Hey MSNBC no one in this country gives a SHIT!! about Ukraine

[bigdarryl]

I mean Serious you have a whole segment on this shit

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Speak for yourself

Many of us, who get it, do

[Lady Freedom Returns]

8. +1 n/t

[EX500rider]

22. +2

[Duckhunter935]

27. +3

[NuclearDem]

28. +4

[hlthe2b]

58. +++++ Indeed

[Jesus Malverde]

2. It's the neocon cause du jour.

Last one was syria, now ukraine, next up?

Koney2012

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Maybe we should.

It's good to know what's going on in the rest of the world.

[Glorfindel]

6. It's good to be interested in a general sort of way

But we don't need to get involved in everything. We can't afford it. If this were a border dispute between Myanmar and Bangladesh, the media would ignore it or report it with a huge yawn. Actually, I find Myanmar considerably more interesting than Ukraine.

[Jesus Malverde]

7. If we're going by humanitarian concerns

like you point out there are so many more worthy places to focus on. The democracy and humanitarian interest in the Ukraine is a side show to greater geostrategic interests.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Show me the US troops in Ukraine

But if the Russians do breach any NATO country border, I hope the recall does not include 'nam era folks, I could see the potential for that. Easy, in fact.

Nope, we can't afford to, article 5 comes into play in that case. As it did on Sept 13, 2003, when it was enacted and European AWAC flew over conus as part of NATO.

Nor are we getting that involved in the Ukraine. Best case we are feet deep, the Russians are waist deep, and sinking.

As to news services, we need them to have more foreign reporting. Americans need to travel as well. Being this provincial is a problem.

As for me, 180 from the OP, the media is not covering this crisis enough, and it has potential for teaching Americans European geography once again. That said, this actual lack of coverage is exhibit A that we are really not that involved.

[FarCenter]

17. If the Russians breached a NATO border, they would first change their underwear in Brussels

Then they would explain that it never happened.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Wrong, but a draft does come to mind

[FarCenter]

49. Given how much it costs to train, equip, deploy and supply a division, a draft is infeasible

Besides being political suicide.

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. If you have a nuclear attack on conus

I give it a fifty fifty since the American oligarchy does not want one. But drafts are not limited to the US you know, and Europeans will recall reserves and enact one. I know Americans believe all concerns just them.

[FarCenter]

59. A nuclear conflict would be over before a draft could be put into operation.

There might be a lot of "conscription" after the war, but that would likely be by local warlords organizing the survival of their areas.

[nadinbrzezinski]

73. A total conflict you would be correct

Limited exchanges not really. And I give that a fifty fifty, draftees get in the way of for profit kp duty

Regardless, the chance is a US President telling us to go shopping.

[FarCenter]

79. You hypothesized a nuclear attack on conus -- it is hard to see that resulting in a limited exchange

Any use of nuclear weapons against the states of the US will likely result in counterstrike calculated to eliminate the aggressor state.

It would not be all out, since some weapons would be held in reserve to mop up or to counter other nuclear countries.

The only exception might be a small nuke exploded in place after being transported into the country, and which cannot be attributed to an origin. Even in that case, I can't see the utility of a draft.

[nadinbrzezinski]

80. I am just telling you that inho a limited attack

could be terrorism by the way, will lead to a POTUS telling us to go shopping, Regardless, a draft is not just limited to the United States, and as far as this country is concerned. I doubt we will see one. The Oligarchy does not want one, it is bad for business. So it is not even worth discussing any longer.

It is the equivalent of discussing the number of angels on the head of a pin. And if you are a member of the oligarchy, ie top dog. there are many good reasons you really will fight a draft, even if we had an attack on the US.

Exhibit A, Bush telling us to go shopping after 911.

So if the past is prologue, go shopping will be the answer.

In fact, I will go a step further, discussing any type of national service (not just military) as far as the US is concerned, is a real waste of all our collective time. Not worth it, and again there are many valid reasons you will not see it. This is not really in the interests of the true powers that run the country.

So go shopping.

[Duckhunter935]

29. did you see the map where

Americans thought Ukraine was, very sad indeed.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. In one of those cases

We should be involved, since it is inside the US

[Duckhunter935]

47. Found it

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/04/how-much-do-americans-know-about-ukraine.html

[greatauntoftriplets]

53. That's just sad.

[A HERETIC I AM]

65. Well, most Americans don't HAVE maps......

such as

[greatauntoftriplets]

66. I'm one of the exceptions.

I love maps and have a collection.

[A HERETIC I AM]

69. I'm trusting you got the reference....

to a particular speech/answer given by a particular young lady in a particular beauty pageant a few particular years ago?

[greatauntoftriplets]

71. I did!

That was THAT long ago?

[nadinbrzezinski]

75. Yup, and I have my whole county on 7.5 minute topo

On the IPad

[A HERETIC I AM]

90. LOL...Yeah. Time flies when you have no cartographic references!

She's probably a Neurosurgeon now!


Well, no, she isn't.

[greatauntoftriplets]

92. And thank the gods that she isn't!

[darkangel218]

57. From the article:

"The farther their guesses were from Ukraine’s actual location, the more they wanted the U.S.  to intervene with military force."

[Obnoxious_One]

83. lol, ignorance on top of ignorance.

The war mongers just can't help themselves.

[nadinbrzezinski]

88. I could alert this as a personal attack

but I will not bother doing that.

After all, I expect the juries not to actually call you on the personal attack. On the other hand, nope, you are not going on ignore either, but every personal attack you post on me, or others, I will start to call on them, SIR.

Your knowledge of the military is woefully lacking. The last time we called people in their sixties and seventies was during Gulf War I, the Missouri needed a crew that knew her. It was a voluntary recall.

Also during Gulf War II we had a few vets with very specialized skills also called back in, in their sixties.

You should try to learn something instead of accusing and attacking people.

The joke Sir, is you.

[AnalystInParadise]

93. Nah I am good

my knowledge in on point since I do it for a living everyday. I only attack those who need to be mocked and taken down a peg as a result of their over sized ego that can never admit to being wrong. It must chap your ass that someone that actually works in the military and intelligence is debunking all your bullshit. Well I intend to keep debunking, but you won't get any personal attacks from me. It is much more pleasurable proving you wrong.

[nadinbrzezinski]

94. Right... this is why you did not know the big MO had a voluntary recall

and that during Gulf War II we had voluntary recalls. I am starting to think something else about you, and it is not nice. Let's just say something about an old acronym comes to mind.

You are debunking none, and are engaging in personal attacks. As I said, I do not bother with the Juries here, they are useless, but I will call you every time you personally attack somebody. And bring down a peg that be you.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. We don't necessarily need to get involved, but we do need to know

what's happening elsewhere. Americans are so insular - we don't think anything is important unless it happens here.

[FarCenter]

4. If things get out of hand, it could make the 2008 financial crisis look like a hiccup

As Russia can retaliate financially

A matter of policy


Whether it comes to financial difficulties in Russia, is ultimately a political question. Because all calculations are based on the assumption that the country and its companies actually repay their foreign debts.

If the situation continues to escalate, but which does not appear absolutely certain. Putin could take the position that if we get no more money from foreign investors or banks who get nothing more from us. Then overdue bonds or loans would simply no longer be refunded.

That would just make Europe's banks hard. Leader in the ranking of creditors are banks of France, they have Russian debtors borrowed $ 54 billion. This is followed by the Austrian financial institutions with $ 52 billion, with the Italian 30 billion and German banks with $ 22.5 billion.

In the worst case, this money would have almost completely lost.

If all financial ties between Russia and the West would be cut, also breaks the trade along with energy and raw materials. Europe would be missing the gas, Russia for the steady billion revenue from exports.

That makes this conflict and economically difficult to calculate. Who a disruption of economic relations in the end does more harm can not be predicted easily.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.welt.de/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddie%2Bwelt%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address%26rlz%3D1I7ACGW_enUS372US372

[hfojvt]

23. I wonder if this author took a time trip from the past

I am seeing numbers in the billions. Maybe in 1983 that was a lot of money, but this is 2014.

Germany's GDP is $3.4 TRILLION. France's is $2.6 Trillion. Italy is $2.2 trillion. Austria is kinda small at $400 billion. So they have substantial risk.

But for France, that $54 billion is only 2% of their GDP. For Deutschland, it is only 0.7%.

[FarCenter]

33. Leverage - if Austrian banks lose $50 B they have to write down their capital by that much

So $50 billion less capital means about $500 billion less lending by Austrian banks in order to stay within Basel capital requirements.

Also, don't you think that writing down Russian assets to $0 would affect the stock of Exxon Mobil?

[hfojvt]

37. oh, it is a lot for Austria

although Austria like its neighbors Liechtenstein and Switzerland might have some huge international banks as well.

But it is much much less for France and Deutschland and Italy.

[FarCenter]

39. It's enough to cause a severe recession in Europe, which sill has a fragile banking system

And depending on how the Credit Default Swaps and other derivatives stack up, the system might fall over.

Credit-Anstalt?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. And we care even less about PUNCTUATION!!!! AAAAARGH!!! nt

[pscot]

16. Waddayou?

Some kinda pointy headed intaleksual?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Maybe he really needed to SHIT!!!! when he was writing his post. nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. As someone with several relatives living in that country, I can only say....

....speak for yourself.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

18. Yes, God forbid I care about my family members' well-being.

I luvs Dick Cheney.

[Jesus Malverde]

24. We know

[louis-t]

78. Coolest GIF I've seen in a long time.

[Duckhunter935]

81. agreed

[m-lekktor]

32. if that's the case then you want BOTH sides to back off. nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

12. Way to counter stereotypes of Americans as arrogant and insular.

[hfojvt]

13. you should try PBS

when I first stumbled on the PBS Newshour I thought it was great, then after another ten minute segment about events in Africa, I thought "really, this is far more than I need to know about Rangoon".

I noticed even in the Presidential debates in the Democratic Primary, for some reason they seemed to start every debate with - foreign policy. Dang, well what about DOMESTIC policy? We were electing a President of the United States, not a delegate to the United Nations.

But first, the debate moderators had to bore most people with an hour about foreign policy.

At least that is not MY primary concern, other than a desire to avoid wars, and especially invasions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Because we all know US presidents really have

No need for foreign policy...

and PBS does the best at covering events that will affect you even in NYC. I wonder If the only way Americans get foreign policy anymore matters is with a world war?

[hfojvt]

36. I know, so silly of me

to care more about the poor in my own country than about this or that detail about foreign policy.

And I am not in NYC either.

I am in "flyover country".

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Given that foreign aid is less than 1% of the budget

You really are pointing at the wrong target. And foreign relations includes things like trade. Things like nafta are directly related to the rise of poverty in your neighborhood, never mind TTP, and other free trade agreements.

If you care about the poor you need to pay attention to that pivot to the pacific.

[FarCenter]

51. Didn't Iraq and Afghanistan each cost 1 to 2 trillion dollars?

Aiding foreigners is not cheap.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. And Halluburton, and General Electric and caci, and

The rest of the industrial complex. Most of that spending did not go to US AID.

[sabrina 1]

70. Which they borrowed from the SS Fund, created a huge deficit by using our tax dollars

and from which they now want to take more, AND 'blame' and therefore CUT SS benefits in order to make the people pay for their gambling debts, which worked out great for Halliburton et al, but COST the average American more than they could afford to make the wealthy even wealthier.

We weren't 'aiding foreigners' in Iraq we were providing profits for Global Security Contractors, or Mercenaries if you want to be more accurate and for our own Defense Contractors. We were killing and torturing everyone else there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. Read or not, post 54

Not reposing

[sabrina 1]

77. Yes, I agree with that. n/t

[hfojvt]

62. I didn't say anything about foreign aid

The story I am thinking of was about a dictator/civil unrest in an African country.

I know a fair amount about taxes and the US budget and try to inform my fellow citizens about what I know.

Only to be met with mostly a collective yawn.

My point is that even if I read Funk and Wagnals 18 volume history of that African country and knew EVERY thing there was to know about it, that I have approximately 0.00000000000037% impact on what the Preident or Congress does about it.

It was more than I needed to know. It was more than I wanted to know. Rather than being important information, like maybe ten minutes on income inequality would have been, it just seemed like the latest distraction du jour.

Like when that plane went down on the Hudson and both Keith AND Rachel spent their WHOLE hour on Sully Sullenberger. It was just vital information when she interviewed his 7th grade track coach. I mean, I don't understand people who want to live their lives ignorant of the fact that Sully once ran the hundred yard dash in 11.7 seconds!!!

Oh, and guess what, a trade agreement that the US is involved in, that looks like a domestic issue to me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

76. Guess what?

All that crap in Myanmar is part of the pacific pivot. It is connected. You might be an average American, collective yawn, but income inequality draws that yawn too. Now a forever home story for a little doggie, watch the website break all records!

[elleng]

55. Thanks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. It amazes me at multiple levels

This willful ignorance. In a GLOBALIZED world we really should be paying very close attention

[EX500rider]

20. Maybe you should have watched a little more since Rangoon is not in Africa but Myanmar.

[hfojvt]

35. SHIT!!!

and it's not even a country.

And now it's Yangon, if wiki can be trusted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangon

And I was kinda like, "where the hell is Myanmar?"

And wiki tells me it is something an old fart like me might remember as "Burma".

And what am I supposed to do with all this knowledge besides flaunt my superiority over people who do not have it?

Maybe if they spent more time on the Ryan budget, American voters would be informed enough to defenestrate the jerkwads who vote for things like that.

But that's what I get for not saying Rhodesia.

[EX500rider]

41. But that's what I get for not saying Rhodesia.....You mean Zimbabwe...lol

[darkangel218]

21. A lot of people actually do care.

It matters because what's now happening could escalate and affect the whole Europe and possibly the whole world.

Grrrrr!

[JackRiddler]

25. What an important contribution

to increasing the level of stupidity around here.

I think it's propaganda, what they say about Ukraine, but luckily we have you to explain that it's just a big boring distraction - why are they talking about some place that isn't Amerikuh at all? Huh? You-Crane? What the fuck kind of unamerican crap is that?

PUT ON THE BASKETBALL GAME YOU LOSERS!!! CHUG! CHUG!

[darkangel218]

31. LMAO!!!

Well said!!

[warrior1]

26. you don't speak for me

[Bobcat]

30. Pipelines

IMHO the oil and gas pipelines criss-crossing Ukraine are central to the urgency conveyed by the West. You don't hear the mainstream media discuss that aspect though.

[Obnoxious_One]

86. crimnals rarely reveal their true motivations. eom

[tularetom]

34. I do, just not enough to watch

Especially a whole segment. I mean WTF do they think we do with our time?

[PDJane]

38. Yeah, I care.

It has the potential to not only restart the cold war, but to blow up into a nice hot war....Like, WWIV. So, yeah, I care. And yeah, I'll watch MSNBC to follow it.

[Jamaal510]

40. I used to

have a GF who is from Ukraine, so it hit a little bit home to me. Because of that crisis, she felt unsafe and had to move out of the country, and we lost contact (we communicated via UADreams.com, which doesn't let its members exchange personal info until they meet in person).
Other than that, I agree that the coverage could be dialed back a little bit, especially considering that there has also been another crisis going on in parts of Africa that have gotten virtually no coverage at all in the American media.

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. Big Darryl, Small Outlook

Serious.

[JackRiddler]

82. Not the only thing that's small.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

45. i do and i am pretty sure i live here. nt

[Duckhunter935]

48. I do and one segment

is not nearly enough

[951-Riverside]

50. You bought it. You own it. You deal with it.

Not one American life should be sacrificed in this conflict.

[DrDan]

60. wow!

[Earth_First]

61. Self-important OP is a self-important OP. nt

[snooper2]

63. You aren't coming back to the thread you started are you? Bad form dude bad form LOL

I probably wouldn't either, but I can bring the quality of the thread up with one video!


How about a little Anastacia!

[LeftyMom]

64. Little early in the day to be angry drunk, dontchathink?

[McCamy Taylor]

67. There is a lot of energy politics in that part of the world. So yeah, they do give a shit.

Plus, there are some Americans who just unaccountably care about people in other countries. Don't know why. Maybe they were born with hearts.

[cthulu2016]

68. I think where you typed "country" you meant to say "room"

[ChisolmTrailDem]

74. Hit and run non-sensical post. Dismissed. nt

[Blue_Tires]

84. Not sure if serious...

[Donald Ian Rankin]

85. You give yourself airs, saying "no-one cares about" when you mean "I don't care about". N.T.

[RB TexLa]

89. This is all anyone should be concerned with.

[pampango]

91. Liberals care about all kinds of people everywhere. Conservatives only care

about the person they see on the mirror.