Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday he believes Russia acted in “good faith” amid the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, adding the U.S., in fact, bore heavy responsibility for the ongoing war.
Many people have hard time wrapping their heads around idea that US ain’t always the one starting wars… I know its hard due to recent history but America didn’t cause this one, jfc. Saying it did just demonstrates lack of understanding of the region and its history. Being uneducated at this point seems intentional tho.
How in the fuck is this guy a democratic candidate?
The guy’s a fucking nutter, and the fact that he’s polling at ~14% is absolutely appalling.
wow, what a bastard he is
Dude’s a crazy antivaxxer, but this title skips over the meat of his statements, which are actually pretty reasonable:
“I abhor Russia’s brutal and bloody invasion of that nation,” Kennedy said during a speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “But we must understand that our government has also contributed to its circumstances through repeated deliberate provocations of Russia going back to the 1990s.”
the host pointed out Putin has so far rejected those calls unless Russia keeps the territory it’s already claimed.
“No, no. Putin has repeatedly said yes,” Kennedy said. “In fact, he negotiated — two times he agreed to agreements. He agreed to the Minsk Accord, and then he agreed in 2022 to an agreement that would’ve left Ukraine completely intact.”
“It was us who forced Zelensky to sabotage that agreement. It was already signed,” he continued. “So, you know, the Russians were acting in good faith."
adding the U.S., in fact, bore heavy responsibility for the ongoing war.
What’s his rationale for this BS? How did the US make Russia do anything? How stupid would anyone have to be to be convinced by this sort of nonsense?
$$$
I’m sorry, but the greatest stupidity I’ve seen from the Left during the course of this war is the complete abandonment of the belief in US accountability for foreign conflict and destabilization, which was so common in discussion before the war. Was it just more convenient for us then?
Putin is a vile human being and Russia is an insecure, inept power. The invasion was a crime, and a horrific one. That does NOT absolve the US from responsibility for the regional instability that led to this war. In fact, we spearheaded and encouraged it. It is clear by our foreign policy that our leaders wanted this war.
And now we are letting Russian sympathizers use it as a talking point and we have no rebuttal because we refuse to accept it as truth. It’s a massive own goal and reveals so much of liberal discourse in this nation to be ignorant, self serving drivel that can be abandoned as quickly as conservatives can abandon their “values.” It is disgusting.
No idea what channel this is, but I searched for a summary of the last 30 years of our diplomacy and NATO expansion and found it. I agree with everything said and it is all historical fact.
Could we be refusing to accept it as truth because it isn’t true? In what way has the US destabilised Ukraine? How did the US make Russia invade Ukraine? I can’t find a way to make either of these statements make any sense at all. I’m British FYI and we have our own bone to pick with the Russians.
It feels strange, this argument that we (the western world) made Russia invade another country and rape children. If only Russia didn’t have to invade another country and rape their women and children! If only! But we made Russia do it by talking to that country about joining a defensive pact against another country invading them and raping their women and children. I mean, Russia had to immediately invade and start raping, right? Because Ukraine were going to join some other countries who would come to their aid if Russia were to invade and start raping. Where would Russia be if they couldn’t just invade countries and start raping women and children, right?
What the absolute fuck is wrong with people like you? What Russia has done is indefensible, so fucking stop it?
Just breathe. This is such a typical, hyperventilating response. The critique here is not that the West “made” Russia invade Ukraine and only Russian sympathizers are saying that. The critique is of Western diplomacy over the last 30 years that directly contributed to the tensions in the region. The critique is that when the Warsaw Pact dissolved and Russia was at its weakest, the commitment by the West to also disarm and cease expansion militarily into former USSR territory should have been upheld. It’s the idea that unity and peace in the region should have been primary goal, not the liberalization of former USSR territories via NATO membership.
What exactly are you denying as “true?” You seem to have interpreted my comment as saying “Russia invaded Ukraine because of one singular thing the West did.” Well of course that’s not true, but that’s also not what I said. There isn’t one thing that Russia invaded Ukraine over. It’s a mix of national desperation, a psychotic despot, and regional tensions that made for an easy target. My only contention here is that Western diplomacy failed in Eastern Europe and a different approach would have had a different outcome. Diplomacy is a very long game. This isn’t a “hindsight is 20/20” issue, either. This strategy of military expansion for three decades despite Russia’s protests has been widely criticized.
You don’t have to agree with Russian interests here (I certainly don’t,) but you seem to be having a hard time grasping the concept and purpose of international diplomacy and separating it from your own political views. The purpose of a diplomatic relationship should be to advance the goals which benefit the citizens of one’s own country, while working within the constraints of a given political landscape, and to advance the good of all nations where possible, not proselytize liberal democracy via military expansion. Why don’t you tell me what you think the benefit of NATO expansion post-Cold War was for the citizens of the West? How did that benefit the citizens of my nation, the USA? From where I’m sitting, it didn’t. It seems more like a needless expansion of military power by the West despite prior commitments and despite the fact that it increased tensions with Russia and jeopardized peace in the region. Don’t forget that this expansion was spearheaded by the USA, not the nations that volunteered to join. Spearheaded by a nation that has maintained its superpower status by being involved in and often instigating every major conflict for the past 80 years. Now Western Leftists are suddenly going to forget that and give them a pass because Russian sympathizers are using it as an inconvenient talking point?
I am 100% for supporting Ukraine in this war. That should have been clear by my comment, but somehow you decided I was instead promoting the rape of innocent children. However, I also believe that after this is all over, there should be a healthy discussion about how we got here in the first place. The most absurd thing is that everything I am saying would have been widely accepted as fact by Liberals prior to the Ukraine invasion. “Western powers, particularly the USA, love destabilizing and exerting control over other weaker nations, even when they pose no threat.” Now that Russia finally did the horrible thing everyone knew they might do, this is now somehow a “pro-Russia” position to hold. It’s ridiculous.
That is insane the west did not force them to join nato they joined to protect themselves from Russia and gain wealth after the Ukraine war that seems to be the smarter choice than stay poor and weak and hope Russia doesn’t decide to invade you this week
You people genuinely have the worst reading comprehension. How could you say I insinuated anything remotely like that? And then I get criticized for trying to sound “intellectual” because I go to such lengths to make it clear that I hold both Russia and Western warmongers accountable, but never the small ex-Soviet nations that are the pawns in their game. Yet you still somehow read that into my statement.
Its all Americas fault if we didn’t bring democracy and better quality of life the poor poor Russia wouldn’t have to occupy Ukraine kill and rape what sound logical thinking you have how could we have not seen it
There are commas and periods on your keyboard. Come back and try again once you finish 4th grade, you’re unintelligible and quite possibly illiterate.
Nope, sorry, I am still not having it. The Russians are the only ones jeopardising peace in the region. NATO is a defensive pact. If Russia didn’t invade their neighbours, they would have nothing to fear from NATO. You are still apologising for Russian aggression and blaming its cause on the west, even if you’re trying to say it in an intellectual way or “both sides” it.
Jesus, I would love to see the world as simply as you do.
As he finished saying this and exited the room did some shady guy hand him a burlap sack filled with money?
He just plead guilty and got probation so it’s all good
I’ve read a couple of things about this guy since joining lemmy, and none of it is quite news worthy. Beside his pedigree he’s just an idiot with a lot of misguided ideas who shouldn’t be given a platform.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also a buffoon
Dude’s an antivaxxer and now clearly a Russian pawn. I don’t want to vote for Biden again but its beginning look like I don’t have a choice… again. Love this two party system. /s
Exactly. Imagine what this guy will do with a little power.
Reduce war and not try to force mass vaccinations? (Scary)
You could vote third party, but at that point you might as well not show up at all. /s
Seriously, which part of this is sarcasm?
This is why I hate the 2-party system. If you’re not voting for one of those 2, it really doesn’t matter.
Hopefully there’s more movement on our electoral system like the ranked choice voting in a few states. It doesn’t fix the problem, but it’s a large step in the right direction.\
worse than that, you might as well vote for the other party at that point. yay two party system.
As much as I’d love another choice, Biden has at least done good this presidency and navigated the Russian crisis masterfully. Do I want someone younger, yes (dear god yes). Has he surprised me with how stable his presidency has been and the recovery of our standing in the international community? Yes.
I’m going to vote for him again because we don’t have a choice. A vote for a 3rd party will be as destructive as it was in 2016. I bought into the narrative from Russia that Hillary was awful and that I should vote for anyone else. Look what they brought us? I, like many I know, voted for Bernie to send a message to the DNC. I threw away my vote for Hilary and then Trump won.
Someone you just need a stable, sane candidate. We will get an exciting candidate again in the future. Let’s just keep steering the ship in the right direction for now.
Even without a two party system, lots of people will still end up voting for someone that is not their preferred candidate. At least you could vote in a way that might change future races, however!
Asshat is opening antivax institutes ffs
As if it wasn’t obvious from the beginning he’s basically Russia’s pawn…
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This witless cunt is a literal traitor to our country, and so is anybody who lends him even a modicum of support. The FBI really needs to start doing their fucking job and pry into him and the weasels funding his traitorous ass.
He wants people to distrust the mainstream media and listen to his own words. That almost sounds reasonable, but I wonder how clearly he’ll be able to enunciate with Putin’s dick in his mouth.
Russian stooge stooges for Russia. What a thrilling development.
It’s important to keep brining his terrible record up, as it seems likely he’s trying to position himself as a “moderate” challenger to Biden in the Democratic Primaries.
I can’t say I want another 4 years of Biden, but I would take that over this clown any day.
No one really wants Biden. He was the least worst option in 2020, the milquetoast-iest politician the Dems could offer.
But for some reason Republicans seem to think the rest of the country wants Worse Than Last Time. “Trump lost because he wasn’t unhinged enough,” they seem to be saying. I mean, Chris Christie is running as the moderate Republican option. Chris Christie!
I don’t want another 4 years of Biden either, but sigh I guess.
Any of them would be better than someone who is openly bought and paid for by the next biggest world power.
I really don’t disagree with you, but if we want democrats to show up and vote, this is not the attitude that will make it happen. People largely believe their votes don’t matter. If the candidate is bad anyway, why even bother? I’m not saying this negativity is the only (or biggest) problem, but it is very discouraging.
Let’s get better candidates where we can, but we need to go full speed with the best we have. If democrat voter turnout was better, there would be no contest, and maybe we could start having a real dialogue about improvements instead of just fighting to avoid more far right extremism.
note: I’m not a Democrat. I’m more ‘Democrat’ than ‘Republican’, but it’s the same way I’m more in favor of consuming brussels sprouts than dirty sink water. I don’t like brussels sprouts, and would rather have something better, but the only other option is somehow light-years worse. And it will stay this way until we get rid of first-past-the-post voting. Of course, Dems and Repubs both know that the biggest thing keeping them in power is the fact that we have first-past-the-post voting, so there’s no chance of it going away nationally.
But anyway, I disagree with your premise that the big thing keeping us from having to deal with far right extremism is quality candidates / better turnout. We had some pretty damn decent candidates in 2020, but the media (especially NPR and the like) are too busy going to small-town diners in order to hear local yokels repeat Fox News talking points to talk about why Fox News is so scared of the candidate. The right-wing media machine is going to target whichever Dem candidate will actually make progress, and the mainstream media just goes along with it. Mainstream media goes along with whatever ridiculous thing the right says about a Dem candidate because mainstream media wants right-wing viewers. Challenging right-wing viewpoints doesn’t increase the right-wing audience share for CNN and NPR, going along with their talking points does (well, not really, but CNN and NPR seem to think it does, despite years of evidence to the contrary).
Also, Biden got the most votes out of any candidate ever in 2020, and we still have a rise in right-wing extremism. Just over 2/3rds of the voting-eligible public turned out to vote in 2020. And I think I can safely say that right-wing extremism is worse now than it was in 2019. My local library is getting flack because they had the audacity to acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ+ people this month. Like, protests and loud angry attendance at monthly board meetings. This has never happened before to my library.
Right-wing extremism is enabled and promoted despite how much the majority of this nation disagrees with it.
