Tero
Philosopher
Putin will give him new instructions. He speaks English.
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Cont: Breaking: Mueller Grand Jury charges filed, arrests as soon as Monday pt 2
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TellyKNeasuss
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That they drove their opponents crazy was a prime factor in the appeal of which of these other presidents?
Ziggurat
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NATO members, including Germany, made a promise to increase their spending. They are breaking their promise. If the claim is really that there is no chance that they will increase their spending to meet their promise, then what does that mean? It means that they are not actually partners in defense, they are mooches who do not themselves take the threat from Russia seriously.
And that's supposed to be an argument in favor of essentially unilateral US commitment to NATO? That Trump, not Europe, is the one who's been compromised by Putin? Europe's low defense spending is not suddenly a problem now that Trump is president, it's been a long-standing problem and source of tension between Europe and the US. And Europe is indeed to blame for it.
I'm sure there are complexities, but there's also some simplicities: Germany is helping Russia by buying so much gas from them, and more importantly they are making themselves incredibly vulnerable to Russia. This is a major strategic mistake, but again, it points to Germany not taking the threat from Russia seriously.
If you want to claim that Merkel is right not to take that threat seriously (she clearly doesn't), go ahead. But you can't simultaneously argue that the threat is so great we need a united NATO to counter it, but not great enough for its European members to maintain basic military readiness levels.
What Germany should do is run a bunch of nuclear power reactors.
But the morons decided to scrap those to please environmentalists who simultaneously decided Germany should lower its carbon footprint. Another set of mutual contradictions.
Squeegee Beckenheim
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NoahFence
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acbytesla
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The bar is pretty low for you I see. No actual policy or making quality decisions. Yeah, that makes him the greatest President ever.
Folk there are a variety of threads for discussing different aspects of USA politics/Trump - this one should be focussed on "Breaking: Mueller Grand Jury charges filed, arrests as soon as Monday". More general discussions on matters of Trump and/or Russia should be moved to a more appropriate thread.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic Posted By: Darat
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acbytesla
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Well, to cite a Republican friend of mine... he thinks well of Trump because Trump's clearly trying to keep his campaign promises.
TBD said that if people only knew they would be able to see that Trump is the greatest President ever. I assumed he meant even us progressives would be able to see that.
From what I can see, Trump is doing a lot of batcrap crazy things and the typical things I would expect from a Republican President who has majorities in both houses. He has been destroying the environment, selling out America to the wealthy and destroying what little power anyone but the rich might have. Yeah, that is the GOP mantra. But he is also causing a mess with all your allies while at the same time sucking face with violent dictators.
As to what makes him great, well that is a mystery to me.
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CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
It would be a mistake to think that Trump's actions are connected to what Putin wants. Trump has other motivations : primarily his self-obsession, of course, and then whatever the last people to have his ear want.Which must be why he's asking NATO members to increase their military spending, and telling Germany to stop relying on Russian gas.
That's just what Putin wants.
US oil and gas interests have their own plan to sell LNG to Europe, and they own the GOP, so their story is the one that Trump regurgitates. Association with Trump actually tends to undermine the existing opposition to the new pipeline, and so harms those US interests, but nobody's suggesting Trump is any good at this sort of thing. After his gratuitous insults to Germany, association with Trump is far more damaging than association with Putin is to the pipeline's conservative and industrial supporters. An own goal, but still a score for Putin. Go figure.
European defence spending has been rising for some years in response to the emerging threat of Russia. Trump has no influence on that, and isn't going to. Europe's current spending is enough to trash Russia should it come to that. 2% of Russia's GDP is a pretty sad joke, even if they spent that much and some of it got past the oligarchs and reached the military.
Where Putin really benefits from Trump's behaviour is in Russia itself. He can present disarray in NATO as a triumph to his nationalist base, who believe just as firmly that Putin got Trump elected as Trump's base believes that he didn't. It's an easy argument to make - much easier than the argument against Trump being Putin's bitch.
ETA : Mods, can you shift this to the Russia thread? Thanks in advance.
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While there are obvious references to Stone in the document, the unnamed congressional candidate isn't one of them.
acbytesla
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Sorry, that mod box appeared after I wrote this post. Yea, it should probably be in the General Trump Presidency thread.
Andy_Ross
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Trump tweets on the '12 Russians'
"The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration. Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?"
"The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration. Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?"
CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
That said, I think Stone is a definite chink in the armour. Get a poignard in there and start working it and you will draw blood.
I've noticed recently that the early determination that Russia was interfering has come back under attack, with that whole thing about the DNC server not being physically examined yadda yadda. Was that perhaps prompted by a whisper that these indictments were imminent? Not saying, just wondering ...
CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
Craig4
Penultimate Amazing
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics...obably-person-in-indictment-sot-cuomo-vpx.cnn
Stone is probably the person in the indictment. No collusion though. Stone says his conversation in context is innocuous....of course it is. I'd say he should look up the definition of collusion in Webster's but at this point, knowing the definition "conspiracy" in Title 18 of the US Code might be a more pressing concern.
Stone is probably the person in the indictment. No collusion though. Stone says his conversation in context is innocuous....of course it is. I'd say he should look up the definition of collusion in Webster's but at this point, knowing the definition "conspiracy" in Title 18 of the US Code might be a more pressing concern.
Craig4
Penultimate Amazing
I love his tweets like this. I can tell he's really suffering when he sends them. It makes me so happy.
quadraginta
Becoming Beth
Spoiler spoiler: Probably not.
For starters, I don't think Stone was a Congressional candidate, mysterious or otherwise.
The Daily Cos offered this suggestion.
Seems more likely, especially in view of Gaetz' fervent support of Trump since he has been elected to Congress, and his dogged efforts to torpedo any and all investigation into Russian involvement in the election.
Not to mention that he actually was a Congressional candidate at the time.
The dirtiest of tasks can only be trusted to the innermost, dirtiest circle. That's why Stone and Cohen are the most likely conduits, especially Stone.That said, I think Stone is a definite chink in the armour. Get a poignard in there and start working it and you will draw blood.
I've noticed recently that the early determination that Russia was interfering has come back under attack, with that whole thing about the DNC server not being physically examined yadda yadda. Was that perhaps prompted by a whisper that these indictments were imminent? Not saying, just wondering ...
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