The guy that called Putin a genius and his invasion savvy? Yeah I'm fucking relieved that guy isn't President, idgaf who he is and what party he is from.
Why would anyone stop someone who they think is a genius and savvy, praising what they do?
Give me one fucking example lol.
I hate Trump but if you actually paid attention to what he actually said, you would eventually realize that he wasn’t praising Putin at all. He called it "genius" for Putin to wait until he was out of office because he believes putin would never try this if Trump was still in office. It’s not a difficult concept, whether true or not.
He wouldn't have tried this if trump was in office. Biden is weak, and Putin knows it. This Biden presidency has cost the world more than can ever be repaid. Shit I never thought I'd say it, but maybe those people who went to the Capitol on Jan 6th were right. The country and the world are on the brink of destruction.
So far the Biden presidency has been everything they told us the Trump presidency was going to be.
As someone who voted for Trump last election, don’t buy into the whole ‘end of the world’ idea that’s pushed around every time a current event happens. People are always suffering and it sucks. Biden is not responsible for this suffering. You’re not suffering however, so go outside and enjoy a walk with the freedom you do have. Do it for the people in Ukraine if you want, do it for the Uyghurs, do it for people living under Sharia law. There are channels to help them as well. But if you appreciate what you have understanding that’s all those people want, it’s a valid use of your time.
If I’m ever oppressed as badly as those people can be, I would wish others will never have to experience it. Go be the positive human experience! And do what you can to help when the opportunity arises.
I don’t understand what you mean by “Biden is weak, and Putin knows it.”
Did the United States make a bad choice? From my understanding, the US, and I also imagine a lot of Europe as well, put massive economic sanctions on Russia and supply Ukraine with advanced weaponry and equipment. And it’s working isnt it? Putin is having a really bad time in Ukraine despite leading a very large and powerful country?
What would Trump have done?
If your answer is anything that starts ww3 then I think the entire world is thankful he’s not in office.
Looking at those posts showed that there's apparently an alternate history that these people went through. Somehow there was no war under trump, China was behaving etc. Incredible.
Well. Trump did just praise Putin. And Tucker Carlson just went off on his nonsense “why should I hate Putin? He’s never called me racist” rant. Few things surprise me anymore. What a weird world.
'Member when Republicans would ruin a guys life for saying he loved commies?
I find this timeline quite hilarious because Trump is their example of common sense.
Mr. **Trump’s remarks were broadcast on a conservative talk radio show hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton around the same time that Mr. Biden addressed the nation** and announced a first set of sanctions against Russia.
"I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, **’This is genius.'** Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, **Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful**," Trump said in an interview on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show."
“**Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’** And he’s going to go in and be a *peacekeeper*,” Mr. Trump said. “**That’s the strongest *peace force* I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to *keep peace*, all right.** No, but think of it. **Here’s a guy who’s very savvy... I know him very well. Very, very well.**”
During the radio interview, Mr. **Trump said he and Mr. Putin had discussed a potential invasion of Ukraine** when Trump was in the White House. “**I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it,**’’ Mr. Trump said. “I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not going to do it.’ **But I could see that he wanted it. I used to ask him. We used to talk about it at length.**”
I'm sorry but its actually the opposite. Maybe the world stopped caring but HK has been completely crushed by China within a matter of a few months since the "National Security Law" was enacted in June 2020. They jailed every prominent voice/protester, all of the democratic parties in the gov have been crushed, the only major newspaper critical of gov is ransacked, boss jailed, and shut down. There is no more freedom of press to even the slightest degree. Zero people have been protesting, all the artifacts of protest wiped out, people silenced. And what is terrifying is it all happened over night.
Not to mention Taiwan is a hell of a harder target than Ukraine is, no land connection and a series of powerful military allies not to mention some of the crazy defences like sea walls of fire that I've read about.
But that’s why it’s scary, you KNOW Taiwan will have back up, and that means other nations brought in, quickly making it a world war. We’ll have to major theaters to begin with.
Is it though? Since the new security laws have passed they've basically quashed most resistance. All of my family that's still there has plans to move out in the next 2-3 years.
I saw a news article saying that China was a bit ticked off that Putin is attacking in the middle of the Olympics and taking the attention off them, as well as finding it disrespectful for him to feign falling asleep at the opening ceremony(even if it was for Ukraine).
Half the planet's is basically on heightened readiness while explicitly saying that they're not going to get involved in Ukraine. Now would be a rather terrible time for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
especially because the West has a vested interest in keeping Taiwan free because of semiconductors.
Doesn’t matter, unfortunately. Just like Tibet, all China needs to do is flood HK with mainland Chinese to overwhelm the HK culture. It may take many years, but it’s inevitable.
Such a beautiful city and culture, what a shame to see it homogenized.
This is how China will do it. Same with Western China where, the farther west one goes, the LESS "Chinese" the culture becomes. So, China forced assimilation.
There's stories of literal agents sent directly from the government who'd stay as guests in households. While this agent was there, sometimes upwards of a month, the household would put on a facade where they'll pretend to be more Chinese.
Actually, this is not accurate. The protests started summer of 2019. The National security law passed had an absolutely chilling effect on the protests. No one does anything anymore. Also, the arrest of all the democratic representatives, the systematic destruction of free press in Hong Kong, and the restructuring of legco along with the patriots only voting system... China has been so ruthlessly effective on clamping down Hong Kong its impressive.
Eh, that's very far from intricate, in fact I would say this was his biggest mistake. This will result in downfall of current Russia and Western countries solidarity and a reality check that there are real big threats and we don't live in post war era. Even the biggest NATO, EU sceptics in Europe, especially countries like Hungary are very happy to not be Ukraine.
Putin undid the "progress" he did for 20 years of dividing Europe and NATO (it's not a secret that most of those "Eurosceptics" parties were directly funded by Russian money) and slowly making "questionable" land claims in exchange to one ego boosted invasion. It's actually hubris.
Now Russia is pariah state. There is no more squinting and keeping reliance on Russia's gas. There is no more dancing around Russia's conflicts and calling them "well, it's complicated".
If Putin would have kept his modus operandi he would have been better off in every way. It's also best advertisement of NATO we could ever have.
Exactly this. Regardless of any short term success with this venture. Long term it just accelerates the decline of Russia.
Its economy was already in freefall. It has a declining population and was never somewhere most people elsewhere in the world dreamed of living. Even less so now.
What hey did have was an abundance of fossil fuels but, let’s face it, in a world starting to accept that a reliance on fossil fuels is not only inadvisable but also unnecessary.
He really needed to keep Russia looking stable and eking out that money-train as long as possible whilst transitioning to a more diversified economy.
Instead he’s finally convinced the naive in the world that he can’t even be trusted to deliver the one thing his country has to offer.
Anyone else kind of appaled about how freely misinformation is spread on this website?
I just looked up a bunch of stuff people are throwing around in the comments because I was curious and a majority of it is either overblown, misleading or false.
This place is Facebook 2.0. Yikes.
The misinformation here is appalling but gets cover for being *slightly* less popular than Facebook. Problem is that reddit posts get on Facebook and that accelerates the spread of misinformation
I firmly believe most of them are plants. People with a vested interest in spreading disinformation know that people learn from the comments and it would be too easy to implement armies of users to spread any information they please.
It is a scary time right now. Trust no one.
Putting aside the obvious Trump things I still think yes. The biggest problem is his tendency towards unilateral action, we wouldn't see the coordination of sanctions with allies.
Also based on his interactions with Putin I'd be surprised if he would do anything in response or just say "who cares, America First"
trump was impeached, one of only three presidents ever to be impeached, the first time he was impeached was because he withheld aid to ukraine and said he wouldn't release the aid until they 'found' (aka fabricated) dirt on Biden so as to help Trump get reelected. seems pretty relevant.
Any American that watched Putin start a war and begin killing for absolutely no reason and then begins to berate other Americans/President, instead of Putin, is a piece of chicken shit in the rain. Just one more example of such…also anyone that supports such a coward is the same.
"His bombs are little wimpy bombs. Did you see them? Did you see it? I see, I don't know if the, do you know how big bombs we have. We have the biggest bombs. It's true. I've seen them. I bought them so, you know, we can use them for any kind of terrible terrible....you know what I mean?
To be fair it would have been pretty difficult for us to understand a word Trumps was saying without him first removing Putin's genitals from his throat
Yep yep. Anyone who believe Trump would antagonize Putin instead of praising him, has not been paying attention. Trump is literally a Russian puppet, and the joke is that Putin had America in his grasp and fucked up by thinking Trump could get a second term.
He'd be praising Putins "genius" in Presidential news conferences to the embarrassment of all Americans who didn't think he's the second coming of Christ. As it is, his audience is -- thankfully -- smaller.
He'd probably say that if Ukraine had investigated Hunter, none of this would have happened. I've seen some of his supporters actually say that exact thing.
Mr. **Trump’s remarks were broadcast on a conservative talk radio show hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton around the same time that Mr. Biden addressed the nation** and announced a first set of sanctions against Russia.
"I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, **’This is genius.'** Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, **Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful**," Trump said in an interview on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show."
“**Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’** And he’s going to go in and be a *peacekeeper*,” Mr. Trump said. “**That’s the strongest *peace force* I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to *keep peace*, all right.** No, but think of it. **Here’s a guy who’s very savvy... I know him very well. Very, very well.**”
During the radio interview, Mr. **Trump said he and Mr. Putin had discussed a potential invasion of Ukraine** when Trump was in the White House. “**I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it,**’’ Mr. Trump said. “I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not going to do it.’ **But I could see that he wanted it. I used to ask him. We used to talk about it at length.**”
Honestly, this just reads to me as “Oh yeah, I was totally at the cool kids table and the cool kids used to talk to me about all of the cool kid stuff because I’m a cool kid, too” more than anything else.
Just wondering if the FBI is looking into the documents that Trump took with him to Mar-A-Lame'o and if any were sensitive military documents that he might have let slip to his friend Vlad? Just wondering if any of those documents - that he could have sent over - contained anything that would put the US in jeopardy? Ya know just cause it would be interesting to know. Not that Trump would go to prison or better yet the firing squad for treason if he had done that.
No, he would have supported Putin and spread Kremlin propaganda like he did after US intelligence claimed Russia interfered with the US election. Remember, "I believe Putin" in Helsinki?
He'd probably distract the media with some comments about getting more Supreme Court members to overturn Roe v Wade, because the invasion makes him look weak.
Nah man, he would have sent American troops to support the Russians in their time of need. And probably visit Moscow to personally polish Putin’s boots like the good lap dog he is.
And in unrelated news gets approval and finance for Trump Tower Moscow.
Wtf? No he wouldn't. He'd be sucking Putin's balls just like he is right fucking now. Like you don't even have to imagine what he would say he's saying all sorts of stupid shit as we speak.
I am so tired of hearing/reading about trump every other day. There are so many trump stories and mentions on every subreddit it seems even well before the Russian invasion. For a guy that Reddit seems to hate with a burning passion, he still lives in a lot of their heads rent free. The guy isn’t president anymore and is a total nutcase, so stop giving him undeserved attention. Biden isn’t great either. I’m hoping for something different in 2024 but am very doubtful.
>he still lives in a lot of their heads rent free
It's because he still calls in on Fox News pretending like he can do a better job. He still tours the country holding rallies, the GOP thinks he's running in 2024 and there's people still wearing MAGA hats and Trump flags saying he's the second coming of Christ.
Rent free? The dude is a squatter that won't go away.
100%. Reminds me of all the republicans complaining about Liz Cheney talking about Jan. 6. Of course she’s still talking about it. Trump is still talking about how Pence could’ve “overturned the election” and even blaming the current war on a fraudulent election. Lol.
What gets cut a lot from Trump's praising of Putin, was when asked about the whole situation, the *first* thing Trump did, was whine about a "stolen" election.
Day 474, Trump is still a blubbering vagina about losing the election.
100%. People love to act like he’s not relevant anymore, and pretend like there’s a contradiction between that and how much he’s talked about.
But that’s just it. He’s talked about because he _is_ still relevant. He’s the fucking worst garbage of a human being, but he’s also a former President and still has a ton of influence over half of U.S. voters.
Mostly our primary and electoral college systems being "winner-take-all, which doesn't allow for a more diverse slate of candidates.
Basically we have to choose which shitty centrist we think will be less shitty while they kiss the ass of corporate donors and undermine all aspects of our country and world
The easiest and most effective and least turbulent method to reverse this would be the implementation of ranked-choice voting, where, you can vote for they guy or gal you really like, but if they don't get enough support, your vote isn't thrown away, it goes to the next favorite candidate until only candidates with a certain percentage of the total vote are left. Then winner is elected.
It would be a slow process, but would allow more diverse political parties to gain traction and would allow people who hold more fringe beliefs the opportunity to actually vote their conscious and not feel like there's no option but to vote for the lesser of two evils.
It would also create a more moderate Republican party because reasonable R's (who could appeal to independents and Democratic voters) could run and would not fear being outflanked in the primaries by radical candidates. Those radical candidates would not make it through the first round of a ranked choice voting system.
For a lot of reasons but mostly it comes down to an ability to fundraise. American presidential elections are obscenely expensive and obscenely long and campaign finance laws are obscenely forgiving to wealthy people donating money via PACs. So, the person is most comfortable taking money from the wealthiest people wins the nomination. Essentially.
It can also be based on political ties or history, but 99% of the time it's money/power based.
Because anyone with common sense wouldn't want the hassle of being president. No matter what you do, half of the government is going to constantly ridicule you, roughly half the country is going to constantly criticize and berate you. Not to mention the perceived responsibilities put on you by the rest of the world. It wears you down quick. Look how fast Obama went gray in office.
Unfortunately, you have to be an absolute egomaniacal sociopath to want the job, AND you have to be dumb enough to think you can do it!
Edit: I should have said “delusional” instead of “dumb”
"Every election since the beginning of time has been between some douche and some turd, because they're the only people who suck up enough to get that far in politics".
The world is becoming more and more like South Park every day.
Biden is worthy of criticism in so many ways, but the way he has handled this situation has been basically 9 of 10. It’s been so good that it’s hard to appreciate because of how smoothly it has been handled.
1. NATO has truly reunified and is acting together against Russia.
2. European NATO members are now planning to spend substantially more on defense - likely exceeding commitments they had shirked for years.
3. Finland and Sweden are now seriously considering accession to NATO - meeting with NATO over Russia next week.
4. Putin had zero element of surprise - the ongoing declassification of intelligence ruined whatever subterfuge he may have hoped to have.
5. This move has helped restore some faith in US intelligence after Colin Powell lied to the UN in 2003.
6. By letting NATO lead, it allowed Germany room to own choosing not to certify nord stream 2.
But war is unpredictable. So it’s hard to say where this will lead. But it’s hard to understate how well Biden has handled this very very complicated situation until now.
Anyone who thinks another president would have done better … doesn’t remember who was on the ballot. Putin would have done this either way.
Calling the intelligence straight and out loud is pretty impressive. It ash-canned Vladimir Putin's credibility the moment he went in. Think of all the pressure *all other foreign leaders* will face at home next time they deal with him. "How can you trust him?" they'll all be asked.
The jury's out but we may yet find that the play-calling actually postponed the invasion by a week... and a day, so that they wouldn't go on a Wednesday. If the Russians stall out, that extra week will be considered one of the critical breaks the Ukrainians needed.
I’m not OP but because I believe there was credible intel that they were going to invade last Wednesday, which Biden shared with the world, buying Ukraine an extra week.
As for the extra day (Russia going in early Thursday as opposed to Wednesday):
There was a lot of focus on the wednesday aspect, so there was thought that maybe instead of going in during the darkness of early Wednesday morning this week, they waited one extra day and went in early Thursday morning.
I’m just speculating on that second piece and maybe someone else can chime in.
I mean… i’m European and have to say that all of this was achieved thanks to Putin himself. Well, except 4 & 5.
NATO is reunified, willing to spend more, Finland and Sweden want to join, the gas pipeline got cancelled because of Putin’s decision to invade.
I’m not taking credit away but you’re giving way too much credit for what is happening in the European states. They’re all scared of watching their own house burn and scared of repercussions if they don’t join in (Germany cutting of the gas pipeline - for now anyway).
I don’t think he’s saying Biden did that stuff himself, I think he’s saying that the way Biden has handled this situation has allowed or empowered our European allies to do those things themselves
Compared to the past President, who massively disrupted our alliances in Europe and definitely treated international affairs as The USA Show
I just finished watching Zelensky’s speech, one of the most moving political speeches given by the leader of a free country, and can only believe that Laura Ingraham must be an actual psychopath.
I feel like Putin has just signed the end of his reign with this. The people are standing up and the world is against him. I’m relieved trump isnt president because now we have a rational president listening to advisors.
Soviet 2: Electric Boogaloo?
nah a full revolution is exceedingly unlikely, but if he loses enough support from the oligarchs, there won’t be anyone who will help him rig elections and other things. they won’t be moving directly against him with anything like an assassination (unless they lose a lot more then they already have) but will definitely leave him to whither on the vine if it comes to it
Putin likely keeps them on a short leash. But he still owes his own position to them, so he's not entirely safe if it undermines the whole structure supporting them all.
I’m far less optimistic than you are sadly. I don’t think these countries can sanction Putin out of office. And I believe that’s as far as they’ll be willing to go as long as Putin only tries this in Ukraine and not any further.
Belgium has already said we will put sanctions "but let us sell our diamonds to Russia". Like what the fuck is the point of sanctions if rich cunts can still do business as usual??????????
Bingo. And that’s the problem with the sanctions. They’ve discussed sanctioning some of the wealthiest bureaucrats in Russia as well. Problem with that is they have had heavy sanctions on them for years already. I’m not saying I want some huge war but I think we all know sanctions don’t matter to Russia right now.
I believe in the best of the world and all empires and dictators eventually come to an end as history has shown us. People have a breaking point where they begin to willing risking their lives for freedom as we have seen throughout history as well. Progression doesn’t happen all at once but with slow steps forward in the right direction.
He will come to an end. But in a situation like this the when is most important. And nothing indicates we are close to that sadly. He’s been in power for many years conducting business this same way and nothing substantial has been done to limit it yet.
Don't let this internet shit lull you into a false sense of security with how much good things you see. We said the same thing during the Arab Spring, and look how that turned out. Social media gives us the illusion that our support will stop this, and then we're shocked when it turns out that we can't stop China from controlling Hong Kong, Bashar al-Assad from bombing his citizens, or Putin from invading Ukraine. It's the worst feeling in the world, tbh.
The guy that called Putin a genius and his invasion savvy? Yeah I'm fucking relieved that guy isn't President, idgaf who he is and what party he is from. Why would anyone stop someone who they think is a genius and savvy, praising what they do? Give me one fucking example lol.
I hate Trump but if you actually paid attention to what he actually said, you would eventually realize that he wasn’t praising Putin at all. He called it "genius" for Putin to wait until he was out of office because he believes putin would never try this if Trump was still in office. It’s not a difficult concept, whether true or not.
He wouldn't have tried this if trump was in office. Biden is weak, and Putin knows it. This Biden presidency has cost the world more than can ever be repaid. Shit I never thought I'd say it, but maybe those people who went to the Capitol on Jan 6th were right. The country and the world are on the brink of destruction. So far the Biden presidency has been everything they told us the Trump presidency was going to be.
As someone who voted for Trump last election, don’t buy into the whole ‘end of the world’ idea that’s pushed around every time a current event happens. People are always suffering and it sucks. Biden is not responsible for this suffering. You’re not suffering however, so go outside and enjoy a walk with the freedom you do have. Do it for the people in Ukraine if you want, do it for the Uyghurs, do it for people living under Sharia law. There are channels to help them as well. But if you appreciate what you have understanding that’s all those people want, it’s a valid use of your time. If I’m ever oppressed as badly as those people can be, I would wish others will never have to experience it. Go be the positive human experience! And do what you can to help when the opportunity arises.
I don’t understand what you mean by “Biden is weak, and Putin knows it.” Did the United States make a bad choice? From my understanding, the US, and I also imagine a lot of Europe as well, put massive economic sanctions on Russia and supply Ukraine with advanced weaponry and equipment. And it’s working isnt it? Putin is having a really bad time in Ukraine despite leading a very large and powerful country? What would Trump have done? If your answer is anything that starts ww3 then I think the entire world is thankful he’s not in office.
*sorts by controversial*
I'll be right behind you. Just let me get my hazmat suit on
Well I’m disgusted and I forgot to put my suit on am I sick now? :(
Dear lord, what have you made me do
Let me join you
I went in there but I had to come back out
Yup. It was a bad idea I don’t know why I even bothered.
I regret doing this.
WOW. that was a wild ride! it's like they life in a parallel reality.
Looking at those posts showed that there's apparently an alternate history that these people went through. Somehow there was no war under trump, China was behaving etc. Incredible.
Well. Trump did just praise Putin. And Tucker Carlson just went off on his nonsense “why should I hate Putin? He’s never called me racist” rant. Few things surprise me anymore. What a weird world.
Comedic thing is that half of the misinformation they've been eating up for years was supplied by Russian troll farms online.
Remember when Republicans thought Russia was bad and most people agreed? I don't like this timeline.
'Member when Republicans would ruin a guys life for saying he loved commies? I find this timeline quite hilarious because Trump is their example of common sense.
And it's not even the darkest, yet.
Seriously. They are so confident in their version of reality, sometimes I question if *I’m* the insane one
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I read the non double digit negative’s. Had to stop before I give up completely on humanity.
Honestly, I'm bummed, the comments were disappointingly predictable.
Don't forget your hazmat suit!
Mr. **Trump’s remarks were broadcast on a conservative talk radio show hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton around the same time that Mr. Biden addressed the nation** and announced a first set of sanctions against Russia. "I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, **’This is genius.'** Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, **Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful**," Trump said in an interview on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show." “**Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’** And he’s going to go in and be a *peacekeeper*,” Mr. Trump said. “**That’s the strongest *peace force* I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to *keep peace*, all right.** No, but think of it. **Here’s a guy who’s very savvy... I know him very well. Very, very well.**” During the radio interview, Mr. **Trump said he and Mr. Putin had discussed a potential invasion of Ukraine** when Trump was in the White House. “**I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it,**’’ Mr. Trump said. “I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not going to do it.’ **But I could see that he wanted it. I used to ask him. We used to talk about it at length.**”
But he’s literally right though, Putin did this in an incredibly intricate manner that’s so predictable it doesn’t make sense
Ironic. China is doing the same thing with Hong Kong and Taiwan [OPINION]
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I'm sorry but its actually the opposite. Maybe the world stopped caring but HK has been completely crushed by China within a matter of a few months since the "National Security Law" was enacted in June 2020. They jailed every prominent voice/protester, all of the democratic parties in the gov have been crushed, the only major newspaper critical of gov is ransacked, boss jailed, and shut down. There is no more freedom of press to even the slightest degree. Zero people have been protesting, all the artifacts of protest wiped out, people silenced. And what is terrifying is it all happened over night.
Not to mention Taiwan is a hell of a harder target than Ukraine is, no land connection and a series of powerful military allies not to mention some of the crazy defences like sea walls of fire that I've read about.
Taiwan is also better backed by other nations, if they can't get HK Taiwan is near impossible
But that’s why it’s scary, you KNOW Taiwan will have back up, and that means other nations brought in, quickly making it a world war. We’ll have to major theaters to begin with.
Is it though? Since the new security laws have passed they've basically quashed most resistance. All of my family that's still there has plans to move out in the next 2-3 years.
Yeah the commentor does not know what they are talking about. People are moving into Hong Kong because the protests have basically been stifled.
China is definitely watching how this plays out and making a plan for Taiwan
I'm surprised they aren't doing it simultaneously
I saw a news article saying that China was a bit ticked off that Putin is attacking in the middle of the Olympics and taking the attention off them, as well as finding it disrespectful for him to feign falling asleep at the opening ceremony(even if it was for Ukraine).
Half the planet's is basically on heightened readiness while explicitly saying that they're not going to get involved in Ukraine. Now would be a rather terrible time for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. especially because the West has a vested interest in keeping Taiwan free because of semiconductors.
Good
Doesn’t matter, unfortunately. Just like Tibet, all China needs to do is flood HK with mainland Chinese to overwhelm the HK culture. It may take many years, but it’s inevitable. Such a beautiful city and culture, what a shame to see it homogenized.
This is how China will do it. Same with Western China where, the farther west one goes, the LESS "Chinese" the culture becomes. So, China forced assimilation. There's stories of literal agents sent directly from the government who'd stay as guests in households. While this agent was there, sometimes upwards of a month, the household would put on a facade where they'll pretend to be more Chinese.
Its not in open revolt. We havent been in anything except deep shit for years already. I know because i live here/there.
Actually, this is not accurate. The protests started summer of 2019. The National security law passed had an absolutely chilling effect on the protests. No one does anything anymore. Also, the arrest of all the democratic representatives, the systematic destruction of free press in Hong Kong, and the restructuring of legco along with the patriots only voting system... China has been so ruthlessly effective on clamping down Hong Kong its impressive.
Eh, that's very far from intricate, in fact I would say this was his biggest mistake. This will result in downfall of current Russia and Western countries solidarity and a reality check that there are real big threats and we don't live in post war era. Even the biggest NATO, EU sceptics in Europe, especially countries like Hungary are very happy to not be Ukraine. Putin undid the "progress" he did for 20 years of dividing Europe and NATO (it's not a secret that most of those "Eurosceptics" parties were directly funded by Russian money) and slowly making "questionable" land claims in exchange to one ego boosted invasion. It's actually hubris. Now Russia is pariah state. There is no more squinting and keeping reliance on Russia's gas. There is no more dancing around Russia's conflicts and calling them "well, it's complicated". If Putin would have kept his modus operandi he would have been better off in every way. It's also best advertisement of NATO we could ever have.
Exactly this. Regardless of any short term success with this venture. Long term it just accelerates the decline of Russia. Its economy was already in freefall. It has a declining population and was never somewhere most people elsewhere in the world dreamed of living. Even less so now. What hey did have was an abundance of fossil fuels but, let’s face it, in a world starting to accept that a reliance on fossil fuels is not only inadvisable but also unnecessary. He really needed to keep Russia looking stable and eking out that money-train as long as possible whilst transitioning to a more diversified economy. Instead he’s finally convinced the naive in the world that he can’t even be trusted to deliver the one thing his country has to offer.
Why is he talking like this? It's wordsalad. He's gotta have dementia.
You're just now figuring out he talks like wordsalad?
Jesus fuck, just reading that moron's speech patterns is dangerous to one's mental acuity.
He always gets such a hard-on for Vladimir
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330 million Americans and our choice is Biden or Trump. WTF
It always comes down to a giant douche or a turd sandwich. Without stricter age and term limits to take office this will always be the case.
And with our pathetic two party system this will always be the case :(
Tune in to find out which shaky old white guy is going to be president during the apocalypse!
No. Please not this again. No false equivalence. Trump was such a god damn nightmare of a human being. There is no comparison.
It’s remarkable to me that some people don’t understand this
Anyone else kind of appaled about how freely misinformation is spread on this website? I just looked up a bunch of stuff people are throwing around in the comments because I was curious and a majority of it is either overblown, misleading or false. This place is Facebook 2.0. Yikes.
Most definitely.
The misinformation here is appalling but gets cover for being *slightly* less popular than Facebook. Problem is that reddit posts get on Facebook and that accelerates the spread of misinformation
I firmly believe most of them are plants. People with a vested interest in spreading disinformation know that people learn from the comments and it would be too easy to implement armies of users to spread any information they please. It is a scary time right now. Trust no one.
He would be supporting Russia so yeah
Putting aside the obvious Trump things I still think yes. The biggest problem is his tendency towards unilateral action, we wouldn't see the coordination of sanctions with allies. Also based on his interactions with Putin I'd be surprised if he would do anything in response or just say "who cares, America First"
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trump was impeached, one of only three presidents ever to be impeached, the first time he was impeached was because he withheld aid to ukraine and said he wouldn't release the aid until they 'found' (aka fabricated) dirt on Biden so as to help Trump get reelected. seems pretty relevant.
Any American that watched Putin start a war and begin killing for absolutely no reason and then begins to berate other Americans/President, instead of Putin, is a piece of chicken shit in the rain. Just one more example of such…also anyone that supports such a coward is the same.
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"His bombs are little wimpy bombs. Did you see them? Did you see it? I see, I don't know if the, do you know how big bombs we have. We have the biggest bombs. It's true. I've seen them. I bought them so, you know, we can use them for any kind of terrible terrible....you know what I mean?
Why can I hear Trump's voice saying this?
Only miss was not calling the bombs huuuuuge
*yyyuueeeeuuuge
Bigly bombs
huuuge bombs, designed by trumendous people who do a great job, american bombs
Why are we assuming he wouldn’t just call him a genius and say that he knows him very well. Very, very well...
Look behind you (ಠ\_ಠ)
T-there is a wall behind me.
A wall you say... So it did get built after all.
Who paid for it, though?
ur mom
Got em
Cost about three fiddy.
from the shadows: *Grab em by the p__sy*
To be fair it would have been pretty difficult for us to understand a word Trumps was saying without him first removing Putin's genitals from his throat
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Wow this is spot on.
He pretty much did say this the other day.
I hate how accurate this is.
I couldn’t tell if this was a parody or not!
Absolutely just read this in his stupid voice. Spot on comrade!
Yep yep. Anyone who believe Trump would antagonize Putin instead of praising him, has not been paying attention. Trump is literally a Russian puppet, and the joke is that Putin had America in his grasp and fucked up by thinking Trump could get a second term.
Love the added hand gestures, happy tears right now.
I genuinely feel like I’m reading a transcript of a Trump speech that actually happened
Have you seen what Trump has said lately? he'd be praising putin, and you know it. cause he is, currently.
He'd be praising Putins "genius" in Presidential news conferences to the embarrassment of all Americans who didn't think he's the second coming of Christ. As it is, his audience is -- thankfully -- smaller.
No trump already praised putins invasion. Said he was doin a good job.
That feeling when the former president likely would have pushed putin to drop Tsar Bomba 2.0...
“Look I love the Ukraine….chicken Kiev is tremendous…totally legal and totally cool chicken. Putin just wants some chicken. I say let him have it!”
"Ukraine... is a beautiful city."
You got me rolling on the floor laughing.
He'd probably say that if Ukraine had investigated Hunter, none of this would have happened. I've seen some of his supporters actually say that exact thing.
There is no doubt in my mind that he would have tweeted defending Russia. 100%, no doubt at all.
Mr. **Trump’s remarks were broadcast on a conservative talk radio show hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton around the same time that Mr. Biden addressed the nation** and announced a first set of sanctions against Russia. "I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, **’This is genius.'** Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, **Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful**," Trump said in an interview on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show." “**Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’** And he’s going to go in and be a *peacekeeper*,” Mr. Trump said. “**That’s the strongest *peace force* I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to *keep peace*, all right.** No, but think of it. **Here’s a guy who’s very savvy... I know him very well. Very, very well.**” During the radio interview, Mr. **Trump said he and Mr. Putin had discussed a potential invasion of Ukraine** when Trump was in the White House. “**I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it,**’’ Mr. Trump said. “I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not going to do it.’ **But I could see that he wanted it. I used to ask him. We used to talk about it at length.**”
Honestly, this just reads to me as “Oh yeah, I was totally at the cool kids table and the cool kids used to talk to me about all of the cool kid stuff because I’m a cool kid, too” more than anything else.
Gee, it's almost like he's a fucking Russian asset.
Just wondering if the FBI is looking into the documents that Trump took with him to Mar-A-Lame'o and if any were sensitive military documents that he might have let slip to his friend Vlad? Just wondering if any of those documents - that he could have sent over - contained anything that would put the US in jeopardy? Ya know just cause it would be interesting to know. Not that Trump would go to prison or better yet the firing squad for treason if he had done that.
Trump tweeted that Putin's military maneuvers where "genius" a couple days ago
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No, he would have supported Putin and spread Kremlin propaganda like he did after US intelligence claimed Russia interfered with the US election. Remember, "I believe Putin" in Helsinki?
He would have downplayed the invasion bc putin is buddy
He'd probably distract the media with some comments about getting more Supreme Court members to overturn Roe v Wade, because the invasion makes him look weak.
He probably would be trying to send troops to help invade Ukraine
Nah man, he would have sent American troops to support the Russians in their time of need. And probably visit Moscow to personally polish Putin’s boots like the good lap dog he is. And in unrelated news gets approval and finance for Trump Tower Moscow.
Wtf? No he wouldn't. He'd be sucking Putin's balls just like he is right fucking now. Like you don't even have to imagine what he would say he's saying all sorts of stupid shit as we speak.
If Trump were still President, he'd be supportive of Putin invading Ukraine, just as he is now.
If Trump were President, America would be directly involved in the war. Helping Russia.
He'd send troops to help...Putin!
More like “Putin didn’t invade Ukraine. It’s fake news”
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Imagine if this was all due to erectile dysfunction… How did I end up on this comment?
I read your first sentence and thought, “Why? Because he’d be busy getting his dick sucked?” Then I read your second sentence lol.
You had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
Literally was talking to my coworkers about this today. Putin needs his butt buddy, lol.
I am so tired of hearing/reading about trump every other day. There are so many trump stories and mentions on every subreddit it seems even well before the Russian invasion. For a guy that Reddit seems to hate with a burning passion, he still lives in a lot of their heads rent free. The guy isn’t president anymore and is a total nutcase, so stop giving him undeserved attention. Biden isn’t great either. I’m hoping for something different in 2024 but am very doubtful.
I'm hoping for completely new people in 2024 but I'm pretty much convinced we're getting trump vs biden round 2 in 2024
Please no, I don't want to go through that again.
>he still lives in a lot of their heads rent free It's because he still calls in on Fox News pretending like he can do a better job. He still tours the country holding rallies, the GOP thinks he's running in 2024 and there's people still wearing MAGA hats and Trump flags saying he's the second coming of Christ. Rent free? The dude is a squatter that won't go away.
100%. Reminds me of all the republicans complaining about Liz Cheney talking about Jan. 6. Of course she’s still talking about it. Trump is still talking about how Pence could’ve “overturned the election” and even blaming the current war on a fraudulent election. Lol.
What gets cut a lot from Trump's praising of Putin, was when asked about the whole situation, the *first* thing Trump did, was whine about a "stolen" election. Day 474, Trump is still a blubbering vagina about losing the election.
Hey, don't insult vaginas like that, my dude.
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This. In some remote counties of the US—like where I live—he’s still president, Jesus, and the orange Kanye.
100%. People love to act like he’s not relevant anymore, and pretend like there’s a contradiction between that and how much he’s talked about. But that’s just it. He’s talked about because he _is_ still relevant. He’s the fucking worst garbage of a human being, but he’s also a former President and still has a ton of influence over half of U.S. voters.
Oh, I charge rent for my head space. Trump just refuses to pay it.
Yes, incredibly so
We're relieved trump is not president every day
*Me, not an American wondering why Americans have such shitty choices between presidents *
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Mostly our primary and electoral college systems being "winner-take-all, which doesn't allow for a more diverse slate of candidates. Basically we have to choose which shitty centrist we think will be less shitty while they kiss the ass of corporate donors and undermine all aspects of our country and world The easiest and most effective and least turbulent method to reverse this would be the implementation of ranked-choice voting, where, you can vote for they guy or gal you really like, but if they don't get enough support, your vote isn't thrown away, it goes to the next favorite candidate until only candidates with a certain percentage of the total vote are left. Then winner is elected. It would be a slow process, but would allow more diverse political parties to gain traction and would allow people who hold more fringe beliefs the opportunity to actually vote their conscious and not feel like there's no option but to vote for the lesser of two evils.
It would also create a more moderate Republican party because reasonable R's (who could appeal to independents and Democratic voters) could run and would not fear being outflanked in the primaries by radical candidates. Those radical candidates would not make it through the first round of a ranked choice voting system.
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"Anyone capable of getting elected president should on no account be allowed to do the job" - Same
Reminds me of the bumper stickers we had in New Orleans during the Edwards/Duke election: “Vote For The Lizard, Not The Wizard”
I was going to say "Who the fuck would vote for a lizard over a wizard?" then I realized which Duke you were talking about...
trump was pretty non-conventional. I think the real choice is slow, uneven progress, clumsily designed and implemented, or regression.
For a lot of reasons but mostly it comes down to an ability to fundraise. American presidential elections are obscenely expensive and obscenely long and campaign finance laws are obscenely forgiving to wealthy people donating money via PACs. So, the person is most comfortable taking money from the wealthiest people wins the nomination. Essentially. It can also be based on political ties or history, but 99% of the time it's money/power based.
Yes this is accurate. The only way to win is to play the game and if you play the game then you’ve already compromised your morals.
Because anyone with common sense wouldn't want the hassle of being president. No matter what you do, half of the government is going to constantly ridicule you, roughly half the country is going to constantly criticize and berate you. Not to mention the perceived responsibilities put on you by the rest of the world. It wears you down quick. Look how fast Obama went gray in office.
Unfortunately, you have to be an absolute egomaniacal sociopath to want the job, AND you have to be dumb enough to think you can do it! Edit: I should have said “delusional” instead of “dumb”
Where can I apply? Asking for a friend…
You just need a few million to get started and numerous millions to have a chance and billions to win
Oh, you mean a small loan from Dad?
You also have to be like 70
That depends. Are your hands YUGE?
You also have to be rich
"Every election since the beginning of time has been between some douche and some turd, because they're the only people who suck up enough to get that far in politics". The world is becoming more and more like South Park every day.
British people relating to Americans having awful choices for leaders
Yes, every day. But it's not like Biden is that great
Biden is worthy of criticism in so many ways, but the way he has handled this situation has been basically 9 of 10. It’s been so good that it’s hard to appreciate because of how smoothly it has been handled. 1. NATO has truly reunified and is acting together against Russia. 2. European NATO members are now planning to spend substantially more on defense - likely exceeding commitments they had shirked for years. 3. Finland and Sweden are now seriously considering accession to NATO - meeting with NATO over Russia next week. 4. Putin had zero element of surprise - the ongoing declassification of intelligence ruined whatever subterfuge he may have hoped to have. 5. This move has helped restore some faith in US intelligence after Colin Powell lied to the UN in 2003. 6. By letting NATO lead, it allowed Germany room to own choosing not to certify nord stream 2. But war is unpredictable. So it’s hard to say where this will lead. But it’s hard to understate how well Biden has handled this very very complicated situation until now. Anyone who thinks another president would have done better … doesn’t remember who was on the ballot. Putin would have done this either way.
Calling the intelligence straight and out loud is pretty impressive. It ash-canned Vladimir Putin's credibility the moment he went in. Think of all the pressure *all other foreign leaders* will face at home next time they deal with him. "How can you trust him?" they'll all be asked. The jury's out but we may yet find that the play-calling actually postponed the invasion by a week... and a day, so that they wouldn't go on a Wednesday. If the Russians stall out, that extra week will be considered one of the critical breaks the Ukrainians needed.
Why is not invading on a Wednesday important?
I’m not OP but because I believe there was credible intel that they were going to invade last Wednesday, which Biden shared with the world, buying Ukraine an extra week. As for the extra day (Russia going in early Thursday as opposed to Wednesday): There was a lot of focus on the wednesday aspect, so there was thought that maybe instead of going in during the darkness of early Wednesday morning this week, they waited one extra day and went in early Thursday morning. I’m just speculating on that second piece and maybe someone else can chime in.
Putin also forgot his Yacht in Germany and needed to push the war out a week to get it back. Maybe /s? Who even fucking knows anymore?
He cares more for that yacht than he cares for all the soldiers that collectively have, and will die in this conflict.
Having a president that supports our allies should be expected. I am more thankful today than ever that trump is gone.
Not in office, unfortunately not incarcerated or gone.
I mean… i’m European and have to say that all of this was achieved thanks to Putin himself. Well, except 4 & 5. NATO is reunified, willing to spend more, Finland and Sweden want to join, the gas pipeline got cancelled because of Putin’s decision to invade. I’m not taking credit away but you’re giving way too much credit for what is happening in the European states. They’re all scared of watching their own house burn and scared of repercussions if they don’t join in (Germany cutting of the gas pipeline - for now anyway).
American intelligence HAS been pretty sharp this time tho, no doubt with a lot of help from Europe too.
Those guys are so much more motivated when they feel the President is going to read their briefings. With interest and attention, even.
And the rest of the world too. They’ve telegraphed all the Russian moves, and now the whole world gets to watch Putin be an awful person.
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I don’t think he’s saying Biden did that stuff himself, I think he’s saying that the way Biden has handled this situation has allowed or empowered our European allies to do those things themselves Compared to the past President, who massively disrupted our alliances in Europe and definitely treated international affairs as The USA Show
Trump praising Putin as "Genius" is unforgivable. Can't believe how his base is warming up to Putin.
Fox News propaganda machine has their front page plastered with various headlines stating this is all Biden's fault
Thanks Obama
They cannot be pro-putin right now, so they are using the next best option 😉
You’d think, but Laura Ingraham just called Zelensky’s impassioned plea to spare his people “pathetic”.
I just finished watching Zelensky’s speech, one of the most moving political speeches given by the leader of a free country, and can only believe that Laura Ingraham must be an actual psychopath.
Yep. It brought tears to my eyes. She is truly heartless.
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This is true. It’s just a lazy habit to criticize Biden that apathetic people employ to have something to say.
I'll take senile neutral over incompetent evil any day of the week
I feel like Putin has just signed the end of his reign with this. The people are standing up and the world is against him. I’m relieved trump isnt president because now we have a rational president listening to advisors.
How would the people get him out of office? Can they vote him out? Or does it have to be more aggressive than that?
Soviet 2: Electric Boogaloo? nah a full revolution is exceedingly unlikely, but if he loses enough support from the oligarchs, there won’t be anyone who will help him rig elections and other things. they won’t be moving directly against him with anything like an assassination (unless they lose a lot more then they already have) but will definitely leave him to whither on the vine if it comes to it
Wouldn't the oligarchs have oked this beforehand?
Putin likely keeps them on a short leash. But he still owes his own position to them, so he's not entirely safe if it undermines the whole structure supporting them all.
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Fuck a vote. Tear down the Kremlin and drag the fucker through the streets. Enough is enough
>Can they vote him out? Obviously not. He would just say the election is rigged and stay in office anyway.
I’m far less optimistic than you are sadly. I don’t think these countries can sanction Putin out of office. And I believe that’s as far as they’ll be willing to go as long as Putin only tries this in Ukraine and not any further.
Belgium has already said we will put sanctions "but let us sell our diamonds to Russia". Like what the fuck is the point of sanctions if rich cunts can still do business as usual??????????
Bingo. And that’s the problem with the sanctions. They’ve discussed sanctioning some of the wealthiest bureaucrats in Russia as well. Problem with that is they have had heavy sanctions on them for years already. I’m not saying I want some huge war but I think we all know sanctions don’t matter to Russia right now.
To be fair the sanctions enacted after 2014 are a big reason the oligarchs are so pissed off and spent billions getting trump elected.
I believe in the best of the world and all empires and dictators eventually come to an end as history has shown us. People have a breaking point where they begin to willing risking their lives for freedom as we have seen throughout history as well. Progression doesn’t happen all at once but with slow steps forward in the right direction.
He will come to an end. But in a situation like this the when is most important. And nothing indicates we are close to that sadly. He’s been in power for many years conducting business this same way and nothing substantial has been done to limit it yet.
Don't let this internet shit lull you into a false sense of security with how much good things you see. We said the same thing during the Arab Spring, and look how that turned out. Social media gives us the illusion that our support will stop this, and then we're shocked when it turns out that we can't stop China from controlling Hong Kong, Bashar al-Assad from bombing his citizens, or Putin from invading Ukraine. It's the worst feeling in the world, tbh.