Source: The Wall Street Journal (free link).
The U.S. is starting to look like a fall-down drunk stumbling across the world stage under a spotlight. We demand apologies from China for our own foolishness (attacking weather balloons) and throw down “red lines” that we couldn’t walk if our life depended on it.
The issue at hand, according to SoS Antony Blinken, is our fear that China will provide “lethal support” to Russia for its war in Ukraine. This admittedly is a worrisome prospect, given China’s nearly infinite manufacturing capacity. But apart from slobbery complaints and stamping our feet, what, realistically, can we do about it?
WSJ recommends that we “get serious about rebuilding U.S. defenses.” I agree, but the first step is an unlikely one: Stop sending arms to Ukraine.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
People like you make it more clear every day that we have been right about Trump all along – He really is a Russian stooge and the MAGA movement he leads is nothing but a front for Russian policy – the equivalent of the German-American Bund in the late 1930s.
LikeLiked by 1 person
People like you make it more clear every day that we have been right about Biden all along – He really is a demented old fool and the progressive movement he leads is nothing but a front for American home-grown tyranny.
LikeLike
Nice try. But, reality bites back.
Biden is old, but he is neither a fool nor demented. He is a savvy pol whose skill set has proved invaluable in pulling together a uninfied NATO response to fascist aggression in Europe.
And, I will add that the closest thing to tyranny we have encounted in this country was when you people tried to hold the government through violence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RE: Biden “is a savvy pol whose skill set has proved invaluable in pulling together a uninfied NATO response to fascist aggression in Europe.”
Suit yourself.
The way I see it, Biden has drawn down critical U.S. military resources to the point that the biggest defense industry budget in the world (ours) needs to increase. The logic of this situation is oxymoronic.
LikeLike
“The U.S. is starting to look like a fall-down drunk stumbling across the world stage “…
And in 2018 in Helsinki, the country looked like a stooge and Putin-butt kisser.
Your anti-American rhetoric is tiresome and based on one thing: Hatred for Joe Biden – IMO.
It took balls, guts, smarts and moxie to go into a war zone with NO wide ranging American military presence. It just pisses you off that he pulled it off.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RE: “It took balls, guts, smarts and moxie to go into a war zone with NO wide ranging American military presence.”
Did it? He asked Russia for permission first.
LikeLiked by 1 person
” He asked Russia for permission first.”
Did he? Or did he warn Russia not to screw around while he was there?
LikeLike
Here is my understanding: The U.S. and Russia communicate to “deconflict” actions that might lead to problems. Biden’s visit to Kyiv was cleared in a standard communication of this sort. Had Russia raised an objection, the visit would have been risky.
So, in this sense, the White House obtained Russia’s approval for the visit.
LikeLike
…”the White House obtained Russia’s approval for the visit.”
Your opinion. To which I say: HORSE HOCKEY!
LikeLiked by 1 person
” Had Russia raised an objection, the visit would have been risky.”
It was risky regardless of objection or not from Russia. But you can try to make it seems like he asked for permission. The way this went down, Strutting Joe would have said one of YOUR favorite phrases: “SO WHAT”.
LikeLike
“He asked Russia for permission first.”
That is a LIE. That makes you a LIAR.
Russia was TOLD he would be visiting Kyviv and warned that should he be attacked the consequences would be dire.
LikeLike
RE: “Russia was TOLD he would be visiting Kyviv and warned that should he be attacked the consequences would be dire.”
Is that a fact? What words did the U.S. use? I think YOU are the one lying.
LikeLike
Your “understanding” does not negate your LIE. In NO SENSE did Biden seek approval from Russia to carry out this visit. He was already well en route before they were informed.
The point of informing them is to make it impossible for them to avoid the consequences of an attack by claiming it was accidental.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RE: “The point of informing them is to make it impossible for them to avoid the consequences of an attack by claiming it was accidental.”
You seem to think so. I think Biden began to shit himself as he approached the war zone and begged Russia not to bomb Kyiv.
LikeLike
“I think Biden began to shit himself as he approached the war zone and begged Russia not to bomb Kyiv.”
As you express your childish ideas in such a childish way, I am reminded of how Donald Trump ran and hid in an underground bunker when protesters gathered at the park across the street from the White House. Biden walks down a street in a war zone. Trump hides in a bunker in America. And your hero Putin cannot even meet with subordinates unless they are 25 feet away.
https://tinyurl.com/yckuvshr
LikeLiked by 1 person
“I think Biden began to shit himself”…
I think YOU shit yourself every time Biden does something that makes you look like an idiot for your constant bashing of him. Like going into an active war zone with no US military presence. Walking the streets of Kyiv, showing solidarity with an ally and a DEMOCRATICALLY elected leader of a country who is battling for its very existence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Murphy and Green can’t seem to express themselves without insult. Typical.
LikeLike
I have expressed myself without insult towards you. Even if you deserved it.
However, your constant insults of anyone and everyone that disagrees with you is ALSO typical. As an example, you constantly refer to President Biden as “Stumble Joe”. You do so because you think it is cute. – IMO. I believe it shows that your maturity level is that of my 4 year old grandson.
LikeLike
“Murphy and Green can’t seem to express themselves without insult.”
Says the deep thinker. Boo effing hoo.
Calling liars liars or childish ideas childish may seem like insults to you. They are not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The U.S. is starting to look like a fall-down drunk… ”
And I’m starting to think you are projecting. And that is the most charitable thought I’ve had.
Other thoughts include words like imbecile, traitor, troglodyte, troll, and fool.
You think every dictator in the world runs a better country than any democracy in the world. Your wet dream is to have a dictator who will impose your ideas onto America. You want a man like Trump who will put women and minorities in their place. You admire a man who mocks the disabled and wants the weak and poor and elderly to die and decrease the surplus population. “Don’t give MY tax money to help those moochers!”
You and your sort make me sick!
And you’d better damn well hope we can defend those “red lines” because if we don’t, and if somebody like Putin takes over, you won’t be blathering on about how their government is a fall-down drunk stumbling across the world stage. Because if you do, your First Amendment rights will be quickly overcome by their Second Amendment interpretation of your First Amendment rights.
LikeLiked by 2 people
RE: “You think every dictator in the world runs a better country than any democracy in the world. Your wet dream is to have a dictator who will impose your ideas onto America.”
You sound drunk to me.
LikeLike
It comes as a great shock to most drunks when they realize they are the one who are drunk, not the ones who they can’t understand.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“You sound drunk to me.”
If she is drunk, she will get over it. You, on the other hand, not gonna happen.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Why is it wrong for China to provide Russia with “lethal aid” but not wrong for us to provide Ukraine with weapons to kill Russians?
Seems a lot like situational ethics to me.
LikeLike
Okay, reverse that. Why is it okay for China to provide Russia with lethal aid and wrong for us to provide Ukraine with weapons to kill Russians?
Why is it okay for Russia to invade Ukraine and wrong for NATO to invade Russia?
Seems a lot like situational ethics to me too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Why is it wrong for China to provide Russia with “lethal aid” but not wrong for us to provide Ukraine with weapons to kill Russians?”
Because Russia is the aggressor. Duh!
There are no situational ethics involved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Russia claims it was justified by the treatment of ethnic Russians by Ukraine.
There are no good guys here.
LikeLike
“Russia claims it was justified by the treatment of ethnic Russians by Ukraine.”
Sure, they claim a lot of things. So what? They are the aggressor. Period. Aiding the aggressor in an unprovoked invasion of a neighboring country is ethically very different than aiding an invaded country trying to defend itself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are no good guys.
LikeLike
Every time you say that, I think, “Why is such a smart man claiming such an idiotic thought?”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really?
What is objectively good about either government? Both are incredibly corrupt oligarchies.
Choose your heroes more carefully.
LikeLike
“Both are incredibly corrupt oligarchies”
Because you say so?
The fact is that Zelensky was a reform candidate who won the Presidency in a free election with 73% of the vote. It turns out that purging corruption was seen by Putin as purging Russian influence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://www.cato.org/commentary/whitewashing-ukraines-corruption
LikeLike
Your piece was originally published in The American Conservative, a bastion of pro-Trump, anti-Democratic rhetoric that has been attempting to undercut Biden’s administration form the jump. SO there is that. The fact that Cato picked it up is a bit surprising when you consider that one of their contributors just posted a piece saying that Biden’s border policies are actually effective.
WAS Ukraine corrupt? No one denies that. While under the thumb of the Kremlin, corruption ran rampant. But the DEMOCRATICALLY elected president has been striving to remove that corruption from the beginning. It becomes a bit more challenging when you are also attempting to fend off an illegal, immoral attack by your corrupt neighbor.
Your isolationistic tendencies are anti-Democracy in a nutshell.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“There are no good guys.”
Yeah, so you keep saying. You will not understand this, but constant repetition does not change nonsense into sense. It really does not.
Good and bad are relative terms. The people choosing to force their will on others through violence and war are bad relative to people choosing to defend themselves. There is a very clear easy to understand the ethical difference between helping the defender and helping the invader.
LikeLiked by 1 person
By that definition, the Northern states were the bad guys in the Civil War.
LikeLike
According to Southern written history books, that would be factual. BUT we both know that is NOT the case.
LikeLike
Okay, because The American Conservative says so.
Opinions are not facts.
The piece you link to sets up various straw men to pummel. I accept that Ukraine is not Denmark. So what? The only relevant comparison is to Russia.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“By that definition, the Northern states were the bad guys in the Civil War.”
Laughable dodge. There is no sensible comparison to be had. American soldiers loyal to the Constitution never left American soil.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Russia claims”…
Then , by G-d, it MUST be true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ethically speaking, Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine did not even threaten Russia. Russia’s NEED for “lethal aid” from China is strictly because of its own doing. Unless you blame Ukraine for defending itself against an aggressor nation?
And this is probably paywalled, but the gist is that China really would rather be growing trade relationships in Europe and providing “lethal aid” to Russia would kind of put a damper on that.
LikeLike
Both sides claim the moral high ground, Neither side would recognize actual morality if they were drowning in it.
There are no good guys and we should not be involved.
All we have done is drive Russia into the arms of China and Iran.
Our safety in the world is diminished by our involvement.
LikeLike
“Neither side would recognize actual morality if they were drowning in it.”
You have no substantiating evidence of your opinion. Why do you think that Ukraine is sooo bad? Because the democratically elected President told the previous administration to pack sand when it was asked to “do us a favor, though” in order to receive PROMISED and Congressionally approved aid?
“There are no good guys and we should not be involved.”
Neville Chamberlain would be very proud of you today. Because the same kind of appeasement you are talking about gave us WWII. AND the Holocaust.
“All we have done is drive Russia into the arms of China “…
I know you won’t even attempt to read the NYT piece I posted above, but you can see how far China is actually willing to go in assisting Russia in Ukraine.
“Our safety in the world is diminished”…
Our reputation in the world has been restored after the previous 4 years of attempted isolationism and sucking up to Putin. Dumping the Kurds was also a sign of the previous admin’s “strength”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ukraine us a corrupt kleptocracy, much like Russia. Unable to keep order on their own, the Ukrainian government allowed the ultra nationalist AZOZ battalion a free hand to commit atrocities in the eastern Oblasts. It is a bizarre kind of fascism which includes Jews in the leadership and treats ethnic Russians as their scapegoats.
That doesn’t mean I accept Putin’s claim of de-Nazification as his primary goal. but the Ukrainian brand of Naziism is real.
Putin isn’t a good guy, but there aren’t any there.
LikeLike
“Ukraine us a corrupt kleptocracy,”…
Big yellow BS flag.
…”treats ethnic Russians as their scapegoats.”
Just the Kremlin backed separatists. But you refuse to differentiate between them.
Ukraine held an ACTUAL free and fair election in which Zelensky won more than 70% of the vote. Unlike the “referendums” conducted in the Eastern Oblasts following the Russian invasion of the country, which were conducted at the point of a riffle.
The AZOV brigade being made up of Nazis, while factual, does not take into account that they were DEFENDING Ukraine from INVADERS backed and sent by the Kremlin. (FYI, there are a few neo-Nazi’s in our own armed forces. They lay low so they don’t get caught, but they are there.)
Be honest and tell the entire story. Ya just might come to realize that there is only ONE bad guy. And he is hiding in the Kremlin.
LikeLiked by 1 person