Russia-US relations

[Faux Pas]

+1

agree.  Putin won and is winning these rounds and will likely continue to win, but does he have to insult his opponents.  Every media outlet has picked up on the American exceptionalism so any goodwill to us is burned.  He wrote that to unalign countries like Brazil toward him - an alternate superpower to build a multipolar universe.  From your (M) point of view, because America is so debased and dangerous it cannot and should not be the lone superpower.  But of course, I disagree.

I don't disagree. When the electorate can elect a president the likes of Obama, we have no business being a superpower. The entire country knew he was an inexperienced community organizer with a flashy smile and a smooth tongue. We Americans are not alone. Europe and the rest of the world couldn't stop fawning over him either. Before he gets out of office, not just America but, the entire world is going to be in terrible shape. No sir, the superpower by default is no longer valid. We can't manage our own affairs. We have no business meddling in the affairs of others

[lordtiberius]

I don't disagree. When the electorate can elect a president the likes of Obama, we have no business being a superpower. The entire country knew he was an inexperienced community organizer with a flashy smile and a smooth tongue. We Americans are not alone. Europe and the rest of the world couldn't stop fawning over him either. Before he gets out of office, not just America but, the entire world is going to be in terrible shape. No sir, the superpower by default is no longer valid. We can't manage our own affairs. We have no business meddling in the affairs of others

I don't have a valid retort.  I just know right or wrong, if the balloon goes up we are going win and I am going to support the flag.  Some people say that's a blind decision.  That assumes that one hasn't deliberated over such a decision.  The fact I have deliberated over that decision all my life.  My fighting days are pretty much over.  My sister's kids will be on the fighting line and soon I will have a wife - maybe some kids.  If our sphere of influence shrinks, so will any livelihood they have.  No sir, like it or not we are in between the devil and the deep blue sea.  We have to stand together and win the peace and contemplate all options.  If I am vague, its on purpose.

[GQBlues]

Of course much is politics, *but still I find him a better humanitarian than the US president*. ...

We can agree to disagree with this statement, Mendy. IMHO, Obama is as much a foreign affair political wiz as Putin a 'humanitarian'.     You don't 'gas' your own people and expect to be called a humanitarian these days, do you?

(Edited): - It just came to mind that Qadaffi was given the Nobel Peace Price despite the fact the dude was/is a terrorist, Obama given one despite the fact the dude hasn't done anything other than 'organize' Acorn (remember that?), and Gore was given one despite the fact the dude's lifestyle demands enough energy equal to the needs of a small community (Carbon Credits anyone? Ka-ching!)...so yeah, I suppose on that note, they ought to give Putin a Nobel Peace prize, too - 

Unfortunately, as I have also mentioned before I don't believe Romney would have been a better 'president', although like the youtube of the presidential debate I posted earlier where he declared he would not strike/attack Syria, I doubt he would've stuck his foot in his mouth with that silly red line rhetoric as carelessly as Obama did.

But que sera, sera....

Obama will be better served to Americans if he focuses on the latest and pressing issues here at home for a while. His interview with George Stephanopoulos yesterday tells me Obama has a lot more homework to do with issues here at home. To say it's a mess is an understatement. To me, by far and away, this is undoubtedly a far more important matter today than what Putin/Russians may or may not *think* about the Syrian affair. But they can milk that as much as they want, I won't be surprise nor will have any objections.

[mendeleyev]

GQ, I think we agree more often than not and the only thing that is hard for someone to understand is the depth of Russia's felt responsibility to minority Christian populations to what I sometimes call the "ancient world." Those of us who grew up elsewhere find the concept of Russia as a Third Rome to be antiquated but as the state has close ties to the church, those types of concern are felt keenly, and even debated, in the Orthodox world.

I agree about the gas used to "free" the Moscow Theatre and that was a horrible time. I lived through those days thinking that we'd lost a close friend who'd had a change of plans and didn't go that day. Today the MJ office is just one Metro station after Dubrovka where that Theater was located. Those were chaotic and trying days and we're coming up on the anniversary of that tragedy on 23 October.

[Faux Pas]

I don't have a valid retort.  I just know right or wrong, if the balloon goes up we are going win and I am going to support the flag.  Some people say that's a blind decision.  That assumes that one hasn't deliberated over such a decision.  The fact I have deliberated over that decision all my life.  My fighting days are pretty much over.  My sister's kids will be on the fighting line and soon I will have a wife - maybe some kids.  If our sphere of influence shrinks, so will any livelihood they have.  No sir, like it or not we are in between the devil and the deep blue sea.  We have to stand together and win the peace and contemplate all options.  If I am vague, its on purpose.

I get your point, I think. As a country we have dug ourselves into a hole. When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. We can't see to do that instead, we just increase the pace and frequency of the dig. Rome is burning and this president does nothing but fan the flames

[fathertime]

I don't disagree. When the electorate can elect a president the likes of Obama, we have no business being a superpower. The entire country knew he was an inexperienced community organizer with a flashy smile and a smooth tongue. We Americans are not alone. Europe and the rest of the world couldn't stop fawning over him either. Before he gets out of office, not just America but, the entire world is going to be in terrible shape. No sir, the superpower by default is no longer valid. We can't manage our own affairs. We have no business meddling in the affairs of others

Agree for the most part,



but I think McCain would have been worse than Obozo


...I think we are a superpower in a large part because of our superior military...just because we have a great military that doesn't mean the rest of the world has to do what we want them to do.   We have done a HORRIBLE job with our own affairs and it is just a joke that we borrow money to give 'aid' to other countries, when our border remains wide open against the populous' will.  Traitorous I believe. 


Fathertime!   

[lordtiberius]

I agree with you, FP and inspite of himself GQBlues (except that he is wrong about Romney - but old news.)  We do not have the moral authority to act in international affairs and that is a very dangerous for the world to have the beacon of democracy silent.  But as politics is often an either or proposition, the choice is keep silent or to act in a harmful way, that choice is easy.

The war talk is now passé, the Nobel Peace Prize winner is not attacking Syrians anymore.  He is attacking his fellow Americans.

[Faux Pas]

Agree for the most part,



but I think McCain would have been worse than Obozo


...I think we are a superpower in a large part because of our superior military...just because we have a great military that doesn't mean the rest of the world has to do what we want them to do.   We have done a HORRIBLE job with our own affairs and it is just a joke that we borrow money to give 'aid' to other countries, when our border remains wide open against the populous' will.  Traitorous I believe. 


Fathertime!

He could not possibly have been worse. As bad as, I'll buy that. Worse? No fuggin way. Everything Obama has touched has turned to shit. I believe there is no bounds to his incompetence. He is but a sock puppet and someone or something has their hand elbow deep in his ass. You can see it every time his mouth moves. Given the recent events concerning Syria, I'd vote for the Industrial Military Complex that also has a hand up McCain's ass as well

[GQBlues]

GQ, I think we agree more often than not and the only thing that is hard for someone to understand is the depth of Russia's felt responsibility to minority Christian populations to what I sometimes call the "ancient world." Those of us who grew up elsewhere find the concept of Russia as a Third Rome to be antiquated but as the state has close ties to the church, those types of concern are felt keenly, and even debated, in the Orthodox world....

Mendy-

First off, I want to tell you I've much respect for you. But just as your referenced article you wrote regarding this latest crisis, I hope you can also share the same temperament I showed when reading your piece with what I'll post here to you right now.

I understand the root of your prejudice and conviction in this latest crisis. I am just not kosher to it from your vantage point. The Arab Spring have caused a great deal of turmoil in the ME, and caught in all these are folks who perished simply for 'having faith' - or borne into a 'tribe'.

Maybe unlike you however, sad as this situation is, I'm likely less selective in this than you. While it is a crying shame that the US support of the rebels can be easily construed as the US supporting the murder of the christian sector in Syria, I can easily blame Russia with equal fervor for their support of Syria's regime as well.

Simply put - people are dying - period.

Your point will be lost with me if what you're saying somehow that Russia's support means that it'll stop the rebels from killing Christians. If your perspective and/or justification of what's right or wrong is clearly defined by the faith of the people dying, then you and Russia are no different than the people you detest and abhor. It fascinates me to no end how everyone loves to play 'God' in the Devil's playpen. Europeans excel in this behavior.

I am of Catholic faith and right now because of the constant Vatican blatant tolerance and continued support of the faith's disciples in their propensity to abuse and sexually abuse of the innocent, I wash my soiled hand and denounced my belief on the faith's present handlers. The day will come for everyone.

And just so you know, I will never lose sight of the fact that had it not been for the Russian Orthodox Church's greed, along with the Russian state/Putin - and that of the ignorance of its peoples, many would not have perished in the Iraq war. Had they not deemed billions of dollars of blood money far more attractive than withholding the resolution passed against Saddam, the US invasion would not have taken place.

I am not insulting either you or your faith, but allow me to suggest that you be more objective in this crazy big world of ours. The next time you either write an article, insult or pass judgment against an entire nation because of the silly act of one, or the few; is to first remove the blindfold. Those hazy images may well be closer than they appear.

[mendeleyev]

And just so you know, I will never lose sight of the fact that had it not been for the Russian Orthodox Church's greed, along with the Russian state/Putin - and that of the ignorance of its peoples, many would not have perished in the Iraq war. Had they not deemed billions of dollars of blood money far more attractive than withholding the resolution passed against Saddam, the US invasion would not have taken place.

I am not insulting either you or your faith, but allow me to suggest that you be more objective in this crazy big world of ours. The next time you either write an article, insult or pass judgment against an entire nation because of the silly act of one, or the few; is to first remove the blindfold. Those hazy images may well be closer than they appear.

Well stated.

[Muzh]

Mendy-

First off, I want to tell you I've much respect for you. But just as your referenced article you wrote regarding this latest crisis, I hope you can also share the same temperament I showed when reading your piece with what I'll post here to you right now.

I understand the root of your prejudice and conviction in this latest crisis. I am just not kosher to it from your vantage point. The Arab Spring have caused a great deal of turmoil in the ME, and caught in all these are folks who perished simply for 'having faith' - or borne into a 'tribe'.

Maybe unlike you however, sad as this situation is, I'm likely less selective in this than you. While it is a crying shame that the US support of the rebels can be easily construed as the US supporting the murder of the christian sector in Syria, I can easily blame Russia with equal fervor for their support of Syria's regime as well.

Simply put - people are dying - period.

Your point will be lost with me if what you're saying somehow that Russia's support means that it'll stop the rebels from killing Christians. If your perspective and/or justification of what's right or wrong is clearly defined by the faith of the people dying, then you and Russia are no different than the people you detest and abhor. It fascinates me to no end how everyone loves to play 'God' in the Devil's playpen. Europeans excel in this behavior.

I am of Catholic faith and right now because of the constant Vatican blatant tolerance and continued support of the faith's disciples in their propensity to abuse and sexually abuse of the innocent, I wash my soiled hand and denounced my belief on the faith's present handlers. The day will come for everyone.

And just so you know, I will never lose sight of the fact that had it not been for the Russian Orthodox Church's greed, along with the Russian state/Putin - and that of the ignorance of its peoples, many would not have perished in the Iraq war. Had they not deemed billions of dollars of blood money far more attractive than withholding the resolution passed against Saddam, the US invasion would not have taken place.

I am not insulting either you or your faith, but allow me to suggest that you be more objective in this crazy big world of ours. The next time you either write an article, insult or pass judgment against an entire nation because of the silly act of one, or the few; is to first remove the blindfold. Those hazy images may well be closer than they appear.

[mendeleyev]

Muzh, I love ya man. 

(I would like to find that photo with red stars around the hat.)

[lordtiberius]

We spoke UT about the moral collapse of this nation and how it impairs our ability to project power abroad.  Consider this sad episode of the Iraq War (a frequent whipping boy for one distinguished contributor.)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/499/taking-names
http://thelistproject.org/

Episodes like this demonstrate to the world of our moral vacuousness - to be our friend is fatal.

[mendeleyev]

President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to "vetted" opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., in 2001. Assad's regime is backed by Iran and Hezbollah.
The president, citing his authority under the Arms Export Control Act, announced today that he would "waive the prohibitions in sections 40 and 40A of the AECA related to such a transaction."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-waives-ban-on-arming-terrorists-to-allow-aid-to-syrian-opposition/article/2535885

[mendeleyev]

As reported today in the Mendeleyev Journal:

Leave it to creative Russian youth to create a calendar on Syria that is both sexy and funny. It seems that a group of Moscow State University journalism students have teamed up with a Russian Night Club and the club's so-called "Golden Girls" dancers to publish a sexy 2014 calendar to celebrate President Putin's efforts for peace in Syria.

Owner of the Elite Men's Club, Sergei Lee, told PR Newswire that a limited number of the calendars would be published in the Russian language for patrons of his club, one of which would be sent to Vladimir Putin and another special copy in English would be delivered to the US embassy in Moscow with a request that it be forwarded to Barack Obama.



Each month features an anti-war slogan like:

• "Look for chemistry in relationships but not in Syria"
• "Shoot with the eyes but not with cartridges"
• "Obama - you don't listen to Michelle? Then listen to me!"
• "Blow up the dance poles but not the houses"
• "The world is still in peace, thanks Putin for this" etc.

Mr. Lee said that the calendar was dedicated to Vladimir Putin "because he continues to defend peace and due to his efforts the war hasn't started yet."

We should point out that the Russian government has nothing to do with the creation of this calendar.


(Photo source: PR Newswire/BoomMedia)

[lordtiberius]

This is very sleazy.  State sponsored honey trap propaganda aimed at diminishing the morals of its targets.  Until Russia enacts the kinds of changes Solzenitsyn advocated free people of the world should treat the Russian government with contempt.

[GQBlues]

...Leave it to creative Russian youth to create a calendar on Syria that is both sexy and funny. It seems that a group of Moscow State University journalism students have teamed up with a Russian Night Club and the club's so-called "Golden Girls" dancers to publish a sexy 2014 calendar to celebrate President Putin's efforts for peace in Syria....

LMAO! Pretty funny! I'm glad to see the youth of Russia have a good sense of humor amidst the craziness in our world today.

 

[mendeleyev]

From the Mendeleyev Journal:

We don't often agree with the aging and sometimes seemingly senile senator from Arizona but in fairness will allow our readers to read his letter to the Russian people, published by Pravda.

(Pravda.ru)

When Pravda.ru editor, Dmitry Sudakov, offered to publish my commentary, he referred to me as "an active anti-Russian politician for many years." I'm sure that isn't the first time Russians have heard me characterized as their antagonist. Since my purpose here is to dispel falsehoods used by Russia's rulers to perpetuate their power and excuse their corruption, let me begin with that untruth. I am not anti-Russian. I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today.


(photo: salon.com)

I make that claim because I respect your dignity and your right to self-determination. I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.

They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule.

Sergei Magnistky wasn't a human rights activist. He was an accountant at a Moscow law firm. He was an ordinary Russian who did an extraordinary thing. He exposed one of the largest state thefts of private assets in Russian history. He cared about the rule of law and believed no one should be above it. For his beliefs and his courage, he was held in Butyrka prison without trial, where he was beaten, became ill and died. After his death, he was given a show trial reminiscent of the Stalin-era and was, of course, found guilty. That wasn't only a crime against Sergei Magnitsky. It was a crime against the Russian people and your right to an honest government - a government worthy of Sergei Magnistky and of you.

President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness? He has given you an economy that is based almost entirely on a few natural resources that will rise and fall with those commodities. Its riches will not last. And, while they do, they will be mostly in the possession of the corrupt and powerful few. Capital is fleeing Russia, which - lacking rule of law and a broad-based economy - is considered too risky for investment and entrepreneurism. He has given you a political system that is sustained by corruption and repression and isn't strong enough to tolerate dissent.

How has he strengthened Russia's international stature? By allying Russia with some of the world's most offensive and threatening tyrannies. By supporting a Syrian regime that is murdering tens of thousands of its own people to remain in power and by blocking the United Nations from even condemning its atrocities. By refusing to consider the massacre of innocents, the plight of millions of refugees, the growing prospect of a conflagration that engulfs other countries in its flames an appropriate subject for the world's attention. He is not enhancing Russia's global reputation. He is destroying it. He has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous world.

President Putin doesn't believe in these values because he doesn't believe in you. He doesn't believe that human nature at liberty can rise above its weaknesses and build just, peaceful, prosperous societies. Or, at least, he doesn't believe Russians can. So he rules by using those weaknesses, by corruption, repression and violence. He rules for himself, not you.

I do believe in you. I believe in your capacity for self-government and your desire for justice and opportunity. I believe in the greatness of the Russian people, who suffered enormously and fought bravely against terrible adversity to save your nation. I believe in your right to make a civilization worthy of your dreams and sacrifices. When I criticize your government, it is not because I am anti-Russian. It is because I believe you deserve a government that believes in you and answers to you. And, I long for the day when you have it.


Mendeleyev note: President Putin in his letter to Americans took a couple of jabs at President Obama but in no way did he stoop as low as McCain has done in smearing not only the Russian's duly elected leader, but in painting the entire people as corrupt.

[lordtiberius]

The man you mock who represents us both from the Apache state sounds like you Mendeleyev.  Of course, maybe hob nobbing with those United Russia types changes a man.  Humility is in short supply in with Russia apparachiks -  multiplier of errors

[Hammer2722]

From the Mendeleyev Journal:

We don't often agree with the aging and sometimes seemingly senile senator from Arizona but in fairness will allow our readers to read his letter to the Russian people, published by Pravda.

(Pravda.ru)

When Pravda.ru editor, Dmitry Sudakov, offered to publish my commentary, he referred to me as "an active anti-Russian politician for many years." I'm sure that isn't the first time Russians have heard me characterized as their antagonist. Since my purpose here is to dispel falsehoods used by Russia's rulers to perpetuate their power and excuse their corruption, let me begin with that untruth. I am not anti-Russian. I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today.


(photo: salon.com)

Mendeleyev note: President Putin in his letter to Americans took a couple of jabs at President Obama but in no way did he stoop as low as McCain has done in smearing not only the Russian's duly elected leader, but in painting the entire people as corrupt.

 
I find this statement to be quite hilarious!!! I must have read something different from you Mendy. McCain was calling Russia's leadership corrupt. Not its people. If you truely believe that Putin has been duly elected by the people then you are being truely dishonest with yourself!!!! I am not a McCain fan but from what I have read in this article, everything he stated about Putin and the Russian government is true.

[mendeleyev]

If you truely believe that Putin has been duly elected by the people then you are being truely dishonest with yourself!!!!

Not at all.

If you're read me in the past you know that I believe the Duma election and then Presidential election were dirty. I don't just believe that, it is evident. So was the recent mayoral election by the way.

However, did Mr. Putin get the most number of votes even in a dirty election? Yes, there just wasn't enough opposition otherwise. The percentage was unjustified but I have no doubt he won the bare minimum to be elected.

Mr. McCain doesn't seem to get that and he has been one of those dinosaurs who cannot change out of his cold war costume. McCain needs to retire.

That all being said, as appropriate I will continue to point out Mr. Putin's weaknesses and I think that he will continue to struggle to remain in power as the Russian people around him change.

[Faux Pas]

Mendeleyev note: President Putin in his letter to Americans took a couple of jabs at President Obama but in no way did he stoop as low as McCain has done in smearing not only the Russian's duly elected leader, but in painting the entire people as corrupt.

 
I find this statement to be quite hilarious!!! I must have read something different from you Mendy. McCain was calling Russia's leadership corrupt. Not its people. If you truely believe that Putin has been duly elected by the people then you are being truely dishonest with yourself!!!! I am not a McCain fan but from what I have read in this article, everything he stated about Putin and the Russian government is true.

+1 That's the way I read it too.

Not at all.

If you're read me in the past you know that I believe the Duma election and then Presidential election were dirty. I don't just believe that, it is evident. So was the recent mayoral election by the way.

However, did Mr. Putin get the most number of votes even in a dirty election? Yes, there just wasn't enough opposition otherwise. The percentage was unjustified but I have no doubt he won the bare minimum to be elected.

Mr. McCain doesn't seem to get that and he has been one of those dinosaurs who cannot change out of his cold war costume. McCain needs to retire.

That all being said, as appropriate I will continue to point out Mr. Putin's weaknesses and I think that he will continue to struggle to remain in power as the Russian people around him change.

Mendy, You are not defending this very well. The most votes in a "dirty" election somehow whitewashes the winner? I don't get that and if there is a current politician wearing the cold war unis, trust me here, there is no bigger shinning example than Putin.

Seriously, you are not defending Putin or his actions are you? What exactly about McCain's letter is not true? The letter is obviously meant to incite the Kremlin. McCain apparently see's this as a way to get the war drums for Syria sounding louder again. I don't trust him and I don't like him but, I don't see anything he wrote there as untruthful

[mendeleyev]

FP, if United Russia had enough votes to win but dirty tricks allowed them to win at a higher percentage, the election is still dirty but on the international stage not much anyone could do about it.  That is my point.

When the opposition swells, and I believe it to be morphing into something that it will emerge stronger, then the seriousness of a dirty election becomes more dangerous for those in power because if the opposition is truly strong enough to challenge with a sufficient quantity of votes, then the public outcry is much greater and the ruling class loses legitimacy.

One of the reasons the outcry was limited in the 2011 Duma elections and the 2012 presidential election, is that not a single Russian believed in their heart that the status quo had seriously been challenged. They understood that the election was dirty but they also understood that had the election been clean, the result would have been nearly the same in the Duma and the very same in the presidential contest. The only differences being the winning percentage.

That doesn't forgive dirty elections, but it doesn't mean the opposition always wins in a clean election either. I see this process of democracy in Russia as something that will happen on a gradual process and perhaps sooner than many realize.

What I see as dangerous are the McCain types who do great harm in at least two ways:

1- They are easily painted as dangerous outsiders and are easy fodder for nationalistic types to rally the folk against foreign influences. Russians tried American capitalism/democracy and got Boris Yeltsin and starvation/hard times while Western bankers and investment wizards made great profits while the common man ate the ducks out of the Moscow river. It is easy to paint McCain and his ilk in a very negative light and thus his ideas are flushed down the drain--a sort of throwing out the baby with the bath water. McCain may say all the right things but in truth he has no moral legitimacy in Russia.

2- McCain and Company (Obama included) would love for the chance to play puppet master with a behind the scenes makeover of Russia. Russia could easily become another vassal state, an extension of the USA, and every Russian over the age of 3 understands this. Heaven forbid that Russia might see something from a different angle or have a different opinion than Washington! If McCain and his fellow hawks thought there was half the chance of success they'd pour heart and soul into another version of the Cairo revolution, but this time in Moscow.

I'd like for Mr. Putin to be gone someday, but on the terms of the Russian people without outside influence. Obama has mucked up Egypt so badly that he should be impeached. If McCain and Obama were given half the chance they'd create another cluster muck in Moscow, and with Obama leaning toward all things Islamic you'd see civil war within a year.

You of course recall the two Chechen wars and it was Bush-Cheney-McCain behind the scenes with the CIA stirring up things inside places like Chechnya and Dagestan. What our idiots in DC don't have the mental capacity to understand is that even if Putin handed over the keys and said you're free to go peacefully, republics like those are going to continue the fight to conquer holy Orthodox Russia for the glory of Islam.

So, there is a lot of mischef that powers can play, and once in a while a saint like Edward Snowden comes along to help us put the brakes on a little but I find that often my own country loves to play both sides against the middle and we speak with forked tongues as the Indians like to say.

Hmm, the Indians: the way we conquered the Indians offers yet another exhibit of American exceptionalism at our finest, Senator McCain.

[Daveman]

even if Putin handed over the keys and said you're free to go peacefully, republics like those are going to continue the fight to conquer holy Orthodox Russia for the glory of Islam.
...

Without a doubt.. what western idiots don't get is that Islam does not stop until the "unbelievers" are subjugated. Period.


It is in no way -- zero.. silch.. none.. nada -- a religion of peace.  It is a political system of tyranny and oppression. Period again.

[mendeleyev]

Dave, + 1000.