Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

The lights are all blinking red.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / President Biden Update on Russia and Ukraine (LIVE)

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  2. 2.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    I’m not one to tell tales out of school, but: is there any reason we should reject the idea that TFG deliberately left both Russia and Afghanistan in fragile situations, in order to hurt Biden?

    I don’t know of one, except, “it’s unthinkable”. Just like an entire Republican caucus breaking an oath  to see impartial justice done; and *we know* he’s destroyed notes and recordings of meetings with Putin, and the Republicans have been awfully Russia-friendly for at least the past 6 years.

  4. 4.

    stacib

    @WaterGirl: I lost my dog many years ago after having him in our lives for almost 12 years.  We were so devastated, we never got another.  My heart goes out to you.  I hope it gets better for you soon.

  7. 7.

    Old Man Shadow

    Seize every asset of Putin’s and his oligarch cabal that is outside of Russia. Even the rubles under the couch cushions. Every property, every car, every yacht, every bank account, every warehouse full of plunder. Take it all.

    Make them miserable. No more trips outside of Russia. Visas automatically denied. Have immigration take a nice long look at the paperwork of mistresses.

  12. 12.

    CaseyL

    These always run late, but I wonder if the reason this particular update is running so late is they’re still corralling reluctant partners (like DE and UK).  Which may be a good sign, that he’s really going to go after them all where they hurt most: in the pocketbook, and in their freedom to travel to non-Russia countries*.

    *Remember when TFG had a running stream of pregnant Russian ladies stay at Mar-A-Lago and Trump Tower just long enough to have their kids?  That must be a few hundred or even a few thousand oligarch babies with US citizenship.

  13. 13.

    dnfree

    @WaterGirl: Your loss was so sudden and unexpected, and the circumstances were frustrating.  Try not to give yourself a hard time over what could have been different if only you’d known.  You didn’t know, and you had no reason to know.  When experts reassure us, most of us tend to believe them, especially if it’s what we want to believe.  You loved him and took good care of him.

  14. 14.

    Larryb

    @LongHairedWeirdo:  is there any reason we should reject the idea that TFG deliberately left both Russia and Afghanistan in fragile situations, in order to hurt Biden?

    You assume TFG could have done otherwise.

  15. 15.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @WaterGirl: My experience has been that the frequency and severity of moments thinking about your lost friend, gradually decrease for the first year or so.  Then they don’t pop up very often but still hurt.  Eventually (years later) the pain gets so small that most of the thoughts are outweighed by remembering all the positives.  They still sting, but you get mostly to “good memories” territory.  But it takes time.  Like with our dog Juniper who passed in August 2020, we are still a long ways from that.  We still get pretty sad every time we think of her.

  16. 16.

    Soprano2

    @WaterGirl: I read about what happened yesterday. So sorry for your loss, that’s devastating. We had two different dogs just die suddenly for seemingly no reason. Older, but seemingly completely healthy dogs literally dropped dead. What we discovered later was that both of them probably had cancer of the blood vessels or heart, which has no symptoms until the blood vessels burst and cause massive internal bleeding. We had a necropsy done the first time, and the vet asked us if the dog had been hit by a car because of the massive internal bleeding he found! Don’t beat yourself up about what happened, there was no way you could have known and you might not have been able to get your vet to do anything anyway.

  26. 26.

    japa21

    @Gin & Tonic:  More of a foul tip, I think.  Have to admit, I am coming more and more to your point of view.  Hit them now and hit them hard.  In this case, no more incrementalism.

    Also, a question for you.  One of the women I work with is Ukrainian.  She was born of Ukrainian parents just after the end of WWII in Germany. I am not sure she ever lived in Ukraine, she has no accent, so probably emigrated here at a young age.  But she is proud of her being Ukrainian and is absolutely anti-Russian.  She blames the current situation almost totally on Obama for not doing more after the take over of Crimea.

    Do you agree with her?

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    I love Biden, but it seems lame to say that we are still open to diplomacy.  This looks like a weak response to me.

    Putin fucking declared parts of Ukraine to be his yesterday, what more are we waiting for?

    We should be coming down hard on Russia IMMEDIATELY.

    Even if Putin doesn’t shed a drop of blood, there are people who live in Ukraine who are now under Russian rule and have been declared a new country.

    How can we say what Putin did violates international law and then say “we’re waiting to see what he does next”.  What he did yesterday is enough.  Too much.

  29. 29.

    Gin & Tonic

    @japa21: I wouldn’t say “almost totally” but certainly more of a response was needed then.

    That said, much of that population you describe is hard-wired for Republicans since Cold War days.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    @japa21:

    I am no expert on Russia, but I’ve had many, many dealings with major league assholes over the years. Given the depth of Putin’s assholery, I don’t think anything would have stopped him from doing what he’s doing. He’s too convinced he understands everyone better than they understand themselves.

  33. 33.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: If Putin backs off on invading with 150,000 troops, destroying the Ukrainian airforce and navy, blowing Kiev to bits, and killing a hundred thousand Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, wouldn’t this be a good thing? That is what President  Biden is still trying to stop.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @CaseyL:

    *Remember when TFG had a running stream of pregnant Russian ladies stay at Mar-A-Lago and Trump Tower just long enough to have their kids? That must be a few hundred or even a few thousand oligarch babies with US citizenship.

    What a minute. Aren’t these “anchor babies?” I thought the Republicans were against this?

    //snark

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Geminid: Putin has stated publicly that Ukraine has no right to exist. What makes anyone think that there is a diplomatic solution to this?

  37. 37.

    Kristine

    Dogs with hemangiosarcoma can also die suddenly—a spleen lesion can rupture and they’re gone within minutes from internal bleeding. My dog King developed it, but his first ruptured lesion was in his liver—they were able to stabilize him until surgery the next day. He was 11, which is old for a 120 lb dog, but showed no symptoms until that first major episode.

  39. 39.

    germy

    We applaud German Chancellor Sholz’s decision to freeze NS2. Strong Allied unity in the face of Russian aggression. More will follow.

    — U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) February 22, 2022

  40. 40.

    jimmiraybob

    @LongHairedWeirdo: “…is there any reason we should reject the idea that TFG deliberately left both Russia and Afghanistan in fragile situations, in order to hurt Biden?”

    Given absolutely everything known about Trump, and hence his quislings, this seems the most likely.  The playbook from gitgo was, 1) chaos and confusion, 2) a constant barrage of lies and mis/disinformation,  and 3) massive propaganda blaming liberals, Democrats and everything and everybody else as the cause of the destruction of the nation.

    Leaving as much of a mess as possible for the Biden/Harris administration to try to clean up, as hedge against loss and the groundwork to get back into the White House if he did lose, is the best explanatory model.

    If I was a soulless, morally-depraved and ethically-devoid advisor to TFG, and the likes of Miller, Flynn and Bannon come immediately to mind, this is exactly what I would advise.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid:

    If Putin backs off on invading with 150,000 troops, destroying the Ukrainian airforce and navy, blowing Kiev to bits, and killing a hundred thousand Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, wouldn’t this be a good thing? That is what President  Biden is still trying to stop.

    That is exactly where I was until yesterday.  But Putin’s announcement yesterday is a game-changer and i think the time for a SWIFT and sure response is on us.  Right now.

  42. 42.

    Soprano2

    @Roger Moore: True, we did that with a couple of our dogs too, and it was hard. We  had one dog who in the end couldn’t walk on her hind legs, so we had so use a sling to get her into the SUV for her final trip to the vet. The way she cried and howled the whole time made me cry so hard. It was awful, how much pain she was in. We were able to control it with meds until suddenly we couldn’t anymore.

  44. 44.

    germy

    The far-right wing of the American conservative movement is breaking hard in favor of Putin and against the post-World War II order. It won’t be long before elected Republicans start to fall in behind them.

    — Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) February 21, 2022

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: Not imposing sanctions yet keeps them as deterrence. It could be that Putin is not deterrable. In whi3vh case he will go through with his plan to invade Ukraine in a massive way. Then the sanctions we and our  allies agreed upon will be imposed. If you don’t think that makes a difference, why do you care so much about sanctions anyway? And what difference does it make if sanctions are imposed in two days instead of yesterday?

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Which Putin knows, of course.

    Always ready with a colourful turn of phrase, the former newspaper Daily Telegraph columnist pledged the UK would “open up the Matryoshka dolls of Russian-owned companies and Russian-owned entities to find the ultimate beneficiaries within. The risk now is that people would draw the conclusion that aggression pays and that ‘might is right’.”

    I just feel like Putin’s “Nah, no you won’t”

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    @Geminid: I don’t know the answers to your questions, and all I can say to the “DO SOMETHING – NOW!!11!! – THAT’S DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU’RE DOING ALREADY!” is…I’ve come to the conclusion that I really, honestly, *don’t* know better than the Biden Administration how the Ukraine situation ought to be handled from moment to moment.

    Presumably these other folks do. Or think they do.

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Geminid: Not imposing sanctions yet shows weakness. If a bully punches you in the face, are you better off waiting until tomorrow to punch him back?

  50. 50.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @LongHairedWeirdo:: is there any reason we should reject the idea that TFG deliberately left both Russia and Afghanistan in fragile situations, in order to hurt Biden?

    * That would require effort from TFG and TFG don’t do effort.

    * TFG was assuming he was so awesome he was going to cruise into an easy win 2020, and while screwing himself over is so totally TFG, again, TFG runs on impulse.

    More likely TFG kicked the can down the road because that’s how TFG deals with any problem.

  51. 51.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kay: Of course. As I said way back, Lenin may not have said that “the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them” but it’s true nevertheless.

  52. 52.

    germy

    @Gin & Tonic:   If a bully punches you in the face, are you better off waiting until tomorrow to punch him back?

    Sure.  Wait a day and then kick him in the nuts, when he least expects it.

  53. 53.

    skerry

    Trump praises Putin’s “genius” plan to invade Ukraine

     

    Trump made the remarks during an interview with conservative podcaster Buck Sexton.

    “I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius,'” Trump recalled. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”

    “I said, ‘How smart is that?'” the former U.S. president continued. “And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force… We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy.”

    Trump added: “But here’s a guy that says, you know, ‘I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent,’ he used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad.”

  54. 54.

    Leto

    @Geminid: let me ask this: did the sanctions we impose on him for his actions regarding Ukraine, in 2014, stop him from doing any of this? He’s breaking/broken international law, repeatedly wrt Ukraine (and don’t forget Georgia). It’s time to bring the hammer.

    Jesus, that’s not even getting into the state sanctioned hacking he’s approved to fuck with us (elections, disinformation, federal agencies, utilities…). Beyond hammer time.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    Because it’s all interconnected. They’re not “Russian elites” or “US elites”. They’re international elites. They all operate across borders.

    Yuri Milner, founder of Moscow-based Digital Sky Technologies and an investor in Internet companies Facebook and Groupon, paid $100 million for a 25,500-square-foot mansion in Los Altos Hills, Calif., according to property records. The transaction is the biggest for a U.S. single-family home sale this year. In Manhattan, Krutoy and his wife, Olga, bought their 6,000-square-foot condo at the Plaza hotel in March. The deal came six months after the couple completed the purchase of a $12.85 million home in the Hamptons on Long Island.

  56. 56.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Someone at KOS was posting that one of the things driving this is the Crimea got most of it’s water from the Ukraine and the Ukraine cut that off when Russia invaded. So the Crimea economy crashed and the Russians have yet another prestige region basket case they have to support.  So I guess Putin wants that water in the worst possible way (as in, getting the entire Russian economy crippled by sanctions)

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Area has pretty big ex-pat Russian and also Ukrainian communities. Before the 2016 elections, the Russians at least were all about Trump and “Needing Strong Man in White House.” I was like “Say, what?” but suspect it was at least in part a kneejerk response to the thought of having a lady person in charge and Killary at that. What I couldn’t have picked up at the time was how much pro-Trump propaganda they had to have been accessing directly, from the mother ship itself. No translation required!

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    The US is working in concert with NATO and the EU on this.  Coordinating a response between 30ish countries can be frustratingly slow.  I, for one, condemned GWB for not working within the international community; I am not going to condemn Biden for doing things the right way.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It’s really complex though. The real estate is the easy part- it exists, in a country, can be seized. The other investments? They weren’t stupid. They bought into US companies and German and French companies..

    I wish it were all neatly partitioned into “Russian oligarchs” then “legitimate investments” but I don’t think it is. I have no idea what they own, but it isn’t just addresses.

  60. 60.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Gin & Tonic: Nothing is stopping Putin from blitzing the Ukraine up till now. The Ukraine isn’t a NATO state so a Russian invasion won’t automatically trigger a general war in Europe (which Putin’s broke ass military will lose, likely ending in a nuclear exchange) But this is the absolute dumbest way to do it since it sure to piss off the entire world,  make Russia a pariah state and give the Ukrainians time to arm up and get ready so the Russians would have a real fight on their hands.

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: First, please don’t use “the” when referring to Ukraine. Second, Crimea was an economic basket case before – it’s arid and hilly, so not that well suited for agriculture, and other than naval bases had very little in the way of industry. Tourism was critically important, and once Putin annexed it, Ukrainians couldn’t go, so there went half the economy. The water is only a part of this – and yes, it came from mainland Ukraine, which shut it off after the annexation.

  62. 62.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:  KOS needs fresh, pure water to replenish their precious bodily fluids.
    Have you never wondered why they only drink distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?​

  63. 63.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Ukraine has been building up its armed forces since 2014. If it comes to conventional military conflict, they may lose, but the Russians will have to dispose of a *lot* of their own bodies (they don’t send them home in body bags so as not to spark unrest.)

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    There’s a flip side to that too though. All these countries are entangled with them but they are also entangled with all these countries. The oligarchs have skin in the game of an international order, with rules.

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    Vlad gets the coveted Ortega endorsement.

    February 22, 2022 at 12:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    “Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega became one of the first world leaders to back Russia’s stance over Ukraine on Monday, saying President Vladimir Putin was right to recognise two regions controlled by Moscow-backed separatists as independent,” Reuters reports.

    Lost track of all my former “Sandalista” coworkers. Most probably believe he’s still going to free up that constitution “any day now.”

  66. 66.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Leto:  It’s time to bring the hammer.

    against another nuclear armed power. You do realize than all those killed the world over multiple times missiles are still there in their silos in the US and the Russian Federation.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    @germy: Take time to go to the bank and get twenty rolls of nickels. Fetch a tube sock to carry. Thwack bully in the kisser.

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I don’t think this is just about Ukrainian water.  Putin is clearly interested in reasserting Russia’s old sphere of influence, and IMO that includes everything the USSR controlled up to and including Eastern Germany.

    Also, FWIW, it’s just “Ukraine” not “the Ukraine”.

  71. 71.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kay: True. Kolomoisky owns like half of Cleveland. Deripaska dumped some $200 mil in Kentucky. Money is fungible.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    The oligarchs have skin in the game of an international order, with rules.

    They want an international order with rules, but the rule they care about the most is that the elites don’t get touched.  They’re perfectly fine with it if the rule is that major powers can gobble up their neighbors who are minor powers, since they come from a major power and can count on getting their share of the smaller countries their country devours.

  75. 75.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay: Because it’s all interconnected. They’re not “Russian elites” or “US elites”. They’re international elites. They all operate across borders.

    Sure, but to the extent that these ‘international elites’ have acquired a nontrivial amount of wealth from being well-connected in Russia, and we can identify them as such, that shouldn’t be a hindrance, to the extent that their wealth is either U.S. real estate, or shares in U.S. corporations, or their bonds.  We can seize the real property, and let the corporations know to disallow any transfers of the stocks and bonds, and cease payment of any interest or dividends.  And of course we can freeze their travel into and out of the U.S.

    In other words, their being ‘international elites’ doesn’t mean we can’t be a real pain in their collective asses.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    There’s this kind of archaic analysis, one that doesn’t recognize that it’s all dispersed cross borders. True for US investors too. He may want to go to some old world order that exists in his crazy head but he isn’t going back to an old economy. That’s gone.

  77. 77.

    Roger Moore

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
     
    I don’t think there’s any real boundary to Putin’s acquisitiveness. At his core, he’s a defensive imperialist, and there’s no logical stopping point for defensive imperialism. First he needs to protect Russia’s borders by taking over all his neighbors so they can’t threaten them. Then he’ll have a new bunch of neighbors who threaten Russia’s new borders, and he’ll need to take them over, too.

  78. 78.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I got the impression that a lot of those nuclear weapons were decommissioned but there are still enough operational nukes to ensure an apocalypse. The scary part is, if Putin makes a mistake and gets backed into a corner, he strikes me as the sort of person who’d use them if he thought they were his best option.

  80. 80.

    Philbert

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Not so much left it for to Biden, as I think TFG was expecting to win, but leave the bad stuff until after the election, when no one can do anything. Like Bush/Cheney, after Obama won, signing the Iraq withdrawal to take effect under Obama.

  81. 81.

    Hildebrand

    Seems that Putin’s hand isn’t exactly as strong as he might want everyone to believe – the US and the EU are decently united, Covid is still tearing through Russia, and the Russian economy is fatally plagued with oligarchs.

    I mean, sure, Putin’s got his fever dream aspirations of a restored Soviet Union, but the strength of those days is long gone. If we hold together, that should give us room to move this in a better direction (I don’t think Putin expected us to all stand together).  That unity is a better weapon than whatever ‘hammer’ people think there is to swing.

  82. 82.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Gin & Tonic:  Kolomoisky owns like half of Cleveland. Deripaska dumped some $200 mil in Kentucky. Money is fungible.

    Yabbut once they take that money and invest it in property and businesses in Cleveland and Kentucky, it’s not so fungible anymore.

    If it’s in frequently-traded stocks of U.S. corporations, the corps can be instructed to freeze their shares.  If it’s in businesses that are infrequently traded on markets, if ever, it may take them awhile to find buyers for their interests at anything more than fire-sale prices.  The oligarchs have to sell their interests faster than those interests can be sleuthed out – and the latter can happen pretty damn fast.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    But “US corporations” aren’t just “US corporations”. It’s a legal description.  They operate in all the countries Biden is trying to negotiate with, so he has to recognize that US actions impact those countries too. You can’t have a 1942 economy back. It’s kind of the big gaping hole in “nationalism”. Part of the idea was we would all have an interest in a rules-based order because none of us could run a partitioned economy inside our border lines.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    Of course he did. Now shut the fuck up, Donny, you’re out of your league.

    February 22, 2022 at 3:46 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    Former President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin a “genius” on Buck Sexton’s podcast for moving Russian troops into parts of Ukraine.

    Said Trump: “I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force… We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy.”

    He added: “But here’s a guy that says, you know, ‘I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent,’ he used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad.”

    Treason, thy name is Trump.

  88. 88.

    geg6

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This.  I just love all these kneejerk reactions that will set us off on a course that may lead to nuclear war.  But hey!  You’ll look real tough until the nukes hit!

  89. 89.

    Faithful Lurker

    I don’t have details but reports are coming out that the E.U. has frozen the assets and put in place a travel ban on all 351 members of the Russian Duma that approved the invasion of Ukraine. That’s going to piss off a lot of Russian wives and girlfriends.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @Leto: Hammer time is if and when Putin lauches the full scale invasion he has prepared. If he can be deterred from that it will save a hindred times the death and misery we have seen thus far. If not, then it’s time to impose the sanctions we haveagreed on with our allies.

  91. 91.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @trollhattan: If there’s a fellow traveler in American politics, his name is Drumpf. Or call him Quisling these days, I suppose.

    (I vaguely recall that one of the quislings supporting Nazi Germany ended up convicted of treason, and then his nation rescinded its ban on the death penalty, either shot or hanged him, and then promptly banned the death penalty again. Maybe it was Vidkun Quisling himself. Or maybe my mind’s playing tricks on me.)

  95. 95.

    Eolirin

    @Wvng: So we should take from Putin’s possession of nuclear weapons that he can just roll troops into EU and NATO states once he’s done with Ukraine and if they don’t all just surrender he’ll end the world? That’s the next step in this madness.

    Like, the nukes can’t be accounted for in a meaningful way; if he’s crazy enough to actually use them, and the people under him are weak enough to not be able to stop him, we’re all already dead.

  97. 97.

    Miss Bianca

    @trollhattan: I heard that on the radio and just about went into fucking orbit. Why the FUCK is anybody, anywhere, giving any forum to this bloated, fatuous, evil fuckstick to splooge his love for Daddy Putin all over the airwaves?!

  98. 98.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @hueyplong: Yeah, I knew that Quisling ended up facing a firing squad, and I vaguely remembered the one-time reinstatement of the death penalty, but I wasn’t sure whether I was remembering one incident or mixing two up.

  99. 99.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Miss Bianca: I’m glad I didn’t hear it. Then again, the only thing I want to hear out of TFG is his answer to the question “does the defendant have anything to say before the Court sentences him?”

  101. 101.

    geg6

    So, this doesn’t sound as weak as some people here are claiming:

    Full-blocking sanctions were levied against Russia’s military bank servicing the defense sector and the massive investment firm VEB bank, which marks the first time the U.S. has frozen the assets and cut off the transactions of a Russian state-owned financial institution. Biden also announced comprehensive sanctions on Russian sovereign debt, explaining that Moscow “can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either.” More sanctions are expected to come this week against Russian political leaders, who Biden said “share in the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well.” The president, who said he worked with Germany to stop further development of the pivotal Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline — also warned that “if Russia goes further in this invasion, we stand prepared to go further with sanctions.”

    From NY Mag.

  103. 103.

    Miki

    @Kristine: “Dogs with hemangiosarcoma can also die suddenly—a spleen lesion can rupture ….”

    I lost my 14 yr old springer/lab mix that way. She had a deep chest, so a football-size tumor wasn’t noticeable. Same day that Princess Diana died, as well as what would have been the 10th anniversary of my second wedding.  My -2d ex and his gf were visiting us when something became obviously wrong, and they helped me bring her to the Emergency vet. She was our dog together, so it was nice we could both be there at the end.

  104. 104.

    Raoul Paste

    Okay Republicans, tell me again how Putin feared Trump, and how this invasion would not have happened if he were president

  105. 105.

    Miss Bianca

    @geg6: Yeah, but you know, a bunch of people on a top 10,000 blog have joined the chorus of “Biden doesn’t know what he’s doing and whatever he’s doing he isn’t doing it fast/hard/furious enough to suit ME,” so obviously this isn’t the good news that you may think it is.//

  106. 106.

    geg6

    @Miss Bianca:

    I’m just glad I went looking for other sources of information about what Biden said.  Because the impression I was getting here was pretty much what I thought I’d be seeing on FOX News.

  107. 107.

    Gin & Tonic

    @geg6: There’s a lot less here than meets the eye. Their sovereign debt is relatively insignificant, and the sanctioning of one investment bank affects some investors, but has no broad-based effects.

  108. 108.

    geg6

    @Gin & Tonic: ​

    It also says that this is incremental based on Russian actions. You want a full war apparently. I hope you’ve signed up.

    We don’t have a defense agreement with Ukraine.  We do with NATO.  He attacks a NATO nation, he’s gonna get a war and I’ll be all in.  But until then, this seems prudent.  I understand you have ties there, but your ties are no reason to start a nuclear war for a non-ally.

  109. 109.

    topclimber

    @Geminid: ​Full sanctions will have blowback on our economy and that of Europe in a major way. It would likely lead Putin to full invasion because at that point what does he have to lose.

    You know the media would frame it as “We are undergoing all this turmoil because Obama didn’t kick Putin out of eastern Ukraine when he had the chance.”

  110. 110.

    Captain C

    @trollhattan: Is it wrong that I think the best fate for TFG would be a nice, decades long case of Locked In Syndrome?  I can’t imagine a more fitting fate for the scurvy little egomaniac.

  111. 111.

    topclimber

    @Gin & Tonic: Russia’s national debt rose 40% last year. The level is still low based on debt to GDP compared to other countries, but it pays to look at debt flows and not just debt amounts.

  112. 112.

    Geminid

    @topclimber: There will be all kinds of bogus framing no matter how this plays out. My main concern is the potential destruction and suffering we’ll see if Putin launches the full scale invasion he has prepared. If there is even a 10% chance of heading it off, then I favor withholding further sanctions.

  113. 113.

    Gin & Tonic

    @geg6: I have never advocated for war. I know what’s what with respect to NATO and the US. I have, though, several times laid out what I think is a more significant imposition of sanctions, more quickly. You may disagree with my recommendations, but as long as Cole doesn’t tell me to STFU I will advocate for my views. You are welcome to pie me.

  116. 116.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    If you’d been listening to NPR, you could have heard a lengthy discussion about Russia’s propensity for sarcasm. ?

  117. 117.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It wouldn’t take a lot of effort, just a few “favors for a friend”. You’re right, if it took *effort*, we could discount Trump. Ah, but if it took *Putin*… he’s the kind of guy who’d be able to manipulate Trump, then have a few brews with with Kim, while they laugh at who can rip the loudest, most resonant “donald”. Extra points for toxicity that makes your bodyguard’s eyes water.

  118. 118.

    hueyplong

    @Gin & Tonic: If you’re around, I have a few comments/questions:

    1. If you’re the same person who has a Gin & Tonic website, I’ve read it off and on for years.
    2. My non-professional view is that the sanctions you talk about are the same ones most of us want the US to use, but we differ as to the timing/circumstances.
    3. It would not be irrational for an objective observer to suspect that your having skin in the game in Ukraine makes you more more anxious to apply “real” sanctions earlier than those of us who have no friends/family anywhere near harm’s way.  Rational on your part, rational on ours.
    4. Biden is more like us.
    5. Is it still your position that the “real” sanctions (against RU and oligarchs we can reach here) is the next step, and do you agree it’s not to late to do it now?
  119. 119.

    Gin & Tonic

    @hueyplong:

    1. I do not have a (public) web site and am unfamiliar with the one you’re referring to.
    2. Probably
    3. I’ve never claimed to be objective
    4. Whatever
    5. Like vaccinations, late is better than not at all, but early is best
  120. 120.

    Gvg

    @Gin & Tonic: sanctions don’t work unless most or all allied countries do them the same way at the same time. Fucking it up by not getting everyone on board and ready makes the sanctions look weak and ineffective. Actually they would BE ineffective and weak.

    The President of the United States is not a king. He CAN’T snap his fingers and will all these things to happen. Some of it will take time. Some of it won’t get done because nobody can get enough countries to agree. Those actions won’t even be mentioned because that would look weak, only the actions that enough members agree too.

    Nobody can do as much as you want.

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