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MOTR, Ep. 54: Putin Photo Ops That Reveal the Wrong Things

As we’ve written here previously, Joe Biden is chronically late for most everything, meetings, even photo ops. It took him two years to visit the open border with Mexico, in large part because the historic invasion of illegal immigrants has seriously worsened on his watch.

He did finally visit Ukraine last month to show support for that embattled land. But he has yet to visit the toxic train spill in Ohio because that would underline the fact that his Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg is not doing a good job.

Photo ops are a thing for national leaders. Even Abraham Lincoln had his photo taken visiting Union generals during the Civil War.

So, it wasn’t surprising when Russian President Vladimir Putin popped up in occupied Ukraine recently and his government made photos available to the international media.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been visiting the front lines of his invaded country all along. Even the head of the Wagner mercenary private army has done photo ops and interviews near the battle actions.

Putin’s brief stopover was rather sad actually. He probably intended it as an act of defiance just hours after the International Court issued his arrest warrant for war crimes.

His forces mercilessly shelled Mariupol last year, virtually destroying the city of 400,000 and killing more than 22,000 civilians, according to the displaced mayor.

So, there Putin was getting briefed on the allegedly vast rebuilding program said to be underway there to show Russian generosity and sovereignty and then driving another Russian through an empty Ukrainian city street cleared of Russian-caused rubble.

Putin also appeared in a forced conversation with a local family, who allegedly received a new apartment via Russian kindness because their old one was destroyed by the standard ruthless Russian attacks to break civilian spirits.

This is what passes for political leadership these days. Most leaders do them. Next are photo ops of China’s newly “reelected” President Xi Jinping visiting Putin in Moscow to show support. And, Xi hopes, perhaps insert himself as some kind of peacemaker in this unprovoked war.

This is broadly what I discuss in this week’s audio commentary below, though as usual, I can’t resist some pointed side comments.

The most recent audio commentary focused on declined consumer trust in modern U.S. media and, more importantly, what we as unsatisfied individuals can do to combat this.

It’ll take a lot of people and a lot of time. And even then, it may not work. But we will certainly be stuck with the same shoddy media if we don’t try. Please do.

This week’s Sunday column examined the disturbing unprovoked downing of a U.S. drone in international air space over international waters, the Black Sea. The culprits, caught on video by the doomed drone itself, were Russian fighters.

What was even more disturbing, however, was the pathetically passive reaction of alleged Commander in Chief Joe Biden. He literally had nothing to say. No anger. No protest. No warning. No threats.

You don’t have to start a war over some offensive breach of international law like this. Even worse perhaps, Biden’s Defense Department said it was re-evaluating intelligence-gathering missions like this.

Caving to bullying tactics like this would not only deprive Ukraine’s valiant forces of priceless information on Russian movements and communications.

It would also invite more such strong-arm bullying by additional adversaries around the world. Word is out about the weak, aged U.S. leader who thinks he deserves a second term.

In other political news, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely GOP primary opponent of Donald Trump, spoke out against the seemingly pending indictment of the former president by a local prosecutor in New York City. And our Sister Toldjah has the story.

Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s press secretary who got the high-profile job by not possessing any perceivable public communications skills whatsoever, is apparently feeling the heat. Unlike her immediate predecessors, she totally lost it during a news briefing this week and had one insistent reporter expelled.

That should help get Joe Biden’s mellow message across.

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