Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

RoyH1

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Why do the Republicans dislike Ukraine so much? They're plenty white and "traditional values" Is it because Zelinsky gave Biden a hug? Does the FSB really have a file on their daddy Trump that could doom him? I don't get their motivations here.
 

stefan92

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Why do the Republicans dislike Ukraine so much? They're plenty white and "traditional values" Is it because Zelinsky gave Biden a hug? Does the FSB really have a file on their daddy Trump that could doom him? I don't get their motivations here.
It's less about disliking Ukraine as such, but about disliking being involved in foreign problems. Trump's "America first" is exactly that - focus on domestic issues and basically ignore the world, because the state of the world doesn't matter when you are the bestest and greatest country anyway.
 

Raoul

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Why do the Republicans dislike Ukraine so much? They're plenty white and "traditional values" Is it because Zelinsky gave Biden a hug? Does the FSB really have a file on their daddy Trump that could doom him? I don't get their motivations here.
It has a lot to do with their embrace of Trump and his admiration of Putin. Before that, they were largely 100% anti-Soviet and somewhat tepid about post-Soviet Russia. Putin has also expended a lot of resources courting US conservative influencers and political operatives during the 2010s, which eventually converged with the rise of Trumpism. There are of course still a lot of traditional establishment, Reagan type Republicans who correctly see Putin for who he actually is - an authoritarian tyrant. The likes of McConnell, Graham, Romney et al., are examples.

There's also an element on the left/right political fringes that is driven by domestic issues - for right wingers that's usually immigration and border security, for ultra-libs its usually a call to spend more on domestic social issues instead of on foreign countries. There's also an isolationist strain in the Republicans that calls for a severe reduction in foreign aid, as typified by the likes of Rand Paul.
 

Mike Smalling

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It's less about disliking Ukraine as such, but about disliking being involved in foreign problems. Trump's "America first" is exactly that - focus on domestic issues and basically ignore the world, because the state of the world doesn't matter when you are the bestest and greatest country anyway.
It's partly that, but I don't think they are taking the same approach to Israel. They'll happily throw billions in that for years to come. There is also just admiration for the strongman leader, which Trump and the right-wing media is slowly changing the perception of the likes of Putin and Orban to - they are just strong leaders fighting for their country, etc. etc.
 

Morty_

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We never saw the RNC leaks, only the ones for DNC, just saying.

Russia may have something on republicans in congress.
 

VorZakone

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Why do the Republicans dislike Ukraine so much? They're plenty white and "traditional values" Is it because Zelinsky gave Biden a hug? Does the FSB really have a file on their daddy Trump that could doom him? I don't get their motivations here.
Couple of things I think.

In their mind, Ukraine is probably becoming more woke, attacking Christian churches etc. And therefore Russia is the actual traditional country.

Another thing is anti-establishment and anti-media sentiment. So the "Western elites and media" side with Ukraine, and therefore they sympathize with Russia.

These are just 2 things I've noticed throughout their rhetoric.
 

Gehrman

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Why do the Republicans dislike Ukraine so much? They're plenty white and "traditional values" Is it because Zelinsky gave Biden a hug? Does the FSB really have a file on their daddy Trump that could doom him? I don't get their motivations here.
It's just Trumps love affair with Putin. And pee tapes
 

VorZakone

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Syrsky is not liked by many accounts that I follow. Odd choice.

 

Krakenzero

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Why do the Republicans dislike Ukraine so much? They're plenty white and "traditional values" Is it because Zelinsky gave Biden a hug? Does the FSB really have a file on their daddy Trump that could doom him? I don't get their motivations here.
In a nutshell, they share values with Putin:
-conservatism, back to the "good old days"
-autocracy
-hate/fear to differences/diversity
-disdain for democracy and democratic institutions in general
-distrust in international cooperation and in any institution they can't fully control
-national and/or racial supremacy

Putin gradually installing allies in politics/economy/media over 20 years, plus Trump being infamously busted for his "quid pro quo" (weapons over dirt on Biden) complete the package.
 

Boycott

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It has a lot to do with their embrace of Trump and his admiration of Putin. Before that, they were largely 100% anti-Soviet and somewhat tepid about post-Soviet Russia. Putin has also expended a lot of resources courting US conservative influencers and political operatives during the 2010s, which eventually converged with the rise of Trumpism. There are of course still a lot of traditional establishment, Reagan type Republicans who correctly see Putin for who he actually is - an authoritarian tyrant. The likes of McConnell, Graham, Romney et al., are examples.

There's also an element on the left/right political fringes that is driven by domestic issues - for right wingers that's usually immigration and border security, for ultra-libs its usually a call to spend more on domestic social issues instead of on foreign countries. There's also an isolationist strain in the Republicans that calls for a severe reduction in foreign aid, as typified by the likes of Rand Paul.
Most of the left wing critics of Ukraine I see who are very loud on social media are people who are just mad their priors were wrong. They were going around smugly mocking the possibility of a Russian invasion as Western propaganda which they are much more enlightened to fall for. And suddenly changing tune or just turning a blind eye to it rather than admit their anti-imperialism was really just campism all along. You look at someone like George Monbiot, one of the most foremost environmental writers who is firmly on the left, and the abuse he gets for pointing out that no one put a gun to Putin's head and forced him to launch an invasion and that it is imperialistic.

As well as that the issue of spending on domestic instead of foreign is a red herring because for starters you can do both but in any case what we give Ukraine and the price tags you read in headlines is money that was already spent years ago on tanks, missiles, air defence systems. It would cost more for us to have them decommissioned without ever being used than giving it to Ukraine to help their survival. It's very interesting in comparison Russia as a percentage of GDP for many years spent more on their military than we do on ours but none of these people take Putin to account for starvation and poverty in his country over his two decades. If the argument is we should cut our spending on military to prevent new weaponry and rather divert it to domestic issues I'm all for that but there's a deliberate act of implying we could solve homelessness in the UK if only we didn't give Ukraine some of our tanks.
 

demetre

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He sounds like an old school Soviet type of leader from most things I have read on him.

All of my friends in the military think he’s an idiot. One of them is high rank officer who met him personally. Not much optimism over here…
 

Morty_

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The US senate has passed a bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Lets see what kind of bullshit excuse Mike Johnson will come up with this time.
 

That_Bloke

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All of my friends in the military think he’s an idiot. One of them is high rank officer who met him personally. Not much optimism over here…
Do you have any leak, info about the real reason(s) why Zaluzhny was dismissed? It looks to me like Zelenskiy shot himself a missile in the foot.
 

The United

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We will have to see how the new guy will do. My opinion is that without much equipment support from the U.S., he probably won't do better. Zaluzhny was very good in the early stages of the war. Who knows if he was the one who was solely responsible for the massive failure counterattack last year? The decision to open multiple fronts simultaneously was pretty dumb, even at that time.
 
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demetre

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Do you have any leak, info about the real reason(s) why Zaluzhny was dismissed? It looks to me like Zelenskiy shot himself a missile in the foot.
No leaks, only opinions. Everyone convinced it's a political decision, because Syrskiy is more loyal to Zelenskiy and his crew.

Zaluzhny has massive support from both soldiers and the regular folk. To fire him right now, when morale in Ukrainian society is so low is crazy.
 

Port Vale Devil

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Putin rambling on about Russia/Ukraine in the 15th century with Carlson looking even more confused than normal
 

RedDevilQuebecois

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Syrsky is not liked by many accounts that I follow. Odd choice.

Only one man's opinion below, but it's worth reading if you're also a history buff.


Considering what I have read about George Patton over the years, I see the rationale behind the change. A general who is good at defending (like Zaluzhny) may well be not as good at attacking, and we are now in a situation where Ukraine is in need of a new attacking strategy in order to go further beyond the current front lines. My analogy with Meade vs. Grant/Sherman from the other day was made in the same vein as well.
 

RedDevilQuebecois

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Real Name

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Heard Putin said stop giving weapons to Ukraine and it will all be over soon.
 
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RedDevilQuebecois

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Yeah, has the same look entire team. :lol:

Not one provocative question, just gave Putin a platform for more lies and propaganda.
He shits on the US whenever a Democrat is POTUS.
He purposefully pushed the Big Lie about the 2020 election results.
He shat on Canada, which is still ranked 2nd best country to live in.
He fellated Orban, who is the most undemocratic leader of all Europe.
And now he parrots Putin's lies and propaganda.

Tucker is basically Lord Haw-Haw 2.0.
 

KirkDuyt

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Seriously though, watching Oppenheim kind of put it back in my mind how crazy paranoid America was with everything related to Russia, socialism or being sympathetic to the working class only a relatively short time ago. It took very little time for half the country to make a complete U-turn and openly embrace a Soviet style Russian dictator, because he isn't woke.

Tucker would've surely been shot for this 50 years ago? Maybe the world really was a better place back then... Not that I would wish harm on Tucker Carlson, that would obviously be wrong...right?