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SOTU

His primary requests have been for weapons all along, in fact he’s been pretty consistent about NOT wanting us in Ukraine.

I guess seeing innocent civilians dying on TV makes paying a little bit more for gas palatable. Is that the strategy? How many thousands of lives are worth the time it takes for the strangle to take effect?

I don’t know what you want the US to do. It has to be in conjunction with Western Europe. US sanctions mean little against Russia. It’s Europe that hurts Russia. And Ukraine is asking for the no fly zone. So are u in favor of direct confrontation with Russia. ?
 
I don’t know what you want the US to do. It has to be in conjunction with Western Europe. US sanctions mean little against Russia. It’s Europe that hurts Russia. And Ukraine is asking for the no fly zone. So are u in favor of direct confrontation with Russia. ?
Maybe you can go back and read my posts. I said U.S. AND NATO.

And I didn’t say I was in favor of direct confrontation. Where do you get the stuff? We could have provided arms and training weeks ago. We could have done that on our own or coordinated/convinced NATO countries.
 
Not for anything but Zelensky wants the US and NATO in the war. Their first effort is to get us to do a no-fly zone. Essentially, the first confrontation puts us at war with Russia. While that May be something Zelensky wants, I don’t think the US wants to start a war over Ukraine.

And I think, the US and NATO believes they can strangle Russia. I expect Russian oil will be barred by next week. I think the American public will risk higher gas prices for this purpose.

This. It's clear Zelensky is trying to suck the US into this.
 
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Maybe you can go back and read my posts. I said U.S. AND NATO.

And I didn’t say I was in favor of direct confrontation. Where do you get the stuff? We could have provided arms and training weeks ago. We could have done that on our own or coordinated/convinced NATO countries.

We did though.

You just think it wasn't enough and want to blame Biden.
 
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No you didn’t. You’re reading comprehension is worse than cern’s. Not surprised though.

lol... "we" as in the United States... like when you said - "We could have provided arms and weapons"
I don't think you were referring to those of us on this board, you were talking about the United States, correct?

Well... We did.

Reading comprehension... The irony....
 
lol... "we" as in the United States... like when you said - "We could have provided arms and weapons"
I don't think you were referring to those of us on this board, you were talking about the United States, correct?

Well... We did.

Reading comprehension... The irony....
"2000 Ukrainians dead so far…I don’t know if that’s handling it well. We and NATO could have easily prepared them to defend themselves without putting boots on the ground."

I don't know...that seems pretty obvious to me....
 
You're not following.

The United States and other NATO countries DID provide weapons, supplies, money, intelligence etc.
You think it wasn't enough because people died.

You have no idea what we provided, how much we should have provided and if providing more would have had any benefit to the number of people who died. You just want to blame Biden.
 
You're not following.

The United States and other NATO countries DID provide weapons, supplies, money, intelligence etc.
You think it wasn't enough because people died.

You have no idea what we provided, how much we should have provided and if providing more would have had any benefit to the number of people who died. You just want to blame Biden.
Nice deflection…lol. Can you at least admit you misquoted me?
 
Nice deflection…lol. Can you at least admit you misquoted me?

Would if I had, but I didn't. Just read the thread.

You - "We could have provided arms and training weeks ago. We could have done that on our own or coordinated/convinced NATO countries."

Me - "We did"

You - "No you didn't"

Me - smh...
 
Would if I had, but I didn't. Just read the thread.

You - "We could have provided arms and training weeks ago. We could have done that on our own or coordinated/convinced NATO countries."

Me - "We did"

You - "No you didn't"

Me - smh...
Oh please… I clearly stated my position at the top that includes both US and NATO. Do you want to parse every single post after that now? Give me a break.

And on top of that you keep ignoring the point. We (US and/or NATO didn’t provide ENOUGH!

Biden has already proven with Afghanistan that he was reacting late and surprised. We have a difference of opinion. You just can’t accept that.
 
Oh please… I clearly stated my position at the top that includes both US and NATO. Do you want to parse every single post after that now? Give me a break.

And on top of that you keep ignoring the point. We (US and/or NATO didn’t provide ENOUGH!

Biden has already proven with Afghanistan that he was reacting late and surprised. We have a difference of opinion. You just can’t accept that.

We don't have a difference of opinion. I don't have the information I would need to actually have an opinion on the topic. Neither do you. That is my point.

You just say it wasn't enough because people died. Its a war! Of course people are going to die... You're not open to the possibility that our response was better than alternative paths. You're looking for perfection when perfection isn't a possible outcome in war.

When you say something like "Sad to say, that we could have done a lot more to prepare Ukraine in protecting their country from loss of citizen life and destruction of their country". You just have no idea what that actually would have required and what Russia's response would have been.
 
We don't have a difference of opinion. I don't have the information I would need to actually have an opinion on the topic. Neither do you. That is my point.

You just say it wasn't enough because people died. Its a war! Of course people are going to die... You're not open to the possibility that our response was better than alternative paths. You're looking for perfection when perfection isn't a possible outcome in war.

When you say something like "Sad to say, that we could have done a lot more to prepare Ukraine in protecting their country from loss of citizen life and destruction of their country". You just have no idea what that actually would have required and what Russia's response would have been.
Lol…you can only have an opinion if you have all the information? That’s precious.

The facts are, over 2,000 people have died, there are now 1.1 million refugees, Zelensky is pleading for more weaponry and he’s there, the fighting is intensifying, we knew the invasion was going to happen, we’ve seen this movie before in Afghanistan. My opinion is based on those facts. I’m not sure what facts yours is based on but we disagree. You can’t respect my opinion…that’s weird and you keep throwing this tantrum.
 
Some intel. I spoke to my nephew who trained the Ukrainians. Former Ranger who retired last year. Don’t be fooled there are plenty of Americans (probably special ops) on the ground in Ukraine and in Poland training the Ukraines and possibly carrying out a few special missions. He said bank on it. Also lots of US soldiers getting sent to Germany right now. You will hear “Germany” but that doesn’t mean they are staying in Germany. They will continue to get quiet support that will help a lot.
 
If you listened to Joe Biden during his campaign that is nothing new. The defund the police is a very small minority and I mean minuscule.

Overall, I thought he did a good job last night. During a crisis, he was Presidential and measured in his response. Not over the top. His galvanizing of Europe and our Allies is important that should not be understated.

This is the time where I think Biden is going to pick up some steam. Good to see bi partisan applause during this speech.
If the defund the police crowd is so miniscule, how did they manage to adversely impact police budgets in cities across the country, New York prime example and Minneapolis who want to get rid of their entire police frce and "reimagine" it.

Biden has been more of a follower if you look at the facts. He's known for months that the Russians had built up their forces along the Ukraine border since November. He has been late to the game in sending the needed weapons and ammuntion.

He steadfastly refuses to impact the sale of Russian Oil. We get about 10% of our oil from them. We should be energy independent as we were when he took office. He is doing very little in encouraging more production from US companies. He is a prisoner of the climate extremists. Even Nancy Pelosi has come out in favor of stopping the sale of Russian oil.

The real unifier in this tragedy is Ukraine President Zelenskyy.

Biden's demeanor has been calm and measured, I'll give him credit for that. He needs to get more creative in supporting the Ukraine. Well, his handlers need to get more creative.

WH is considering sending Kamala Harris to Eastern Europe. God Help US!!!!
 
Not sure how independents saw it. In my opinion, I thought that independents would react favorably. 1) Ukraine part of the speech was very good that both sides of the aisle could like, 2) Strong support for police, 3) Support of veterans that were exposed to burning pits, 3) trying to get prices for insulin down, 4)His messaging on Covid is ending and the country will be opening up, 5) Taking credit for the infrastructure bill which is by far his biggest accomplishment and what it will mean. Overall, I think is appealing to all not just independents.

I agree with you that gas prices will hurt him, However, he is taking steps to stem the rise in prices by releasing reserves. Let's see how this goes. It will also be interesting if the US and Europe completely shut Russian oil down. Quite frankly, I would love to see this. but prices will shoot up. I. think the rise in prices will be worth it to strangle Russia.
Releasing what amounts to about two days supply from the oil reserves will hardly move the needle.
 
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https://www.kron4.com/news/national...-approval-stands-ahead-of-state-of-the-union/

The questions last night were did Biden demonstrate confidence and competence to turn around the approval numbers.

SOTU speeches are normally cheerleading events, but given the polls, he needed to show some command and control rather than being a reactive President.

Sidenote: After watching Pelosi for a while, my wife suggested I look up the diagnosis for tardive dyskinesia.
I don't know if Pelosi has tardive dyskinesia (thank you Google) but her bulging eyes and totally phony joy at the very sound of Biden's voice made me ill.
 
Interesting people pointing out Nancy Pelosi's face and knuckle rubbing and not a word about those two nitwits Green and Boebert shouting during Biden's speech. Cause those two gals are all class.
Agree that Green and Boebert shouldn't have interuppted... they were following the Nancy Pelosi "disrespect the President" script that she owns.
 
We are buying more oil from Russia the last few years that is a fact and there are reasons for it that make sense but now those reasons have to go. It is all true. Is it true we shut down the pipeline? Is it true that since Biden has been in they have made it harder to get new wells approved? All true and part of the green initiative when we don't have enough green alternatives to invest in. And why do you think they want more EVs but they won't give rebates and incentives for any EV producer that isn't union?

The large increase in Russian oil started in 2019, after Trump ballwashed Putin in Helsinki.

 
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Whataboutism? Who’s letting Trump off the hook? Cmon man….

Was just providing context to the Russian oil increase, we also bought alot under Obama.

It's not whataboutism to reference past history.
 
Was just providing context to the Russian oil increase, we also bought alot under Obama.

It's not whataboutism to reference past history.
“Ballwashed” Is that a contextual term? Lol

And what does that have to do with anything right now. Was Putin invading Ukraine during Trump or Obama’s presidency?
 
Maybe you can go back and read my posts. I said U.S. AND NATO.

And I didn’t say I was in favor of direct confrontation. Where do you get the stuff? We could have provided arms and training weeks ago. We could have done that on our own or coordinated/convinced NATO countries.
My reading comprehension is just fine. Yours on the other hand is suspect. I asked you a question on whether you want direct confrontation with Russia. Not a statement. That squigly line indicates a question and not a statement.

You are making an argument that no matter what occurred, you can criticize Biden as not doing a good job or not enough. If it was 500 Ukrainians that died you would still be making the same argument.

Let's face it, no matter what occurred, you would criticize Biden. And since this is the US and NATO countries, every single leader of the what is essentially the free world you Hall 85 think you know better than all of them. And I don’t care how much military equipment was given, this is a war and people are goin mg to die especially seeing how Russia prosecutes a war. Without having NATO and US Air Force involved, there are going to be a lot of casualties.

So if you are calling for no-fly zone, then at least your argument would be consistent. Murray intervention by NATO would be consistent in your argument. However, u said you against direct confrontation.

Otherwise, you on your high horse saying 2000 people died that didn’t need to die is ridiculous. Nothing would have stopped Russia. And unfortunately nothing would have prevented Ukrainians from dying in this war.
 
My reading comprehension is just fine. Yours on the other hand is suspect. I asked you a question on whether you want direct confrontation with Russia. Not a statement. That squigly line indicates a question and not a statement.

You are making an argument that no matter what occurred, you can criticize Biden as not doing a good job or not enough. If it was 500 Ukrainians that died you would still be making the same argument.

Let's face it, no matter what occurred, you would criticize Biden. And since this is the US and NATO countries, every single leader of the what is essentially the free world you Hall 85 think you know better than all of them. And I don’t care how much military equipment was given, this is a war and people are goin mg to die especially seeing how Russia prosecutes a war. Without having NATO and US Air Force involved, there are going to be a lot of casualties.

So if you are calling for no-fly zone, then at least your argument would be consistent. Murray intervention by NATO would be consistent in your argument. However, u said you against direct confrontation.

Otherwise, you on your high horse saying 2000 people died that didn’t need to die is ridiculous. Nothing would have stopped Russia. And unfortunately nothing would have prevented Ukrainians from dying in this war.
Nice rant...you seem content to support Biden no matter what he does and your history of partisan posts support that. Sorry, but you're just not objective.

Happy to answer that question. I don't think up until now that we (nor NATO) should have engaged in direct confrontation with Russia in Ukraine. The focus should have been on training and arming the Ukrainians to the best of our ability and before the anticipated invasion. I think we should all be concerned with the takeover of the nuclear power plant. We and NATO need to have a Plan B ready to execute, because this could have grave consequences for Europe if Putin either takes the plant out of service or worse which I don't want to even suggest. But no problem...we are going to confiscate a few yachts as some point in the future.
 
“Ballwashed” Is that a contextual term? Lol

And what does that have to do with anything right now. Was Putin invading Ukraine during Trump or Obama’s presidency?

You don't think foreign policy from a previous president effects events in the future?

Openly politicking to cancel NATO, opining that Putin was to be believed over US intelligence in front of the world, holding up foreign aid to try and bribe Zelensky into investigating a potential political opponent.

This is not a pro Biden post. But cause and effect is real. Were witnessing that now with rampant inflation.

Cmon man.
 
Nice rant...you seem content to support Biden no matter what he does and your history of partisan posts support that. Sorry, but you're just not objective.

Happy to answer that question. I don't think up until now that we (nor NATO) should have engaged in direct confrontation with Russia in Ukraine. The focus should have been on training and arming the Ukrainians to the best of our ability and before the anticipated invasion. I think we should all be concerned with the takeover of the nuclear power plant. We and NATO need to have a Plan B ready to execute, because this could have grave consequences for Europe if Putin either takes the plant out of service or worse which I don't want to even suggest. But no problem...we are going to confiscate a few yachts as some point in the future.

No one here has been "supporting Biden" on this issue. We're Just not criticizing him because most of us recognize how complex this situation is. You seem to be implying that the US could have prevented Ukrainians from being killed but you have no idea what we sent and if sending more could have prevented Russia from attacking. Bluntly, we don't have enough to send if Russia goes full bore here.

I'm sure we have a plan B, C, D, E, F... etc... We gather intelligence, plan, prepare and respond.
 
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You don't think foreign policy from a previous president effects events in the future?

Openly politicking to cancel NATO, opining that Putin was to be believed over US intelligence in front of the world, holding up foreign aid to try and bribe Zelensky into investigating a potential political opponent.

This is not a pro Biden post. But cause and effect is real. Were witnessing that now with rampant inflation.

Cmon man.
You're all over the board here....of course foreign policy of previous Presidents have impacts. I was responding to knies post which he backtracked immediately on and only then included Obama:

"The large increase in Russian oil started in 2019, after Trump ballwashed Putin in Helsinki."

That was all he wrote.
 
No one here has been "supporting Biden" on this issue. We're Just not criticizing him because most of us recognize how complex this situation is.
So are you agreeing with his strategy (which would be supporting) or do you just have no opinion?
 
Stopping Russian oil purchases should be number one now on the agenda and this is strongly gaining bipartisan support and was a no brainer from the start. By the way taking shipments of Russian oil now is taboo anyway because the maritime insurance has gone through the roof for all Russian shipping. So it becomes an easier decision for Dems now. We are helping to fund their war with anywhere from 4-7% (depending on the source you read) of our oil purchases coming from Russia. Now that it won't be coming anyway say it and look for alternatives that are not Iran or OPEC.

Adding more capacity for the US to produce and pump oil is a no brainer and we can help our allies but the Dems refuse to budge on this point. It is silly and without immediate non fossil fuel alternatives very dangerous. If we want to tap it we have more oil than the Saudis. And we can produce more and help our allies. It can be done and fairly quickly. It is a big problem with the current administration because they made too many promises to the climate change folks but the reality is us and the world are still very dependent on fossil fuels. This is one of the reasons Putin went ahead. In 5-10 years that may not be the case and he loses his one main economic bargaining chip. Taking away Russian oligarch yachts isn't gonna cut it. Have to hit him hard and show we don't need his main money making export.

The Germans woke up now and leading the way with NATO. Thank goodness Merkel is not at the helm or worse Schroeder who is on multiple Russian oil boards.
 
So are you agreeing with his strategy (which would be supporting) or do you just have no opinion?

Yes. We've provided weapons, supplies, money, intelligence etc.
I agree with that.

We have been working with our allies to continue to add sanctions on Russia.
I agree with that.

What the intelligence supports for what is needed in those regards, I have no idea.
 
"2000 Ukrainians dead so far…I don’t know if that’s handling it well. We and NATO could have easily prepared them to defend themselves without putting boots on the ground."

I don't think any of us here know enough to understand what our options were and if that is true or not. Maybe Putin selling a war against America in Ukraine would have been a much easier sell than a war against Ukrainians in Ukraine. Maybe they don't empty the gas in their tanks if they are fighting America's war machine?

2,000 dead is obviously bad, but we have no idea what the alternate paths could have looked like. Just guessing.
And how many russian military?
 
Yes. We've provided weapons, supplies, money, intelligence etc.
I agree with that.

We have been working with our allies to continue to add sanctions on Russia.
I agree with that.

What the intelligence supports for what is needed in those regards, I have no idea.
So you're supporting his position....after you said you weren't. Got it.
 
So you're supporting his position....after you said you weren't. Got it.

lol... stop playing gotcha. You support providing weapons, supplies, money, intelligence etc.

You're just the only one here criticizing our response as not being enough, which is a position which you have no basis for outside of politics.
 
lol... stop playing gotcha. You support providing weapons, supplies, money, intelligence etc.

You're just the only one here criticizing our response as not being enough, which is a position which you have no basis for outside of politics.
Nooo...I'm not the "only one"...several others have suggested the same.

You like to play "gotcha" all day...it doesn't feel so good when the shoe is on the other foot and you get caught, right?

Your turn...wash, rinse, repeat...just because you keep repeating the same thing, won't make it right.
 
Stopping Russian oil purchases should be number one now on the agenda and this is strongly gaining bipartisan support and was a no brainer from the start. By the way taking shipments of Russian oil now is taboo anyway because the maritime insurance has gone through the roof for all Russian shipping. So it becomes an easier decision for Dems now. We are helping to fund their war with anywhere from 4-7% (depending on the source you read) of our oil purchases coming from Russia. Now that it won't be coming anyway say it and look for alternatives that are not Iran or OPEC.

Adding more capacity for the US to produce and pump oil is a no brainer and we can help our allies but the Dems refuse to budge on this point. It is silly and without immediate non fossil fuel alternatives very dangerous. If we want to tap it we have more oil than the Saudis. And we can produce more and help our allies. It can be done and fairly quickly. It is a big problem with the current administration because they made too many promises to the climate change folks but the reality is us and the world are still very dependent on fossil fuels. This is one of the reasons Putin went ahead. In 5-10 years that may not be the case and he loses his one main economic bargaining chip. Taking away Russian oligarch yachts isn't gonna cut it. Have to hit him hard and show we don't need his main money making export.

The Germans woke up now and leading the way with NATO. Thank goodness Merkel is not at the helm or worse Schroeder who is on multiple Russian oil boards.
It's not that easy and far more complicated. For our part, we only get like 7% of our oil from Russia. The trickier part is Europe and other allies who depend on far more Russian oil. They are the ones that will get crushed by sanctioning Russian oil. I heard that if this is done, we can expect to pay over $200 a barrel. That's double.

In essense I agree that we should stop all Russian imports for the US. But it has to be in conjunction with Europe and they are going to be far more impacted by that. We need the Middle East and US production to ramp up in conjunction with any ban of Russian oil globally.
I do not think the US has enough oil production capacity to help Europe much. However, I could be mistaken.

This is not an easy call by no means due to the huge economic ramifications that will follow. Those ramifications are far above any of our heads.
 
It's not that easy and far more complicated. For our part, we only get like 7% of our oil from Russia. The trickier part is Europe and other allies who depend on far more Russian oil. They are the ones that will get crushed by sanctioning Russian oil. I heard that if this is done, we can expect to pay over $200 a barrel. That's double.

In essense I agree that we should stop all Russian imports for the US. But it has to be in conjunction with Europe and they are going to be far more impacted by that. We need the Middle East and US production to ramp up in conjunction with any ban of Russian oil globally.
I do not think the US has enough oil production capacity to help Europe much. However, I could be mistaken.

This is not an easy call by no means due to the huge economic ramifications that will follow. Those ramifications are far above any of our heads.
My post was about the US. It is a no brainer to ban Russia oil now especially because the US oil companies are not taking any more Russia oil shipments. We have tons of capacity but the Biden administration want to slow approvals of permits and is fighting the climate change folks on drilling on protected government lands where we can drill. They also don't want any pipelines either allowing US producers to more efficiently send gas and oil to even other parts of our country. They would rather send the money to Iran and other OPEC countries which is sad. We have the oil and oil companies will line up to get it.
 
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My post was about the US. It is a no brainer to ban Russia oil now especially because the US oil companies are not taking any more Russia oil shipments. We have tons of capacity but the Biden administration want to slow approvals of permits and is fighting the climate change folks on drilling on protected government lands where we can drill. They also don't want any pipelines either allowing US producers to more efficiently send gas and oil to even other parts of our country. They would rather send the money to Iran and other OPEC countries which is sad. We have the oil and oil companies will line up to get it.
If its just the US banning Russian oil, I am not sure that is very effective effective in hurting Russia. Meanwhile, what will that mean to our own gas prices? I am just not sure what that would mean. Again, I do agree with you that the US should ban Russian oil. We can live with higher gas prices in this circumstance. However, what I really want to see is that Europe and all our allies sanction Russian oil and ban all imports. That would absolutely strangle and wreck the Russian economy.

Btw, what happens to all those American Lukoil gas station owners if the ban occurs?
 
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Nooo...I'm not the "only one"...several others have suggested the same.

Not really. You're the only one making intelligence assessments on how much we provided and should have provided and that the outcome would have been different.

You have no understanding of what that actually means though. You just want to blame Biden.
 
The large increase in Russian oil started in 2019, after Trump ballwashed Putin in Helsinki.

Very interesting chart. Is there a more recent version? I would love to see the comparison of what we produce here in US vs what we use in the US and what we export / import over time. I know.. Google is my friend.... but if you could point me to the sources... would be most appreciated.

So much politics comes into this discussion that I hardly trust the spokespersons for the political parties anymore. For instance, Psaki, when asked about opening up oil production in the US gives a curt answer "ask the oil people... they have plenty of leases they could drill." The oil people tell a different story about how the uncertainty caused by the Green agenda keep them from drilling on leases that may or may not produce.
Stopping Russian oil purchases should be number one now on the agenda and this is strongly gaining bipartisan support and was a no brainer from the start. By the way taking shipments of Russian oil now is taboo anyway because the maritime insurance has gone through the roof for all Russian shipping. So it becomes an easier decision for Dems now. We are helping to fund their war with anywhere from 4-7% (depending on the source you read) of our oil purchases coming from Russia. Now that it won't be coming anyway say it and look for alternatives that are not Iran or OPEC.

Adding more capacity for the US to produce and pump oil is a no brainer and we can help our allies but the Dems refuse to budge on this point. It is silly and without immediate non fossil fuel alternatives very dangerous. If we want to tap it we have more oil than the Saudis. And we can produce more and help our allies. It can be done and fairly quickly. It is a big problem with the current administration because they made too many promises to the climate change folks but the reality is us and the world are still very dependent on fossil fuels. This is one of the reasons Putin went ahead. In 5-10 years that may not be the case and he loses his one main economic bargaining chip. Taking away Russian oligarch yachts isn't gonna cut it. Have to hit him hard and show we don't need his main money making export.

The Germans woke up now and leading the way with NATO. Thank goodness Merkel is not at the helm or worse Schroeder who is on multiple Russian oil boards.
I heard yesterday that Pelosi was calling for a boycott of Russian oil..... don't know if she was favoring US increase in Production.

US govt just needs to get out of the way of the Oil producers and let them do what they do best..... this Psaki talk that Oil companies holding back is pure gaslighting. Yes they have untapped leases... but that's the rub.... they are untapped and not sure to contain what they need. They need assurances that they will not be knee capped by additional government controls. Green agenda is definitely a factor in the oil situation and as we see can be counter to our national security. An unintended consequence perhaps.... but nonetheless ... points out the short sightedness of the Green agenda goals.
 
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You can have both the green agenda and be energy independent until we have more available alternatives. It is very possible.
 
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