Hamas’ gift to Vladimir Putin

Such a catastrophic security shock in the Middle East was probably a welcome surprise for a Russian president whose strategic priority is to divert Western support and attention away from Ukraine. A massive conflagration in Israel risks doing exactly that.

The big question is how much credit to give the Kremlin for the perfect storm of mounting crises — in Israel, Kosovo, the Caucasus and Africa — that are rearing up on America and Europe. For many, it’s tempting to see Putin as a mastermind or puppetmaster, stirring up more conflicts than the West can cope with.

“This was probably the best birthday gift for Putin. The attack against Israel will divide attention, given the natural U.S. focus on Israel,” an EU diplomat said.

But the MSM supports Biden and the war in Ukraine.

So you say. I’m not really seeing that very much when I look at the coverage now though, not like in the beginning anyway.

I rarely see anything other than the latest funding Biden wants to send to Ukraine and the various people, Rand Paul and others, who don’t want any more funding for Ukraine.

Not much about the war, though. For that, you have to look at British news coverage, the bloggers who writes about it and the videos posted on X/Twitter, YouTube, etc.

American media is worthless for anything other than “fake news”. They report so you decide what they want you to decide, believe what they want you to believe and feel and act as they want you to feel and act.

Those in the American media have owners/handlers and, to a much lesser extent, an audience to satisfy.

When the Russians invaded, everyone covered it. But now?

To a casual observer, nothing seems to be happening and the short attention span American audience has moved on.

If there were American troops there, the media would have a running death count of American casualties gleefully updated each night and we’d hear about that constantly.

But there are no American troops there, so there’s nothing to report.

And now, it’s Israel! But that coverage, too, will only last for a short while and then the American audience and the media will move on.

So you say. I’m not really seeing that very much when I look at the coverage now though, not like in the beginning anyway.

What media are you watching/listening to? US media including Faux are still solidly behind Ukraine and the need to keep funding them. You will see it amped up soon as Congress is given a supplemental aid package for Ukraine. Although a slim majority of Reps in the House are balking about more unconditional aid for Ukraine, the votes exist for another big aid package for Ukraine. The WH would like to bundle it with aid for Israel and Maui. And they may toss in some additional funding for the Southern border. They are going to go big, some say over $100 billion for Ukraine, enough to keep it off the the table until after the 2024 election.

Not much about the war, though. For that, you have to look at British news coverage, the bloggers who writes about it and the videos posted on X/Twitter, YouTube, etc.

I watch UK, French, and German news every day. Sky News, the BBC, France 24, and ARD are still pro-war. They show the damage being inflicted on Ukrainian civilians. They cover the war more than US media, but it is still sympathetic. Social media is the only place where you can see criticism of the war. Col MacGregor is the most notable critic. So is Larry Johnson of GP.

There is growing political opposition in Europe to the war with virtually all of it coming from the Right. Afd is notable in that regard. They are reflecting growing public opposition to prolonging this proxy war. Increased energy and food costs with the loss of Russian supply has a way of focusing one's attention on the war. And Ukraine's lack of battlefield success arouses the smell of defeat and futility. In Europe there is a growing awareness that the US is leading them over a cliff. They are looking for an exit.

When the Russians invaded, everyone covered it. But now? To a casual observer, nothing seems to be happening and the short attention span American audience has moved on.

Most Americans are ill-informed about the war. They are easy to manipulate. Europeans are a different story. And they see the 7 to 10 million Ukrainian refugees who have flooded their countries enjoying better benefits than they do. Poland will be cutting off benefits next year. Most of the refugees have no desire to return home to what was one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in Europe before the war. It is far worse now.

If there were American troops there, the media would have a running death count of American casualties gleefully updated each night and we’d hear about that constantly.

Disagree. The Dems are in the WH. They would be reporting on the heroism of Americans defending democracy against Satan, aka as Russia. If American troops really were in Ukraine fighting Russians, it would be covered wall to wall with the possibility of a nuclear war that would essentially destroy the global economy and most assuredly the US and Russia. No one wins a nuclear war.

But there are no American troops there, so there’s nothing to report.

Au contraire. There is plenty to report, but none of it good for the Biden regime. It is obvious to anyone with half a brain that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia. And since they share a 1,500 mile border, neither side is going away. Russia is not going to permit Ukraine to join NATO. And it is doubtful that Hungary, Turkey, or the Czech Republic would vote for their admission in any event.

If we had a MSM that did its job, the American people would force its political leadership to end this conflict, which can only go on with our aid. We have the leverage to end it. That is why there is nothing to report. Hundreds of billions down the toilet with massive death and destruction. Now that is a real story.

Add in a compromised President Biden recipient of bribes from Ukraine and throw in a coked up son screwing prostitutes and making deals with corrupt oligarchs. Substitute the name Trump for Biden in the same exact circumstances and then imagine how that would be covered by the MSM.

And now, it’s Israel! But that coverage, too, will only last for a short while and then the American audience and the media will move on.

The MSM is very sympathetic to Israel now. Give it a few days to a week or so to go negative as the pictures and videos of a destroyed Gaza go viral. The MSM will be calling for Israel to stop its "disproportionate" response. Gaza and the Palestinians will be the victims. And it will be covered extensively by the world media, which generally hates Israel.

Apparently, we both agree and disagree about many things concerning the media, Ukraine, Russia and Israel.

Fwiw, I grew up during the time when the Soviet Union was the evil empire and their marxist communism was Satan’s poisonous religion for the world, which the Soviets spread both near and far and wide and at the point of a gun whenever necessary. And America was the main country that fought to stop them and their spreading their ideology throughout the world.

My first real job/career was as a military contractor thanks to Ronald Reagan’s rebuilding our military after Carter. My best time of life so far was living in Germany and working at one of the Air Force bases there in support of avionics we had in the F-16.

It was the time when East Germany was enemy territory, the Soviets were still large and in charge and the base was “attacked” many times a week by various NATO air forces mimicking the Soviets. It was very real to me.

Fast forward to now and, given the past and current the Russian invasion, I’m predictably going to be on Ukraine’s side and vary wary of Putin and whatever he’s doing.

And whatever happens next and in the near future there? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

I am a little older than you. Turned 80 this year. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s the threat of communism was real and pervasive. Duck and cover drills in school. McCarthy hearings on TV. The Hungarian Revolution put down by the Soviets. The erection of the Berlin Wall and JFK’s famous speech in Berlin.

The Navy paid my way through college and I served 8 years as a naval officer including serving in Vietnam for a year (1967-68 during the Tet Offensive) after spending two years on an LPH that carried a Marine battalion, which made landings up and down the coast of I Corps in Vietnam. We spent 8 months off the coast as part of a 10 month WESTPAC deployment. We had a full surgical team onboard that handled hundreds of casualties.

We were in Vietnam to stop the spread of communism. It was called the Domino theory using similar arguments that we now see in Ukraine. We must stop the Russians in Ukraine so they don’t invade Poland and the rest of Europe. LBJ used the manufactured Gulf of Tonkin incident to get us fully involved in the conflict. We won the war and lost the peace.

After Vietnam I was assigned to a NATO command in Italy-1968-70. There were 500,000 US military personnel in Europe facing the Soviets and the fear they would flood thru the Fulda Gap. At the time the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact countries were real threats conventionally and as a nuclear power. Russia today is not the Soviet Union. It is not even close.

After the Navy I joined the State Department as an FSO. My various assignments abroad provided a front row seat to history. I was in Warsaw during the days of Solidarnosc and martial law. Living in a communist country offered a unique perspective on what life is like living in a police state, something we are now starting to become.

After Warsaw, I was posted to West Berlin for four years. I traveled to East Berlin frequently. Technically, Berlin was still an occupied city with British, French, American, and Soviet sectors. We had the Berlin Air Safety Center manned by the four occupying powers including the Soviets. They cleared all flights in and out of Berlin thru the designated corridors. I was present for Reagan’s 1987 visit to Berlin and his “tear down this wall” speech.

After Berlin it was off to Riyadh for five years including during the entire Desert Shield/Desert Storm war. I was able to travel to Kuwait a day after the war was over flying over and riding through the burning oil fields.

I was also assigned to Tehran 1977-79 and witnessed first hand the fall of the Shah and the rise of Khomeini. I was at the Embassy the first time we were overrun on Feb 14, 1979.

I have grown cynical in my old age. I have seen firsthand the ravages of war and the sacrifice of blood and treasure that accomplished very little. Our political leadership has not served us well. And I sure as Hell don’t trust Joe Biden and the fools and knaves who surround him.

This war could have been avoided. It was a failure of diplomacy. The same crew that started the war in 2014 are back in place to finish what they started. The Ukrainians are just pawns in a proxy war. Prolonging the senseless death and destruction is inexcusable. Having witnessed firsthand the impact of war, I have a hard time justifying our participation in it.

We can’t afford these endless wars. We are the world’s biggest debtor nation. This fiscal year will see a trillion dollars needed to just pay the annual debt servicing costs on the national debt. It will be more than we spend on defense.

I am America First. It has nothing to do with supporting Putin who is just a former KGB thug. The defense of the sovereignty of Ukraine has nothing to do with our strategic national interests.

God bless you! I respect and honor you and your service.

I remember some of that and, as the youngest son of much older parents, I grew hearing the stories from my elders, some who lived through the same times as you and my parents and their friends who fought in WWII. That was my parents war. Vietnam was my sibling’s war.

There have been major changes in America and in our media from the one to the other and even more changes to us now and none of it in a good way.

As such, I share your cynicism and had given up on us/US by obama’s second term. If Hillary would have become POTUS, we were done. I was certain of it.

To me, it was a miracle that Donald J. Trump won instead. A miracle and a blessing from God, I believe.

And yet, here are once again with oBiden, and perhaps even worse off now than when obama was president.

What a great birthday present for Putin. More concentrated blood and guts to celebrate, now in Israel. The consensus opinion regarding failure of usually competent Iraeli security forces to forsee disaster is that Hamas did all its planning avoiding using electronic media. Of course the Hamas visit to Moscow 2 weeks earlier had nothing to do with this surprise attack which has mostly been ascribed to help from Iran. Or did it? A final visit to the master chess player to solidify plans and support makes perfect sense. A link for an article on this subject was posted in an Israel thread at FR a day or two ago. Meanwhile I just looked at Google and here is one link regarding the topic. I will search for the other article later. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sj0dtokba

Regarding Russian hoaxes, I was fascinated by the recent reports that Prigozhin had began his St. Petersburg trolling operation in 2015, just in time to influence the upcoming US election. I have often wondered exactly what was discussed during Putin’s visits with presidential candidates Jill Stein and Donald Trump. I do know when one Ukraine supporter expressed concern regarding Stein’s visit at a public meeting, they soon had some serious problems with their credit card accounts.

It also is very interesting how the House speakership issue came up just in time to hobble Congressional capacity to provide new military support for either Israel or Ukraine at this time. Are Democrats the only ones who ever receive money from foreign sources? I wonder if any Republicans have received money originating from Chinese or Russian sources. Possibly even someone in the group of 8? Timing is a very concenient coincidence for Russia and Hamas. Disinformation about US military support has been posting saying US has now cut our military support to Israel by 80%. Actually, the US has been storing a huge quantity of supplies, especilly missiles, in Israel, to be available for middle east crisis situations. It was recently decided to provide Ukraine some missiles from this huge store. I’m sure enough missiles have been left in Israel to turn little Gaza and other cities into wastelands like Mariupol.

There seem to be a number of people commenting here eager to fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. Perhaps even themselves.

“There seem to be a number of people commenting here eager to fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. Perhaps even themselves.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Very well formulated.
I agree.

They push this NeoSoviet trickery : repeating a lie non-stop, and after a 100 times or so it becomes the “truth” for the naive people. And after 1000 times it becomes the “truth” even for the hoaxers themselves.

They end up auto-brainwashing their own brains, but only after A LOT of effort.

There is one test they will ALWAYS fail to respond to (after saying those who support Ukraine are sick)...
Its when you are asking them this:

What is more “sick”... ?

A) Russia illegally invading sovereign Ukraine killing 70.000 Ukrainians ?

B) Ukraine lawfully trying to defend itself against a brutal deadly Russian invasion?

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