@BretDevereaux Remember when Bridge threatened Pope Leo with The Great Schism of 1358 if he didn't get behind US military objectives? Yeah, that worked out great.
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Larry LeClair
16.8K posts
"Middle powers don't matter" screams a guy whose country is getting denied out of key maritime terrain by just one (1) single middle power and not a very impressive one at that.
Not a shock, of course, that Colby's experience in turd-polishing has not prepared him for this role.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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@joshrogin @AspenSecurity Where have I heard this reasoning before? How did that work out?
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Condoleeza Rice on attacking Iran: “People will say the threat wasn’t imminent. Do you really want to wait until it’s imminent?”
#AspenSecurity @AspenSecurity
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@Unbranded63 Bridge Colby is the brilliant strategist who threatened Pope Leo with launching a modern version of The Great Schism of 1358 if he didn't get in line with US military objectives. Think of him as a cartoon character named after a type of cheese.
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This is one of the snottiest posts I've ever seen from a senior American official. That he invested in a full thread simply tells me that the US is actually quite concerned about middle powers procuring weapons from each other at the expense of the US.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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Trump's handling of the war in Iran will be studied for decades as a textbook example of how not to do strategy
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@thorstenbenner While Bridge plays the smug all knowing spouse his partner packs their packs and calls a cab.
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I wasn't that convinced about the prospects of a "middle power" strategy. But the very fact that one of the most senior Pentagon officials feels the need to debunk it is the best ads you can imagine.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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@ischinger Bridge's screed reminds me of a patronizing spouse smugly pointing out their partners many silly flaws, explaining how indispensible they are - while their partner packs their bags and calls a cab.
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Bridge, if you feel that you need to point all this out publicly, this suggests that you are corrrectly beginning to understand that many of your allies have lost trust in US reliability. What would remain of the US as a superpower without the global web of Partners and Allies?
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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@Microinteracti1 If you look up the expression "smug cunt" in the dictionary it reads "see Bridge Colby".
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Access to American weapons is “a privilege, not a right,” says the shop that tripled the prices, threatened to leave the alliance, and mused about annexing a customer’s territory. Ukraine builds war-winning drones in weeks. You build one aircraft per decade and call it leverage. We noticed.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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There is a great deal of hubbub about America losing the war with Iran 5 times in three months, losing in Ukraine, led by an administration with a 35% approval rating, that can’t organize a military parade or a 250th Birthday celebration, or resurfacing a pool.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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@shashj Exactly. And they want more U.S. engagement because the Trump administration has gone out of its ways to ruin those relationships in many cases and that’s bad for them and they need to try to get him to stop doing that if they can.
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Interesting thread. It can of course be true - and almost certainly is - that middle power allies both want more US engagement And also want to hedge against the very real risks of abandonment. You can see signs of that hedging in many places, even if it is limited.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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Vandals sewed the gash back up to make Trump look bad.
FactPost@factpostnews
New footage of the halfway-drained Reflecting Pool reveals a splotchy floor and no visible "350-foot gash"
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@jmclennan8 @IvisonJ If he had to finally cough up $5.6 million today for E. Jean Carroll she's winning.
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"Flexible realists"? Your president has just posted a map if the Western hemisphere with the Stars and Stripes superimposed over Canada, Greenland and Venezuela.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
From our point of view, a collective middle powers strategy is based on a faulty understanding of international relations. We are flexible realists. So, we view the international scene through the prism of interest, geography, economics, military power, etc. “Middle powers” don’t have a coherent basis for alignment. 2/
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Trump will not let up on threatening Canada and Greenland. I discuss the threat from USA and others to our nation and what PM Mark Carney is doing about them with retired naval officer @MikeTheNavyGuy1 🇨🇦 youtu.be/AOa2cK2Jso8?si… #cndpoli
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Aaron Rupar@atrupar
Trump posts an image featuring a map showing the United States taking over Canada and Greenland
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@LeclairLar @LauraBabcock @MikeTheNavyGuy1 If it looks like communism, and smells like communism, it’s communism.
My calling it out is not me tarring everyone with the same brush. Failing to see or to wilfully ignore is how insidious concepts like communism take hold.
Good day to you.
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@adamscochran The Red Scare? Is this all they've got for the midterms? Seriously?
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What a dumbass.
We’ve truly never had a less effective Speaker.
Johnson simply pretends not to see or be aware of the world around him, makes no comment on anything happening in the country, and simply acts as Trump’s mouth piece.
A legislative stalemate whilst having a majority, and being one of the 5 most powerful people in the country - and yet lacking the spine to act as the check and balance authority, will have him remembered in the history books as a snivelling henchman and not a Speaker.
Speaker Mike Johnson@SpeakerJohnson
THE BARBARIANS ARE INSIDE THE GATE! We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we're going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic OR trade that in, dismantle the foundations and GO DOWN THIS DARK ROAD OF DEATH TO COMMUNISM. THAT is the question.
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@yer_conscience @NoahGairn His name sounds like a type of cheese.
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You should be grateful for being allowed to buy from us but also your DIB should focus on feeding into our system. Even removing all the pissy politics, how is that a convincing pitch? Build capacity but not too much?
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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@joshrogin Bridge Colby is a cartoon character. In Canada we're happy he didn't threaten us with The Great Schism of 1358. He saved that gem for The Pope.
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Elbridge Colby: “We are flexible realists.” 🤷♂️
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
From our point of view, a collective middle powers strategy is based on a faulty understanding of international relations. We are flexible realists. So, we view the international scene through the prism of interest, geography, economics, military power, etc. “Middle powers” don’t have a coherent basis for alignment. 2/
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@LeclairLar @LauraBabcock @MikeTheNavyGuy1 Venezuela was in a perfect state of economic prosperity BEFORE a communist regime got control (& it will be proven that that happened as a direct result of election fraud ie. the people didn’t actually vote “communists” into power). Compare apples to apples please.
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@JASQN_1970 @LauraBabcock @MikeTheNavyGuy1 So he's controlled by the Communists? Okay. So now Canada is a Dictatorship? I assume there'll be no more elections, etc. Is that right?
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@LeclairLar @LauraBabcock @MikeTheNavyGuy1 No. He’s a globalist & a tyrant. Globalism, the face of which is the WEF, is ultimately directed by the CCP. He was inserted, with CCP interference, to drastically alter Canada’s economic & social trajectory. Canada is by-passing “Communism” & moving directly to “Dictatorship.”
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@CoopTory If there's not a cartoon version of Bridge Colby there sure as shit should be.
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The United States continues to create a coherent basis for middle power alignment.
The basis is that dependency on the US is a vulnerability since you continually weaponise the global and alliance systems that middle powers entrusted you with.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
From our point of view, a collective middle powers strategy is based on a faulty understanding of international relations. We are flexible realists. So, we view the international scene through the prism of interest, geography, economics, military power, etc. “Middle powers” don’t have a coherent basis for alignment. 2/
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@bruceanderson Well at least smarmy cunt Bridge Colby didn't threaten us with The Great Schism of 1358. He saved that gem for the Pope.
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America lecturing the world for having a faulty understanding of the world.
Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby@USWPColby
There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/
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