Russian Threat Remains Unchecked

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What happened to the bill which he signed which would impose further sanctions on Russia?

Why isn’t he taking their criminal activities seriously?
 
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Trump was basically forced to sign the bill with additional sanctions by his own party and public opinion.

From the article:

“His administration has moved to undo at least some of the sanctions the previous administration imposed on Russia for its election interference, exploring the return of two Russian compounds in the United States that President Barack Obama had seized — the measure that had most galled Moscow. Months later, when Congress moved to impose additional penalties on Moscow, Trump opposed the measures fiercely.”
 
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In other words, his signature means nothing. Good to know going forward.

Other world leaders have probably so noted as well.
 
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ProVobis said:
In other words, his signature means nothing. Good to know going forward.

Other world leaders have probably so noted as well.
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What world leaders might say is nothing. What they do matters. I have not, for example, seen any action by Germany to help the Poles, let alone the Ukrainians, to resist Russian aggression. Both could certainly use arms and money. But Germany doesn’t even arm itself against Russian aggression, so why should anyone conclude that Merkel’s government thinks Russia is a threat to be resisted?

And why should Trump “acknowledge” that the Russians aided him in the campaign, when they aided Clinton even more?

I don’t think Putin is the fool so many seem to think he is. If his game was to help get Trump elected, he sure didn’t devote much in the way of effort or resources to it. Same with Clinton. If Clinton had gotten elected, and didn’t play ball with him, all kinds of “intelligence” made in Moscow supporting the “pay to play” scandal would have come out.

Putin’s real game, I am convinced, is to disable the governance of the U.S. by creating and exacerbating partisan animosity and resistance to effective action. If that’s his game, he’s succeeding remarkably.
 
Do you really think it’s a good idea for Germany to rebuild its military? Is that what we truly want?
 
Agreed. The Germans aren’t evil. They’re an excellent ally! Furthermore, even Patton respected their non-SS military. We’d better prepare because that Russian bear is dangerously close!
 
A few decades ago, it had a much larger, better equipped and better trained military than now. I don’t mean during WWII either, but after the country had recovered from the war; probably in the 1960s. Anyway, we weren’t afraid of it then.
 
ProVobis said:
Do you really think it’s a good idea for Germany to rebuild its military? Is that what we truly want?
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Sure, why not? That evil Russian boogeyman is just waiting around the corner to get us all. Don’t you want strong, capable allies in defeating The Biggest Threat the World Has Ever Faced Forever OMG Totally Serious You Guyz?
 
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Full adult role? What does that mean, the ability to get countries like Italy and Japan on their side, among other countries?

Look, I have nothing against Merkel but I feel she is not getting stronger as time goes by.
 
A full adult role would be carrying their weight on self and regional defense. Both Japan and Germany have sorta been on probation since WW2. I think it’s time we treated them like our other allies, and have equivalent expectations.
 
Earlier this week I was reading Churchill’s “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech, and not once did I think about modern-day Germany. My father was an aviator in WWII, but the war had ended before I was born.

WWII was a horrific event that had impact on the course of the lives of probably just about everyone living today - and yet we are so disconnected from those events that we have little awareness of them. In some ways our blissful lack of awareness speaks to the resilience of mankind, but I wonder if a lack of vigilance puts us at risk.

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the old.” -Winston Churchill
 
ProVobis said:
And what makes you think Germany will be our always-ally?
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Was it Henry Kissinger who first said “…there are no friends among nations, only interests”? Maybe he was quoting someone else.

Regardless, no country is the true “friend” of another at a governmental level. There are only “interests”. And those interests, as governments see them, do not necessarily reflect how their people view another country. Among the world’s nations, one of those in which the U.S. is the most highly thought of by the people is…Vietnam, and has been for decades.

There can be ethnic ties like those between the Poles and Americans and Italians and Americans, in both of which countries the U.S. is extremely popular. But the Number One ethnic origination of Americans is German, and yet the U.S. is not terribly popular either with the German government or its people.

The Marshall Plan? That was yesterday. Thousands of American graves at Normandy? That was yesterday. Interests. Governments have interests and people often follow those if they perceive the government is right in pursuing the interests it pursues. But not always.

Germany’s main foreign policy interests conflict a bit. It wants to dominate Europe economically, and is well on the way to that goal. In that way, its interests conflict with those of the U.S. But it does not want to be dominated by Russia, and it therefore must maintain a confluence of interests with the only country that can truly protect it…the U.S.

Germany will be our ally as long as Germany fears Russia more than it fears American trade policies. The confluence of renascent Russian aggression in Europe and Trump’s demand that the Germans bear more of the burden of their own defense or see NATO come unglued got Germany to move a bit in defending itself.
 
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I found this to be a very rambling article with non-specific, very general allegations. There is talk of collusion with a definitive plan. In a few simple lines, what verifiable evidence do we have that the Russians interfered in the elections and how did it affect the outcome of the election.
 
Well. yes, what you write makes sense on a rational level. However, someone here used the word “Lugenpresse” to me the other day. It was a term unfamiliar to me so I researched it and discovered this: “The phrase rose to infamy during the Nazi era and was resurrected in 2014 as a watchword with Germany’s anti-immigrant activists who wanted the media to “tell the truth” about refugees in their country—most of whom were Muslim refugees fleeing from war-torn areas caught in the middle of the ISIS conflict. Now, Lügenpresse has traveled across the ocean to Trump rallies and social media posts from Trump’s legion of alt right supporters.”

I find concerning the linguistic connection between the alt right neo-nazis in America and the anti-immigration groups in Germany that have resurrected a Nazi term disparaging the press. It causes me to consider the possibility that there is a nazi resurgence in Germany - something that until this week I have never considered.
 
The threat from the “silent coup” remains unchecked also. I think it is far more dangerous than Russia!
 
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