Trump says US will not make Ukraine security guarantees ‘beyond very much’ and Kyiv can ‘forget about’ joining Nato – live
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I could see how rare earth might be good for a root vegetable, at least.
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That's what he's always done.
He has the attention span of a toddler. He latches onto ideas, and specifically things that will satisfy his ego, his greed or his lust, with a laser focus, for exactly and only so long as they manage to hold his attention.
And at the same time, he has essentially no conception of objective truth. It's not quite that he lives in a fantasy world as that his need to satisfy his ego, greed and/or lust is so much his focus that everything else pales in comparison, including truth.
So he essentially sincerely says whatever he thinks will serve to accomplish whatever it is that he's focused on at the moment. It's not so much that he lies as that he doesn't really make a distinction between truth and lies. The only meaningful measure of a claim is whether or not it will serve his goals.
And all of that means that a smart, canny and manipulative man - Putin, for instance - can get him pointed in whatever direction he wants by feeding him the right bait and the right bullet points to go along with it.
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The longer the war persists, the more destruction and devastation there will be, the more what’s called collateral damage elsewhere, massive starvation because of the closing off of Black Sea exports — there’s some relaxation of that, but we have little information about it — threat of nuclear war increases, and perhaps most significantly of all, and least discussed, is the fact that as the war continues, the limited efforts to deal with the overwhelming crisis of climate destruction, those reverse.
2nd part of the DemocracyNow interview
Now Putin has moved on to the anticipated escalation, “targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last few weeks and stepping up its strikes in the eastern region of the country.” Putin’s escalation to the U.S.-U.K.-Israel model has been rightly condemned for its brutality — condemned by those who have accepted the original with little if any objection, and whose ghastly gamble laid the groundwork for the escalation, exactly as was warned throughout. There will be no accountability, though some lessons may have been learned.
https://chomsky.info/20221116-2/
Is reading the headline as far as you got? The US was incredibly brutal when invading Iraq. That doesn't mean Russia isn't also very brutal when they target civilians and civilian infrastructure, it means the US has historically been more brutal than Russia currently is when the US invaded other sovereign countries. If you think Chomsky doesn't consider Russia's invasion criminal, brutal, and unjustifiable, that's just not correct. If you actually read the interviews, his analysis is on what aspects of US foreign policy are prolonging the conflict. The US has never cared about Ukrainian Sovereignty, the US only cares about continuing US foreign policy of Neo-colonialism. Funding Ukraine militarily was/is the correct thing to do, that doesn't mean the US in invulnerable to criticism in all aspects of it's foreign policy on Ukraine. Like how they went weak on sactions, or how they refused to give iron dome tech to Ukraine.
Yet those who take a "Genocide is okay because it's expensive or hurts my fee-fees to oppose 🥺" position gets a pass from you on one genocide, but infinite criticism and accelerationism for the other.
What drugs are you smoking? I've never been ok with any genocide for any reason. Unlike many liberals who were fine with Biden funding genocide because "it's not an important issue". I've always been against genocide and accelerationism. Quote me proving otherwise or get your pathetic strawman out of here. You were quite literally more angry at the houthis for implementing a blockade against Israel's genocide on Gaza than the US-Saudi genocide of Yemen.
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If you think Chomsky doesn’t consider Russia’s invasion criminal, brutal, and unjustifiable, that’s just not correct. If you actually read the interviews
Yet Chomsky’s world-view does not leave space for Ukrainian agency. It is the “US and Britain” who have “refused” peace negotiations in Ukraine, Chomsky tells me, in order to further their own national interests, even as the country is being “battered, devastated”. That negotiations with Russia would mean de facto abandoning millions of Ukrainians to the whims of an aggressor that has shown itself capable of extraordinary brutality, such as in Bucha and Izyum, is dismissed. “Ukraine is not a free actor; they’re dependent on what the US determines,” he says, adding that the US is supplying Kyiv with weapons simply to weaken Russia. “For the US, this is a bargain. For a fraction of the colossal military budget, the US is able to severely degrade the military forces of its only real military adversary.”
According to Chomsky, Russia is acting with restraint and moderation. He compares Russia’s way of fighting with the US’s during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that large-scale destruction of infrastructure seen in that conflict “hasn’t happened in Ukraine”. He adds: “Undoubtedly Russia could do it, presumably with conventional weapons. [Russia] could make Kyiv as unliveable as Baghdad was, could move in to attacking supply lines in western Ukraine.”
When I asked him to clarify whether he was implying that Russia is fighting more humanely in Ukraine than the US did in Iraq, Chomsky replies, “I’m not implying it, it’s obvious.” Delegations of UN inspectors had to be withdrawn once the invasion of Iraq began, he says, “because the attack was so severe and extreme… That’s the US and British style of war.” Chomsky adds: “Take a look at casualties. All I know is the official numbers… the official UN numbers are about 8,000 civilian casualties [in Ukraine]. How many civilian casualties were there when the US and Britain attacked Iraq?”
Still incapable of reading, I see.
What drugs are you smoking? I’ve never been ok with any genocide for any reason. Unlike many liberals who were fine with Biden funding genocide because “it’s not an important issue”. I’ve always been against genocide and accelerationism. Quote me proving otherwise or get your pathetic strawman out of here.
I literally posted screenshots of the guys we were discussing playing genocide games, but go off. Infinite apologia for one genocide is permitted, but not the other.
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It's not so much that he lies as that he doesn't really make a distinction between truth and lies. The only meaningful measure of a claim is whether or not it will serve his goals.
Been saying this for years. The man literally can't tell a lie, everything that comes out of his mouth is the truth. I don't think many people have been around someone that's full-on Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
And yes, once you figure out that's his disorder, he's as easy to manipulate as a toddler. Also been saying since he won the election, his handlers are in charge this time and it couldn't be more obvious. Look at his Truth Social posts for one example. They're far more clear and focused, easily written by someone imitating him. Any one of us could do it.
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Yes, exactly. Although you also must understand the US is the size of Europe and is about 3/4th it's population. The differences between California, Florida and Texas are as wide as Germany, Greece and Poland (maybe not culturally but... Actually no, fuck it, yes even culturally lol).
The biggest problem is, on paper our federal government should be closer in power to your E.U. but in practice, 200 years have expanded feds and now we're in a hostage situation. Imagine your own neighboring countries having 80% control over your country for 4-8 years every 4-8 years; it's fucking awful. Oh, it's Greece's turn to run the economy? Fucking great.
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I prefer root vegetables cooked medium (carrots) to well done (potatoes). Greens are excellent rare, though.
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Not the first time Melania was disappointed by two inches.
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Exactly. This became very obvious after his meeting with Russia, he just started repeating their talking points without any critique. He has zero plan or strategy, just chasing feelings and vibes to feed his giant ego.
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Zelenskyy would probably get more support from his people if he told trump to get fucked than by being his dancing monkey. I know he's desperately trying to do what's best for Ukraine, but sucking up to that piece of shit isn't it.
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200 years have expanded feds and now we’re in a hostage situation.
Absolutely, although I'm disappointed UK chose Brexit, I very much favor their right to do so. I believe the ability to leave helps prevent EU overreach.
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The US has already devalued being a member of NATO.
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Yet Chomsky’s world-view does not leave space for Ukrainian agency. It is the “US and Britain” who have “refused” peace negotiations in Ukraine, Chomsky tells me, in order to further their own national interests, even as the country is being “battered, devastated”
Chomsky is pointing out that the US, who Ukraine is still very dependent on for military weapons, and Russia, who is invading Ukraine, have the power here. That's the reality of imperial hard power, they don't give a shit about Ukrainian Sovereignty. They only care about economic resources. Of course Ukraine should have sovereignty, the issue is that the US and Russia have no interest in respecting their sovereignty. They have robbed Ukraine of it for financial gain. Imperialist powers always rob countries of their sovereignty and natural resources.
On February 24th, Putin invaded, a criminal invasion. These serious provocations provide no justification for it. If Putin had been a statesman, what he would have done is something quite different. He would have gone back to French President Emmanuel Macron, grasped his tentative proposals, and moved to try to reach an accommodation with Europe, to take steps toward a European common home.
The U.S., of course, has always been opposed to that. This goes way back in Cold War history to French President De Gaulle’s initiatives to establish an independent Europe. In his phrase “from the Atlantic to the Urals,” integrating Russia with the West, which was a very natural accommodation for trade reasons and, obviously, security reasons as well. So, had there been any statesmen within Putin’s narrow circle, they would have grasped Macron’s initiatives and experimented to see whether, in fact, they could integrate with Europe and avert the crisis. Instead, what he chose was a policy which, from the Russian point of view, was total imbecility. Apart from the criminality of the invasion, he chose a policy that drove Europe deep into the pocket of the United States. In fact, it is even inducing Sweden and Finland to join NATO — the worst possible outcome from the Russian point of view, quite apart from the criminality of the invasion, and the very serious losses that Russia is suffering because of that.
So, criminality and stupidity on the Kremlin side, severe provocation on the U.S. side. That’s the background that has led to this. Can we try to bring this horror to an end? Or should we try to perpetuate it? Those are the choices.
At least use quotes from a full interview instead of from someone intentionally framing snips that go against statements Chomsky has already said.
https://chomsky.info/20220616/
Most Taiwanese want no change from the current situation. They don't want any escalation whatsoever.
But that image of Lloyd Austin announcing the deployment of U.S. forces to four new bases, in addition to five U.S. bases where U.S. troops are deployed in the Philippines, making a total of nine, potentially, in days and months to come, that’s precisely the wrong image and precisely the wrong direction that the U.S. should be going in. The United States, the Biden administration and a larger foreign policy elite, I’m sad to say, has hijacked our foreign policy and is currently escalating military tensions with China at precisely the moment we need to be moving in the other direction. We need to be drawing down U.S. military bases and forces in the region, while building up our diplomatic presence.
The U.S. Has 750 Overseas Military Bases, and Continues to Build More to Encircle China
Sixty percent of Taiwanese support maintaining the “status quo,” with 34 backing it “indefinitely,” and 26 percent favoring either declaring independence or unifying with China at a later date, depending on the conditions.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2024/12/05/2003828000
Reflecting on our conversation, I came across a passage in an essay from Chomsky’s 1970 book At War with Asia. “As long as an American army of occupation remains in Vietnam, the war will continue,” he wrote. “Withdrawal of American troops must be a unilateral act, as the invasion of Vietnam by the American government was a unilateral act in the first place. Those who had been calling for ‘negotiations now’ were deluding themselves and others.” These words seem to me to be more applicable to the war in Ukraine than anything Noam Chomsky said during our conversation 53 years later.
Russia completely withdrawing is still the correct thing for Russia to do. Good luck convincing Putin, many thousands in Russia have already been arrested for protesting the war. See what Chomsky has said on the anti-war movement in the US and it's effects on the US withdrawing, then see if that's applicable to the citizens of Russia protesting the war having an impact on Russia foreign policy. The US does not have the power to force Russia to do a full withdrawal, and that's assuming the US is interested in protecting Ukrainian Sovereignty which it's not. Chomsky is critiquing US foreign policy and how it fails to be in any genuine interests of protecting Ukrainian Sovereignty.
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At this point he's probably just buying time. He knows the US will abandon them, but probably needs to give the EU time to sort out their finances.
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So why should anyone listen to what the US says anyway?
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Did anyone expect anything else from Krasnov?
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Krasnov does what he is TOLD.
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Maybe he was referring to this, though he's Canadian (the son of astronaut Chris Hadfield, though great in his own right).
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Hey France, you wanna dominate europe and soon also the world again? Comon who than to do it better than with your old pal germany. This time we are the good guys. Democracy, security, peace and justice! - germany
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Seems like the US has no leverage if we're not offering anything.
