Putin's Party

GOPers who wanted us to stay in Afganistan where we were losing, want us to pull aid from Ukraine where we are winning. If you want to stop Putin, vote Blue. Who would have thought that the party of Reagan would become Putin apologists.

Flying with Zelensky

What a difference a government makes.  Starting in Viet Nam and ending in Afghanistan, we supported governments with no popular support.  No matter the amount of military training and equipment, like humpty dumpty, those governments fell, and could not be put back together.  When we prop up an unpopular leader we fall.

Ukranians love and respect Zelensky.  Short of risking a nuclear confrontation, we benefit from every weapon we supply to Ukraine.  With little effort on our part, a rogue state is drained of men, material and prestige.  Each tank that is stopped, each plane that is downed, is one less weapon aimed at our European allies.

A no fly zone risks armed confrontation with Russian planes.  That is a no go.  But supplying aircraft protects Ukraine and furthers our objectives.  We preserve a democracy  on Putin's flank and decimate his air force.

We can do more.  We should stage a large NATO exercise as close to Moscow as possible.  A paranoid regime will counter by deploying forces between NATO and Moscow.  This will preclude sending additional troops to Ukraine, and may even precipitate a partial withdrawal.  

Ukraine was already a friend.  But the enemy of our enemy, is an even better friend.

Moral Bankruptcy

Trump is famous for his bankruptcies.  Many of us who have fallen victim to the house edge at the tables or the slots, have pondered how a casino could loose money.  But far worse. and even more inexplicable, was squandering the post World War II moral capital that had been so carefully hoarded and invested by past presidents.

Attacking our democratic allies while penning love letters to autocrats siphoned resources as did caging children, and tearing infants from their mothers.  But the final blow was undermining confidence in our system of free and fair elections.  The big lie soundly rejected by 60 courts, still echoes in the hearts of many Trump voters.

Without our moral beacon spotlighting atrocities, despots felt immune.  Putin poisoned Navalny, and when he survived, and had the temerity to return, sentenced him to prison.  As citizens, our recourse against Trump was at the ballot box.  Navalny has the right to eviscerate Trump.

Donald Endangers Democracy

Elections have consequences.  Give a new president a chance and wish him well. These platitudes have power in a normal election.  Progressives can hardly expect to love a Republican agenda.  If my qualms with Trump were merely on policy grounds, I would hope for the best, and work politically, to fend off the worst.

Unfortunately, Trump is not a normal president.  Democracy in its purest form is a clash of ideas.  But the battlefield must be composed of a common set of facts.  Alternative facts and the conspiracy theories they foster, tear the fabric that unites America.  A plurality of Trump supporters believe that George Soros paid women to march on the 21st of January.  The president believes massive voter fraud deprived him of winning a majority of the popular vote.  You cannot argue with crazy.  Democracy suffers when discourse dies.

Equally troubling is the Russia connection.  First lets examine the facts.  Trump has had a campaign manager and foreign policy advisor with close ties to Putin and Russia,  His soon to be Secretary of State received the highest award that can be given to a non-Russian, directly from Putin.  Russia used information from cyberattacks to help Trump and to discredit Hillary.

Trump has taken pro-Russia and pro-Putin positions for no obvious reason.  He changed the plank in the platform supporting the Ukrainian efforts to fend off Russian attacks.  He has floated plans to remove sanctions on Russia and called NATO obsolete.  The pro-Putin stance is almost as unpopular with his supporters as it is with his detractors.  He gains nothing politically.  Trump has fired the senior State Department Officials best positioned to oppose a pro-Putin policy.  The fired four served under multiple presidents.  They were fired on no notice, without replacements ready.  One of the four was on a plane to Rome to attend a non-proliferation conference, and was ordered to turn the plane around and clean out his desk.

Whether it is emotional, financial, or even darker, Putin has an untoward influence over our President.  Absent tax returns, we cannot know if his enterprises our in debt to Russian oligarchs.  Then there is the dossier that alleges that Putin is able to blackmail Trump.  The dossier is not alternate news.  The source is a former British MI6 agent who  has been a reliable source.  The claims in the dossier may not be immediately verifiable.  They may be false.  But the terrible truth is they could be real, and would explain both Russian support of Trump's candidacy and Trump's strangely pro-Russian positions.

Trump Hearts Putin

The old saw that banks are robbed because that is where the money is, parallels politicians seeking contributions form mega-banks and Wall Street.  Money buys access, but Trump has been unable to show that it has influenced Hillary's policies.

The case against Trump is much clearer.  As Trump's debt load has increased, and U.S banks have denied him loans, he has become increasingly reliant on investments from Russian Oligarchs with ties to Putin.  This has influenced the Trump campaign.  He hired Paul Manafort to run the campaign.  Manafort spent 10 years working for a pro Putin politician in the Ukraine.  The only platform the Trump campaign actively altered was that on the Ukraine.  In a stark reversal, the GOP platform no longer supports aiding the Ukraine in fending off Russian intervention.  Trump is now taking positions to undermine NATO, the primary barrier to Russian expansion.  The insult candidate has had only kind words for Putin.

Putin has returned the favor.  Russian state media is backing Trump.  Russia hacked the DNC.  Those hacked emails have been released just before the Democratic Convention, trying to drive a wedge between Sanders supporters and Hillary Clinton.

Perhaps Trump's cozy relationship with Russia is the primary reason he will never release his tax returns.

For a deeper analysis see:  http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing

Make Russia Great Again

The Republican Platform aligns with expansion of the Russian Empire. It opposes aiding Ukraine's  fight to fend off Putin supported attacks.  This will cost Trump Neo-Con electoral, financial and editorial support.  He gains nothing.

This radical departure from GOP policy is a forced error.  Trump does not benefit, but his campaign head, Paul Manafort, may.  For ten years Manafort represented Putin's man in the Ukraine, Yanukovych.  The only reasonable rationale for this plank is Putin money flowing downstream to Manafort and his firm.

Do we really want a candidate who places Russia first?

Russian to Judgement

Idealogical consistency is admirable,  political expediency-- not so much.  McCain, a decorated veteran, has supported military action under both Republican and Democratic administrations.  The Pauls, father and son, have been as forthright in opposing intervention.

Progressives have been challenged.  Many oppose bombing as they have opposed other uses of force.  While others, including the President, are propelled by concern over the flaunting of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons.  But in a corollary to Obama's cost benefit analysis based foreign policy, progressives understand another mercantile concept, you break it, you own it.  Last night the president made clear that air strikes would have a limited objective, with responsibility for Syria remaining with Syrians.

Republican chicken hawks are flying in circles. Hatred of the president is the only air beneath their wings.  Supporters of unlimited warfare in Iraq, where weapons of mass destruction were an illusion, stridently oppose limited bombings in Syrian, where WMD's are a harsh, deadly reality.

If they oppose a military solution, then clearly these Republicans must support a diplomatic resolution.  Again, not so much.  They condemn Obama for considering a Russian proposal, which, if sincere and successful, would place Syrian chemical weapons under international control.  The rub is not the terms of a possible deal, but that it is a Putin proposal.  "We are allowing Russia to dictate American foreign policy," they shout on Fox.  Who else?  Syria is a Russian client state.  Short of pounding Assad in to submission, the only path to the bargaining table is Russian pressure.

Chicken hawks are pooping all over themselves.  Hopefully, the smell of mendacity will awaken the electorate.