A totally compromised agent.
Cohen is in Putin's pocket.
A totally compromised agent. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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With respect, I don't think so.
I think I've mentioned before that my late father and Cohen knew each other (not well, but corresponded with one another). My dad always held Cohen in high regard. I guess that rubbed off on me. I can't, and won't, discount his analysis. I know, firsthand, it is foolish to rely upon our press for accurate reporting on Russia, her government or her people. I'm very familiar with terms like "Soviet apologist" being hurled at anyone who suggests that there might be some error within the West's anti-Soviet propaganda. The similarities in our (US) "Soviet reporting" and "Putin reporting" are uncanny. I suspect that much of what has been written about Putin here could have been constructed by re-releasing all the stories on the CCCP and replacing "Soviet" with "Putin" or "Russia." I met Cohen only once, briefly, when I was very young. But I believe he is still his own man. |
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so you believe him
When he says Russia doesn't have boots on the ground. Hheheeee hahahahahaa. http://www.businessinsider.my/russian-soldier-ukraine-2014-7/ |
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Your contribution >/dev/null
I've read a lot of Cohen's writing about the situation in Ukraine, but I can't reconcile what I've read with what you put into sixth grade terminology. "Doesn't have boots on the ground" where? Crimea? There's no way in hell Cohen would say that because he knows it to be false. Business Insider as a source for information on Russia? You are most definitely an American. |
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as expected
The latter course could be limited to deploying Russian warplanes to protect eastern Ukraine from Kiev’s land and air forces, but perhaps not. It's past that. So why mislead? |
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He may be (or have been) a good guy, but...
From the article: If any professional “intelligence” existed in Washington, Putin’s reaction was foreseeable. Decades of NATO expansion to Russia’s border, and a failed 2008 US proposal to “fast-track” Ukraine into NATO, convinced him that the new US-backed Kiev government intended to seize all of Ukraine, including Russia’s historical province of Crimea, the site of its most important naval base. In March, Putin annexed Crimea. "In March, Putin annexed Crimea" tries to hide an awful lot of what Putin did before then, doesn't it? It's not like some town annexing a neighboring subdivision or something. Russia invaded, using unmarked uniforms. To reduce that all down to a sterile "Putin annexed Crimea" is telling, it seems to me. And how could the Ukranian government "seize" Ukranian territory?!? There was never any move by any Ukranian government to seize the port. The lease was recently extended for crying out loud. (And, he brings up history without the recognized fact that Crimea is and was Ukranian territory.) It's an apology for Putin, not a full and balanced discussion of the positions of both sides. A counterpoint from Remnick at the NewYorker (from March 1): In a recent Letter from Sochi, I tried to describe Putin’s motivations: his resentment of Western triumphalism and American power, after 1991; his paranoia that Washington is somehow behind every event in the world that he finds threatening, including the recent events in Kiev; his confidence that the U.S. and Europe are nonetheless weak, unlikely to respond to his swagger because they need his help in Syria and Iran; his increasingly vivid nationalist-conservative ideology, which relies, not least, on the elevation of the Russian Orthodox Church, which had been so brutally suppressed during most of the Soviet period, as a quasi-state religion supplying the government with its moral force. Emphasis added. Yup. Ukraine is not part of Russia nor part of some new Soviet-esque Union. It's an independent country. Putin has no say about who or how it has relations with its other neighbors. He doesn't have to like it, but that's the way it is. Changing borders by force as "well, it was theirs before" or "well, he moved some native speakers in there, so he has claim to the area" cannot be tolerated without serious consequences. Putin thought he could get what he wanted with just some grumbling from Europe and the US. He miscalculated. My $0.02. Cheers, Scott. |
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The government in Kiev is no more legal than the "separatist" leadership.
Here's Cohen in March. (Bold is question posed to him) But do you think there’s absolutely reason to say it was wrong of Russia to intervene militarily in Ukraine? http://www.newsweek.com/american-who-dared-make-putins-case-231388 |
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Lots of "look over there!!1" verbiage.
Russia had no right to invade Crimea. They had no right to invade Eastern Ukraine, either. https://twitter.com/GeoffPyatt/status/493400313622446081/photo/1 HTH! Cheers, Scott. |
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And Saddam has WMD.
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All Know the precedents for "our Nationals are being harassed in ___"
and how, serially that was employed re Sudetenland, etc. Then. Then, too: the only Western-rebuttal was military, not rhetorical. That, sometimes, it just could be true..? seems moot, ever since--via those crying-wolf precedents. I share more of MM's incredulity re Murican rationalizations than do you--as no better/worse-fabrications than All-players within the strangely-malleable code-words we are pleased to call diplomacy. That the entire dis-USA media are as corrupt as any monopoly/and of most Corporations: is a given. To believe otherwise is to ignore all past experience of same. We are each left to synthesize, via commentators or other sources which: we (merely) Hope to be less-tainted than the Known-tainted closet-advocates: the vast majority of 'Sources' extant. (We ARE 'The Lying Animal!'/bizness itself could not operate save by degrees of lying/misrepresentation via many means. Naivete is ever to presume (that one has divined an Exceptional font? both wise and incorruptible:) even though there just may remain a precious few of those!) Qui Bono? had best precede every such re-read, I wot.) And my Honest-Realtor, Trude is long-dead.. I can't find the Other one, said also to exist. We do not generate enough Adults to replenish/propagate many of these; certainly not enough to Manage 7+ Billions-already! of our overpopulated, pillaged/scourged nest. Even the Idea of "geometric lines + Earth-'ownership'" DEFINING a patch-work of +/- so-called "civil rights"--in the utter absence of an Enforceable Universal set of Rights! is beyond a travesty and well into--the longest-running Self-deception since hunter-gatherers roamed. Some apologias are more artfully crafted/contrived than others: but the worst self-induced 'mental-crime' I can think of is, to imagine that truthiness ever even appears! within the outline for Any Government-speak. We prize Wisdom because its mere possession is already-suspect--via all Other experience--and our own caution casts a veil over even The Real Thing: it is so fucking-Rare. I Despise this facet of homo-sap, but certainly I recognize that I must accept it. We'd best hope for more Luck than any Stats would ever project.. this Gigantic Machine's feedback servos and guidance systems are/remain WIndoze-grade in design, execution and 'maintenance' :-/ |
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To quote you, "Hheheeee hahahahahaa." Useful idiots are delightful.
If you click through to the "buzzfeed" source, you'll see the below comment: Seriously? "..including manning a missile launcher system of the type used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17."?!?!? He was posting selfies to Instagram while doing military training, and now Russia is covertly operating in Ukraine? Also, if you follow the photo of the "BUK" to Instagram, by clicking on his IG name, that same exact photo says "сидим, работаем на буке, слушаем музыку, .." Translation: "sitting, working on the book, listening to music". Book...as in Russian slang for NOTEBOOK, it even has a laptop emoticon. He has not posted photos while "manning" anything. He is a communications specialist, they work on computers.. I mean, really! I realize this is Buzzfeed and not BBC, or another accredited news source, but for the love of all that is holy, please validate before you post absolute nonsense and some idiot thinks that this is actually true. Also, I do not see you posting the geolocation of American or British soldiers. Why the hell are you so dang curious and willing to give up Russian security and lives? Max Seddon, this is not news, it's childish gossip for those who are clearly bored at work, please stop being nonsensical. |
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Well, he's now at minimum senile and can't think straight.
Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |