re: Roger Wicker says Hegseth made a bad speech, says Tucker Carlson is a fool

"An overly simplistic, elementary level understanding of war"

The Congressman was correct about this war: an aggression invasion of one country by another that was no threat to it. This does not mean that the US should support UKR or dictate the degree of support the US might provide, but there is no need to delude ourselves about the nature of Russia's unprovoked war of aggression and conquest.

I think they saw it as their influence slipping away in a region that they still consider part of Russia, and they misjudged the response that NATO and the US would give and the levels of aid.

I think originally Putin thought he could take the whole thing as evidenced by using Belarus as a staging ground to invade from the north and take Kyiv before NATO could mount a sizeable aid response. His miscalculation there and the sheer ineptitude of his generals, as well as timely and large amounts of Javelins, changed how he went about the campaign. He'll settle for Ukraine directly east of the Dniester ultimately.

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So we negotiate with Putin to sell them out and force the decision on them unilaterally without their input.

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Not any different than before the war, as they have been a CIA vassal state since the coup that overthrew the rightly elected leader.

Why should we care WHAT they want?

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“There are good guys and bad guys in this war, and the Russians are the bad guys,” Wicker said.

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Myth.

There are no good guys in this war. Both sides suck.

Roger Wicker is a uniparty GOPe POS. frick that pussy.

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Zelenskyy suspended elections, closed churches, jailed journalists, assassinated rivals.

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And those are crimes against his country and his citizens. They have nothing to do with another country invading Ukraine.

I'm pretty sure the guy you quoted was considering the situation like I was. That is to say, that he was commenting on who was the bad guy in the context of the Ukraine-Russian conflict. I don't think he was claiming that the leader of Ukraine never did anything wrong.

If that's your criteria, then sure, nobody is a "good guy." But unless you think those things you mentioned are the reason Putin invaded Ukraine, I don't think they are very relevant.

Just you interpreting the statement like that is typical populist thinking, though. Where the only criteria is "Us vs Them." If they are "On Our Team" then whatever they say or do is cool, and if they aren't then whatever they say or do must be wrong.

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If you actually listened to him

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I brought those things up specifically because those were examples that I did see him present with my own eyes and ears.

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you would know that none of that is true as you presented it.

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Dude, whatever.

It's absolutely true (especially the demon story).

He made every one of those statements for the sole purpose of enriching himself by stirring the pot and being intentionally controversial and (therefore) appealing to the populist right. Did he SAY that living in Russia was better than living in the US or did he say everything but that while implying it throughout the entire broadcast (all the while giving intentionally misleading information like the scene from the grocery store in which he made it seem like Russians can buy carts full of groceries for the same amount that Americans can buy hardly any while intentionally ignoring the average salary in Russia)? That's a distinction without a difference.

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It’s the same nuance story for your other examples.

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Is it? So he didn't say (quote):

"I think you need to ask does this economic system produce a lot of Dollar stores and if it does, it’s not a system that you want because it degrades people and it makes their lives worse and it increases exponentially the amount of ugliness in your society and anything that increases ugliness is evil."

So he didn't follow up on the anti-capitalism story by saying he would consider voting for Elizabeth Warren?

I have no idea how anyone can spin the demon story, but...

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It’s healthy because the previous administration was out of control

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With regard to foreign policy, or in general?

If the former, again, I 100% disagree. The reason we had zero foreign policy dust-ups that affected us under Trump and we did under Biden is because they were so timid and weak and unwilling to intervene and everyone knew it.

If you are willing to stomp a mudhole in someone and everyone knows it, it turns out you don't have to. That's what (one thing, at least) Huckster teaches people to ignore.

Basically the rest of your argument is that we have too much on our plate to fix to worry about foreign policy and for the third time, I disagree. All of the authoritarian governments (Russia, China, N. Korea, Iran, etc.) are coalescing around this Ukraine conflict. Literally the last time that happened, we had WWII. Was WWII at least as big as any of the single problems we have right now? I think it was.

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And tell me, is our debt a problem or is it not? If it is, how can the empire at full scale as it has been be justified?

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Sure it is. But using your logic, we'd have to fix SS and Medicare first before being concerned about military expenditures, since they are the biggest expense line items in the budget by far (defense is a distant second).

And if you're going to respond to that by citing how much we've spent on wars, then your solution is to act in a manner likely to involve us in another one, rather than present a strong foreign policy presence (like Trump did his first term) to minimize that possibility?

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Time for the Buchananites, the Ron Paul disciples and the MAGA crowd to unite and get back to the old ways.

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The tech bros in the coalition don't want wars either, at least for now.

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Apparently he was not all that beloved. Removing him wasn't that hard and few were upset to see him go...so there is that.

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What about “that”? That’s subjective assertion and opinion, - and again - doesn’t change the fact that the CIA and State Dept overthrew a democratically elected leader, and is therefore liable in large part for this war. Ukraine will never be in NATO, Russia will take more than they ever would have without the war, and the United States tax Payer is AGAIN footing the bill for generations to come.

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What's interesting is the sentiment on this board to the Ukrainian position. They are simultaneously dismissed and vilified for having the temerity to stand up to Putin and to effectively lobby for aid from the western powers.....aid that at least from a military perspective that has been pretty effective.

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What choice were the Ukrainians given?!? If the U.S had kept out of it there would be no war today. We set the entire chain of events into motion that led to this war. We used them just like we have used so many countries before. It’s sick, it’s evil, and it needs to end.

Well that's because you're an idiot.