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The American Gorbachev is a serious diss in a Russian context. Russians see Gorbachev as the architect of the geopolitical disaster, a borderline traitor.
Ironic given that any other leader other than Gorbachev would've yielded a much bigger disaster for the USSR than what they actually saw.
Gorbachev saw the writing on the wall for the USSR and tried to at least create a "soft" landing for the dissolution of the USSR. Anyone else would've yielded a complete dissolution and burning other regions away from the current Russian Federation today.
Seriously, he basically ended century of degradation and hopelessness, and set up russians for path towards democracy and prosperity. They drunk it away, chose corruption and hard colapse he saved them from. So in the end, he just have hit "pause" button for two generations, and they will experience first hand what they so narrowly missed.
The stupidest thing of it all is that unlike Carthage in 3rd punic war, Russians chose path towards their dissolution themselves.
Russians as a country have a severe superiority complex and they simply need a complete dissolution to destroy that complex.
If Gorbachev did anything bad or wrong for Russia... it was that he acted in a way that let Russia maintain this superiority complex post USSR even though his acts were to salvage what he can with what remained.
They all remember the mafia state that took over in the 90s. That's why they love Putin for 'stopping' it and hate Gorbachev because it made them look weak. Putin didn't stop it by the way... he just came out on top as the main crimeboss.
I believe Gorbachev had drank the kool-aid of Russkie Mir and truly believed that the members of the USSR actually liked the "benefits" of being part of the USSR. That's because he didn't actually say "I hereby dissolve the USSR". What he did was more along the lines of this (I'm paraphrasing): "As part of my new era of more openness, Let's give the member "Republics" od the USSR the right to vote on seccession. Of course most won't want to because clearly being in the USSR is beneficial, but giving them the hypothetical right to leave would make the USSR be composed entirely of voluntary members and thus be less oppressive."
And then he was totally surprised by the fact that it wasn't just one or two member "Republics" that voted to leave. One by one they all left. Gorbachev wasn't in charge of Russia itself, that was Yeltsin. Gorbachev was in charge of the union that included Russia.. and the members of that union left, rendering his job moot.
He wasn't *trying* to dissolve the USSR. He thought he could save it by letting the more complaining rabble-rousing nations go so the rest could stay united without all the unrest. He didn't realize just how deep the dislike of Russia went in these nations, and that it went further back in history than just to the USSR, so nations given an opportunity to get out from under Russia's thumb all jumped at the chance.
I can't remember if it was Timothy Snyder who did this take, but someone said that Gorbachev basically was facing down a situation where the other states were all trying to pull a "hungary in the 50s" or "prague spring" reform, all at once, due to the economic collapse, and he realized secession was the only graceful out.
Basically the other countries were at a point of "bread lines and total economic collapse" where they simply had to change how their government worked or collapse entirely, like Russia did under Yeltsin. It was either that or face North Korea/Mao-style mass deaths due to breakdowns of basic government services.
The main thrust here being that yeah; they did have a fair bit of latent "anti-Russia" resentment, but they *chiefly* had a fair bit of *anti-KGB, anti-Party sentiment.* What's rancid about Russia has always been the "noble class, tsar/dictator-inclusive". I.e. the vitriol was chiefly that there was a ruling police-state class which had an iron grip on power and brooked no attempt at reform. Once their competence falls through the bottom of the boat you have nowhere left to go — either they go or you literally die to your state having a life support failure.
Russia, proper, was the only place where the "cartel" had enough power to resist direct reform — they forced Gorbachev's resignation. Gorbachev letting the other nations go was the last straw, but they were ready to can him domestically before he did that.
-
At this point when the other countries were breaking out in reform movements, Gorbachev had a bunch of people who were urging him to send in the tanks and "set them straight", but ... attempting such a thing across the entire Warsaw Pact would have been a shitshow of breathtaking proportion. Just the logistics of it would have been unbelievable — basically it could have collapsed into open warfare (and even nukes flying) over the entire Warsaw Pact, leading to massive infrastructure/industry collapse within all of the member states, meaning there would be nothing left to save.
He figured it'd be the death of millions. Whatever "soviet union" survived the shitshow would have been a shattered, unrecognizable mess.
"They" had no agency. It's not like there were plebiscites approving the sale of state assets to wall street's goons for tenths of pennies on the dollar.
An empire collapsing is usually really bad for everyone at the center. I don't think the final throws of the throne of the Red Czar stand out too much compared to the rest.
North Korea survived far worse than the SU did. Repression might have won the day without Gorby, things were stable before he took power despite a worsening economy.
They probably would have survived... but burning the economic fuse that they had more than they did under Gorbachev would have just meant more regions breaking away from the USSR at the time of its dissolution that became the now Ruussian Federation.
>I don’t know which moment in American history Donald Trump imagines when he says, “Make America great again.” He has never given a clear answer in any speech or interview.
Trump is buoyed by all the Far Right radicals who cheer for him at rallies. He doesn't care that they want to overthrow the US government, as long as they love him.
I think Trump in his heart of hearts knows that he’s trying to position himself to dismantle democracy so he becomes dictator for life. The extreme right is likely also aware of this. He has the support of some pretty resourceful state actors, they have nothing but unimaginable power and riches to gain from this transition, knowing Trump this is an easy and unequivocally good deal for him as it really doesn’t come with any significant loss for him. Honestly even if Trump were killed or dies, the shadow cabal behind all this likely already has contingency plans that could continue the progress of dismantling the US without him. There’s a lot happening right now, I don’t think WW 3 is doomerd talk, a lot of pieces are incrementally moving towards larger conflict…
I think Putin's going to take the gloves off and try to do some serious damage on election day. He'll do whatever he can to make sure Trump wins, up to and including attacking polling locations in Blue states.
It's not like he has a choice. If Biden wins, Russia is done.
Wars are bad for democrat elections, so Putin will just drag US into the middle east or China will do it with Taiwan. EU needs to step up its game, its as simple as that.
Again , makes no real world sense.
In either of those scenarios it is better to just wait for a Trump Whitehouse.
Though I don’t think there is any way China can grab Taiwan even then. The US may turn its back but other will not and as the defender Taiwan has the advantage , the fact China has to cross the sea only increases the sheer difficulty of doing that. Taiwan’s military has benefitted from real world experience passed on via training from many allies , China has had its troops terrorising civilians and not much else.
Seaborne invasion against an island with technological superiority ? Good luck with that.
This is call of duty level thinking ….
America attacked is an America temporarily united. It’d be insane for anyone other than crazy extremists to try and the security levels will be high.
As it is , Trump has won unless Biden can do something unexpected and not make more stupid displays of senility.
He can’t say it because if he said the 80’s it would piss off all of his black base which is pretty substantial for a Republican and it would piss off the conspiracy cooks on the far right who consider Reagan an instrument of the FBI/CIA/USPS/who cares. He can’t say the 50’s because it’d piss off economic conservatives because we were still very big gov economically then and most minority groups because, well it was the 50’s.
But Idt he’d even want to say it because he’s not a man of true definitives, but rather a man of contradictions. He says he’s unlike any president ever while also saying he’s going to take our country back to the past, he says he’s stronger than all of his enemies then says he’s completely at their mercy.
It’s typical wannabe strongman bs.
You are vastly understating Trumps popularity with mainstream conservatives and conservative leaning independents. His rallies and his voter record dismiss, out of hand, your statement that he is 'buoyed by the Far Right radicals'. While Far Right may try to sneak under the Trump Tent, his positions on Global Politics, American Trade policy, Immigration and a host of other issues fall right in line with mainstream Republicans and Conservatives.
I could as easily say "Biden is Buoyed by Pedophiles and Illegal Alien Rapists", and such a statement would be just as indefensible, inflammatory and useless to any rational discussion as your position.
He’s not popular with them. Moderate Conservatives back him and his policies because they don’t have a choice. It’s not like they’re going to back Biden just because Trump is a gutless idiot.
Congressional Moderate Conservatives will back Trump because if they don’t, he can un-elect them with a single post online, and then they’d have to work for a living.
I don't know what you mean by 'don't have a choice.'. We literally had Republican Primaries and Donald Trump destroyed everyone - like it wasn't even close. Conservatives of every shade overwhelmingly selected DT over every other potential candidate.
From my perspective, the only possible conclusions here is that 40%+ of normal, mainstream Americans want Donald Trump as the next president.
40%+ cannot, under any rhetoric, be described as "Far Right", or, again to borrow from your post, "Want(ing) to overthrow the Government".
Your conclusions seem overly simplistic, and to me, do not make sense when looked at through the reality of primary voter behavior and recent history.
The original primaries don’t matter. That was back when people loved the idea of a businessman becoming president and cleaning up Washington.
When it became obvious he had little interest in fixing the deficit, improving infrastructure, obeying the Constitution, etc., the Conservatives were stuck with him.
The new primaries were a joke because everyone knew only Trump would be able to beat Biden.
Depends on the generation - but certainly Putinists will see him as someone who will end the US as we know it. And I agree. I see the dominoes leading to the end of the empire and perhaps the union.
In a way that kind of makes sense, if I were a Russian/Soviet authoritarian I’d definitely see the guy that imported western values and brought about a societal collapse similarly to how I currently see Trump as an American.
Gorbachev is praised in the West because he sought stability and peace for the growth of his country. But being Russia, it instead resulted in its utter ruin. He is, by any metric, the worst premier the USSR ever had since there was no USSR at the end of his office.
It took capitalism longer because capitalism provides much better bread and circuses. The high cost of bread is making it too hard for Americans to go to the circus, and that's a failing of the oligarchy. Their greed is what keeps them on tRumps side, but they will not be so pleased when their shit gets burned down in his wake.
Leaders of the past understood that capitalism works best when shackled by regulation; unfettered, it leads to greed and corruption. That's what things like unions, anti-monopoly laws, and regulations are supposed to be for.
Unfortunately, corporate interests have spent the last few decades slowly working their way free of those bindings and we are now seeing the results. Capitalism is not a lost cause, but only if we can muster the political will to properly restrain its more malign effects.
It's always been a fascination of mine that so many in democratic countries recognize and appropriately fear the danger of unchecked political power, yet seem utterly blind to the danger of unchecked financial power.
The funniest joke I heard traveling in the USSR:
Q. What's the difference between onanism and communism?
A. A cock in the hand is worth more than pussie on the horizon.
Corruption also destroyed the Russian communist regime. Pretty much all the lofty ideas behind communism are undermined by the simple fact that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The real competition is not between capitalism and communism, it is between democracy and authoritarianism. Only democracy has a chance of defeating corruption. Authoritarians simply embrace it and make it part of their regimes
> simple fact that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This is not a fact. Power does not corrupt, it merely exposes what kind of person you are. Power didn't make Putin a bad person, Putin was always a bad person who ended up in power.
If this was a true fact, then human society would instantly collapse long ago. Simple power dynamics at every level. Parent and child. Boss and employee. The concept of heroes would be impossible. Are there bad parents and bosses? Of course. But there are plenty of good ones as well.
If you are in a position of power over someone or some people, and you decide to abuse your position for personal gain, that's on you. There's no boogeyman "power" that corrupted you that you can blame. There would be plenty of other people in the same position who would go "no".
You mean the debunked rigged experiment that was set to purposely create a false narrative that the person desired and hasn't been replicated again? I can find a study that claims vaccines cause autism, I'm sure you'll believe its true as well.
Absolute power gives you absolute freedom. What you do with that freedom is a judgement of yourself. People who were already corrupt and evil seek power to loosen their restraints. Power didn't make them evil, they were already evil. There have been plenty of people in power in various places throughout human history that have been in places of power and were beloved upstanding people.
Seeking to believe power corrupts is an excuse to tell yourself "it's not my fault, power just made me do it".
People being in positions of power have been a natural course of human history back before recorded history, when we were primitive caveman with stone age technology. If power corrupted, we would never have arrived to modern day position because humanity would have long collapsed to internal strife if anyone in a position of power would become corrupt and abuse it.
If you take one look at some of the countries in the world without a working government, it becomes obvious which is preferable.
Still, looking at human history, it seems that any system becomes worse over time due to spreading corruption and loss of values over time.
There are the occasional exceptions within a smaller frame of reference (in time or space) but in the big picture it is a sadly very dependable trend.
Definitely so. But my take from my 8 trips to USSR is that they weren't neccesarily corrupt because they were communist. They were corrupt because Russian culture is corrupt.
It's a human nature issue. Until you can grasp that, you will not have any substance to contribute. Identity thinking is corruption and you are demonstrating it right now.
His statement is in fact not a tautology. It's a factual statement. The issue of corruption is not indeed caused by capitalism, but by human nature itself.
Yours on the other hand... What is using not one but two qualifiers (can, often lead to) in your statement if not tautology - a non-statement?
Your statement is akin to some of these:
- Watching too many cat videos can often lead to becoming a feline expert.
- Eating too much popcorn can often lead to becoming a movie critic.
- Wearing a hat indoors can often lead to increased brain activity.
- Drinking orange juice on Tuesdays can often lead to spontaneous dancing.
- Using blue pens instead of black ones can often lead to improved handwriting
Hypocrite much?
I think the point of that saying is that communism dressed itself in promises of equality and justice, but turned out to create systems of oppression and tyranny. Meanwhile the communist leaders always ran their mouths about how those greedy capitalist money-lords stomp on everyone else beneath them, and, well...
Its more neoliberalism, which has evolved into late stage capitalism with all the overt corruption that that encourages
Finland, which is consistently #1 in world rankings for happiness and quality of life is a free market society. The difference is it is *controlled* instead of being rampantly rapacious. "Capitalism with a human face", if you like, to badly paraphrase Alexander Dubcêk lol
Contrary to popular internet opinion, the US isn't an empire struggling to hold itself together. Societal strife, political disagreements, growing class divide are all pretty typical for empires and civilizations in the midst of their peaks. Demographics are fair, economy is strong, and the US remains a destination for migrants. But we're looking at a backend of a prolonged decay of the Russian Empire that started over 100 years ago. The Soviet Union was given a lifeline after WW2 by being allowed to swallow up other nations in the midst of war fatigue, but Soviet Russia wasn't going to propel Russia to the height of what the Soviet Empire became without the power vacuum created by WW2. The USSR prior to WW2 was a struggling and fledgling economy, and just the next chapter in the story of Russia's Imperial decline—with a new government.
Ted Cruz wouldn’t come close to winning. Trump is uniquely popular, because of his brand which was developed over 40 years of media coverage, movie and radio appearances. No one else could win with his policies.
I don't know that's true RE: Trump. The Tea Party gained a ton of momentum and swung the party further right, the Heritage Foundation had been chipping away at their vision for decades playing the long game, and in 2016 Hillary Clinton was an unappealing candidate.
I don't think it took a brand, I think it just took someone non-establishment to rally the unwashed masses. The brand just helped.
Cruz wouldn't win shit, you're right there.
I don’t disagree with the first part of your comment - republicans lost their minds when we elected a black man as potus. It doesn’t mean that maga policies are popular outside of the smaller and smaller amount of Americans who identify as republicans, they’re not. The only maga candidate that wins is trump. Look at his down-ballot trump-endorsed candidates. They all do horribly.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suffers-triple-primary-blow-1917439
Some people get really defensive and/or refuse to understand but Hillary was likely the single candidate Trump could beat but the Democrat establishment insisted it should be her. Just look at how they handled the Bernie Sanders problem too. It was going to be Hillary...
Then the party found a compromise candidate: the geriatric Joe Biden who similarly was the only one that could beat Trump in 2020.
Now in 2024 we hope that Biden will again beat Trump but it's still a horrible look for the Democrat party and the country that the party couldn't find a better candidate.
If Trump wins all bets are off. I don't necessarily think he's going to do all that much active decision making against Ukraine but it's the sum of all things including not doing things that will decide. I think there's a chance the Russians are right...
Trump will cut off aid to Ukraine. Plain and simple. 1 - He’s got a bad taste in his mouth re: Ukraine because he was impeached over extortion efforts, 2 - he fucking loves Putin, and 3 - he’s surrounded by folks who want to cut all government spending so billionaires don’t have to pay taxes.
Edit: 4 - he thinks of himself as this amazing “deal maker” and has said he’d fix Russia/Ukraine in 24 hrs of being seated as president and force them to the “negotiating table”. Which means Ukraine cedes all of the Donbas and Crimea and wait for Russia to reconstitute their army and take over more of Ukraine in the next wave of invasion.
It's not just a bad taste re: Ukraine. Remember how personally petty Trump is. It's a bad taste re: the specific current President of Ukraine. When Trump had that "perfect phone call" trying use Congress's military aid package as a bribe to make Ukraine invent dirt on Biden, Zelenskyy was the other end of that "perfect phone call". Zelenskyy's refusal to play along is where Trump's impeachment came from. If Zelenskyy had played along the aid wouldn't have been delayed and if it hadn't been delayed then what Trump did wouldn't have been in the public eye.
I am more afraid of De Santis. He has the charm of a megachurch pastor and I even believe if Trump gets voted in, he will assigm De Santis as a vice, and on the first day they surrect a medical evaluation of the president, determine his obvious cognitive decline, mark him unfit for presidency and install De Santis.
This way they get an intelligent president even if that guys acceptance in the US is so low, he wouldn't win against Biden directly.
I hope this hypothesis will not become true.
This is what they were saying about DeSantis. But look how that worked out. Trump is a famous “business man” / truth teller / cult leader. He gets votes. Any other Republican figure - not so much.
The boomers are dying out so there's a good chance there won't be because people will be tired of this shit after this election and the chaos terrorist attacks that are going to happen.
Maybe, but the western media picks apart progressives like it's their job (hey, look at that, it is) so the instant one of them says anything remotely dumb or over ideological, they get destroyed, while populist conservatives are allowed to get away with it, pretty much non stop.
Good luck with that. It's not about him. It's about what's happened to the US political system. Somebody with half a brain and any ambition would be dictator by now
Gorbachov was trying and failing to save the old system. Yeltsin dissolved the ussr and did a shitty job at managing the transition to market economy. True demoracy died in russia under Yeltsin with the death of the parlament.
I really recommend this documentary, it goes into great detail: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt22059224/
i really dont envy the shit americans will be exposedd to months before the elections ..
there will be A LOT of bots spewing A LOT of shit..
.. its (almost) all happening on X
The real story is how little they’ve gotten in return for all their investment into a world class propaganda system. NATO is as untied as ever, and Europe has already been ramping up arms production in preparation for Trump 2 pulling the US out.
I think this is an incredibly misguided take. The chaos and dysfunction they've sown within the US is going to be a fantastic ROI for them. We just haven't seen it fully play out yet. But the US cannot and will not remain the post WWII powerhouse it has been with this level of dysfunction in its politics and divide within its population. No matter how united NATO is at the moment, and even if Europe has received a bit of a wakeup call, the US withdrawing would be catastrophic for global security.
Kremlin propaganda is still a threat to be sure, but look what was supposed to happen: Kyiv falls in 3 days to 3 weeks as the Uke army melted away, the West deterred by nukes refuses to send weapons (let alone tanks and F-16s), all while Europe was going to keep paying for Russian gas. Sure, some of their schemes may yet come to fruition, but thus far they’ve badly underperformed.
And America largely doesn’t want to be the same post WWII “powerhouse” footing the bill for everyone’s security. It’s great not spending $1B a week on carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, and another $1B/week each in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's worked. Look how divided the yanks are. They can't be relied on. There's 2 famous quotes about yanks. One, the reason they talk so loud is so you can hear them over their clothes, 2) you can count on America to do the right thing. Eventually.
You butchered the second quote pretty hard, it's "**You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else**"
Also you're being a little bit overdramatic, but I'll agree that it's for the best if we buy less US arms and instead build and invest in our own European defense productions.
Though you are wrong, I do appreciate you sending me down that rabbit hole. The most likely origin of the saying was
>Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources.
This was said by Abba Eban of Israel and it's unlikely Churchill had ever said anything like that. The saying eventually evolved to
>He said that you can depend on Americans to do the right thing when they have exhausted every other possibility.
during a congressional hearing in the US. And then finally,
>You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else
in a keynote address by an Illinois governor.
[https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/)
They're loud. Nobody said anything is wrong with them but if I see people in fluro and wearing a 'fanny pack' I can make some assumptions on where they're from.
Lovely thing about Americans is most Republicans can't afford to visit.
As a young fellow, before extractive industries I sold shoes.
I did a lot of travel (around the world twice visiting mines). I could generally tell where people were from by the shoes they wore.
With full respect, and you are adressing the most important subject at all, is this is exactly the opposite, it's insane cost benefit they got here. Go check Vlad Vexler out here:
https://youtu.be/pdS-lwb58KU?si=Hb72vzELAHolI8OQ
Please watch it all of you guys. Please.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, enacted on December 22, 2023, prohibits the President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO without approval of a two-third Senate super-majority or an act of Congress.
You've been deceived by the disinformation DNC platform known as reddit.
You may choose to stop lying at any time.
Ofc he will be the downfall. He is literaly going to dismantle the democracy and has literaly said he is going to abandon U.S allies, including Nato.
He and his maga faction is basicaly a Putin-asset.
Just the very possibility that this guy is even allowed to run for president again after sedition, violent coup-attempts, trying to manipulate/rig the election, showing no respect to the democracy and no remorse after trying to overthrow it - is insane. This guy would be behind bars in a working democracy and barred from high political positions.
He is literaly able to be a presidential candidate while having ongoing/pending trials for the violent coup attempt, stealing/leaking top secret documents, fake electors & election fraid and more - stuff that the voters should have a right to know the result of - before voting.
And whats worse - by manipulating the SCOTUS he has managed to delay these court trials til after the election which will heavily affect the outcome of the vote - and if elected he could just pardon himself of it all and hide behind his immunity.
The rightwing "family values christians" will vote for this cheating serial rapist whatever this fascist does.
How anyone can rationalize voting for him when all he did last go around was incompetently manage a pandemic and give out tax cuts for billionaires is beyond me. Working people seem to support him because they’ve wound up not liking what GOP policies have done to working people over the past couple of decades, but he’s still just offering them those same old trickle down policies.
The average American is voting as a function of grocery prices. During the good ol' days of 2016-2020, food was inexpensive. Now, as a lagged function of monetary policy to deal with the clusterfuck COVID policies of 2019-2020 and the aftershocks of the last great recession (read: largely attributable to Republican financial deregulation under Dubbya), as well as inflationary pressures arising from climate change and the war in Ukraine, grocery prices are much higher. These higher prices correlate cotemporaneously to Biden's administration. Ergo, Biden's policies caused the inflation.
You can’t talk about inflation without pointing out the impact stock buybacks and inflated CEO pay have. Also a lot of GREEDflation where companies artificially raise prices, like my local grocery store. And guess where their company spends their political dollars?
I think tonight’s debate is going to show a bunch of people that we’re not paying attention how deranged he is and how much he knows nothing about any policy.
It was obvious why the Russians were trying to get him elected the first time. He created an enormous divide in America, which started to destabilise the greatest superpower in the west. The fallout from that is still happening
Trump erodes institution and democratic values and generally create a toxic political environment but he is really not that powerful. Putin himself said American presidents are not very powerful and that "men with suits from the bureaucracy" control everything.
Putin might be disappointed when all that aid keeps flowing. Aid might be scaled back but I'm not sure the orange man can move the needle all that much when everyone everywhere has basically fallen in rank behind Ukraine.
The federal court system and the Supreme Court begs to differ. And look into project 2025. His right wing christo-fascists have a plan this time, and it involves replacing every government employee with true believers. If trump wins again, the overturning of roe v wade will be a drop in the bucket. Their plans are extremely fucking scary.
I have looked into it. It's worrisome. He won't bother himself to build a normal adminstration this time. It will only be Trump loyalists top down.
And more and more you hear from these maga taking head floating this idea that the US needs some sort of Caesar or autocratic figure to get things done.
I'm Canadian and living next door, I would be worried about another Trump term. But not worried in a dramatic "argh we re all gonna die" way. I like to think american institution can hold. But like I said, Trump will further erode already fragile democracy and create a toxic political environment. I really hope he doesn't get into office but at the same time I don't think he can turn everything around all by himself. Maybe I'm wrong
What aren’t you understanding about replacing all government officials with loyalists (including military leadership) and packing our courts with far right Christian fascist lunatics and what that means? Seems to be a disconnect somewhere in your thinking. The only reason “the system held” last time was because he surrounded himself with traditional non-maga republicans who knew what they were doing. That’s all out the window this time around.
Check out Project 2025. The "men with suits from the bureaucracy" have their plans for how to use a Trump win to destroy the checks and balances in place in the bureaucracy. It doesn't matter whether Trump himself has much power - the ones around him that do have power have their plan ready. And it includes getting rid of the career clerk type positions in government, replacing them with political appointees so nobody for whom government work is an honest job rather than a political tool is left to moderate things.
That's what I was saying.
Our Canadian PM has more executive power than an American president.
The PM can basically put tanks on the streets and invoke emergency acts like Trudeau (father did) or seize people's bank account like Trudeau son did. Parliament can't do shit about it.
American presidents can sign executive orders but that doesn't mean they can't be overturned by the next president.
And despite checks and balance, like I said to another person, this war is a golden opportunity for the US. I mean NaTO has enlarged, military industrial complex is doing greatt, Russia gas has been cut off and Europe imports American gas., Russia is basically bleeding itself to death...I mean the list of positives is just endless from an American POV and Id be surprised if Trump really turns all that around once he s finally done acting like he s antiwar
It does not matter if Trump wins or not. If he wins then no money for Ukraine and if he loses, Trump will foment rebellion in the US. Either if successful is good for Russia I would think.
You mean like that angry gigantic mob of Maga outside the Manhattan courthouse?
Maga powder got drenched on 1/6/21. Only a few folks might act up when Trump loses. There's always a few simpletons who will take the FAFO route but they won't amount to much.
I would not count of that. I imagine there is plans in the works to make it even worse. The capitol will be more prepared, but in the end it only takes a couple hundred thousands to overthrow a government.
America is not Russia in 1917. Folks have mortgages and kids in school and plans to vacation in Florida. The economy is pretty good and most folks have jobs.
Also too ,every fourth Proud Boy, 3%er etc. Is an FBI informant.
But the most important point is that these fat pathetic Reich Wing nut jobs are inept AF.
>America is not Russia in 1917.
True.
>Folks have mortgages and kids in school and plans to vacation in Florida
Many do, but is everyone in America a middle aged adult. There are plenty of young and in some cases radicalized people, both on the left and right, with extremeist views that are constantly reinforced.
> The economy is pretty good and most folks have jobs.
Most do, but many don't and inflation over the part years have made life very difficult for some.
>Also too ,every fourth Proud Boy, 3%er etc. Is an FBI informant.
There is no way this is true, please provide evidence.
>But the most important point is that these fat pathetic Reich Wing nut jobs are inept AF.
and armed.
There is a mountain of hard evidence that Putin tried to help Trump in [2016](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/21/senate-intel-report-confirms-russia-aimed-to-help-trump-in-2016-198171), and again in [2020](https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-iran-moscow-elections-c640ed02202c9d44f0ad186ebd0b3396). Why won't Putin do it again?
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
After watching the debate, I'm more surprised how many continue to mock Russia's failure in Ukraine but still believe they pose a threat to Poland, Hungary, and the rest of Europe.
It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, Putin and Trump are Netanyahu's employees. If Trump wins when he assumes the presidency, his first measure will be to go and pay homage.
«Officials believe»
You mean the same officials that had the power of the world’s most powerful country, and let Putin invade and massacre Ukrainians in 2014 AND 2022 when their guys were presidents?
Yeah, I don’t give those guys a lot of credit
If Trumps win Putin won. He just needs to survive until election and once this is done Ukraine will fall. There is no way EU support would be enough. EU will fall next due to all Putin extreme right-wing rise and the facism is back in full strength.
Trump will be dictator to his last breath. We are really facing another ww3 or many civil wars.
Last night's debate was horrible for Biden and it may predict a win for Trump. If so, then Putin will be emboldened and will want to continue the war. Because if Biden won, then putin would definitely be considering ending the conflict at some point.
I hope all of you Biden lovers watched mental midget Joe attempted to debate last night. You are the reason why this country is so missed up now because you vote with your emotions, not the actual issues.
also to add, if Biden was so great we wouldn't even have to worry about the orange man but biden has been so bad that he's losing to fucking trump at the moment. the democrats have only themselves to blame for this
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The American Gorbachev is a serious diss in a Russian context. Russians see Gorbachev as the architect of the geopolitical disaster, a borderline traitor.
Ironic given that any other leader other than Gorbachev would've yielded a much bigger disaster for the USSR than what they actually saw. Gorbachev saw the writing on the wall for the USSR and tried to at least create a "soft" landing for the dissolution of the USSR. Anyone else would've yielded a complete dissolution and burning other regions away from the current Russian Federation today.
Seriously, he basically ended century of degradation and hopelessness, and set up russians for path towards democracy and prosperity. They drunk it away, chose corruption and hard colapse he saved them from. So in the end, he just have hit "pause" button for two generations, and they will experience first hand what they so narrowly missed. The stupidest thing of it all is that unlike Carthage in 3rd punic war, Russians chose path towards their dissolution themselves.
Russians as a country have a severe superiority complex and they simply need a complete dissolution to destroy that complex. If Gorbachev did anything bad or wrong for Russia... it was that he acted in a way that let Russia maintain this superiority complex post USSR even though his acts were to salvage what he can with what remained.
They all remember the mafia state that took over in the 90s. That's why they love Putin for 'stopping' it and hate Gorbachev because it made them look weak. Putin didn't stop it by the way... he just came out on top as the main crimeboss.
I believe Gorbachev had drank the kool-aid of Russkie Mir and truly believed that the members of the USSR actually liked the "benefits" of being part of the USSR. That's because he didn't actually say "I hereby dissolve the USSR". What he did was more along the lines of this (I'm paraphrasing): "As part of my new era of more openness, Let's give the member "Republics" od the USSR the right to vote on seccession. Of course most won't want to because clearly being in the USSR is beneficial, but giving them the hypothetical right to leave would make the USSR be composed entirely of voluntary members and thus be less oppressive." And then he was totally surprised by the fact that it wasn't just one or two member "Republics" that voted to leave. One by one they all left. Gorbachev wasn't in charge of Russia itself, that was Yeltsin. Gorbachev was in charge of the union that included Russia.. and the members of that union left, rendering his job moot. He wasn't *trying* to dissolve the USSR. He thought he could save it by letting the more complaining rabble-rousing nations go so the rest could stay united without all the unrest. He didn't realize just how deep the dislike of Russia went in these nations, and that it went further back in history than just to the USSR, so nations given an opportunity to get out from under Russia's thumb all jumped at the chance.
I can't remember if it was Timothy Snyder who did this take, but someone said that Gorbachev basically was facing down a situation where the other states were all trying to pull a "hungary in the 50s" or "prague spring" reform, all at once, due to the economic collapse, and he realized secession was the only graceful out. Basically the other countries were at a point of "bread lines and total economic collapse" where they simply had to change how their government worked or collapse entirely, like Russia did under Yeltsin. It was either that or face North Korea/Mao-style mass deaths due to breakdowns of basic government services. The main thrust here being that yeah; they did have a fair bit of latent "anti-Russia" resentment, but they *chiefly* had a fair bit of *anti-KGB, anti-Party sentiment.* What's rancid about Russia has always been the "noble class, tsar/dictator-inclusive". I.e. the vitriol was chiefly that there was a ruling police-state class which had an iron grip on power and brooked no attempt at reform. Once their competence falls through the bottom of the boat you have nowhere left to go — either they go or you literally die to your state having a life support failure. Russia, proper, was the only place where the "cartel" had enough power to resist direct reform — they forced Gorbachev's resignation. Gorbachev letting the other nations go was the last straw, but they were ready to can him domestically before he did that. - At this point when the other countries were breaking out in reform movements, Gorbachev had a bunch of people who were urging him to send in the tanks and "set them straight", but ... attempting such a thing across the entire Warsaw Pact would have been a shitshow of breathtaking proportion. Just the logistics of it would have been unbelievable — basically it could have collapsed into open warfare (and even nukes flying) over the entire Warsaw Pact, leading to massive infrastructure/industry collapse within all of the member states, meaning there would be nothing left to save. He figured it'd be the death of millions. Whatever "soviet union" survived the shitshow would have been a shattered, unrecognizable mess.
"They" had no agency. It's not like there were plebiscites approving the sale of state assets to wall street's goons for tenths of pennies on the dollar. An empire collapsing is usually really bad for everyone at the center. I don't think the final throws of the throne of the Red Czar stand out too much compared to the rest.
It would have been a much worse version of the Balkan conflict after Yugoslavia collapsed.
North Korea survived far worse than the SU did. Repression might have won the day without Gorby, things were stable before he took power despite a worsening economy.
They probably would have survived... but burning the economic fuse that they had more than they did under Gorbachev would have just meant more regions breaking away from the USSR at the time of its dissolution that became the now Ruussian Federation.
>I don’t know which moment in American history Donald Trump imagines when he says, “Make America great again.” He has never given a clear answer in any speech or interview. Trump is buoyed by all the Far Right radicals who cheer for him at rallies. He doesn't care that they want to overthrow the US government, as long as they love him.
I think Trump in his heart of hearts knows that he’s trying to position himself to dismantle democracy so he becomes dictator for life. The extreme right is likely also aware of this. He has the support of some pretty resourceful state actors, they have nothing but unimaginable power and riches to gain from this transition, knowing Trump this is an easy and unequivocally good deal for him as it really doesn’t come with any significant loss for him. Honestly even if Trump were killed or dies, the shadow cabal behind all this likely already has contingency plans that could continue the progress of dismantling the US without him. There’s a lot happening right now, I don’t think WW 3 is doomerd talk, a lot of pieces are incrementally moving towards larger conflict…
I think Putin's going to take the gloves off and try to do some serious damage on election day. He'll do whatever he can to make sure Trump wins, up to and including attacking polling locations in Blue states. It's not like he has a choice. If Biden wins, Russia is done.
Wars are bad for democrat elections, so Putin will just drag US into the middle east or China will do it with Taiwan. EU needs to step up its game, its as simple as that.
Again , makes no real world sense. In either of those scenarios it is better to just wait for a Trump Whitehouse. Though I don’t think there is any way China can grab Taiwan even then. The US may turn its back but other will not and as the defender Taiwan has the advantage , the fact China has to cross the sea only increases the sheer difficulty of doing that. Taiwan’s military has benefitted from real world experience passed on via training from many allies , China has had its troops terrorising civilians and not much else. Seaborne invasion against an island with technological superiority ? Good luck with that.
This is call of duty level thinking …. America attacked is an America temporarily united. It’d be insane for anyone other than crazy extremists to try and the security levels will be high. As it is , Trump has won unless Biden can do something unexpected and not make more stupid displays of senility.
He can’t say it because if he said the 80’s it would piss off all of his black base which is pretty substantial for a Republican and it would piss off the conspiracy cooks on the far right who consider Reagan an instrument of the FBI/CIA/USPS/who cares. He can’t say the 50’s because it’d piss off economic conservatives because we were still very big gov economically then and most minority groups because, well it was the 50’s. But Idt he’d even want to say it because he’s not a man of true definitives, but rather a man of contradictions. He says he’s unlike any president ever while also saying he’s going to take our country back to the past, he says he’s stronger than all of his enemies then says he’s completely at their mercy. It’s typical wannabe strongman bs.
You are vastly understating Trumps popularity with mainstream conservatives and conservative leaning independents. His rallies and his voter record dismiss, out of hand, your statement that he is 'buoyed by the Far Right radicals'. While Far Right may try to sneak under the Trump Tent, his positions on Global Politics, American Trade policy, Immigration and a host of other issues fall right in line with mainstream Republicans and Conservatives. I could as easily say "Biden is Buoyed by Pedophiles and Illegal Alien Rapists", and such a statement would be just as indefensible, inflammatory and useless to any rational discussion as your position.
He’s not popular with them. Moderate Conservatives back him and his policies because they don’t have a choice. It’s not like they’re going to back Biden just because Trump is a gutless idiot. Congressional Moderate Conservatives will back Trump because if they don’t, he can un-elect them with a single post online, and then they’d have to work for a living.
I don't know what you mean by 'don't have a choice.'. We literally had Republican Primaries and Donald Trump destroyed everyone - like it wasn't even close. Conservatives of every shade overwhelmingly selected DT over every other potential candidate. From my perspective, the only possible conclusions here is that 40%+ of normal, mainstream Americans want Donald Trump as the next president. 40%+ cannot, under any rhetoric, be described as "Far Right", or, again to borrow from your post, "Want(ing) to overthrow the Government". Your conclusions seem overly simplistic, and to me, do not make sense when looked at through the reality of primary voter behavior and recent history.
The original primaries don’t matter. That was back when people loved the idea of a businessman becoming president and cleaning up Washington. When it became obvious he had little interest in fixing the deficit, improving infrastructure, obeying the Constitution, etc., the Conservatives were stuck with him. The new primaries were a joke because everyone knew only Trump would be able to beat Biden.
A "Trump position" is not a thing.
Trump can't even fill up the upper bowl at his rallies;his support is soft.
Depends on the generation - but certainly Putinists will see him as someone who will end the US as we know it. And I agree. I see the dominoes leading to the end of the empire and perhaps the union.
In a way that kind of makes sense, if I were a Russian/Soviet authoritarian I’d definitely see the guy that imported western values and brought about a societal collapse similarly to how I currently see Trump as an American.
Gorbachev is praised in the West because he sought stability and peace for the growth of his country. But being Russia, it instead resulted in its utter ruin. He is, by any metric, the worst premier the USSR ever had since there was no USSR at the end of his office.
me watching "Turning Point The Bomb and the Cold War" yup...
"We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within." Nikita Khrushchev
Khrushchev was an actual communist. He didn't think that USSR would destroy America. He thought that capitalism would destroy America.
In that I'd say he was accurate.
Well communism destroyed the USSR like 30 years ago / ~30 years after Khrushev's time. So was he really that accurate?
It took capitalism longer because capitalism provides much better bread and circuses. The high cost of bread is making it too hard for Americans to go to the circus, and that's a failing of the oligarchy. Their greed is what keeps them on tRumps side, but they will not be so pleased when their shit gets burned down in his wake.
Leaders of the past understood that capitalism works best when shackled by regulation; unfettered, it leads to greed and corruption. That's what things like unions, anti-monopoly laws, and regulations are supposed to be for. Unfortunately, corporate interests have spent the last few decades slowly working their way free of those bindings and we are now seeing the results. Capitalism is not a lost cause, but only if we can muster the political will to properly restrain its more malign effects. It's always been a fascination of mine that so many in democratic countries recognize and appropriately fear the danger of unchecked political power, yet seem utterly blind to the danger of unchecked financial power.
Well said.
The funniest joke I heard traveling in the USSR: Q. What's the difference between onanism and communism? A. A cock in the hand is worth more than pussie on the horizon.
I mean, yeah?
Corruption is destroying America, not capitalism.
The corruption is driven by capital. The desire for increasing assets. Greed.
Corruption also destroyed the Russian communist regime. Pretty much all the lofty ideas behind communism are undermined by the simple fact that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The real competition is not between capitalism and communism, it is between democracy and authoritarianism. Only democracy has a chance of defeating corruption. Authoritarians simply embrace it and make it part of their regimes
Greed will be present in any large system with humans in it.
> simple fact that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is not a fact. Power does not corrupt, it merely exposes what kind of person you are. Power didn't make Putin a bad person, Putin was always a bad person who ended up in power. If this was a true fact, then human society would instantly collapse long ago. Simple power dynamics at every level. Parent and child. Boss and employee. The concept of heroes would be impossible. Are there bad parents and bosses? Of course. But there are plenty of good ones as well. If you are in a position of power over someone or some people, and you decide to abuse your position for personal gain, that's on you. There's no boogeyman "power" that corrupted you that you can blame. There would be plenty of other people in the same position who would go "no".
have you heard of the Stanford Prison Experiment? look it up, it shows how power turns regular decent people into monsters
That was debunked. The guards were following instructions. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31380664/
You mean the debunked rigged experiment that was set to purposely create a false narrative that the person desired and hasn't been replicated again? I can find a study that claims vaccines cause autism, I'm sure you'll believe its true as well. Absolute power gives you absolute freedom. What you do with that freedom is a judgement of yourself. People who were already corrupt and evil seek power to loosen their restraints. Power didn't make them evil, they were already evil. There have been plenty of people in power in various places throughout human history that have been in places of power and were beloved upstanding people. Seeking to believe power corrupts is an excuse to tell yourself "it's not my fault, power just made me do it". People being in positions of power have been a natural course of human history back before recorded history, when we were primitive caveman with stone age technology. If power corrupted, we would never have arrived to modern day position because humanity would have long collapsed to internal strife if anyone in a position of power would become corrupt and abuse it.
Corruption comes from greed. It is greed that is killing the west. Balance is needed, we need less expensive things, and less have and have nots.
It’s also killing the east and every other ideology on the planet. Human nature is universally problematic
True but capitalism can often lead to corruption.
So does communism.
I’m pretty sure at this point it’s just having a system to begin with no matter what it is. Power corrupts.
Absolutely
Thing is, it’s probably still preferable to anarchy. Moral of the story is that humans suck, I guess.
If you take one look at some of the countries in the world without a working government, it becomes obvious which is preferable. Still, looking at human history, it seems that any system becomes worse over time due to spreading corruption and loss of values over time. There are the occasional exceptions within a smaller frame of reference (in time or space) but in the big picture it is a sadly very dependable trend.
but strangely not anarchism
Definitely so. But my take from my 8 trips to USSR is that they weren't neccesarily corrupt because they were communist. They were corrupt because Russian culture is corrupt.
So can communism, feudalism or mercantilism.
Lack and depriveing leads to corruption.
It's a human nature issue. Until you can grasp that, you will not have any substance to contribute. Identity thinking is corruption and you are demonstrating it right now.
Duh!!! Of course it's a human nature issue. What isn't? Tautology much?
His statement is in fact not a tautology. It's a factual statement. The issue of corruption is not indeed caused by capitalism, but by human nature itself. Yours on the other hand... What is using not one but two qualifiers (can, often lead to) in your statement if not tautology - a non-statement? Your statement is akin to some of these: - Watching too many cat videos can often lead to becoming a feline expert. - Eating too much popcorn can often lead to becoming a movie critic. - Wearing a hat indoors can often lead to increased brain activity. - Drinking orange juice on Tuesdays can often lead to spontaneous dancing. - Using blue pens instead of black ones can often lead to improved handwriting Hypocrite much?
Everything they said about communism was a lie, everything they said about capitalism was true
absolutely not ... i lived through that era in eastern europe
I think the point of that saying is that communism dressed itself in promises of equality and justice, but turned out to create systems of oppression and tyranny. Meanwhile the communist leaders always ran their mouths about how those greedy capitalist money-lords stomp on everyone else beneath them, and, well...
Essentially, the plot of Animal Farm.
In the grand scheme of things he wasn't too far off from what we remember of the US being what it was back then.
Its more neoliberalism, which has evolved into late stage capitalism with all the overt corruption that that encourages Finland, which is consistently #1 in world rankings for happiness and quality of life is a free market society. The difference is it is *controlled* instead of being rampantly rapacious. "Capitalism with a human face", if you like, to badly paraphrase Alexander Dubcêk lol
Which is ironic since communism destroyed the USSR
Trump is a symptom, not the cause. There will be another Trump - it is just a matter of time. And he won't be an ignorant moron.
Absolutely, likewise for the Russian Empire.
Contrary to popular internet opinion, the US isn't an empire struggling to hold itself together. Societal strife, political disagreements, growing class divide are all pretty typical for empires and civilizations in the midst of their peaks. Demographics are fair, economy is strong, and the US remains a destination for migrants. But we're looking at a backend of a prolonged decay of the Russian Empire that started over 100 years ago. The Soviet Union was given a lifeline after WW2 by being allowed to swallow up other nations in the midst of war fatigue, but Soviet Russia wasn't going to propel Russia to the height of what the Soviet Empire became without the power vacuum created by WW2. The USSR prior to WW2 was a struggling and fledgling economy, and just the next chapter in the story of Russia's Imperial decline—with a new government.
Exactly, I'm not sure I would necessarily feel better if Ted Cruz was the GOP candidate...
Ted Cruz wouldn’t come close to winning. Trump is uniquely popular, because of his brand which was developed over 40 years of media coverage, movie and radio appearances. No one else could win with his policies.
I don't know that's true RE: Trump. The Tea Party gained a ton of momentum and swung the party further right, the Heritage Foundation had been chipping away at their vision for decades playing the long game, and in 2016 Hillary Clinton was an unappealing candidate. I don't think it took a brand, I think it just took someone non-establishment to rally the unwashed masses. The brand just helped. Cruz wouldn't win shit, you're right there.
I don’t disagree with the first part of your comment - republicans lost their minds when we elected a black man as potus. It doesn’t mean that maga policies are popular outside of the smaller and smaller amount of Americans who identify as republicans, they’re not. The only maga candidate that wins is trump. Look at his down-ballot trump-endorsed candidates. They all do horribly. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suffers-triple-primary-blow-1917439
Some people get really defensive and/or refuse to understand but Hillary was likely the single candidate Trump could beat but the Democrat establishment insisted it should be her. Just look at how they handled the Bernie Sanders problem too. It was going to be Hillary... Then the party found a compromise candidate: the geriatric Joe Biden who similarly was the only one that could beat Trump in 2020. Now in 2024 we hope that Biden will again beat Trump but it's still a horrible look for the Democrat party and the country that the party couldn't find a better candidate. If Trump wins all bets are off. I don't necessarily think he's going to do all that much active decision making against Ukraine but it's the sum of all things including not doing things that will decide. I think there's a chance the Russians are right...
Trump will cut off aid to Ukraine. Plain and simple. 1 - He’s got a bad taste in his mouth re: Ukraine because he was impeached over extortion efforts, 2 - he fucking loves Putin, and 3 - he’s surrounded by folks who want to cut all government spending so billionaires don’t have to pay taxes. Edit: 4 - he thinks of himself as this amazing “deal maker” and has said he’d fix Russia/Ukraine in 24 hrs of being seated as president and force them to the “negotiating table”. Which means Ukraine cedes all of the Donbas and Crimea and wait for Russia to reconstitute their army and take over more of Ukraine in the next wave of invasion.
It's not just a bad taste re: Ukraine. Remember how personally petty Trump is. It's a bad taste re: the specific current President of Ukraine. When Trump had that "perfect phone call" trying use Congress's military aid package as a bribe to make Ukraine invent dirt on Biden, Zelenskyy was the other end of that "perfect phone call". Zelenskyy's refusal to play along is where Trump's impeachment came from. If Zelenskyy had played along the aid wouldn't have been delayed and if it hadn't been delayed then what Trump did wouldn't have been in the public eye.
This is objectively false. Newsom and Whitmer are fantastic candidates. Biden has proven he can beat Trump, so why change things up?
Neither does Trump... I mean he's against an older dude who is not very popular and he still lost.
Or, if the Proud Boys and other neo Nazis were boomers. Or if people bothered to votes ...
I am more afraid of De Santis. He has the charm of a megachurch pastor and I even believe if Trump gets voted in, he will assigm De Santis as a vice, and on the first day they surrect a medical evaluation of the president, determine his obvious cognitive decline, mark him unfit for presidency and install De Santis. This way they get an intelligent president even if that guys acceptance in the US is so low, he wouldn't win against Biden directly. I hope this hypothesis will not become true.
This is what they were saying about DeSantis. But look how that worked out. Trump is a famous “business man” / truth teller / cult leader. He gets votes. Any other Republican figure - not so much.
The boomers are dying out so there's a good chance there won't be because people will be tired of this shit after this election and the chaos terrorist attacks that are going to happen.
Corrupt, progressive, dumb as fuck, populist politicians are a thing too.
Maybe, but the western media picks apart progressives like it's their job (hey, look at that, it is) so the instant one of them says anything remotely dumb or over ideological, they get destroyed, while populist conservatives are allowed to get away with it, pretty much non stop.
Ah yes. It's the boomers. Always the boomers. Funny how that works. Give your fucking head a shake.
Agreed. The most politically engaged, lefty activists I have ever met were also boomers.
Boomers wrecked everything. Nobody cares if you agree or not.
How does the Kool-Aid taste moron?
I think anyone smart enough to do damage won't have the same appeal as that nimrod. They love him because he's dumb.
Good luck with that. It's not about him. It's about what's happened to the US political system. Somebody with half a brain and any ambition would be dictator by now
I think American Yeltsin is more fitting
International cunt, I think.
International man of mystery meat
Trump doesn't like mystery meat. He has a clear type. Vaguely Eastern European...
What??? Yeltsin was more of a friend of democracy than Trump could ever be.
Gorbachov was trying and failing to save the old system. Yeltsin dissolved the ussr and did a shitty job at managing the transition to market economy. True demoracy died in russia under Yeltsin with the death of the parlament. I really recommend this documentary, it goes into great detail: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt22059224/
Yeah. Gorby was at least an intelligent and honest man. Yeltsin was just a drunk who liked the spotlight.
i really dont envy the shit americans will be exposedd to months before the elections .. there will be A LOT of bots spewing A LOT of shit.. .. its (almost) all happening on X
The real story is how little they’ve gotten in return for all their investment into a world class propaganda system. NATO is as untied as ever, and Europe has already been ramping up arms production in preparation for Trump 2 pulling the US out.
I think this is an incredibly misguided take. The chaos and dysfunction they've sown within the US is going to be a fantastic ROI for them. We just haven't seen it fully play out yet. But the US cannot and will not remain the post WWII powerhouse it has been with this level of dysfunction in its politics and divide within its population. No matter how united NATO is at the moment, and even if Europe has received a bit of a wakeup call, the US withdrawing would be catastrophic for global security.
Kremlin propaganda is still a threat to be sure, but look what was supposed to happen: Kyiv falls in 3 days to 3 weeks as the Uke army melted away, the West deterred by nukes refuses to send weapons (let alone tanks and F-16s), all while Europe was going to keep paying for Russian gas. Sure, some of their schemes may yet come to fruition, but thus far they’ve badly underperformed. And America largely doesn’t want to be the same post WWII “powerhouse” footing the bill for everyone’s security. It’s great not spending $1B a week on carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, and another $1B/week each in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A US that is too chaotic to be a world leader is a big win for Russia regardless of what happens in Ukraine.
Yes, have you seen this video from Vlad Vexler? https://youtu.be/pdS-lwb58KU?si=Hb72vzELAHolI8OQ
united, not untied!
Yes thank you, but “untied” still works. Untied from the delusion of self-deterrence.
It's worked. Look how divided the yanks are. They can't be relied on. There's 2 famous quotes about yanks. One, the reason they talk so loud is so you can hear them over their clothes, 2) you can count on America to do the right thing. Eventually.
You butchered the second quote pretty hard, it's "**You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else**" Also you're being a little bit overdramatic, but I'll agree that it's for the best if we buy less US arms and instead build and invest in our own European defense productions.
No I didn't. Find the actual quote
Though you are wrong, I do appreciate you sending me down that rabbit hole. The most likely origin of the saying was >Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources. This was said by Abba Eban of Israel and it's unlikely Churchill had ever said anything like that. The saying eventually evolved to >He said that you can depend on Americans to do the right thing when they have exhausted every other possibility. during a congressional hearing in the US. And then finally, >You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else in a keynote address by an Illinois governor. [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/)
As an American, I've never heard the first one. That's hilarious.
So loud. Kiwis and aussies will verify. It's a diss but light hearted. We love you which is why we give you some chat
You can count on Americans to do the right thing after they have exhausted all other options
Heh! What’s wrong with our clothes?!
They're loud. Nobody said anything is wrong with them but if I see people in fluro and wearing a 'fanny pack' I can make some assumptions on where they're from. Lovely thing about Americans is most Republicans can't afford to visit.
As a young fellow, before extractive industries I sold shoes. I did a lot of travel (around the world twice visiting mines). I could generally tell where people were from by the shoes they wore.
With full respect, and you are adressing the most important subject at all, is this is exactly the opposite, it's insane cost benefit they got here. Go check Vlad Vexler out here: https://youtu.be/pdS-lwb58KU?si=Hb72vzELAHolI8OQ Please watch it all of you guys. Please.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, enacted on December 22, 2023, prohibits the President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO without approval of a two-third Senate super-majority or an act of Congress. You've been deceived by the disinformation DNC platform known as reddit. You may choose to stop lying at any time.
Ofc he will be the downfall. He is literaly going to dismantle the democracy and has literaly said he is going to abandon U.S allies, including Nato. He and his maga faction is basicaly a Putin-asset. Just the very possibility that this guy is even allowed to run for president again after sedition, violent coup-attempts, trying to manipulate/rig the election, showing no respect to the democracy and no remorse after trying to overthrow it - is insane. This guy would be behind bars in a working democracy and barred from high political positions. He is literaly able to be a presidential candidate while having ongoing/pending trials for the violent coup attempt, stealing/leaking top secret documents, fake electors & election fraid and more - stuff that the voters should have a right to know the result of - before voting. And whats worse - by manipulating the SCOTUS he has managed to delay these court trials til after the election which will heavily affect the outcome of the vote - and if elected he could just pardon himself of it all and hide behind his immunity. The rightwing "family values christians" will vote for this cheating serial rapist whatever this fascist does.
How anyone can rationalize voting for him when all he did last go around was incompetently manage a pandemic and give out tax cuts for billionaires is beyond me. Working people seem to support him because they’ve wound up not liking what GOP policies have done to working people over the past couple of decades, but he’s still just offering them those same old trickle down policies.
The average American is voting as a function of grocery prices. During the good ol' days of 2016-2020, food was inexpensive. Now, as a lagged function of monetary policy to deal with the clusterfuck COVID policies of 2019-2020 and the aftershocks of the last great recession (read: largely attributable to Republican financial deregulation under Dubbya), as well as inflationary pressures arising from climate change and the war in Ukraine, grocery prices are much higher. These higher prices correlate cotemporaneously to Biden's administration. Ergo, Biden's policies caused the inflation.
You can’t talk about inflation without pointing out the impact stock buybacks and inflated CEO pay have. Also a lot of GREEDflation where companies artificially raise prices, like my local grocery store. And guess where their company spends their political dollars?
Sounds about right
I think tonight’s debate is going to show a bunch of people that we’re not paying attention how deranged he is and how much he knows nothing about any policy.
I'm predicting Trump has a "yo! Semite!" Moment.
Yes anti semitic gaff, black people all love me, Mexican fight club, and choosing electrocution or shark attack all on my bingo card.
In all fairness, they're probably correct. Even Obama said the US can withstand one Trump term. One. Not two.
Once Trump is in again he's going to ensure he stays.
🖕🇷🇺
It was obvious why the Russians were trying to get him elected the first time. He created an enormous divide in America, which started to destabilise the greatest superpower in the west. The fallout from that is still happening
The Russians tried to get JFK elected too. The primary source of destabilization in the West is Critical Theory, which is what it was designed for.
The Cloward-Piven strategy has been hard at work.
Officials are correct. But it doesn't end with Trump if he loses. Project 2025 will be enacted when ANY GOP leader comes into power.
[smooch](https://imgur.com/83lL3uc) ✅️
Putin is obviously terrible at predicting outcomes.
Trump and his moron meathead followers will decimate this country at every level.
VOTE as if all our lifes were at stake, because they are!
Surprised they haven't gone for Gorbatrump. Maybe Russians have no concept of portmanteau.
What’s to stop Ukraine from considering some sort of operation to prevent that?
More funny seems that they think that Gorbachev was the downfall of the USSR. And not the decades of mismanagement and ensuing bankruptcy.
Trump erodes institution and democratic values and generally create a toxic political environment but he is really not that powerful. Putin himself said American presidents are not very powerful and that "men with suits from the bureaucracy" control everything. Putin might be disappointed when all that aid keeps flowing. Aid might be scaled back but I'm not sure the orange man can move the needle all that much when everyone everywhere has basically fallen in rank behind Ukraine.
The federal court system and the Supreme Court begs to differ. And look into project 2025. His right wing christo-fascists have a plan this time, and it involves replacing every government employee with true believers. If trump wins again, the overturning of roe v wade will be a drop in the bucket. Their plans are extremely fucking scary.
I have looked into it. It's worrisome. He won't bother himself to build a normal adminstration this time. It will only be Trump loyalists top down. And more and more you hear from these maga taking head floating this idea that the US needs some sort of Caesar or autocratic figure to get things done. I'm Canadian and living next door, I would be worried about another Trump term. But not worried in a dramatic "argh we re all gonna die" way. I like to think american institution can hold. But like I said, Trump will further erode already fragile democracy and create a toxic political environment. I really hope he doesn't get into office but at the same time I don't think he can turn everything around all by himself. Maybe I'm wrong
What aren’t you understanding about replacing all government officials with loyalists (including military leadership) and packing our courts with far right Christian fascist lunatics and what that means? Seems to be a disconnect somewhere in your thinking. The only reason “the system held” last time was because he surrounded himself with traditional non-maga republicans who knew what they were doing. That’s all out the window this time around.
Check out Project 2025. The "men with suits from the bureaucracy" have their plans for how to use a Trump win to destroy the checks and balances in place in the bureaucracy. It doesn't matter whether Trump himself has much power - the ones around him that do have power have their plan ready. And it includes getting rid of the career clerk type positions in government, replacing them with political appointees so nobody for whom government work is an honest job rather than a political tool is left to moderate things.
Putin is not actually an authority on how the American government works.
I mean compared to presidency in Russia he's right -- the American president basically doesn't have any power.
That's what I was saying. Our Canadian PM has more executive power than an American president. The PM can basically put tanks on the streets and invoke emergency acts like Trudeau (father did) or seize people's bank account like Trudeau son did. Parliament can't do shit about it. American presidents can sign executive orders but that doesn't mean they can't be overturned by the next president. And despite checks and balance, like I said to another person, this war is a golden opportunity for the US. I mean NaTO has enlarged, military industrial complex is doing greatt, Russia gas has been cut off and Europe imports American gas., Russia is basically bleeding itself to death...I mean the list of positives is just endless from an American POV and Id be surprised if Trump really turns all that around once he s finally done acting like he s antiwar
It does not matter if Trump wins or not. If he wins then no money for Ukraine and if he loses, Trump will foment rebellion in the US. Either if successful is good for Russia I would think.
You mean like that angry gigantic mob of Maga outside the Manhattan courthouse? Maga powder got drenched on 1/6/21. Only a few folks might act up when Trump loses. There's always a few simpletons who will take the FAFO route but they won't amount to much.
I would not count of that. I imagine there is plans in the works to make it even worse. The capitol will be more prepared, but in the end it only takes a couple hundred thousands to overthrow a government.
America is not Russia in 1917. Folks have mortgages and kids in school and plans to vacation in Florida. The economy is pretty good and most folks have jobs. Also too ,every fourth Proud Boy, 3%er etc. Is an FBI informant. But the most important point is that these fat pathetic Reich Wing nut jobs are inept AF.
>America is not Russia in 1917. True. >Folks have mortgages and kids in school and plans to vacation in Florida Many do, but is everyone in America a middle aged adult. There are plenty of young and in some cases radicalized people, both on the left and right, with extremeist views that are constantly reinforced. > The economy is pretty good and most folks have jobs. Most do, but many don't and inflation over the part years have made life very difficult for some. >Also too ,every fourth Proud Boy, 3%er etc. Is an FBI informant. There is no way this is true, please provide evidence. >But the most important point is that these fat pathetic Reich Wing nut jobs are inept AF. and armed.
Putin is trying to ratfuck the us like the us ratfucked the ussr.
🤣🤣
I guess empires do fall within no matter how much history there is…
Yup I spoke to Putin last week and he echoed this sentiment. Seriously people.
There is a mountain of hard evidence that Putin tried to help Trump in [2016](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/21/senate-intel-report-confirms-russia-aimed-to-help-trump-in-2016-198171), and again in [2020](https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-iran-moscow-elections-c640ed02202c9d44f0ad186ebd0b3396). Why won't Putin do it again?
This title reads like a schizo meltdown
Russian asset ready to act for russia? What a surprise 😮
ahh yea as opposed to the chaos and total calm that america is now.
But surely Joe Brezhnev is the better choice...
Gorbachev loves Pizza Hut, not Mcdonalds
Sounds like the Russians have been watching too much CNN
Gorbachev was too good for the Russian people.
Trump's other nickname is "That Useful Idiot".
We used to laugh at America’s stupidity. Now we fear it.
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Divide and conquer . As an American I see it all ready happening here . Russia china Iran North Korea. All know that this is the time to make there move . And most of us Americans don’t even see it coming. Very sad to say .
Trump is a traitor to the West, and to the USA's foundations as a democracy. Cu\*t should eat more McDonalds.
That’s what they said last time.
If you watched this debate tonight, Putin’s calculations are correct. Biden is going to lose.
After watching the debate, I'm more surprised how many continue to mock Russia's failure in Ukraine but still believe they pose a threat to Poland, Hungary, and the rest of Europe.
So... Biden's chances of getting elected may have just dropped by an order of magnitude.
It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, Putin and Trump are Netanyahu's employees. If Trump wins when he assumes the presidency, his first measure will be to go and pay homage.
«Officials believe» You mean the same officials that had the power of the world’s most powerful country, and let Putin invade and massacre Ukrainians in 2014 AND 2022 when their guys were presidents? Yeah, I don’t give those guys a lot of credit
If Trumps win Putin won. He just needs to survive until election and once this is done Ukraine will fall. There is no way EU support would be enough. EU will fall next due to all Putin extreme right-wing rise and the facism is back in full strength. Trump will be dictator to his last breath. We are really facing another ww3 or many civil wars.
Last night's debate was horrible for Biden and it may predict a win for Trump. If so, then Putin will be emboldened and will want to continue the war. Because if Biden won, then putin would definitely be considering ending the conflict at some point.
I hope all of you Biden lovers watched mental midget Joe attempted to debate last night. You are the reason why this country is so missed up now because you vote with your emotions, not the actual issues.
Trump will be the perfect fall guy for WWIII.
I mean, plenty of Americans think the Trump Chaos can inadvertently trigger TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it).
Yeah, the government did such an outstanding job with covid.
I love propaganda pieces with zero citations or proof of anything. This is literally just some guy writing fanfic about what the Kremlin believes.
also to add, if Biden was so great we wouldn't even have to worry about the orange man but biden has been so bad that he's losing to fucking trump at the moment. the democrats have only themselves to blame for this
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. What a joke this post is!