mtutiger

Yep. How "patriotic" of them.

Would you prefer they not cut off Russian oil?

Spot on.

I wonder if actual imports have already dropped some before this action.

You realize that an injunction was issued in regards to the pause on leases and that leases on public lands are still happening, right?

Huh

Equivalent of a 2 Star General...

Apparently Archie missed when they discussed WWII during his social studies class.

To the discussion earlier about negotiating a settlement, thought provoking thread. The amount of bad faith that Russia has built with their invasion will make any settlement thorny, one would imagine.

If you could squint, you could see freedom to associate with EU/NATO being a solid trade in exchange for Crimea.... but in terms of Russia issuing dictates? Hard to see that ever being acceptable to Ukraine given Russian aggression.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: both on the current iteration and former iteration of this board, I've seen countless posts about liberal intolerance and whatnot. Yet I do not think there's a more intolerant view that can be expressed about someone than for someone to say that *their fellow Americans*, whose only crime is to have a different viewpoint, are bigger threats than Russia or China or any other adversaries. And if someone is saying that about you, I don't exactly understand how it's possible to have a good faith exchange of ideas with that person... And on top of all that, the Chinese and Russians and other adversaries cash in on exploiting our divisions. Knowing that, it seems like the most "patriotic" thing wouldn't be to play right into those divisions. But that's just me.

Patriots don't hate their fellow Americans like you do.

This sentiment, the extent to which it exists, is such a coup for our actual enemies.

Let's also look at the realpolitik of the situation: the world finds itself in an economic war with a large, oil producing nation who decided to unilaterally invade a neighboring country. While in the process spooking and alarming allied countries who lie within ~500 miles of the invaded nations borders. That changes the calculus some... not just for us, but also for Iran as well. I'm not saying I agree with it, but the rationale makes sense.

Why would any American pine for the days of being led by a guy who feels that the best course of action in the Russian War is to slap a Chinese decal on an F-22 and bomb Russia?

Thread

I haven't been following the negotiations on the Iran Deal much, but arent the Russians involved? I'm assuming they will use their involvement as leverage to their own conflict with Ukraine.

Wow

And that is fine. People are allowed to disagree or may see things differently. I would just suggest that the assumptions as such were a little too simplistic... arguably, they may play into Putin's line about Ukrainians lacking an identity which, as we are now learning, couldn't be further from the truth.

Indeed. And frankly, many observers in America misread this as well. Its almost like people looked at the percentage of the population that speaks Russian or whether particular oblasts or cities voted for Yanukovych in 2010 and assumed that all of those folks would be fine with an all-out invasion. It's more likely that Russian-speaking or Russian-leaning Ukrainians hold that position within the context of an independent, self-determined Ukraine... not under threat or realization of an actual invasion by Russians

Huh, imagine that.