The LA Times writer hasn't been caught intentionally spreading misleading and dishonest agenda driven stories. The LA Times journalist wasn't filmed witnessing a right wing planning meeting of a violent attack and failing to report it or warn anyone of the attack, Then fired from their journalism job as a result. The same can't be said Andy Ngo. That Texan guy may be a communist who did unscrupulous things to pay is way. But it will take better sourcing than Andy Ngo to make it worth the discussion.
Russia can easily cut off the Baltic states from military supply lines because the gap between Kaliningrad and Belarus is a very small hole to plug from a defensive standpoint. Also, Russia was much weaker in 2004 and did not have the power to stop them from joining NATO even if they wanted to. Geographically, Ukraine is much more of a vulnerability to Russia. The energy reserves in Ukraine are most likely in the equation as well. But at the end of the day, you can try justifying why Russia shouldn't feel threatened with NATO bases in Ukraine but that won't change how they feel and it shouldn't be our place to dictate to Russians how they should feel. Would the US accept it if China allied with Canada and Mexico and put Chinese military bases along our border? Not a chance! We were going to invade Cuba when Russia put missiles there in the 60s, and Russia listened to our red lines and chose not to cross them. And if you look at history, the US has not treated Russia very amicably so it is totally understandable if they don't trust us. I'm not saying this justifies the violence that is occurring in Ukraine but to say this invasion is random and unprovoked is simply not true.
It's fascinating no one is bring this up right now. He wanted out of NATO, and he held back sending Javelin missiles to Ukraine. Yet people think he is the guy to handle this crisis?
The US gov't buys oil from Russia? You got a link to support that? Also, why do you want to ban Russian oil imports? Is this virtue signaling? Russia is sitting on a lot of cash from oil, and oil embargo won't hurt them for years. Also, guess what, everything you do to drive up the price of oil means Russia can sell it to someone at a higher price and thus may potentially actually GET THEM MORE MONEY as China is still buying their oil. Banning oil would send prices higher and if Europe does it, tank their economy while not inflicting any pain on Russia. That's the definition of stupid.
There's an alternate reality where Kelly and Mattis failed to hold him back before election season and instead of war with Ukraine, Russia is marching into Poland today.
Embargo against Russian oil would hurt them now. It will drive up prices but that is worth it to harm Russia. It could also cause more of a division between high ups in industry there and Putin.
Kelly and Mattis? Those guys bailed less than halfway through to a life of giving interviews and doing book tours. Only the laziness and inertial bias saved us from the very worst of Trumpism. Though, what we got (extorting Ukraine to make up stories about Biden! I still can't believe that actually happened and he remained President after it) was really really really bad!
