Charles Pierce: What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days?

[ProSense]

What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days?

By Charles P. Pierce

<...>

We shake up the usual order today and begin over at CBS. Onetime Louis Napoleon national security correspondent Bob Schieffer had the week off, and Charlie Rose, deprived of his Big Table Of Sycophancy, sat in for him. The producers decided that who the country really needed to hear from concerning the situation in the Ukraine was well-known zombie war criminal Dick Cheney. He was joined on the show by James (To Hell With The Jews) Baker, and Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from Wisconsin and most recent First Runner-Up in our vice-presidential pageant. Hilarity, naturally, ensued.

CHENEY: I think he is but I also think he hasn't got any credibility with our allies. I just happen to speak to a couple of members of European parliament within the last couple of days who indicated that, you know, the-- their quest for the Europeans to cooperate on sanctions is more difficult than it would have been because of what happened with respect to Syria that, in fact, they got ready to go. And at the last minute the U.S.-- President Obama backed off. So he's-- he's got a much higher mountain to climb in order to try to-- to mobilize European governments to come on board for something other than military action.

And...

CHENEY: Well, in my judgment, we have to recognize the fact that this is a-- this is an egregious violation, if you will, of treaty commitments, of solemn obligation on the part of the Russian government to recognize the boundaries of the newly independent states of the old Soviet Union and-- and the Warsaw Pact. And that was one of the most significant developments in the twentieth century. And Putin is-- is simply ignoring all of those commitments. I don't think he should be able to do that without paying a price.

Also, too...

CHENEY: And my answer is reinstate the ballistic missile defense program in Poland. He cares a lot about that; conduct the joint military exercises with our NATO friends close to the Russian border; offer up equipment and training to the Ukrainian military. Take steps that will guarantee and convey the notion, especially to our friends in-- in Europe that we keep our commitments. So far that's in doubt. And I think it's a matter-- much a matter of sending a strong signal that the U.S. will keep its commitments to our-- our friends and allies, that's been in doubt for some time now because of the policies of the Obama administration and this becomes a crucial moment.

Bear in mind that this is the architect of the most catastrophic American war of aggression in recent memory, the one that demolished American credibility abroad -- You may recall that Great Britain bailed on the Syria adventure quite visibly -- and is almost wholly responsible for the entirely justifiable war-weariness here at home. That Dick Cheney blames the president for staying out of what 56 percent of the American people said they wanted no part of is no surprise because Dick Cheney is essentially a toddler playing Army Men with other people's children. But, of course, the truly remarkable thing is that Charlie Rose sat there like a dog waiting for a treat -- Roll over, Charlie. Good boy. -- and did not do so much as comment on the pure bloodstained irony of Dick Fking Cheney talking tough about how countries shouldn't invade other countries, and the danger to American credibility if we are insufficiently bellicose in response.

Paul Ryan followed, and the man who reminded us all in 2012 that it snows very hard in central Asia in the winter decided to give us a little political history.

ROSE: Whatever happened to bipartisanship in foreign policy?

(Sit, Charlie. Good feller.)

RYAN: Well, we used to have it. When we had Scoop Jackson Democrats; when we had Harry Truman Democrats; when we had Kennedy Democrats; President Kennedy Democrats; we had bipartisan foreign policy. This is not that kind of an administration. This is a far more progressive left administration that I think is uncomfortable with America's super power responsibilities and status hegemony. And so I don't think that's what you have with this administration. I think it's-- it's-- it's-- it's a coincidence but the irony is very bitter. The week that Vladimir Putin invades Russia--

(Russia? Forget it, he's rolling.)

For an opposing opinion, let's welcome Mr. O. bin Laden of Abbottabad. What's that? Well, we seem to be unable to connect with Mr. bin Laden. We'll try again later. The idea that the Republicans in Congress were any more willing to be "bipartisan" on foreign policy than they were on any other issue is silly mendacity even by Ryan's standards, which are considerable. Between the fag-baiting and the subliminal Putin-worship on one side, and the Stand With Rand crowd on the other, CPAC was a demonstration that there isn't a "bipartisan" consensus on foreign policy even within the Republican party. Agreement between the voices in John McCain's head is not "bipartisan."

- more -

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/gobshites-ukraine-031014

Bush’s Defense Secretary Destroys GOP Talking Points Against Obama’s Handling Of Crimea
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024634044

Stand with Big Vladdy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024633791

[Scuba]

1. Agreement between the voices in John McCain's head is not "bipartisan."

[ProSense]

2. LOL! n/t

[ProSense]

3. Kick! n/t

[ProSense]

4. Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

By STEVEN LEE MYERSMARCH

<...>

When Mr. Putin made his first public remarks on the crisis on Tuesday, he said that Russia would not support Crimea’s efforts to secede. On Friday, the Kremlin allowed a mass pro-secession rally in Red Square while senior lawmakers loyal to Mr. Putin welcomed a delegation from Crimea and pledged support to make it a new province of the Russian Federation...based on Mr. Putin’s public remarks and interviews with officials, diplomats and analysts here, suggests that the Kremlin’s strategy emerged haphazardly, even misleadingly, over a tense and momentous week, as an emotional Mr. Putin acted out of what the officials described as a deep sense of betrayal and grievance, especially toward the United States and Europe.

<...>

...officials and analysts said that Mr. Putin’s reaction stemmed from the collapse of the agreement on the night of Feb. 21. Mr. Putin, by his own account at a news conference on Tuesday, warned Mr. Yanukovych not to withdraw the government’s security forces from Kiev, one of the demands of the agreement being negotiated.

“ ‘You will have anarchy,’ ” Mr. Putin said he told him. “ ‘There will be chaos in the capital. Have pity on the people.’ But he did it anyway. And as soon as he did it, his office and that of the government were seized, and the chaos I warned him about erupted, and it continues to this day.”

By then, however, Mr. Yanukovych had already lost the support of his party, whose members joined others in Parliament in ordering the security services off the barricades that they had maintained around government buildings in Kiev. Mr. Yanukovych, fearful because of reports of armed protesters heading to Kiev from western Ukraine, packed up documents from his presidential residence and fled in the early hours of the next morning. That night Mr. Putin was still assuring President Obama in a telephone call that he would work to resolve the crisis...the next day, however, Ukraine’s Parliament had stripped Mr. Yanukovych of his powers, voted to release the opposition leader Yulia V. Tymoshenko from prison and scheduled new presidential elections. Russia’s initial response was muted, but officials have since said that Mr. Putin fumed that the Europeans who had mediated the agreement did nothing to enforce it. Mr. Putin and other officials began describing the new leaders as reactionaries and even fascists that Russia could not accept in power...Two days later Mr. Putin attended the closing ceremony of an Olympics that he hoped would be a showcase of Russia’s revival as a modern, powerful nation. He then ordered the swift, furtive seizure of a region that has loomed large in Russia’s history since Catherine the Great’s conquest. The decision to order in Russian forces appears to have occurred late Tuesday or early Wednesday among a smaller circle of Mr. Putin’s advisers.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/world/europe/russias-move-into-ukraine-said-to-be-born-in-shadows.html

[ProSense]

5. Ukraine crisis: 'Russian soldiers' seize Crimea hospital

Ukraine crisis: 'Russian soldiers' seize Crimea hospital

Armed men - said to be Russian troops and local militias - have seized a military hospital in Crimea, as Moscow tightens its grip on Ukraine's region.

The attackers marched into the hospital in the regional capital Simferopol, threatening staff and some 30 patients.

Pro-Russian troops are also blockading Ukrainian troops across Crimea.

The latest moves come ahead of Sunday's secession referendum in the autonomous region. Kiev and the Western nations describe the vote as illegal.

In other developments on Monday:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow will send its "counter-proposals" to Washington to try to resolve the Ukraine crisis; the US earlier proposed to set up a contact group, renew direct Kiev-Moscow talks and also urged Russia to pull its troops in Crimea back to their bases
  
  
• In a phone call, US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping urge Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity
  
  
• Russia's former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent a decade behind bars, tells students in Kiev that Russia has severely violated international law by deploying troops in Crimea

- more -

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26515049

Merkel tells Putin Crimea referendum illegal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024635628

[Hekate]

6. Kick

[ProSense]

7. Kick! n/t

[msanthrope]

8. I missed this, and must kick it. nt

[ProSense]

9. Thanks. n/t