Metaphor master Thomas Friedman, in the New York Times this morning:
Can anyone identify a single U.S. diplomat in Moscow or C.I.A. analyst who is advising [U.S. chief negotiator Steve] Witkoff and Trump today? My bet is there are none, because no serious analyst or expert on Russia would tell them: “We have concluded that you are right and all of us have been wrong: Putin is not a bad guy, he just wants a just peace with Ukraine — and when he tells you he went to church and prayed for President Trump, you should believe him.”
Why wouldn’t Trump want a CIA analyst stapled to his side at all times? That’s a tough one. Can we make a list of possible reasons?
Before Trump was even a Republican nominee, a CIA Director relayed “concerns” to the FBI that “served as the basis” for years of grueling investigation that would paralyze his presidency; after his election, as we’ve learned all summer, CIA then cooked up a bogus intelligence report saying Trump won with Russian help; CIA leaked its balls off to papers like the New York Times about how Moscow worked to “install” Trump in the White House; CIA helped topple Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn by telling every reporter on earth he was a “clown” who said mean things about the CIA and secretly conspired with Russia; CIA warned foreign countries not to share intelligence with Trump because Russia held “leverages of pressure” on him; CIA stuck fictional campaign research about “compromising personal and financial information” Russia had in a report that was leaked to CNN in less time than it takes for fleas to mate; CIA accused Trump of treason; CIA got Trump impeached; CIA leaked stories that Trump let Russians kill Americans for sport; CIA banded together to call a true Hunter Biden story a Russian influence operation; CIA spent the last half-century overturning foreign governments and in this one is trying do the same at home, in such blatant violation of its charter that 77 million people last year voted to have it shot like a lame horse… But sure, yes, let’s make sure the CIA is at the President’s side when we’re trying to negotiate a peace settlement. What could go wrong?
Friedman’s piece today is awful, but I’m here to tell you I miss him. I bet Friedman misses himself. His columns used to feature a charming goofiness that made them fun reads even if you disagreed, but this era has robbed even his work of humor. In the Age of Trump, the old-school folksy columnist who chatted you up in the waiting room of life has been replaced by what Thomas Frank calls the “Utopia of Scolding,” which has no charm at all. Watching this disease overtake the Buster Keaton of American letters has been a colossal bummer, with today marking a new low. The Mustache of Understanding turned mean:
Quite frankly based on all the real evidence anyone that delusional enough to believe Putin is not one of the most vile despicable criminals on the face of this planet is an idiot. There is zero proof by actions that he is a man of peace. The sooner he and his ilk assume room temperature the better off humanity is.
Ah yes, the world according to Doyle: Putin is Satan, Zelensky is Churchill.
And the Azov Battalion are just misunderstood boy scouts with swastika tattoos.
Spare me the comic book morality.
You want to talk about vile criminals? Start with the regime banning opposition parties, jailing priests, and shelling civilians in Donbass since 2014.
But sure, tell me again how this is about ‘democracy.
“Spare me the comic book morality.”
That is your morality. Utterly disconnected from reality.
Spare me. You’re larping as a freedom fighter while cheering for Nazi brigades and a regime that bans elections.
It’s not morality, it’s State Dept. fan fiction.
I would never spare you from yourself. You still have not learned what a Nazi is. You’re one big LARP and liar. I’ve told you why they have not held an election, but facts never matter to you Putin supporters.
You’ve ‘told me’ a lot—none of it makes Ukraine less authoritarian or the Azov Battalion less Nazi.
You don’t argue. You recite.
Keep pretending banning elections and jailing opposition is ‘defending democracy.’ That fantasy’s doing more work than their air defense systems.
The Rada invoked martial law (that’s the legislature, not Zelensky) which POSTPONES elections. It does not ban them. People that have ben jailed have either been caught working for Russia or caught in corruption.
You don’t argue facts. You recite them them, just as I have. You have recited Putin’s propaganda.
You haven’t kept up with Azov. It’s much more convenient to recite Putin’s BS, than it is to actually keep up with what is going on.
You live in a fantasy world.
Zelensky requested martial law. The Rada just rubber-stamped it.
‘Postponed’ elections? No timeline = banned. Convenient, huh?
He outlawed opposition parties, jailed priests, and shut down media—all while hugging Nazi brigades you pretend got rebranded.
And you call that democracy?
Keep slurping NeoCon warmonger scripts. Some of us still think for ourselves.
Zelensky requested. So what? The Rada didn’t have to give it to him. You’re just grasping at straws. Trump makes requests of Congress. Trump thinks he needs it, and if he can convince congress, he gets it. That’s how it works in a republic. Oppo parties were not outlawed unless they were subverting the war effort. The Moscow Patriarchate Church was also shut down because they too were subverting the war effort. They are lucky they didn’t get a noose like traitors should.
Neo-Nazis were purged from Azov years ago.
You’re spewing Putin’s talking points. That’s a very strange way of thinking for yourself. Bluntly, you’re acting like a child.
Ah, there it is.
Ban opposition = ‘protecting the war effort’
Jail clergy = ‘they’re lucky they didn’t get a noose’
Elections suspended indefinitely = ‘normal republic stuff’
Nazi brigades = ‘totally purged, pinky swear’
All wrapped in ‘you’re the child’ because I won’t cheer for tyranny wrapped in a flag.
You’re not defending democracy.
You’ve just rebranded authoritarianism as patriotism.
Bluntly you argue like a moron
You don’t know how to argue adn anyone that doesn’t agree with your nonsense is a moron. I’ve seen your ilk over and over in my 71 years. No one is asking you to cheer anything. I know what what was was done, and you simply argue like a 13 year old that whines about how the world should be as you see it.
To be told, by the likes of you, that argue like a moron is an honor. You lefties argue like children. Your site is also just a Putinist echo chamber.
See you around child. You haven’t a clue as to what is going on.
You just defended hanging priests, banning elections, and purging political parties—then accused me of not understanding democracy.
If that’s what 71 years of wisdom looks like, I’ll stick with facts, not state-approved bloodlust.
Run along, dumbshit. History already buried your kind.
I defended nothing of the sort. You understand only the propaganda you are fed. Facts are not what you are producing. You simply spew Putin’s lies for him.
Yes, history buries the ignorant. It has buried many like you, adn that will happen right along with your hero Putin.
By the bye, your first sentence is just a solid bald faced lie. Your Ace didn’t flop. It crashed and burned.
You: ‘They’re lucky they didn’t get a noose.’
You: ‘Opposition parties were banned for subverting the war effort.’
You: ‘That’s how it works in a republic.’
And now you swear you didn’t defend repression?
You don’t argue. You confess—then hope no one notices.
But I noticed.
And now everyone else can see exactly what you are.
A piece of shit whose laundering authoritarianism in real time—too cowardly to own it, too arrogant to shut up.
History won’t remember your type as wise. Just obedient.
Ever hear of the Rasich group you cosmic joke?
No Putin is Stalin and Zelensky is just a leader fighting to keep his country free. Ever hear of the Rasich group you cosmic joke? Better to have some morality than none at all Ivan. You project about Russia. A few pro Russian Quislings are jailed during a time of war, I’m shocked, read up on Abraham Lincoln and are Constitution and then maybe check out the Ukrainian Constitution you ignorant dolt. Those so call civilians being shelled in the Donbas were rebels and Russian troops for the most part and if civilians were involved they were being used as human shields ala your BFFs Hamas. Tell me where Zelensky’s government has strayed from their Constitution….crickets Ivan???
ROFL…
If Putin is Stalin, then Zelensky gets to be Churchill… with secret police, banned elections, outlawed churches, and literal Nazi brigades—because freedom, or something.
You dodge the Azov Battalion by shouting ‘Rasich!’, as if Ukraine putting Nazis in uniform is fine because Russia has unofficial ones. You justify jailing political opponents by calling them ‘Quislings’, as if ‘traitor’ isn’t the word every despot uses for dissent. You claim civilians in Donbass weren’t civilians because they were ‘rebels’ or ‘human shields,’ as if that justifies indiscriminate shelling. You toss out Hamas comparisons with no evidence, hoping buzzwords will cover the blood.
Then you go full cable-news boomer and invoke Abraham Lincoln, because nothing says ‘understanding modern geopolitics’ like dragging out 1861 as a moral shield for suspending democracy in 2025. And your final move? A smug little gotcha: ‘Show me where Zelensky violated the Constitution.’
Here’s where: Article 103. Ukraine’s presidential term is five years. Zelensky’s expired. No election. No mandate. Just indefinite martial law rubber-stamped by a legislature that answers to him.
All you’re doing repackaging authoritarianism and calling it virtue.
And calling everyone ‘Ivan’ like you’re still fighting the Soviets doesn’t make you clever. It makes you a bitter old cheerleader for repression, as long as the flag colors are NATO-approved.
So here’s your answer, Doyle:
Zelensky isn’t Churchill. He’s the slick PR face of a regime that swapped ballots for bayonets.
And you’re not arguing. You’re performing Cold War fanfiction in a world that stopped buying the script.
Did that include landmines in urban green spaces cause thats what the Nazi troops did you never read the reports from the UN on what was happening in the Russian ethnic areas of Ukraine.
I agree with your opinion on Putin ad his character, but Zelensky is worse by far. Why attempt to start WW3? Bombing a NATO country should have stopped all aid to the mini prick beggar boy.
The guy tells a lot about his intelligence with his words – big words – little intelligence! What a scumbag!