In another affront to Russia, President Trump has signed onto Montenegro’s entrance into NATO, as the neocon/liberal-hawk strategy of encircling Russia resumes, writes Ted Snider.
By Ted Snider
Donald Trump has just approved Montenegro’s accession into NATO, the latest sign that hopes for a new détente with Russia have been dashed. Though Montenegro is a tiny nation and its inclusion doesn’t significantly affect NATO’s capabilities, the move does send a clear message to Moscow that Trump is continuing his reversal from his campaign promises of warming up to Russia and cooling off to NATO into the opposite.
NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The script got flipped, in part, because Democrats and the major U.S. news media battered Trump for months after his election with allegations portraying him as Russia’s “Manchurian candidate.” Despite the lack of evidence that Trump’s campaign had colluded with Moscow, the steady pounding – day after day – took its toll, leading to Trump’s capitulation in early April as signified by his missile strike against Syria and his new hostile rhetoric toward the Kremlin.
However, even before Trump’s springtime flip-flop, his administration had been signaling that the new President wouldn’t change the arc of U.S. foreign policy very much. Immediately upon assuming the role of Secretary of Defense on Jan. 20, retired Marine General James Mattis called NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to assure him of America’s commitment to “the fundamental and enduring value of NATO for the security of both Europe and North America.”
While they were talking, NATO was building up its forces along Russia’s borders as German and Belgian troops moved into Lithuania supposedly to act as a deterrent against Russian “aggression.” In mid-February, 500 U.S. troops deployed to Romania and another 120 were deployed to Bulgaria as part of the NATO operation known as Atlantic Resolve.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexi Meshkov, revealed Russia’s interpretation of the NATO buildup when he said, “This deployment is of course a threat for us.”
At the same time, 300 U.S. Marines were arriving in Norway 900 miles from the Russian border. Russia criticized the move as having no military benefit — beyond antagonizing Russia. When Norway joined NATO as a founding member, they made the commitment not to host any foreign forces because of Russian concerns that Norway could serve as a launching ground for an attack on Russia.
At the end of January, U.S. tanks and armored vehicles — part of a 3,500-troop contingent — fired salvos into the air in Poland. General Ben Hodges, the commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, said, “this is not just a training exercise. It’s to demonstrate a strategic message that you cannot violate the sovereignty of members of NATO … Moscow will get the message — I’m confident of it.”
Maiden Speech
Days later, Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley used her maiden speech in the Security Council to issue a “clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions,” saying, “I consider it unfortunate that the occasion of my first appearance is one in which I must condemn the aggressive actions of Russia.”
Nikki Haley of South Carolina speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. March 15, 2013. (Flickr Gage Skidmore)
She then added that, “The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea. Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine.”
By mid-February, that hardline message had moved into the White House with press secretary Sean Spicer declaring: “President Trump has made it very clear that he expects the Russian government to de-escalate violence in the Ukraine and return Crimea.” The next day, Trump took to his official organ of policy announcement, Twitter, and tweeted that Crimea was “TAKEN by Russia.”
In a recent correspondence, Richard Sakwa, professor of Russian and European politics at Kent University and the author of the upcoming book Russia against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order, said, “The renewed confrontation between Russia and the West is not a replay of the Cold War, although many of its . . . features . . . have been revived. Competition between the Atlantic community and Russia has become entrenched as the ‘new normal’. . . . Profound shifts in global politics are taking place, reshaping the international system.”
Sakwa stressed that, since “International relations today are more perilous than at any time since 1989, . . . we need to understand the dynamics of relations between Russia and the U.S. since 1989.”
The Mouse That Roared
Thus, the significance of NATO membership for the tiny Balkan country of Montenegro, which ranks 161st in size among the world’s nations and is even smaller than Connecticut. But Montenegro was part of the former Yugoslavia, putting it inside what Russia considers to be its sphere of influence.
A map showing stages of NATO’s expansion. Dark blue showing original members; lighter blue the “round one” members; aqua the “round two” members; yellow represents neutral states; and brown and red (including Ukraine), otherwise aligned. On the map, Montenegro is one of the tiny brown spots on the eastern Adriatic.
There is also Russia’s sensitivity about what the Kremlin viewed as a U.S. commitment not to expand NATO eastward as part of Moscow’s agreement to let a united Germany join NATO.
At a Feb. 9, 1990 meeting at the Kremlin, President George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of State, James Baker, promised Gorbachev that if NATO got Germany and Russia pulled its troops out of East Germany “there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction one inch to the east.” But, according to Sakwa, this promise specifically meant only that NATO would not spill over from West Germany into East Germany. The promise of not “one inch to the east,” meant only that NATO wouldn’t militarize East Germany.
But the logic of the specific assurance regarding East Germany implies a larger assurance regarding nations to the east of East Germany. Russia wouldn’t have a security concern about East Germany being home to NATO forces if those NATO forces were moving into former Soviet Republics on Russia’s borders as is happening now.
So, the question of militarizing east of Germany never had to explicitly come up: it was implicitly understood. Sakwa says, “The question of NATO enlargement to the other Soviet bloc countries simply did not enter anyone’s head and was not discussed.”
Then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says it didn’t come up because it was then unthinkable: “Merely the notion that NATO might expand to include the countries in this alliance sounded completely absurd at the time.”
The historical record makes the meaning of the promise clear. The promise was made on two consecutive days: first by the Americans and then by the West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. According to West German foreign ministry documents, on Feb. 10, 1990, the day after James Baker’s promise, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, told his Soviet counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze, “‘For us . . . one thing is certain: NATO will not expand to the east.’ And because the conversation revolved mainly around East Germany, Genscher added explicitly: ‘As far as the non-expansion of NATO is concerned, this also applies in general.’”
A few days earlier, on Jan. 31, 1990, Genscher had said in a major speech that there would not be “an expansion of NATO territory to the east, in other words, closer to the borders of the Soviet Union.” This public announcement, again, made the spirit of the promise clear.
Former CIA analyst and chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch Ray McGovern reports that the U.S. ambassador to the USSR at the time of the promise, Jack Matlock – who was present at the talks – told him that “The language used was absolute, and the entire negotiation was in the framework of a general agreement that there would be no use of force by the Soviets and no ‘taking advantage’ by the U.S. … I don’t see how anybody could view the subsequent expansion of NATO as anything but ‘taking advantage.'”
Matlock is referring to the words of President George H.W. Bush who clearly stated that the U.S. would not derive any “unilateral advantage” from the end of the Cold War, or, as Genscher phrased it, there would be “no shift in the balance of power” between the East and the West. As Matlock said, it is very hard to see how the absorption of the former nations of the Soviet Union is not an “advantage” or a “shift in the balance of power.”
Thumb’s Width
Gorbachev says the promise was made not to expand NATO “as much as a thumb’s width further to the east.” In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “And what happened to the assurances our Western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them.”
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
Putin then went on to remind his audience of the assurances by pointing out that the existence of the NATO promise is not just the perception of him and Gorbachev. It was also the view of the NATO General Secretary Manfred Woerner at the time: “But I will allow myself to remind this audience what was said. I would like to quote the speech of NATO General Secretary Mr. Woerner in Brussels on 17 May 1990. He said at the time that: ‘the fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee.’ Where are those guarantees?”
McGovern says that when he asked Viktor Borisovich Kuvaldin, a Gorbachev adviser from 1989-1991, why there was no written agreement, Kuvaldin replied painfully, “We trusted you.”
In 1999, NATO brushed aside Russia’s protests and absorbed Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The encroachment toward Russia’s borders continued in 2004 by adding Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. In 2009, the Russian sphere of influence was further penetrated with the NATO incursion into Albania and Croatia.
Now, accepting Montenegro into NATO has become a politically popular way for Congress to demonstrate its disdain for Vladimir Putin, even if Montenegro’s population isn’t all that enthusiastic, splitting roughly down the middle on NATO membership.
Though sometimes called “soft on Russia,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also was cheerleading for Montenegro’s admission. Then, on April 11, just days after firing 59 Tomahawk missiles at Russia’s Syrian allies in retaliation for a supposed chemical weapons incident and amid White House suggestions that the Russians were complicit in the alleged war crime, Trump signed the paperwork on Montenegro’s admittance.
In doing so, Trump added to NATO’s encroachment on Russia’s borders, dismissed Russia’s claim to a sphere of influence — and made clear that his campaign promise of a less confrontational posture against Russia was a thing of the past.
Ted Snider writes on analyzing patterns in US foreign policy and history.
Cut To The Quick!
General.W. Clark stated ? countries 5 years would be attack,and this order came from the top.This surprised him.You Tube Reference.
President Trump said America first.President Trump has flipped and now has involved America in wars.
I believed in Trump,but I knew he could change course in extreme.I became suspicious when I found out he supported Israel and had family ties with them.
I still gave him benefit of doubt knowing his turf did not look good with players he had selected.
The following two references should make things crystal clear.They cut away the fat of the matter.
Talk is a waste of time when facts are known.Knowledge without action is worthless.
William Engdahl—What Is Trumps True Agenda—Pub. Nov,30 2016 You Tube
All Hands On Deck! You Can Help Dismantle The Deep State!—Rise Together-Pub 8 April 2017—Begin at 18:43 minutes-
William Engdahi did the research necessary to know the truth about Trumps past history.Those who supported Trump did not have this information.
William Engdahi could be wrong,but his analysis in 2016 is now indicated to be correct as result of Trump flip.
Another aspect is it is stated if I am not mistaken that president Reagan signed secret agreement with Bush agreeing that Bush was real president.
William Engdahl is outstanding in his insight and knowledge in my opinion.
All Hands On Deck reveals who is connected to who in the Trump enter circle. This information clears away the cloud.
The truth is both parties are one.Those behind the scene control the president and the rest in majority.The people are puppets having invisible strings.Secret Societies represent those at the Apex.Norman Dodd exposed who they are…CFR,Trilateral Commission in America,etc…4rie.com exposes the cover up
The sheep are ruled by Fake News and Education.They are conditioned for war.Bernays-Propaganda explains method…Tavastock Institute—Brainwashing,Conditioning,Control..
The electronic voting machines don’t work right on purpose.The sheep have no real choice.Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul cheated out of being president maybe,for sure as Fake News proved by their cover up of the truth and who they represented and blocked.Phony voting as usual.
Trump and Fake News opposing him.Obama not citizen of America.Phony birth certificate.Violated the American constitution daily.Past Sheriff Phoenix Arizona with experts proved Birth Certificate phony.Social Security Card from Maine?Record Hawaii fraud.No prosecution.If American Constitution violated by the president which threatens the security of America is not treason-what is it.
Clinton,s Treason committed-E-Mails—Their phony foundation-arms supply to enemy-Uranium sold to Russia,etc.Trading with the enemy.Supporting the enemies of America.
NSA,CIA,FBI,NSC,etc phony as they are exposed everyday and they deny it as they have brainwashed themselves to believe their garbage.
Snowden,Assange,Manning have told the truth.The truth is not valid as ruled by lower Federal Courts.The Supreme Court does not rule the lower courts.The truth is what the judge says it is.
No not all of these agencies members agree with violating the American Constitution.Maybe one should go to the top for answers.
Aaron Russo proved the districts courts not in compliance with the American Constitution.Freedom To Fascism Movie-You Tube.It has been edited.Look for 2.26 hours that includes interview.
The reason is Maritime Law rule America as colony of England…Jordon Maxwell-You Tube—America is colony of England—You Tube.Jay Treaty and Treaty of Paris prove it.
Changing letters in the American Constitution made it a fraud.You Tube research.
Karen Hudes-You Tube-I do not agree with her about article 5 to amend the American Constitution because it is a fraud and that means it is not valid.
This being said she presents documents and sources stating the Organic American Constitution Null and Void.This really means the American Government and its representatives are in state of treason as they are violating the American Organic Constitution.
Robert David Steele.com-CIA retired is developing movement to remove by the vote all congressman and senators who do not promise to enforce the programs Trump promised prior to his betrayal of the SHEEP.
If Trump changes his tune and makes America Great I will be the first to apologize to him for my wrong thinking.I will see him as I did before and support him to the max.
Facts and documents leave the US Corporation with no defense.
Prof.Antony Sutton—The Best Enemy Money Can Buy—You Tube
From Major Jordan’s Diary-You Tube
Both of these titles prove with documented facts what they state.
War Is A Racket by Gen.Smedley Butler-You Tube exposes the fascist corporate plus conspiracy to overthrow the American Constitution.
Confirmation Of An Economic Hit Man—John Perkins—You Tube
His book explains how the corporate really works.The world is exploited with no conscious,or concern.
American Lawyer-Ron Gibson.com exposes the corporate mentality.The police state tactics.Their psychopath character develop by education-MBA-Koch Education,and add George Soros,etc.
Michael Moore-Fahrenheit 9/11 with Dutch Subtitles—You Tube—Exposes DC and its actors for the criminals they probably are.Certainly a % of them.
Global Research and Paul G. Robert.org state that the terrorist are financed by the CIA and it allies.They Produce evidence to support their claims.
Antony Sutton-The Rise Of Hitler
Astral Voices:Antony Sutton,Understanding History.You Tube
Christopher Story-EU Corruption 1/3—EU Collective Books-Other topics on You Tube,Internet.
The NAZIS run the world today in most of the world.The NAZIS today have combined the worse oaths and doctrines that mankind has ever produced as their ideology.
If the wars today are illegal and unconstitutional and against international law the how can they be supported unless the SHEEP have been brainwashed.
Talk without action is worthless.Robert David Steele retired CIA is only one I know who has real plan of action to deal with this treason that exist..
stopthecrime.net—NASA exposure,Agenda 21,Electromagnetic Weapons-Micro wave weapons-Nano weapons,Smart Meter Weapons,etc.
Please be advised this information is for entertainment purpose and is probably all lies.Also references probably do not exist.If they do they are not real.
If these reference are true you need not search any farther as they are sufficient to know the state America is in.The Federal Reserve is unconstitutional.Ron Paul,Aaron Russo,Eustice Mullins-NWO,and many others have proved it.That is why there is no full audit.Enter City of London,BIS,Queen of England,Vatican may have answers.
Why with all this evidence is there speculation when facts are known.Truman Picture Show—Are you an actor in it.
Wrong Is Right-Lies Are Truth-All Is Relative,so it makes no difference-What difference does it make.Thinking makes it so.You are, so therefore it must be.
Walter Haas—God Bless America
NATO’s mind set and planning are based on logistical planning of much earlier warfare. Russia, for example would be better launching air and space attacks on stored nuclear weapons and nuclear fuel storage facilities causing massive release of alpha particle producing isotopes. They would not want to enter such a target. Europe is the most target rich per square kilometer on earth. One does not need logistics through it. It is part of the Asian continent so
any invasion force would come from the East. The Baltics would have some defensive value but would not be worthy of forced entry. Europe is a kettle.
Montenegro has been recruited into NATO for one reason only: to surround Russia with opponents from every state within Europe, making them out to be isolated pariahs. They will not stop until they indeed have every European state in a military alliance against Russia, including Ukraine, Georgia and finally even Belarus. Then they will try to chisel away republics within the Russian Federation such as Chechnya and Dagestan by fomenting rebellions there.
Montenegro is not that close to Russia, and, as it has been mentioned, it is tiny. Its NATO membership rather serves the encirclement of Serbia, which is to some degree an ally to Russia.
What is most problematic is that, as surveys show, NATO membership is probably not supported by a majority of the population of Montanegro. But NATO puts the extension of its sphere of influence above all. Maybe after the next elections, the current corrupt government of Montenego that is connected with organized crime will be ousted and the next government will take the will of the citizens of Montenegro more seriously and quit NATO again.
I was not concerned about physical proximity, but rather the ability of America to tell Russia, look, every other country in Europe is with us and against you, thus surrounding them in that sense. Doesn’t matter to America that it basically intimidated, cajoled and bribed most of the countries in NATO to gang up on Russia.
When the Putin demonizing began in earnest, though, I saw an article where Gorbachev defended Putin, said what was being said wasn’t fair!
Thanks, James, for that info. Which clearly shows me it’s all part of the Russia destabilization effort. I’ll have to look into your reference names. Ellen DeGeneres is a useful idiot for their efforts. Trump is completely clueless, it seems, about geopolitics. Is he being blackmailed or threatened?
THE JOKE OF AMERICA HAS BEEN FIRST WITH BILL CLINTON THEN OBAMA NOW TRUMP. PEOPLE NEED TO RUN THE USA NOT PRESIDENTS BECAUSE THEY REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING. IN THE END ITS ALL OF US HARD WORKING PEOPLE WHO WILL SUFFER WHILE THE PRESIDENTS WILL LAUGH AND REJOICE.
I saw a poll taken in Russia about past leaders and Gorbachev is roundly despised in Russia.
This article shows how he sold out the country with no written guarantees.
He continues to be liked in the west – as he was a useful idiot. He continues to be one to this day.
James,
When I was in Russia this was not the case, post Gorbachev. Many said the were once a great nation, and now they are not. Economics and a series of events took a lot of the blame, but Gorbachev was not a target of their aggression. The US can outspend them since the gold standard became history and the US prints its own money. This had a lot to do with the economic changes. Yeltsin let the west literally rob Russias’ natural resources, to the praise of US corporations.
Joe, Chechnya is majority Muslim and has been a focal area for terrorists since bin Laden days, and it is mainly mountainous. I would not be surprised if this Chechnya gay thing is an arm of the CIA attempts to destabilize Russia, as they seem to be trying everything. Now Joe Biden is coming out saying Trump should do something about it. Has Ellen gone over to Chechnya to assess the situation? Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president denies the charges of gay torture, Putin and advisors say they do not know about it. More research needed, but the timing seems in sync with Russia drubbing. Ol’ Hippy, you are spot on.
The first report I heard on this was in a paper run by Russian liberals funded by Lebedev ( oligarch in London) and Gorbachev who is anti Putin. And George Soros.
Kadyrov is always in conflict with this political faction
The Russian liberals are the Yeltsin crowd
The newspaper in question is the Independent, which has the lowest circulation of all newspapers and, apart from one or two excellent journalists, Robert Fisk and Patrick Cockburn, is part of the MSM.
Jessica & James I do thank you both for looking into this, and much of what you two are saying I already thought could be the case. I was caught off guard when first presented with this news. My comeback to answer this charge was strengthen when I told these good misinformed people about all the excuses and false flags, and the demonizing of countries and foreign leaders has always been a part of the prepping of the American people when leading up to an invasion.I mean I could warn people by refreshing their memories of lead up to wars past, and then it’s up to them to either accept it or deny it.
What makes this concentration camp story hard to believe, is why would Vladimir Putin even do such a thing? Putin knows that this type of crack down on the gays would be like handing us Americans a golden opportunity to even demonize him more inside the American media’s misinformation wars, and I don’t think Putin would be this arrogant nor stupid to hand our media such a gift. Although to those who have never read his speeches, and rely heavily on our retail news outlets would just accept this propaganda as being Putin being Putin…and that is unfortunate.
We Americans must get wise to what is really going on, if even there is the slightest chance for we the people to ever take our country back we must become better informed. Problem is when I see how gullible we Americans are to this type of propaganda I then think of how far away we are from getting our government on the right track.
Generally speaking, there shouldn’t be any violence directed at any specific group in any country.
With regard to the situation in Chechnya I’m wondering what’s all the fuss about. Take a map of the world and mark each and every country in the world in which the LGBT crowd faces repression or worse. Do you notice something? There’s a deafening silence when it comes to Saudi Arabia, Iran and (probably) many more countries. Why are the LGBT rights in Chechnya are of such a high priority right now? The very thought about the hypocrisy of US politicians and the Western press could be upsetting – at least for people who’ve woken up just recently. Killing mainly innocent people by drone strikes (bystanders; assumed the intended targets aren’t innocent, too), starving people by blockades and/or sanctions (Yemen) and “accidentally” bombing civilians (Mosul) whilst trying to fight terrorists doesn’t make as much headlines as some alleged suppression of gays? By focusing on a few alleged human rights violations, instead of minding their own business , Western politicians and news media continue to push forward their agenda of attempted regime change or military conflict with Russia. That’s the kind of behavior even the most rational people would call stupid.
By the way: whilst searching for news of Uncle Joe’s involvement (I’m talking of JB, not JT) I came across the news of some politician calling bystanders, who don’t help stop sexual assaults, cowards. It’s awkward that a politician, who had been filmed fondling underage daughters of party members (watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IL5u5U39Qo and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy07yHAgM4E), calls for the courage to stand up against assailants (http://www.phillyvoice.com/joe-biden-bystanders-who-dont-help-stop-sexual-assault-are-cowards/).
Trump is making a very big mistake ‘rattling sabers’ with Russia! When he got into office, me, plus a whole lot of friends thought; OK, finally someone who can sit down with Putin and speak the language of peace throughout the world. And also it would be a dream come true if the USA and Russia became allies! But for some strange reason the a-holes who are advising Trump, (Jared), don’t see what a great thing this would be for lasting peace on the planet. I swore that if anyone could see the benefit of this, it was going to be Donald Trump. Is guess I was wrong!!! What a shame!!!
the main factor in turning T into a tomahawk was that the DemoNeoCons put the fear of impeachment into T.
Sad. Most Americans don’t have a clue of how deceitful the US government is. The agreements made, especially those unsigned ones, are broken on a constant basis and then the public is informed the,(supposed) enemy is being the belligerent aggressor. NATO should have been dissolved after the cold war as part of the German deal. Instead, the greedy capitalists/government wants to control the world so to make gaining profit as easy as possible without regard to the utter misery they inflict on indigenous people of the nation states. As long as there’s a war, somewhere, anywhere, there’s profit to reap from the theft of property and weapons sold and used. Trump’s promises,(during campaign) have been tossed aside in lock step of the neocon/Zionist agenda. He could not stand up to the unseen pressure of bullies much more powerful than himself. They’ve had decades, he’s had a hundred days or so and had no idea of the myriad ways to get their way and I believe he want;s to live. The Empire is now in it’s death throes won’t die an easy death and will destroy countless lives as they rush along to the memory holes of history.
Joe, i’m glad you mentioned the Chechnya gay issue, I’m trying to do research on it. Russia denies it, but the anti-gay group is getting much more active over there and I bet Soros is setting it up to some degree. Masha Gessen is the lesbian Jewish anti-Putin journalist propagandist and works partially for the Atlantic Council, a propaganda arm of the MIC. It looks like there’s a trial setup for a color revolution attempt in Russia. Navalny painted himself green a few weeks ago for a protest against Putin, and he is probably a CIA setup. I would just tell people citing Chechnya, that we don’t know from over here what’s going on and there is a lot of propaganda. Russian officials including Putin have stated publicly that they know a color revolution is being attempted. It’s hard to discuss with narrow-minded people. I said to my narrow-minded neighbor, you’re not over there and there is a lot of propaganda going around. Next time I’ll add, “Minds are like parachutes, they only function when open”.
Just like the last time when Harvey Feinstein and Dan Savage were brought out to cry about gay bashing in Russia, now Ellen DeGeneres is in the lead for this cause. Also it seems to be a whisper campaign since its not being reported on the cable news networks.
Ellen DeGeneres is in the lead for this cause
After she was a happy host for George W. Bush her credibility, as far as I was concerned, went kaput. She came across as a nice person but like most of television celebrities a purveyor of drivel.
I’ll just add Ellen to the long list of celebrity stars I will need to separate performance from their personal side….damn, this list is getting long. John Wayne, Clint, and Michael Jackson just like the Old Testament where the good guys aren’t always that good.
Seriously though we who care need to get educated up to what’s behind this Degeneres save the Russian Gays from Concentration Camps, because we can’t allow our fellow Americans to keep following the Pied Piper of Death & Destruction.
Seriously though we who care need to get educated up to what’s behind this Degeneres save the Russian Gays from Concentration Camps,…
Joe: You have a point there, but the LGBT issue is peripheral to the more serious problem of another march of folly to another war that has the potential to offer something beyond the worst ever in history.
Now, accepting Montenegro into NATO has become a politically popular way for Congress to demonstrate its disdain for Vladimir Putin, even if Montenegro’s population isn’t all that enthusiastic, splitting roughly down the middle on NATO membership.
It was also politically popular for Congress to buy into the evidence-free charge that the Syrian government was responsible for the chemical agent dispersal at Kahn Sheihkour and the Tomakawk missile attack on Syria. That makes three strikes so Congress should be out, but it remains a plague on the nation.
Now that the UN, led and pressured by the US, have brought their form of democracy and peace ie; military might, to the very borders of Russia, can’t we just imagine what the US has in mind? Of course, it is to goad and inflame Russia into a first strike. Russia/Putin are aware that the country making the first strike is the one that is damaged the most, so they are going to patiently wait it out, with their appropriate weapons,for whatever type of siege, at the ready. The US has ‘come out’ in the past year as the proud bully of the world, the Evil Empire of the corporations and a Deep State that has grandiose designs on the world. Russia will not let that happen and the US is just quivering with its figurative finger hovering over the war ‘button’…..The power hungry world elitists can just wait…and wait…and continue to finance the impossibly huge mission it is undertaken. Let us all hope that the US gov’t will not be so absolutely Ignorant to even let a soldier fire a bullet unintentionally! It will then be all over for them because Russia is ready for whatever comes down the pike.
What next in trump’s holy week as people are praying he doesn’t start a war with korea. his halitosis belligerent greedy liefull mouth is such a disgrace. is there any of the 10 commandments he keeps while forcing pentenance and fasting thru sanctions other countries to plans to cut social programs here while living like a hog himself. you’d think after the ronald wilson reagen 666 revolution he wants to be in competition to be a beast performing miracles making fire come down from heaven-(fire can be literal such as florida in emergency fire staus presently or any negative) as he put an image of reagen on supreme court that speaks that if you don’t worship reagen you’ll be killed in sense killing – voter restriction laws and unlimited dark cash of corruption supported by the mssm (main satan stream media) as they are the recipiants of the corrupt cash flow and will be beneficiaries of trump’s reagen agenda such as ceo comcast and his greedy wage then giving more tax breaks to his company and to himself on top of the greedy wage. killary reagen clinton is now all happy he has put on his hawkish satantic wings
”….people are praying he (Trump) doesn’t start a war with Korea.” Unfortunately, the neo-cons, MIC, CIA and media seem delighted at the prospect. I often wonder about the thought processes of these people. They seem to think we’re in some sort of Bruce Willis film, Die Hard 6, 7, 8, and so forth, and the good guys (us) will zap the bad guys (them) in short order without any collateral damage to themselves. I must be marvellous to be invulnerable. Think RS-28 Sarmat carrying10 warheads and capable of penetrating any US missile defences – bring it on! America will prevail, because are the ‘EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE’ Surely no sane person can believe this stuff. But of course ….. Need I say more.
War is peace, ignorance is strength, what was the other one? Insanity is normalcy? John McCain gets his Wargasm. Why, oh why, wasn’t that assurance put on paper? I’ll be looking for Richard Sakwa’s book. You are right, Joe, the criminals in charge are prepping for war. See the article by John W. Whitehead on Paul Craig Roberts today. The US is running the failing empire on so much debt that there’s no way out of the hole other than to fool the people with a phony reason for war. Russia, however, has paid off its debt, and should therefore be attacked because of Putin envy.
The reason in my comment I show a curiousness to that story about gay concentration camps being put up in Russia, is because I want to know how to reply to these people who are coming up to me saying how ‘see what Putin is doing now’ crowd can be responded too. People in America are buying this bs, and I keep reminding them of how our country hypes up the demonization of countries and their leaders right before we invade them. I don’t know when my average American fellow countrymen will get wise to these tricks of deception, but I’ve grown way too tired of it myself. So if anyone out there (hopefully some Russian readers) can give me the real scoop on this LGBT Russian crackdown I’d appreciate it.
Its called PROPAGANDA Joe, an art form at which the Americans have excelled for years. Its no good looking for answers just accept that you are being screwed and take it like a man!! LOL
John while I find your advice humorous I also feel that not debating back against these propaganda stories just allows the establishment to further their own agenda. Plus the people I am attempting to wise up are my own family members. Thanks for your reply Joe
Dear Mr. Tedesky, Tell “these people” that different countries / nations / cultures are on different historical clocks.
For example, you can say that Russians are not crazy about homosexuals, and Americans are in love with their guns, and shoot/kill each other every day; on top of that you have the police etc killing about 400-500 unarmed civilians per year (since september eleven, at least), mention “black lives matter”; and many more civilians are brutalized; and we have millions of people in jails+prisons+on parole+on probation (I believe more than any other country, including China !!!)
So nobody is perfect; and, after all are we going to start WW3 for the rights of the homosexuals ???!!!
Good Wishes, I
PS: Also, tell them what our friends in Saudi Arabia etc are doing terrible things to homosexuals …
Thanks ioannis, but I do you use those kind of talking points you have suggested I use. I must also tell you how good those talking points like the ones you brought up here work very well. At this moment I am curious to what is going on in Chechnya. Thanks for your response Joe
I —> J, For Chechnya ask (email) Prof. STEPHEN COHEN (check “The Nation”),
and/or THE SAKER (see his blog); also, secondarily, Gilbert DOCTOROW, and Peter LAVELLE.
A couple of other statistics about our wonderful new NATO ally: The entire country has a population considerably less than Indianapolis. According to the internet tubes, the GDP of Montenegro is smaller than that of Indiana’s mighty South Bend–Mishawaka region. Small and poor – just what NATO needed.
President Trillary has already been quite a surprise, and who knows what the future will bring.
Zachary,
What happens when they have to come up with 2% of their GDP to support NATO. Will it be just a big oops?
The USA’s sorry history of lies and aggression spelled out in detail.
Gorbachev says the promise was made not to expand NATO “as much as a thumb’s width further to the east.” In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “And what happened to the assurances our Western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them.”
Obviously, Gorbachev wasn’t familiar with the history of treaties the U.S. government made with Native Americans.
I’m at a loss with this, but if history proves to be repetitive then this is another CIA false flag. There is news that in Chechnya they are rounding up the gays and putting then into concentration camps. Can anyone here talk about this propaganda campaign. To me I find these kind of stories especially when aimed at Russia as another way of prepping us for a new war….this time against Russia. Oh why can’t we Americans let Russia go?
As far as I know homosexuality is NOT illegal in the Russian Federation. I should add, however, that the promotion of homosexuality aimed at children is. Interestingly this is supposed to be taking place in Chechnya where Russia has had problems in the past and at the present time with local jihadis. And the Jihadis’ attitude to gays is well known.
Thanks Lee I thought the same thing regarding Chechnya, I also know that Russian law N135RF is focused on protecting children from them viewing adult rated influences, but as I read this law there in no mention about gay, but rather an emphasis is put on regulating the adult content in Russian media.