Even in war, the GOP's search for ways to undermine Biden never ends

[Zorro]

Republicans’ undiminished backing of former president Donald Trump (Russia’s most effective propagandist) — and their acquittal of him for extorting the current international hero, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, by withholding military aid — must weigh heavily on them. Desperate not only to show they really are tough on Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but also that President Biden is weak, they somewhat comically keep complaining that Biden is not doing “enough” to aid Ukraine.

When the first tranche of sanctions against Russia came out, Republicans insisted this was insufficient — only to have both the European Union and the Biden administration layer on, day after day, the most crippling sanctions against a country of this size in history. Then the cry went up to knock Russia off SWIFT, the international bank-messaging system. Biden did one better, cutting off Russia’s central bank. (Certain banks were removed from SWIFT, but the silly obsession of the SWIFT chorus is illustrated by the plethora of workarounds available to Russia, including “bilateral systems using phones, faxes or messaging apps with an overseas partner,” as Reuters explained.)

Despite Republicans’ whining, the tightly coordinated E.U. and U.S. sanctions are bringing Russia’s economy to its knees. The ruble hits a new low practically every day, having lost as of Monday more than 80 percent of its value against the dollar. As the Financial Times reported, “Moscow’s equity markets are suspended, trading in many Russian companies listed abroad is halted, and bonds are almost impossible to trade.” Things are so awful, Russians are now pouring out of the country, and oligarchs are grumbling. (“Russians are fleeing the country as sanctions lead to closed borders, food rationing and the actual threat of a banking system collapse within days,” Forbes reports.)

Then, the Republicans — who just days ago were decrying rising fuel prices — decided that cutting off Russian oil imports would be the telltale sign we really were getting tough on Russia. Yet as former auto industry czar Steven Rattner explains: “That would be a noble — but utterly meaningless — gesture. In 2020, only 0.4% of our crude oil came from Russia (and our imports of oil constituted just 1% of Russia’s oil exports).”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/08/republicans-criticize-biden-despite-success-resisting-russia/

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Whine, whine, whine. Is that only what Republicans do? Gee, somehow, if I didn't know that these

people weren't republicans in this article already, I'd say that they're advocating for the Russians, that they are cowards and without a spine, for example, representative marco rubio is already saying that don't do anything, we might start war III!

I don't want to sound too sarcastic here, but I can't help myself, so according to Marco Rubio, we, as Americans, champions of Freedom everywhere across the Globe, aren't supposed to do a damn thing against Russian aggression, and let Russia continue being a 'bully'? I seem to remember that France helped Americans defeat the British military, by stepping forward, and helping the Americans, and enabling America to exist apart from British rule.

And this whining from Rubio is coming from someone whose parents fled Cuba? Also, Rubio was awful ignorant in revealing material that the Ukrainian representative said to please don't reveal this information and Rubio, being the god-awful foreign relations expert that he is, promptly revealed this information, putting the Ukrainian leader in harm's way.

We should be proud as Americans to help Ukraine in their fight for freedom from a very obvious aggressor and attacker. It doesn't mean don't be stupid in helping Ukraine, as I suspect that the Russian effort in attacking Ukraine shows Russian overconfidence in their military, which is now being revealed as a big farce. Ironic that the Russians themselves caused this situation by gross corruption by obviously those that supply the Russian Army its supplies, materials, etc. (Putin's buddies, the other Russian billionaires of course).

Sure, War is always a possibility, and has been really since the end of WWII, when the Cold War settled down upon us all, and literally is still in effect. So, in truth, what is so different today? I see people panicking, preaching Doom and Gloom, but War has always been a possibility since the end of WWII.

What's really funny is that the United States, under the leadership of our vaunted republicans in Congress and the Executive Branches of government over the last several decades, seemed to swallow stories of Russian invincibility and Russian (remember the 8 republican representatives that went to Moscow, probably given a show of Russian military might in private).

I was hoping that earlier Russian efforts to become a nation that elected its leaders versus someone unilaterally appointing themselves 'President for Life', would succeed. Maybe now, enough Russian Men and Women will see for themselves just truly what kind of leaders they have and do something about it finally. Perhaps if too many of them die?