what a mess
Inncreeeibleee!
It's not just me that thinks Putin outclasses Obama.
Their comparison between Obama and Putin are correct....yet Putin always needs to be seen with one eye very wide open....he can turn on a dime when to his advantage in doing so...and does.
The thing that’s interesting is he usually tells exactly what he’s going to do by what he states....if people listen close enough.
Long time Putin made it very clear concerning Ukraine and what he would do if the US made any attempts to interfer in his area of influence there.
So the US and Europe knew well this would happen in how Putin has responded......same with Syria...they knew ahead.
But IMO concerning the Jewish people...I wouldn’t trust him to remain “friendly” ...he can change those stripes in a heartbeat.
I am a Jew from the Ukraine. I don’t live there anymore, but I can’t imagine things would have changed that much. Ukrainian nationalists tend to be very antisemitic. Not all of them, of course. I am sure, there are many decent people. And I have absolutely nothing against ethnic Ukrainians. But there is a strain of virulent, murderous antisemitism within the nationalist block that is very dangerous. I believe it is a big mistake that legitimate Ukrainian nationalists have not disavowed this movement within their movement. According to an analysis I have read, members of this fascist faction from the parties of Freedom and Right Block have taken many key positions within the provisional government of Ukraine. I am scared of them. They are up to no good. I saw youtube videos where they have been marching and chanting: “Bandera will come back and bring back order.” Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist and is a Ukrainian national hero. To many Ukrainian people, he represents the ideal of Ukrainian liberation. But it is also true that his people have been involved into very bloody raids against ethnic Russians and Jews. As a Jew, I shudder when I hear the name “Bandera.”
“I have no doubt that both in the Ukraine and Russia, a substantial proportion of the population continues to hate and fear Jews.”
Yes, this is true. To qualify this statement, I would say, however, that percentage-wise, there are more antisemites in Ukraine, compared to Russia. The Ukrainian population is, relatively speaking, more antisemitic that the Russian population.
“We are under no misapprehensions. Neither Russia nor Ukraine are democracies. But on a relative scale, the corruption and xenophobia currently dominating Ukraine is more extreme than in Russia”
True. I agree with the author.
Ukrainian anti-semites don’t have nukes and threaten to use them against the U.S. Putin and his henchmen have, only yesterday, and can.
There is a difference. My grandmother came from Lemberg/Lvov so I have some history in the game, but the Russian bear has bigger and better armed “teeth” than does the Ukrainian rights extremists.
Some of us tried so hard for decades to foster better internal relationships between the Ukrainian Christians and their Jewish countrymen, and had some decent successes.
Now Putin has poisoned the waters for all involved and the Jews will lose, as usual, since they are not armed (much like the Christians in Syria are backing Assad because the Al Qaeda/Islamic jihadists are worse.)
If the US and Europe had shown some guts much earlier on, both in Libya, Egypt, and Syria, as well as the Ukraine, I doubt that Putin would have played the hand he did, and did so well.
We have no foreign policy leadership in the US, only cowards, commies, and cronies. Putin knows this and is rubbing Obama’s nose in the shitpile of European history. And all Obama can say to Michele is “Road Trip.”
Hey, at least we're not on Al Qaeda's side this time.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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If we want to know what Ukrainian “patriots” are like, they have shown us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-mnRuckQkU
Some of the individuals in this video now hold posts in the Kiev regime.
Neo-Cons using Neo-Nazis to hurt Russia (and Europe and us and the entire world in the process).
Both sides employ antisemitism. Plenty of Russian nationalists in the Duma are antisemites, including those in Putin’s party. And while Putin has no problem with loyal Jews in Russia, he is the protector of Iran’s nuclear program. On the other side, there are people waving the banner of the 14th Waffen SS Galician and of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which is mortifying.