few Russians expect a war.

In Russia's Belgorod region about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Ukraine's border, residents carry on with life as usual, even as more military personnel have been passing through village streets.

“Planes, helicopters just started flying, I guess, to patrol the border,” said Vladimir Konovalenko.
Villager Lyudmila Nechvolod says she's not worried.

“We are friends with Ukraine. And we are not sure that Ukraine wants war with us. ... We are really on the border, we really have relatives here and there, everyone has somebody there (on the Ukrainian side)," she said. "No one wants war.”

------------------------------------------------------
Article: https://longisland.news12.com/alert-center-russia-says-some-forces-pulling-back-amid-ukraine-crisis
Archive: https://archive.is/VTlXU

Spoiler: U.S. hasn't verified Russian pullback of troops near Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he welcomed a security dialogue with the West, and his military reported pulling back some of its troops near Ukraine. But U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. had not verified Russia’s claim and that an invasion was still a distinct possibility.

Putin said he does not want war and would rely on negotiations in his efforts to eliminate any chance that Ukraine could one day join NATO. At the same time, he did not commit to a full pullback of troops, saying Russia’s next moves in the standoff will depend on how the situation evolves.

In remarks at the White House, Biden promised that the U.S. would continue to give diplomacy "every chance” to prevent a Russian invasion, but he struck a skeptical tone about Moscow's intentions. Biden also insisted that the U.S. and its allies would not “sacrifice basic principles” respecting Ukraine sovereignty.

“Two paths are still open," Biden said. "But let there be no doubt: If Russia commits this breach by invading Ukraine, responsible nations around the world will not hesitate to respond. If we do not stand for freedom where it is at risk today, we’ll surely pay a steeper price tomorrow.”

Putin's overtures soothed global markets that have been on edge amid the worst East-West tensions in decades. Washington and its European allies remained cautious, saying they want to see evidence of a Russian pullback. Biden said 150,000 Russian forces are now massed near Ukraine and in Belarus, an increase from an earlier U.S. estimate of 130,000 troops.

Russia’s claim that it pulled back troops "would be good, but we have not yet verified that,” Biden said. “Indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position.”

The U.S. and NATO, which continue to warn that Russia could invade at any time, have sent troops and military supplies to shore up alliance members in Eastern Europe. Russia has denied having such plans. It wants the West to keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of the alliance, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe.

The U.S. and its allies have roundly rejected those demands, but offered to engage in talks with Russia on ways to bolster security in Europe.

Speaking after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the West agreed to discuss a ban on missile deployment to Europe, restrictions on military drills and other confidence-building measures - issues that Moscow put on the table years ago.

He said Russia is open to discuss “some of those elements," but added that it would do so only in combination "with the main issues that are of primary importance for us.”

Asked if there could be a war in Europe, Putin said Russia doesn’t want it but that Ukraine’s bid to join NATO posed a major security threat to his country.

While Scholz reiterated that NATO's eastward expansion “is not on the agenda - everyone knows that very well,” Putin retorted that Moscow will not be assuaged by such assurances.

“They are telling us it won't happen tomorrow,” Putin said. “Well, when will it happen? The day after tomorrow? What does it change for us in the historic perspective? Nothing.”

Scholz also said diplomatic options are “far from exhausted,” and he praised the announcement of a troop withdrawal as a “good signal,” adding: "We hope that more will follow.”

The Russian Defense Ministry released images of tanks and howitzers rolling onto railway platforms and more tanks rolling across snowy fields. It did not disclose where or when the images were taken, or where the vehicles were headed, other than “to places of permanent deployment.”

Biden acknowledged the likelihood that sanctions imposed on Russia in retaliation for an invasion would have significant blowback on the American economy, including possible price hikes and disruption to the nation’s energy supply.

“The American people understand that defending democracy and liberty is never without cost,” Biden said. “I will not pretend this will be painless.”

He said the administration was trying to preempt supply issues by working with energy producers and shippers on contingency plans. The president said he would work with Congress on unspecified “additional measures to protect consumers and address the impact of prices at the pump.”

Russian forces continue to threaten Ukraine along the eastern border and from the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014, the year when it also backed a separatist insurgency in the country's east. More Russian troops loom over Ukraine in Belarus, where they were deployed for sweeping joint drills.

Ukraine expressed skepticism about Russia's statements of a pullback.

“We won’t believe when we hear, we’ll believe when we see. When we see troops pulling out, we’ll believe in de-escalation," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that “so far, we have not seen ... any signs of reduced Russian military presence on the borders of Ukraine,” adding that the alliance wants to see a “significant and enduring withdrawal” of forces, troops and heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, a series of cyberattacks on Tuesday knocked out the websites of the Ukrainian army, the defense ministry and major banks. There was no indication that the relatively low-level denial-of-service attacks might be a smokescreen for more serious cyber mischief. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. has not yet determined who was behind the attacks.

Few Russians expect a war, following the Kremlin's dismissal of Western warnings as “hysteria” and “absurdity.”
In a village in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Ukraine’s border, residents carried on with life as usual, even as more military personnel have been passing through village streets.

“We are friends with Ukraine," villager Lyudmila Nechvolod said. "We are really on the border, we really have relatives here and there, everyone has somebody there (on the Ukrainian side). No one wants war.”
Diplomatic efforts continued Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday about the evolving crisis.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers urged Putin to recognize rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house, voted to submit an appeal to Putin to that effect.

Putin said the request reflects the Russian public's sympathy for the suffering of people trapped in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed over 14,000 since 2014. He noted, however, that Russia continues to believe a 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany should serve as the main vehicle for a settlement of the separatist conflict.

Putin's statement signaled that he wasn't inclined to back the parliament proposal that would effectively invalidate the 2015 agreement, which marked a major diplomatic coup for Moscow and asked Kyiv to offer broad self-rule to the separatist territories. It has been resented by many in Ukraine, and its implementation has stalled.

 

[SlipNHonk]

I dunno, doesn't the US have military bases everywhere? If I was Russia I'd be worried.

View attachment 2984074

But that's ok because...

 

[Pig Cups]

What a fucking disaster.


Pyrrhic. Victory.

 

[Getting tard comed]

First, Germany's Egypt, Persia, Spain, and Germanus are pretty much just a transit hubs. We moved troops out of there a little while ago, a substantial chunk headed east to Poland north to some place called England.

^ Ceasar probably.

Secondly, those places are all grateful to have us around since every American Roman soldier standing watch is one less soldier of theirs they need to spend money on.

^Another Ceasar. Probably.

As to that evil empire bit.. if we're evil, what the fuck does that make all the empires before us? Mega-giga-turbo evil?

They were evil as well.

As @Aldeland said, we'd rather have allies and business partners over subjects, which is so far removed from the usual evil empire things of subjugation and exploitation I'm not sure what to call what we're doing.

Telling me the methods of subjugation and exploitation have advanced doesn't mean the subjugation + exploitation have disappeared. It's done mostly via contract + finance now. But every mow and then the US feels the need to occupy a foreign country that did nothing to them for 20 years. And if someone decides they want their money to actually be backed by something we have to invade his country and be happy he got sodimized with a bayonet to death. Definitely the good guys here.

you are aware NATO is a protective alliance and that those troops are leftovers from those deployments, right?

You mean that alliance that was formed to protect Western Europe from the USSR. The terrible boogeyman that hasn't been around for 40 years now. Definitely left over troops. The US just can't find the money or time to evacuate them... And they keep sending in troops, in those various NATO countries, to help with the withdrawal process right?


Look, when I say the US is the evil empire that isn't you(excluding you glowies). The people aren't the goverment and the goverment hasn't been listening to the people for a while now. The last time there was a president who was attempting to listen and do what the people wanted every institution used all possible legal options and a few illegal options to fight him every step of yhe way which culminated in a stolen election. These aren't the actions of "the good guys".

 

[soy_king]

^ Ceasar probably.

^Another Ceasar. Probably.

They were evil as well.

Telling me the methods of subjugation and exploitation have advanced doesn't mean the subjugation + exploitation have disappeared. It's done mostly via contract + finance now. But every mow and then the US feels the need to occupy a foreign country that did nothing to them for 20 years. And if someone decides they want their money to actually be backed by something we have to invade his country and be happy he got sodimized with a bayonet to death. Definitely the good guys here.

You mean that alliance that was formed to protect Western Europe from the USSR. The terrible boogeyman that hasn't been around for 40 years now. Definitely left over troops. The US just can't find the money or time to evacuate them... And they keep sending in troops, in those various NATO countries, to help with the withdrawal process right?


Look, when I say the US is the evil empire that isn't you(excluding you glowies). The people aren't the goverment and the goverment hasn't been listening to the people for a while now. The last time there was a president who was attempting to listen and do what the people wanted every institution used all possible legal options and a few illegal options to fight him every step of yhe way which culminated in a stolen election. These aren't the actions of "the good guys".

The US has been reducing its deployments in Germany and Italy, and Orange Man did try to end our deployment in Germany but was blocked by local German officials raising a stink about loss of revenue. Plus, it's not like Russia is actually friendly to the sovereignty of Eastern European nations like Poland and the Baltics, and would gladly reexpand into its naturally geographically defensible borders if it had the manpower and a clear avenue to do so.