Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has repeated a call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be assassinated, saying that the only way the war in Ukraine could end is if Russia “breaks” and someone “takes Putin out.”
“How does this war end? When Russia breaks, and they take Putin out. Anything short of that, the war’s gonna continue,” Graham said on the Fox News program America Reports on Wednesday.
Graham said the US is “in it to win it, and the only way you’re gonna win it is to break the Russian military and have somebody in Russia take Putin out to give the Russian people a new lease on life.”
The hawkish senator made similar comments back in March when he asked if there was a “Brutus” in Russia who could kill Putin. In his comments on Wednesday, Graham also said the Biden administration should send Ukraine the advanced and long-range weapons that Kyiv has been asking for.
When asked to what extent the US should continue to support Ukraine in the war, Graham replied, “completely, all in without equivocation.” He said the US needs to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons to help “dislodge” Russia from areas of eastern Ukraine, including Crimea.
He said if Ukraine had larger drones, such as Reapers and Gray Eagles, Ukraine would “kill tons of Russians without losing any Ukrainians in the endeavor.” Ukraine has asked for Gray Eagle drones, which can fly for about 30 hours and are capable of carrying powerful Hellfire Missiles, but the Biden administration has held off from sending them so far.
Our senior politicians are now calling for the assassination of foreign (elected) officials. It’s not surprising when the CIA engages in such sub rosa, but, this is shocking. I wish is Graham would be morphed into a 20-year-old living in the US. contemplating a future in which nukes look like the probable outcome. Graham has been in office virtually his entire career, barring time he spent as a defense lawyer in the air force. (That constitutes his life-endangering work for his country. In a courtroom. In West Germany.) He represents South Carolina; the US Southeast has now become the center of defense industry HQ’s. Boeing is very big in SC. Is he gearing for a run (again) at presidency? Thinks by puffing out his chest he’ll get the nomination? And by so doing he perpetuates this benighted undeclared war of all against all (we have managed to instantiate Bush’s Axis of Evil).
They are assassinating elected and other officials in foreign countries, that is normal, just not going public calling the target by name, least of all the president of a nuclear superpower.
To think, people elect such POS, not once, they reelect that POS over and over again.
The people are voting for neocons because they are brainwashed. They don’t understand the consequences. US has no chance to win the war against Russia/China.
Supposing, the situation in the remote future changes and US militarism will be victorious. In such a case, all the world resources will belong to the main corporations, which makes them stronger and the democratic system in US weaker. For the overwhelming majority of American people it is a lose-lose situation because the unrestricted power of the victorious neocons can give them nothing but the totalitarian system at home.
“the democratic system in US weaker.”
The “democratic system” in the US is pretty weak already, considering that it was stillborn.
Yes, it is weak, but the situation with the democracy in US is deteriorating further. As I said, if neocons, by some miracle, achieve the full spectrum dominance over the planet, the totalitarian regime will be established not only abroad, but also within USA.
” For the overwhelming majority of American people it is a lose-lose situation because the unrestricted power of the victorious neocons can give them nothing but the totalitarian system at home.”
I think we have reached that point already.
“Is he gearing for a run (again) at presidency?” Yes, he’s affecting the late Viet Nam hero, John McCain.
Biden had already said the same thing early on, remember?
I got news for Sen. Pansie Graham….the war is over, and Putin won. So sad the Ukrainian people are being used as cannon fodder.
For those few remaining…..stand up and remove this cross-dressing sock puppet Zelenskyy before it’s too late.
I don’t think the ad homs are necessary. Graham’s actions alone convict him. I do not think this is over. The US is readying propaganda against China. This will expand the conflict and make it exponentially more dangerous for life on Earth.
This war was over back in early spring…..what you speak of isn’t the Russian/Ukraine conflict. And yes Graham is a neocon “pansie”, sorry it hit too close to home.
I’m not entirely sure JJ but I think you have just insulted a flower…
Flower, cupcake, tart, swish…..there are many phrases that fit.
I don’t care that Lady G is gay; I care that he’s a moronic asshole in a position of power.
Spot on….I guess the “say it loud, say it proud” only pertains to when they choose to say it. You bring it up and folks get triggered and miss the entire point of the comment…..Graham is a loser.
That’s funny, I’m not gay. I was simply pointing out that it had no relevance.
Sure you’re not…..you sure seem triggered by it.
It just doesn’t seem relevant. I knew a gay Marine who picked up a Silver Star on Guadalcanal.
Is Graham gay? Most people seem to think so. Does it matter? No.
Sure you did…..you guys just keep exposing yourselves. Weird how you chose to say the Marine was gay….what did that have to do with him winning a medal?
By the time this thread is over I will have all you “dudes” out of the closet…..way too funny!
You’re not very bright, are you?
That was an intelligent response…..you did exactly what I did, but somewhere in that pea sized brain of yours you think they are different.
Your response shows your emotional and intellectual immaturity.
Well, you’ve got me there. I doubt anyone would challenge your credentials in the area of emotional and intellectual immaturity.
Have a merry Christmas, and here’s hoping your mommy bought you those Yu-Gi-Oh cards you want so badly.
Another gem…..you certainly don’t disappoint.
“Weird how you chose to say the Marine was gay….what did that have to do with him winning a medal?”
Jack, I think that was Thomas’ point, that it didn’t matter. God, you’ve got an attitude.
Then why say it then bash me for saying it…..talk about double standard.
Graham is gay…..that is who he is….he is also corrupt, which is what the thread was about but the morons on here focused on the gay part.
I don’t have the attitude…..it’s the tool bags that whined about it that have the problem. This is EXACTLY what we are fighting against…..the “woke”. Shocking how mind numbingly blind you are.
It’s not complicated:
We have rules.
You don’t have to like the rules.
The rules are the rules whether you like them or not. And whether you whine about them or not.
I get it…..you’re a woke beta with underlying gay inclinations. Don’t try taken it out on me pal…..you’ll get what you have been getting!
“It just doesn’t seem relevant.”
No. It doesn’t. But that’s all from you as moderator?
Never mind that it isn’t “relevant” – “Swish” is an obviously derogatory term for gays and for effeminate behavior.
“Doesn’t seem relevant” is the extent of yr response to malicious gay-baiting – openly hostile attacks on gays and on members of this community that:
a/ ridicule members of this community as gay and as ‘in the closet,’
b/ say yr gonna ‘out’ them; and
c/ when community members object, accuses people randomly labeled gay/in closet as ‘playing the victim.’
Haven’t looked at this site’s “guidelines,” but yr failure, Thomas, to even gesture at community guidelines in this case is…well, imo, a real failure:
a failure to fulfil basic duties of a moderator;
a greater failure since – vs the ‘death threat’ case, where your intervention reinforced commentator community values – the community clearly objects to this gay-baiting behavior;
and, imo, a personal failure of yours – throwing into question yr evenhandedness as an arbiter of community sentiment and decency on this website.
I urge you to reconsider how you handled this, and how you might handle similar future instances.
Fair enough. I decided to try to talk some sense into the idiot instead of enforcing the guidelines, which was probably a bad call in both parts.
So, here’s the guideline in question, and I’ll try to do a better job of enforcing it from here on out:
“You’re entitled to your opinion. You’re not entitled to use Antiwar.com’s facilities to publish slurs or supremacist claims based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, or to link to sites promoting such material. We don’t want that stuff here.”
Also I don’t get “triggered”.
Really…..your victimization post is the definition of “triggered”.
Must suck to wake up every day looking for something to be outraged about. Maybe talk to somebody about it, it could help.
Thanks for proving my point. Merry Christmas.
Thanks for being the example of my point…..nothing more annoying than a comment cop.
PS….you’re not that important.
Please stop, guys! We’re here to trash Graham, not each other!
The gays are so sensitive and easily triggered. They’re a ‘protected class’.
Do you get “buttercupped”?
What is that?
From Urban Dictionary:
Buttercupped:
The act of one sticking a Reese’s peanutbutter cup up another’s butt.
**********
Hmmm. Creative I suppose, but not what I would do with a Reese’s. To each his own I guess.
Seems to me it would have to be frozen … and done quickly.
Merry Christmas/Happy New Year
Silly.
Good one. Trying to figure how a frozen one would work. Unless they were those mini ones.
Jeff that’s just TOO MUCH INFORMATION! 😆
Right. I just think that your hatred of gays doesn’t really have any relevance to Putin. (if that’s what it’s about).
Also I guess you can’t comment w/o adding insults.
Says the guy that posted a negative response to my comment…..you’re lack of self-awareness is mind boggling.
Where did I use an ad hominem attack? I don’t have any personal against you. I just thought your argument was stronger without it. But do as you will.
You are right, the war in Ukraine is only the first episode of the military conflict between NATO and Russia.
Yes, it seems “our neocon leaders are intent to keep their crazy quest for “Full Spectrum Dominance” in the face o their declined & declining dominance in great game , peer nuclear & rocketry deterrence acheivments which were neglected chasing nomads & Muslims. Now, apparently from deprecation they are over reaching badly by provoking Chins while running a hot war against Russia! “Hubris precedes a great fall in full display 4 allthe world to witness.
Neocons are able to promote this great project only because MIC is supporting them. MIC doesn’t care about the project itself, they are making money in the process. They don’t mind if the war for the full spectrum dominance will last forever.
…….Or blow up life as we have known it. Should such happen there will come a time when a bushel of dollars will not buy a loaf of bread.
Our governments do know how to get rid of unwanted people when they want to, see Kennedy, and they silenced the young progressives in no time and got rid of Al Franken and others. Manchin is doing well.
The war is not over. When Ukrainians are finished, there are a lot of other cannon fodder; poles are involved massively already. There are also Germans in the queue. No shortage of the weapons or money. We are lucky if it will not go nuclear. I think it will.
No shortage of weapons…. Yes, but without the ones that matter in this case were they to get involved……!!!!
Just this week, a long time friend of mine got red faced angry at me when I told her what you said. Sadly, SO many people are in denial and cannot see through the smoke screen. Bad, bad, bad!
yep
Even earlier he called Putin a killer on national TV. That was the moment when I regretted my vote for him.
Trump is incompetent to be president, a liar, but senile Biden is worse, he is incompetent and evil. Both men are conmen and evil, but Trump had a snipped of charisma.
The corporate elite controls the neocons, congress and all the presidents.
Exactly.
Ditto that.
What was remarkable was the fact that no one in the press said a critical word about his bad behavior for acting so undiplomatically and stupid after decades in politics and 8 years VP.
Operation Mockingbird endures.
Renate, ByeDone reminds me of that old country song “ Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox if I Die”.
I’m not so sure he’s actually still breathing.
Does he wear a mask or is he wearing finger thick make-up? I can’t tell either.
I think he is a dangerous psychopath who has unmasked himself as a fool and a danger to all life on earth..!!!!!!!
Renate, I believe I’ve mentioned this before. My brother has a good friend whose nephew is in the Secret Service. Said nephew maintains that it takes HOURS daily to even achieve a pretense of making ByeDone appear “presidential”.
I must have missed it, but it certainly is plausible.
“Weekend at Biden’s” pops into my head.
😂
“Prop me up behind the podium if I die”
Even milk toast republicans hate Graham. He’s dead weight
I think all this talk of brave soldiers and uniforms and missiles has caused all the blood in his head to rush elsewhere. He isn’t making much sense. We want to aid Ukraine in restoring its proper borders and to give it as strong a negotiating position as we can. We have no interest in internal Russian politics
I say we have interests in internal Russian politics, but the experience has taught us (unfortunately not so much the US) that taking action on such interests is seldom a good idea.
What exactly are our interests in internal Russian politics?
If no other interests then for them to have a democratic political system. That would be in the interest of the US (and the world in general).
EDIT: even if democratic the US likely would have interests, like EU (and e.g. Iran) had with regards to the US where we would have preferred anyone else but Trump in 2016.
Why? Democracy is long gone in Ukraine – It exited when we helped violently overthrow the democracy in 2014.
No there has been two democratic elections in Ukraine since they ousted the legally elected government in 2014 – the best evidence is that the ultra nationalists were very popular in 2014, but lost their last seat in parliament in 2019 – if it had been a coup like many suggests this would not have been allowed to happen – nor would a Russian speaking person of the Abrahamic faith have been elected.
Only in the parts of Ukraine where they weren’t “killing their own people”./
Well for good reasons the Russians had occupied Crimea and supported an insurrection which held about 1/3 of the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk – where they were fighting the insurrectionists.
Perhaps we should work harder on having a “Democratic political system” here in Amerikkka.
That would be great, it could be easily achieves, but it was not the question.
As a Dane, Michael, you sadly do not realize that no, it is NOT. Achievable…
The question was specifically a counter argument to ‘We have no interest in internal Russian politics‘, so no there was no relation to improving the poor state of democracy in the US – I do not at least not on purpose engage in whataboutery if I can avoid it.
Get real, the past two elections have proven to anyone with a brain that the whole thing is virtually rigged. Vote rigging to psy op non stop propaganda from the MSM that is proven to work on such an ill informed populace. The people of the world vote the way they do because they want to break the chains that DC has them in.
“… the past two elections have proven to anyone with a brain that the whole thing is virtually rigged. ”
In both the US and Ukraine.
Did I claim that the US has a democratic system? The evidence that it does not is there for all to see – gerrymandering – the politicians choosing their electorates!
This is also very/partially true – as it is clear that the Europeans do not vote to break the chains, nor do the electorates in: Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Israel (of cause), Canada, Mexico – but sure in many of the countries the Europeans and the US have been exploiting the resources of their lands they are less enthusiastic about the US – but importantly in many of those countries they do not vote.
Why are disputes between two dictatorships any of our business?
We don’t like one of them, and the other one we kinda do.
Linda graham, please shut the f*** up.
Remember late Justin Raymondo called SenbGraham’s antics “Auntie Lindsey clutching her pearls”.
He cannot protect zUS borders, and i in debial about Zelensky prosecuting Christians, raiding churches and monasteries.
If there is anyone in danger it is Zelenski. He does not permit any withdrawals from utterly indefensible possitions killing in the process mostly the Orthodox Christians he despises! 75% of Ukrainian population is Christian Orthodox. And while he was forever accusing Russian orthodox for meddling, but lately he hit on Ukrainian Orthodox Church looking for traitors, Smart move, these are 75% of people he lied into voting for him. He is tge one that needs to watch his back.
Bianca hits this one clear out of the solar system…..
Sounds like another Israel,
Loose lips sink ships. And his cannot come looser than that.
Anti-ship missiles sink ships, including carriers and their supporting battle groups.
This fellow gives “chicken hawk” a bad name … seriously? “We’re in it to win it”? Who’s we, chief, and what are we winning? It’s just a bunch of absolute nonsense. But of course if someone in Russia had said the same, there’d be hell to pay, right?
We’re just very very lucky the other side here has been calm and forbearing with all these provocations.
Since he brought up the subject maybe it’s old Linseed that needs to be taken out.
And maybe commenters here should give anything even remotely hinting at death threats a wide berth, since they violate our guidelines.
Well then I presume you will preemptively ban Graham, right?
He didn’t even take down that comment! So it doesn’t appear that he banned anyone.
Exactly – why is that article appearing here that violates “the Guidelines”?
“The guidelines”
1) do not forbid reporting news; and
2) are commenting guidelines, not authorial guidelines for the site.
😂
Good one Bear!
Why is this story even on your site then? Thomas so we can’t comment on a threat you printed on your site? Stooges all of you!
In what dream did you fantasize that you can’t comment on the matter?
OK then how about framing it as a moral question- if it’s morally acceptable for Graham to call for Putin’s murder then would Putin be justified in calling for Graham’s murder? Graham doesn’t have nearly the security Putin does and the US is fairly awash in guns and nutjobs so a few words from Putin might actually get it done, though of course Russia would no longer have Graham to quote anymore.
Try reading what I wrote.
I didn’t delete the comment.
I didn’t ban the commenter.
I just used the comment as a convenient anchor for a cautionary note about how far to not take it.
Well then Putin should call for Graham to be murdered, only he wouldn’t because then he would look like a fascist buffoon too and besides which Graham is more asset than liability.
refrain from “death threats…since they violate our guidelines”?
yea…though i’d rather it was clear ‘our guidelines’ meant the commenting community as well as the website rules…
Let me put it a different way:
I am not the editor of the articles published at Antiwar.com, and therefore have neither any interest in, or information concerning, the authorial guidelines.
I am the moderator of comments posted at Antiwar.com, and therefore have both an interest in, and information concerning, the commenting guidelines.
When death threats are covered in news articles and people start discussing those articles, I usually (if I remember) take the opportunity to caution about making such threats in comments. Those, I can, and am expected to, do something about. The articles are someone else’s problem.
Maybe you can use your influence to send a comment to the people who determine what articles are included here, if they include calls for assassination/threats to kill leaders of nations. That way the guidelines for commenters would be held in the same “free speech” mode as the articles being commented on.
I wouldn’t “use my influence” in that way because I’m not an idiot, and if I did it would be ignored because my bosses aren’t idiots.
Reporting that someone called for an assassination is not the same thing as calling for an assassination.
Thomas, the phrase “drawn and quartered “ keeps coming up in my head…just mentioning in passing, of course😉
though we’re not disagreeing here, not sure you entirely grasped the purpose or point of my post:
1/ my comment was in response to yr 1st comment – and restricted itself to commenters, not authors; the author/poster point is clear and i did not challenge it.
2/ as well as my 1st comment – which was ‘yes’ w/a caveat involving the ideal of ‘self-regulated’ communities – i gave yr 1st comment a thumbs up
3/ to be clear, i found the comment in question to be distasteful and stupid – stupid in both content and expression. if yr a moderator, then you know i occasionally ‘traffic in violent ideation’ and sometimes profanity…which, though i ‘may have my reasons’ i accept may mean censorship here.
4/ note that – though i did not make it explicit – my 1st response to you carried the idea that there was already ‘self-regulation’ going on (an idea supported by the cross-partisan range of ‘likes’) – a pov i believe underpinned your comment too.
5/ didn’t know til now you were a moderator.
best
What a sick bastard…
While the senator might be right in the sense that it is unlikely that the west will offer Putin any deal that will be acceptable to him, I think it is in general very unwise to call for the leader of any foreign nation to be taken out – saying that he does not believe that there will be peace while Putin is in office would be a less dumb formulation (though likely not a wise one).
Putin is probably the best hope for peace in terms of Russian leadership. If he’s deposed he’ll either be replaced by someone more nationalist/imperialist/militarist/hard-line than himself, or there will at least be a period of chaos when itchy trigger fingers are less constrained.
I’m not all that convinced that he will be replaced, but if he is then I think it highly likely that it will be by someone more nationalist/imperialist/militarist/ hard-line – I’m also quite sure that there will be a period of chaos when Russian itchy trigger fingers are less constrained in any such transition.
But I’m also quite sure that any more hardline replacement for Putin will find it well neigh impossible to change the Russian prospects in any dramatic positive way. Their problem is as I see it not that Putin is holding them back but that there are no easy way to win this conflict which yields a positive outcome.
Potential winning options and their problems:
1) Nukes – breaks the nuclear taboo and will get Russia isolated by even supposed friends like India/China
2) General conscription (large force) – Russia could not supply the troops they deployed in February and they cannot amass troops now on account of HIMARS
3) Outlast the Ukrainians – problematic as the Ukrainians are getting tougher not weaker, while the Russian economy is getting weaker faster than the western economies supporting Ukraine are running out of the ability to support Ukraine.
4) Any other suggestions?
So any hardliner taking over after Putin will face a period where he is less difficult to oust and where he is unable to make things look much better for Russia (that period would probably be less than a year). So a more hardline replacement is as I see it more vulnerable to a less hardline replacement taking over.
Exactly. We need to be aware that not all choices available are a Goldilocks bowl that is just exactly what we want in that moment.
If Western leaders had wanted a liberal in the Kremlin, they could have supported Putin. Putin is a liberal conservative who is considered a pro-Americn traitor by the nationalists. No, the West wants an ultra-nationalist psychopath like Navalny, who will destroy the Russian Federation by inciting ethnic hatred in the regions of the Federation.
There will be no end to the war as long as Putin is in charge. The same thing happened in the US. LBJ was replaced by a militant maniac who escalated the war to the point of insanity. Eventually the American oligarchs did a cost/benefit analysis on the war, dumped Nixon and exited Vietnam ignominiously.Same thing happened to the Soviets and the US in Afghanistan, the French in Algeria and Vietnam and the Portuguese in Africa.Imperial powers can’t believe they are being defeated by weaker nations so the hawks usually take control and double down. But the escalation does not work in the long run. Ironically, it is the hawks who usually end asymmetric wars after they realize escalation leads to blow back that makes the resistance stronger.
Getting rid of Putin is a question for the Russian people and/or the oligarchs.The US should not get involved. Any attempt by the US to bring about Putin’s demise or overthrow would lead to blow back and be counter productive. But the war won’t end until Russia withdraws and that means replacing Putin.
Will Russia offer Biden any deal that would be acceptable to him?
Biden is I think going to avoid doing an Anthony Eden on Ukraine.
When such a goal is officially accepted by White House, US will become a legitimate target for a preventive nuclear attack. Neither China, not any other country, would be able to condemn Russia if it happens.
They will protest simply because the fallout from retaliation will be so severe as to ruin their economies too – the idea that any nation would go to all out nuclear war because an other nation has it as their official goal to have someone “takes their leader out.” is and expect the rest of the world to accept the very dire consequences for them is absurd.
If Russia had the official goal of having someone “takes Biden out” I can guarantee you that there would be plenty of protest from even NATO countries if the US decided to preemptively pollute very large parts of the northern hemisphere just because they didn’t like the oblique threat.
Graham has always been a war hawk, makes you wonder if hes compromised and they have something on him, or he just serves his donors and not the people.
If foreign governments don’t have dirt on Graham they aren’t trying.
He serves his donors and himself. He leaches onto any one who currently controls power. And they are all one big club anyway.
Imagine if a Russian said the same about Lindsay Graham.
I wish they would.
Graham better watch out who he bumps into. Remember Kim Jong-dan?
…………………….
Wouldn’t be the same. Putin is in a far more authoritative position that Graham can ever hope to be. It would be the same if they said that about any leader of any NATO country.
Mr Graham is certifiably nuts. the US political scene would be better off if he and some of his hawkish cohorts were not in power or existance. If the balloon ever goes up Lindsay will be cheering the destruction on.
And Putin will just stand by and let it happen ? , it`s idiots like this who bought about WW1 / WW2 and every other war since .
Touche’.
How much longer must we suffer Graham? Only so much ignorance can be tolerated.
Saying it all out loud now.
Lindsey Graham talks big about Putin invading Ukraine, but says nothing about our southern border.
We’re sick of all these frauds.
Do your damn job and pass legislation to secure our borders. Otherwise shut up!
Here’s the authority the US Constitution gives Congress over immigration:
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
I guess you forgot about the money!
Really? I know that you are not so unaware to think that Congress confines itself to the authority granted in the Constitution. I am certain that it does give the Congress the power to declare war. Hmm, I wonder why they aren’t doing that? Seeing as how concerned they are with Constitutional authority!! Oh, it most certainly does not give them the authority to assassinate foreign leaders!
The Constitution does define who is a “citizen,” in the 14th Amendment.
And it defines who can be president in Article II. So ? Neither have anything to do with immigration.
Citizens have rights. Non-citizens can be denied a vote and sent packing. That is why the 14th Amendment protected former slaves by making them citizens. Citizen and immigration are closely linked, but of course not the same. I did not mean to suggest identity.
According to the US Constitution, non-citizens have rights as well (see Rehnquist’s explanation in his opinion in US v. Verdugo-Urquidez — constitutionally there are rights of citizens, rights of “persons” — that’s everyone — and rights of “the people,” which includes both citizens and long-term residents). For example, the right to trial by jury refers expressly to “persons,” not to “citizens.”
And Article I, Section 9 specifically forbade Congress to regulate immigration prior to 1808, after which a constitutional amendment would have been required to confer such a power on it. That was a restriction it recognized and abided by for 90 years until after an activist Supreme Court miracled up such a power out of thin air.
“Citizens have rights.”
And non-citizens as well. Rights are not granted by the state, they are inherent in our nature as human beings. As far as the Bill of Rights goes, I believe the word “citizen” does not appear once, while the words “person” or “persons” appear numerous times.
The Constitution makes no reference to any common crime,but government has assumed the right to regulate burglary,murder ect.Rightly so.
Tell me you either have never read, or don’t understand the meaning of, the US Constitution, without telling me you either have never read, or don’t understand the meaning of, the US Constitution.
The Constitution specifically, clearly, and unambiguously forbids the federal government to regulate immigration.
“Do your damn job and pass legislation to secure our borders.”
Any political attempt to “secure our borders” is not only unjust and unconstitutional, it is no more effective and enforceable than similar attempts to use the violence of the state to keep people from ingesting certain substances or forcing them to be more charitable.
Freedom of movement is a basic, inalienable, individual right.
Not true. Freedom of movement is limited by property rights. You don’t have the freedom to camp outside my bedroom window.
Similarly, if freedom of movement is a basic right, why is anyone worried about Ukraine’s border? Russians should be able to go where they want right?
“Russians should be able to go where they want right?”
Absolutely, Russians should be able to peacefully cross the border from Russia into Ukraine. The Russian military, however, has absolutely no right to aggressively wage warfare against Ukraine, shooting, bombing and otherwise mass murdering innocent people. Again, you are mixed up here, peaceful immigration is NOT the same as aggressive warfare, in fact, they represent opposite paradigms.
Peaceful is determined by the people who’s country you are entering. Nothing is mixed up here. If the majority of US citizens — especially those in border states don’t want people streaming across the border, then those people are not “peacefully entering.” They are entering against the will of the people. They are crossing private property. People have been robbed, and had their property stolen.
Why do you think the people of Martha’s vineyard freaked out when only 50 people were dropped off there? What about Chicago, and New York? More people “peaceful immigrants” were sent to those two places, but it remains the same issue. The people of those two cities didn’t want to deal with the influx either (or simply didn’t have the means).
In our current state of affairs, we have the US government acting against the will of the people. These people aren’t “immigrants” they are part of a mass migration program spearheaded by the UN.
There are two giant NGOs that are facilitating the mass migrations here in North America, and in Europe.
Check out “sdgs.un.org/2030agenda”
** The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also referred to as UN Agenda 2030, represent a comprehensive global effort to reform governance and the economy to be more in line with what the UN considers to be sustainable.
The Chinese Communist Party boasted that it played a “crucial role” in the SDG plan, which UN leaders said represents a “master plan for humanity” that will “transform our world.” The UN is involved in this effort as part of “The International Organization for Migration (IOM)” and the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).” **
Do you think that we should have no border with Mexico or Canada?
“Do you think that we should have no border with Mexico or Canada?”
In a word, yes. I am a free market anarchist, therefore I don’t believe in the institution of the state. If there were no states, there would be no need for borders between states. People should interact voluntarily with each other. States (governments, if you will) interfere with that free association. I think that as long as states exist, borders should not keep people, goods, and services out, but they should keep the depredations of existing states in, that is, they should not allow the scope of control by the state of its residents to exceed the limits of its own borders. That is why I am a non-interventionist on foreign policy. The US government should properly have no legal authority over anything outside its borders.
The mass migration from Latin America is a prelude to setting up a North American Union. I see no reason for me to support people who have bred irresponsibly and eaten themselves out of house and home.
“I see no reason for me to support people who have bred irresponsibly and eaten themselves out of house and home.”
The poverty in Latin America is because of the corruption and depredations of their governments, not because of any inherent irresponsibility on the part of their people.
Studies have shown that Latino immigrants are family oriented, hard working, and with a lower incidence of violence (even “illegal” immigrants) than the native born.
I don’t know about you, but what I fear is the power of our central state, not some nebulous, mythical, danger from “those people.” Any policy changes that reduce the power of the central state are to be applauded and supported, including the power to control immigration through state violence.
Peaceful is determined by the people who’s country you are entering. Nothing is mixed up here. If the majority of US citizens — especially those in border states don’t want people streaming across the border, then those people are not “peacefully entering.” They are entering against the will of the people. They are crossing private property. People have been robbed, and had their property stolen.
Why do you think the people of Martha’s vineyard freaked out when only 50 people were dropped off there? What about Chicago, and New York? More people “peaceful immigrants” were sent to those two places, but it remains the same issue. The people of those two cities didn’t want to deal with the influx either (or simply didn’t have the means).
In our current state of affairs, we have the US government acting against the will of the people. These people aren’t “immigrants” they are part of a mass migration program spearheaded by the UN.
There are two giant NGOs that are facilitating the mass migrations here in North America, and in Europe.
Check out “sdgs(dot)un(dot)org(slash)2030agenda”
** The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also referred to as UN Agenda 2030, represent a comprehensive global effort to reform governance and the economy to be more in line with what the UN considers to be sustainable.
The Chinese Communist Party boasted that it played a “crucial role” in the SDG plan, which UN leaders said represents a “master plan for humanity” that will “transform our world.” The UN is involved in this effort as part of “The International Organization for Migration (IOM)” and the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).” **
This movement of people is not “natural.” It’s part of a larger plan that ignores the sovereignty of the US.
“Peaceful is determined by the people who’s country you are entering.”
No, it is determined by each individual person in the country you are entering. Property rights should not be subject to a vote.
In case you weren’t aware, each person has different wants, desires, needs and tastes. Which is why we have both McDonald’s AND Burger King.
That is the way we should approach immigration, with those who wish to associate with immigrants, and those who do not wish to associate with immigrants, peacefully coexisting, neither forcibly interfering with the other. Freedom of association. Freedom of contract. In a word, freedom.
“Freedom of movement is limited by property rights.”
I agree. So let’s follow this out to its logical conclusion.
I am a property owner on the US side of the US/Mexican border. I voluntarily choose to allow a Mexican national to cross the border and enter my property. I make an agreement with a similar property owner whose property is adjacent to mine, but further from the border, to allow the immigrant I am “harboring,” and all further Mexican immigrants, to enter his property from mine.
Now let’s extend this argument. Suppose I can get an agreement with a sufficient number of contiguous property owners to make the transfer of Mexican immigrants to a point 100 miles from the border simpler by building a highway across our properties Note that no property rights have been violated in this process.
Now your precious socialist/fascist federal government steps in and says, sorry, I have not allowed these “illegal” immigrants to be here, I am going to use gun violence to forcibly deport them. Now, exactly who is obeying natural law, and who is violating property rights?
You see, you are confusing an international border with a property line. One of these is an arbitrary gang turf line, claiming to control who has the authority to rule whom, and the other is a somewhat more just delineator, which sets who legitimately controls a physical object or land area. And if I wish to “harbor” an “illegal” immigrant on my property, whether it be land, housing, workplace, school, medical facility, etc., I am sorry, but your precious socialist/fascist federal government has nothing legitimately to say in the matter.
The construct of a Mexican crossing the US/Mexican border is isomorphic with that of a Californian crossing the California/Nevada border. In terms of individual rights, I see no difference.
The simple fact of the matter is that open borders is the only immigration policy which is consistent with economic liberty and property rights. Think about it, and use reason, don’t simply have a knee jerk reaction based on your prejudices.
You may be thinking, “this guy must have an axe to grind here.” In a sense, I damn well do, in that I think Latina women are some of God’s most beautiful creations, and would welcome having more of them in this country. Not to mention, my grandfather, Everrett Stroberg, was a Swedish immigrant, and if he hadn’t been allowed to come here, I wouldn’t be here. Wait, you say, “I would never stop a white protestant from coming here.” Yes, Swedish immigrants were mostly white protestants, but, believe me, that didn’t stop a lot of nativists of 120 years ago from making the same arguments about Swedes as you do about Latinos today.
You said, “…don’t simply have a knee jerk reaction based on your prejudices.” I’m not responding because of “prejudices.” I don’t care where someone comes from, that’s not the issue. I explain this in one of my other replies, I had to try to post it twice, making sure that there are no webpage links. I think that they block that.
I had a link to the UN Agenda 2030 website, where they detail what’s really going on — the UN is behind mass migrations all over the globe. None of these mass migrations are “natural” or “spontaneous.” They are coordinated often without the help of the country the migrants are to occupy.
And what is your response to my primary argument about property rights? I see not one word.
“UN Agenda 2030”
The United Nations has pretty much become a puppet organization of the United States. If there is a UN “master plan” to increase immigration into the United States, it is pretty much guaranteed that this is being put in motion by the government of the US, the same government you wish to be in charge of immigration. And, that’s my point, governments shouldn’t be controlling anything, but society should evolve from the voluntary choices of individuals in a free market.
That gets to my point. The US citizen is no longer being represented, at least not at the federal level. In fact, that’s been the case for 50+ years. It’s just never been more obvious than it is now.
The WHO wants to have the authority to control what happens in every member country on the planet — in the event of a pandemic. Which of course we are not in the middle of, but the emergency order has still never been rescinded. It probably never will be. The “health emergency” is how all of these western governments are enacting their totalitarian powers.
And you want to talk about property rights. Look at what they are doing in The Netherlands. Forcing farmers NOT to farm? The entire world is caught up in this mess.
https://ogre.substack.com/p/the-g20-vaccine-passports-and-social
I think Trump caused the WEF cult followers to require fast forwarding their plans, causing more of their agenda to be exposed.
“I think that they block that”
Your comment with link came through fine. I’ll take a look when I have time tomorrow.
Thomas L. Knapp has explained to me that it is actually disqus who sometimes filters out comments if their algorithms think it is spam, not antiwar.com. If that ever happens to you, and your comment is not spam, send him a note and let him know, and he can restore your comment for you.
Yeah, I’m not talking about the person(s) that run “antiwar.com.” I just meant Disqus in general. I don’t think I’ve ever seen where web links were allowed I would have assumed that was a Disqus thing. Because they don’t want someone linking to something that redirects to an illicit site, or something of that nature.
Disqus does allow for web links, but including them will often result in a comment being put in the “spam” section where a moderator has to look at it and approve it or delete it. That happens even with links that are obviously not e.g. selling penis pills, essay writing services, or porn.
That makes sense. With my site, I don’t see enough traffic to worry with that. I just moderate all of the comments. As long as they are real, I let them through. I’ve never really had an issue with people threatening anyone or anything like that. Mostly just bots/ads or real people discussing a topic.
Thanks for letting me now how it works with Disqus though, I might end up using a service like this at some point.
Disqus does have a lot of problems. I’m always looking at the latest commenting services with an eye toward recommending that Antiwar.com pick a better one, but the two considerations are:
1) It has to be better than Disqus; AND
2) It has to look like it will be around for a while.
A long time ago, I used a really great commenting service on my own blog. Can’t remember the name of it at the moment. Then it got bought out by another company and almost instantly became worse and then disappeared entirely. So unless I’m using “native” commenting in e.g. WordPress (it’s not terrible for small sites), I go with Disqus these days.
What an utter scum bag. Why on Earth is this area across the globe a part of our interest? Do we need to invade the Chinese for the Uiguhrs? Graham is a PoS swamp creature.
The people of SC are seriously messed up for voting for this turd. Considering the last few “elections” one had to wonder, do they?
No Lady Lindsey, it is you that need to be taken out…!
Calls for assassination of named individuals are criminal. As they should be.
Like Putin? That is not the question.
Another vulgar American Psycho. Imagine uf Putin suggested Biden be taken out. It would be interpreted as an open declaration of war.
Far less than that has been described as “an act of war” by the mongers.
Lindsey has a reliable Christian Zionist base down in SC who fully believe in end times prophecy and all that bizarre Evangelical takfiri steamy dogshite. Blame the diabetic moron voters who drink the hate Socialism koolaid they get from the MSM. You can’t fix stupid.
I have little doubt that the irony of your last sentence after the preceding word salad was totally lost on you! Hate socialism koolaid from the MSM?!!! The people who worship government in all forms?!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You are a trifle acerbic.
Just a trifle?! Gotta try harder!
Is Senator Graham putting the idea out there to take Putin down? “Hellfire” missiles?… War is so fun Sen. Graham! Playing with fire?… We could, through such machinations, wind up at war with Russia. Two nuclear countries doing a face-off.
What a flat out moron. Making illegal statements that violate international law surely won’t help prevent WWIII. And I’d caution that historically, Russia is the one that takes people out, I’d be careful where you order food you nit wit.
He’s a moron, but where’s this law that you think makes his statement “illegal?”
The Protected Persons Convention very narrowly bans killing heads of state/heads of government/diplomats while they are engaged in official duties or travel abroad, but doesn’t ban talking about killing them, or actually killing them while they’re lying in bed or driving through their nearest McDonald’s.
Assassination is supposedly banned by executive order in the US, but executive orders banning assassination, even if actually obeyed, don’t apply to the speech of US Senators, which is not in fact assassination.
I don’t know the answer to that, I’m not a constitutional lawyer, or a lawyer of any kind. I think the better question might be, even if there is a law who enforces violations? It takes us to the same place. Leaving Putin to take matters into his own hands which can quickly escalate out of control with tit for tat assissinations, which is why it should be illegal to do it if it’s not.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/07/what-are-the-rules-for-government-sponsored-assassinations.html
Furthermore, used moron figuratively, we both know which lobbys sponsor his words. He’s a tool.
Theoretically Thomas, though…
Wouldn’t it be illegal for yours truly to publicly call for, say, ByeDone’s assassination?
I’m pretty sure that’s be a jailable offense.
Yes, that would be a federal crime.
But and I aren’t in the club, and Graham is. The courts have broadly interpreted the Constitution’s speech and debate clause to protect a member of Congress speaking “in an official capacity.” So if he’s speaking “as a Senator,” he can say just about anything he wants.
Doesn’t that only apply when he’s speaking in the Senate.
Yup, Thomas, just another case of the rich and powerful having a different system of justice, I guess.
What is Graham’s motivation in all of this? Recently he said that “Ukrainians will fight to the last man” as long as the US and Nato continue supplying weapons. Back in 2013, he was on the Maidan together with McCain to fire up the anti-government protests, which led to the nationalist coup of 2014. In 2016 he assured Poroshenko and Ukrainian troops that the US will do everything necessary for Ukraine to win against Russia.
I’d say it also works the other way round. If the Russians would take out Selenskiy and his nazi companions, there would be nobody to force the Ukrainian people into the meat grinder. So far, the Russians have refrained from “shock & awe”. As Putin said, the Ukrainians are slawik brothers and he regrets the killing, but they are completely saturated with russophobia through years of brainwashing.
Appeasement and pandering to the creep is the only sensible course, right gun junkies?
Graham is part of all that is wrong and evil in Washington.
Large antiwar protests are being planned in USA & across the world. If you can’t make it to the city near you, plan an action locally on your main street
Hope the People of Russia can also join this global protest.
They could, but will not. They feel — whether we approve or not — as targets of NATO war plans. They are not going to shackle their government in defending tge country.
There are always people ready to protest anything anywhere. But who really represents the majority opinion?
In Russia, there is a silent majority that supports the intervention.
In NATO world, it is the sienced majority that supports the tensions. It has been silenced by the media and politicians through acts of omission and commission. It is ironic, but ot is NATO populstion that are not informed — not Russians or other countries. By witholding information or by gross misrepresentation of events — we have manufactured a narrative consent . No light can shine on such constructs.
Russia is much more united now under the leadership of Putin than a couple of years ago. It looks, at the moment, only about 20% of Russian population feel anti-Kremlin.
Bianca, Do you realize that this Don Julio is the character who accused YOU of posting while intoxicated…??? His other pseudonyms include Don. Bacon, which he largely abandon ed after his post with that name started gathering large numbers of negative responses.
He’s just jealous he was a lawyer in the Air Force and wasn’t authorized to wear a Missileman badge or Wings denoting a Rated Officer with an Aeronautical Rating – in his case he would have preferred a loaded B-52 nuclear bomber. Graham = Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.
Putin says Lady G must be taken out
Very, very sick individual.
He has always been a warhawk. And don’t forget his prior best bud McCain got the ball rolling on the deadly chaos in Ukraine. Even shared a stage with a notorious Nazi, Oleh Tyahnybok, cheering on his followers, the Svoboda.
Photo from the December before the coup. Tyahnybok is to the right of McCain. The photo on the right is Tyahnybok doing the “salute”.
https://fair.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/washington-post-john-mccain-nazi-ukraine-e1535563685107-1024×512.jpg
In fact:
Lindsey Graham & John McCain in Ukraine – Preparing for a proxy war with Russia (2016)
They were joined at the hip.
I remember McCain standing next to a headchopper in Syria too. Good news is we don’t have to worry about that anymore.
“Good news is we don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
I am probably going to get a lot of flack for this comment, but we should not wish ill on anyone, including even McCain and his family. No person is perfect. While those who advocate aggressive warfare are, by our standards, performing a great evil, in other ways, we are too. Keep in mind that mass murderers generally have more troubled souls than their victims. We can only hope that McCain is now in a place where he can actually peacefully learn about the wrongness of what he did on Earth. And the same goes for all of us.
I’d say the same thing if he were my father. But my dad wasn’t a “boots on the ground” kind of guy. I won’t stop celebrating deaths of lifelong warmongers and I won’t apologize for it. If there is a god judging me and we meet up someday, so be it.
I wasn’t worried about God judging you. If I believe McCain can be forgiven, certainly he is not going to judge you harshly.
I just always like to keep in the back of my mind that everyone is imperfect in different ways, and that, John McCain, for all his faults, must have had at least a little good in him.
While I find McCain’s position on aggressive warfare to be deplorable, I have trouble saying, “there is simply no excuse for him thinking that way.” None of us really know what we are doing when we cause hurt to others. I honestly believe that the vast majority of what we gauge as evil is nothing more than ignorance.
I don’t expect you or anyone else to simply immediately agree with me on this, as it took me many, many year to adopt this viewpoint.
I see so much acrimony in the world, and, I can only say to myself, “you don’t have to be part of the hatred all around us.” Without hatred there would be no war.
There is a line, in my mind, that human beings don’t get to cross over and come back and be forgiven. And McCain was STILL on the other side of that line when he died.
“There is a line, in my mind, that human beings don’t get to cross over and come back and be forgiven.”
I think your position on this topic is far more common among people than mine is. Certainly I have encountered it with many of the “Christians” I have known who entertain a vindictive streak. But, you come by it honestly, and are not setting yourself up as supreme judge of yourself or others, convinced of your qualifications to enter heaven while everyone you disapprove of is going to the other place. For this, I am grateful.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-vladimir-putin-helped-resurrect-the-russian-orthodox-church/article16361650/
Whenever someone like Graham calls for Putin’s assassination or calls him a dictator, I post articles re Russian church construction that allow a discriminating perspective. President Putin has a popularity rating among Russians hovering near 80 percent.
I’m mildly shocked a Google search allows such access.
I should be grateful I wasn’t raised a Southern Baptist. https://baptistnews.com/article/lindsay-graham-says-he-goes-to-church-about-three-times-a-year-but-wants-supreme-court-nominee-to-rate-her-faithfulness-on-a-scale-of-1-to-10/
And with Graham providing such helpful Russian propaganda – how DARE they publish to their people exactly what Graham stated – his rating will stay high.
Lindsey the armchair warrior, ‘We’re in it to win it”. You or your kin aren’t fighting girly boy. These people seem completely oblivious to what happens if Putin goes. It seems that there are many behind Putin that would be more than willing to go all in as opposed to Putin’s measured approach.
If Putin goes, no ones knows what would happen.
Yes, we do. His very careful, measured approach to dealing with Ukrainian unresolved Soviet baggage, would be abandoned. There are already many in Russia who believe that Putin’s patience with Europe was a bad mistake, and attempts at establishing a modus vivendi with Europe and US were delusions,
There may becsome truth to that. But Putin believes in measuring twice before cutting.
Public also believes he was wrong in waiting eight years to help Russiophone population that was deprived of any political or cultural rights in Ukraine. Not to mention persecutions, murders of journalists, politicians, judges, teachers.
What will happen is rather obvious.
A new, more direct approach to military solution.
And as Europe and us in US serm to be tired of good, comfortable life and are itching for war — it serms everyone will get their wish.
I’d say it also works the other way round. If the Russians would take out Selenskiy and his nazi companions, there would be nobody to force the Ukrainian people into the meat grinder. So far, the Russians have refrained from “shock & awe”. As Putin said, the Ukrainians are slawik brothers and he regrets the killing, but they are completely saturated with russophobia through years of brainwashing.
domestic politics waggin the foreign policy dog – tryna’ outflank the trump derangement syndrome’d, war-rabies-slavering dems, sure -. still, they’ve got their own batshit crazy original anti-communist stupid fucks – and this one would clearly suicide the world for party advantage faster’n you can say bob’s yr dumb fuck uncle
The people of South Carolina, whether they’re conservative, centrist or liberal should demand Graham resign but of course won’t and will re-elect him to misrepresent South Carolina and the USA.
If a politician from another country said Bush should be assassinated because of his wars, Obama should be assassinated because of his wars (including the one in Libya) and drone strikes and Trump should be assassinated because of his drone strike to kill Soleimani and for scrapping the Iran Deal and rolling back trade with Cuba, politicians from the West and Japan would call it an act of war.
Bush, Blair, Obama, Trump, Netanyahu and many other current and former leaders and politicians are much bigger warmongers than Putin and belong in the ICC.
The apparent fact that L Graham is elected and keep being elected shows either that democracy does not work or there is some terrible malady in the electorate!!!
Washington University School of Medicine released a study last September that reported COVID victims were 43% more likely to develop mental health disorders.
Leslie Graham had COVID in August 2021.
Any one can take him out.
Very sad the quality of political leadership we have at every level in the US.
https://www.indianpunchline.com/a-german-china-russia-triangle-on-ukraine/
A German-China-Russia triangle on Ukraine
Vladimir, what are you waiting to unleash the SMERSH units on those psychos ???
Didn’t Bush walk back after suggesting in the run-up to the 2000 election Saddam be taken out ? Media was surprised to hear his response . That reaction mystified moron Bush .
Our religious leaders like Falwell and Robertson had suggested killing elected foreign leaders .
Lindsey Graham is a loser . He wants to survive one more day . Everyday he is forced to look for a straw to clutch at ,now more so since the predictable insults and condescending advices from Trump have become too radioactive for him to agree and embrace . He knows that he has no platform other than war to survive .
The New York Times is gonna punish Michael Crowley for posting this in their real-time commentary:
https://archive.vn/pO6dG
Correction though: Despite the leftist propaganda machine, Trump wasn’t impeached. The Democrats in the House voted to impeach him for suggesting that Ukraine look into Biden’s blatant corruption, the Senate didn’t, so he wasn’t impeached. Yet the media keep saying he was, drumming it in until people believe it.
He was impeached. He wasn’t convicted.
“Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Ukraine War Will Only End If Putin Is ‘Taken Out’ The hawkish senator says the US should give Ukraine Gray Eagle drones to ‘kill tons of Russians'”
Targeting President Putin would most likely be the final straw leading to a final nuclear exchange between the Russian nation and the evil US and UK.
President Putin is a more moderate Russian leader who enjoys the support of 80% of Russian citizens. There are other hardliner nationalists who would like to flatten Ukraine with nukes and also would unleash reprisals on any and all nations targeting Russia’s economy and infrastructure. President Putin is a counter to the hardliners in Moscow.
In case Lady Lindsey doesn’t realize, the person waiting in the wings if Putin is removed is Dimitri Medvedev, who has taken a much stronger stance against the U.S. and Ukraine and suggests that Russia should use all means at it’s disposal to end the war. So Lindsey, watch what you wish for.
The tragi-comic part of this is that if someone in Russia called for Graham to be ‘taken out’ OMG the howls of indignation from Washington would be deafening. Be careful when advocating this path, Senator- there may be a Brutus in the shadows watching you as well. And why not? You’re as much a combatant as any soldier on the field- why should you enjoy immunity from having war visited upon you or your family?
1. Remember that HE is the bastard of Billy Graham…anyone knows WHO I am referring to? GOOD!
2. He is NOT a politician. He is a corporate product working on behalf of (mostly) military, big oil.
3. His mentors, the is-ra-hellis, assassinate domestic and foreign elected leaders and persons of their choice all the time.
4. He has NO class, no scruples. He is a right-wing religious NUT-case.
5. For New Year I sincerely, from my heart, wish him a massive, instantly deadly heart attack. Amen.
What goes around comes around.
I blame putin for all this because he is Mr nice&soft, this war was over in one week if putin was Mr……..
Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Ukraine War Will Only End If U.S. Is ‘Taken Out’