US Funding Failure Will Have Serious Battlefield Consequences, Says Ukraine

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Zelenskiy aide says ‘foreign policy has become a hostage of internal politics’ after Republicans torpedo aid bill

The repeated failure of the Biden administration to get a funding package for Ukraine approved by the Senate will have real consequences in terms of lives on the battlefield and Kyiv’s ability to hold off Russian forces on the frontline, say Ukrainian officials.

The latest move by Senate Republicans to torpedo a bipartisan bill that would have combined $60bn (£48bn) in aid for Ukraine with aid to Israel and increased border security measures is a bitter blow for Kyiv. It could signal a very grim year ahead as the US political agenda settles into an election year with Donald Trump all but certain to be the Republican candidate.

As the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine approaches, Ukrainian officials say the delay in US support has already had a clear impact on the battlefield, where Kyiv’s exhausted troops have a severe hardware deficit in comparison to the Russians. » | Shaun Walker in Kyiv | Thursday, February 8, 2024

And some Americans, hopefully albeit few in number, appear to be rooting for Putin to win this war! Scott Ritter appears to be one of those people! (And what, pray tell, are we to make of Tucker Carlson’s interview of Vladimir Putin?)

Please don’t forget to watch this discussion between the distinguished, if a little controversial, extremely right-wing Roger Köppel [Wikipedia] of the well-known Swiss journal, Die Weltwoche, and the no less controversial American, Scott Ritter [Wikipedia], who clearly argues Putin’s case for him!

I have decided not to embed this video lest people think that I endorse Scott Ritter’s viewpoint. I CERTAINLY DO NOT. Listening to Scott Ritter speaking in this video, stuns me. Prepare yourselves to be stunned, too! – © Mark Alexander

Please note that the video starts in German but soon changes to English for Roger Köppel's discussion with Scott Ritter.

Click here to watch the video and listen to the discussion. By the way, even its title is mind-blowing!

'Shame on You': Polish Prime Minister Hits Out at US Republicans

THE GUARDIAN: Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has issued a sharp public rebuke to American Republicans.

In a post on social media this morning, the centre-right politician said:

“Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.” » | Lili Bayer in Brussels | Thursday, February 8, 2024

Elizabeth Warren Warns of National Abortion Ban If GOP Wins in 2024

Feb 5, 2024 | Senator Elizabeth Warren is sounding the alarm about the potential of a national abortion ban if Republicans win in 2024.

Keep the Republicans OUT of the White House until they come back to their senses! Abortions must be kept legal. Whether a woman has, or needs, an abortion has nix to do with politicians and everything to do with the doctors’ judgment. The need for an abortion is a medical not a political decision. – © Mark Alexander

Steve Schmidt Reacts to Marjorie Taylor Green Demanding Nikki Haley Drop Out | The Warning

Jan25, 2024 | Steve Schmidt delivers today's Warning after Representative Marjorie Taylor Green’s quote regarding the Republican party:

“Not only do [Republicans] support President Trump, we support his policies. And any Republican that isn’t willing to adapt these policies, we’re completely eradicating from the party. So it’s up to Nikki Haley what she does.”

If Trump Wins: "Inviting the Dark Ages Across the Planet" | Amanpour & Co

Dec 11, 2023 | Jeffrey Goldberg is Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic. He recently launched a special edition of the magazine, warning of the grave and extreme consequences if Trump were to become president again. He tells the show why a second term would be even more dangerous than the first.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Last-ditch US Tour to Plead for $61bn Aid – BBC News

Dec 12, 2023 | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington DC to try and save a $61bn (£48.5bn) US defence package for Kyiv. Republican members of Congress have stalled the aid package and have argued that more should be done to strengthen the US-Mexico border.

Zelenskyy will meet behind closed doors with various senators as well as the new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, to plead his case. The Ukrainian president will also meet with President Joe Biden, who has urged US lawmakers to approve the funds as soon as possible.


This has Trump written all over it! Those Republicans must be off their rockers! Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians are doing the West’s dirty work – he and his people are fighting for the maintenance of the freedom of the West. If the US in particular and the West in general let Zelenskyy and his people down, the war will in all probability be won by Putin, with all the ramifications that will follow. This is insanity! – © Mark Alexander

Nancy Pelosi: Republicans Have Placed Democracy in Jeopardy

Dec 7, 2023 | On the day former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announces his retirement from Congress, fellow California representative Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi tells MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that she would rather talk about what is at stake in 2024: our democracy.

Outrage Grows after ‘Chilling Call for Genocide’ by Florida Republican

THE GUARDIAN: Calls to censure Michelle Salzman, who said, ‘All of them’ when Democrat asked: ‘How many [dead Palestinians] will be enough?’

Michelle Salzman, a Florida state representative, in Tallahassee last year. Photograph: Phelan M Ebenhack/AP
Outrage continues to grow over a public comment made by a Florida state Republican lawmaker calling for all Palestinians to die.

The remarks came during a debate in the state legislature about calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which has so far killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, many of whom are children. The assault came after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza, killing at least 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostage.

In the speech in support of the ceasefire resolution, the Democratic Florida state representative Angie Nixon said: “We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians. How many will be enough?”

“All of them,” Michelle Salzman called in reply. » | Erum Salam | Friday, November 10, 2023

New House Speaker Mike Johnson Praised ‘18th-century Values’ in Speech

GUARDIAN US: Louisiana congressman told audience at 2013 anti-abortion event Americans should live by 250-year-old religious and moral values

Mike Johnson. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
Before entering elected office, Mike Johnson, the new Republican speaker of the US House, praised “18th-century values” and told an audience that Americans should live by them when it came to morality and religion.

In video footage of a forum hosted in 2013 by Louisiana Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, Johnson, a devout Baptist and then an attorney for rightwing groups and causes, is asked about the “condition of conscience” in Europe and Canada regarding abortion policy.

Saying he has just given “a seminar … to a bunch of high school kids in Shreveport”, Johnson quotes George Washington and John Adams, saying the first two presidents and other founders “told us that if we didn’t maintain those 18th-century values, that the republic would not stand, and this is the condition we find ourselves in today”.

Johnson, 51, became speaker on Wednesday, as Republicans’ fourth candidate for the job since Kevin McCarthy was ejected by the far right of the party. » | Martin Pengelly in Washington | Friday, October 27, 2023

Geez! Just when you thought things couldn’t get much worse than with Trump, here comes another American screwball! What is there about the US that it keeps on cooking up fruitcakes? Is kookiness the new normal over there in the GOP, or what? – © Mark Alexander

‘Go pick up a Bible’: Speaker Mike Johnson defends anti-LGBTQ+ views: Republican House speaker, who has advanced extreme views as attorney and legislator, says ‘I am a Bible-believing Christian’ / Questioned about comments and actions deemed by many to be homophobic, the new Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, told Fox News his worldview was: “Go pick up a Bible.” »

Historian Heather Cox Richardson: GOP “Has Become an Extremist Faction” | Amanpour & Company

Oct 6, 2023 | The Supreme Court is just one example of the eroding of public trust in America’s institutions. For decades, an elite majority has weaponized language and promoted false history, according to historian Heather Cox Richardson. Her new book "Democracy Awakening" explores how this process has drawn some Americans into authoritarianism. She joins Michel Martin to discuss. | Originally aired on October 6, 2023

The USA is a bloody mess! It is NOT the USA we foreigners knew and loved: the wellspring of progressive thinking, new ideas, creativity and innovation. It has now become a reactionary country which has turned in on itself. Frankly, the USA has never been the same since 9/11. Osama bin Laden f****d up America good and proper. It has never been able to recover from the 9/11 attack. It’s a sad story. – © Mark Alexander

Trump Has ‘Moral Compass of an Axe Murderer,’ Says Georgia Republican

THE GUARDIAN: Former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan describes Trump’s roster of wrongdoing as ‘like some sort of Ponzi scheme of lies’

Geoff Duncan, the former Georgia lieutenant governor, in Atlanta earlier this month.Photograph: Robin Rayne/Zuma/Shutterstock
Donald Trump has “the moral compass of an axe murderer”, a Republican opponent in Georgia said, discussing the former president’s legal predicament in the southern US state and elsewhere but also his continuing dominance of the presidential primary.

“As Republicans, that dashboard is going off with lights and bells and whistles, telling us all the warning things we need to know,” Geoff Duncan told CNN on Monday.

“Ninety-one indictments,” Duncan said. “Fake Republican, a trillion dollars’ worth of debt [from his time in the White House], everything we need to see to not choose him as our nominee, including the fact that he’s got the moral compass of a … more like an axe murderer than a president.

“We need to do something right here, right now. This is either our pivot point or our last gasp as Republicans.” » | Martin Pengelly in Washington | Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Steve Schmidt Reacts to Donald Trump Charged with Plotting to Overturn 2020 Election | The Warning

Aug 2, 2023 | Steve Schmidt reacts to Donald Trump’s latest indictment of four felonies, including for his role in the January 6th riots, which attempted to overturn the 2020 election.

More Republicans Say Trump Committed Crimes. But They Still Support Him.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The share of Republicans saying the former president has committed “serious federal crimes” has grown modestly, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Siena College.

Supporters of former President Donald J. Trump at a rally in Erie, Pa., on Saturday. | Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times
Donald J. Trump famously marveled during his first presidential campaign that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and he would not lose any support.

He now seems intent on testing the premise of unwavering loyalty behind that statement.

The federal charges against the former president seem to have cost him few, if any, votes in the 2024 election, even as the number of Republicans who think he has committed serious federal crimes has ticked up.

He continues to hold strong in a hypothetical general election matchup, despite the fact that 17 percent of voters who prefer him over President Biden think either that he has committed serious federal crimes or that he threatened democracy with his actions after the 2020 election, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll.

“I think he’s committed crimes,” said Joseph Derito, 81, of Elmira, N.Y. “I think he’s done terrible things. But he’s also done a lot of good.” » | Ruth Igielnik and Maggie Haberman| Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Oh Jesus! Don’t these Republicans know that even the Archangel can get depressed, and that God Himself can get angry? Very angry! One cannot help but wonder if Republican voters are trying His patience! – © Mark Alexander

The surest sign that Donald Trump is back? Ivanka is being seen in public with him: When the former president looked finished, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner kept their distance. Now he is the Republican frontrunner, they’re once again by his side »

Fed Up Pete Buttigieg Delivers KNOCKOUT Blow to Ron DeSantis

Jul 3, 2023

‘We Can’t Rest or Relent’: Pence Reiterates Support of Staunch Abortion Restrictions

THE GUARDIAN: Former vice-president hails Dobbs decision as ‘historic victory’ but says it didn’t go far enough and urges a nationwide abortion ban

Republican presidential candidate and former vice=president Mike Pence speaks during a Celebrate Life Day rally outside the Lincoln Memorial, on Saturday, in Washington. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Despite their unpopularity with the American public, former Republican vice-president and 2024 White House hopeful Mike Pence doubled down Sunday on his hard-line support of staunch abortion restrictions, saying: “We just can’t rest or relent until we restore the sanctity of life.”

Pence – in an interview on Fox News Sunday – made clear that he viewed bringing the elimination of abortion “to the center of American law” as both essential and “a winning issue” for the Republican party trying to wrest back control of the Oval Office.

“I’m pro-life, and I don’t apologize for it,” Pence boasted to host Shannon Bream, even though polling shows most Americans favor keeping the termination of pregnancies legal in most cases. » | Ramon Antonio Vargas | Monday, June 26, 2023

Such hypocrisy! Such concern for embryos and the yet-to-be-born. Such lack of concern for schoolchildren being shot by the dozen because of America's out-of-control gun ownership and unwillingness to control the ownership of guns strictly. Such conern for the embryo; such lack of conern for the pregnant mothers.

It would appear that the USA is falling into a state of benightedness and darkness. Even Saudi Arabia allows abortions in certain circumstances!

This development in the States shows me, and should show you, that the USA is losing its pole position and hegemony in the world. Who in his right mind would want to follow the USA if it carries on with this sort of insanity? – © Mark Alexander

Democracy Now! Trump Indictment: Scholar of Fascism Says GOP Has Become an “Autocratic Party” Led by a “Cult Leader”

Is Florida a Preview of America's Dystopian Future? | DW News

Jun 7, 2023 | Florida's Governor, who's in the running for the Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly t

Yes, We’re in an L.G.B.T.Q. State of Emergency: This year there is a pall over Pride. »

The Lincoln Project: Indictment Requiem

Mar 31, 2023 | The party of law and order's 2024 front runner will soon have a mug shot, and they're handling it exactly as you'd expect.

When one listens to Republicans spouting crap, one can quickly see how China will soon be in pole position geopolitically. Americans are doing this to themselves. – © Mark Alexander

Sen. Warren: 'Deeply Threatening' That Republicans Continue to Support Trump

May 10, 2023 | Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., reacts to the Trump sexual abuse verdict and congressional debt ceiling negotiations.

If Americans elect Trump back into office, won’t they deserve the fall of their American empire? Hello China! – © Mark Alexander

Carlson Crisis Threatens Right-wing Media Ability to Carry Feckless Republican Party

Apr 25, 2023 | Rachel Maddow contrasts the ability of right-wing media to organize and message to conservative voters against the ineptitude of Republican politicians who, on their own, turn off voters with unpopular policies.