FL Senator Marco Rubio, desperately trying to regain “presidential timber” status with the bug-fuck crazy GOP base before male pattern baldness robs him of his chief political asset, dusts off the Domino Theory in a WaPo op-ed:
Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea is a direct challenge and long-term threat to the post-World War II international order for which the United States and our allies have made great sacrifices over the past seven decades. If Putin is allowed to take land from a neighboring nation through deceit and raw military force without serious consequences, the precedent could have global repercussions, including in Asia.
Some have suggested that Crimea is not worth triggering tensions with Russia, given other interests that are more important. While it is best to avoid conflict whenever possible, history shows that illegitimate aggressions that go unchallenged are a virtual guarantee of even more dangerous conflict in the future.
First of all, no one is suggesting a tension-free response to the Crimea annexation, you dishonest fuck – we’ve already suspended Putin’s Netflix account, for chrissakes! But you know what else history shows, Rubio, you ignorant fuck? That the Domino Theory was bullshit and that basing foreign policy on it violently ended millions of lives and ruined countless more. The ignorant, lying fuck-knuckle goes on:
I welcome the fact that Vice President Biden is in the region this week to bring a message of reassurance to our allies and partners. I hope those assurances include a specific and clear response to requests by Georgia and Ukraine for lethal military support from the United States. It is shameful that even as Russia attempts to carve up Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s request for weapons, intelligence sharing and other assistance has been turned down by the Obama administration. We also need to deploy additional military assets and even U.S. personnel to our allies, including Poland and the Baltic states.
Military advisors and boots on the ground — what an original idea, tough guy! Only this time, let us know when the neo-con spawn have enlisted to lead the charge against the godless commies post-Soviet revanchists. The rest of us have invested enough blood, treasure and heartache in your global pissing contests. Fuckhead.
schrodinger's cat
Washington Post should change its name to Warmonger Post. Weren’t Rubio’s two minutes of fame up ages ago? Does anyone still consider him Presidential material?
KG
Interesting word choice there.
Calouste
“post-World War II international order”? Did Rubio sleep through the early 90s?
Although considering that Rmoney’s advisors were still talking about Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union as if they were current entities, he’ll fit right in with the GOP’s foreign policy “experience”.
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
I hope he never shuts up. Fred Hiatt’s copy of the Op-Ed page might have been all sticky after he read Rubio’s piece this morning, but “boots on the ground” in yet another far-flung land his supporters can’t find on a map is going to go over poorly everyplace else.
Walker
So he is calling for armed conflict against Russian? That Russia, the one that we fought a Cold War with, because a hot war would have been fatal?
JPL
If Obama said that we needed to increase taxes to pay for military assistance abroad, what repub would scream the loudest?
c u n d gulag
“Presidential timber?”
This lyin’ sociopathic stupid douche-canoe ain’t even a fuckin’ toothpick!!!!!
KG
@JPL: they’d just suggest making welfare dependent on a four year tour of duty… solving multiple problems at once: they’ll get rid of welfare spending, poor people, and another war.
Mnemosyne
@Calouste:
It often seems like Republicans missed many important events of the 1990s since, as you said, they seem to think the USSR and Soviet Bloc countries still exist. IIRC there are, what, maybe half a dozen officially Communist countries left? And most of them are in Asia?
(The list in my mind is China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba, but I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.)
schrodinger's cat
@JPL: All of them Katie.
Calouste
I somehow assume that Rubio is not referring to the United States of America vs. various Native American tribes here…
becca
The WaPo publishes an opinion and its fact-checker column debunks it on the same day.
At least they know how to cover their asses, if not the news.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Himself, his mom, a couple of his aunts and the cast of Morning Joe. I don’t watch, but I’m willing to bet
To say nothing of the early 2000’s.
CT Voter
I just dropped in to say that:
fuck-knuckle
is awesome.
Villago Delenda Est
Don’t hold back, Betty! Tell us what you really think about Marco!
brettvk
Goddess bless you for this, Betty.
pacem appellant
I wish Netflix were in Russia so we could suspend his account. He’ll have to IP spoof from the UK or the Netherlands if he wants OitnB season two.
Villago Delenda Est
@Calouste: No, probably not, as Marco’s knowledge of history seems to extend to last week, at the earliest.
Calouste
@Mnemosyne:
Laos is the only one your missing.
Although Nepal has a strong communist representation in parliament, communist one party rule there is not yet quite a possibility, considering there are at least 4 different communist parties in the Nepalese parliament.
danielx
@JPL:
Exactly. I’ll believe Republicans are serious when they propose raising taxes by the total estimated amount it would take – to pick an action at random – to drop the 173rd Airborne into Sevastopol. You know, like they didn’t do when authorizing George and Dick’s Excellent Adventure in Iraq. I know it’s beneath the attention of Bloody Bill Kristol and his ilk to worry about costs and other peoples’ lives (they won’t be his kids, after all) when blathering about American interests and national honor and similar horseshit. But a lot of the rest of us, including at least some U.S. senators, have learned to think at least a little bit about costs and long term consequences and such. Some of us thought about such things even prior to 9/11, when modern history began for the Republican Party.
Marco Rubio is a posing dipshit trying to regain his place on the presidential nomination ladder. Marco, amigo, you’ll have to crank up teh crazy a lot higher than this to catch up with the Cruz missile.
Edit: please don’t change, Betty, we like you just the way you are. Except next time I want artwork depicting a Marco Rubio oration, and no, it can’t be a picture of a steaming pile of horseshit.
lamh36
OT, But this may be the only break I have so I’m posting it here.
something to make us all smile!
Watch Rep. John Lewis Dance To ‘Happy’ By Pharrell (VIDEO)
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Mnemosyne:
(The list in my mind is China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba, but I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.)
You’re clearly forgetting the United State of America, which according to Fox “News” and conservative pundits, is currently ruled by a Stalinist dictator.
lamh36
ok, why are all my comments suddenly stuck in moderation
kindness
Rubio….believed his own press about being the savior of the Republican party. Now he’s working up a circle jerk and he’s the only one in the circle.
Calouste
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think for the GOP history ended at the end of St. Ronnie’s presidency, and they have been counting backwards from there or something. Which would explain why they are never really talking about anything their party’s leaders have done in the last 25 years since.
danielx
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
You’re right, that slipped his mind.
Butch
Go, Marco. Volunteer for the military and then go. Or is your advice only to send other people’s children?
schrodinger's cat
@kindness: So he is a point. A circle with zero radius.
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
I thought Marco “stay thirsty my friends” Rubio was out of contention as well but they do love to recycle failed politicians in that party. And I think Jindal has had some vocal coaching so he must be contemplating a run. And whatever happened to that super bland governor from Minnesota? It’s probably about time for him to make an appearance.
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: What about Romney? May be he thinks he can be the next Nixon.
Schlemizel
@Mnemosyne:
I might be convinced on NK and Cuba but there is nothing communist about the other two outside of some archaic naming conventions. But really even the nations that called themselves communist pretty much avoided the works of Engles and Marx in their day-to-day operations by the 70’s
El Caganer
@Certified Mutant Enemy: Huh? I thought he was an Islamosexual homonazi?
Roger Moore
Which in today’s Republican Party means giving the party leaders a woodie.
Jennifer
It really would be amusing to see the President give a press conference and troll the GOP with how there just isn’t any money in the budget for supporting the Ukraine thanks to their own made-up rules.
schrodinger's cat
Way OT but somewhat related: Because Crazy Politics is Crazy and Scary a brief primer on the upcoming elections in India.
schrodinger's cat
@El Caganer: I thought the Chicago thug was an atheist weakling.
Villago Delenda Est
@Certified Mutant Enemy: Well, he’s a Stalinist dictator only to the water’s edge. Then he becomes a weak kneed wussified metrosexual who cannot possibly stand up to the gloriously heterosexual and ultimate man’s manly man, Vlad Putin, bear wrestler and bare chested stud of studs.
There goes Huckleberry Closetcase in a swoon!
Amir Khalid
Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t Russia itself a major arms exporter? It certainly has the tech.
srv
The first action Obama should do is an executive order restarting the draft and designating all children and grand-children of Congressmen as 1-A.
El Caganer
@MomSense: He’s the least interesting man in the world……
Belafon
@schrodinger’s cat:
ftfy
Rafer Janders
Similarly, George W. Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq was a direct challenge and long-term threat to the post-World War II international order for which the United States and our allies have made great sacrifices over the past seven decades. Once Bush was allowed to invade a sovereign nation through deceit and raw military force without serious consequences, the precedent had global repercussions, including in Eurasia.
BGinCHI
No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There’s nothing to be afraid of.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: Yes, I know small point there. Where do you think all those AK-47s come from?
schrodinger's cat
@Villago Delenda Est: You mean the balding middle aged man with moobs?
schrodinger's cat
@Belafon: I like your version better!
Rafer Janders
*Iraq!* cough cough *Iraq!*
Villago Delenda Est
@srv: Also, too, children of CEOs, Wall Street banksters, awl bidness execs, charter school company executives, and, importantly, children of Villagers (I’m looking at YOU, Luke Russert…). I’m sure you all can come up with more worthy potential cannon fodder…
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
I read where England has contracts to sell arms to Russia but has put a hold on them. Like all good goopers he is demanding we do what has already been done.
@Villago Delenda Est:
seriously, I believe most now come from China and Pakistan. At one time one of the old East Block nations (I want to say Czechoslovakia) used to be big in that market.
catclub
@JPL: Even when the senate was tying Clinton’s hands on Somalia, I don’t think they discussed actually paying for the adventure.
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat: The moobs were obviously photoshopped in by Al-Qaeda operatives, or Obambi operatives. I know what you’re thinking…distinction without a difference….
catclub
@Schlemizel: There are two aircraft carrier made in France about to be delivered to Russia. One was named the Sevastopol. Interesting times.
Another Holocene Human
How does Rubio even win re-election absent complete failure/abdication by the Florida Democratic Party?
Okay, okay, so this IS the Florida Democratic Party we’re talking about.
Oh, and Florida Republican Party is trying to investigate Charlie Crist for illegal donations because when he went to work for Morgan and Morgan there was a billboard with his smiling face in Central Florida. Sounds like crap… even when actors couldn’t be in commercial work when they ran for office the local car dealer could still have his face plastered on a billboard on the Automile. But ratfucking is all they know.
catclub
@Rafer Janders: I was thinking of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and that those did NOT have particularly more dangerous consequences.
Also, invasion of Grenada. And Panama.
Chris
Jesus Christ, what do you think they’re going to do?
Take over all of Ukraine?
Okay, maybe. Sucks to be Ukraine.
Then what?
Try the same thing in Poland, the Baltics, or some other NATO country? Yeah, that’ll happen.
Invade Central Asia or the Caucasus? Oh, pleeeease don’t throw us into that briar patch. I can just imagine how awful Washington will feel watching Russia bleed itself dry fighting yet another gaggle of islamist insurgents.
This is not World War fucking Three. This is a great power asserting its “rights” over its extremely reduced “sphere of influence” in a characteristically dickish way. I’m sorry for the neighbors, but no, there isn’t anything here to justify the freak mode the pundits are in.
(And I fucking love the opening “it’s best to avoid conflict whenever possible” perfunctory line that few to none of the Washington punditariat actually mean when they say it. “Whenever possible” is basically “never” for these people).
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
Whoa, don’t hate the playa. Hate the game.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: It has a 1.2bn-Euro contract with France for four Mistral-class warships, that is still in effect and which France has chosen not to suspend. Business, after all, is business.
Belafon
@srv: And he should eliminate all deferments for being in college: You shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of being drafted.
Mike in NC
Rubio should first prep for leading the counterattack against Putin by posing bare-chested, jumping into the Gulf of Mexico, swimming to Cuba, and strangling the elderly Fidel Castro on his deathbed. FOX News will detail a film crew for the trip.
Belafon
@Rafer Janders: I’m curious what other aggression this one led to.
ranchandsyrup
My neocon and paleocon friends are struggling with this because they don’t want to be tied to Bush. Had an email convo today in which a buddy put forth the following:
1. Bush went too far with preemptive war
2. But leaders cannot show one iota of “weakness”, such as not invading Syria or doing something about Ukraine.
3. The fact that Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 was either due to belief that a dove democrat would be elected or is the exception that proves the rule.
My attempts to point out inconsistencies were met with deep victim-playing on his part. Good times.
Gin & Tonic
@Chris: Try the same thing in Poland, the Baltics, or some other NATO country? Yeah, that’ll happen.
Putin has already been making noise about the rights of Russian-speakers in Estonia. Let’s say he decides to shift his border a little westward there, in what is now southeastern Estonia. Will NATO tanks roll in and block him? Will NATO fire any shots? Think about this hard before you answer it.
EconWatcher
Betty, I’m happily married. But if , Gor forbid, things don’t work out between you and Mr. Cracker, and Mrs. EconWatcher and I hit the rocks–well, just sayin’…..
Villago Delenda Est
@Gin & Tonic: Well, the catch there is that Estonia is a member of NATO. An attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all.
Putin is going where he can go, but the Baltics, when offered NATO membership, jumped at it, knowing full well that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. They remember clearly what Uncle Joe did to them back in 1940. Not to mention the Tsars before him.
Chris
@schrodinger’s cat:
So Indian elections are Ordinary Corruption vs Psycho Nationalism? That’s encouraging. I suppose, to borrow from the 2002 French presidential election, my knee-jerk reaction would be “vote for the crook, not the fascist,” but I don’t know much about that country’s internal politics so would be happy for a correction if warranted.
schrodinger's cat
@Gin & Tonic: I think I have asked you this before, what do you think is Putin’s end game. Chris and aimai disagreed with me, but to me Putin’s actions seem short sighted and dangerous.
schrodinger's cat
@Chris: There is third guy, who makes the corrupt party and the crazy party look sane. Goes around the place in hat that says I am a common man, wears sweaters with holes and is a drama queen. He resigned after 40 days in power, many of which were spent protesting in the streets.
Chris
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, “let’s say.” Hypotheticals are lovely things, aren’t they? Because Russia has attacked neutral countries which have no mutual defense agreement with the United States like the one NATO provides for, let’s imagine what might happen if they… did something completely different and an order of magnitude riskier by attacking countries which do.
Gin & Tonic
@Villago Delenda Est: An attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all.
Which is precisely why I picked it for my thought experiment. The northern part of the Russian-Estonian border is along a lake and a river, pretty clearly defined. The southern part is mostly pretty arbitrary, with ethnic Russians on both sides. Is an “adjustment” to that border the same as tanks rolling into Poland? Will German tanks fire upon Russian tanks inside Estonia? How inviolable are those borders? That’s why I said “think hard” before answering. Ukraine’s borders were supposed to be guaranteed by the US, UK and Russia. They weren’t.
schrodinger's cat
@Villago Delenda Est: Every single person I know from the former Soviet Union or the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe, hates Russia with a passion of thousand suns. This includes Bulgarians, Estonians, Ukrainians and Romanians. He may not be able digest his latest and upcoming land grabs. Plus it does smack of what Germany did in the run up to WWII.
schrodinger's cat
@Chris: The crooks have been in power for over 10 years, most people have no appetite for the crazy but their choices are limited. I haven’t been to India in a while but most people are sick of the current government. The right wing party is running on an economic agenda, but I don’t trust them, at all.
Gin & Tonic
@Chris: Is it an order of magnitude riskier? Is the NATO treaty an order of magnitude stronger than the Budapest Memorandum? I’m not sure; you seem to be. I’m trying to explore why. Might Putin be probing? I don’t know about you, but when I go swimming in the ocean, I go in up to my knees first, to gauge the temperature, the currents, the waves.
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
All over the place. One key feature of the AK is that it’s very easy to manufacture, so the market is flooded with knockoffs.
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
What Roger Moore said. Besides, I was thinking of things somewhat larger than small arms — missiles, artillery, helicopters, radar systems and suchlike.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: I know India buys a lot of weapons from Russia and they have been mum about Putin’s latest incursions as well. Haven’t seen any other countries make any statements either. Other than the US and UK, that is.
Chris
@Gin & Tonic:
Since the Budapest Memorandum does not include a military commitment comparable to Article V of the NATO treaty, and has less force than an actual treaty would (the White House never tried to turn it into one, because they didn’t think it could pass Congress, probably rightly so), yes. It is an order of magnitude greater.
Does that mean that the U.S. would absolutely totally definitely for sure cross its heart and hope to die honor its commitments if Russian troops went into the Baltics? Maybe not. NATO allies wondered the same thing all through the Cold War (read De Gaulle’s memoirs and you’ll find that one of his main reasons for taking France out of NATO was that he wasn’t sure that Americans would be willing to risk Washington to save Paris in the event of a Russian invasion). Certainly countries closer to Russia, like West Germany or Turkey, wondered the same thing.
But these hypothetical Russian invasions never materialized, for the simple reason that none of the Russian leaders were crazy enough to gamble the survival of their country on the hunch that America wouldn’t honor its most important military agreement in existence. Too big of a risk. Is Putin willing to take a risk that all his Soviet-era predecessors weren’t? Hypothetically maybe, but he hasn’t indicated it so far.
Origuy
Transnistria, the breakaway part of Moldova, would like to rejoin Russia; they still have a hammer and sickle on their flag. There are a couple of problems with that, however. One is that Ukraine is in the way and the other is that their economy is probably worse than Crimea’s. Russia has military control of the are as it is; they probably aren’t interested in going further.
Birthmarker
I vividly remember reading about Vietnam and the domino effect in my Weekly Reader at school in the early 60’s. My guess is this would have been 64-65. What a walk down memory lane…
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
But this time he has C’mon down to Huckabees Mike to contend with. After seeing that netflix documentary, I had the impression that he just wasn’t that into being president.
@El Caganer:
Yes, the least interesting but very, very thirsty.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic: Even the NATO ‘any attack against one is an attack against all’ is flexible. It did not come up when Syria attacked Turkey, and again when Israel
attacked a Turkish ship.
Turkey did not claim the need for joint defense in those cases.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
If Putin is allowed to take land from a neighboring nation through deceit and raw military force without serious consequences,
When is the US giving back the land taken for the “Embassy” in Baghdad again?
David Koch
I wonder if he’s taking Rogaine or Propecia.
In the age of color HD television displayed 50 inch flat screens is it possible for a bald guy to win nationally.
There hasn’t been a bald president since 1837. Ike was balding, but not bald.
Debbie(aussie)
That was brilliant, Betty. You really have a wonderful way with words.
I am having trouble finding a word that describes the fact that these ‘fuck-knuckles’ don’t consider what they/USA have done all over when making these statements. Help?
David Koch
Peckerwood horseshit.
Exxon is investing 500 Billion dollars in Russia to extract oil from their arctic regions.
500 Billion is a lot of money. Nobody is gonna fuck that up. Even if some warmonger like McCain was in charge, Exxon would expose all his mistresses and all his dirty money in a heartbeat.
Chris
@schrodinger’s cat:
So the three options are Crook, Fascist, and Sarah Palin?
(I have a bad memory for where commentators are from – are you Indian, or just someone who follows the country’s politics closely? Just curious).
Rafer Janders
@Belafon:
Obviously, Crimea. George W. Bush’s unchecked aggression against Iraq led to Putin’s unchecked aggression against Ukraine….I mean, that’s the inescapable conclusion of Rubio’s logic, isn’t it?
trnc
@KG:
Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking. “Lethal military support” sounds like an oxymoron. Actions can be lethal, but can support of that action be lethal?
Just more blather. Put it up there with the equally vapid “trust but verify” that made the loonies swoon.
Rex Everything
Excellent.
Just One More Canuck
@Calouste: the People’s Front of Nepal or the Nepalese People’s Front
debbie
@KG:
Anyone who can let “lethal” easily roll off his tongue needs to take a position up at the front line.
El Caganer
So, this is a longer version of “I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.”
Higgs Boson's Mate
I wholeheartedly have added “fuck-knuckle” to the list of things I wish I’d thought up. My esteem for that expression is so high that I’m stealing it.
Phoning It In
@schrodinger’s cat: Of the local BPOE? He’s a shoo-in.
Bob In Portland
Well, I remember that if we didn’t stop them in Hanoi we’d have to stop them in California. And now there are Pho restaurants and sandwich shops all over the country. There are lots of Dominos, too, but that’s another invasion.
Snarki, child of Loki
So when are the neocon warmongers going to elist as the “Light Brigade V.2”, and take the war to Crimea?
I’m guessing half-past never, more’s the pity.
Epicurus
May I request that the new definition of Rubio (“ignorant, lying fuck-knuckle”) be added to the BJ Lexicon? It just sums up this little charmer so well. And trying to resurrect 40-year old, discredited theories is no way to go through life. Nonetheless, the number of fucks I could give regarding little Marco is infinitesimal. He’s a loser, and will never reach any higher office. Hopefully, he’ll lose this gig after his next election.
Rasputin's Evil Twin
It’s probably a good time to send a Russian language copy of “The Guns of August” to Putin. It doesn’t look like he’s read it.
Also, we should send Rubio the English edition. And whack ol’ Grandpa Walnuts over the head with the large print edition, repeatedly, until he gets the point.