I could see them holding on for a bit. I guess it depends on who wins and what their proclivities are.
Republican congressmen are overwhelmingly supportive of the Ukraine war. The only ones I can recall against it are Rand Paul, Gaetz, MTG, maybe a few others. Guys like Lindsey Graham would never back off their support, no matter what the voters think.
While there are some R’s who seem to be very pro-Putin, Kevin McCarthy’s priority if he becomes Speaker will be whatever hurts Dems the most. A typical Republican strategy would be to criticize Biden for not doing enough while not passing funding that allows Biden to do something.
Yes. Yes, of course it is. We don’t have to pretend to be raised by wolves and consider the possibility that the Republicans who think we’ve given too much to Ukraine acktshyually think that the last $134.89 million we gave them was too much, but the rest was just fine. We know the Republican position here, which is that we should give Ukraine nothing. We also know that is exactly what Putin wants the United States, and every other country he does not consider a vassal, to do. Putin wants to be left to do his annexation and genocide in peace, and to vote to do nothing is to vote to permit him to do exactly that.
4 Likes
That river is about 2.5 miles across right there (length of a swim in an Iron Man: 2.4 miles), and the water temperature is going to be ~50 F. A trained swimmer in a wet suit could make it, but I’d expect the average Russian soldier would succumb to exhaustion and/or hypothermia short of the halfway point.
Not wanting to fund Ukraine’s defense at all isn’t pro-Russian either.
By swim I was including things like small (or makeshift) boats. Things small enough that you could quickly cross at night and it would be hard for artillery to accurately hit (unlike say a pontoon bridge). Basically just fleeing with your self and maybe your gun and a bit of ammo, but having to leave behind all your other equipment and supplies.
Of course it is. It’s doing exactly what Russia wants you to do. Never Again doesn’t mean “Sit Idly By and Feel Sorry For The People Being Genocided.”
3 Likes
That’s exactly what we’re doing right now with the much worse, ongoing genocide in China. That’s what we did in Rwanda. East Timor. Cambodia. Darfur.
Really, I have to question if Never Again is a guiding principle of American foreign policy!
2 Likes
Man, it’s almost like I can think that US foreign policy can be mostly terrible, but that it doesn’t have to be always terrible all the time.
1 Like
it just happens to align with the most pro-russian position there is
1 Like
so, you are saying we shouldn’t have sat out rwanda (1m+ genocide) and darfur (tens to hundreds of thousands), and shouldn’t be silent on uygurs? or that we should sit out ukraine like US did there?
multiple leaders, including clinton, said they regret not sending a small force to rwanda to prevent deaths of hundreds of thousands.
Call the manager ikes
2 Likes
Overall, Kasparov is a bit of a prick (I read his book Winter Is Coming and wasn’t a fan) but he is absolutely right to burn Musk for that tweet.
I think Keeed has a point that you can’t just label everyone who doesn’t want to fund a war as pro-Russian unless your stance is “if you’re not with us, then you’re against us”. An absolute pacifist who opposes all military funding wouldn’t necessarily be pro-Russian. Jeannette Rankin was not pro-Axis because she refused to vote for declaring war during World War II.
1 Like
Kasparov went nuts during Iraq. IIRC he was calling for Baghdad to be nuked at one point.
The tweet about the poll is even worse as it labels anyone who thinks we are sending too much funding to Ukraine as pro-Russia. So even if you want to keep sending them aid, but just not at current levels, you’re lumped as pro-Russia.
2 Likes
Is there anything the US can do to materially help the Uyghurs? Just war theory includes a condition that there has to be a reasonable chance for success. Perhaps, there are non-war ways to help them, but I can see an argument for only trying to help if you think you can make a difference, if you believe in pragmatism.