Russia bounty on US troops

[zeppelin128]

It will eventually come back but it will take a true threat that is felt by everyone for it to happen , not some first world problem but a threat to our lives and existence as a country .

Call me a cynic I guess, but I just don't see it happening. The divide is too extreme, this year has laid that wound open for all to see.

 

[Rickyvol77]

So many freshly hatched left wing war hawks in here whose only understanding of the military comes from call of duty. Bless your hearts

Yep clearly they think we should invade Russia ASAP

 

[Rickyvol77]

Somehow I think if this happened during the Obama administration you wouldn't be so complacent about it you. I guess you're a newly hatched dove.

Obama wouldn’t have cared “the 80s called and wants their foreign policy back”

 

[0nelilreb]

Call me a cynic I guess, but I just don't see it happening. The divide is too extreme, this year has laid that wound open for all to see.

Americans always come together when a real threat emerges ( not a political or first world threat ) deal with it , then go back to their corners . We have this weird thing that allows us to rip each other apart both nobody or nothing else is allowed to .

 

[Septic]

When you and your ilk GTFO the way.

So never apparently.

Gosh, imagine the things he could have accomplished if only he'd had a GOP house and senate at the same time.

 

[zeppelin128]

Americans always come together when a real threat emerges ( not a political or first world threat ) deal with it , then go back to their corners . We have this weird thing that allows us to rip each other apart both nobody or nothing else is allowed to .

Idk, I just don't see that happening anymore. Maybe and hopefully I'm wrong, that would at least mean we aren't totally beyond repair.

 

[clarksvol00]

Obama wouldn’t have cared “the 80s called and wants their foreign policy back”

Didnt say Obama would have cared.

 

[McDad]

Russia offered taliban fighters bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan last year. The White House was briefed on the situation in March. No response except to advocate for Russia to rejoin the G7. Is this ok? What say you?
Report: Russia Offered Bounties For Taliban Militants To Kill U.S. Soldiers And Other Allies
Russian Spy Unit Paid Taliban to Attack Americans, U.S. Intelligence Says
Russia reportedly paid Taliban-linked militants bounty money to kill American troops

First, thanks for including multiple links. WSJ is behind a wall but Forbes allowed access to the article. I skimmed through the replies in this thread. SIAP.
Although I cannot prove it, my guess is what Russia is doing with bounties is what we did to them as well. 79 even mentioned the practice going back all the way to Vietnam. I doubt the policy will change much no matter who is president. Furthermore, even if DJT and Putin had a meeting and signed a treaty to discontinue the practice, I don't believe it would stop. I believe it would become more secretive though.
If we can repair relationships with Germany, Italy, and Japan, certainly we can do so with Russia. We do business with the Chinese. We do business with Muslim countries which have horrible cultures concerning women, children, gays, etc. We don't repair the relationship because Russia better serves American politicians as a bogey man. We need a stable enemy for the political class to better manipulate us through fear. Russia is that stable enemy even though their practices mimic our own and are less disgusting than other countries with which we have decent relationships.
Lastly, there is a foolproof way to prevent any of our soldiers dying via bounty or any other motivation; BRING THE SOLDIERS HOME.

 

[BowlBrother85]

I wasn’t talking about just as Prez. I’m saying that to have done all the things he has done in his life he must be impossibly lucky if he isn’t smart. I wasn’t selling Trump’s time as Prez but I can tell you that he at least seemed to try and keep his campaign promises, unlike most politicians who seem to forget them one elected, and the best thing that has come out of his time is how he has exposed the lunacy of the Dems and the sellouts known as the MSM.

You are probably being selective in your memory of what campaign promises Trump actually made in 2016. Here are a few that I'm sure Trump would like to never be reminded of:

1) "Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing the disaster known as Obamacare." - Donald Trump. The Trump Administration has been successful in gutting Obamacare, but it's apparent that they never had a plan to actually replace it with anything.

2) Trump promised to create targeted child care tax credits, but his tax bill didn't increase deductions for dependent care solutions.

3) Trump vowed to renegotiate the Iran deal. This will simply never happen with Trump as President.

4) Trump promised to allow individuals to deduct health care insurance premiums from their taxes. This hasn't happened.

5) Trump vowed to eliminate the federal debt in 8 years. The federal debt has only skyrocketed under Trump, and every indication is that it will continue to do so.

6) Trump also vowed to balance the federal budget "fairly quickly". The federal deficit isn't shrinking; it's growing and at an unprecedented rate. Despite his campaign promises, Trump has proven to be a very liberal free-spending president... much more than Obama or Clinton ever were.

7) Trump promised to eliminate the estate tax. He raised the threshold for the estate tax rather than eliminating it.

8) Trump pledged to not try to make any cuts to Social Security, however, in 2018, the Trump Administration did revive a previous proposal to cut Social Security disability programs.

9) Trump promised to only use U.S. steel for infrastructure projects. However, in one of the only actual infrastructure projects being undertaken during his time in office, the Keystone project is using foreign steel.

10) Trump pledged to cut the number of tax brackets but there are still seven.

11) Trump pledged to de-fund Planned Parenthood. It hasn't been de-funded.

12) Trump pledged to eliminate Common Core. He hasn't.

13) And I saved the best for last... Build a wall, AND HAVE MEXICO PAY FOR IT. There are new additions along the border, but there is no plan in place for Mexico to ever pay for them. There never was. To the contrary, Trump has had to pull funds from the Pentagon which had been ear-marked for other projects including a new school at Fort Campbell. Trump never said a word about pulling funds from the Pentagon for other projects during the campaign.

I think you will find that Trump's high number of broken campaign promises are very much in-line with those of former presidents. I'm not saying he is any worse, but he is certainly not any better.

 

[happy-go_vol]

Americans always come together when a real threat emerges ( not a political or first world threat ) deal with it , then go back to their corners . We have this weird thing that allows us to rip each other apart both nobody or nothing else is allowed to .

. The threat is from inside our country now. The communists moved from russia to America. We have an enemy from within. Its the democratic Party.

 

[FLVOL_79]

Idk, I just don't see that happening anymore. Maybe and hopefully I'm wrong, that would at least mean we aren't totally beyond repair.

When the sh!t hits the fan you can hide in my detached garages attic free of charge. Its got gym equipment, a rowing machine, and all the tools necessary to maintain my lawn and you can use em all!

 

[volbeast33]

Idk, I just don't see that happening anymore. Maybe and hopefully I'm wrong, that would at least mean we aren't totally beyond repair.

No we are not.... it just seems that way due to social media..... there is a lot of people out here that lets the media and politicians manipulate them..... I have worked two different places the last couple years.... they had a combination of staunch conservatives and liberals.... we all pulled together as family and had each other’s backs.

 

[hUTch2002]

You are probably being selective in your memory of what campaign promises Trump actually made in 2016. Here are a few that I'm sure Trump would like to never be reminded of:

1) "Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing the disaster known as Obamacare." - Donald Trump. The Trump Administration has been successful in gutting Obamacare, but it's apparent that they never had a plan to actually replace it with anything.

2) Trump promised to create targeted child care tax credits, but his tax bill didn't increase deductions for dependent care solutions.

3) Trump vowed to renegotiate the Iran deal. This will simply never happen with Trump as President.

4) Trump promised to allow individuals to deduct health care insurance premiums from their taxes. This hasn't happened.

5) Trump vowed to eliminate the federal debt in 8 years. The federal debt has only skyrocketed under Trump, and every indication is that it will continue to do so.

6) Trump also vowed to balance the federal budget "fairly quickly". The federal deficit isn't shrinking; it's growing and at an unprecedented rate. Despite his campaign promises, Trump has proven to be a very liberal free-spending president... much more than Obama or Clinton ever were.

7) Trump promised to eliminate the estate tax. He raised the threshold for the estate tax rather than eliminating it.

8) Trump pledged to not try to make any cuts to Social Security, however, in 2018, the Trump Administration did revive a previous proposal to cut Social Security disability programs.

9) Trump promised to only use U.S. steel for infrastructure projects. However, in one of the only actual infrastructure projects being undertaken during his time in office, the Keystone project is using foreign steel.

10) Trump pledged to eliminate the number of tax brackets but there are still seven.

11) Trump pledged to de-fund Planned Parenthood. It hasn't been de-funded.

12) Trump pledged to eliminate Common Core. He hasn't.

13) And I saved the best for last... Build a wall, AND HAVE MEXICO PAY FOR IT. There are new additions along the border, but there is no plan in place for Mexico to ever pay for it. There never was. To the contrary, Trump has had to pull funds from the Pentagon which had been ear-marked for other projects including a new school at Fort Campbell. Trump never said a word about pulling funds from the Pentagon during the campaign.

I think you will find that Trump's high number of broken campaign promises are very much in-line with those of former presidents. I'm not saying he is any worse, but he is certainly not any better.

Oh he definitely over promised. Some of that stuff he did at least try, even if it didn’t happen. Numbers 5 and 6 I think he was likely lying when he said it and knew it. Some other politicians seemed to forget everything they promised once elected but maybe that’s just because I didn’t pay enough attention. I used to completely avoid politics as I don’t like the constant lying, pandering, and secret handshake deals. I still don’t like those things and both sides do them but as I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten more into politics and government as it is important. I’ve paid way more attention these last 3 years than ever.

 

[hUTch2002]

WaPo has confirmed NY Times reporting on this.

Hopefully this isn’t like the FISA court confirmation process.

 

[hUTch2002]

For the simple sake of consistency and predictability.............

I have maintained from day one of this catastrophe that Trump is a new low and one that should never be normalized.
Every politician, republican or democrat, lies somewhere on the good/bad continuum, and from my admittedly biased perspective, dems. tend to fall in a little more favorable position on that continuum.
What can never be true is that they are all equally bad or good.
The stance that Trump is awful, BUT he is no worse than............(fill in the blank) is what is insane to me.
Talk about lowering the bar.

The simple truth..............Trump is the worst and should never be normalized.

Hold on Luther. How can you say that claiming Trump is bad but no worse than x is insane when you just did the same thing regarding Biden.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

Lil donald could really kill someone and his worshippers would brush it off.....it's a cult.

 

[luthervol]

Hold on Luther. How can you say that claiming Trump is bad but no worse than x is insane when you just did the same thing regarding Biden.

I claimed that Biden was bad but no worse than X?

I don't expect everyone's continuum to look like mine; that's why I've always talked about critical mass.
It's like are you choosing between sausage or pepperoni pizza or are you choosing between sausage and bat brain pizza.
It's all opinion, but there are reasonable expectations.

 

[McDad]

Lil donald could really kill someone and his worshippers would brush it off.....it's a cult.

Don't be silly. This isn't Clinton we're talking about.

 

[Boston Vol]

Lil donald could really kill someone and his worshippers would brush it off.....it's a cult.

You pretty much described the hardcore base of any President that has held office in the past 60 years. Welcome to the cult of personality.

 

[McDad]

You pretty much described the hardcore base of any President that has held office in the past 60 years. Welcome to the cult of personality.

Do you live in Boston?

 

[hUTch2002]

I claimed that Biden was bad but no worse than X?

I don't expect everyone's continuum to look like mine; that's why I've always talked about critical mass.
It's like are you choosing between sausage or pepperoni pizza or are you choosing between sausage and bat brain pizza.
It's all opinion, but there are reasonable expectations.

Pretty sure I saw you say something about Biden not being a great choice but not as bad as Trump and someone called you out on that being a ridiculous reason to vote for Biden. If I’m wrong then I apologize but I don’t think I am.

 

[Boston Vol]

Do you live in Boston?

No Lexington, KY. Born in Boston and raised in the suburbs. You couldn’t pay me enough to move back.

 

[McDad]

No Lexington, KY. Born in Boston and raised in the suburbs. You couldn’t pay me enough to move back.

I was having a hard time wrapping my head around you living in Boston while holding your views. You seem to be a genuine small gov proponent.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

Don't be silly. This isn't Clinton we're talking about.

The Clintons killed someone?

 

[BowlBrother85]

First, thanks for including multiple links. WSJ is behind a wall but Forbes allowed access to the article. I skimmed through the replies in this thread. SIAP.
Although I cannot prove it, my guess is what Russia is doing with bounties is what we did to them as well. 79 even mentioned the practice going back all the way to Vietnam. I doubt the policy will change much no matter who is president. Furthermore, even if DJT and Putin had a meeting and signed a treaty to discontinue the practice, I don't believe it would stop. I believe it would become more secretive though.
If we can repair relationships with Germany, Italy, and Japan, certainly we can do so with Russia. We do business with the Chinese. We do business with Muslim countries which have horrible cultures concerning women, children, gays, etc. We don't repair the relationship because Russia better serves American politicians as a bogey man. We need a stable enemy for the political class to better manipulate us through fear. Russia is that stable enemy even though their practices mimic our own and are less disgusting than other countries with which we have decent relationships.
Lastly, there is a foolproof way to prevent any of our soldiers dying via bounty or any other motivation; BRING THE SOLDIERS HOME.

I will agree with you, but the response of American leadership to this report still matters. Vladimir Putin will, of course, completely and emphatically deny this report. Trump should not publicly side with Putin's denial over the conclusion of United States Intelligence Officials. That will only serve to embolden Putin. Trump probably will side with Putin, though... and then Trump will also continue to lobby for Russia to be admitted back to the G 7.