All the experts weigh in on Ukraine
But Georgia has a deranged doofus
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. The 30 countries in a mutual defense pact called NATO. Created in the wake of WW2 to counter potential aggressors like the Soviet Union and prevent another world war.
NATONazis, she calls them. And in her last sentence she repeats an error we see time and time again, leaving out a word (‘on’ ) that would make it a complete and coherent question.
She demeans the 1.4 million active duty US troops assigned to NATO by calling them Nazis. She was elected in the 14th Congressional District of Georgia. She has previously called the entire Democratic Party Nazis and has advocated executing prominent Dem politicians and FBI agents. The House of Representatives removed her from all committees on February 4, 2021 - 2 months after she was elected and just 1 month after she was sworn in - due to her incendiary statements and endorsements of political violence. Eleven Republicans voted for her removal.
So what, exactly, does she do that benefits her constituents? And how did she get known well enough to get elected in the first place?
Per Wikipedia: Beginning in 2017, she wrote 59 articles as a correspondent for the now defunct American Truth Seekers, a conspiracy news website,[10] and beginning in January 2018, 27 articles for Law Enforcement Today,[2][37] a pro-police fake news website.[38][39]
And…
Greene was a top official of the Family America Project, a conservative group founded in January 2018. She was a moderator of the organization's Facebook group, in which members posted death threats against Democrats, bigotry directed at the Obamas, and support for multiple conspiracy theories, including claims associated with the John Birch Society about the U.S. government being infiltrated by communists.[41][a]
Her district is the 10th most Republican one in the country, so she was a shoo-in after winning the Republican primary. The Dem in the race dropped out before election day.
What she’s accomplished for her constituents is Nothing. She just talks. Making false accusations, promoting conspiracies without facts, writing bills that go nowhere (like filing to impeach Joe Biden one day after his inauguration), getting booted from social media sites for lying about covid vaccines (while owning stocks of 3 vaccine makers) and for making speaking engagements in front of crowds organized by hate group leaders. She fronts for Nazis while calling US military members Nazis.
She repeats talking points created by Vladimir Putin. She claimed a contraceptive that prevents pregnancy was actually an abortion pill. She insisted President Biden had to respond to a letter she wrote, by June 31st (which doesn’t exist).
She declared radical Muslims were invading our government, though Muslims are only 1.1% of the US population. And 99.9% of the World’s Muslims are peaceful, per the experts who track the extremist groups. Greene’s claim was made because she’s more conservative than the two women in Congress she likes to attack. Of the three, only Greene has espoused violence.
Even her Senate leader, Mitch McConnell has denounced her embrace of white supremacy and anti-Semitism.
Now, bigmouthed politicians aren’t new, nor are racist ones. But if she can’t craft bills in a committee, can’t get legislation passed, then all she can really do for her constituents is make them look evil, ignorant and hateful, for electing her.
Then again, they may be fine with that as Forsyth County has its own horrible past of racial violence. But how long will they tolerate her insulting members of the military, trashing the Capitol police and doing nothing for ordinary citizens she was hired to represent?
Forsyth County residents, this is on you.
Fear of a nuclear war has sparked panic-buying of radiation-blocking potassium iodide in the US and Europe. The pills have been marked up 1000% online, even though they only protect the thyroid gland from radiation exposure.
Let’s get real. Here’s the 23 Kiloton underwater bomb detonated over the Bikini Atoll in 1946. It’s still uninhabitable from the radiation.
Here’s before and after photos of approximately the same part of Hiroshima after we dropped a much smaller one there.
Hiroshima’s population was about 350,000 at the time it was hit. 140,000 died. Over the years, radiation poisoning upped that total to 200,000.
And then there’s the reality that was first defined in the 1980s: Nuclear Winter. The models they used weren’t well done initially, so subsequent models indicated the smoke and soot cloud would only fill the skies for a month. But two things have occurred in further studies.
They now recognize there’d be an ozone depletion impact, and the models used a range of assumed numbers and sizes of warheads in use, with a wide degree of outcomes. As a result, the more likely predicted outcome would be a nuclear autumn where agricultural supplies could be sharply limited for a few months up to 12 years. But because of the dire potential, nuclear nations would develop smaller, more precisely targeted weapons to minimize the sun blocking. Which is to say, it makes a limited nuclear war more likely than the Armageddon-like ones.
Yippie-yi-yo to that. Hiroshima and Nagasaki still provide plenty of evidence of what limited means. There won’t be a few thousand elites in bomb shelters with their potassium iodide supplies. They still need underpaid agricultural workers and a whole labor chain to keep themselves fed and who’ll be able to discern where radiation lingers after?
So a nuclear war remains highly unlikely between Russia, the US and Europe for multiple reasons. The talk of tactical nuclear weapon use is all about the manipulation of fear.
So instead of potassium iodide, stock up on cattle de-wormer or Jello-pops or whatever floats your boat. Far more likely is a long, grinding war in Ukraine, whether it’s the vicious one we’re seeing now or a Russian overthrow of Ukraine followed by years of intermittent battles from a continued Ukrainian resistance.
meanwhile… a lot of my reading deserves mention.
China promises to be pro-Ukrainian as long as we understand they get Taiwan back in the deal, a concession no one has made.
I’m not predicting much in this war. If you want to hear others, you can choose from the Stop The Cold War Libertarian Glenn Greenwald or the Compleat Pessimist Chris Hedges (who I do consider). There’s also the Somewhat Rosy End Of History With Multiple Revisions Guy, predicting a Putin loss and more.
Marcy Wheeler, who actually reads all the investigative reports and more, picking up and sorting out detail others miss without compromising national security, interviews a diplomat turned spook who says Putin’s losing the information war. Where she urges caution, we should listen. (A leftwing gal who doesn’t trust Julian Assange has to be a novelty for those unfamiliar with her extensive body of real investigative journalism). And note: if you aren’t already observing all the mysteries Marcy unfolds, here she is on the insurrection effort players. I think everyone oughta be checking in on her writing at least twice a week.
Or you can try the Optimistic War College General since planning generals have been generally wrong since the Korean War. He says there’s 8 days left at most before Russia loses.
Despite the recent intel successes regarding Ukraine, it remains depressing to see what goes on behind the scenes. It makes me wonder which side they’ll be on when the insurrectionists rise again.
Charlie is clearly on Russia’s side so long as he can make a buck in it. And he’s hardly alone.
And the biggest MUST READ I offer today is this reminder from Hannah Arendt.
As for me, here’s the guy I consider more accurate about the threat of nukes than anyone else I’ve mentioned today.