We are made to look like fools at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

[still_one]

Bloomberg is covering the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, and our European and Asian allies are there, but I do not know if U.S. representatives are there.

The U.S. is not being spoken if very highly of, and they are going through question and answers now, and Putin is trashing U.S. policy from its unilateral withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal, North Korea, to the threats of trade wars.

He said something to the effect you cannot trust a country where every four years any agreement made is subject not being honored.

I am convinced that not only did trump and his thugs collude with Russia to interfere with our election, but that Putin played Trump for the fool that he is, and is now is taking advantage of the disastrous foreign moves that the U.S. has been making.

We are really being made to look like fools at this forum, and not just by Russia

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics

[JayhawkSD]

1. Being "made to look like" fools?

Perhaps the better turn of phrase is that we are being revealed as the fools that we are.

Putin "said something to the effect you cannot trust a country where every four years any agreement made is subject not being honored." What part of that is untrue?

[Blue_true]

2. I agree. A President should serve one 10 year term.

Good or bad, that is long enough for his or her policies to take hold. House terms should be 5 years and Senate terms 8 years. Anyone that does not like the longer terms should make it a habit to vote in every election.

[Clarity2]

4. Uh no

A ten year term of a trump presidency or any other ilk like him is enough to kill off a lot of people just from the f* stress of it alone. Never. Four years is bad enough, but a reasonable limit that most people can get through.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. I agree, 10 years is too long...this does point to a problem in that if ...

a president is deemed unfit for duty as many claim that RUMP is, then the repug controlled congress should do something about RUMP. However, this governing body (repug controlled congress) is NOT doing a thing about it, but instead, demurs, no comment, etc. on the outrageous acts that RUMP is doing.

There needs to be a non-partisan method of dumping RUMP before he does too much damage to American prestige and power.

[Caliman73]

9. Trump has not been "deemed unfit" for duty. That is a partisan claim.

It is a claim that I happen to agree with, but it has not been shown to be legally, medically, or objectively evident. There is an active investigation from a non partisan agency into his potential crimes. The constitution dictated a couple of ways in which people who are not fit to hold office can be removed but as you mentioned, the politicians on the other side of the issue have chosen to put their party's power over what we on this side, perceive to be Trump's threats to the country. Remember that they felt the same way about President Obama, though we saw their concerns a partisan too.

What we Americans need to understand better is our history. We see ourselves as "the best" and in some ways, we certainly have moments where we shine. What we are and have been since around WWI is THE RICHEST. Our wealth has granted us a VERY over sized say in the workings of the world, especially since the other parts of the world blew themselves to shit during both WWI and WWII. It isn't that our record on race, gender, religion, civil rights, etc... is better than other countries. It is that we have not been ravaged by war and our economy has been pumping away unimpeded for over 100 years. We thought that we were immune to the foolishness of the "old world", that American hegemony was on a solid foundation. The problem is that countries like China, Russia, India, and others have always been working to become preeminent powers and that means trying to undermine the United States' dominance. Republicans, in order to remain powerful personally, have sold parts of American power to the highest bidder.

Digression aside, we have the opportunity, every 2 years, to change the balance of power in our government. That is a powerful tool that only slight more than HALF the eligible voters exercised in the last MAJOR election. Instead of looking for "other ways" of removing people from office, we really need to emphasize the need for EVERYONE to vote and to know what the hell they are voting for. We need better civic education and more emphasis on critical thinking skills so that we don't produce the type of idiot citizen who screams out, "GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF MY MEDICARE" while they vote for Republicans who want to gut the program.

[SWBTATTReg]

12. Well said/put! We've been blessed in many ways compared ...

to the rest of the world and part of the reason for this (out of many reasons) is that we have a rich immigrant history w/ their histories that they bring to the United States. I love my many many overseas friends that I've met over the years and constantly I hear about the United States, and its people. The people make up the United States and we'll speak again in Nov 2018 and Nov 2020. Perhaps this RUMP episode is our/dems punishment for taking things for granted and not getting out the vote as much as we needed in 2016.

I'd like to say as a dem, this will never happen again on my watch (my tiny little part in the whole scheme of things), and that perhaps a lot of us, a lot more of us in dem land and those similar in like to dem desires will now make sure and vote, step up to the plate, and speak in our many ways to our friends, neighbors, family, and others, good vs. bad governing (what we all want), and just plain conduct of how to treat each other (treat everyone else no matter who the same as you would want to be treated).

Again, I apologize for rambling on, but your points on Medicare (and interference by government for services we all paid for over our working history) and your other point on republicans are seemingly way too concerned about business and moneyed interests and very little about labor (us basically), when labor really is the key component in a mix of things that make America the place we want it to be.

Have a nice Memorial Day!

[Blue_true]

13. Well thought out and well stated.

Good democracies depend on citizens voting wisely, if that is done consistently, we don't get Trumps, Ws, McConnells, Ryans holding any power at all. The issue in my mind isn't the length of a term (you seem to not agree there), it is people not voting or voting like damned idiots (the last include deplorables and the no-difference between parties assholes).

[Blue_true]

11. Yeah, but we would have gotten 10 years of Obama.

And a greater chance for his policies to take firm root. As I wrote, there is good and bad, that is why people must vote wisely to eliminate the bad.

[still_one]

3. There is nothing untrue about it. We are being made to look like the fools we are

we got just what we asked for. The country elected a racist, sexist, bigot, who has so many conflicts of interests it is hard to keep track of all of them

[Clarity2]

5. The president of boeing was there

But I dont know why we or our european allies would be there. Putin is basically a terrorist.

Sounds like Putin is advocating for Trump that he should be dear leader for life in a backwards sort of way. He is trying to justify longer term limits. He is pushing dictatorships. Thats how he plays.

[still_one]

10. That isn't what I heard in the question answer session

[Clarity2]

16. See link

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/boeing-international-president-bertrand-marc-allen-and-news-photo/962308584#boeing-international-president-bertrandmarc-allen-and-usrussia-and-picture-id962308584

I had read it in another article, but thats a pic.

[Caliman73]

7. Trump, his supporters, and people who did not vote are the fools.

The rest of us are along for the scary ride for now.


Putin knows what he is saying and he is doing it on purpose. He is deliberately trying (and sadly succeeding) at diminishing the international power of the US. He knows that Trump is not going to return the criticism like he would with ANY other country friend or foe.

The US in modern history, has not been a country that changes direction every 4 years. NAFTA, CAFTA, NATO, SEATO, SALT I & II, and all other manner of treaties and agreements have been in place for decades. The idiot clown in the Oval Office right now is the only person who has considered breaking those agreements. Putin knows it and it is why he helped the idiot clown to steal his way into the Oval Office.

We are hostages of buffoonery and political apathy.

[NCTraveler]

8. This is why I am most livid over what Trump did with Iran.

"every four years any agreement made is subject not being honored."

What a piece of shit.

[former9thward]

14. St. Petersburg?

The U.S. is half the size of Russia. The GDP of the U.S. is $18.1 Trillion. Despite being the biggest country in the world and a county which is full of natural resources, Russia's GDP is $1.3 trillion. When Russia figures out how to make something get back to us.

[still_one]

15. Under trump and his foreign policy manuevers, his racist, sexist, bigotry, we are fools, and it

wasn't Russia who was just saying it, the European and Asian allies who were there were echoing the same sentiments

Is your only measure of success the GDP?

The OP was NOT about being favorable or unfavorable to Russia, it was about what are allies are think about what we are doing.

oh, by the way the U.S. government owes China over 1.2 TRILLION