Why do you present it in this way, Shankar? "June 29th will be remembered. It must be. It marks the day we shift from gathering intangible signs of America’s quiet protection of the Putin regime to hard, undeniable evidence." To make it more dramatic and prophetic? Anyone paying attention has noticed this for years. I'm sorry to criticize because I appreciate your intellect and loyalty to Ukraine.
This is the first time sanctions have ever been lifted against a Russian entity. Whenever I write a book, I’m going to mark this day. To me, this is the first piece of real evidence. Everything else—you can spin.
From 2008 until now, this one stands apart. You can’t spin this. I think I was talking to myself.
I have to disagree with you on this one: Anyone paying attention has seen the signs for years.
I only woke up to what Biden’s team was really doing after they wasted $3 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority—just four months before Avdiivka fell. I’m still kicking myself for being that blind.
This is just another milestone, but the regime has already blown through several points of no return. Those UN votes? OrangeFührer and minions actually parroting Russian lies - not just the Russian "perspective," but outright falsehoods. On Tucker Carlson ....
“The path to U.S. irrelevance will not be marked by a single catastrophe. It will unfold as a slow, deliberate collapse—and 2025 is quietly shaping up to be the year Washington stepped on the gas and raced downhill.”
Bravo Shankar, excellent analysis as always and 100% on point! This quote encapsulates the entire second Trump administration.
And what makes it worse is the fact that Trump has immunity, has consolidated all levers of power, while SCOTUS just gave Trump a license to commit murder. He is now the Unitary Executive under no one’s control or authority.
And the brilliance of Heritage is they are slow walking their policies, and testing all of their moves. The EO giving Trump full authority to call up National Guard Troops within a governor’s consent, to deploying active military to use as he pleases, SCOTUS has given Trump the benefit of the doubt to continue his unconstitutional policies with impunity.
As Robert Maynard Hutchins once said, "The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
Add corruption and a sadistic morally bankrupt administration, and here we are! IMHO…:)
Sanctions must be tightened, not loosened. The Trump cabal, by this action, has just proved that the current USA government backs Russia. The rest of the world must punish America for this if it is true.
Thank you Shankar. You've reported this and no one else has. Just like last week the New Republic reported about the 128 Democrats who refused to advance Impeachment proceedings presented by Rep Al Green. I rely on you. Shared this article 2x
"It feels like the move of an empire deluded by its fading influence—
Precisely.
The hegemony enjoyed by the US for eighty years is fast disappearing. The first cracks appeared in 2016 with a Trump election that shocked the world. The fact that American voters chose to return him to office was the signal to everyone that the "rot" has gone too deep (even if the election was manipulated by Musk and hackers through platform manipulation, algorithmic disinformation). It won't matter if Democrats manage to re-take the House or the Senate (if there are even fair elections). Trust in US leadership will take years to re-build. In the meantime, China will have established its dominance, economically and perhaps even, militarily.
This is a self-inflicted wound caused by voter apathy and ignorance; the take-over of the MSM by corporate entities controlled by billionaires; failure of the "old school" Democratic Party leadership to counter the slow erosion of local and state political institutions in favour of Republicans; the failure of the education community, for the most part, to teach critical thinking skills and proper history (due, mostly, to Republican right-wing influence in local school boards); and, finally, the complete abdication of responsibility to their oath to the Constitution and the rule of law by the Republican Trump cult.
Reminiscent of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US is experiencing a "rapid dis-assembly" under the "Chaos-in-Chief" as the world watches in horror...and some degree of understandable satisfaction.
I'm reminded of the "old" Washington Post masthead: "Democracy Dies in Darkness". Well, it's a dark time in the US today, as the lights of freedom and democratic ideals begin to flicker and die out. If there's any hope to stem this decline, it must lie in the ability of the younger generations of voters and leadership to rise up and re-establish some sort of a functional democratic order that will allow the US to re-join the democratic world as a partner...not a hegemon.
As a European, Hungary really is a thorn in our side. I’m quite disappointed they chose Rosatom instead of American companies—or even better, French ones—for the construction of their nuclear reactors.
That said, I see the glass as half full:
Europe is desperately in need of low-cost energy, and if Hungary can produce it, good for them.
The U.S. has clearly decided to leave responsibility for Ukraine to the Europeans. Even in the Middle East, they’ve only done the bare minimum.
America needs to loosen its grip on Europe and the Middle East to prepare for the challenge in the Pacific—that much is crystal clear.
Hold on, hold on. My hair's on fire. Did you read today's substack from Diane Francis? It's on a total skew line to what you've written here, and maybe full of it. Please read and parse what she had to say in your next post. Gracias.
He did move close to the midline at the NATO summit. As soon as he returned, things moved over the line again. So she is not wrong in covering that, but if you place that data point on a trendline, that movement cannot be counted as a pivot.
Thanks for reinforcing my suspicions. As in the old story about the monk that picked up a scorpion which needed to cross a raging river and started wading only to feel a burning pain in his side. When he asked the scorpion why he stung him, the scorpion blandly replied, "Because I'm a scorpion and that's what we do." I'm waiting for Donnie Two Weeks to reverse himself in part or as a whole, once whatever it is that's motivating this out of character blip evaporates in his crumbling awareness, or is replaced by some new blandishment from Putin.
The way I heard it, Leigh, was that the scorpion spied a turtle floating down the river and asked him for a ride across. At first, the turtle said no" because you'll sting me," but the scorpion said that he wouldn't because then we'd both die. The turtle thought a minute and said OK , hop on. When they got to the middle of the river, the scorpion stung the turtle, who, as he was dying asked "why did you do that? Now we"ll both die" to which the scorpion said, "I 'm sorry. It's in my nature "
I like your version better, because it's a metaphor that includes the MAGA faithful, as well as hinting at the utter insanity of the scorpion! Thanks! (I'm loving this community...aren't you?)
Why do you present it in this way, Shankar? "June 29th will be remembered. It must be. It marks the day we shift from gathering intangible signs of America’s quiet protection of the Putin regime to hard, undeniable evidence." To make it more dramatic and prophetic? Anyone paying attention has noticed this for years. I'm sorry to criticize because I appreciate your intellect and loyalty to Ukraine.
This is the first time sanctions have ever been lifted against a Russian entity. Whenever I write a book, I’m going to mark this day. To me, this is the first piece of real evidence. Everything else—you can spin.
From 2008 until now, this one stands apart. You can’t spin this. I think I was talking to myself.
I have to disagree with you on this one: Anyone paying attention has seen the signs for years.
I only woke up to what Biden’s team was really doing after they wasted $3 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority—just four months before Avdiivka fell. I’m still kicking myself for being that blind.
This is just another milestone, but the regime has already blown through several points of no return. Those UN votes? OrangeFührer and minions actually parroting Russian lies - not just the Russian "perspective," but outright falsehoods. On Tucker Carlson ....
“The path to U.S. irrelevance will not be marked by a single catastrophe. It will unfold as a slow, deliberate collapse—and 2025 is quietly shaping up to be the year Washington stepped on the gas and raced downhill.”
Bravo Shankar, excellent analysis as always and 100% on point! This quote encapsulates the entire second Trump administration.
And what makes it worse is the fact that Trump has immunity, has consolidated all levers of power, while SCOTUS just gave Trump a license to commit murder. He is now the Unitary Executive under no one’s control or authority.
And the brilliance of Heritage is they are slow walking their policies, and testing all of their moves. The EO giving Trump full authority to call up National Guard Troops within a governor’s consent, to deploying active military to use as he pleases, SCOTUS has given Trump the benefit of the doubt to continue his unconstitutional policies with impunity.
As Robert Maynard Hutchins once said, "The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
Add corruption and a sadistic morally bankrupt administration, and here we are! IMHO…:)
Sanctions must be tightened, not loosened. The Trump cabal, by this action, has just proved that the current USA government backs Russia. The rest of the world must punish America for this if it is true.
Thank you Shankar. You've reported this and no one else has. Just like last week the New Republic reported about the 128 Democrats who refused to advance Impeachment proceedings presented by Rep Al Green. I rely on you. Shared this article 2x
Thanks Sara...
Could this also be about Trump playing footsie with Orban?
Yep.
That too: birds of a fascist feather need to stick together.
It’s worse, Mr. Narayan.
https://substack.com/@levparnas/note/c-130704873
Yep. As expected. They are escalating the rescue mission.
I hope the American Putin Recovery Plan fails bigly. Europe needs to hurry up on those fighter jets and artillery shells.
"It feels like the move of an empire deluded by its fading influence—
Precisely.
The hegemony enjoyed by the US for eighty years is fast disappearing. The first cracks appeared in 2016 with a Trump election that shocked the world. The fact that American voters chose to return him to office was the signal to everyone that the "rot" has gone too deep (even if the election was manipulated by Musk and hackers through platform manipulation, algorithmic disinformation). It won't matter if Democrats manage to re-take the House or the Senate (if there are even fair elections). Trust in US leadership will take years to re-build. In the meantime, China will have established its dominance, economically and perhaps even, militarily.
This is a self-inflicted wound caused by voter apathy and ignorance; the take-over of the MSM by corporate entities controlled by billionaires; failure of the "old school" Democratic Party leadership to counter the slow erosion of local and state political institutions in favour of Republicans; the failure of the education community, for the most part, to teach critical thinking skills and proper history (due, mostly, to Republican right-wing influence in local school boards); and, finally, the complete abdication of responsibility to their oath to the Constitution and the rule of law by the Republican Trump cult.
Reminiscent of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US is experiencing a "rapid dis-assembly" under the "Chaos-in-Chief" as the world watches in horror...and some degree of understandable satisfaction.
I'm reminded of the "old" Washington Post masthead: "Democracy Dies in Darkness". Well, it's a dark time in the US today, as the lights of freedom and democratic ideals begin to flicker and die out. If there's any hope to stem this decline, it must lie in the ability of the younger generations of voters and leadership to rise up and re-establish some sort of a functional democratic order that will allow the US to re-join the democratic world as a partner...not a hegemon.
As a European, Hungary really is a thorn in our side. I’m quite disappointed they chose Rosatom instead of American companies—or even better, French ones—for the construction of their nuclear reactors.
That said, I see the glass as half full:
Europe is desperately in need of low-cost energy, and if Hungary can produce it, good for them.
The U.S. has clearly decided to leave responsibility for Ukraine to the Europeans. Even in the Middle East, they’ve only done the bare minimum.
America needs to loosen its grip on Europe and the Middle East to prepare for the challenge in the Pacific—that much is crystal clear.
Now it’s up to us! 🇪🇺🇮🇱
Agreed. 100 percent.
The Putin puppet strikes again
There is no bottom
Treason.
Jaysus!!! what a muckin fess! we've got to get rid of Cheetolini and his cult...
Of course he did.
Hold on, hold on. My hair's on fire. Did you read today's substack from Diane Francis? It's on a total skew line to what you've written here, and maybe full of it. Please read and parse what she had to say in your next post. Gracias.
He did move close to the midline at the NATO summit. As soon as he returned, things moved over the line again. So she is not wrong in covering that, but if you place that data point on a trendline, that movement cannot be counted as a pivot.
Thanks for reinforcing my suspicions. As in the old story about the monk that picked up a scorpion which needed to cross a raging river and started wading only to feel a burning pain in his side. When he asked the scorpion why he stung him, the scorpion blandly replied, "Because I'm a scorpion and that's what we do." I'm waiting for Donnie Two Weeks to reverse himself in part or as a whole, once whatever it is that's motivating this out of character blip evaporates in his crumbling awareness, or is replaced by some new blandishment from Putin.
The way I heard it, Leigh, was that the scorpion spied a turtle floating down the river and asked him for a ride across. At first, the turtle said no" because you'll sting me," but the scorpion said that he wouldn't because then we'd both die. The turtle thought a minute and said OK , hop on. When they got to the middle of the river, the scorpion stung the turtle, who, as he was dying asked "why did you do that? Now we"ll both die" to which the scorpion said, "I 'm sorry. It's in my nature "
I like your version better, because it's a metaphor that includes the MAGA faithful, as well as hinting at the utter insanity of the scorpion! Thanks! (I'm loving this community...aren't you?)
Yes
Wish I could read. Substack does not allow two finger expansion
slowly slowly catch the monkey