Global Powers Find Their Own Voice and OT 4/2/21
Putin’s Message to the New US President (h/t to @Don midwest)
The tense test of strength began when Biden was asked about Putin in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and agreed he was “a killer” and didn’t have a soul. He also said Putin will “pay a price” for his actions.
Putin then took the unusual step of going on the state broadcaster VGTRK with a prepared five-minute statement in response to Biden.
Biden agreed on national TV that Putin was a killer with no soul. I know you just read that, but I’m writing it again because I find it hard to believe.
In the video, Putin basically schools Biden, and rightly so, on the psychological meaning of “projection.”
In an unusually pointed manner, Putin recalled the US history of genocide of its Indigenous people, the cruel experience of slavery, the continuing repression of Black Americans today and the unprovoked US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the second world war.
He suggested states should not judge others by their own standards:
Whatever you say about others is what you are yourself.
It was the preamble to Putin’s most important message in years to what he called the American “establishment, the ruling class”. He said the US leadership is determined to have relations with Russia, but only “on its own terms”.
Although they think that we are the same as they are, we are different people. We have a different genetic, cultural and moral code. But we know how to defend our own interests.
And we will work with them, but in those areas in which we ourselves are interested, and on those conditions that we consider beneficial for ourselves. And they will have to reckon with it. They will have to reckon with this, despite all attempts to stop our development. Despite the sanctions, insults, they will have to reckon with this.
Putin is not alone. China is also finding it’s non-pandering voice.
Blinken opened the meeting by lambasting China’s increasing authoritarianism and aggressiveness at home and abroad – in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. He claimed such conduct was threatening “the rules-based order that maintains global stability”.
Yang Jiechi, Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief, responded by denouncing American hypocrisy. He said
The US does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength. The US uses its military force and financial hegemony to carry out long-arm jurisdiction and suppress other countries. It abuses so-called notions of national security to obstruct normal trade exchanges, and to incite some countries to attack China.
He said the US had no right to push its own version of democracy when it was dealing with so much discontent and human rights problems at home.
More at the link. thanks, Don!
I’ll be in and out. Welcome to the Sunday café.
interesting side note in a comment to the main article:
Thuto
March 28, 2021 at 7:45 am
Let’s just say, as per an equity analyst friend of mine, a not insignificant percentage of listed consumer facing brands/companies on the JSE have a not insignificant American ownership through the likes of Blackrock, The Vanguard Group and others. Apple is the only smartphone brand in the country that now entices people to upgrade their phone every 12 months, that to me is a definition of useless. Bain Capital, a US private equity firm swooped in and took over Edgars, a department store with a long and storied history, and they engineered for this retailer the same much publicized fate suffered by the likes of Toys R Us. Walmart owns Massmart, the third largest retailer in South Africa. McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC together account for a significant share of the junk food market.
Whether through ownership of listed assets, American hqd consumer brands like McDonald’s or the taking over of local ones by the likes of Bain Capital, American companies have their tentacles into the SA economy.
Russia and China say to the USA,
About time.
lol!
Big hair strikes again! Too much!🎶😊
In today’s installment of Andrew Yang in NYC,
Interesting look without his usual overcoat and scarf.
my DIL’s mom had one. painful!!!!
T and R, pb4, and the rest of the usual excellent TPW suspects!! ☮️😊👍
This MAY, let me emphasize, May, again be very good news. or, as POTUS would say, a BFD.
https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/1378016852329250819
Iran and USa sending emissaries to Vienna on Tuesday in preliminary talks to restore the Nuclear Deal.
In my view, in old hippie lingo, the USA has copped. relented. backed down. owned up to our failings.
We broke it and now seem willing to talk about fixing it.
LOL. Your old hippie lingo speaks to me, NYCVG.
And to this old head.☮️😊
I hope you’re right, NYCVG.
Spending Provisions in the American Jobs Plan
10-Year Estimate
Invest in Transportation Infrastructure $621 billion
Invest in Electric Vehicles (EV), including consumer rebates to purchase EVs, grants and incentives to build 500,000 new charging stations, and replacing and electrifying federal vehicle fleet $174 billion
Modernize bridges, highways, roads, and main streets in critical need of repair $115 billion
Modernize public transit $85 billion
Improve passenger and freight rail service $80 billion
Improve infrastructure resilience by safeguarding critical infrastructure and services, defending vulnerable communities, and maximizing resilience of land and water resources $50 billion
Improve airports $25 billion
Establish dedicated fund for beneficial projects to regional or national economy $25 billion
Improve road safety and establish Safe Streets for All program $20 billion
Establish program to reconnect neighborhoods and ensure new projects increase opportunity $20 billion
Improve ports and waterways $17 billion
Other spending $10 billion
Invest in Domestic Manufacturing, Research & Development, and Job Training Initiatives $590 billion
Provide additional funding for domestic manufacturing, investing in capital access programs, supporting modernizing supply chains, and creating a new financing program to support debt and equity investments $52 billion
Provide additional funding to the National Science Foundation $50 billion
Establish Department of Commerce office to monitor domestic industrial capacity and to fund investments in the production of critical goods $50 billion
Provide funding for semiconductor manufacturing and research $50 billion
Provide funding for workforce development infrastructure and worker protection $48 billion
Support clean energy manufacturing with federal procurement $46 billion
Provide funding to upgrade research infrastructure in laboratories $40 billion
Establish Dislocated Workers Program and invest in sector-based training $40 billion
Provide additional funding for climate change research and development $35 billion
Provide funding for community-based small business incubators and innovation hubs $31 billion
Provide additional funding for research and development to spur innovation and job creation $30 billion
Protect against future pandemics through medical countermeasures $30 billion
Establish regional innovation hubs and Community Revitalization Fund $20 billion
Create centers of excellence that serve as research incubators for HBCUs and MSIs $15 billion
Provide additional funding to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) $14 billion
Provide funding for workforce development in underserved communities $12 billion
Provide funding for research and development at HBCUs and other MSIs $10 billion
Provide funding for enforcement of workforce protections $10 billion
Establish Rural Partnership Program $5 billion
Other manufacturing investments $2 billion
Expand Home Care Services and Provide Additional Support for Care Workers $400 billion
Expand access to long-term, home and community-based care services under Medicaid and extend the Money Follows the Person program $400 billion
Clean Energy Tax Credits ~$400 billion
Improve Housing Stock, Modernize Schools and Child Care Facilities, and Upgrade VA Hospitals and Federal Buildings $328 billion
Build over a million energy efficient housing units and eliminate certain zoning & land use policies $126 billion
Provide direct grants to upgrade and build new public schools, with an additional $50 billion leveraged through bonds $50 billion
Provide funding to improve public housing system $40 billion
Establish Clean Energy & Sustainability Accelerator $27 billion
Establish Child Care Growth and Innovation Fund and provide tax credits to encourage businesses to build child care facilities $25 billion
Incentivize the building or rehabilitation of over 500,000 homes for low- and middle-income homebuyers with a Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) tax credit $20 billion
Modernize VA hospitals and clinics $18 billion
Improve community college facilities and technology $12 billion
Modernize federal buildings through bipartisan Federal Capital Revolving Fund $10 billion
Invest in Broadband, Electrical Grid, and Clean Drinking Water $311 billion
Provide funding to build high-speed broadband, reduce the cost of broadband internet service, and promote transparency and competition $100 billion
Invest in power infrastructure $100 billion
Upgrade and modernize drinking water supplies through grants and low-cost flexible loans to states, Tribes, territories, and disadvantaged communities $56 billion
Replace all lead pipes and service lines $45 billion
Provide funding to monitor PFAS substances in drinking water and invest in rural small water systems & household well & wastewater systems $10 billion
Total ~$2.65 trillion
Source: Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB)
CRFB also “estimates the net increase in the deficit would be approximately $900 billion. The plan appears deficit-neutral over 15 years and it would reduce deficits over the long-term.” How is this possible?
MLB pulls All-Star Game out of Georgia over voting reform law
Without knowing any of the behind-the-scenes stories, I’m impressed.
“veiled attempt,” my fanny. More like blatant, in-your-face.
Absolutely.
If the shoe was on the other foot, Republicans would be screaming that Democrats were trying to destroy Democracy. I wish Democrats would stop being so polite.
Haaland to create unit to investigate missing and murdered Native Americans
yay! finally.
we can keep searching for them on google. not sure if it would matter, though.
https://perfectunion.us Try duck duck go,
yeah. i meant keep putting them in the google search engine and hitting it over and over. lol that’s supposed to be how they rise on the page, but i guess you can now pay for that.
anyone know Kenyatta?
I heard an opening statement from the OR forum last weekend. He’s forceful. But I’m not terribly clear on how progressive his views are. He speaks a lot of platitudes.
Says some good stuff Needs to build a policy record in other positions instead of speaking in the platitudes Benny mentions below. ‘We need to double down on whats working’ is not a good answer to if he would end fracking before alternative jobs are created. ‘Doubling down’ got us to this point.
I’m waiting to see how much clout the DNC throws his way, that may be the tell all
oops. no, we wouldn’t eliminate fracking jobs before we had green jobs available. so until there’s a big GND program going, we have to keep fracking… Fetterman might say same. it’s a gotchya question.
also, this newscaster says, he can stake out the middle ground b/w Fetterman and whomever.
Comment section on this video raise good points (open in new tab)
sounds good. even Bernie always focuses on “working.” the marginalized are sol. but it’s always hard to tell…
He does Good stuff here. His frustrations are quite justifiable
Fetterman wont be BS’ed by the 🐢
Yeah, so far I’m still for Fetterman
Me2
and a few min later…
🙂
Send it to Milw, where Hank Arron started and finished his career
Your legislature is known for voter suppression though.
For now Evers can veto any more crap like that for 2 more years but if a R gov would beat him its gonna get worse in WI
we have both sides here.
i meant to say we allow everything. :o)
Good move. Biden better get with the program here.
The only thing is that the governors of NY, CA, and especially IL are all personally wealthy. But I think the conversation is important.
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1363156687285350402?s=20