[quote]pat wrote:
Putin wins this one. He won in Syria, he’s making a mockery of us. Thanks obama.
[/quote]
Why does it always have to be about “winning”?
[quote]magick wrote:
[quote]pat wrote:
Putin wins this one. He won in Syria, he’s making a mockery of us. Thanks obama.
[/quote]
Why does it always have to be about “winning”?[/quote]
'Cause the other option is losing…
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
Smh, how was Gate’s book? I was thinking about picking it up.[/quote]
Definitely worth the read. More candid than I expected (calls particular members of congress stupid a few separate times). I think some of his assessments are weak or unevidenced, but, all in all, definitely worth looking over.[/quote]
Awesome, thanks!
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Picture relevant. [/quote]
That was too funny.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Picture relevant. [/quote]
That was too funny.[/quote]
Unfortunately it’s probably accurate.
Obama - “now listen here Pute dog…”
Putin - “should you not be on the phone borrowing money to keep yourself afloat, Comrade Bam?”
crickets
[quote]pat wrote:
I think I see exactly how this is going to go. Russia will take the Ukraine, the people will scream and shout for a bit, things will calm down and ultimately nothing will happen. People will forget and we will be back to obsessing over Beiber and Miley Cyrus’s tongue.
This is a freebie for Russia. They know nothings going to happen. They can do what they want with the Ukraine and the world ain’t gonna do shit about it. The implications are huge though. What it means for the baltics and former eastern European countries has to put them on edge.
Putin wins this one. He won in Syria, he’s making a mockery of us. Thanks obama.
[/quote]
People can take it as they like, but I don’t consider this to be a win/lose us vs. them type of thing. He’s taking care of business in his neck of the woods the way that they do it in that neck of the woods. Cultural relativism if you will.
Future world leaders could learn a lot from Putin as far as when to step in and when to stay out. He showed great restraint and judgement in not turning the Ukrainian uprising into an absolute blood bath by letting it calm down before rolling in and great timing for when he stepped in on that debacle that was Syria.
It seems like these past few months make it really clear (to me) that a lot of American people get all caught up in emotion and want to jump in and save the world when what we really need to do is let the rest of world sort it self out and we try to save our own asses.
As a country we’re about as fit to jump into another war as Biggie Smalls is to run a marathon. (which is to say that we are a bullet ridden bloated corps with a bunch of fucked up priorities)
[quote]pat wrote:
[quote]magick wrote:
[quote]pat wrote:
Putin wins this one. He won in Syria, he’s making a mockery of us. Thanks obama.
[/quote]
Why does it always have to be about “winning”?[/quote]
'Cause the other option is losing…[/quote]
You misunderstand.
Why does this very situation have to be a “win or lose” situation?
In what way does Russia having its way in Ukraine cause the U.S. to “lose” anything?
If every geopolitical event became a matter of winning and losing to every major power, regardless of whether they’re involved or not, then you’d see a lot of wars happening real quick.
Heck, that’s sort of why you had a lot of conflicts in the 18-19th century…
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
so, of the Presidents we’ve had since 9/11, I call Obama the strongest by a landslide.
Edit: I don’t doubt that Bush would’ve gone in.
The key is knowing when to go in, and when to not go in. That’s strength.[/quote]
Well, let’s just be clear who you are comparing.
You are, in essence, saying the team with the second pick in the draft is better than the team with the first. You’re comparing two shitty teams in the first place.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
You’re comparing two shitty teams in the first place.
[/quote]
Indeed I am, good sir. Indeed I am, all in all.
But, re: FP, I am relatively happy with Obama. He’s almost exclusively done what I think, in hindsight, was right. And that’s my measurement.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
I thought you were a US citizen, Matt. Was I mistaken?
[/quote]
No, I am a citizen of the United States of America, but I am also a citizen of the Russian Federation and was a citizen of the Soviet Union before that. Nothing can change the fact that I was born and raised in what is now Russia. The fact that I am a citizen of the US and Russia is what makes this situation really hard for me.[/quote]
As far as I know, a condition of naturalization is holding no allegiance to foreign powers. At a minimum, that would mean giving up prior citizenships.
Am I mistaken?[/quote]
Yup. You can hold dual citizenship as an American citizen. I am eligible to be a citizen of Bolivia if I wanted to.
Personally, my OPINION is that the US needs to STFU and let EUROPE handle shit on their side of the pond. All Obama is doing is puffing out his chest to try and regain an inkling of respect with regards to his failed foreign policy. You’ll notice that he didn’t draw any “red lines” this time! LOL
Fact is, Dr. Matt is right - they have a military base there with a treaty to have troops to protect it. It is in their interest to protect it, as Ukraine is in turmoil. What’s the fucking problem?
In my OPINION, the US has no business butting our head in this issue.
Does anybody even believe this crap? Who in the heck is Obama to “let” anybody else in the world do anything?
(I know, Bismark, it’s a newsieness source I get my e-mail from) http://news.yahoo.com/obama-seen-offering-putin-way-ukraine-crisis-104412289.html?vp=1
And yes, newsieness is a word. Just ask Stephen Colbert.
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
Personally, my OPINION is that the US needs to STFU and let EUROPE handle shit on their side of the pond. All Obama is doing is puffing out his chest to try and regain an inkling of respect with regards to his failed foreign policy. You’ll notice that he didn’t draw any “red lines” this time! LOL
Fact is, Dr. Matt is right - they have a military base there with a treaty to have troops to protect it. It is in their interest to protect it, as Ukraine is in turmoil. What’s the fucking problem?
In my OPINION, the US has no business butting our head in this issue.[/quote]
Blame Palin for pointing fingers and saying “I told you so!” =P
Seriously, that doesn’t do anything but inflame opinions here in the States needlessly.
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
^ Those are Dr. S’s words, not mine. I think I fixed it? Hopefully I didn’t attribute the wrong words to the wrong person. All you doctors are interchangeable.[/quote]
Hey, that is extremely offensive! DrSkeptix is just an MD (I think) :)[/quote]
My father has a PhD in history and often pulls the “doctor” card when we get into an argument about medicine/science, despite the fact that he last did a math problem in the late 1950s.[/quote]
As a matter of academic courtesy I always acknowledge the superior station of a PhD to an MD.
And you, smh, have earned a PhD for correctly deciphering the Mystery of the Quote Function!
[quote]DrSkeptix wrote:
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
^ Those are Dr. S’s words, not mine. I think I fixed it? Hopefully I didn’t attribute the wrong words to the wrong person. All you doctors are interchangeable.[/quote]
Hey, that is extremely offensive! DrSkeptix is just an MD (I think) :)[/quote]
My father has a PhD in history and often pulls the “doctor” card when we get into an argument about medicine/science, despite the fact that he last did a math problem in the late 1950s.[/quote]
As a matter of academic courtesy I always acknowledge the superior station of a PhD to an MD.
And you, smh, have earned a PhD for correctly deciphering the Mystery of the Quote Function![/quote]
Well, a PhD is only “superior” to an MD in an academic setting. As far as social standing and pretty much anything outside of academia is concerned they are equivalent.
[quote]SkyzykS wrote:
People can take it as they like, but I don’t consider this to be a win/lose us vs. them type of thing. He’s taking care of business in his neck of the woods the way that they do it in that neck of the woods. Cultural relativism if you will.
Future world leaders could learn a lot from Putin as far as when to step in and when to stay out. He showed great restraint and judgement in not turning the Ukrainian uprising into an absolute blood bath by letting it calm down before rolling in and great timing for when he stepped in on that debacle that was Syria.
It seems like these past few months make it really clear (to me) that a lot of American people get all caught up in emotion and want to jump in and save the world when what we really need to do is let the rest of world sort it self out and we try to save our own asses.
As a country we’re about as fit to jump into another war as Biggie Smalls is to run a marathon. (which is to say that we are a bullet ridden bloated corps with a bunch of fucked up priorities)
[/quote]
Well said.