Zelensky Speaks in PA

[Klaus]

@George-K said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

Foreign leader expresses a preference for one candidate on US soil having just traveled at taxpayer expense for photo-op.

Is this a problem?

Eh, why is this a problem? Isn't that pretty normal?

If Trump were president and a foreign leader would express a preference for Trump in the next election while on a US trip - would that be a problem? I don't think so either.

[Doctor Phibes]

Israel receives a shit ton of money in military aid from the US, and nobody on the right ever complains when Bibi insults the Democrats, because as we know they're all antisemites.

[Mik]

@Jolly said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

What if this was the Chinese leader, being flown in on the American dollar to speak on possible tariffs?

China is an adversary. Ukraine is not.

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

Israel receives a shit ton of money in military aid from the US, and nobody on the right ever complains when Bibi insults the Democrats, because as we know they're all antisemites.

Dems are anti-semites, and Republicans are Russian operatives. Facts.

It's difficult to leave the house without being surrounded by anti-semites and Russian operatives. That's why I don't leave the house.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Horace said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

Israel receives a shit ton of money in military aid from the US, and nobody on the right ever complains when Bibi insults the Democrats, because as we know they're all antisemites.

Dems are anti-semites, and Republicans are Russian operatives. Facts.

It's difficult to leave the house without being surrounded by anti-semites and Russian operatives. That's why I don't leave the house.

What do you do if you're an antisemitic Russian operative?

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

@Horace said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

Israel receives a shit ton of money in military aid from the US, and nobody on the right ever complains when Bibi insults the Democrats, because as we know they're all antisemites.

Dems are anti-semites, and Republicans are Russian operatives. Facts.

It's difficult to leave the house without being surrounded by anti-semites and Russian operatives. That's why I don't leave the house.

What do you do if you're an antisemitic Russian operative?

You never show your face on the internet, that's for sure. Nobody will like you.

[Mik]

@Horace Well, you don't TELL them that, anyway.

[George K]

@Klaus said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

Eh, why is this a problem? Isn't that pretty normal?

Let's put it differently.

Vlad Putin makes a stop in the United States. He visits an arms factory, where he praises Trump, saying that Biden is to unstable and senile. He thinks Harris will follow Biden's policies.

And the US Air Force flies him from Washington to Pennsylvania.

[Horace]

@Mik said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

@Horace Well, you don't TELL them that, anyway.

People are so incredibly smart, though. They sniff out the anti-semites and Russian operatives without those people ever admitting it.

[Mik]

True, 'dat.

[jon-nyc]

@George-K Again, Putin is an adversary

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

@George-K Again, Putin is an adversary

OK, would you be OK with Pierre Castreaux expressing his political preferences after a flight on a USAF transport?

[Mik]

is Pierre fighting for his country's very existence?

[Horace]

Even if Americans, in their luxury beliefs, have abandoned a psychological attachment to national self-interest, we can rest assured that other countries giving us their opinions about our politics, are exclusively concerned with their own self-interest.

[Renauda]

@Mik said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

is Pierre fighting for his country's very existence?

Not his country’s very interests but certainly his very own political interest.

Actually I would have a problem if any serving Canadian PM was being flown around any foreign country on anything other than his designated CAF aircraft.

In any event the question is moot.

Zelensky represents 38 million disenfranchised stakeholders in the upcoming US election. I too would be concerned if the victor of the next election would have no qualms appeasing the Kremlin in undermining my country’s sovereignty and right to exist as an independent nation state.

Contrary to what some people think Ukraine is not Kurdistan; an ethnic entity that merely exists as an aspiration that can be bartered and sold as a chattel of back room diplomacy.

[jon-nyc]

George - your post implies he flew to PA to make those comments but the article says he made them in a New Yorker interview.

[xenon]

The U.S. is shouldering a ton of cost for Ukraine - this is a tired point, but isn't depleting Russia's military power cost effective for the U.S. in the long term? The two biggest potential adversaries we have are China and Russia. Don't our military expenditures go up if Russia wins?

Maybe there's an argument to be made about the unpredictability of a cornered adversary.

[taiwan_girl]

@xenon said in Zelensky Speaks in PA:

The U.S. is shouldering a ton of cost for Ukraine

Saw a paper that talked about the economic impact the "money to Ukraine" has had on local economies as actually the money is generally going to weapon manufacturing and the associated businesses.

(Yes, it is being spent on Ukraine, but the impact is in the US. But I guess that is the same with most arms sales.)

[Renauda]

@taiwan_girl

Subsidies in the form of government contracts to munitions manufacturers and service companies. Most technical assistance through USEXIM bank to developing countries is similar.

[Jolly]

Yeah, but the U.S. military has depleted stocks of munitions that are not easily replaced, so it's a two-edged sword.