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...the threat of Marjorie Taylor Greene attempting to boot him out of the Speaker’s post...
“I think he’s doing a very good job, he’s doing about as good as you’re going to do and I’m sure that Marjorie understands that,” Spells it out to MTG https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4591214-trump-johnson-ouster-threat-greene/
If he’s going to bring the Ukraine vote to the floor then Trump will need to pave the way
"Former President Trump on Friday signaled an openness to Republicans approving additional aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia if it came in the form of a loan."
That was suggested some time ago. President Biden and Trump are currently neck and neck in the polls at 44%, it's ironic that Donald Trump could seize the initiative by sorting out aid to Ukraine while keeping voters happy by making it a loan. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4591221-trump-ukraine-aid-were-thinking-about-making-it-in-the-form-of-a-loan/
Thanks for posting the YouTube @blokeuptheroad, that was informative.
Can someone point out in simpleton terms exactly what it is between the maga crowd/Putin/Ukraine?
Like I understand it's politics and all that and there's leverage but what specifically is the issue?
Does it really all boil down to the trump/zelensky thing?
And where does the Taylor green woman fit in?
Thanks
Can someone point out in simpleton terms exactly what it is between the maga crowd/Putin/Ukraine?
I dont think there is an single answer. There are different groups even within the maga crowd and then different views in still somewhat republican crowd. A few possible reasons would be:
Isolationist.
Should be concentrating on Middle East
Should be concentrating on China as an opponent.
Then getting into the maga/Trump lot
Biden supports it so we dont.
For some, including Trump, I think its because he sees strongman dictators as a goal and hence tends to side with them.
^^ A good summary and the huge culture war in America plays a big part too. A lot of the MAGA lot love Putin because he doesn't like gays/trans etc etc. I've seen that come up a lot on Twitter.
Turns out that many (the far right) in the Land of the Free only want some people to be free...
Biden supports it so we dont.
Nail:Head
In MAGA world Biden is basically Satan so he cannot be allowed any kind of win regardless of how it damages the wider interests of America.
Biden got to oversee the initial Vaccine rollout early in his term, that could have made him very popular so the MAGA crowd went hard into anti-vax conspiracies, inadvertently killing thousands of their own base in the process.
There's not much more to it than that.
If you want the conspiracy theory answer it's that the Russians helped him get into power and he needs their help to win again and/or owes them one and/or they have some sort of hold over him.
Most conspiracy theories turn out to be BS but occasionally one is correct
Can someone point out in simpleton terms exactly what it is between the maga crowd/Putin/Ukraine?
The main thing for Europeans is whether Ukraine gets much needed military aid, US politics is a sideshow in that specific context
Despite reassuring words from both Speaker Johnson and Donald Trump I'm not holding my breath. Unfortunately the conflict in Gaza has now limited support amongst US Democrats because Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan are all intertwined in the same bill, along with humanitarian aid for people in Gaza.
Aid for Ukraine (and others) would have been passed more easily months ago had Mike Johnson and Donald Trump not slowed the vote process down to stalling-point, which is your point...
Here's a short piece from 2022... https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/28/politics/trump-putin-ukraine-russia-smart/index.html and this series of letters from 2007 onward https://www.businessinsider.com/revealed-donald-trump-letters-to-vladimir-putin-miss-universe-russia-2020-8
As to Ukraine, in 2017 President Trump was the first to supply modern, more serious weapons to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank missiles. In return he wanted information that he could use in the next election against Joe Biden's campaign, which he didn't get.
Dr. Charles Kupperman, his deputy national security adviser, said that a "profanity-laced rant at a 2019 meeting when the topic of Ukraine came up, according to a former aide, falsely accusing the country of trying to defeat him in the 2016 US election."... https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-thrown-into-rage-by-subject-of-ukraine-former-aide-2022-4
And where does the Taylor green woman fit in?
She doesn't agree with funding Ukraine and acts accordingly
All of the ZNPP nuclear reactors will now be put into "cold shutdown" https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-223-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
This means that the reactors are below 200F and the cooling system is at atmospheric pressure. It'll still be a disaster if something radio-active is breached, but there's more time to sort problems out if a less critical disaster occurs. Maintenance and monitoring is still needed
A long-serving NYT correspondent who had covered Congress for over a decade was asked last year what MTG's deal was.
I'm paraphrasing him from memory but his response was along the lines of "Don't credit her with complex motives or sincere ideology, she's deeply unpleasant and not very bright everything she says and does springs from those two facts"
Sadly she's in the deepest of deep.red districts so unlike many of her GOP collegues she can be as bonkers as she wants without having to worry much about the voters and she has a very rich father who bankrolled her into that position in the first place so she doesn't have to seek donations.
This is what happens if you entertain the headbangers, next thing you know they're running the show.
just read a story about "double tap" missle strikes by russia. sickening
A tactic honed in Syria and specifically designed to kill Ambulance crews.
This is Putin's Russia, please remember that whenever someone is carping on saying that if we just give him what he wants the everything will be fine amd we'll all have free petrol.
his response was along the lines of “Don’t credit her (MTG) with complex motives or sincere ideology, she’s deeply unpleasant and not very bright everything she says and does springs from those two facts”
sounds like the US version of Liz Truss!
I'm hoping Liz doesnt turn up in parliament with "sex pics" of someone she doesnt like on a display board, which MTG has.
You know what, I cant tell reality from fantasy anymore with those MAGA headbangers. I really need to double check that actually happened.
hatterFull Member
A tactic honed in Syria and specifically designed to kill Ambulance crews.
IRA used it for years.
“Former President Trump on Friday signaled an openness to Republicans approving additional aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia if it came in the form of a loan.”
US Speaker Mike Johnson has had the idea of "new House bills (to) provide roughly the same amount of foreign aid as the Senate bill but would include differences including some aid in the form of a loan"... "Three of the four bills Johnson suggested would cover Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. The makeup of the fourth was not immediately clear." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/long-delayed-ukraine-israel-aid-bill-could-hit-us-house-floor-soon-2024-04-15/
This will further delay aid to Ukraine while the detail is discussed, voted on, passed to the Senate, discussed, voted on...
Also don't forget that Zelensky was the president that Trump was trying to bribe to get dirt on Hunter Biden, so there's also personal animus between them. For much of the Alt-Right/ Far-Right in the US Putin is also a fellow Christian and running his country in a way that they like, they think he's strongly anti LBGTI, pro family and very much anti-woke. He may or may not be aligned with their philosophy, but he's happy to use it to undermine support for Ukraine in the same way that he uses things like NATO encroachment and anti EU rhetoric to gain support amongst the left
As much as I wish the US would hurry up and sort Ukraine funding out, the rest of NATO could and should be doing a lot more. Yes, only the US really have the military industrial capacity to provide mass shipments of ammunition and weapons systems in the short-term but other countries aren't expanding their capacity quickly enough and now the expired and legacy stuff they've already sent has largely been exhausted they're just back to talking about supporting Ukraine rather than sending the volume of supplies they actually need.
All of the ZNPP nuclear reactors will now be put into “cold shutdown” https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-223-iaea-director-general-statement-on-situation-in-ukraine
This means that the reactors are below 200F and the cooling system is at atmospheric pressure. It’ll still be a disaster if something radio-active is breached, but there’s more time to sort problems out if a less critical disaster occurs. Maintenance and monitoring is still needed
They've only had one in hot shutdown at any one time, just listened to a presentation on this.
An S400 air defence missile system has been destroyed in Crimea. From reports it appears to be the whole system and not just the relatively easy-to-replace launchers
"Damage to the latest S-400 system has been confirmed, with the launcher being blown up and serious damage done to the other machines of the system"
It doesn't seem to be the work of the Atesh resistance movement, who have confirmed the damage, and some on SM are attributing the strikes to ATACMS, which is ironic because the S400 is billed as capable of destroying similar systems https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/04/17/7451658/
An explosion is reported at an ammunition factory at Glascoed.
Yep, Wales. Fortunately, no injuries are reported, which I'm taking as no fatalities (but that isn't specified) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68836649
80% of general munitions for the British Army are made there, which may impact on supplies to Ukraine as well
US Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping for a vote on Donald Trump's suggested loan aid to Ukraine on Saturday 21st.
Congress begins recess on Friday 20th and doesn't return for a week. Unless the Senate schedules something during recess it's hard to see progress before the end of April.
Mike Johnson could just put the oven-ready deal on the floor to vote now and it'll be signed by President Biden before the end of this week.
The discharge motion to avoid Johnson is stuck at 195/218
What I don’t get is that there are 20 Democrats who haven’t signed that bill 🤷♂️
An explosion is reported at an ammunition factory at Glascoed.
Yep, Wales. Fortunately, no injuries are reported, which I’m taking as no fatalities (but that isn’t specified) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68836649
80% of general munitions for the British Army are made there, which may impact on supplies to Ukraine as well
Did you actually read that report you linked?
Mate of mine who was riding with us tonight works in the Glascoed munitions factory. Luckily he does WFH on a wednesday. He didn't know much more about the explosion other than it didn't appear to be overly serious.
Did you actually read that report you linked?
Yes. If you're asking about fatalities then it isn't spelled out; fatalities are often separated from injuries
If it's something else then you'll need to clarify your point
80% of general munitions for the British Army are made there, which may impact on supplies to Ukraine as well
If it’s something else then you’ll need to clarify your point
From the article:
"It said there were no injuries and no risk to local residents and production was unaffected".
Post re-appeared...
I'll try that again...post disappeared
I think that I was victim of a ninja-edit. Unlike the BBC I have 15 minutes to edit a post
timba Free Member
An explosion is reported...snip...may impact on supplies to Ukraine as well
Posted 15 hours ago
The current BBC article is timed 14 hours ago and David Davies MP made his comments at 6:08pm (according to the S.Wales Argus)
I try to verify stuff before posting, it doesn't always work out 🙂
Russian bomber factory attacked overnight. Amount of damage unconfirmed.
Some other views on the progress of the war in Ukraine:
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Saturday that the situation on the frontline in eastern Ukraine has “significantly worsened” in recent days as Russian forces are making steady gains.
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/us-official-admits-ukraine-proxy-war-failing-to-weaken-russia/
A top US official said that Russia has reconstituted nearly all of its military losses in Ukraine. A core objective for the White House’s $130 billion proxy war in Ukraine was to inflict “strategic defeat” on Russia and leave its forces crippled.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for New American Security, a major pro-war DC think tank, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell lamented that Moscow has quickly recovered from any losses sustained on the battlefield.
https://archive.fo/vqPa8. Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries deepen tensions with U.S.
BRUSSELS — When Vice President Harris met privately with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in February, she told the Ukrainian leader something he didn’t want to hear: Refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries, a tactic U.S. officials believed would raise global energy prices and invite more aggressive Russian retaliation inside Ukraine.
The request, according to officials familiar with the matter, irritated Zelensky and his top aides, who view Kyiv’s string of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities as a rare bright spot in a grinding war with a bigger and better equipped foe.
I do wonder if the delay in US providing aid might be more than just a trump vs biden thing, and that other factors such as ukraine going after oil refineries with their home grown drones is part of it
The general tone of reporting for the last few weeks is ukraine is struggling and Russia is grinding them down. Unless there is some sort of break through for ukraine its not looking good for them short to medium term. One upside for them seems to be they are slowly degrading russias capabilites in Crimea. You'd think that would force the redeployment of resources from the north / east and slow their advance but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I do wonder if the delay in US providing aid might be more than just a trump vs biden thing
I've just read this... MTG is proposing some unconventional amendments to the Ukraine and Israel bills. She's been told not to vacate the US Speaker, Mike Johnson as ^^.
I'll leave you to read the article https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-ukraine-aid-billl-join-army-mike-johnson-republicans-1891582
MTG famously told Emily Maitlis to F-off on the subject of space lasers
I have checked...
https://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/GREENE_217_xml240417151816177.pdf
https://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/GREENE_223_xml240417175751235.pdf
cc @kormoran
The general tone of reporting for the last few weeks is ukraine is struggling and Russia is grinding them down.
It's true to say that Russia has an advantage ATM, however, Russia isn't making the gains that you'd expect with that advantage
They also seem to making a similar attempt to gain a city by May 9th (Victory Day) as in previous years. The current attacks on Chasiv Yar would achieve this and better secure Russian logistics too.
The BBC has been running a report that 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the last 2 years. To put that into some context, most of them are not professional soldiers, but civilians conscripted or let out of prison. And 50,000 sounds like a lot but the Israelis have killed that many Palestinians, out of a much smaller total population, with barely a squeak from the world. So to misquote Mark Twain, I'd say that reports of Russia's demise are exaggerated.
The BBC has been running a report that 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the last 2 years.
If you look at the report they suggest the number is far higher.
The 50k is the number that based on graves and other research they feel is unquestionable.
Yes, probably closer to 500,000 than 50,000.
Re russian progress, there was an interesting vid linked somewhere above that said in a nutshell russia can only advance a maximum of as far as a man with kit can march per day, because any form of mobilised advanced is destroyed by drones.
Ukrainian Troops Staged A Daring Three-Night Raid To Steal A Russian Tank Fitted With A New Drone-Jammer
This is a good read, these guys have balls of steel.
Russia lost another bomber. That's a big, expensive piece of kit.
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1781177501491872064