GOP senators urge Biden to expedite transfer of airpower, air defense systems to Ukraine
By: Caroline Vakil (TheHill)
Oh, goodie. Republican stupid-hawks are back to protect the American way of life from commie dominoes. All of these stupid-hawks would kneel and kiss Vladimir Putin's ass for the right amount of money. At least the stupid-hawk charge is being led by liberals favorite Republican, Mitt Romney. Romney will sell out to anybody when money is involved. Betcha $10,000.
Of course it's necessary to ignore the growing list of American brand names shutting down their operations in Russia. Those commies are sneaky pretending to be capitalists. But stupid-hawks like Mitt Romney aren't fooled by ties to western economies. Putin is only using McDonalds, Starbucks, and Pepsi to dominate the world and turn us all into commies. Ikea in Russia is western democracy's greatest threat.
At least we know for certain that neoliberal hokum about free trade, over the last 40 years, has been a hoax. Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats have been proven to be bald faced liars. It's guns, bombs, planes, missiles, drones, and battle fleets that spread freedom, protect democracy, and make the world safer. If we don't kill 'em all then dominoes will fall around the world and the neoliberals of the United States won't be able to lie, cheat, and swindle their way to wealth with free trade.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
More than 40 Republican senators called on President Biden to speed up the transfer of air power and air defense systems, among other support, to Ukraine after the Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the U.S. did not support transferring Polish fighter jets to Ukraine.
"While we commend the lethal aid that your Administration has sent to Ukraine thus far, we strongly disagree with your decision to delay and deny Poland the option to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine," the senators wrote.
"Your Administration champions the $1 billion in defense articles provided to Ukraine over the past 13 months and has definitively stated there are no restrictions in your current suite of authorities to adequately respond to Russia's lawless and bloody invasion of Ukraine," they continued.
"We implore you to direct your Department of Defense to facilitate the transfer of aircraft, air defense systems, and other capabilities by and through our NATO partners immediately," they said.
The letter to Biden was led by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and included most of their Republican Senate colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the upper chamber's No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).
The development comes after Poland earlier this week offered to send all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to an American air base in Germany so the U.S. could facilitate their transfer to Ukraine. But the Pentagon explained on Wednesday that the U.S. government did not support their transfer at the moment, worrying the move could be perceived as escalatory.
"The intelligence community has assessed that the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.
"Therefore, we also assess the transfer of the MiG-29s to Ukraine to be high-risk," he said.
Kirby also told reporters that the U.S. was continuing to send Ukraine weapons.
"We believe the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them the weapons and the systems that they need most to defeat Russian aggression. In particular, anti-armor, and air defense. We along with other nations continue to send them these weapons and we know that they're being used with great effect," he said.
In addition to Kirby's comments, the White House referred The Hill to a statement European Command Commander Gen. Tod Wolters issued on Thursday.
"We believe the most effective way to support the Ukrainian military in their fight against Russia is to provide increased amounts of anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, which is on-going with the international community. The Ukrainians are making excellent use of these weapons now," Wolters said.
Ukraine has urged for the establishment of a no-fly zone — which has been met with resistance from the U.S. and international allies — and the transfer of MiG-29s, which Ukrainian pilots have already been trained to use.
Tags
Who is online
432 visitors
Driving the Russians out of Ukraine won't end the war. The separatists aren't going away; they live in Ukraine. But the world will be saved from commie dominoes. We can be assured we're safer because Russia can't have McDonalds, Starbucks, and Pepsi.
Why compromise when we can just kill 'em all?
Are you aware your argument is against your side?
My side? Which side is that?
You tell me? It seems you're on Team Putin...
You are a solid Trump supporter. So, go tell!
You're the one that claimed I was arguing against my side. And you don't even know what side that is? How typical.
In case you haven't noticed, I've been arguing for detente and negotiation. I've been pointing out that the stupid hawks in both parties have totally screwed the pooch. The answer ain't bigger bombs to kill the Russkies. The war in Ukraine won't end when the Russians leave.
What is happening in Ukraine is an escalation of an eight year war that Ukrainians have been fighting with themselves.
You're cheering on the side for war. Kill 'em all. I've been pointing out that Putin was trying to force Biden to negotiate. But your support of open warfare seems to be the dominate opinion. You appear to be championing the neoliberal use of economics and trade as a weapon of war. You seem to standing with Republican neocon war hawks.
So, is that the side you are on? No peace until they're all killed. Is that justice?
And you think that makes any sense at all?
Not to those who want apocalyptic Armageddon and the second coming. War is good.
Yawn, another day defending Putin eh?
slightly off topic
news.yahoo.com /u-officials-superyacht-could-putins-151210484.html
U.S. Officials Say Superyacht Could be Putin's
Julian E. Barnes, Michael Forsythe, David D. Kirkpatrick and Jason Horowitz 6-8 minutes 3/12/2022
The Scheherazade, which dominates the waterfront in the small town of Marina di Carrara, Italy, March 4, 2022, where it has been moored since September. (Gaia Pianigiani/The New York Times)WASHINGTON — U.S. officials are examining the ownership of a $700 million superyacht currently in a dry dock in an Italian seacoast town and believe it could be associated with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, according to multiple people briefed on the information.
U.S. intelligence agencies have made no final conclusions about the ownership of the superyacht — called the Scheherazade — but U.S. officials said they had found initial indications that it was linked to Putin. The information from the U.S. officials came after The New York Times reported Tuesday that Italian authorities were looking into the 459-foot-long vessel’s ownership and that a former crew member said it was for the use of Putin.
People briefed on the intelligence would not describe what information they had that indicated the superyacht is associated with Putin. If U.S. officials know whether or how often Putin uses the yacht, the people briefed on the information would not share it.
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
U.S. officials said Putin keeps little of his wealth in his own name. Instead he uses homes and boats nominally owned by Russian oligarchs. Still, it is possible that through various shell companies, Putin could have more direct control of the Scheherazade.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Putin has spent large amounts of time in the Russian resort city of Sochi on the Black Sea, U.S. officials said. The Scheherazade made trips to Sochi in the summers of 2020 and 2021.
Both the Treasury Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Navy’s Office of Naval Intelligence are investigating the ownership of superyachts associated with Russian oligarchs. A spokesperson for the Navy and a spokesperson for the Treasury both declined to comment.
The Justice Department has set up a task force to go after the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs. In a discussion with reporters Friday, a Justice Department official said the task force would be investigating individuals who help sanctioned Russian officials or oligarchs hide their assets. Those individuals could face charges related to sanctions violations or international money laundering charges.
In addition, under recently published Commerce Department rule changes, if more than 25% of a plane or a yacht is made of U.S.-manufactured airplane or marine parts, it cannot go to Russia.
If a yacht is in a foreign country and meets the definition of a U.S.-origin or U.S.-made product, it would need a license to go to Russia. To actually seize a yacht, the United States would need to coordinate with a cooperative foreign government — Italy, in the case of the Scheherazade — to prevent the ship from moving to Russian waters.
Some superyachts moved out of European waters as the invasion of Ukraine began and the West began imposing sanctions allowing asset seizures. The Scheherazade is undergoing repairs in Marina di Carrara, a port in Tuscany, and as of earlier this week was in dry dock, unable to get underway.
Guy Bennett-Pearce, the Scheherazade’s captain, said earlier this week that Putin was not the owner of the superyacht and that the Russian president had not set foot on it.
He declined to give the name of the owner, saying Monday only that it was not anyone facing sanctions. Bennett-Pearce did not answer his phone Friday or respond to a text message.
Last week, Italian authorities boarded the Scheherazade and examined certification documents, seeking to learn more about the vessel’s ownership. Bennett-Pearce said earlier this week that he would provide Italian police with documents that divulged the yacht’s owner.
Italian authorities said they were taking a deep look at the Scheherazade. Under a process that may take as long as a couple of weeks, Italy’s financial police will gather evidence and present it to a government committee, which will then decide whether ownership or use of the ship is connected to someone on the sanctions list.
That connection could be outright ownership of a significant portion of the ship, or evidence that a friend, underling or associate lent his or her name to hide the sanctioned person’s ownership, or that funds used to buy the ship came from illegal profits. If the committee finds that the evidence meets the threshold, the financial police can impound the Scheherazade.
The Italian Sea Group, which owns the shipyard where the Scheherazade is dry-docked, said in a statement Thursday that based on documents it had and “checks carried out by the relevant authorities,” the Scheherazade “is not attributable to the property of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
U.S. officials have been stepping up their examination of the superyachts of Russian oligarchs, particularly as the United States and Europe have imposed more sanctions against the wealthy families that support Putin.
The German-built Scheherazade has been in service since June 2020. The website SuperYachtFan estimated that it cost $700 million. The ship has a full-size gym, two helicopter decks and gold-plated fixtures in the washrooms.
While U.S. intelligence officials have been looking at the Scheherazade, the scrutiny has increased after the publication of the earlier article in the Times.
The Scheherazade appears to have a sister ship, the Crescent, built by the same German manufacturer and put into service in 2018. The Crescent’s project name when it was under construction was “Thunder.” The Scheherazade’s was “Lightning.”
Like the Scheherazade, there is no public information identifying the Crescent’s owner, other than an offshore shell company. The Crescent last broadcast its position Nov. 2, when it appeared to be approaching Barcelona, Spain. Satellite images show that as of March 4, it was moored at a marina catering to superyachts there. Both vessels are registered in the Cayman Islands and both share the same designer.
© 2022 The New York Times Company
Why are you posting your seed on my seed? And what does Putin's superyacht have to do with neocons demanding an escalation of the war?
Neoliberals are seizing Russian assets. Who's going to get the profits from that activity? Neoliberals and neocons. Money and guns. Everyone gets something that they want and no one wants peace.
I forgot this was your seed. Most people dont care if something slightly off topic is posted, but that is your perogative. Ask Perrie to delete it.
Well, I can delete it if I wish. That's less important than understanding why it was posted in the first place.
The topic of my seed is Republican neocons demanding an escalation of the war, in typical fashion. Republicans want to turn Ukraine into Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria. Neocons are demanding apocalyptic Armageddon and the second coming (which is the stale old status quo for Republicans).
Your seed is about neoliberals seizing assets as some sort of geopolitical reckoning that also escalates the war. Neoliberals are using economics and trade as weapons of war to directly attack the ordinary people of Russia. To neoliberals the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund are far more effective than NATO. Neoliberals wage economic war on societies and ordinary people.
Money and guns. Neoliberals and neocons get what they want. And neither neoliberals or neocons want peace.
An interesting story or two.....
Burning hooches?
(BTW, from a technical standpoint that likely will draw snide remarks, artillery clearing its own line of fire to exert control over an area can be a slow process that creates logistical problems. Ukrainians understand ballistics as well as Russians. How do I know? Well, I obviously don't know the tactical situation. But attacking these 'civilian' targets really can serve a military purpose other than just random destruction.)