Tag: Foreign Policy

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Foreign Policy GOP U.S. Senate

WATCH Tom Cotton Throw Major Shade At Josh Hawley During A Debate On NATO Expansion

It’s beginning to look like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is becoming persona non grata with some of his Senate colleagues, even those on his side of the aisle who used to agree with him.

Was it Hawley’s willingness to overturn the 2020 election or the fact that he got caught running like a scared little boy when rioters attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021? Whatever the reason, there seems to be a minor tectonic shift taking place among Senate Republicans.

For example, during floor debate Wednesday on Finland and Sweden being admitted into the NATO alliance, Hawley stood up and urged his colleagues to vote against NATO expansion.

That didn’t sit well with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who did everything but call Hawley out by name, commenting:

“How could one disagree? After all, the last countries to join NATO — Montenegro and North Macedonia — were each approved by the Senate with only two ‘no’ votes.”

Cotton argued that Finland and Sweden are just as deserving as previous NATO members, noting:

“Let’s be honest. Who can oppose the much stronger cases for Finland and Sweden, countries that are far larger, far more capable and far more strategically situated?”

And then Cotton directed his comments at Hawley without even saying his name:

“It would be strange indeed for any senator who voted to allow Montenegro or North Macedonia into NATO to turn around and deny membership to Finland and Sweden.

“I would love to hear the defense of such a curious vote.”

It may surprise you to learn that this isn’t the first time Cotton has been critical of Hawley, as KATV reported two days after the Capitol riots:

“You had some senators who, for political advantage, were giving false hope to their supporters, misleading them into thinking that somehow yesterday’s actions in Congress could reverse the results of the election or even get some kind of emergency audit of the election results,” Cotton said. “That was never going to happen.”

Could there be a rift developing in the GOP, or is Cotton merely trying to damage Hawley as soon as possible since both are considered possible presidential contenders in 2024? Whatever the reason, let’s hope it continues and weakens the Republican Party.

Categories
Congress Foreign Policy GOP Russia Vladimir Putin

Marjorie Taylor Greene Demands The US Pull Out Of NATO And Let Putin Destroy Ukraine

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced a significant increase of the U.S. military presence in Europe, including additional naval destroyers stationed in Spain, two F-35 fighter jet squadrons in the United Kingdom, and a headquarters in Poland for the U.S. 5th Army Corps.

Making the announcement, Biden noted:

“The United States and our allies, we’re going to step up. We’re proving that NATO is more needed now than it ever has been and it’s as important as it ever has been.”

Shortly after Biden made his remarks, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) went on Twitter and proved her complete ignorance of foreign and military policy while also making it crystal clear where her true loyalty lies.

Of course, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Congresswoman Greene (along with the vast majority of the Republican Party) is once again siding with Russian President and mass murderer Vladimir Putin and against our NATO allies.

Greene got pelted with derision for her ignorant tweet.

https://twitter.com/TheToddofTodd/status/1542342776586530818?s=20&t=E-n4niWXGBLziOjLNqWT8A
https://twitter.com/aka_pierrecouvy/status/1542351065407954944?s=20&t=E-n4niWXGBLziOjLNqWT8A

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Foreign Policy GOP U.S. Senate WTF?!

Rand Paul: I Won’t Help Ukraine Until Funds For ‘Sexually Promiscuous’ Quails Are Cut From The Budget

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) continues to hold up a $40 billion aid package to our Ukrainian allies because he claims the federal budget already contains too much waste.

According to Mediaite, Paul suggested on that birds high on cocaine were his biggest concern:

“If the defense of Ukraine is really in our national security interests, shouldn’t the gift come from our military budget?” Paul asked. “What about cutting wasteful spending? My office cataloged over $50 billion in waste.”

Paul referenced several unusual spending items, including money to fund studies on selfies, Panamanian frogs, and sneezing in cafeterias. Then came the crème de la crème.

“Couldn’t we maybe cut the money spent on Japanese quail studying whether or not they’re more sexually promiscuous or not when you give them cocaine?” he asked.

And this isn’t the first time Sen. Paul has brought up cokehead quails as a reason to not fund necessary priorities like U.S. national security. He did the same thing in 2018, the Washington Post reports:

You can look up data on NIH grants. This particular research was called “Enhancement of Sexual Motivation” and it did, in fact, receive $873,503 from the agency over the course of its progress. But that funding ended more than five years ago. It ended before Paul raised it in 2018.”

Here’s the video of Paul’s 2018 coke-quail rant:

It should also be noted that the study cited by Paul actually has practical applications in humans, as Scientific American has explained:

“There is already an extensive literature on drugs like cocaine, how it impacts various behaviors and how it acts in, and changes, the brains. But we don’t know everything by any means, and we certainly don’t know enough about mechanism to treat cocaine addiction effectively. Studies to understand how cocaine impacts every behavior are important to our understanding of the drug and how we can combat its effects.”

Supposedly, Rand Paul is a doctor. But he sounds more like a coke-addled strutting rooster. Then again, at least a rooster serves some purpose, unlike the junior senator from the Blue Grass State.

 

Categories
Foreign Policy Fox News Russia

WATCH President Biden Slap Down Peter Doocy For Requesting Details About US Military Policy Toward Russia

During a Q&A session with the White House press corps on Monday, President Joe Biden was asked by Fox reporter Peter Doocy for details about how the United States military would respond to actions such as the use of chemical weapons by Russian forces, and he got resoundingly slapped down by the president.

Doocy asked Biden:

“When you said that a chemical weapon use by Russia would trigger a response in kind…”

The president corrected Doocy:

“It would trigger a significant response.”

The Fox correspondent then followed up:

“What does that mean?”

That’s when the president took Doocy to the woodshed:

“I’m not going to tell you. Why would I tell you? You’ve gotta be silly!”

Doocy:

“The world wants to know.”

But Biden was more than ready for that comeback:

“The world wants to know a lot of things. I’m not telling them what the response would be. Then Russia knows the response.”

Categories
Foreign Policy GOP

Experts Say Lindsey Graham Has Put The United States In Tremendous Danger

During World War II, there was a saying that every American learned by heart as part of the effort to make sure the country was victorious: Loose lips sink ships. In other words, be careful what you say, because you never know who might be listening, including the Axis powers.

It’d be nice to think that members of the United States Senate would still abide by such advice, but Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in an effort to pretend he’s a tough guy for his constituents back home, has been repeatedly going on television and saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to be killed.

On Twitter, Graham wrote:

“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.”

While the vast majority of us would indeed celebrate if Putin suddenly dropped dead, Graham’s very specific calls for someone to bust a cap in the Russian tyrant are dangerous to the United States, according to experts.

In an enlightening article for USA Today, Grace Hauck notes that she spoke with Anthony Arend, co-founder of the Institute for International Law & Politics at Georgetown University, who told her:

“There are so many dangerous aspects to his [Graham’s] comments.

“It sets the possible precedent that others will be able to look at the United States and say, ‘Well, they’re advocating it. Why don’t we simply move to a foreign policy that more broadly incorporates assassinations or targeting regime leaders?'”

Nika Aleksejeva, a researcher with the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, says Graham’s ill-conceived remarks also help Russia paint the U.S. as some sort of rogue nation:

“It gives Russia a particular case to point at. These comments are qualified as calls to terror attacks. It opens opportunity for disinformation to be later created based on this particular event.”

If Putin is to be removed from office and punished for his invasion of Ukraine, according to Kathryn Sikkink of Harvard Kennedy School, that needs to be done by the government that replaces him:

“If you’ve had leaders who’ve committed crimes, you want the new government to be able to put those leaders on trial and hold them criminally accountable using due process for crimes they’ve committed. And if you find them guilty, to sentence them and imprison them.”

Lindsey needs to shut the hell up unless he plans to go to the Kremlin himself and take Putin out. Here’s betting he doesn’t have the cojones for that.