It's true. A corrupt dictator is standing in the way of peace in Ukraine. He has conscripted hundreds of thousands of boys and men who have been maimed and killed. He has used this war to advance his personal political ambitions. He has banned opposition parties and removed political opponents. He has outlawed all media that is critical of his decisions.
His irresponsible behaviour is threatening world peace and making a nuclear conflagration more likely.
His name is Vladimir Putin.
OPINION: Here’s where I piss the other half of you off.
JD saying that the United States best path forward was diplomacy isn’t a bad thing. The Russian war machine has survived the sanctions and weapons provided to date from a certain perspective, and the next best step is to just pull out the table and figure it out as heads of state.
Zelensky’s question at the end of JD saying ‘we’re gonna try diplomacy over war’ inferred that it would be ineffective because Putin has historically already done the “Diplomacy” thing and it has led to nowhere. In doing that, and in front of the world, he is calling JD on what is otherwise a placating statement to show that there was forward progress.
Zelensky is frustrated because he’s not at the table and his country is at war. I get that. He should know what a media photo op is, though, and that details like that are for closed doors where the shouting matches can occur without geopolitical impact. I can’t hate the dude for wanting to be at the table, but asking a question like that (calling JD out on the effectiveness of the Administrations plan) was the catalyst for this.
I don’t like how JD handled it (see QT), because he used points that don’t make sense (conscription, “money” provided to Ikraine that never actually was, etc), and it was meant to “put him in his place”. Do that, certainly, but there’s a way to do it at that level.
“Mr. President, respectfully I think some of those finer details are for a later conversation. We’ll go back to the media now.”
OPINION: Most people cheering the meeting in the White House today have probably only been following the cliff notes of the war and its wider context from the same type of accounts that grifted their way into and out of the White House yesterday with binders full of information even more redacted than what was already public.
Remember who the “New Media” was all along, positioning themselves against things for political value rather than than its informational value, all so they could then just tack themselves onto the next administration’s talking points (that were literally written on the damn binder so they didn’t forget to tweet it).
That “meeting” was shameful.
JD Vance, who I’m otherwise a fan of, should be ashamed of himself. Zelensky has thanked the U.S. repeatedly. Sure, he’s had clips of his snipped down to remove context that then go viral, which are the same tactics used against him that everyone hates getting used against their chosen political pundit or candidate. JD admitted to seeing “reports” and “videos”. Good. You’ve seen snapshots in time and space. Of course conscripts don’t want to be conscripted, of course Ukraine is going to conscript people. Of course he has continued to ask for weapons and money, his country got invaded. Of course he said he didn’t receive all the money, because MOST of the damn money went to the United States MIC to produce replacements for the stuff we were sending. He didn’t get a check for $350 Billion, he got M777s and HIMARS. That’s why he said he “didn’t receive” it.
I say that opinions aren’t principles, and that’s because the principle that I base all of this opinion of generally supporting Ukraines success on, or at a minimum working in their favor at the negotiating table, is in its entirety that of Americans first, by solving problems (long) before they’re on our shore. Bringing Ukraine to the table for negotiations about a war in Ukraine shouldn’t be a difficult decision. I’d like to see that same language and energy applied to negotiations with Russia, and there’s still some likelihood it was. Bet it was private, though.
That was a shameful display of world leaders bickering like gaslighting X creators in a space. I don’t waive a Ukrainian flag and I never will. It’s not my flag. My flag represents strength domestically and internationally as a world power. What I saw today on video from in that office wasn’t strength, it was placating to Russia, which is by definition weakness.
When I spoke against Biden & Co., most on this app cheered. Let’s see what happens now.
Go buy guns and hit the gym. 🇺🇸
This is my take on what happened in the WH today:
JDV was kissing Trumps ass and talking about how great his diplomacy is (and how bad Biden was).
Zelenskyi decided to rant about how the US didn't do shit for Ukraine during 2014-2022 and questions the diplomacy efforts. I dont think he fully understood what JDV was talking about and that it was ass kissing. Then JDV takes that as critique against Trumps diplomacy effort, which he initially defends before he goes on the offensive. After that Trump gets offended and try to defend his buddy JDV. Then it's just a complete shit show. I think it started with misunderstandings and language barriers and could have been avoided.
Please do look at the longer clips of the incident, there's a 10min version around out there.
I’m excited to announce a new feature-length documentary project I’m working on with my co-director @apoolos about Russia’s efforts to eradicate Evangelical Christians from the map of Ukraine to impose Russian Orthodoxy as the state religion. Please support this film by donating https://t.co/EUt7aFwKHt
Volodymyr Zelensky is NOT a dictator.
Vladimir Putin IS a dictator.
Zelensky didn’t start the war in Ukraine.
Putin did.
Hope this clarifies things for anyone who is confused.