So let’s say that the neocons make a colossal miscalculation, I know that’s a stretch but indulge me for a moment, and Putin calls their bluff over Ukraine and they get a major war in the ME and China makes a move on Taiwan and all this happens before the election, what then? Ok, let’s scale the “what if’s” back and say only one of them comes to pass, what’s their plan? Kamala is clearly a joke, Biden is a hapless buffoon loose in the Oval Office and whoever the hell’s actually calling the shots and running the country is faced with an unprecedented crisis that just can’t be handled on the down low: declare a national emergency and suspend the election and just take all the marbles and deal with the fallout as it comes: run and hide until DJT takes office and attempts to sort the mess out: or just let the country descend into chaos and blame Trump in the meantime while hoping to salvage something from the rubble?
As you have pointed out many times Mark, there are a whole lot of moving parts on multiple fronts, but I still have a hard time believing that they are going to allow DJT back in the Whitehouse under any circumstance and they have got to realize that this “who’s really running the country” charade is wearing a little thin around the edges. They keep saying one thing with their mouths but doing the exact opposite with their actions. Don’t they understand that once unleashed, the Dog’s of War are not only uncontrollable but notoriously unpredictable as well. I was contemplating the approaching maelstrom and thought I’d see if anyone else has any similar thoughts.
BTW, your blog is one of the few anchors that is keeping me sane right now!!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Lindsay Graham is an idiot, albeit a very dangerous one, but none the less still an idiot! Wasn’t he the genius who uttered those memorable words, “killing Russians is the best money we ever spent”, or something along those lines?
When this whole nefarious little fiasco blows up in their collective faces, I wonder what smart ass remark he’ll utter then?
Putin knows that the only “negotiation” happens with the Brits and US, not Kiev. He also knows that Trump will negotiate. This is a CIA/MI6 operation along with the French.
Putin no doubt is under some pressure. In Moscow people were surprised at the Kursk gambit and assume that they will get close to Moscow: recall history of Russia.
Putin also has no interest in lots of Russians dying.
Keep in mind that many Russians think that this has become a spiritual or religious war: the ROC runs Russia; Ukraine has gone after ROC; the attack a few months ago; the recent dedication of ancient religious sites in the Crimea and so on.
Yes, unless the position of Europe and the U.S. changes. It seems the only way their position will change is by force and a change of the conditions on the ground.
While and his team were throwing off by Biden, pulling out of the race, it was to be expected that there was going to be a period of readjustment and new thinking on how to deal with Kamala Harris. As I pointed in other comments, in other places Kamala Harris is the new shiny car right now and of course she’s going to get a bounce and people are going to start looking at her, but they haven’t looked at her very close yet. Trump’s team needs to frame her as the extreme she really is and I think they’ll do that.
Now, as to what could happen if Trump is reelected in dealing with Russia, I believe he will have to pivot and do something dramatic. That would be a piece of it with Putin in a neutral place or even more dramatic do what Richard Nixon did in 1972 and go to Moscow and lay it out for Putin and work it out. I don’t think that’s an impossible situation. my point is I don’t believe Trump will do something normal in that. We will have the back-and-forth with the secretaries of state and all that I think he will wish to personally be involved and try to negotiate a deal that will be good for everyone and get us out of that war. I think you’ll do the same thing in Israel.
If Trump wins and neotiates with Putin he will succeed if and only if he realizes that this war is not about grabbing Ukrainian land; it is about protecting Russia from Nato. Trump needs to read the long document Russia sent to both Washington and to Nato in December 2021 proposing a pan-European balanced peace plan in which ALL parties achieve ironclad security guarantees. If all parties, including the EU and Russia, can be guaranteed lie-proof security, then a breakthrough is possible. Even if Trump agrees to such a plan, however, it will be very, very difficult to get the rabid Russophobes in Nato and the EU to agree to such an equal-security-for-all plan. The European Commission and Nato would both lose face and power if such a pan-European security architecture were agreed on by Trump and Russia, but without such architecture there would be no way for Russia to achieve its main goal in this war, the permanent demilitarization of Ukraine. In the long run, no treaty with only the US is worth the paper it's written on. This has been shown many times. A successful treaty that Russia could trust would have to be negotiated between the US, Russia, and Nato/the EU, and both the president and foreign minister of the EU are now rabid Russophobic superhawks. Yet the permanent demilitarization of Ukraine can be achieved in no other way. Trump needs to study hard and be able to persuade the EU/Nato hawks if he wants to make any progress. Why should Russia agree to any puny plan that allows US and Nato troops and/or their proxies to remain in Ukraine? And how could a truly equal-for-all pan-European peace plan treaty ever be agreed to by the US Congress? If Trump is willing to invest 4 years of negotiating to the Ukraine problem, he might succeed. But first he must closely read the documents Russia sent to the US in Dec. 2021. I'll bet he's never read them. I hope I'm wrong.
Very well stated. But I am afraid that for Russia any kinds of assurances in writing by the EU, NATO, and the U.S. will remain suspect absent substantive action backing them up. By substantive action, I mean that Russia will insist at a minimum on the true de-militarization of Ukraine and likely will also insist on the removal of missile and air force bases from Poland and Romania. Finland and Sweden and the Baltic states are additional issues that the Russians will view as threats to their safety.
With the current leadership of the West it is hard to imagine them agreeing to this. So Ukraine will continue to fight to the last Ukranian. What happens after that remains to be seen.
Yes, this process will take many years. It can't be achieved during one presidential term. But if the US pulled out of NATO, that would be a good start.
Yes, this is what Trump will need to accept during negotiations. It will make a difference that the US accepts this surrender peacefully rather than fighting it to the bitter end and beefing up NATO as a counter-measure. NATO itself must be abandoned if Europe is ever to return to peace. Trump could make a contribution here.
He may need luck. The MSM is busy hiding the Kamala behind a wall of non-information and glossy images. I fully expect the MSM groups that carry out the TV debates to discreetly supply the questions in advance to the White House so Kamala can memorize all her replies beforehand. Otherwise her replies would be mostly word salad. Someone will also need to check during the debate(s) to see whether she has a tiny earphone in one ear.
Team Trump did not learn much from the second campaign (2020). The Democrats are cleaning his clock right now. Thus, I think that you are being generous to say that Trump has "undoubtedly" learned a few things from his first term.
I'm not a Trump supporter, but, objectively speaking, if Trump wants to persuade Independent voters, he ought to open the window and let in some fresh air, i.e., hire Tulsi as an advisor.
So let’s say that the neocons make a colossal miscalculation, I know that’s a stretch but indulge me for a moment, and Putin calls their bluff over Ukraine and they get a major war in the ME and China makes a move on Taiwan and all this happens before the election, what then? Ok, let’s scale the “what if’s” back and say only one of them comes to pass, what’s their plan? Kamala is clearly a joke, Biden is a hapless buffoon loose in the Oval Office and whoever the hell’s actually calling the shots and running the country is faced with an unprecedented crisis that just can’t be handled on the down low: declare a national emergency and suspend the election and just take all the marbles and deal with the fallout as it comes: run and hide until DJT takes office and attempts to sort the mess out: or just let the country descend into chaos and blame Trump in the meantime while hoping to salvage something from the rubble?
As you have pointed out many times Mark, there are a whole lot of moving parts on multiple fronts, but I still have a hard time believing that they are going to allow DJT back in the Whitehouse under any circumstance and they have got to realize that this “who’s really running the country” charade is wearing a little thin around the edges. They keep saying one thing with their mouths but doing the exact opposite with their actions. Don’t they understand that once unleashed, the Dog’s of War are not only uncontrollable but notoriously unpredictable as well. I was contemplating the approaching maelstrom and thought I’d see if anyone else has any similar thoughts.
BTW, your blog is one of the few anchors that is keeping me sane right now!!
Many thanks for your work.
In Kiev:
Megatron @Megatron_ron 
NEW:
The largest US warmonger U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is enjoying the war between Russia and Ukraine:
"What I think of Kursk? Bold, brilliant and beautiful.
"Keep it up.
"Putin started this, kick his ass!"
1:23 PM · Aug 12, 2024
Putin started this??
What a lying POS this guy is.
I guess he forgets about the McCain/Graham pep rallies in Ukraine that are on video?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Lindsay Graham is an idiot, albeit a very dangerous one, but none the less still an idiot! Wasn’t he the genius who uttered those memorable words, “killing Russians is the best money we ever spent”, or something along those lines?
When this whole nefarious little fiasco blows up in their collective faces, I wonder what smart ass remark he’ll utter then?
John McCain, Jr. He must be receiving a ton of money to act as idiotically and destructively as he does. Or maybe it just comes naturally for him.
Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald
Major US military assets are being deployed to the Middle East as a regional war becomes increasingly possible.
The NYT says all this was "ordered" by Defense Sec. Austin "to take every possible step to defend Israel."
Is the President involved? Anyone know if Kamala agrees?
Who's the President, again?
I guess we now have a Proxy President. Proxy war has become all the rage, why not authoritarian rule by proxy?
Putin knows that the only “negotiation” happens with the Brits and US, not Kiev. He also knows that Trump will negotiate. This is a CIA/MI6 operation along with the French.
Putin no doubt is under some pressure. In Moscow people were surprised at the Kursk gambit and assume that they will get close to Moscow: recall history of Russia.
Putin also has no interest in lots of Russians dying.
Keep in mind that many Russians think that this has become a spiritual or religious war: the ROC runs Russia; Ukraine has gone after ROC; the attack a few months ago; the recent dedication of ancient religious sites in the Crimea and so on.
That may be the most dangerous part of this.
Ukraine is on an irreversible path to NATO.
This statement forces Russia to take Ukraine’s back sea coast and make Ukraine into an insignificant landlocked country, defanging it.
The Ukrainian Russia attack was more about a positive narrative before the U.S. election Ukraine is still fighting, and not about to collapse.
https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-nato-membership-summit-4156df4062e69e0da38e7c18bf657285
Yes, unless the position of Europe and the U.S. changes. It seems the only way their position will change is by force and a change of the conditions on the ground.
While and his team were throwing off by Biden, pulling out of the race, it was to be expected that there was going to be a period of readjustment and new thinking on how to deal with Kamala Harris. As I pointed in other comments, in other places Kamala Harris is the new shiny car right now and of course she’s going to get a bounce and people are going to start looking at her, but they haven’t looked at her very close yet. Trump’s team needs to frame her as the extreme she really is and I think they’ll do that.
Now, as to what could happen if Trump is reelected in dealing with Russia, I believe he will have to pivot and do something dramatic. That would be a piece of it with Putin in a neutral place or even more dramatic do what Richard Nixon did in 1972 and go to Moscow and lay it out for Putin and work it out. I don’t think that’s an impossible situation. my point is I don’t believe Trump will do something normal in that. We will have the back-and-forth with the secretaries of state and all that I think he will wish to personally be involved and try to negotiate a deal that will be good for everyone and get us out of that war. I think you’ll do the same thing in Israel.
If Trump wins and neotiates with Putin he will succeed if and only if he realizes that this war is not about grabbing Ukrainian land; it is about protecting Russia from Nato. Trump needs to read the long document Russia sent to both Washington and to Nato in December 2021 proposing a pan-European balanced peace plan in which ALL parties achieve ironclad security guarantees. If all parties, including the EU and Russia, can be guaranteed lie-proof security, then a breakthrough is possible. Even if Trump agrees to such a plan, however, it will be very, very difficult to get the rabid Russophobes in Nato and the EU to agree to such an equal-security-for-all plan. The European Commission and Nato would both lose face and power if such a pan-European security architecture were agreed on by Trump and Russia, but without such architecture there would be no way for Russia to achieve its main goal in this war, the permanent demilitarization of Ukraine. In the long run, no treaty with only the US is worth the paper it's written on. This has been shown many times. A successful treaty that Russia could trust would have to be negotiated between the US, Russia, and Nato/the EU, and both the president and foreign minister of the EU are now rabid Russophobic superhawks. Yet the permanent demilitarization of Ukraine can be achieved in no other way. Trump needs to study hard and be able to persuade the EU/Nato hawks if he wants to make any progress. Why should Russia agree to any puny plan that allows US and Nato troops and/or their proxies to remain in Ukraine? And how could a truly equal-for-all pan-European peace plan treaty ever be agreed to by the US Congress? If Trump is willing to invest 4 years of negotiating to the Ukraine problem, he might succeed. But first he must closely read the documents Russia sent to the US in Dec. 2021. I'll bet he's never read them. I hope I'm wrong.
Very well stated. But I am afraid that for Russia any kinds of assurances in writing by the EU, NATO, and the U.S. will remain suspect absent substantive action backing them up. By substantive action, I mean that Russia will insist at a minimum on the true de-militarization of Ukraine and likely will also insist on the removal of missile and air force bases from Poland and Romania. Finland and Sweden and the Baltic states are additional issues that the Russians will view as threats to their safety.
With the current leadership of the West it is hard to imagine them agreeing to this. So Ukraine will continue to fight to the last Ukranian. What happens after that remains to be seen.
Yes, this process will take many years. It can't be achieved during one presidential term. But if the US pulled out of NATO, that would be a good start.
Yes, this is what Trump will need to accept during negotiations. It will make a difference that the US accepts this surrender peacefully rather than fighting it to the bitter end and beefing up NATO as a counter-measure. NATO itself must be abandoned if Europe is ever to return to peace. Trump could make a contribution here.
He may need luck. The MSM is busy hiding the Kamala behind a wall of non-information and glossy images. I fully expect the MSM groups that carry out the TV debates to discreetly supply the questions in advance to the White House so Kamala can memorize all her replies beforehand. Otherwise her replies would be mostly word salad. Someone will also need to check during the debate(s) to see whether she has a tiny earphone in one ear.
I finally finished the Tucker - Smith podcast. The political commentary was quite insightful in general.
Team Trump did not learn much from the second campaign (2020). The Democrats are cleaning his clock right now. Thus, I think that you are being generous to say that Trump has "undoubtedly" learned a few things from his first term.
I'm not a Trump supporter, but, objectively speaking, if Trump wants to persuade Independent voters, he ought to open the window and let in some fresh air, i.e., hire Tulsi as an advisor.
I think, in real essence, it should be said: what one wants to learn.