Free Republic

The price for abortion (murder) should be execution.

So says my mother, who aborted my sister in the 70’s.

Indeed.

Right. To. Life.

Sorry Jon - meant to post that to ALL

Before all the emotional and ignorant posts show up; keep these facts in mind (or try to refute them with facts not ad hominem or straw man attacks):

Putin is not a dictator. There are elections in Russia and at this point they are probably cleaner than what we have. Like it or not he has strong support.

Putin is not a communist. Maybe you have been asleep since 1990? Certainly you have never listened to any of his speeches or press conferences.

The Soviet Union has been gone for while now folks.

As part of that dissolution, in 1991 NATO committed to Russia that they would never expand east of East Germany. There were also assurances given that NATO would dissolve once Russia stabilized.

NATO is an anachronistic organization created to counter soviet communism. It points guns at Russia. It engages in anti Russian propaganda. It promotes economic sanctions and other hard to justify anti Russian actions.

I fully supported NATO’s mission prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. I find its continued existence unnecessary, provocative, and dangerous.

Russia has been complaining about NATO for decades. Putin has been issuing specific warnings for years that continued expansion would trigger a serious confrontation.

Joe Biden ‘leaked’ to China that Ukraine was about to join NATO. This would put NATO on the Russian border which Russia has warned repeatedly would not be tolerated.

NATO got a reaction. And NATO is responsible. If the situation was reversed and the US was facing the same circumstances we would have ‘reacted’ years ago. All of this rhetoric about Putin being a communist dictator that wants to eat Europe is not supported by facts. In my view it is propaganda designed to manipulate the emotions of people who have no understanding of the basic facts involved. Like much of the leadership in West. Sigh.

So people then point me to the Crimea.

Russia took Crimea back because until Stalin bizarrely gave it to Ukraine in the 1940’s. It was always part of Russia and it was populated by Russians 90% of whom wanted to rejoin Russia. It is also extremely important to Russia geographically. Given our history, I don’t think we are in a position to throw too many stones there.

Eastern Ukraine is also populated by mostly Russians, and a large majority want to rejoin Russia. Now that is an unfortunately legacy of Stalin again - but there it is a factor.

The attack on western Ukraine was probably driven by Russia wanting to prevent the possibility of NATO moving in troops. I can understand the move strategically but it’s ugly.

If not for the NATO angle I would also condemn Putin. But this situation exists because of irrational and aggressive action by western Europe under the guise of NATO.

Leftist, globalist, Western leaders are responsible for the current depressing state of affairs in Ukraine. And now they are baying for WWIII with the most dangerous nuclear power on the planet.

What is really at play here behind the scenes specifically concerning western Ukraine?

Just smoke these stories.

Biden’s speech is ‘smoke’.

These agreements with NATO are ‘smoke’.

NATO’s aggressive expansion is ‘smoke’.

The fact that NATO even exists is ‘smoke’.

Putin warning NATO to stop for the last 10 years is ‘smoke’.

Biden leaking to the Chinese that Ukraine was about to join NATO is ‘smoke’.

Your inability to rationally analyze historical or current fact makes you an emotional thinker. Emotion is what the left bases their world view on.

Maybe you should think about that. Ah.... never mind.

99% of Congress is evil, corrupt or just deeply stupid.

Rome is about to burn and they are looking for their fiddles.

But the fundamental issue is that a majority of the voters are evil, corrupt or stupid / ignorant.

Good times.

The CIA is the evil shadow of what it once was.

It needs to be decapitated and rebuilt. But that is pointless unless the whole of Western culture gets rebuilt.

“Slavs are barbarians.
Russians are products of Scythians, Slavs, and Mongols.”

This should get you banned from this forum.

Statements like this are evil, whether they come from a freeper or BLM.

I am retired CIA, spent 11 years working overseas and under cover, primarily against the Soviet Union.

Yeah there is still a lot of corruption in Russia. 70 years of communism and poverty creates that.

But we have pretty much caught up. Russians and Americans are actually very similar culturally in most ways.

Now, bow you head in shame and go find some Nazi forum so you can rail on slavs some more.

Mr. Robinson - you need to sell this site to me. It needs some care and oversight.

“I took an international business negotiations course once.”

FFS

So much childish emotion and ignorance on this forum, and by too many conservative leaders.

Putin is not a dictator. 1980 it is not.

Conflating Putin with Xi is stupid beyond belief. I can tell you have never watched a single speech by Putin. Just about the only leader on the planet calling out globalism has been Putin.

Russia took Crimea back because until Stalin it was always part of Russia and it was populated by Russians who wanted to rejoin Russia. It is also extremely important to Russia geographically.

Eastern Ukraine is populated by Russians, who want to rejoin Russia. Now that is an unfortunately legacy of Stalin again - but there it is.

Those people voted overwhelmingly twice to leave Ukraine and join Russia. One of the main drivers of that was the Western cultural leftism prevalent in western Ukraine.

NATO is an anachronistic organization created to counter soviet communism. It points guns at Russia. It engages in anti Russian propaganda. It promotes economic sanctions and other hard to justify anti Russian actions.

It has been constantly expanding and this concerns Russia greatly. Putin has been warning western Europe to stop for years. NATO ignores these concerns.

Then Butthead Biden leaks to the Chinese that Ukraine is going to be allowed to join NATO. This would allow NATO forces to base there and potentially attack with quick access into the heart of Russia.

If not for the NATO angle I would also condemn Putin. But this situation exists because of irrational and aggressive action by western Europe under the guise of NATO.

If the situation were reversed we would have invaded Ukraine 4 years ago and felt completely justified doing so.

Leftist, globalist, Western leaders are responsible for the current depressing state of affairs in Ukraine. And now they are baying for WWIII with the most dangerous nuclear power on the planet.

You are painfully ill informed.

Or maybe you are 90 plus years old and suffering from cognitive decline?

The fact that eastern Ukraine was until recently part of Russia and is populated by Russians who have voted repeatedly and with huge majorities that they want to rejoin Russia means nothing?

Muh Russia muh Russia muh Russia - let’s start WWIII because we are ignorant fools with zero historical context.

I completely agree with Putin and, as a former CIA officer, who worked overseas and directly opposed communist Russia, I think the West’s approach to post Soviet Russia borders on lunacy.

Russia should be one of our top allies at this point in time.

Most of our points of conflict would disappear if we would quit pissing on them.

“Nato is dead.”

One can only hope.

Why are libtards ALWAYS on the wrong side of any issue?

NATO needs to be dissolved. Or - kick Turkey out and add Russia. NATO to counter the ‘Russian Threat’ is literally insane. China is a threat. Iran is threat. Russia at this point in time would be a better ally than woke Western Europe. If we would stop poking them we could find common ground in the ME and places like Venezuela.

War sucks but the people of eastern Ukraine overwhelmingly want to be part of Russia. They speak Russian, their culture is Russian. They do not approve of the more Western and leftist culture in eastern Ukraine.

If eastern Ukraine would just give them the right to self determination this would not be an issue.

We should stay out of this - for many reasons.

Putin is not going to annex all of Ukraine. But he very well might annex the east - which is what the people there want.

I’m not worried about Ukraine. But if WWIII breaks out - God help us all.

“There are an infinite number of crypto currencies that can be created.”

And the vast vast majority of them will never be valued by the crowd and therefor your concern is not valid.

My Bitcoin will not be inflated away. It is also completely outside the control and abuse of any government. These attributes make it very attractive to 100’s of millions of people all across the globe. That collective attractiveness makes it an excellent fiat currency.

There are still risks with bitcoin. But for now I’ll most certainly take it over the dollar.

“Crypto currencies are ephemeral “assets”

Your statement above is correct. But is also applies to government issued fiat currency which is vastly inferior in almost every respect to the major crypto currencies.

I understand where you are coming from but your thinking is dated. All that matters is what the crowd values, not what you think is valuable.

I also own physical silver. Which might have value, but which has not been well valued for decades (and also suffers from massive price manipulation by banks and others).

Mining crypto is making me lots of ‘currency’, some of which I have been converting into assets like property. Which by the way is also an ephemeral asset class in the US because the government can and does take it at will.

Leftists are recyclable.

There are a variety of ways they can benefit Mother Earth.

Do unto them before they do unto us.

The repubturd pary is a collection of mostly gutless shitbags, or worse, with a few exceptions like Cruz. Your world view is 50 years out of date and you are in the wrong forum.

The three Marines that arrested him should be canned and the entire chain of command involved shot.