WHAT COULD GO WRONG? God Help Us: White House May Send Kamala to Europe for Diplomatic Mission.
Author Archive: Ed Driscoll
March 5, 2022
WE’RE UP TO A LOT OF LETTERS THESE DAYS: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown blasts Texas, says she stands with “LGBTQ2SIA+” children. Really.
BUT NO MEAN TWEETS: $5/Gallon Gas Is Coming, Experts Say.
Related: Nation’s Average Gas Prices Jump Over 20 Cents In Less Than a Week. “But don’t expect for the Biden administration to do anything soon to get those prices lowered. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Fox Business more domestic drilling is not on the table.”
MICHAEL BARONE: Volodymyr Zelensky Transforms Germany — and Europe.
Each day, [Zelensky] has sent out videos of him speaking from the heart of Kyiv, proclaiming his determination to stay. His example has undoubtedly helped added to the spirited resistance of ordinary Ukrainians.
It has certainly transformed opinion in Europe and beyond. The contrast between Zelensky, on the street in a dark T-shirt and increasingly unshaven, contrasts vividly with the photographs of Putin sitting at the far end of an absurdly long conference table, far from a gaggle of nervous aides.
That contrast was undoubtedly apparent when Zelensky called in to a Zoom teleconference of European Union leaders last weekend. In his brief pitch for support, he reminded his counterparts, sitting securely in comfortable chairs in opulent offices, that this might be the last time they would see him alive.
The effect was galvanic on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Speaking to the Bundestag Saturday, he declared that “February 24 marks a turning point” (Zeitenwende in German) “in the history of our continent.” “It is our duty to support Ukraine to the best of our ability in defending against Putin’s invading army. That is why we are delivering 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 #Stinger missiles to our friends in #Ukraine.”
That’s a stark reversal of policy. Before Russia’s attack, Germany had blocked Estonia from sending German-made weapons to Ukraine.
Scholz also announced that Germany would increase its defense spending from 1.4% of gross domestic product to the 2% required by NATO. Another stark reversal: His long-serving predecessor, Angela Merkel, had been keeping defense spending down — a stick in the eye of Donald Trump, perhaps — and said it couldn’t approach 2% for years.
To this transformation, the Biden administration has been a spectator. As I noted last week, its initial response to the Feb. 24 attack was desultory — a ban on U.S. investments in places where there aren’t many, while Germany responded only with a reversible suspension of certification of the undersea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
How much has Zelensky transformed Germany and Europe? This much:
IT’S THE DEMOGRAPHY, STUPID: Islam is the Only Winner in the Ukraine War.
(Classical reference in headline.)
DON’T GET COCKY: The Most Dangerous Lame Duck in History?
With a historically weak president in the White House, an unfavorable Senate map in 2024 and 2026, and a potentially huge Republican majority to overcome in the House, Democrats could potentially be out of power for several electoral cycles, increasing the urgency to pass their progressive agenda while they still can. Moreover, given their age and the growing opposition within the Democratic Party to older, white leaders, it’s highly unlikely that Pelosi, Schumer, or Biden will ever be in such a position of power again – further incentivizing a radical final act from the three.
While numerous pundits have written: 2022 is likely to be a brutal year for Joe Biden and Democrats.
Seriously, don’t get cocky. As Glenn has written, “If you want to win, donate and volunteer. Winning takes work, and commenting on Internet blogs, even this one, doesn’t count.”
JOHN O’SULLIVAN: When Western Governments Help Putin.
Former Democrat presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, now President Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate, expressed his serious concern about the crisis, the people of Ukraine, democracy, the principles of international law at stake, and so on. He then went on:
But it [the war in Ukraine] could have a profound negative impact on the climate obviously. You have a war and obviously you’re going to have massive emissions consequences to the war. But equally importantly, you’re going to lose people’s focus, you’re going to lose certainly big country attention because they will be diverted and I think it could have a damaging impact.
He ended by hoping that President Putin would “help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate.”
It’s not hard to poke fun at this as if Senator Kerry had made a foolish gaffe—which is probably what most people think. In reality Kerry’s words perfectly express what the West’s political elites have believed until recently and may still believe—that the long-term and uncertain risks of a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees above that of the early industrial period are an urgent threat to the West and the world at least as dangerous (and maybe more so) than Putin’s brutal murder of Ukraine and his assault on peace and international law. We therefore need to continue working with him, however distasteful or strategically unwise that may be. That belief now goes very deep into our societies—particularly among the higher-educated, both intelligentsia and lumpenintelligentsia.
Not to be outdone, the US is managing to help both Putin — and Iran: Pete Buttigieg slammed for saying ‘all options are on the table’ when asked about buying oil from Iran.
March 4, 2022
NATO RULES OUT UKRAINE NO-FLY ZONE: ‘PAINFUL DECISION.’ NATO secretary says no-fly zone ‘would end up with something that could end in a full-fledged war in Europe involving many more countries.’
March 3, 2022
OUT ON A LIMB: Vladimir Putin, Tyrant.
The rational actor theory isn’t always wrong. But it has been contradicted repeatedly by leaders who are willing to risk everything for the prospect of honor and victory, not regarding these ambitions as “vainglorious” delusions but rather as the stuff of historical greatness. The last century witnessed the rise of history’s most tyrannical aggressors, including Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Khomeini. In every case, rationalist-oriented Western policymakers thought that the economic self-interest of tyrants would deter them from all-out war. When Britain and France offered to give Hitler the Sudetenland, they believed this offer would slake his hunger for all of Czechoslovakia and give the Czechs a reprieve. Instead, it encouraged him to further aggression. Similarly, hopes for peaceful coexistence and detente with the Soviet Union were shattered by Brezhnev’s invasion of Afghanistan. As it turned out, the Soviet Union being an economic basket case was not as important to its leadership as restoring revolutionary elan through foreign conquest, as had been done when the Red Army rolled over Eastern Europe after World War II.
The same is true of Putin today. It’s not that he doesn’t want prosperity for Russia. His early popularity was based on stabilizing the ruble. But the economy must rightfully take a distant second place to restoring Russia’s national pride and dignity after what he views as the “catastrophe” of the Soviet empire’s humiliating defeat in the Cold War. Our foreign policy experts too often forget that dictators like Putin don’t have to worry about public opinion and economic performance the same way that democratically elected leaders do. Rulers for life, they can put these to one side for prolonged periods of time in service of the greater goal of national honor.
Although Putin’s ambition is to restore Russian control over its former Warsaw Pact captive states, he in no way wishes to restore the Soviet regime itself. Russian history has long been riven by a cultural conflict between those who look to Europe, the West, and the Enlightenment as the path that Russia should follow and those who are loyal to Slavic nationalism, which is deeply religious and not interested in economic prosperity. In literature, this divide was typified by the different outlooks of Turgenev and Dostoyevsky, which Tolstoy crystallized as the difference between St. Petersburg and Moscow. During the era of anti-Soviet dissidence, this split was typified by Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn. Putin is in the Slavophile camp. A devotee of Berdyaev, a Slavophile critic of Marxism-Leninism, Putin believes that Soviet communism was an import of European rationalism that poisoned the authentic Russian soul, which has nourished the country’s national and artistic greatness.
And as a result of Putin’s goal of recovering Russia’s former captive states, Putin and his inner circle have “really got that bunker siege mentality — fortress Russia.”
IT MAY BE TOO LATE FOR THAT: Don’t Go Full ‘Liberty Cabbage’ on Russia.
All this might seem cosmetic—even a little silly—but it is a valuable pincer in a multipronged global pressure campaign aimed at the Russian regime. These institutions are targeting Russian entities with direct ties to the government. These are fair targets if the objective is to wholly wall off the government in Moscow from the rest of the world. But this pressure campaign is broadening to the degree that it is now pushing and stigmatizing Russian entities without those ties.
For example, the video-game producer Electronic Arts announced Wednesday that it would be removing Russian teams from its hockey and soccer games moving forward. The software designer is “actively evaluating changes to other areas of our games,” too. The same day, the Canadian Junior Hockey League revealed that Russian and Belarusian children would be barred from an upcoming draft. In New Jersey, the Newark city council unanimously adopted a resolution suspending the business licenses of two local Lukoil gas stations, though the Russia-based gas giant’s stations are franchises owned and operated by locals.
Bars and restaurants around the world are either voluntarily or facing “pressure” to rename fare that merely evokes Russia. Vodka brands that sound like they are Russian but are, in fact, produced in the West are facing boycotts. The “Moscow Mule” has been replaced with the “American” or “Snake Island Mule.” Canadian restaurants are rebranding to avoid advertising “Poutine” because it sounds too much like “Putin.” The classic dish “Chicken Kiev,” which is still “Chicken Kiev” even in Kyiv, is under assault for utilizing the Soviet-era anglicized spelling of the Ukrainian capital.
Even classic Russian literature is under assault. In a spasm of enthusiasm for the campaign against Russia, Italy’s University of Milano-Bicocca briefly scuttled a course dedicated to the study of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s works. This is nothing short of madness, and it isn’t harmless.
For those unfamiliar with the reference in the title: Woodrow Wilson’s Domestic Terror and Red Scare.
During [World War I], the American Protective League — a quasi-official squadristi boasting membership of a quarter million at its height — beat up dissidents, spied on citizens, and fomented mobs in close cooperation with the state.
The first modern propaganda ministry in the Western world, the Committee for Public Information, dispatched an army of nearly 100,000 agents to foment passion for the war and distrust of German Americans and others. The CPI’s “Four Minute Men” were equipped and trained to deliver a four-minute speech at town meetings, in restaurants, in theaters — anyplace they could get an audience — to spread the word that the “very future of democracy” was at stake. In 1917–18 alone, some 7,555,190 speeches were delivered in 5,200 communities.
Wilson considered German-American citizens and other “hyphenated Americans” to be enemies of the people: “Any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready.”
The German language was barred from public in many parts of the country. German authors were purged from libraries, families of German extraction were harassed and taunted, sauerkraut became “liberty cabbage,” and — as Sinclair Lewis half-jokingly recalled — there was talk of renaming German measles “liberty measles.”
Which dovetails well another of today’s headlines: International Feline Federation Bans Russian Cats From All Competitions.
That ought to finish Putin off. Or as Ace of Spades writes, we’ll ban Russian cats — “But… we will continue buying Russian oil, and we will consider buying Iranian oil too. We will not even consider increasing domestic US energy production. Because we’re That Serious…the centrist, moderate Joe Biden continues following the sage advice of Noted Petrostrategic Genius Sandy Cortez.”
PROPAGANDA MILL CEASES PRODUCTION: Russia’s RT America To Cease Production, Lays Off Staff.
Facing mounting financial pressures, Russia’s English-language TV network RT America will cease production and permanently lay off most of its staff, multiple media outlets reported on Thursday afternoon.
RT — which is owned by the Moscow-based TV Novosti and operated by T&R Productions — informed its employees via memo today: “As a result of unforeseen business interruption events, T&R Productions LLC will be ceasing production and, therefore, must lay off most of its staff who work at all its locations.”
“Unfortunately, we anticipate this layoff will be permanent, meaning that this will result in the permanent separation from employment of most T&R employees at all locations,” wrote T&R Productions’ general manager Mikhail “Misha” Solodovnikov.
The network offered affected employees two months’ severance pay, according to an employee who attended Thursday afternoon’s all-staff meeting.
The move came after one of the network’s two largest distributors, DirecTV, announced it was canceling the network’s coverage on Tuesday, government officials in the European Union formally banned the network, and Big Tech firms like Apple and Google blocked access to the network’s downloadable app. The state-funded network, which has long been accused of broadcasting Russian propaganda, had also been abandoned by many of its personalities and journalists since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine.
Meanwhile inside Russia itself, a Der Spiegel journalist tweets, “Russia blocks Twitter, Facebook, BBC, Deutsche Welle, App Stores.” Hot Air’s John Sexton writes: Russia’s credit rating at junk status, annual inflation at 61%. (Will Putin institute martial law?)
Or to put it another way:
A snapshot of the Russian economy: an investment expert goes live on air and says his current career trajectory is to work as "Santa Claus" and then drinks to the death of the stock market. With subtitles. pic.twitter.com/XiPVTSUuks
— Peter Liakhov (@peterliakhov) March 3, 2022
CHANGE: Where’s Fauci? Infamous bureaucrat now relegated to obscure shows and local TV.
COVID Mania has become deeply unpopular with the American people, and a Democratic polling firm recently convinced the Biden Administration and its allies in Congress to drop the hysteria. With midterms around the corner, and trouble raging in Eastern Europe, it was time to put the kibosh on all of it.
And with the memo came the simultaneous sidelining of Dr Fauci.
But given his love for television appearances, the NIAID chief has taken desperate measures to try to remain relevant. And by desperate, I mean DESPERATE. You’ll see what I mean in just a moment.
I had to dig pretty deep to find some of his recent media appearances, but I didn’t want to let you all down, so I persevered through the interwebs to find evidence of Fauci’s existence.
He recently appeared on an online streaming show called “Woke AF” (As F**K), in which he expressed his disdain for the unvaccinated. In a clip featured by the show host on Twitter, Fauci rants that the unvaccinated have no respect for greater society. Fauci, who comes off as a broken man, channeled plenty of his regular pseudoscience, claiming that the unvaccinated “give the virus the opportunity to circulate among us.”
Exit quote: “It appears that Fauci’s time in the spotlight is over, and judging by his dejected state in recent media appearances, he knows it too.”
UPDATE (FROM GLENN):
@skippypiio
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Russian troops shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power station in Enerhodar, Ukraine.
Related: What Russia Is Stirring Up at Chernobyl.
BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS’ ‘LET THEM EAT CAKE’ MOMENT IN FACE OF EXPLODING GAS PRICES: “As the old saying goes, ‘you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.’ If you’re wondering, we’re the eggs. They’ll still be able to take private jets to Davos and Aspen and parts in between to do the ‘people’s business.’ Just to clarify, we’re not ‘the people,’ either. They’re the people.”
Flashback: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.
THE CLASS RAGE BEHIND TRUDEAU’S TRUCKER EMERGENCY:
Among the many myths about Canada that have been shattered is the old chestnut that, unlike the U.S., with its cutthroat Darwinian ethos, Canada is a largely egalitarian and compassionate society—the kind of place where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “sunny ways” rule. The Freedom Convoy and the government’s heavy-handed response (“Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Tyranny,” Review & Outlook, Feb. 23), invoking the Emergencies Act to subdue peaceful civil disobedience, has cast into sharp relief class divisions bubbling under the superficially egalitarian surface of the Canadian self-image.
The class dimension becomes evident from the demeaning and charged language used by politicians and journalists in referring to the protesters. Despised by members of the Canadian elite who are often blissfully unaware of their own privilege, the protesters were considered blue-collar outcasts from the hinterland, presumptively racist and small-minded.
Earlier: War Of The Worlds. Canadian Truckers’ Protest is first battle in global clash between those who live in Physical World, and the ruling class of Virtual World.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Flashback: How today’s elites war against the working class.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS: Chuck Todd Meltdown Over GOP Midterm Messaging Strategy Is 50 Shades of Delicious.
Not surprisingly, on the same day Biden was preparing to give the address, “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd was doing his own propping up of Biden, launching into a mini-meltdown over how Republican messaging on the economy is resonating with working-class voters.
Except Todd, a Democrat apologist among Democrat apologists, didn’t frame it that way. In his view, the American people were being hoodwinked by the “right-wing echo chamber” despite the economy in Todd’s view booming with “high-paying jobs” aplenty and with workers having money to burn but unable to find things to spend it on:
“I mean, 51% believe the economy is in a recession or depression. I mean, look, it’s just not true,” Todd whined as he ranted to former Obama comms director Jennifer Palmieri, who was in agreement with him throughout the segment.
Calling the economy “frustrating,” Todd went on to suggest that the economy, “with COVID, has been ‘I’ve got money and I can’t find something.’ But my God, there’s jobs. There’s good jobs. Is this a – the right-wing echo chamber is better than the Democratic echo chamber?”
Minutes later, Todd told the panel that the issue of voter frustration with the economy rattled him so much that he thought the best approach to convince them they didn’t have it so bad would be to advise them to “go live in another country” and then they’d supposedly understand “we have it pretty good here.”
It’s so strange that Todd is doing his best to prop up Biden after this moment on Sunday’s Meet the Press:
The lone Republican on the panel, Danielle Pletka, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, finally had a chance to weigh in. “I think President Trump’s judgment on Russia and on Putin has not been awesome. I think Mike Pompeo misspoke,” Pletka said briefly before being cut off by Mitchell who took issue with what she said. “He said it several times,” Mitchell claimed.
Pletka replied: “I know Andrea, but I don’t think that’s what he believes.” Then the entire panel erupted and started shouting at Pletka as Todd failed to do his job as the “moderator.”
Clearly flustered from being shouted at and not allowed to get a word in, Pletka put her foot down: “Hang on. First of all, there are four of you and one of me. I’m the only Republican sitting here. Hang on a second.”
Mitchell did not like being outed as a Democrat even though she outs herself every day on national television, including numerous times on the panel moments before.
She snapped back: “We’re not Republicans or Democrats, we’re journalists.” Todd then followed up gesturing towards Mitchell, Welker, and himself “well, three of us are.”
The truth is none of them are. They have proven time and again that they are leftist hacks who are disguised as journalists.
Just think of Todd as a former and current Democratic Party operative with a byline, and it all makes sense.
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Tolerant leftists at University of North Texas harass and scream ‘F*ck these fascists!’ at father who lost custody of ‘trans’ child (videos).
To be clear, these young scholars are shouting “f***k you, fascist” because he objected to the state taking away his child. Shouldn’t they be shouting something like, “embrace our fascism”?
Well yes, that’s what Comcast and MSNBC tells me:
AND JUST LIKE THAT, USA TODAY WAS COPACETIC WITH THE SECOND AMENDMENT: NASCAR Hall of Fame owner Richard Childress donating one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine.
OUR BEYOND-PARODY RULING CLASS: “Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the first LGBTQ+ Black woman to be elected mayor of a major U.S. city, stopped a deal between the Chicago Park District and an Italian American group, which would have allowed a statue of Christopher Columbus to be exhibited during a parade, a suit filed Tuesday alleges. The suit also accused Lightfoot of making obscene remarks including, ‘My dick is bigger than yours and the Italians.’”
March 2, 2022
CHRISTOPHER HORNER: Biden’s Energy Policy: Something for Nobody.
Like the Europeans now reaping the climate-policy whirlwind, President Biden and his party are too heavily invested in the matter with their base and (like a growing flock of Republicans) with their donors to let go.
Biden’s use of the State of the Union reflected an unnerving resistance to change course when certain inevitable consequences of the “green” agenda are coming home to roost. Demanding more of the same last night, faster, was simply irresponsible. Failing to exploit one’s own, plentiful resources in fealty to the Green Blob has proved a “lesson in energy masochism” and Russian energy blackmail.
Western Europeans for years have complained that the U.S. was too slow to follow their examples on “climate” and energy policy. Biden’s speech was a plea for ideological priorities. Existing law allows Biden to resume energy policies actually grounded in real-world experience. The world should hope that in coming weeks the administration joins, yes, the German Left to acknowledge the world we live in, chucks the green dogma, and does what’s really best for the planet.
Related: Thanks to Biden’s war on energy, Americans are paying more — and Putin wins.
More: Dana Perino Calls Out Biden: ‘Changed Our Entire Energy Policy Because Greta Thunberg Yelled At Us.’
DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE NEWSPEAK DICTIONARY AND THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: “Womynx History Month” is off to a rocky start.
Black History Month seemed to go fairly well in February, with plenty of educational events being sponsored and various television specials being dedicated to the topic. But now February has drawn to a close and we’re moving on to Women’s History Month. Well… most of us are, anyway. That apparently doesn’t apply to the folks at Northwest Missouri State University. They recently sent out a (now deleted) tweet announcing their planned schedule of events for “Womynx History Month.” The hilarious backlash to this new, absurd mutation of the English language was immediate and richly deserved. But hey… they were just trying to “promote inclusivity.”
I assume the number of women who approve of “Womynx” is even lower than the number of Latino people who approve of “Latinx.” I’m sorry Helen Reddy passed away in 2020, though. Her version of “I am Womynx, Hear Me Roar” would no doubt have made for compelling listening.