Tag: celebration
President Volodymyr Zelensky

Blaming Zelensky For Ukraine War, Trump Attacks Media And Spews Fake History

President Donald Trump is victim-blaming Ukraine after Russia carried out a missile attack on civilians at a Palm Sunday celebration in the city of Sumy, killing at least 34 people, including two children.

On Sunday night after the bombing, Trump said in an interview on Air Force One that the ballistic missile attack was “a mistake" and a “horrible thing”—even though a ballistic missile attack has to be directed and thus could not have been a benign error as Trump suggested.

But on Monday morning, Trump’s tone grew angry as he blamed former President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the attack that Russia carried out, writing in one of his embarrassing Truth Social missives:

The War between Russia and Ukraine is Biden’s war, not mine. I just got here, and for four years during my term, had no problem in preventing it from happening. President Putin, and everyone else, respected your President! I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS WAR, BUT AM WORKING DILIGENTLY TO GET THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION TO STOP. If the 2020 Presidential Election was not RIGGED, and it was, in so many ways, that horrible War would never have happened. President Zelenskyy and Crooked Joe Biden did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin. There were so many ways of preventing it from ever starting. But that is the past. Now we have to get it to STOP, AND FAST. SO SAD!

Let’s set aside the fact that it’s sociopathic to bring everything back to the 2020 election, which Trump still says was rigged, even though it wasn’t. To again blame Biden and Zelensky for a war that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is 100% responsible for is sick and twisted—and raises questions about why Trump refuses to assign Putin any fault for his actions.

Trump dug in later on Monday as well. In the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “[Zelensky is] always looking to purchase missiles. … Listen, when you start a war, you gotta know you can win a war. You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”

Trump has repeatedly blamed Zelensky over Putin.

In February, Trump repeated Russian propaganda when he ridiculously accused Zelensky of being a “dictator” for not holding an election in his war-torn country.

Later that month, Trump attacked Zelenskyy in a disgraceful Oval Office ambush, in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance teamed up on Zelensky to demand he be more grateful for American aid in the war.

And on March 31, Trump threatened Zelenskyy with “big, big problems” if Zelenskyy were to back out of a minerals deal.

Trump’s change of tone on Monday over the horrific attack Russia carried out on Ukrainian civilians is likely a response to an interview Zelensky gave to 60 Minutes, which aired on Sunday night.

"I believe, sadly, Russian narratives are prevailing in the U.S.,” Zelensky said. “How is it possible to witness our losses and our suffering, to understand what the Russians are doing, and to still believe that they are not the aggressors, that they did not start this war? This speaks to the enormous influence of Russia's information policy on America, on U.S. politics, and U.S. politicians.”

That clearly pissed off Trump, who demanded CBS News lose its broadcast license for airing the segment. Trump wrote on Truth Social:

They [“60 Minutes”] are not a “News Show,” but a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as “News,” and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing. They should lose their license! Hopefully, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as headed by its Highly Respected Chairman, Brendan Carr, will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior. CBS is out of control, at levels never seen before, and they should pay a big price for this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Trump is angry that he hasn’t been able to end the war on Day 1, as he repeatedly promised during the campaign.

Worse for Trump is that his embrace of Putin and attacks on Zelensky are losing him support from voters.

A Gallup survey released on March 18 found that 46 percent of Americans believe the United States is not doing enough to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s attacks—a 16-percentage-point increase since December.

An NBC News poll from about the same time found that 61 percent of registered voters side with Ukraine over Russia. Yet a plurality (49 percent) thinks Trump sides with Russia over Ukraine.

“I cannot recall a moment in history when American public opinion and voters’ views of a president, as to which country they are more aligned with, have been more in conflict with each other,” Jeff Horwitt, a Democratic pollster who jointly conducted the poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, told NBC News.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Amid MAGA Uproar Over Work Visas,Trump Denies Flip-Flop

Amid MAGA Uproar Over Work Visas,Trump Denies Flip-Flop

Pressed by reporters ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations on why he apparently reversed his position on the H1-B visa program, President-elect Donald Trump denied doing any such thing.

"I didn’t change my mind," said Trump. "I always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country. We need competent people. We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in."

While Trump made some overtures in favor of high-skilled worker visas near the end of his presidency, he ran on sharp curtailment of the program in 2016, noted former GOP strategist turned anti-Trump influencer Ron Filipkowski.

"The H1-B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary workers foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay," said Trump in a statement issued during the 2016 election cycle. "I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H1-B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions."

In recent days, tensions have flared in the MAGA community as hard-right activists have turned on tech billionaire Elon Musk for his passionate defense of the H1-B visa program.

Trump, for his part, has publicly taken Musk's side on the issue.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Kinzinger: Moscow Is Celebrating Nomination Of Its Stooge Vance

Kinzinger: Moscow Is Celebrating Nomination Of Its Stooge Vance

One former Republican member of the House of Representatives is warning that Russia is rooting for Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), who is former President Donald Trump's 2024 running mate, to become vice president.

The Hill reported that during a Monday night interview with The Late Show's Stephen Colbert, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) cautioned viewers that it isn't just Americans who are paying attention to Vance's pending nomination as the GOP's pick for vice president. He suggested Vance's ascension to become Trump's right hand was welcome news to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"They are celebrating that choice, both in Milwaukee tonight and in Moscow," Kinzinger said.

“JD Vance is the one that has … very loudly talked about how he doesn’t care what happens in Ukraine. He has opposed aid to Ukraine,” he continued. “At a time where, since World War II, the biggest defense of a country, of freedom, that is happening right now.”

Kinzinger, who served in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Vance's past opposition to supporting Ukraine in its ongoing war to defend its territory from occupying Russian forces could mean that the U.S. abandons the eastern European democracy should Trump win a second term. He accused the Ohio Republican of "aggressively parrot[ing] actual Russian talking points" in railing against funds for Ukraine.

"I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other," Vance told former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon — who is now serving a federal prison sentence — in a 2022 episode of his podcast.

Vance has already taken the position that disputed territories like Donbas in the east along with Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 and resulted in Russia getting kicked out of the G8 (now G7), should be officially ceded to Putin to end the war.

"[The Russia-Ukraine war] ends the way nearly every single war has ever ended: when people negotiate and each side gives up something that it doesn’t want to give up,” Vance said in December. “No one can explain to me how this ends without some territorial concessions relative to the 1991 boundaries.”

A foreign policy expert told the Ohio Capital Journal last month that making territorial concessions to Putin would likely embolden him and that Russia is on the verge of relenting due to staggering losses.

“We need to flip the script,” said Charles A. Kupchan, who is an international affairs professor at Georgetown University . “We need to make it clear to the Russian leadership and the Russian people that we have more staying power than they do. Ultimately, the Russians are going to tire of this. They’ve lost somewhere around 350,000 people dead and wounded. This is a war that is imposing very considerable costs on Russia. The key here is to make sure that we convince Putin that we’re going to stay the course. It’s only then that I think you’ll see him cease and desist.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Raucous Party Follows Somber Recollections At Berlin Wall

Raucous Party Follows Somber Recollections At Berlin Wall

By Steven Zeitchik, Los Angeles Times

BERLIN — A day that began in mournful contemplation ended in a raucous street party for hundreds of thousands as Germany marked the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

The split nature of the commemorations — downbeat trumpets in the morning, gyrating pop stars at night — reflected the silver anniversary’s strange duality: A quarter of a century after it came down, the wall still evokes some of modern Europe’s darkest hours and hardest-fought triumphs, and in this nation of 80 million its demise is at once an occasion for sober reflection about its many victims and cause for rejoicing over the Cold War’s abrupt end.

Under chilly gray skies, dissidents and dignitaries gathered Sunday morning in a residential section of central Berlin next to an extant portion of the wall that has been refurbished as a memorial. With a former East German watchtower looming behind her, German Chancellor Angela Merkel received a flower from one of dozens of goodwill child volunteers and joined them and others in placing the blossoms in spaces in the wall.

Shortly after, Merkel told officials and journalists that the message of the wall continued to resonate.

“This concrete symbol of state tyranny brought millions to where they could not tolerate it anymore,” Merkel said. “But we have the power to create. We can change things for the good.”

Sunday evening, entertainers of all stripes took the stage outside the Brandenburg Gate, the ornate landmark that separated East and West Berlin and where numerous leaders, including Ronald Reagan, gave famous Cold War speeches.

The evening contained some political content — after nodding to Mikhail Gorbachev on a dais, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit drew cheers of “Gorby” from the crowd — but for the most part music and revelry reigned.

Conductor Daniel Barenboim led the Berlin State Opera orchestra in a spirited performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a callback to a Barenboim-led performance of Beethoven’s Seventh in 1989.

Peter Gabriel performed his 2010 cover rendition of “Heroes,” the song David Bowie famously sang, in German, during a Cold War concert in West Berlin.

Various German pop stars, youth choirs and performance dancers took the stage in acts that reflected the era of the wall. An elaborate fireworks display was launched and Wowereit presided over the unleashing of lighted balloons into the sky; the orbs had been affixed on temporary stands and traced the path of the Berlin Wall for nine miles around the city.

Meanwhile, the East Berlin-raised techno musician Paul Kalkbrenner did after-hours duty, assembling electronica tracks for the throngs while the Brandenburg Gate behind him was turned into a canvas for a strobing light show.

Perhaps the night’s strangest turn came when the Cold War-era pop star Udo Lindenberg took the stage. The freewheeling singer had a key role during the era of the wall — he had played a show in East Berlin, rallying the city’s youth. “Beyond the Horizon,” a current hit musical about love divided by the Berlin Wall, is inspired by his life and career.

After performing numbers from the show, Lindenberg proceeded to camp it up, using a microphone cord as a lasso and kissing numerous female performers. He also high-fived a man in a Berlin bear costume and danced suggestively with a scantily clad woman who descended by crane from a neon hoop in the sky.

Then Lindenberg ascended a giant bird cage of sorts and drifted away over the crowd.

Berliners might have needed a release after the daytime events.

At the flower-placing memorial on the city’s once-divided Bernauer Street, now in the fashionable Mitte district, dissidents described the “tears of blood” that ran through the city because of the Cold War era-divide, as Merkel and Wowereit stood just feet from the death strip, the shoot-to-kill buffer zone where an estimated 138 people were slain trying to escape East Germany.

As a neighborhood in the center of Berlin, Mitte was both one of the most prominent areas to be sealed off when the wall went up unexpectedly in August 1961 — and, with its condos and restaurants that have sprung up since, ground zero for the revitalization that has occurred in the quarter-century since the wall fell.

The Berlin Wall memorial in particular has become a place for the city to process its darker memories.

The memorial is the result of a relatively recent phenomenon of Berliners looking to preserve their wall history instead of razing it. Large swaths of grass have been planted in spots where much of the death strip stood, creating an odd juxtaposition both with the metal pillars that once supported the wall just beyond it, as well as a preserved section of the death strip itself. Ringing the site is a formidable expanse of concrete that brings home the fearsome quality of the wall.

In her only scheduled remarks of the day, Merkel — herself a product of East Germany — cited Lech Walesa, Gorbachev and other reformers from the era, noting regions where today “freedom and human rights are still threatened or even trampled on.”

Her speech was notable because it also cited Kristallnacht — the anti-Jewish pogroms in 1938 that also began on Nov. 9 — and took a turn to the political with references to the wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine. They were quick mentions, in the context of a larger fight for just causes, but the latter underscored Merkel’s increasing split with Moscow on the Donetsk situation. On Friday, Merkel said she had “grave concern” about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in the region after she talked to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Gorbachev didn’t miss an opportunity either, excoriating the U.S. and Europe in his own speech Saturday for bringing the world to “the brink of a new Cold War.”

The comments served as a reminder that Europe’s divisions, particularly between East and West, haven’t disappeared and in some ways have resurfaced in the 25 years since the wall fell.

Around Berlin, there were other commemorations Sunday morning.

At the modern entertainment hub of Potsdamer Platz, once a no man’s land between the city’s sectors, tourists and visitors posed alongside sections of the wall that had been placed there for the anniversary.

An outdoor Jumbotron near the Bernauer memorial played East German propaganda and drew a crowd of hundreds, while inside a train station visitors perused an exhibit explaining the concept of “ghost stations” — East German metro stops that had been sealed off after the city was divided but that trains still ran through to get between points in West Berlin.

But things were perhaps most personal on Bernauer Street itself. An unassuming residential avenue, the road in central Berlin contains historical significance because of the proximity of homes on its east and west side.

Residents could see from one side to the other, and in more lenient moments in the 28-year history of the wall, East Berliners from other parts of the city could visit apartment-dwellers on the street and attempt to see family members in the West without fear of retribution from East German authorities. There were also numerous escapes from the East that were attempted over, under and across the boulevard.

An exhibit has been set up explaining the odd concept of East and West within eye line of each other, and in recorded interviews, residents of the street described the peculiar interactions they inspired.

In one, a woman named Ursula Gesch told of being unable to return home or see her parents upon coming back from a holiday out of the country, during which the wall had gone up. To keep in contact with family members who had been stranded in East Berlin, her parents “would visit friends with a window that allowed them to see us across the road,” she said. “And my parents would stroke their hair in such a way so that we knew they’d seen us.”

AFP Photo/Tobias Schwarz

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