Will Putin Seize Ukraine, And If So When?

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Russia’s killer Vladimir Putin is expected to attend Xi Jinping’s Winter Olympics in Beijing[2], and then all bets are off.  As I wrote in 2015:

The world must never forget that Putin left the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to launch his aggression against Georgia.  Then, he left the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and launched his aggression against Crimea and the rest of Ukraine.  Also, the world must never forget that in addition to downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17—and killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board—Putin killed Alexander Litvinenko and countless others.[3]

Exploiting America’s humiliating defeat in Afghanistan, both Putin and Xi are “chess masters” who may move simultaneously to inflict heavy losses—both psychologically and militarily—against the United States and the American people.  In short, the “axis of evil” may strike on multiple fronts before our elections occur later this year.

Larry Kudlow—the Director of the National Economic Council during the Trump Administration from 2018 to 2021[4]—has written an article entitled “A Perfect Storm Engulfs Biden Over Economy, Europe, and Asia,” which is worth reading:

Almost immediately following President Biden’s blundering news conference on Wednesday, a near-perfect storm has descended.  Stock markets are selling off with their worst performance in many years.  Interest rates and oil prices are rising.  High inflation is embedded in the economy, and the Federal Reserve is about to launch a monetary tightening cycle.

Russia shows absolutely no signs of de-escalating in the Ukraine. If anything, it has gotten more aggressive by moving troops into Belarus and ships into the Black Sea, effectively surrounding Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s domestic agenda has collapsed, and the very essence of his presidency is hanging by a thread.  He has never recovered from the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal.

Nor has he recovered from his launch of a radical left big-government socialist domestic policy.

Polls unanimously show the public is simply not buying the product Mr. Biden is selling.  He doubled down on his failed woke product last Wednesday, another huge mistake.

Now, in a futile attempt to recoup his failed diplomacy with Russia, Mr. Biden’s Administration is suddenly saber-rattling an increase of American GIs into Eastern Europe under the NATO flag.  This after telling the country he would not deploy American troops.

Right now, I am completely unconvinced and uncomfortable with putting another 8,500 Yanks into Eastern Europe.

For one thing, Putin couldn’t care less. He’s got about a couple hundred [thousand] troops around the area—8,500 is an ankle bite.

For another thing, President Biden and his team have been so far behind the curve on this Ukraine story that it looks as if they can never catch up.  Our own diplomats, intel people and even Defense Department sources, expect Russia to invade Ukraine.

Look, I’m no isolationist and I’m always America First in international relations, but the way to deal with Mr. Putin is by closing down his Nord Stream pipeline and shutting Russia out of the dollar-based international banking system.

These kinds of brute economic sanctions are something that would surely get Mr. Putin’s attention and do great damage to his economy.  Close down the Russian central bank and their larger commercial banks from using the SWIFT electronic funds transfer system.

The dollar is the world’s reserve currency. About 90% of foreign exchange transactions are denominated in dollars. Take Russia out of that system and their economy is literally sunk. S-u-n-k. They can fiddle around with some Chinese banks, but China and its capital controls are a small sideshow digression in world finance.

Say to Mr. Putin: No oil, no natural gas, no dollars, no banking. Then pour a larger and larger weapons arsenal into Ukraine. That’s a tough policy. That’s what Mr. Biden should have done the minute he learned of the Russian troop buildup.

Many weeks have been wasted.  America has been reacting to Mr. Putin, not defending its own agenda.  And now, the Bidens are digging a deeper hole by putting in more American soldiers, which will prove to be extremely unpopular and ineffectual.

By the way, I hate to say it, but the current Pentagon and national security group in this Administration has not earned any spurs after the Afghanistan fiasco.  At the moment, I don’t think we want them to expand their military horizon.

I don’t know if we are appeasing Mr. Putin. That’s such a toxic word. I do know that we have been enabling Mr. Putin.  The former KGB officer now turned presidential autocrat understands this full well.  We are playing his game, on his turf, with his narrative.

Instead of talking about NATO flags, backed by the unreliable Germany, I wish we were talking about American flags and American interests in freedom, democracy, and free-enterprise capitalism.

One final thought.  This is just in, and it blows my mind.  Apparently, the Biden Administration has arranged for the payment of Iran’s dues at the United Nations.

Can you believe this?  The Bidens have arranged to release $18 million of blocked Iranian funds, to be released to the Iranians so they can pay their dues, and—get this—have a vote in the United Nations, so that John Kerry and the State Department could once again bypass Congress and make a new deal with Iran.  Like I said, a perfect storm.[5]

Kudlow’s advocacy for the use of stringent economic sanctions is consistent with my earlier articles.[6]

© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59663827 (“Beijing 2022: Putin tells Xi he will attend Winter Olympics”)

[3]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/the-death-of-putin-and-russia-the-final-chapter-of-the-cold-war/ (“The Death Of Putin And Russia: The Final Chapter Of The Cold War”)

[4]  See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Kudlow (“Larry Kudlow”)

[5]  See https://www.nysun.com/national/a-perfect-storm-engulfs-biden-over-economy-europe/91975/ (“A Perfect Storm Engulfs Biden Over Economy, Europe, and Asia”); see also https://www.gingrich360.com/2022/01/25/ukraine-taiwan-and-a-weak-commander-in-chief/ (“Ukraine, Taiwan, and a Weak Commander in Chief”) and https://theloudobbsshow.libsyn.com/president-trump-on-bidens-blunders-rinos-winning (“The Great America Show with Lou Dobbs: PRESIDENT TRUMP ON BIDEN’S BLUNDERS, RINOS & WINNING”)

[6]  See, e.g., supra n.3.

Unspoken in all of these discussions, but hanging like a dark cloud over all of the world today, is China’s Coronavirus pandemic.  Perhaps its impact is described best in an article by Meghan McCain, the former Senator and presidential contender’s daughter, which is worth reading.

See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10443695/MEGHAN-MCCAIN-got-Covid-doubt-America-recover-not-Biden.html (“MEGHAN MCCAIN: I finally got Covid and it was so horrible it made me doubt if America will ever recover from this pandemic. It WILL but not with moronic Biden in charge”)

I was not a fan of her father, but I voted for him.  I know little or nothing about her, except she was anti-Trump.  The latest Coronavirus mutation, Omicron, is overriding the vaccines and boosters.

Will Americans Have A Country When Biden And His Democrats Are Finished With It?

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

If Donald Trump had served a second consecutive four-year term as our President, it is possible that China would have been forced to pay enormous reparations and/or restitution.  Amounting to trillions of dollars—and paid to Americans and others for having unleashed the devastating Coronavirus pandemic that has killed so many, and hurt so many others—China has sowed chaos in the United States and globally.  This is consistent with Xi Jinping’s goal of achieving global domination.[2]

Americans are split between those who has been vaccinated fully, and anticipate periodic “boosters” in the future like our yearly flu shots; and “anti-vaxxers,” many of whom are intelligent, well-educated and believe “devoutly” that we will not know for years (if not decades) what the long-term effects of the vaccines really are.  After all, more than 100 years have passed since the Spanish flu ended; and an estimated 50-100 million died from it, with the exact number still being undetermined.[3]

Meanwhile, Xi and his lapdog—Russia’s killer Vladimir Putin—continue to oppress their own people; threaten war against Taiwan and Ukraine, respectively; and sow the seeds of global chaos.  They have willing accomplices or handmaidens in America’s Left, who see this as an opportunity to further their own radical beliefs and agendas, and subjugate the masses.

A few examples will suffice.  They are changing the voting rules; opening our borders wide to illegal aliens (including human traffickers and other criminals), and rewarding them with financial and other benefits; making us dependent on oil from the volatile Middle East again; weakening our global alliances after our humiliating defeat in Afghanistan, where Americans were killed while others are still left behind; and blessing crimes that were prosecuted until recently.[4]

Lots of us began as Democrats but abandoned that political party years ago, when it veered so far to the Left that it became unrecognizable.  Today, it’s as if the bowels of Hell have opened wide and unleashed a host of devils on our great nation, which are determined to destroy or “cancel” everything that we have held dear and sacred.  To say that they are Godless is to be kind and forgiving, with respect to what they really are.  They are the Devil incarnate; that much is crystal clear.

For example, anyone who doubts this—or is offended by such an assertion—needs to read Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father.”[5] It is all there, in his own words: unbridled racism, and a hatred of America.  For those who scoff at this, one needs to realize that he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, and never lived on the American mainland until he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles.

His mother lived in Indonesia, and essentially raised her “second family” without him; and he only spent one month of his lifetime with his father, who visited Hawaii from Kenya.  His unbridled anger toward America has sowed racial divisions between blacks and whites; the lawlessness that is almost nonstop and an epidemic; and hatreds that have been festering, like a wound that never heals.[6]  All of this inures to the benefit of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and our other enemies, who are bent on America’s destruction.

Conspiracy theorists aside, Barack Obama, Brain Dead Joe Biden[7], Willie Brown’s ho Kamala Harris[8], Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, and their fellow travelers of America’s Left are fulfilling the goals of Xi Jinping and China’s other rulers.  They are tearing apart the very fabric of our great nation.  Unless they are stopped in their tracks—for example, in our congressional elections later this year—the United States’ future may be imperiled.[9] 

© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/timothy-d.-naegele.pdf (Timothy D. Naegele, “The Coronavirus and Similar Global Issues: How to Address Them”)

[3]  See supra n.2.

[4]  See, e.g., https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10391037/Nearly-100-people-charged-murder-free-walk-streets-Chicago-thanks-woke-bail-reform.html (“Nearly 100 people charged with murder are free on bail in Chicago”)

[5]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist/ (“Is Barack Obama A Racist?”)

[6]  See supra n.5.

[7]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/08/biden-is-brain-dead/ (“Biden Is Brain Dead”)

[8]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/brain-dead-joe-biden-has-picked-willie-browns-ho-as-our-next-president/ (“Brain Dead Joe Biden Has Picked Willie Brown’s Ho As Our Next President”)

[9]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2022/01/07/january-6-2021-in-perspective/ (“January 6, 2021, In Perspective”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/30/2021-annus-horribilis/ (“2021 Annus Horribilis”)

January 6, 2021, In Perspective

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

The violence that occurred on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.—where I spent so many years—never should have happened, period.  Before working there, I served as an Army officer in The Pentagon, where I was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency when it was headquartered there.[2]

While memories fade with the passage of time, many of us were glued to our TVs on the morning of September 11, 2001—or the infamous “9/11″—when our great nation was attacked by thugs from abroad.  They had hijacked our own airliners, which slammed into the Twin Towers in New York City, The Pentagon, and another that was brought down by courageous passengers in a Shanksville, Pennsylvania field.  The latter flight might have targeted our White House or Capitol.[3]

I was in California that day, and had gotten up early to watch Laura Bush testify at a hearing on Capitol Hill, when I saw the horrors unfold. Before 9/11, I had eaten dinner at the “Windows on the World” restaurant, atop one of the World Trade Center’s towers that were destroyed by the terrorists.[4]

Because of my work, I knew the security at The Pentagon and at our Capitol well, and had to pass security checks when I entered either building.  What happened at the Capitol on January 6th of last year is mind-boggling for me, especially in light of the fact that the FBI and other government agencies were apparently tipped off ahead of time about possible violence at the Capitol, yet they failed to respond.

Having tried to destroy Donald Trump from the moment his quest for the presidency began—in bogus impeachment attempts, and other concerted efforts masterminded by Barack Obama and his Democrats[5]—it is not surprising that they would try to pin the Capitol attacks on him too.  It is a convenient ruse to divert attention from the colossal failures of the Biden-Harris administration, which may result in the Democrats’ loss of the House in our elections later this year.[6]

I began as a Democrat in a devoutly-Republican family, but became an Independent when I left the Senate.  I had seen too much “dirt” on Capitol Hill[7], and I have been an Independent ever since.  Indeed, I concluded that the Democrats were “evil” but smart, while the Republicans were “Neanderthals” and dumb.  I have never changed that conclusion.[8]

Today, the Democrats and their Leftist cohorts in the media are trying to blame last year’s Capitol attacks on Trump and the Republicans, in a pathetic effort to salvage their likely-failing election prospects.  Some Republican “RINOs” are playing along with this ruse.  One is the “architect” of the George W. Bush presidency, Karl Rove, who was there when Bush invaded Afghanistan, and then embarked on the tragic Iraq War—in which 5,000 Americans died and many more were maimed, and trillions of dollars were wasted, for nothing.[9]

Our great nation is divided because of the Coronavirus pandemic and other factors[10]; and we need to heal, not engage in more divisiveness . . . and yes, lawlessness.  To incarcerate those who were there a year ago, without trials or other constitutionally-guaranteed rights, is repugnant unto itself.  This is especially true when the thugs, slugs, hoods and mongrels of “Black Lives Matter,” Antifa and other far-Left groups—who burned our cities, killed or hurt innocent Americans including our police, and destroyed black and other businesses—have never been brought to justice.[11]

© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6 and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/

[3]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/13/9-11-every-american-should-read-this/ (“9/11—Every American Should Read This”)

[4]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_the_World (“Windows on the World”)

[5]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/impeachment-may-become-the-singular-obsession-in-washington-and-dominate-news-coverage/ (“Impeachment May Become The Singular Obsession In Washington, And Dominate News Coverage”)

[6]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/30/2021-annus-horribilis/ (“2021 Annus Horribilis”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/20/have-woke-anti-americanism-and-china-risen-to-take-the-place-of-the-soviet-union-which-replaced-the-nazis-third-reich/ (“Have Woke Anti-Americanism And China Risen To Take The Place Of The Soviet Union, Which Replaced The Nazis’ Third Reich?”)

[7]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/washington-is-sick-and-the-american-people-know-it/ (“Washington Is Sick And The American People Know It”)

[8]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/29/the-democrats-are-evil-but-smart-while-the-republicans-are-neanderthals-and-dumb/ (“The Democrats Are Evil But Smart, While The Republicans Are Neanderthals And Dumb”)

[9]  See https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-jan-6-responsibility-anniversary-riot-storm-capitol-trump-protesters-investigation-11641417707 (“Republicans’ Jan. 6 Responsibility”)

[10]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/timothy-d.-naegele.pdf (Timothy D. Naegele, “The Coronavirus and Similar Global Issues: How to Address Them”)

[11]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/history-repeats-itself-thugs-riot-in-america/ (“History Repeats Itself: Thugs Riot In America”)