House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) warned that Congress will likely intensify scrutiny over military aid to war-torn Ukraine if Republicans recapture the House .
While iterating his longstanding support for Ukraine, McCarthy argued that many Republicans in the House have been rankled by the lack of focus on domestic matters, such as raging inflation, and will likely question the prudence of high-dollar donations to a country half a world away.
'POWER' PLAY FOR MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: BEWARE THE BASE, KEVIN MCCARTHY
“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News. “They just won’t do it.”
Posted by: Billy B ||
10/19/2022 8:26 Comments ||
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#7
How much of the $66 Billion we poured down that rathole has been stolen?
Congress isn’t tracking any of this. Ukraine is the most corrupt country north of Sudan. What happened to all the weapons that aren’t accounted for?
Which black markets are the Ukrainian thieves now flooding with Uncle Sam’s boondoggle?
Posted by: Billy B ||
10/19/2022 8:35 Comments ||
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#8
What happens when Russia moves on from Ukraine to Poland or Moldova or Estonia or Finland or......
#10
The problem is that everyone is right... and they’ve all already lost. Russia does need to feel safe, yes, but Russia also needs to give up trying to force reunion on unwilling former provinces to accomplish it, and it would be truly helpful if both countries gave up their massive corruption and racial nonsense as a tool to control the peasants.
Pyrrhic victory for one and Pyrrhic defeat for the other — Russia is no longer believable as a conquering military, too much of Ukraine is rubble, both have lost enough of the flower of their youth through death and emigration that depopulation is certain unless both countries start upping fecundity to five or six babies per mother, and possibly not even then.
#11
I say, dear Sir, how does one expect the Russians to conquer Eastern Europe when they cannot conquer Kyiv, or even a small town in southern Ukraine?
Posted by: ACA JOE ||
10/19/2022 13:52 Comments ||
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#14
how does one expect the Russians to conquer Eastern Europe when they cannot conquer Kyiv, or even a small town in southern Ukraine?
That was always Putin's goal was to control the invasion corridors into Russia. As Catharine the Greats said, "The way to secure Russia's borders is to expand them." Russia had gotten control of the one in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Chrimea and the "break away" republics. There are two past Ukraine in Moldavia and they have part of that country locked down too. If Ukraine had fallen fast, the Baltic states would be next, then Poland.
Fortunately, the Russian military proved so inept that they won't even get past the republics. Now the plan is to make sure the Russian army dies in Ukraine and can't rebuild. With the demographics in Russia falling like a fat dog from a hot air balloon, the loss of their breeding stock in Ukraine or fleeing makes sure the Russian Federation won't survive past this century.
How well this plays out 20-50 years from now will be... interesting.
#15
That was always Putin's goal was to control the invasion corridors into Russia.
No it wasn’t. He stated clearly that the goal of this operation was to keep Ukraine out of NATO, to eliminate Ukraine’s Nazi battalions and politicians, and protect Russian speakers, in pursuit of which the Russians have secured their land bridge to Crimea and are now proceeding to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure.
#16
No it wasn’t. He stated clearly that the goal of this operation...
Riiiiiight. Straight from the Russian propaganda page. If you actually had independent thought, you would have seen Putin active in those regions I mentioned while playing rope-a-dope with every western leader and US president since "W". It is part of a long term plan and it just blew up in his face with Ukraine. I bet you believe the same story about the Poles attacking German soil and attacking that German radio station.
#18
"The current 'ultimatums' are a warm-up for kids, a preview of demands to be made in the future. He knows them: the total surrender of the Kiev regime on Russia's terms," Medvedev warned.
From a source "Chaim" will like.
https://tass.com/politics/1506165
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/19/2022 17:43 Comments ||
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#19
He stated it explicitly. There is ZERO chance of any Russian leader restoring the USSR. None.
I'll use small words for you. It. Isn't. About. Restoring. The. USSR.
Clear? Most likely not.
Anyway, Russia is mostly flat with mountains in the middle and forests to the north. Not many natural barriers to form a defensive line at. It is perfect territory for Mongols to horde through or Panzers to blitzkrieg through. The Russians do not have and never have had the population to defend it properly. Which is why they expand to the choke points, aka invasion routes. That way they can plant their army (heavily reinforced with subjugated populations in the front) at those and defend the heartland. That is what Putin tried to do.
Although, if you believe everything he is saying at face value there is little I can say that will penetrate that thick skull of yours.
The key to everything in this war is Crimea. Russia cannot possibly give up Crimea. The little clown in the T-shirt suddenly, in March of 2021, about a week after Shithead Biden’s investiture in the WH, announced that his government (read: the US) would “take back” … CRIMEA. (Gee, I wonder who put that idea in his little head?)
That’s unthinkable to any Russian government, no matter how liberal or progressive and pro-Western. Navalny himself was the most strident advocate of restoring full Russian control over Crimea in 2014!
The huge naval base at the deep-water port of Sevastopol is the jewel in the crown for Russia. The peninsula itself is arid and entirely dependent for water upon the Ukrainian mainland.
This is why the US involvement in this conflict is so utterly stupid. We have zero national interest in that peninsula, let alone any vital national interest. Provoking the little twerp in Kyiv to provoke Russia over Crimea was the stupidest, most reckless, most insane foreign policy manoeuvre imaginable.
For Russia, protecting Crimea is the ultimate vital interest”; Russia quite literally will cease to be a great nation if the Biden fools get their way and install NATO on the Crimean peninsula.
#28
Your understanding of geostrategy appears to have been frozen in the Fulda Gap era.
You either are completely ignorant, or just a tool. I'm voting a tool.
Chrimea is important to Russia, yes. Ever since Russia took it over Putin has done everything he can to get ethnic Russians to move there, built a bridge and tried to make it the "to go" place for the elite.
It was also an invasion point and a war was fought over it in 1854 that the Russians took over 500,000 casualties in and only threw in the towel when they could bring men in faster than ones they were losing in the field.
If you actually did your history homework, you might know that instead of relying on Russian propaganda news feeds.
#33
No, I just speak multiple languages, you dope. Which is why, decades ago, I already learned more Russian (and German, and other countries’) history and geography and strategy than you ever will.
#36
Which is why, decades ago, I already learned more Russian (and German, and other countries’) history and geography and strategy than you ever will.
Are you sure, Chaim? People have the odd idea that Americans are monolingual, but this has never been so. As of the 2000 census, 20% of Americans lived in a home where more than one language was spoken, and even more live in communities where a second language is necessary to be able to function on the street — it’s probably closer to 25% now. I’m just a little suburban housewife in the middle of the American Midwest, but I grew up with three languages — two of which my parents had in common — while Mr. Wife’s father was taught in Polish through sixth grade and for his mother ditto Canadian French. The trailing daughters were immersed in German during their early years, both proper Hochdeutsch and the Hessish dialect heard around Frankfurt (a.M, not an der Oder), followed by French, Hebrew, Latin, and Japanese. Their American friends also spoke Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Russian, one or more of the Indian languages, Farsi... plus the usual French/Spanish/German/Latin taught here in schools.
[JPost] The presence of jihadist groups in Latin America could grow due the region's tilt to the left.
Jihadist groups currently have a broad presence in Latin America, where they find benefits that are crucial to their survival and operations, according to John Marulanda, author of the book Yihad en Latinoamérica (Jihad in Latin America).
Marulanda is a defense and security consultant for multinational energy companies that have a presence on the continent. He is a retired colonel who held several senior positions in the Colombian military, including founder and commander of the 25th Aviation Brigade, founder and first director of the School of Civil-Military Relations, and commander of the Revéis Pizarro Mechanized Cavalry Group on the border with Venezuela.
Iran’s presence in Latin America grew with the political alliance – some would say “bromance” – between then-Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his contemporaneous Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They both led large oil-producing countries at the time. This political liaison allowed Iran to create a strong presence in Latin America and it was this Iranian prominence that facilitated the spread of Hezbollah cells across the continent.
'A BREWING PRESENCE OF ISLAMIC FIGHTERS'
“We believe that there is a brewing presence of Islamic fighters scattered over the Latin American region,” he said.
In the region, says Marulanda, we can see the presence of two jihadist actors, Iran and Hezbollah, with the latter subordinate to the former.
Iran is the main sponsor of jihad all over the world, while Hezbollah is in this case the representative or the one who carries the name of jihad in Latin America, he adds.
Marulanda notes that jihadist groups do not represent an imminent risk for Latin America – at least for now.
“But it is important to point out that jihadists that belonged to Hezbollah were the ones who carried out the terror attack on the Israeli Embassy and later on the AMIA [Jewish center] in 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina,” says Marulanda.
“These are the two most severe terrorist attacks in Latin America that emerged from Islamist extremism,” he says.
However, Marulanda notes that as jihad has in the past represented an immediate risk of terrorist attacks in Latin America, today its presence has a different connotation.
He explains that these groups have two main objectives in the region.
The first one, according to Marulanda, is to collect intelligence on soft targets that Israel or the United States have in Latin America, a region where most people follow the Catholic faith.
The second, he says, is to be involved in all illicit activities in the region, such as smuggling, drug trafficking, falsification of documents and money laundering.
These illicit activities, he says, take place in areas such as the tripartite border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, the border between Colombia and Venezuela close to the city of Maicao, or even in the Chetumal region between Mexico and Belize.
“These are suitable regions to be the focus of groups such as Hezbollah and other jihadist organizations, to proliferate or finance themselves,” he explains.
HEZBOLLAH LINKS TO DRUG TRAFFICKING ACROSS AMERICA
Hezbollah launders money that comes from drug trafficking in these territories through banks banned by the American and other world governments, which nonetheless still operate in Latin America.
Marulanda notes that while Iran permanently finances Hezbollah, the current economic woes of the Islamic Republic have had an impact on that funding.
“It is important to remember that Hezbollah is a legal party in Lebanon, but part of the organization is illegal [in much of the world], and after the Middle East, its second-largest center of operations is in Latin America. The money that it earns from illegal activities [there] finances about 60% or 70%” of its operations, he said.
He says that the US government transfers money in a legal and legitimate manner through the United Nations to Palestinian groups in Latin America, which rely on the help of the international community. But, according to Marulanda, “many times, that money is redirected to Hezbollah.”
HEZBOLLAH EMBOLDENED DUE TO IRANIAN PRESENCE
Furthermore, Marulanda says, Hezbollah has a strong support system in Latin America that is heavily bolstered by Iranian diplomatic missions in the region.
The jihadist organizations in Latin America are also associated with guerrilla groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). “We have information of how in Venezuela, drug trafficking and terrorist groups such as ELN [the National Liberation Army, a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group in Colombia] and FARC have maintained permanent contact and joint training with Hezbollah.”
Besides the Iranian diplomatic representation and local terror organizations, Marulanda says that the Venezuelan government also supports Hezbollah. He singles out Venezuelan Petroleum and Industries and National Production Minister Tareck El Aissami, a former vice president of the country. El Aissami is of Lebanese descent and has fully supported Iran and Hezbollah over the years, he says.
According to Marulanda, Hezbollah even has training centers and many other facilities in Venezuela that they do not have in the rest of Latin America.
However, he adds, that the new political tilt to the left in Latin America makes it likely that more countries will strengthen their ties to Iran, something that would create a political climate favorable to the operations of Hezbollah cells in the region.
Marulanda says Hezbollah could target communities and institutions related to Israel, Jews and the United States, which should all be aware of the danger posed to them by the group’s presence in the region.
“If the relationship between the US and Iran deteriorates in the event that negotiations over the [Iran] nuclear deal fail, it could cause an escalation” in terrorist activity, he warns. “These targets could be attacked to weaken the US presence in Latin America.”
According to Marulanda, the US and the Israeli governments are the most concerned about the Hezbollah presence and activities in the region. “They have their own information methods, their own intelligence channels and bring the situation to the attention of the Latin American governments,” he says.
In fact, he says, the Israeli government “has helped us a lot” with tracking everything that may be happening with Hezbollah in real-time.
Today, there is not one country in Latin America that does not have a presence of Hezbollah cells of varying sizes, Marulanda says, but clarifies that this is not the only jihadist group in the region.
Other than Hezbollah, Latin America once had the presence of al-Qaeda and now groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and other smaller organizations are attempting to establish themselves in the region as well, he warns.
[YouTube] Many people would consider it difficult to manage a country like Russia. It's not. Or at least for Vladimir Putin, he's following a well trod path mapped out for him by the former Soviet Union and its heavy-handed imperial predecessor. The Russian center maintains absolute control, and any internal threats are simply crushed.
Putin, like his predecessors, must maintain a sprawling internal security apparatus and intelligence service, to infiltrate and eliminate (often defenestrate) any would-be competitors or questioners of his rule. Is this particularly good for economic and social development? No. But, Putin has managed to stay in power for decades. But one of the most salient downfalls of such a system is the concentration of authority within the hands of a chosen few. Chosen by whom? Not fate, or success, or a meritocratic system. But by Putin. So Russian leadership now is more or less a fraternity of people who neither threaten nor challenge Putin, and the greatest distillation of the shallowness of the depth of expertise of such a system is current Russian performance in its invasion of Ukraine.
#2
The same could be said for Qdaffi. Nobody is arguing that Russia is a fine example of good government. But the way things have worked out in Libya is not a good indicator of what would happen in Russia if Biden's dreams are realized. American meddling is not the answer.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/19/2022 12:30 Comments ||
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Zelensky has previously said that his country requires $7 billion a month in aid, not including the "hundreds of billions of dollars" he said would be required to rebuild the country after the war, reports BBC News.
"What?" Carlson said incredulously. "Some uppity foreigner in a t-shirt demanding money for his 'critical economic needs.' We have critical economic needs too, buddy. Who are you, troll? Go away. What? Since when does that guy have a claim on our treasury?," Carlson asked.
Carlson compared Zelensky's demands to a spoiled child with a Christmas list. "Really? Up yours, buddy,".
#2
Wake me up if the current politically weaponized FBI and DOJ are dismantled. And someone from these agencies is held accountable for anything. There is no honesty or justice coming from either of these agencies. They have failed the American people.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[YouTube] Many people would consider it difficult to manage a country like Russia. It's not. Or at least for Vladimir Putin, he's following a well trod path mapped out for him by the former Soviet Union and its heavy-handed imperial predecessor. The Russian center maintains absolute control, and any internal threats are simply crushed.
