Most relevant portion, imo. Although the whole thing is very short.

Vladimir Putin has not said he wants to go march across Europe and take Europe, and the reality is Ukraine is not even a NATO member nation.

This is 100% true. Putin has not said he wants to march into any other countries. He hasn’t even, to my knowledge, said he intends to take Kiev/western UA. Now obviously not everything has to be explicitly stated in order to be true, but if that’s the case here, then surely they have evidence to indicate Russia plans to push into Poland, etc.

It’s quite a bold claim to make, considering that European countries in addition to Ukraine have made no secret that they fear Russia. For example, Germany, Poland, and France are discussing the revival of a decades-old alliance to strengthen their cooperation because of Russia. Sweden just joined NATO last month, following neighbor Finland’s accession to the alliance last year, over concerns Russia might try to invade them next.

So Poland and some other nations’ leaders have indeed made statements of fear about Russia invading. Is that evidence? No. It’s worth considering though, I suppose, if I’m being the most charitable that I can be. Just fold it up, put it in a pocket in the back of your brain. “Poland thinks Putin wants to invade Poland.” Ok. Filed away.

Countries reviving defense pacts and/or joining NATO might also indicate paranoia over Russia. Ok. But where the fuck is there any indication in a speech or actions that Putin intends to do more than he’s publicly stated?

So, is Greene simply echoing Russian talking points? Several of her Republican colleagues in Congress have warned that Russian propaganda is influencing their constituents and politicians like Greene, following revelations last week of a vast Russian-backed corruption network in Europe. Belgium is even investigatingRussian interference in the European Parliament’s upcoming elections.

Debunked, for the most part, or at best over exaggerated claims of influence by Russia again. Ok. And in the EU parliament this time?!? My God! MEIN GOTT! SACRE BLEU! Pasta meatballio Deus! (dunno how Italians exclaim like that)

But even if there is Russian interference and propaganda, the implication here is what MTG said wasn’t factually correct. The author never addresses the claim (that’s the end of the article). They never provide proof or reason to believe Russia intends to go beyond Kiev. When you’re talking about billions of US dollars, billions in US weapons and training, the standard of proof is absolutely fucking higher than “ohhh jaaaa Poland and Deutschland are ze scared of Pooteeen. Seend meesiles America! Danke!”

Even doing Devil’s advocate shit I would’ve listed Russia going into Georgia, Crimea and now Ukraine to establish a pattern. Of course all of those countries (and whatever Crimea is… city state thing?) have some fundamental differences with Poland, Germany, etc. Maybe that’s why the author decided against that point because it would get bogged down in massive jumps of “logic” to explain the argument? Easier to point to bullshit, repeat the line “Russia bad!”, and expect us apes to get in line for our shit sandwiches.

I absolutely abhor MTG. She’s a shit human, seems dumb as a rock, etc. But when someone is saying something plainly true, and some dishrag DNC article wants to complain about it without even properly arguing against her, just quote dumping a bunch of shit that adds up to “ok, and?”, that’s not journalism. It’s ironically… just propaganda. American imperialist propaganda in this case.

    • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      That’s my feeling, but typically the two parties are in lock step on war. It’s not all Republicans who think like her either. These new Republicans like mtg and their like feel very contrary in general. Maybe it is that shallow, but that feels like a thought terminating angle. This wasn’t always true either, I fell like this position is new. I have a hard time h understanding how they justify their position when it’s clear they have no material understanding of the conflict at large.

      • ihaveibs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        7 months ago

        The neocons in the Republican party lean towards going all in on war against China and thus want to end the war in Ukraine as opposed to the neolibs in the Democratic party who view Russia as the primary enemy, and those guys in the Pentagon filter these ideas down to the politicians. That’s an oversimplification but that’s typically how I see it laid out by guys like Michael Hudson who have some connections to the state.