51 Comments
Feb 28, 2023Liked by Thom Hartmann

Yes, you NEVER hear about the Budapest Agreement on national news. It's always the "Ukrainian War." It's like the agreement never happened, or it was so long ago, Russia can disregard it. Infuriating.

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It is hard not to read this and think that Putin's true motivation for ruthless bloodshed is fear that Western democratic values and tolerance for diversity of beliefs, ethnicities, races, and lifestyles has been more attractive to citizens of countries like his run by dictators. We see this same sentiment among American MAGA GOP fascists.

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Amazing what we never hear from our news feeds ..the Budapest Agreement, and precursors of our current right-wing base, replaying the Civil War.

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"And same-sex marriage, Putin announces, is blasphemy. It contradicts scripture. After all, who would Jesus bomb?" Putin has also hijacked the Russian Orthodox Church and turned it into his muse. Jesus would never bomb anyone. Some of the disciples were gay; John, in John's Gospel calls himself 'the one who Jesus loved.' I don't think Jesus was gay but, you don't know. I think John had a crush on Jesus, for sure. Paul was most likely gay (confirmed by several scholars). Paul, John the Baptist, Jesus were all perpetual Nazirites as well; they didn't eat or drink anything of the vine. Jesus supposedly 'ate and drank with sinners' but he never drank alcoholic wine. Jesus was consecrated to God with the vow of the Nazirite as the first born son. I say this because most Russians have drinking problems; it's a nation of alcoholism. Along with alcoholism often comes child molestation, abuse. Every woman I work with in recovery has been abused; every one. Getting back to the Queer thing; alcoholism also generates homophobia, especially in men. Queer is queer and that's as far as I go; live and let live. So Putin and all his 'global' cronies (here, too) have issues, major issues. You don't think that Putin was raised in an alcoholic home and abused? That's what creates a man like him. Putin also has markings of fetal alcohol syndrome; that thousand-yard stare and sociopathology.

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I largely agree with your analysis, and see Putin as an ultranationalist, really a successor to the czars. For centuries Russians considered Ukrainians (and Byelorussians) as very much part of their land and culture, and the idea of losing this large and rich area to the West is simply beyond anything that he can accept. There was after all a 1654 treaty between the czar and the head of the Ukrainian Cossacks which kind of gave Russian control to their land—at least that’s the way Moscow read it. And remember too that during the empire the Russian Orthodox Church had the position that Moscow was “The Third Rome,” the natural successor to the civilization of the Roman Empire as transmitted through its Greek successor the Byzantine Empire. I suspect in a sense the Russian Communists had a similar mindset, seeing their beliefs as a system that would enlighten and lead the world away from the evils of Capitalism. Putin is certainly no Communist, and it’s unfortunate that some Americans imagine him to be, but he is no friend of the non-Slavic people.

But as usual in this part of the world, where borders and people have long shifted and merged into each other’s groups, the situation is particularly complicated. For a big example (there are others with the Donbas area) the Crimea, has been part of Russia since Catherine the Great stole it from the Turks in 1783. And since Stalin deported its Tartar population the land has been largely inhabited by Russians. And it has an important naval base at Sevastopol which Moscow kept by lease after Ukrainian independence. Also the German battle to take it in 1941-2 was a particularly brutal affair with the heroic Soviet defense something that Russians takes great pride in. Yet in 1954 Khrushchev just gave the peninsula to Ukraine, apparent to cement support there for his own power bid. Putin’s popularity went sky high after he occupied it, following which the Kyiv government cut off the fresh water supply to its people and crops. Returning the peninsula and the canals feeding it, back to Ukraine seems like something Moscow simply could never do.

What I suspect will ultimately happen is that the war will end in a stalemate, with Russia keeping some of the lands it has occupied, including the Crimea. It will be like Cyprus or Kashmir, a frozen conflict leaving terrible feelings on both sides. I completely agree that Putin has to be stopped, though the conflict might drag on until he’s removed from the scene. After all, the Korean War pointlessly continued until Stalin died. It’s a terrible situation when a dictator uses nationalism and (at least to some extent) religion to feed his ego and whip up a population that does not know how to question what they are told. And it is an awful example for those who would imitate him.

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Christofaschists need to re-read Mathew 19:12 . Christs gospel tells his followers to honor and respect the eunichs of the world .

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Mar 1, 2023·edited Mar 1, 2023

As a youngster in school, it was easier to answer questions about my name, by saying that it was Russian, because kids didn’t know where or what “Ukraine” was. When my grandmother found out that I had been saying that, she became furious! “You are NOT Russian!! You are Ukrainian!! Never say that again!!” Then she would storm off muttering obscenities in Ukrainian. I soon learned my lesson through my lessons.

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I have no idea what the future will look like, but one factor that's been around since forever is that the people are always lied to and deceived, and I think that applies to both autocrats and democrats. Our current history has been greatly shaped by the lies and deception of the Roman Catholic church, whose theologians always do what's in the best interests of the Vatican. Protestants broke free of that captivity, only to create their own system of bondage to a new set of rules and way of life. What would our world be like if we were free of all religions and governments? There might still be a few scattered conflicts, but most of the conflicts today are founded in religious duty or government/economic interests. It's time for the individual to rise above these, to create our own realities, free of these two great influences.

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founding

It is not only countries that are lining up on either side

But within ideological preferences there is a division.

The extreme right is Pro Putin, Pro misogynisti, homophobic Russia

The extreme left wing is Pro Russian, because they are still steeped in the Marxist fantasy of bad, unredeeming capitalism, and a nostalgia for Stalinist Russia that they would surrender to the worst murdering, psychopath on the planet today –Putin

I am appalled and concerned that the extreme right and extreme left have line up on the side of Putin.

Especially the left, who are not all concerned about Putin’s murder and imprisonment of journalists and opposition, of squelching of speech, of his latent theocracy, of his misogyny and homophobia. The man is Trump’s role model. And it invaded a basically unarmed neighbor under false pretenses, raped, plundered, tortured it’s citizens and is employing a private mercenary force of convicted murderers and rapists.

The right, yeh, they are theocratic, authoritarian, sexual conflicted psychopathic sociopaths, That is a given, but the left.?

There is a common thread twixt the two and it isn’t ideology, It is emotional commitment to an weltanshauung. A world view that constitutes their very identity. A belief system, how they perceive the world in relation to themselves.

There are precepts held inviolate and sacred, we know what they are on the right, but are reluctant to acknowledge or discuss them on the left.

Putin’s invasion of Russia has brought them out of the closet so to speak.

Without launching into a diatribe, this Wikipedia article best describes them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie

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Who would have ever thought that we would have to look behind a Bible to find out where Putin was hiding? Could there be a more godless man on the face of the Earth? This is a revelation in more ways than one!

So happy you gave us the translation to read, Thom. All this tracks with anything one reads by Masha Gesson, who along with thousands of other LGBTQ Russians have to live in exile. Actually no one is safe there who speaks against Putin. And the ones that truly love him, love that too; older Russians were pining for the "old days". Well now they have it! They are not welcome in many other places as it once was.

Wouldn't you like to look into Putin's closets or a chance to see what his relationship is with the big, tall, strong men in his bodyguard contingent?

Defying Putin will make him want to hurt you---capitulating and being weak will make him want to hurt you. He is a sadistic, paranoid little bastard. A poisoner. Not exactly Stalin, at least not yet.

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No Doubt About It!

RE: ”Given the stakes, Russian President Vladimir Putin has come up with a new message to entice American Republicans and European neofascists to turn Ukraine over to him.”

Putin IS the most despicable authoritarian of the 21st century. There are many close second place authoritarians here and around the world. However, Putin wins for his direct killing of Ukrainians and sending Russian children to their death. He wins for ordering the destruction of the infrastructure of the largest European country. He is the top authoritarian on Earth!

But regardless of his ‘rationale’ for starting what has become world-wide devastating mayhem, whether based on history, religion or homophobia, the death and destruction of Ukraine and its people continues.

What is being done by anyone to get beyond Putin’s rationale for death and destruction and, instead, end it? What is happening now is only increasing the death and destruction! Something has to change.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently marked the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion by commending the Ukrainian people, saying, "You are fighting for freedom, for democracy, and for your place in the European Union." Note that she did not acknowledge the death and destruction of Ukraine while they fight to regain what was taken from them!

She added that the EU is with Ukraine "for as long as it takes.” (Bold added.) Others have repeated those same words. But no one is acknowledging the increasing vast losses of the Ukrainians.

How much of Ukraine will be destroyed before “it” is achieved?

How many more Ukrainians will be killed or injured before “it” is achieved?

How many more Ukrainian children will be kidnapped and repatriated before “it” is achieved?

How many more mass graves will happen before “it” is achieved?

How many unquestioned billions will “it” take before “it” is achieved?

How much more inflation and austerity must the rest of the world suffer before “it” is achieved?

How many more of the world’s peoples will go hungry or die from starvation before “it” is achieved?

How much more social austerity must USofA suffer before “it” is achieved?

I say again, what is being done to end the death and destruction and is anyone listening? I ask because what has been done so far only perpetuated the death and destruction of Ukraine.

Waiting for Putin to give up - what he is determined to finish - just perpetuates more death and destruction by Putin. Incrementally giving Ukraine better and more WMDs, is required, but only perpetuates Putin’s death and destruction. Economic sanctions haven’t slowed Putin’s death and destruction. Hoping for a coup in Russia to remove Putin also perpetuates Putin’s death and destruction. Successfully assassinating Putin is not any more likely to succeed than the attempts to assassinate Hitler were.

Where are we going? What do we really need? Who’s gaining wealth and power as the death and destruction of Ukraine is perpetuated?

We shouldn’t be so distracted by Putin’s changing rationale for WAR. We should be focused on quickly ending the death and destruction of Ukraine, restoring it to an independent state and eliminating the growth in wealth and power of the those who benefit significantly from WAR.

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Thom,

Who’s going to ”force Putin to stop bombing Ukraine?” It hasn’t happened yet!

Stopping WAR has never been “straightforward” or “simple.” If it was, you and Palast would not be writing about it a year after this one started.

What more do you suggest for expediting the end of Putin’s death and destruction of Ukraine while regaining Ukraine’s independence and starting its reconstruction? How does the world “force Putin to stop” when there are powerful people profiting from this WAR?

How do we return democracy to Ukraine and stop those who perpetually want to destroy democracy and use WAR to fund this more devastating destruction of democracy?

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Thom, you knocked it out of the ballpark again. The white Christian supremacist don't want equal rights for all other races in religions. They also don't even like free thinkers? Jesus was more of a communist than a fascist, he's supposedly never spoke favorably of greedy men. Also, look at all the successful GOP men that have raised gay children? Did the left cause that? The reason the incels cannot get a woman is because they need to take a shower and quit being such narcissists. I see this as a way the autocrats can cut the world's population in half or more, so they can keep selling oil. It would have been a lot more humane about 60 years ago to just give out free birth control to the entire planet and locked up all the religious leaders who opposed free contraception for all. Paul R Ehrlich would make a great guest, I know you know he wrote the population bomb, but for those who don't he, is still teaching at Stanford last I heard. Good day.

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Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023

Another excellent article from Thom. But I have to comment on the “tankie” thing. I respect Thom very much, but I also respect Noam Chomsky. Is Chomsky one of the tankies Thom refers to?

Chomsky and others have pointed out that a deal was struck in February 1990 between then US secretary of state James A. Baker and Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev would allow German reunification. In return NATO would not expand eastward. Gorbachev kept his end of the deal. We have not kept our end. Recently, before Putin invaded Ukraine, Biden was publicly advocating for Ukraine to join NATO.

Chomsky can hold two ideas at once:

1. The west DID provoke Putin by violating the 1990 agreement.

2. This provocation does not justify the invasion.

Would Putin have invaded if NATO had not expanded? Perhaps. But violating the agreement didn’t help the situation, and it gave Putin an excuse to violate the Budapest Memorandum.

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Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023

Thank you so much Thom for putting together all of this history and analysis.

For a long time, I was skeptical of this viewpoint - having been very influenced by Chomsky and various things Chomsky said over the years about how we should not be provoking nuclear war with Russia.

But recently i focused more on the work of Timothy Snyder who put together an enormously valuable range of materials about Ukraine, history, and how much there is to understand about this conflict that we just don't generally know about in the United States. I think much of it is similar to what you have covered here, and really deserves to be understood.

"Yale courses" online recently made available the entire Ukraine course that Professor Snyder taught this past fall and it's an amazing resource to have ... it's free and you can sit and watch him go through this entire historical analysis, which again I think is very consistent with the details and conclusions you are covering here.

So thanks once again for heroic, serious, probing, scholarly journalism.

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I read 4 of Thom Hartman's articles today. Very enlightening, especially about Jared and selling to MBX Saudis for 2 billion. I am flabbergasted about the Republican agenda, and their support of police and militia. Go Thom Go!

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Russia needs to pay a larger price for this war that Putin started. The UN should take action. Also, the application to NATO that Ukraine completed at the beginning of the war should be accepted immediately. Putin will never stop, so democratic nations must stop him or treaties, agreements or laws mean nothing.

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