dagblog - Comments for "A presidency transformed"

Franklin Foer at The Atlantic

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 08:08:42 +0000

Franklin Foer at The Atlantic pegs it perfectly:

https://t.co/0OF9dVvbZM
— (@alixsharkey) March 8, 2022

I greatly appreciate that the

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 02:29:32 +0000

I greatly appreciate that the US government is letting out more of its intelligence in real time than ever. It has turned out to be amazingly correct and it is a US service to democracy to let it out all early. I don't know whom to thank, but I do.
— Anders Åslund (@anders_aslund) March 10, 2022

Economist & author. Russia, Ukraine & Eastern Europe. Read my latest book: "Russia's Crony Capitalism" https://amzn.to/2WgLENO

Per Anders Åslund is a Swedish economist and a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also a chairman of the International Advisory Council at the Center for Social and Economic Research.

His work focuses on economic transition from centrally planned to market economies.

.Åslund served as an economic adviser to the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine and from 2003 was director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Åslund was an advocate of early, comprehensive, and radical economic reforms in Russia and Eastern Europe.[1] He worked at the Peterson Institute for International Economics from 2006 to 2015. In 2013, David Frum wrote that “Anders Aslund at the Peterson Institute is one of the world’s leading experts on the collapse of the planned Soviet economy.” [2]

Anders Aslund lives permanently in Washington, DC [....]

continued at Wikipedia

Jen Psaki would like to make

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:25:37 +0000

In reply to A presidency transformed

Jen Psaki would like to make things perfectly clear about a specific kind of agitprop from Russia (and China) and sums up with a warning for all:

We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

This is preposterous. It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

The United States is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

It’s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political enemies like Alexey Navalny.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

It’s Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons. It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. In December, Russia falsely accused the U.S. of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

Assoc. Editor of The

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:01:26 +0000

In reply to A presidency transformed

Assoc. Editor of The Financial Times:

Unusual tweet by me but we're fortunate Biden is president. His handling of this barbaric war has been practical & principled. Gives confidence it won't escalate into Nato-Russia war or end in Putin's victory. Biden has character, which in these times is worth its weight in gold.
— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) March 9, 2022

My partner (@ashe_cs) was a

artappraiser — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 20:13:12 +0000

In reply to A presidency transformed

My partner (@ashe_cs) was a Joe Biden supporter in 2019 because she's an effective altruist and thought that he would do a better job managing great power conflict with Russia and China.

Literally the only Biden supporter I met that entire year working in Dem politics.
— (((David Shor))) (@davidshor) March 3, 2022

says it all in one sentence:

artappraiser — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 19:12:54 +0000

In reply to A presidency transformed

says it all in one sentence:

Knowing whether to call the bluff of a lunatic despot with nuclear weapons is a big decision. I’m glad I’m not the one having to make it.
— Dr. Bendor Grosvenor (@arthistorynews) March 9, 2022

George Conway's praise for

artappraiser — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 08:12:48 +0000

In reply to A presidency transformed

George Conway's praise for Anthony Blinken:

This man is doing a spectacular job, one for the history books. https://t.co/KH5aHSFOWn
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 5, 2022

PERSIAN GULF MONARCHIES

artappraiser — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 07:12:00 +0000

In reply to A presidency transformed

PERSIAN GULF MONARCHIES SIGNAL THEY WON'T HELP EASE SURGING OIL PRICES UNLESS WASHINGTON HELPS THEM IN YEMEN, ELSEWHERE

Doesn’t the CIA have a coup-sponsoring division for this kind of situation? Bring back Muhammad bin Nayef! pic.twitter.com/1hzhFxUXrF
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 8, 2022

(yes, I was shouting)

Instead of Polish MIG's,

artappraiser — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 05:40:30 +0000

In reply to Really walking on the edge

Instead of the Polish MIG's deal, Pentagon's sending two Patriot missile defense batteries with the radar to Poland

Pentagon will deploy two Patriot missile defense batteries to Poland, U.S. military says in statement tonight. They include not only the missiles, but powerful radar designed to spot incoming fire.

As of Tuesday, Russia has launched 670~ missiles at Ukraine since invading.
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) March 9, 2022

with clear statement of intent

“This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory,” the new Pentagon statement says, adding that the missiles “will in no way support any offensive operations.”
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) March 9, 2022

YUP

For folks who might ask: Why not send the Patriots to Ukraine? That would mean deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine. Assessment I have heard several places is that it's a sophisticated system that takes time to learn.
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) March 9, 2022

I know that cause the first news junkie website I was a moderator on was run by a dude that did his stint in the military working on the Patriot team during Gulf War I. He was a super techy and he used to talk about how specialized the work was all the time.

BTW Ret. Lt. Gen. was confused:

https://t.co/KHkpesm98s
— Deb Evans (@evansdeb) March 9, 2022

AND evidence is it's not like they are ignoring details on the stuff they send:

By removing a handful of screws, the Pentagon was able to withdraw classified gear from the Stinger missile’s handheld launcher, opening the way to sending them from U.S. stocks https://t.co/kLrTZcdiKT
— Michael R. Gordon (@mgordonwsj) March 8, 2022

fuggeaboudit, not going to

artappraiser — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 23:18:20 +0000

In reply to Really walking on the edge

FUGGEABOUT THE MIG'S, not going to happen

Pentagon nixes Polish plan to give MiG’s to Ukraine via Ramstein:

“departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance…simply not clear there is substantive rationale.” pic.twitter.com/DQv5MlUcvX
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) March 8, 2022

I have noted that Politico "breaking" and "gets" on this type of thing are often a waste of time. They are trying to apply political reporting style to international relations and it doesn't work. They need someone savvy, an old hand like Julian Borger at The Guardian, to filter out the noise....