U.S. lawmakers unite in fury over Putin's op-ed in New York Times

I'm inclined to agree with Putin, that the US needs to stop the madness of military aggression as "foreign policy". Apparently, the entire DC political class disagrees. Any thoughts?

U.S. lawmakers unite in fury over Putin's op-ed in New York Times

While I see Putin as a world-class dickhead, and find it laughable to believe that the article was written by him and is sincere in all its peace-mongering, I strongly agree with the positions taken in the article.

I imagine that the idiots - uh, I mean politicians - in DC were taken aback by these two bits:

Quote :

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

Quote :

And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.

The irony is rich and dripping.  

Putin gave sanctuary to a whistleblower the US wants to perprosecute.  Putin says the US should stop war-mongering ("using military aggression as foreign policy" in the words of one expert).  The Syrian leadership blames the rebels.  The Chechyan rebels blame Putin.  Obama talks tough to silence his opposition.

Soon he will be seen shirtless, riding a military vehicle carrying a machine gun.

Soon, Putin will mention Afghanistan.

Putin's inconsistent and self-serving bullshit seems oddly familiar.
I think he would make a great Republican.

_Howard wrote:

I think he would make a great Republican.

He would need to take a pretty extreme swing to the right to qualify.

Oh the irony

"a pretty extreme swing to the right..."
Oh, yeah, I remember...

It's just a jump to the left.

And then a step to the right.

With your hands on your hips.

You bring you knees in tight.

But it's the pelvic thrust...
That really drives you insane
Let's do the Time Warp again.
Let's do the Time Warp again.

Alex Pareene at Salon

Quote :

The guy is clearly enjoying his ability to just repeatedly poke America with sticks.

What I’d imagine is especially obnoxious, from the point of view of the White House and its allies, is that Putin is just not wrong about a lot of this stuff, even if he is being entirely opportunistic. He’s right that many of the rebels are mercenaries from other countries, including the sorts of fighters we classify as terrorists; he’s right that a military strike could merely spread the conflict and lead to more innocent lives being lost; he’s right that “rogue states” seek nuclear weapons in part because having those weapons helps to insulate them from American military intervention; and he’s basically right that American exceptionalism as a moral judgment as opposed to one of pure power is basically hokum.

Certainly seems to have upset one Obama apologist.

Not that I think Bill Maher is any sort of expert, but this time he's speaking my language.

The US: world's policeman or schoolyard bully?

One doesn't need to be an expert to see his hand in front of his face.
Bill Maher most often just says what many people are thinking and discussing privately.

Unfortunately since at least 1964 the US foreign policy has been heavily influenced by -- if not dictated by -- General Dynamics, Lockheed-Martin, Dyncorp, Textron, Rockwell, ATK, GE, Honeywell, United Technologies, Northrup Grumann and Boeing. We've been itching for a fight, well not just any fight but a fight we can win quickly and decisively, with no troop casualties but lots of hardware expenditures, ever since we got our asses handed to us by a bunch of rice farmers in Vietnam.

Eisenhower tried to warn us.

NoCoPilot wrote:

...we got our asses handed to us by a bunch of rice farmers in Vietnam.

The Viet Cong and the NVA were very much underestimated by everyone except those who went up against them. "Rice farmers" my ass.

"Underestimated" by everyone but the French.

Just like the Afghans were underestimated by everyone but the Russians.

The USA can't learn from anyone else's mistakes apparently. Hello, Syria?

NoCoPilot wrote:

Just like the Afghans were underestimated by everyone but the Russians.

The USA can't learn from anyone else's mistakes apparently.  Hello, Syria?

Shit. The Americans can't even learn from their own mistakes. Must be part of our "exceptionalism."