Despite his being there to pitch softballs for his master, Tucker Carlson was treated by Putin the same way that Donald Trump treats his lackeys - with curt contempt. A real journalist might have asked:
"Will you present evidence to a broad, impartial, international commission that Jewish President Zelensky and the several million Ukrainian volunteers who have fought you tenaciously - are Nazis? Would you go along with that commission polling large numbers of random Ukrainians, to see if they deem themselves to be Russian?"
More:
"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that Ukrainians will only accept Russians as brothers after a century of gentle friendship, to ease memory of past, horrific ill-treatment.
"So, now, amid half a million deaths, 6 million buried land mines and whole cities pounded into charred dust, should Ukrainians care about your 'historical grudges' from the 13th Century?"
...and:
"You claim the West threatens you with invasion. Then why have you stripped your western borders of every military unit you can send to the front? If you claim those borders are strong, even now, shall we let a commission verify?
"Anyone with a drone can tell there's no one there, so aren't you absolutely counting on western rule-of-law to prevent the very thing you claim to fear?"
...and:
"Shall we right now agree to form such a commission, made up of Russian, Ukrainian, western and nonaligned citizens, chosen at random from old, paper telephone directories? Let them go anywhere, interview whom they like, and report to the world about your "nazi" assertions and the determination of Ukrainians, and the morale of Russian troops, and so on?"
...and:
"At minimum, would you agree to letting an interview with Joe Biden get as much free access, for 2 hours, across Russia, as you have used this one to push your messages to Western citizens? Are you brave enough to risk Russians hearing Biden? Or Kamala?"
Finally:
"You and most of the powerful men in Russia today grew up reciting Leninist catechisms, waving hammer/sickle banners, and condemning the czar and his boyars as monsters. You have many times called the end of the USSR 'History's greatest tragedy.'
"Now, you and your fellow "ex"-commissar Russian oligarchs raise statues to the same czars. You appear to have taken over the US right, just by switching a few symbols and lapel pins (plus some kompromat held by the slightly relabeled KGB.)
"For decades, the 'historical imperatives' that you pushed were Marxist, internationalist slogans about workers rising above tribalism.
"Now it's Russian hyper nationalism.
"Hence a final question:
"What line will you push, tomorrow?"
== When will the blackmail be obvious enough? ==
For more than a decade I’ve shouted that this should be obvious: that many of our elites, especially in DC and not just in the Republican Party – behave in ways that cannot be explained by corruption, or fanaticism, or stupidity alone.
It's a point that seems obvious and yet so hard to get across. So please try to grasp this: by itself, graft is satiable!
A corrupt official who has avoided leaving an evidence trail can say “That’s enough this year. Any more favors I do for you will scream for attention that I don’t want. Come back with your envelopes of cash next year.” Again, bribery alone does not explain the craven self-humiliation of so many, with Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz only the screaming-blatant tips of the tumor.
But their craven kowtowing IS explicable, because blackmail is insatiable! The more you do for a blackmailer, the deeper they sink in their claws. Especially since Kremlin operatives -- stretching back to Stalin’s NKVD & KGB and the Czarist Checka and Okrahna -- specialized in honey traps. Luring Western officials etc. into hanky panky hotel rooms, where recordings begin that digging-in of claws.
A year or two ago, Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn declared that his peers invited him to incredible sex orgies. He was punished for this candor with ejection from the party!
Only now, an even braver GOP lawmaker has stepped up to blow the whistle harder!
“A Tennessee Congressman warns that fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives have been lured into honeytraps with sex workers and drugs changing the way they vote…. If it's women, drugs, booze, it will find you in D.C. and in most elected offices,” said Rep. Tim Burchett. “That’s what people, power and influence do.”
(Well, after 6000 years of feudal lords & kings doing whatever they want, it’s what a large fraction of males will always be tempted to do. Though some can keep it zipped! And shall we compare rates of turpitude between the parties, Rep. Tim?)
In this other article: “As Burchett tells it, Republicans aren’t backing important efforts, such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s crusade for Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs, because they’re being bullied by big backers and Russians.” Again: he attributed the biggest actors doing these "honey pots" to Russian agencies.
(Full disclosure: Mr. Burchett has been pushing for the Pentagon to make all of its information relating to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) available to the public. And I am fine with that! I just doubt there’s anything much to divulge.
== Can anything be done? ==
I’ve long believed that Joe Biden could do one thing – above all others – to rescue the republic, to restore honest government and to get us rolling toward all the good things that you want. That one thing?
Even with promised pardons, it would still take real courage to answer this call. A dangerous move in half a dozen ways. And hence, Biden’s promise to treat the first few as flawed but real heroes, at last doing what their consciences should have made them do, from the start.
(I even started writing a novel based on this concept, till I realized I need a collaborator from the world of FBI procedural fiction – an area I know little about! Anyone know one?)
Oh, and let’s spice up JoBee's offer, cash inducements and a new identity for any KGB/FSB officer who brings over those Kompromat Files. That oughta light a fire under folks like Linds--- but no, I’ll leave you all to fill in the blanks.
Envision it. Sure, some prominent dems and liberals would get caught up, as well. Maybe folks in Biden’s circle. And so? What better proof of sincerity? Anyway, let's suppose that devastates the male-heavy power structure. SO? If leaves nearly all remaining politicians female, aren’t Dems ready for that, anyway?
== Get educated ==
Here’s an incredible interview from a couple of years ago, with senior members of the Mueller probe, about The Russian Connection. And don’t let the Fox narrative (“Mueller was a nothing burger!”) fool you. Just the stench-rich convictions surrounding two-time Republican national campaign manager and Putin lackey Paul Manafort - and I mean Manafort alone - swamps any total compilation of Democratic sins.
But about 20 minutes in, these experts discuss ‘kompromat’ and how prolifically Russian secret services are known to use these methods. “It happens all day, every day.”
== The real way to defeat Russian blackmail ==
Re Blackmail, honeytraps have probably been used as long as there have been rulers to compromise. But on a lighter note:
Perhaps part of the solution is to become "French" about political sex scandals that don't involve minors or abuse of power. I love the story of the French diplomat who, lured into a honeypot in a tryst hotel, is shown pictures… and he explodes in outrage!
"You call THIS photography? And from my bad side?
“My wife would be shamed on my behalf. I demand a re-do!!"
209 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 209 of 2091936-41 US isolationists, "America Firsters' & Bund-Nazis words are so similar to Fox-yammers and House surrenderist Republicans, there MUST be cribbing and re-use going on! This is the same movement, top to bottom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2yHx4uvbik
Dr. Brin,
Why "...winter fog conditions did not allow Ukainians(sic) - with outside technical help - to leapfrog the minefields."
One old, NON-COMBAT soldier's response (best guess using Inherent Military Probability):
By leapfrogging a minefield with helicopter-borne troops, you are establishing a bridgehead of light infantry, a tete-de-pont. (See, the French predated the Germans in a lot of basic military concepts). They can't maneuver swiftly, and can barely hold ground.
In today's military environment, light infantry will need immediate reinforcement with armor, artillery, and lots of ammo, which you can't provide except by establishing a path through that same minefield. Otherwise they will be crushed, probably before they can dig in. Think of it as the Market-Garden Lesson.
UNLESS (and even this is dicey) you have total air superiority OR you have heavy lift capability. I doubt Ukraine has many Sikorsky S-64 equivalent air units or would be willing to send same through 0 visibility fog.
Also, even without a war on, low-level flying exercises in fog are extremely dangerous. I used to forecast for UH-64s, so trust me on this one.
Pappenheimer
Larry Hart,
It is good that you recognize that parts of the Left are very bad. If you see that they are just a bit over the wall then I see a problem. Many of those "from the river to the sea" people are just plain evil. That is the only word I can come up with to describe them.
@Deuxglass,
If you think I have to be more lenient toward the folks like Trump and Carlson who support Putin and want to undermine democracy and Enlightenment, just to prove that I'm not biased, then I see a problem.
However...
Many of those "from the river to the sea" people are just plain evil. That is the only word I can come up with to describe them.
Yes, the lefties who worry about pronouns and think everything is racist are "just a bit over the wall." The ones who want someone to rid them of those troublesome Jews are evil.
Carlson is clueless and is so easy to manipulate while he believes he is manipulating others.
Pappenheimer, clearly you are either right about that or else there's another problem with my idea. Seriously though, This is not parachuting behind the lines of an enemy with high morale. There are places where intense airbone units could seize RF defense networks and take the artillery there for their own, leaving demoralized RF guys watching demining heavy units approach while chivvied in the rear with nowhere to go. Like alonve most of the (now inactive) length of the Dnipro river.
But clearly I overestimated our technology to move airborne waves thru fog.
Deuxglass:
Carlson is clueless and is so easy to manipulate
Tucker Carlson, like Sean Hannity before him, made a conscious decision to go all in on sucking up to Trump. The consequences of that decision are on him, whether or not he actually believes or privately subscribes to the blather he spews in that pursuit. He influences millions, including the subset who consider the things he says reason enough to commit threats and violence.
You can talk to him about seeing evil everywhere but on your own side. Let me know what he says.
onward
onward
Larry Hart,
I never mentioned Trump so why do you keep bringing him up? Are you on a crusade or something?
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