Connect with us

News

War Expert Reveals Biden was Always More ‘Keen on Ukraine’ Than Obama

Published

on

Slate’s war stories correspondent Fred Kaplan spoke with Mary Harris to share his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s Ukrainian position – and what he thinks will happen next.

“If you’ve heard anything about this troop buildup around Ukraine, alarm is probably what’s resonated the most alarm that Vladimir Putin is testing the West alarm that Russia might expand an ongoing military operation inside Ukraine,” Harris said. “But I wanted to talk to Fred because alarm was not his first reaction to this news.”

“What I’m about to say is the kind of thing that, if I’m wrong, could be played back six months from now and make me look really stupid,” Kaplan said. “But I don’t think that he’s going to invade Ukraine. I don’t think that’s what’s going on…If they were really going to invade Ukraine from the east and from the west through Belarus – kind of a pincer movement and then occupy the place – they would need a lot more than 90000 troops. Second…going in and crushing the place, there would be armed resistance. There will be Russians coming back in body bags. And finally, as is in general, Putin has been quite cautious in the use of military force.”

Harris referred to the agreements as “hedges against autocracy” and Kaplan offered, “These two countries, Ukraine and Taiwan, they’re examples of what some people call strategic ambiguity. I mean, were we sort of have a commitment to them, but not quite for many years. These relationships have been allowed to keep things stable. They’ve never really been tested. And now, you know, at least some people are saying they might be tested, and we don’t really quite know what we’re going to do about it.”

Kaplan added, “Biden himself is very keen on on Ukraine. When he was vice president in 2014, he wanted to do more to help Ukraine than than Obama did. He wanted to send some lethal arms even then. But I asked, ‘Is there anybody who is saying that what we need to do is to let Ukraine into NATO’s right now? Or is there anybody who is saying if Russia invades, we have to send us troops to counter them?’ And what I’m hearing is, ‘No, nobody’s saying that.’ So why base your whole position on an insistence for something that that you’re never going to do anyway? Look, I have no idea whether this approach will meet success. I don’t know. But this is what Putin has laid down on the table. Let’s take that as a premise and go from there and see if it’s if it works.”

Kaplan said it appeared Russia could be worried about backlash from the West, specifically the U.S.

“It seems they certainly don’t want to get into a war with the United States,” he said. “What Putin has been doing for the last several years is disrupting and interfering with American democracy and disrupting ties between the U.S. and countries in Western Europe, especially when Trump was president that were provocative and destructive in ways that were indirect and subtle, and therefore not likely to provoke a direct response from the United States. So he goes for the indirect approach, which is much harder to deal with.”

A direct interference in Ukraine would not be wise, according to Kaplan.

“If he really does do what the more alarmed people think he’s priming to do, then yeah, this is going to provoke a tremendous backlash from from the West, which is one reason why I don’t think he’s going to do it because he can’t afford that,” Kaplan said.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Jim Jordan Demands Merrick Garland Hand Over Documents Authorizing Special Counsel’s Trump Investigation

Published

7 mins ago

on

June 6, 2023

By

House Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding documents related to Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s two-tiered investigation into Donald Trump.

Chairman Jordan’s letter (below) comes just days before Smith’s grand jury is expected to reconvene after a short hiatus, and one day after Trump’s legal team met with DOJ investigators, including Smith.

Jordan is asking Garland to hand over an unreacted, full version of the memo that authorized Smith’s appointment as Special Counsel to investigate Trump, along with all supporting documentation. NBC News first reported on the existence of the letter.

Jordan, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, is claiming his request is part of his committee’s investigation into “the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) unprecedented raid of President Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022.”

READ MORE: ‘This Is It, Make No Mistake’: ‘Nihilistic Moron’ Trump Heading for Another Indictment Says George Conway

The letter in part states, “we write to request an unredacted copy of the memorandum outlining the scope of Mr. Smith’s probes regarding President Trump and any supporting documentation related to his appointment as special counsel. Accordingly, please provide the Committee with an unredacted copy of the memorandum outlining the scope of Special Counsel Smith’s investigations pursuant to his appointment on November 18, 2022, and any other document describing, listing, or delineating the authority and jurisdiction of the special counsel as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 p.m. on June 20, 2023.”

Legal experts across the board anticipate Smith will ask the grand jury to indict the ex-president on a litany of federal felonies centered on his unlawful removal from the White House, retention, refusal to return, and possible sharing of classified and top secret documents. That indictment appeared even more likely after it as reported Smith has audio of Trump admitting he held on to a Pentagon document he knows is classified, and allegedly said he would like to be able to share it. Some experts say an indictment could come as early as this week.

Read Jordan’s letter below or at this link.

 

Continue Reading

News

‘This Is It, Make No Mistake’: ‘Nihilistic Moron’ Trump Heading for Another Indictment Says George Conway

Published

1 hour ago

on

June 6, 2023

By

George Conway mocked Donald Trump as a “nihilistic moron” for risking years in prison by hoarding classified documents at his private resort at Mar-a-Lago.

The former president appears to be headed toward a second indictment, after he was charged with fraud in Manhattan, and panelists on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” discussed the latest developments in the quickening investigation by special counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago case.

“There is a sense of real panic growing at Mar-a-Lago, reflected in Trump’s Truth Social tweets but also those even calmer heads in the room say, ‘Look, we’re concerned, we feel like a charge could be coming.'”

Trump’s attorneys met Monday with officials at the Department of Justice to argue against an indictment, and conservative attorney George Conway said that showed an indictment was likely imminent.

FROM EARLIER: William Barr: ‘Unguided missile’ Rudy Giuliani completely to blame for first Trump impeachment

“We are approaching the very end,” Conway said. “I kept hearing this ear worm in my head as I was coming to the studio this morning, ‘This is it, make no mistake.’ We’re getting down to the final strokes of this race, and what’s clearly really remarkable about it is that of all the things that this man has done, eight decades of lying and cheating and stealing, this case, this documents case, is probably the easiest, shortest, simplest and yet carries the most severe penalties, likely penalties, of any of the cases, any of the legal issues that he’s ever faced.”

“Now people will say, you know, he really, in a just world, he would go to jail for what he did on Jan. 6, the weeks approaching Jan. 6,” Conway added. “And I kind of agree with that, but for this man who is basically a nihilistic moron, for him to go to jail potentially for a long time, these Espionage Act charges bring very heavy sentences to potentially go to jail for something so pointless and silly and useless as keeping these documents is actually kind of fitting.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

Continue Reading

News

‘Recycling Stale and Debunked Burisma Conspiracy Theories’: Raskin Refutes Comer’s Claims as ‘Effort to Smear Biden’

Published

15 hours ago

on

June 5, 2023

By

It is an internal FBI document used to record an informant’s unverified statement, and House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer wants it.

On Monday after weeks of threats and intimidation, Chairman Comer announced he will seek to obtain a contempt of Congress conviction against FBI Director Chris Wray, who refused to hand over to the committee the document, known as an FD-1023, which allegedly contains allegations of unlawful activity by then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Ranking Member Raskin late Monday afternoon released a statement slamming Comer.

READ MORE: Comer Struggles to Defend Need for Internal FBI Document on Biden as He Seeks Contempt of Congress for Director Wray

“As the FBI explained at length during today’s briefing, and in previous conversations leading up to today’s accommodation, releasing this form publicly could place the Confidential Human Source in grave danger and undermine the integrity of FBI programs and investigations going forward,” Reskin said in a statement. “Yet, rather than acknowledge these legitimate law enforcement concerns, Chairman Comer has declared his intent to hold Director Wray in contempt of Congress to further promote debunked Republican conspiracy theories.”

“We now know what I had long suspected: that Chairman Comer’s subpoena is about recycling stale and debunked Burisma conspiracy theories long peddled by Rudy Giuliani and a Russian agent, sanctioned by former President Trump’s own Treasury Department, as part of the effort to smear President Biden and help Mr. Trump’s reelection campaign,” Raskin revealed.

Announcing,”here are the facts,” Raskin wrote, “the FD-1023 form, which we reviewed first-hand today, records what a Confidential Human Source told the FBI about conversations he had with individuals in Ukraine. The source, who has been described as highly credible by the FBI, told the FBI he could not provide any opinion on the underlying veracity of the information provided by these Ukrainian individuals.”

“Chairman Comer’s actions prove that his interest in issuing this subpoena was never about seeking the truth, but was always about weaponizing the powers of this Committee to hold Director Wray in contempt as part of MAGA Republicans’ efforts to discredit and ultimately ‘dismantle’ the FBI.”

READ MORE: ‘Indictment Anytime’: Experts Explain Significance of Trump’s Attorneys Meeting With DOJ – Warn Plea Deal Possible

Indeed, then-President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an infamous July, 2019 telephone call, to “do us a favor though.”

“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it,” Trump said, according to a declassified transcript released by the White House.

On Sunday Rep. Raskin told CNN Comer “admitted” this is an attempt to help Donald Trump. “It’s all about the 2024 campaign.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.