Trump

[The Lovely Tsaritsa]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/01/inf-donald-trump-confirms-us-withdrawal-nuclear-treaty

Trump confirms US withdrawal from INF nuclear treaty and that there will be a new arms race between the USA and Russia if Russia does not disarm(Which I doubt they will).

Russian news talks all day, for how forging treaty with NATO, without US.

[Tolvo]

I'm not surprised. I don't know if that will exactly happen but a lot of people do want to avoid a war and Trump himself has tried to get Russia into other alliances he just hates NATO himself. Though it does play into Trump's hands since he desires the USA be a totally autonomous isolationist super country that rules the continent. Problem for him is that isn't going to happen and his goals are simply not possible. Which that sort of mentality was what set us up for World War 2.

[gaggedLouise]

Is he actively trying to start the Cold War II?

Either that or he's just plain stupid. 

Meanwhile, in a pair of tweets the other day Trump claimed that nothing useful had been happening for "18 long years" in Syria, in the Afghanistan war or in the fight against ISIS until Trump came on board. Yeah right? :)

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1091326078323486722

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1091329137699184640

Also, in the comments to one of those tweets, this awesome, absurd quote (don't miss it!) from a Trump rally in Montana last summer turns up:

https://twitter.com/ForeverLogical/status/1091399128695750656

I suspect Trump is thinking the phrase "I broke the redcord" really means "I smashed the vinyl LP, bending it on my knee... 

[gaggedLouise]

Record without a d at the middle, of course. :)

[Tolvo]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/new-mueller-filing-shows-how-russia-misuses-us-courts/581884/

So Russian agents and troll groups have been working to try and discredit and hinder Mueller's investigation into Trump. As well Russian government agents and organizations have been using US courts to interfere in such matters as well as using them to attack enemies of Putin in the USA.

[Lustful Bride]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/new-mueller-filing-shows-how-russia-misuses-us-courts/581884/

So Russian agents and troll groups have been working to try and discredit and hinder Mueller's investigation into Trump. As well Russian government agents and organizations have been using US courts to interfere in such matters as well as using them to attack enemies of Putin in the USA.

[Lustful Bride]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/new-mueller-filing-shows-how-russia-misuses-us-courts/581884/

So Russian agents and troll groups have been working to try and discredit and hinder Mueller's investigation into Trump. As well Russian government agents and organizations have been using US courts to interfere in such matters as well as using them to attack enemies of Putin in the USA.

Darn, double post. Sorry.

But I was about to say that this reminds me of a report I saw of how during the civil rights movement the KGB actually funded and supported the KKK and similar groups trying to sow the exact kind of disorder we have now. I guess they perfected their efforts.

[The Lovely Tsaritsa]

TASS says, this morning, Russian Federation doesn’t discuss treaty, with US, until this US government decides for being mature.

[Tolvo]

Yeah, I think the Russian government is pretty terrible(Though I feel similarly about the US government) but they're not stupid and Trump is going to get nothing done. He wants to strongarm everyone and a lot of people he can do that to as president, the entire Russian Government is not a group you can just force to do what you want. Especially when Trump has so much division in the US government. He just was handed some major losses and afterwards wants to act like a tough guy while the whole world sees him bloody and crying.

[gaggedLouise]

TASS says, this morning, Russian Federation doesn’t discuss treaty, with US, until this US government decides for being mature.

Good point by them. :)

[TheGlyphstone]

It's a win win for Russia. Trumps isolationist attitude is creating a huge political power vacumn. Anyone as smart as Putin is going to take full advantage of that to increase Russian influence, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. China's Belt and Road is aimed more towards Africa, IIRC.

[Oniya]

TASS says, this morning, Russian Federation doesn’t discuss treaty, with US, until this US government decides for being mature.

So... after the next election? 

[gaggedLouise]

It's a win win for Russia. Trumps isolationist attitude is creating a huge political power vacumn. Anyone as smart as Putin is going to take full advantage of that to increase Russian influence, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. China's Belt and Road is aimed more towards Africa, IIRC.

Yes, exactly. I'm not a fan of Putin of course, but he is clearly much more rational and skilled than Trump, he has a far better understanding of long-term political and strategic realities and how to make use of them.

So... after the next election? 

How many new nuclear-charged robots will have been manufactured and put up by the US and Russia before January 2021? And many of them in Europe (including European Russia)... 

[Lustful Bride]

How many new nuclear-charged robots will have been manufactured and put up by the US and Russia before January 2021? And many of them in Europe (including European Russia)... 

Aahhh thats a very good line of thinking....probably just about enough to bring nuclear winter.

[gaggedLouise]

Aahhh thats a very good line of thinking....probably just about enough to bring nuclear winter.

And they tend to be a global thing, so Trump and his gang wouldn't escape it either.

[TheGlyphstone]

Aahhh thats a very good line of thinking....probably just about enough to bring nuclear winter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCpjgl2baLs

[Chantarelle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCpjgl2baLs

That’s a classic!

[gaggedLouise]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCpjgl2baLs

But it has to happen in an orderly way! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAeqVGP-GPM

[gaggedLouise]

Oh wait, I had missed out on this one until I saw it on the tv five minutes ago. So, a few days ago Trump tried sheer stupid bravado and boasted that Nancy Pelosi "will be begging for a wall" in two weeks time?  "She will be saying: "Please, Mr. President, give us a Wall!"

What a total jackass the guy is. 

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/01/31/trump-pelosi-will-be-begging-for-a-wall-sot-ip-vpx.cnn

[Yvellakitsune]

Darn, double post. Sorry.

But I was about to say that this reminds me of a report I saw of how during the civil rights movement the KGB actually funded and supported the KKK and similar groups trying to sow the exact kind of disorder we have now. I guess they perfected their efforts.

And there were also reports the KGB involved the Civil Rights Movement too.  This is what the Soviets/Russians did/do.  They play both sides because their goal is to keep up the infighting so we are too divided to take action.  The infighting interrupts our capability to make decision and keeps us tied up internally.  Here is an article from the Atlantic discussing Soviet/Communist/Russian involvement in US race relations going back to the 1920's.  It is no surprise to me that the Russians are currently playing both sides in the election too.  The Russians think longer and bigger than just putting in a single candidate for 4 or 8 years.  They want dissent and in-fighting. Dissent last a lot longer than even an 8 year presidency.  If Clinton won, they likely had a whole branch plan in their campaign to keep us fighting each other based on her win.  Divide and conquer is the goal.  https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/russia-facebook-race/542796/

[gaggedLouise]

In an amazingly naive interview yesterday, Trump declared that North Korea, situated between China, Russia and South Korea, has the potential to become "an economic powerhouse", provided that Kim will give up his nuclear ambitions (and allow more free trade and market economy reforms?). Sounds like a setup for the US to pour lots of money into NK in exchange for vague and soft promises of denuclearization which Kim will, once again, sneak away from actually fulfilling.

Speaking to CBS, Trump said chances for a deal on denuclearization with North Korea are "very good" despite contrary information from US intelligence.

Trump stated: "[North Korea] has a chance to be one of the great economic countries in the world. He can't do that with nuclear weapons and he can't do that on the path they're on now. I like him. I get along with him great. We have a fantastic chemistry. We have had tremendous correspondence that some people have seen and can't even believe it. They think it's historic. And we'll see what happens. Now that doesn't mean we're going to make a deal.

https://www.breakingthenews.net/trump-n-korea-can-become-economic-powerhouse/news/details/46618715

Who do you think you are fooling, Mr. Trump? He's talking as if it were North Korea, not South Korea, that was a long-time US ally (and he doesn't even mention Japan!).

[Various]

The North did have a friendly relationship with the USSR way back when. Maybe Comrade Orange is mistaking his country of loyalty with his country of occupation again.

[Blythe]

Currently watching Trump's SOTU address being livestreamed. Anyone else watching it?

Watching the crowd as he speaks is....interesting. The sharp divide in who repeatedly stands to applaud him and who sits there stony-faced is fascinating to watch in the crowd.

[Blythe]

...I nearly stopped watching after more of his wall rhetoric. He's talking about compromise and bipartisanship while re-insisting on....all the same things he's always wanted, meaning he's not compromising at all. Depressing. That's the sort of attitude that tells me another government shutdown is definitely going to happen, when someone is making noises about compromise but the rest of rhetoric implies nothing of the sort. 

Seeing Alice Johnson present is strange, not because of her pardon in and of itself, but because Trump launched right into the drug crises in the USA and cracking down, that sort of thing. And that seemed really weird to talk about right after pointing Alice Johnson out to everyone, given what she was in prison for.

There have been a couple of decent moments in the speech (it's like finding a few drops of water in a desert, essentially), but overall right now I'm at a "why did I spend this much of my evening on this" sort of mindset.   

[Tolvo]

Well technically another government shutdown might not happen.

Because he said if it does he's gonna just use executive power and declare a state of emergency and take over the military and make his wall happen. So you know, good news and very bad news.