Part of me is hoping PASnow shows up and has a good laugh at this. That obituary says the person passed away 12 weeks ago and PA hasn’t posted in 22 weeks. So I’m just saying there’s a chance he’s taking a break and that wasn’t him.

I don’t agree with that comparison at all Monkey. The US and Russia have as much in common as any two nations with humans. Family values is important in every nation and every culture. Yea, the youth rebel against those norms before accepting and promoting them later in life. Eastern Orthodoxy is vastly different than the non-denominational Christianity found in the majority of the US. The only minor distinction is whether you think the pope is in the picture. To say nothing of the decades of secular mandates that existed through Soviet Russia.

100 years ago Russia was a non-industrious monarch that had a violent revolution that installed 60 years of communist/authoritarian rule. Their nation publicly assassinates and poisons dissidents. A nation where they actually lock up your political rivals. They’re a nation that invades nations to take over rather than a nation that replaces regimes and leaving that area to decide its own future. See Japan, Germany, Italy, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan for examples. You can argue moral differences, but land grabs through military force was supposed to have ended in the 20th century.

If you’re interested in a future that’s the least restrictive on progressive ideologies and permitting personal freedom/expression, there’s really only one side to be cheering for.

Never say never, but he certainly won’t move on the Baltic states anytime soon. He waited nearly 8 years from taking Crimea to where he’s headed now. If anything, he’d continue the use of assassination and finding friendly regimes to attract people back to his new USSR.

Attacking a NATO country would incur a military response today. I just don’t know how much longer that will be the case. Trump lambasted NATO and was derided for pointing out the pittance Europe contributes to its own defense. The US saved West Germany from Soviet rule and rebuilt Western Europe 70 years ago, but Europe is going to do its own thing. But if Europeans aren’t willing to prevent an authoritarian regime from grabbing vital land in the 21st century, Americans need to be asking themselves how many of our citizens lives and economic comfort do we sacrifice that Europeans won’t even offer up.

It’s been 30 years since the fall of the Soviet Empire, and in that time China has risen from an afterthought to one of the biggest kids in town. And Russia’s looking for friends to help do what Russia’s always done. It’s a different world today and US hegemony isn’t the case anymore.

I’m not a huge fan of Rand Paul, but god damn has he been vindicated during this whole COVID thing. CDC is now acknowledging immunity after natural infection was superior to the vaccines. Fauci’s department that he led did send money to Wuhan for gain of function research on Corona viruses. Fauci has lied repeatedly to the American people. I can’t wait for legacy media to be held to account for all of this. I really hope regulations over editorializing on social media are enacted in the next Congress. Twitter and Facebook repeatedly pushing objective falsehoods isn’t good for society.

So Hong Kong is forcing all of its residents to kill their small animals out of COVID fears. I wonder how many people in the west will obediently off their cats and dogs if the EU follows suit. I can say with all sincerity I’d go fucking Rambo before I killed or turned over either of my dogs.