Sunday, July 30, 2017

Angry over Russian sanctions, Putin retaliates.

Courtesy of Vox:

Russia will force the US diplomatic mission in the country to eliminate hundreds of people from its workforce by September 1, President Vladimir Putin told state TV in an interview that aired on Sunday. 

"More than 1,000 workers — diplomats and support staff — were working and are still working in Russia; 755 must stop their activity in the Russian Federation," Putin said, per Reuters. This does not mean, as early news reports suggested, that 755 US diplomats will be expelled from the country entirely — but it is a serious cut to America’s diplomatic presence in Russia. 

The order is retaliation, plain and simple. On Thursday night, Congress overwhelmingly passed a new package of sanctions on Russia as punishment for the nation’s interference in the US election. Late on Friday, the Trump administration announced its intention to sign the sanctions bill into law. The diplomatic staffing order is Putin showing he hasn’t been cowed. 

This is very much not normal; countries do not generally force other countries to limit their diplomatic presence so sharply, absent a major crisis in relations. It suggests instead that the pro-Russian stance Trump has taken, at least rhetorically, is not paying off — and that US-Russia relations are likely to keep getting worse for the foreseeable future.

I don't know about anybody else but I think we should have pulled these diplomats and their staffs out on our own after what Russia did during our last election, and drastically curtailed travel to and from that country except for humanitarian reasons.

What Russia did is an act of war.

And we should deal with it accordingly.

Let's face it Russia needs us WAY more than we need them. And Putin knows it.

I say we call his bluff and bring these people home and start treating Russia as an enemy of the state just like we would any terrorist organization that had hacked our government computers or detonated an explosive that took American lives.

(Disclaimer: I, in no way, have any hard feelings against the Russian people. I have had Russians as friends various times in my life. My anger and resentment is only directed at Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs that support him.)

26 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:51 PM

    No worries, Gryphen. We the people have no discord with other folks. Their governments and our government are not so sane.

    Let Vlad kiss good-bye to our dollars. No more $ for him at our embassies or through tourism.

    That works in two ways for me: screw Vlad and his oligarchs, while screwing Donnie and his sticky fingered crowd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:19 AM

      Ogliarchs bought USA over a century ago. Wake up.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:11 PM

      1119 looks like Barstool stole your words. Wake up. What's new. They can't think.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous3:18 PM

      9-11 thats not all they took.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous4:52 PM

    Let's see if the little dickwad Donnie signs it. That will speak volumes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:01 PM

      I'm curious what he is going to do. If he vetoes it, they will quickly override it. I think he will let it sit on his desk while his cabinet "reviews" it. Since all he does, according to him, is sit at his desk all day waiting to sign something, Congress should demand he sign it upon delivery.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:32 PM

      All he does all day at his desk is watch television.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous5:00 PM

    Pence made a recent statement about Russia falling line if we are nice to them. That is a fundamental bribe, that doesn't work. Stupid zealot pence. Etc!
    We have idiots making excuses for putin!
    These so called "leaders"are idiots !trump,Ryan pence and so many others ,must think we are playing a school yard game! These countries are playing for keeps!It's amateur hour in the White
    House.Are we being played? Yes!
    Trump and his gang of thugs are more ignorant then their dumb support base.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:53 PM

      I think it's funnier than hell that he's bringing in Kelly to "restore order" in the class of clowns he calls an administration.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:59 PM

      666pence ISIS a Total Fuck AntichRist FReak.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous5:38 PM

    "Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future."
    Edward Lorenz

    If only we were more cognizant of our power in the now.

    DJT is a fucking idiot. Somebody should introduce him to quantum physics. His ignorance scares the shit out of me. And his self-absorbed, pandering followers deserve the backlash of what he and they have set in motion.

    GeorgiaPeach

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous6:24 PM

    $anctions:

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/07/30/democratic-congressman-trump-impotent-man-baby-china-n-korea.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7:01 PM

    Stinks to be you: Trump’s Scottish golf resort project has run afoul of sewage pollution laws

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/stinks-to-be-you-trumps-scottish-golf-resort-project-has-run-afoul-of-sewage-pollution-laws/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They've also been turned down for an expansion and are losing money rather than making the profits he claims.

      Yet another disastrous project from the worlds biggest LOSER.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous7:57 PM

    National Security Council member fired; National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is on verge of being fired

    http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/national-security-council-member-fired-national-security-adviser-h-r-mcmaster-is-on-verge-of-being-fired/4121/

    Vladimir Putin’s fake “retaliation” against U.S. sanctions bill is a shot across Donald Trump’s bow

    http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/putin-retaliates-diplomats-dont-exist/4123/



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:05 PM

      It's like the freaking Keystone Kops.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous8:06 PM

    Former Russian Ambassador says we don't have 755 diplomats in Russia. Announcement will make it to Russian state tv and that is all the lying bluster is about - making Pootie look strong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They want to bring the number of U.S. diplomats down to the same number of Russian diplomats in the U.S. Something like 465.

      Russia also seized some Embassy properties. Some sort of recreational area or something.

      Putin isn't really playing hardball. He's treading lightly. I guess he figured out that Trump is an ineffectual idiot and it's Congress he has to fear. They could cut him off from all those billions he has stashed in banks all over the world.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:13 PM

      You mean will, not could.
      Tick tock folks. Time is not on your side. Better hurry.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous9:25 PM

      Not only don't we have that many diplomats over there total,it'll be his people that are out of jobs as well,also and too.From the looks of it they can keep their trashy compounds.

      Delete
  9. Trump retaliates.

    Tom Price ready to do Trump's bidding and undermine Obamacare.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-price-waiving-individual-mandate_us_597df94de4b02a4ebb760112?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    "Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price would not rule out Sunday the possibility of using his regulatory authority to waive the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate that requires all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a tax."

    "Price also suggested he was open to undoing other regulations that encourage enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges, even as he claimed that allowing the exchanges to “implode” was “not the right thing to do.” "

    "Price has already taken action to effectively discourage enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges. Under his leadership, HHS has used funds earmarked for promoting the Affordable Care Act to blast it on social media and downplay the law’s benefits on the federal agency’s website, The Daily Beast reported.

    Price declined to comment on the possibility that HHS would withhold cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers that subsidize exchange plans for Americans with incomes under 250 percent of the federal poverty level. He said his status as the defendant in House Republicans’ lawsuit challenging the payments precluded him from addressing it."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1:34 AM

    Putin would have been better off getting along with the world leaders and President Hillary Clinton. Now he has a mess. And the Russian people are not going to be controlled and suppressed forever. They are protesting communism and dictators.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1:46 AM

    Hey Americans do not want to be blamed or associated with trump just like the Russian people do not want to be associated with putin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:22 AM

      Well sweety pie, then they must both stop giving their money and power away.
      I think it would be a riot to have both do a sit down.
      Let them realize who really runs these countries.
      It sure as hell isn't the long winded politicans.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous9:20 AM

    I smell disinformation. Anyways, Putin wants to rule the world now that he's the richest man in the world with all that stolen money. Trump is his asset.
    We always have to keep watch on people like Putin. They don't give up. They try to sneak in any way they can. In this case he's trying to come through the front door aka. the presidency. Clock him, people of America.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:16 PM

      Putin smug face tells me he thinks he has one on USA.
      Idiot. He doesn't. Don't worry. Eye roll. Long sigh.

      Delete

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