@Blue Republic

It's possible that Ron Paul would have been a better President for the People that those Presidents who defeated him. Not that he would have been allowed to win the election.

#7.1.1.1.1

We continue to be badly in need of a strong, vocal and visible peace movement, but Code Pink remains small and progressive leaders are nowhere to be found in challenging the status quo.

you should consider supporting or at least cooperating with those conservatives who *are* challenging the status quo.

Latest from Dr. Ron Paul:

(Blue Republic),

For over six months, the U.S. and Western Europe have tried to wage war on Russia without actually going directly to war.

Much of this has been in the form of military aid and assistance to Ukraine (at least $54 BILLION from the United States already – which makes the $7.4 BILLION spent in the first five years fighting the Taliban seem like a drop in the bucket), but another major component of this war has been economic sanctions on Russia, which the Biden administration described as “crippling.”

Six months on, the effects have become clear: not only have the sanctions failed to “cripple” Russia, they’ve crippled the West.

As I explain in my latest column below, the effect of sanctions on Russia has been truly catastrophic on the rest of Europe. They face energy shortages and economic collapse.

This is plainly unsustainable, but in the face of this failure, our leaders only seem more determined to keep doubling down.

The cause of Ukraine, it appears, matters more to them than their own countries’ best interests.

And unless we hold our globalist leaders accountable, the situation will worsen, and what we’re seeing happen in Europe today may become the situation in America tomorrow.

Check out my column below, and if you can, support Campaign for Liberty with a contribution so we can continue to hold politicians in Washington accountable, or join our Patriot Club as a sustaining supporter.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

Europe Commits Suicide-by-Sanctions

A Swiss billboard is making the rounds on social media depicting a young woman on the telephone. The caption reads, "Does the neighbor heat the apartment to over 19 degrees (66F)? Please inform us." While the Swiss government has dismissed the poster as a fake, the penalties Swiss citizens face for daring to warm their homes are very real. According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, those who violate the 66 degree heating limit could face as many as three years in prison!

Prison time for heating your home? In the “free” world? How is it possible in 2022, when Switzerland and the rest of the political west have achieved the greatest economic success in history, that the European continent faces a winter like something out of the dark ages?

Sanctions.

While long promoted – often by those opposed to war – as a less destructive alternative to war, sanctions are in reality acts of war. And as we know with interventionism and war, the result is often unintended consequences and even blowback.

European sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year will likely go down in history as a prime example of how sanctions can result in unintended consequences. While seeking to punish Russia by cutting off gas and oil imports, European Union politicians forgot that Europe is completely dependent on Russian energy supplies and that the only people to suffer if those imports are shut down are the Europeans themselves.

The Russians simply pivoted to the south and east and found plenty of new buyers in China, India, and elsewhere. In fact, Russia’s state-run Gazprom energy company has reported that its profits have increased by 100 percent in the first half of this year.

Russia is getting rich while Europeans are facing a freezing winter and economic collapse. All because of the false belief that sanctions are a cost-free way to force other countries to do what you want them to do.

What happens when the people see dumb government policies making energy bills skyrocket as the economy grounds to a halt? They become desperate and take to the streets in protest.

This weekend thousands of Austrians took to the streets in a “Freedom Rally” to demand an end to sanctions and the opening of Nord Stream II, the gas pipeline on the verge of opening earlier this year. Last week an estimated 100,000 Czechs took to the streets of Prague to protest NATO and EU policy. In France, the “Yellow Vests” are back in the streets protesting the destruction of their economy in the name of “defeating” Russia in Ukraine. In Germany, Serbia, and elsewhere, protests are gearing up.

Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that sanctions on Russia are not having the intended effect. In an article yesterday, the paper worries that sanctions are inflicting “collateral damage in Russia and beyond, potentially even hurting the very countries that impose them. Some even worried that the sanctions intended to deter and weaken Putin could end up emboldening and strengthening him.”

This is all predictable. Sanctions kill. Sometimes they kill innocents in the country targeted for destruction and sometimes they kill innocents in the country imposing them. The solution, as always, is non-intervention. No sanctions, no "color revolutions," no meddling. It's really that simple.

(I do differ from Paul's take in one respect - am not convinced that the destruction of European economy and society is by mistake or incompetence (not to underrate the possibility) - but rather, as with the US that the destruction is by design, and the conditions for what we are seeing play out now have been engineered under most people's radar and a long time in preparation.)

@Blue Republic those cons aren't really challenging the status quo, they're just opposing Biden to curry favor with their base. If it were DJT in office doing the same wrt UKR, 98% of those same cons would be marching in lockstep behind the war drums as they red bait any dissenting voices.

I am generally in accord with the attitude and reasoning of Medea Benjamin in the video helpfully posted above by Lookout -- of course on an individual, favorable antiwar vote, their support is welcome, but don't count on me to misread that vote as one of principle, or send them a fat check, or give them my vote for el presidente, until they stop being crazy extremists on a host of other important issues.

#7.1.1.1.1

We continue to be badly in need of a strong, vocal and visible peace movement, but Code Pink remains small and progressive leaders are nowhere to be found in challenging the status quo.

you should consider supporting or at least cooperating with those conservatives who *are* challenging the status quo.

Latest from Dr. Ron Paul:

(Blue Republic),

For over six months, the U.S. and Western Europe have tried to wage war on Russia without actually going directly to war.

Much of this has been in the form of military aid and assistance to Ukraine (at least $54 BILLION from the United States already – which makes the $7.4 BILLION spent in the first five years fighting the Taliban seem like a drop in the bucket), but another major component of this war has been economic sanctions on Russia, which the Biden administration described as “crippling.”

Six months on, the effects have become clear: not only have the sanctions failed to “cripple” Russia, they’ve crippled the West.

As I explain in my latest column below, the effect of sanctions on Russia has been truly catastrophic on the rest of Europe. They face energy shortages and economic collapse.

This is plainly unsustainable, but in the face of this failure, our leaders only seem more determined to keep doubling down.

The cause of Ukraine, it appears, matters more to them than their own countries’ best interests.

And unless we hold our globalist leaders accountable, the situation will worsen, and what we’re seeing happen in Europe today may become the situation in America tomorrow.

Check out my column below, and if you can, support Campaign for Liberty with a contribution so we can continue to hold politicians in Washington accountable, or join our Patriot Club as a sustaining supporter.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

Europe Commits Suicide-by-Sanctions

A Swiss billboard is making the rounds on social media depicting a young woman on the telephone. The caption reads, "Does the neighbor heat the apartment to over 19 degrees (66F)? Please inform us." While the Swiss government has dismissed the poster as a fake, the penalties Swiss citizens face for daring to warm their homes are very real. According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, those who violate the 66 degree heating limit could face as many as three years in prison!

Prison time for heating your home? In the “free” world? How is it possible in 2022, when Switzerland and the rest of the political west have achieved the greatest economic success in history, that the European continent faces a winter like something out of the dark ages?

Sanctions.

While long promoted – often by those opposed to war – as a less destructive alternative to war, sanctions are in reality acts of war. And as we know with interventionism and war, the result is often unintended consequences and even blowback.

European sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year will likely go down in history as a prime example of how sanctions can result in unintended consequences. While seeking to punish Russia by cutting off gas and oil imports, European Union politicians forgot that Europe is completely dependent on Russian energy supplies and that the only people to suffer if those imports are shut down are the Europeans themselves.

The Russians simply pivoted to the south and east and found plenty of new buyers in China, India, and elsewhere. In fact, Russia’s state-run Gazprom energy company has reported that its profits have increased by 100 percent in the first half of this year.

Russia is getting rich while Europeans are facing a freezing winter and economic collapse. All because of the false belief that sanctions are a cost-free way to force other countries to do what you want them to do.

What happens when the people see dumb government policies making energy bills skyrocket as the economy grounds to a halt? They become desperate and take to the streets in protest.

This weekend thousands of Austrians took to the streets in a “Freedom Rally” to demand an end to sanctions and the opening of Nord Stream II, the gas pipeline on the verge of opening earlier this year. Last week an estimated 100,000 Czechs took to the streets of Prague to protest NATO and EU policy. In France, the “Yellow Vests” are back in the streets protesting the destruction of their economy in the name of “defeating” Russia in Ukraine. In Germany, Serbia, and elsewhere, protests are gearing up.

Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that sanctions on Russia are not having the intended effect. In an article yesterday, the paper worries that sanctions are inflicting “collateral damage in Russia and beyond, potentially even hurting the very countries that impose them. Some even worried that the sanctions intended to deter and weaken Putin could end up emboldening and strengthening him.”

This is all predictable. Sanctions kill. Sometimes they kill innocents in the country targeted for destruction and sometimes they kill innocents in the country imposing them. The solution, as always, is non-intervention. No sanctions, no "color revolutions," no meddling. It's really that simple.

(I do differ from Paul's take in one respect - am not convinced that the destruction of European economy and society is by mistake or incompetence (not to underrate the possibility) - but rather, as with the US that the destruction is by design, and the conditions for what we are seeing play out now have been engineered under most people's radar and a long time in preparation.)