Patrick Buchanan has retired at 84 after a long and influential career as a writer, TV commentator and presidential advisor (Nixon, Ford and Reagan). He saw through George H.W. Bush and later opposed the Gulf War. He opposes the blank check Washington has given Zelensky in this war.
Ashli Babbit wasn't the only one murdered by police (brown shirts) on J6. Rosanne Boyland was also murdered by the actions and inaction of police that day. They killed two that day. Let's not forget her
When Covid and the vaccines failed to achieve the goals of the depopulationists, a messy European war started by old codgers with nothing to live for seems convenient. Eisenhower was right about the military industrial complex. It’s interesting that we now know the Democrats are and have been the proponents of it since Vietnam. This is what happens when votes don’t matter,
We bailed out the Europeans in WW1 and WW2, and now we're bailing them out in Ukraine, which is strategically important to them but not to the United States. Russia has 1335 nuclear weapons. This is madness.
You actually have the answer in your comment. Nukes. Buchannon the isolationist cannot help himself, and he's as bad as those who beat the drum to throw the military into everything.
Russia has ambitions beyond Ukraine, it's not stopping there. Putin is trying by hook or by crook to re-establish the Soviet era border security profile. So if you think that we provoked him, or the Ukrainians are just crooks (they are, but so is Russia, and so is just about every politician in the US too, so that's really no concern just a talking point) you are engaged in fanciful thinking. The security desires Putin has includes half of Poland, Romania, and more. NATO members all. So US troops will be in harm's way. And if we ever have to engage the Russians it will be a wipe out for Russia, at which point the threat of theater level nukes come into play.
So, I am happy to pay the Ukrainians to spend their own blood, not ours, to bog Russia down and try and end their expansionist dreams. If we want a greater discussion on NATO, and whether we should care, I'm all for it. But for now, it is our reality. I foresee a future without it, but that won't be decided while bullets are actively flying.
Russia doesn't have to be an American friend, yet neither does Russia need to be an American enemy.
Russia's Number 1 Objective is to stop NATO/U.S. expansion on Europe's Eastern Border/Russia's Western Border. Any interest in territory of other nations is SOLELY a function of having belligerent, militaristic nations barking at them.
U.S. Warmongers pushing Russia further into the China camp is a blunder of monumental proportions, making Dubya Bush's idiotic attack on Iraq look like a baseball error.
I agree - and in reality, I think it will move more in that direction as Russia continues to decline. You have to be somebody to be either to the US, and soon they won't be.
As to your second paragraph, I could not disagree more. Putin's actions in surrounding areas is what amped up calls for NATO expansion, not the other way around. We gave him, or did not contest multiple adventures by Putin, Georgia and Crimea. Why did Ukraine want in? Because they were afraid of Russia. They assumed they would be next, and Putin was trying to do that by essentially taking over the country on his own with his own owned Ukrainian politicians. So, it's the exact reverse of what you have stated.
Russia wants Soviet era border protection. Ukraine is just in the way. In the way toward NATO countries. Russia and China are both yesterday's news. And neither will be on our radar in about 20 years, that is how fast it will be. But until we no longer have troops in Europe, fulfilling our NATO commitments, I want Ukrainians fighting and dying against the Russians. Not us
Look at the past centuries of Eastern Europe, going back to, or even further back than the Polish-Lithuanian Empire. Today's western Poland was stripped from Germany. An example of how every border in Eastern Europe is written in blood.
The U.S. took Mexican lands 150 years ago. By military force. There are no clean hands.
But Eastern Europe is a quagmire which needs to be settled by Europe. By trade, by mutual interests, by diplomacy and compromise, not American simpletons.
Russia does not and never did have the military capability that you ascribe to it, as was shown when the Soviet Union fell and has now been proven in Ukraine. As to NATO, why are we defending countries that despise us, as every European nation now does? And despite all we've given in $$ and military equipment to Ukraine they are still losing, but now their country is in shambles and a good portion of the population are refugees. In the end this will prove to be a useless war.
"Russia does not and never did have the military capability that you ascribe to it". You're watching too much Top Gun II. The Soviet Union died an economic death, not a military one.
And D-Day was a won, because the best of German troops were tied down on the Eastern Front trying to keep back the Soviet army. Just because History is written out of American memories, does not make it go away.
The one indispensable tool the Russians received from the U.S. was the Studebaker.
Zelensky went Hollywood. He shows up at celebrity events - in the middle of a war!!! No wonder liberals love him.
One of my rules of thumb is if liberals are for something or someone, I am against it, until proven wrong. So far, I am good on this one. The opposite usually holds true. I am not sure where I stand on Putin. He is no Mr. Nice Guy, so Putin may be the exception that proves the rule.
A friend who is from far eastern Poland, on a small border town, said their town has been overrun by Ukranians. Crime is way up. Mayhem is way up. It is not good.
I haven't said it in a while, and never on Substack, so I'll see how it goes:
Thank you, Don. Trenchant comments and good discussion. The MSM loves a "good" war, so they will push it in their coverage. You'll hear about individual victims but not the geopolitical circumstances in that same MSM. God bless you Don.
Like I have said many times, I am sick of this war and it has no heroes. (Again, I am sorry for the citizens who did not ask for this.) Force peace talks and partition part of Ukraine if necessary. I am at the point where I might join Team Putin. Yes, I know that both leaders are thugs and murderers. I am not in the forever war camp and I see its grift and its destructiveness. And yes, W was a terrible president in retrospect.
I heard something like that too, but I heard it was Mitt Romney himself, not his son, that also was on the board of Burisma. Do you know any more details on this? I'd like to know more.
What a cesspool of Democrats on the grift in Ukraine. Plus add in the Ukranian bio-labs-- which is another thing we haven't gotten enough details on.
The only thing I know is the Romney camp was strong with the denials of deals in Ukraine, but it would help explain his motivation. Money and greed are a way of life with these criminals.
Peace is not profitable ! Trump 2024 !!! Ike was right, beware the Military Industrial Complex. Even Young Trump must remember that, it was Eisenhower's last speech before Kennedy's Inauguration, I believe. Presidents were special back then, they spoke, we listened. None of this political gobble d'gook. Let Trump be Trump and Make America Great Again, Again :D
You're damn right that peace is not profitable. That's why the Deep State (Victoria Nuland and company) don't want Trump in again and will do almost anything (?) to keep him away from the presidency.
Don. You're silent on the Peace/Armistice of Minsk I and Minsk II (2012 and 2014). Both Germany's Merkel and France's Hollande have publicly stated that they deceived Russia, with the intent that the Peace Agreement was really intended to buy time for Ukraine to re- arm. And re-arm they did. Ukraine built fortifications for 8 years and continued to shell Eastern Ukraine.
And the dirty hands of the U.S. State Department and Agencies are all over the dead bodies of Ukrainians.
The U.S. started the war. And the European Colonies acquiesced.
Tell me what country on this planet has any credibility left to act as an Honest Broker to carve out a lasting Peace in this idiotic, belligerent American Deep State Project of destroying Russia? Which now has brought up the more important question of how are the American People going to prevent Washington DC from completing their project of destroying America.
Putin started the war many years ago. The means to buy time you reference were done because they knew Putin would not stop. If you are happy to have your country partitioned up by foreign countries, then I assume you wish the wall was down and we just allowed the SW US to be colonized by someone else.
Can't have it both ways.
And yes, our current Ukrainian policy is to destroy Russia's ability to be an offensive military force. Absolutely. I completely approve. Putin had a chance to not try and recreate the Soviet Union, but balked. So now we can end this without spilling American blood.
It comes from the Latin word tentus, which means “to stretch.” The word 'tenterhooks' comes from the metal hooks that manufacturers used to stretch wool on a tenter while it dried. Jan 10, 2014. Added to my voc today.
So. No more Google. GOOD. EXCELLENT. SUPERB. I want those assh*les on an Alabama chain gang road clean-up squad on the hottest day in August (any year will do). WAY to go, Big D!
Excellent move, Don. Your first founding member concurs. Perhaps now, you can find time to write that article about prescription drug pricing being so egregious.
Although negotiations should go on in secret, I am not sure FJB administration is interested in ending the current conflict. A good start would be to slap down the Ukraine govt at least once...a Sister Soljah moment would do. Our NATO allies should become tired of this very soon. DJT is right of course.
Ashli Babbit wasn't the only one murdered by police (brown shirts) on J6. Rosanne Boyland was also murdered by the actions and inaction of police that day. They killed two that day. Let's not forget her
Or the 2 men who died because of aggressive use of flash bang grenades and tear gas on a peaceful crowd outside the building.
When Covid and the vaccines failed to achieve the goals of the depopulationists, a messy European war started by old codgers with nothing to live for seems convenient. Eisenhower was right about the military industrial complex. It’s interesting that we now know the Democrats are and have been the proponents of it since Vietnam. This is what happens when votes don’t matter,
We bailed out the Europeans in WW1 and WW2, and now we're bailing them out in Ukraine, which is strategically important to them but not to the United States. Russia has 1335 nuclear weapons. This is madness.
You actually have the answer in your comment. Nukes. Buchannon the isolationist cannot help himself, and he's as bad as those who beat the drum to throw the military into everything.
Russia has ambitions beyond Ukraine, it's not stopping there. Putin is trying by hook or by crook to re-establish the Soviet era border security profile. So if you think that we provoked him, or the Ukrainians are just crooks (they are, but so is Russia, and so is just about every politician in the US too, so that's really no concern just a talking point) you are engaged in fanciful thinking. The security desires Putin has includes half of Poland, Romania, and more. NATO members all. So US troops will be in harm's way. And if we ever have to engage the Russians it will be a wipe out for Russia, at which point the threat of theater level nukes come into play.
So, I am happy to pay the Ukrainians to spend their own blood, not ours, to bog Russia down and try and end their expansionist dreams. If we want a greater discussion on NATO, and whether we should care, I'm all for it. But for now, it is our reality. I foresee a future without it, but that won't be decided while bullets are actively flying.
Jim:
Russia doesn't have to be an American friend, yet neither does Russia need to be an American enemy.
Russia's Number 1 Objective is to stop NATO/U.S. expansion on Europe's Eastern Border/Russia's Western Border. Any interest in territory of other nations is SOLELY a function of having belligerent, militaristic nations barking at them.
U.S. Warmongers pushing Russia further into the China camp is a blunder of monumental proportions, making Dubya Bush's idiotic attack on Iraq look like a baseball error.
I agree - and in reality, I think it will move more in that direction as Russia continues to decline. You have to be somebody to be either to the US, and soon they won't be.
As to your second paragraph, I could not disagree more. Putin's actions in surrounding areas is what amped up calls for NATO expansion, not the other way around. We gave him, or did not contest multiple adventures by Putin, Georgia and Crimea. Why did Ukraine want in? Because they were afraid of Russia. They assumed they would be next, and Putin was trying to do that by essentially taking over the country on his own with his own owned Ukrainian politicians. So, it's the exact reverse of what you have stated.
Russia wants Soviet era border protection. Ukraine is just in the way. In the way toward NATO countries. Russia and China are both yesterday's news. And neither will be on our radar in about 20 years, that is how fast it will be. But until we no longer have troops in Europe, fulfilling our NATO commitments, I want Ukrainians fighting and dying against the Russians. Not us
Look at the past centuries of Eastern Europe, going back to, or even further back than the Polish-Lithuanian Empire. Today's western Poland was stripped from Germany. An example of how every border in Eastern Europe is written in blood.
The U.S. took Mexican lands 150 years ago. By military force. There are no clean hands.
But Eastern Europe is a quagmire which needs to be settled by Europe. By trade, by mutual interests, by diplomacy and compromise, not American simpletons.
Russia does not and never did have the military capability that you ascribe to it, as was shown when the Soviet Union fell and has now been proven in Ukraine. As to NATO, why are we defending countries that despise us, as every European nation now does? And despite all we've given in $$ and military equipment to Ukraine they are still losing, but now their country is in shambles and a good portion of the population are refugees. In the end this will prove to be a useless war.
"Russia does not and never did have the military capability that you ascribe to it". You're watching too much Top Gun II. The Soviet Union died an economic death, not a military one.
And D-Day was a won, because the best of German troops were tied down on the Eastern Front trying to keep back the Soviet army. Just because History is written out of American memories, does not make it go away.
The one indispensable tool the Russians received from the U.S. was the Studebaker.
I read this morning somewhere that 60% of the aid money to Ukraine is siphoned off by the corrupt government. I'm sure 10% is going to the big guy.
Zelensky went Hollywood. He shows up at celebrity events - in the middle of a war!!! No wonder liberals love him.
One of my rules of thumb is if liberals are for something or someone, I am against it, until proven wrong. So far, I am good on this one. The opposite usually holds true. I am not sure where I stand on Putin. He is no Mr. Nice Guy, so Putin may be the exception that proves the rule.
A friend who is from far eastern Poland, on a small border town, said their town has been overrun by Ukranians. Crime is way up. Mayhem is way up. It is not good.
I haven't said it in a while, and never on Substack, so I'll see how it goes:
Fuck Joe Biden.
Thank you, Don. Trenchant comments and good discussion. The MSM loves a "good" war, so they will push it in their coverage. You'll hear about individual victims but not the geopolitical circumstances in that same MSM. God bless you Don.
Thanks. Ditto, my friend. We are in it together and it is good to see you on Substack
(It is also good to see the edit button to repair typos)
I'm jealous, BJ54. But why are you not a founding member? Asking for a friend.
Like I have said many times, I am sick of this war and it has no heroes. (Again, I am sorry for the citizens who did not ask for this.) Force peace talks and partition part of Ukraine if necessary. I am at the point where I might join Team Putin. Yes, I know that both leaders are thugs and murderers. I am not in the forever war camp and I see its grift and its destructiveness. And yes, W was a terrible president in retrospect.
Mitt Romney would be all in supporting the corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine since his son also profited from their crimes.
I heard something like that too, but I heard it was Mitt Romney himself, not his son, that also was on the board of Burisma. Do you know any more details on this? I'd like to know more.
What a cesspool of Democrats on the grift in Ukraine. Plus add in the Ukranian bio-labs-- which is another thing we haven't gotten enough details on.
The only thing I know is the Romney camp was strong with the denials of deals in Ukraine, but it would help explain his motivation. Money and greed are a way of life with these criminals.
Peace is not profitable ! Trump 2024 !!! Ike was right, beware the Military Industrial Complex. Even Young Trump must remember that, it was Eisenhower's last speech before Kennedy's Inauguration, I believe. Presidents were special back then, they spoke, we listened. None of this political gobble d'gook. Let Trump be Trump and Make America Great Again, Again :D
You're damn right that peace is not profitable. That's why the Deep State (Victoria Nuland and company) don't want Trump in again and will do almost anything (?) to keep him away from the presidency.
Don. You're silent on the Peace/Armistice of Minsk I and Minsk II (2012 and 2014). Both Germany's Merkel and France's Hollande have publicly stated that they deceived Russia, with the intent that the Peace Agreement was really intended to buy time for Ukraine to re- arm. And re-arm they did. Ukraine built fortifications for 8 years and continued to shell Eastern Ukraine.
And the dirty hands of the U.S. State Department and Agencies are all over the dead bodies of Ukrainians.
The U.S. started the war. And the European Colonies acquiesced.
Tell me what country on this planet has any credibility left to act as an Honest Broker to carve out a lasting Peace in this idiotic, belligerent American Deep State Project of destroying Russia? Which now has brought up the more important question of how are the American People going to prevent Washington DC from completing their project of destroying America.
Putin started the war many years ago. The means to buy time you reference were done because they knew Putin would not stop. If you are happy to have your country partitioned up by foreign countries, then I assume you wish the wall was down and we just allowed the SW US to be colonized by someone else.
Can't have it both ways.
And yes, our current Ukrainian policy is to destroy Russia's ability to be an offensive military force. Absolutely. I completely approve. Putin had a chance to not try and recreate the Soviet Union, but balked. So now we can end this without spilling American blood.
Why no mention of China helping Russia at this point?
Well, Biden did push Russia east with those stupid sanctions
Superb column, Don. You hit the ball out of the ballpark every time.
your best substack so far. the tease for tomorrow though . . .
the demons that have been running this country's major institutions for the past thirtyish years have lost all semblance of restraint.
That tease is a winner Denver. Don knows how to keep his readers on tenterhooks!
It comes from the Latin word tentus, which means “to stretch.” The word 'tenterhooks' comes from the metal hooks that manufacturers used to stretch wool on a tenter while it dried. Jan 10, 2014. Added to my voc today.
So. No more Google. GOOD. EXCELLENT. SUPERB. I want those assh*les on an Alabama chain gang road clean-up squad on the hottest day in August (any year will do). WAY to go, Big D!
Excellent move, Don. Your first founding member concurs. Perhaps now, you can find time to write that article about prescription drug pricing being so egregious.
Another senior statesman (in addition to Don) Karl Denninger has this ground pretty well covered. https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=3419181 This post is older but he touches the issue tangentially frequently, such as https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?blog=Market-Ticker&page=2.
Although negotiations should go on in secret, I am not sure FJB administration is interested in ending the current conflict. A good start would be to slap down the Ukraine govt at least once...a Sister Soljah moment would do. Our NATO allies should become tired of this very soon. DJT is right of course.