Like Munich
By Mitch Berg
Am I the only one with a sneaking hunch that Putin knows he’s up against the Western B-team, and is going to operate unconcerned about any western response?
In an outspoken interview yesterday, Viktor Tatarintsev told the country’s Aftonbladet newspaper that ‘the more the West pushes Russia, the stronger the Russian response will be’.
He claimed Russia had become more ‘self-sufficient’ amid the threat of sanctions and accused the West of not understanding his country.
‘We are more self-sufficient and have been able to increase our exports. We have no Italian or Swiss cheeses, but we’ve learned to make just as good Russian cheeses using Italian and Swiss recipes’, he said.
This is something the smart people have been warning about for half a century; “globalization” in and of itself only when all parties involved are more or less completely “globalized”.
International sanctions can have an effect on Spain, by Spain’s choice, or on Saudi Arabia because of the markets they chose to enter.
Countries that can make themselves self-sufficient on at least the level of necessities? Like (in theory) Russia, or China?
I suspect Putin knows he’s dealing with a whole cabinet full of Neville Chamberlains (which is a bit of a gratuitous slam against Chamberlain, who at least realized he’d been had, albeit too late).
February 14th, 2022 at 6:57 am
Am I the only one with a sneaking hunch that Putin knows he’s up against the Western B-team
No. Not even the JV.
February 14th, 2022 at 7:34 am
Hard to believe that you did not mention by name Anthony Blinken and Mark Milley, who believe that the Afghan debacle was a rousing success.
February 14th, 2022 at 8:25 am
Imagine, (if you can 😂), a couple of high ranking military officers, with intimate knowledge and involvement in the Afghanistan debacle, claimed that Melania Trump had made some demands that interferes with the evacuation plans and got 13 military members killed. Media hypocrisy for not being all over adulterous Jill Biden’s ignorance and meddling. Maybe it is her and not Obumbler that is pulling Pedo Joe’s strings.
February 14th, 2022 at 8:31 am
On another note, IMO the globalists are doing everything they can, through Pedo Joe’s regime, to push a war. Hunter and Joe are indebted, some, like me, would say owned, by Ukraine, so the regime is taking a definite pro Ukraine stance.
February 14th, 2022 at 8:52 am
Russia isn’t the first country to struggle with a diminishing status, and it won’t be the last. The tragedy is that Putin lacks a positive vision for a post-imperial Russia and wants to return to the past. He will fail, and Russia will be left the weaker for it, though he can make a heck of a mess while he tries. Russia deserves better.
February 14th, 2022 at 9:07 am
Read EI’s 8:52 and make appropriate substitutions for Brandon and America.
Eerie.
February 14th, 2022 at 9:13 am
^ Then how about “gas station masquerading as a country?”
February 14th, 2022 at 9:20 am
JD — if Putin does invade maybe he’ll be able to find Hunter’s laptop …..
February 14th, 2022 at 10:26 am
Em, I’m guessing Putin does in fact have a lot of files from Hunter, and that’s one of the big reasons that Biden’s got such a weak hand here. Really, if Biden was aware of what was going on, he’d be saying to western Europe “hey, we can’t have your fuel supplies hostage to one country–we are going to re-open drilling and pipelines here, and then we are going to work with you to make sure you have adequate supplies there.”
I understand that many really want our country to withdraw, but the ugly fact of the matter is that our country’s “failure” to withdraw has given liberty to eastern Europe and portions of Asia and Africa for a generation. They just might remember favorably.
February 14th, 2022 at 10:29 am
^ So the newest narrative is that Hunter( Biden?)’s laptop doesn’t exist?
February 14th, 2022 at 11:07 am
Putin has overplayed his hand, been out-maneuvered by Biden and NATO and is already backing down. The war of attrition against Ukraine will tragically continue in many guises until Putin is ousted or dies.
February 14th, 2022 at 11:11 am
EI,
We’ll see.
Your comment may or may not age well at all.
“out-maneuvered by Biden”
Forget “not aging well” – that statement comes pre-rotted.
February 14th, 2022 at 11:24 am
Lavrov, of all people, is rattled. He gets it. He well realises, if this goes wrong — and it could so easily go wrong — Putin goes down and he goes down with him. Retired generals are now going public with their criticisms of Putin (Ivashov — an army general — and Samostyanov – an FSB general); and they are saying that there is disquiet amongst the Russian officer corps. The splits are entering the public domain.
Putin would have been fully briefed on what Lavrov would recommend, and therefore his broad agreement with what Lavrov said can be assumed.
February 14th, 2022 at 11:49 am
Putin has overplayed his hand, been out-maneuvered by Biden and NATO and is already backing down
Take that straw ma- er, straw invasion! Victory is ours!
February 14th, 2022 at 11:53 am
Germany talking directly to Putin means NATO has already lost, whether Putin invades Ukraine or not.
February 14th, 2022 at 12:40 pm
I’m thrilled that war in Eastern Europe was averted by Lesko Brandon’s bold and decisive leadership. Perhaps now he can pivot like a laser to focus on problems at home: crime, inflation, border control, supply chain . . . plenty of issues could use his healing touch.
February 14th, 2022 at 12:54 pm
“We have no Italian or Swiss cheeses, but we’ve learned to make just as good Russian cheeses using Italian and Swiss recipes’, he said.”
While I believe the Russians (or the Chinese) would kick Obama/Biden’s feckless, tranny Army and Navy with ease, the history of Russia’s copying other’s recipes is pretty dismal.
I own a Russian made Poljot watch. The Russians bought machinery from the Swiss watch movement company Valjou, and paid the Swiss to teach them to use it. The result is a very fetching watch, that gains 5 minutes a month.
February 14th, 2022 at 12:57 pm
Well, it’s official. CNN just revealed that Ukraine has been told the the Russians move in on Thursday. This has to be true, because in every invasion in history, the invading country gave the country to be invaded, three days advance notice. I sure hope that all of those Russians Cossacks are vaccinated.
February 14th, 2022 at 1:00 pm
troll, the laptop is not lost, only your mind and the integrity of the lamestream mediots are lost. What a maroon.
What do you have to say about Durham dropping the hammer on the clintonistas? That funny too?
February 14th, 2022 at 1:01 pm
Look at rAT go…fresh off the BiRKiE trail, and laying out his strategery! Have you connected with Milley to pass along your insights, rAT?
LMMFAO!!
February 14th, 2022 at 2:58 pm
Blade;
Menards house brand for tools, both General and power, Master Force. All of the power tools are Chinese made, reverse engineered Bosch products. I know I’ve shared this at least a couple of times over the past few years, but, when I worked there, I desperately wanted to call out identifiable union members who bought those over US made brands because they were cheaper.
February 15th, 2022 at 8:28 am
Hoss, the Chinese steal the engineering, and replace the components with the cheapest shit their slaves can produce and ship it back to us. I’ve given up trying to buy quality tools; there are none. We import *plumbing fittings* from China, FFS. It’s all Chinese crap, or assembled using Chinese crap.
I have no shame walking into a Harbor Freight. I use the tools to fortify my position.
February 15th, 2022 at 9:57 am
Blade;
Ha! I get Harbor Freight stuff frequently. I bought a compressor there seven years ago. It has already outlasted my old DeWalt by 5 years. What pissed me off the most about the DeWalt failing was that a didn’t use it for prolonged periods very often.
February 15th, 2022 at 9:57 am
Perhaps now he can pivot like a laser to focus on problems at home: crime, inflation, border control, supply chain . . . plenty of issues could use his healing touch.
If only he thought these were problems….they’re intended outcomes of his administrations (and the left’s in general) policies.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:31 am
Woolly wrote: “Germany talking directly to Putin means NATO has already lost, whether Putin invades Ukraine or not.”
If Russia actually withdraws their troops from the border, that is a huge win for NATO and Biden should do a giant victory lap with other NATO leaders.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:57 am
Whether these early warnings of a Russian attack on Ukraine are true or false, there is little downside to the US in issuing them. If Russia attacks, the US will be able to say ‘told you so’. Furthermore, the early warnings will make it much harder for Russia to plant an alternative narrative. If Russia doesn’t attack, the US will be able to claim that exposing Russia’s war preparations helped avert the attack. Whatever the outcome, it’s win-win for the US.
International trolling doesn’t have to be a one-way street after all.
March 11th, 2022 at 9:57 am
Boy could you have not been more wrong.
Putin and the Russian economy are suffering terribly. The west responded with everything just short of direct armed intervention, and that’s being discussed.
By contrast, Trump (you know, they guy YOU LOVED), had a policy of appeasement. Trump wasn’t even team C, he was team F.
How does crow taste? I’m sure you won’t admit to it, but you, like the rest of the right who said this was done because of Biden’s weakness, are dead wrong and have it exactly backward. Putin held off on attacking Ukraine BECAUSE he saw American and NATO division under Trump and thought he’d break down the alliance, making the NATO threat far less, as well as having a good chance at installing some sort of pro-Russian puppet. Even the Germans are no longer looking to Russia for energy, instead taking a more restrained path (to be sure) than the USA, but also while planning to shed themselves of Russian dependence. Something the NEVER envisioned under Trump.
So yeah, “B Team” and Putin desperately and deeply under-estimated the west’s response quite simply because he thought Trumpism was the norm now. Instead it’s far worse than he expected. He decided to invade because he saw he wouldn’t get a fractured NATO since Trump lost and was tired of waiting for Trump to make it happen/had no confidence Trump would win in 2024 (and he should doubt it even more now). He acted because Trump lost, and probably for no other reason – but not for the reason you claim (but know to be a lie), not because of Trump’s strength, but rather his weakness and Biden’s strength.
1938 GOP, your Mitch is calling