I believe we're talking about 2 different things; I gotta go cook stuff, I'd like to talk about this later.
With all these sanctions does this mean Trump doesn't have to pay back all those loans back to Russia? He must be pretty happy about that.
I know you're mocking them but this is a revelation that must happen on the far left AND the far right and this is really important for the US and the West as a whole. I think isolationism has become quite popular on the far right and the far left in the US and its extremely dangerous. As a country, the US has forgotten why NATO exists, why the US has forces deployed globally, why the US spends billions on defense every year. We've forgotten that the peace after World War II wasn't an accident. It was a result of deliberate policy choices around the US military and diplomacy. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, we've continued to spend on defense but have largely focused on the wrong types of spending and we've largely hollowed out the expertise of the State Department. I sincerely hope that once this is over, the post war consensus around the US military and the value of US diplomacy is rebuilt because we're seeing what happens when we let it decay. And this includes Trump, who's America first nonsense is explicitly a call for isolationism from the world. But this is a disease on the left as well and it needs to stop there too.
If you are referring to aggressively powering down nuclear reactors and fazing out coal plants while setting up infrastructure to rely heavily on Russian gas then you have a solid point. However additional funding of NATO wouldn't have stopped this invasion -- of course it wouldn't have hurt, but it wasn't a crippling amount of money that was preventing action.
It will be even more awkward when sopperters on the right realize the left has always been in favor of protecting the borders Or since the 80s. It isn't so sudden.
I don't know what kind of information is fed to Putin by his Yes Men, but he's got to be absolutely shocked at the level of blowback he's received and the almost instant galvanization of NATO. China has to be absolutely pissed that the West has been so thoroughly brought back together as well. The US cannot squander the opportunity after this crisis is over to LEAD NATO and its allies in taking back the world order for peace over the next 50 years. The next President need not be a Democrat or Republican, but a Statesman (or woman) that can drive a coalition forward and not waste the opportunity. States-craft is going to be the most critical skillset for the next President.
I'm not sure what a "woke liberal" has to do with gun control but I think you (and many others) buy into the myth the NRA feeds you that liberals want to take away your guns or end the 2nd amendment. What liberals advocate for is gun control, not gun banning. There's a big difference between wanting to make sure guns are registered and gun users are licensed vs just saying ban all guns which isn't the position of the majority Democrats. I don't have a problem with responsible gun ownership, I in fact am considering becoming a gun owner. But I just want a system in place that ensures we are doing everything possible to make sure guns are in the hands of mentally capable and responsible members of society and not criminals nor the mentally disturbed.
Yes, I am mostly talking about willfully making Germany energy-dependent on Russia, and pouring billions and billions into Putin's pockets. But it's the combination of all of Germany's actions and inactions which emboldened Putin. So many German politicians literally seem to be on Putin's payroll. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/25/ger...ny spent around,, according to NATO estimates). Germany has had a strained relationship with its NATO allies for a while, particularly the U.S., when it comes to defense spending. Berlin is slowly cranking up its defense spending in line with a 2014 NATO pledge that member nations should spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. In 2021, Germany spent around $53 billion on defense, marking a 3% rise on the previous year, however the amount had still not reached the 2% guideline (it stood at 1.53% of GDP in 2021, according to NATO estimates). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=DE That's hundreds of billions Germany did NOT spend on defense and instead poured into Putin's pockets.
I read a really good article about a month ago that basically made the case that Germany was becoming a Russian Client State. This probably totally reverses that course.
