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It’s hard to win these days. Not only do we have worries about war, we’ve got worries over worries about war. Is the Biden administration’s foreign policy dangerously cautious? That’s what Peter and James discuss – and argue about – with our guest, AEI’s Kori Schake.
The hosts (minus Rob, who was off podcasting elsewhere…) also chat about Italy’s Giorgia Meloni; James gets peeved, and it’a lots of fun; they do some speculating of their own about the bubbles in the Baltic; and Peter recalls the time he had dinner with a mega-celeb and had no idea who said mega-celeb was.
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Yup.
What do you recommend?
I’m fine with that but US troops should only be committed to defend Allie’s with formally ratified treaties per the US constitution. Anything short of that has not been approved by the people of the United States, so they should not be the ones dying. If you want to send the US government in to fight, I’m fine with that.
No more of one than any other country in global history.
How is any of this about Putin? The question before us is what WE should or should not do. We probably have far LESS influence over Putin’s actions, nuclear or otherwise, than these think-tank mountebanks would have us think. Predicating our actions on minutely, precisely, exquisitely planned expectations of Putin’s counter-actions is Japanese war planning — perfect until the slightest thing goes wrong.
Actually, they do have more of a right because they have nuclear weapons and Putin seems pretty nutso.
Everything is about force.
He has nukes. The problem is what do you do, respecting that? I think the foreign policy has been very screwed up based on that ineluctable dynamic.
. I don’t pretend to be the final word, but that is my current opinion.
Having him gobble up countries is unacceptable. Threatening to nuke him is stupid. So I recommend trying to walk a middle path, and clearly. Support all sorts of efforts to prevent and punish his bad actions, while leaving room for a climbdown, the famed “golden road”. US troops fighting Russian troops is a recipe for all-out war, which is unacceptable on its own, much less the increased probability for that to lead to nuclear war between US and Russia.
DO:
DON’T:
If you are literally, affirmatively making the case that might makes right, then why bother talking about it? Just hack our accounts or come beat down the doors of those who disagree to silence us.
If it’s efficacious, that’s fine with me. Time will tell.
\Personally, I see we are below multiple trend lines but maybe that will improve.
That’s not what I mean. I mean everything gets settled by force in the end. Sometimes it blows up in people’s faces but that’s the way it works.
We have nukes, too. So why is he so bold? You’re missing many intermediate layers here. I agree that successive administrations have made mistakes, which amount to not being enough like Trump — including Trump. He soft-pedaled his warnings to Germany and France etc. Naturally, the media lost their minds even at that.
What if Trump had told Germany that absent full funding plus a point for NATO and an energy policy that suddenly slashed Russia’s contribution, he would slap mighty tariffs on everything made in Germany? That’s an opening bit — I’m open to improvements but not reductions.
All that EU/Schengen crap could be their problem, not ours.
Then you don’t object to people discussing shoulds and oughts, particularly when it comes to our own actions. After all, nobody here has the POWER to implement the things we talk about either, but only once have I seen that swung as a cudgel to prevent discussion (not by you).
#metoo
You did well, James. Thank you
The problem is, if he has a screw loose, we have to deal with that directly.
I would say we are not disagreeing very much.
I will concede that I am more focused–probably inappropriately–on what we should have done. If you have a good strategy going forward, then so be it. Having said that, I am very cynical about the class of people that control this stuff, especially under Biden.
I am getting really cynical about the way things actually work. Putin is mentally ill mafia as a practical matter, and he has nukes. Force is a big consideration in the end when you’re dealing with him.
I want to help what is probably not that swell of a country, Ukraine. I see limits and barriers because he’s a lunatic and he has nukes.
I hate to be a broken record, but I cannot understand why they didn’t go maximum porcupine strategy with all of those countries by Russia. It seems really imprudent.
Is having those Baltic states and North Macedonia in NATO really gonna move things forward?
First of all, we need look no further than the US. How did we get all those 50 states when we began with only 13 colonies? Parts of our own expansion involved independence for Texas after winning a war with Mexico in 1846. We won the Spanish-American War in 1898 where Spain ceded to us Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. We bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 in an effort to find gold and make a stab at becoming a Pacific power. Just take a look back through world history at some of the c0untries who “expanded” — England, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Turkey, France, Austria, etc. . It seems we’re very forgiving of past transgressions of most all countries but Russia.
Things weren’t nearly as settled back then. Plus of course buying territory is much different from invasion to take by force. The latest “American Expansion” I remember hearing about was a half-joking idea to BUY – not invade/conquer – Greenland.
And forgiving – or not forgiving – past transgressions of Russia has little if anything to with their current “expansion” into Ukraine, and perhaps other countries as well yet to come.
Everything is about force in the end. Not very Christian, but that’s the way it is.
Some things like central banking force end up backfiring on the people that push those policies, but on some level everything is settled by force. Being a citizen of the United States limits this to a large degree, but we are complaining about it, rightly, more and more.
China is mafia that wants to rip off their own people in the whole world.
Russia is mentally ill mafia.
The Ruling Class and the globalists suck.
What a load. You conflate all forms of “expansion” while ignoring the inconvenient ones (um, WWII), and seem to require the same judgement today as expressed two hundred years ago.
You’re going ALLLL the way around the barn, and for what?
What if Putin doesn’t like how things are “settled”?
What is the Mexican cartels don’t like how things are “settled”?
What if the Chinese mafia don’t like how things are “settled”?
But Russia is doing it today. After 2 world wars and NATO and the UN. Aggressively invading their neighbors, killing their citizens and stealing their resources. After Gorbachev and Reagan and the wall coming down. After countries being liberated and thriving. They want to take Europe back to that hell. I suppose many say we can just turn our heads and say it is all “over there”. But it has had a tendency to come over here.
The difference is that we’re the good guys. We never invade anyone. Well, we do, but it’s OK when we do it.
The world is better off when we are the hegemon, mostly. It’s complicated, but that is mostly true. We may not be that great, but everybody else is going to suck.
You’re right. I left lots out in an effort to shorten my reply. You have your opinion, and I have mine, I can be wrong, but so can you. Since Putin made the nuke threat, I can’t decide whether he’s a power-hungry monster or a guy who’s been backed in a corner by the big bucks fighting the proxy war. Of course I also completely left out the whole oil thing as the countries supplying the most $$ to Zelensky also want to take the oil business from Putin. I’ve always thought wars are/were about economics. They just need the right guy from casting to convince those of us in the audience with our open wallets, and Zelensky is right out of central casting.
Fred Thompson , the only man to attempt a Presidential mosey.
https://omny.fm/shows/know-your-risk-radio-with-zach-abraham-chief-inves/doomberg
Indeed. People often say “We are not the world’s police man”. My response is: So, who would you prefer be the world’s police man? Because there is going to be one.
I frankly can’t stand all the false equivalence. The United States is nothing like Russia.
As a bit of personal perspective, I’d like to tell you that my mother was Lithuanian. She immigrated with her family to Australia in the 1950s. We used to send care packages from Australia to family back there. My outgrown clothes and other items were greatly appreciated. I am in my 60s now and recently spoke via zoom to my mother’s cousin who wore those hand me downs as a child. She said “such beautiful clothes. I loved them and would often think about you in Australia”. Well that family has no need of hand me downs now. They are prosperous and happy and living in a modern country. They hate Russia, with very good reason. They are so thankful to be in NATO. I was grateful to hear Biden say “Not one inch of NATO territory”. I hope he sticks to it (or at least remembers he said it).
Screw you!
I don’t support Putin!
I also don’t want American treasure and Blood spent in defending one of the most corrupt governments on the face of the Earth.
Frankly, the idea that if I don’t agree with you I am some sort of Putin lover is sick, and makes me even less likely to support Ukraine.
It is none of our business.