and conquered by the Nazis . In the city of Kaunas , the Nazi invasion triggered a spontaneous wave of attacks against Jewish residents , who had gained an unusual amount of power under the Soviets . The perpetrators were n’t the Nazis , who had n’t yet had time to set up .
The DNC email hack forced former committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign . ( Photo by Reuters ) Just two years ago , the US imposed sanctions on individuals in the Russian government and on its business sector after Russia invadedconflict.attack.naand annexed Ukraine 's Crimean Peninsula . " The US government could add some of the senior [ Russian intelligence ] officers to the financial sanctions list , or evict the [ intelligence ] liaison officer from the Washington , DC embassy , " said Matt Tait , a cybersecurity expert and former information security specialist at GCHQ , the British equivalent of the NSA . " All of those would send a message that this is n't okay , without actually responding in kind . "
NATO is slow to respond : Trump does not want America to be involved , and a large part of Europe is indifferent or blocking any action . “ Russia , seeing no real resistance to their actions , move further into Latvia , and then into eastern Estonia and Lithuania . The Baltic States declare war on Russia and start to retaliate , as they have now been invadedconflict.attack.invadeso have no choice . Half of Europe sides with them , a few countries remain neutral , and a few side with Russia . Where does Turkey stand on this ?
This report deserves continuous monitoring , especially in light of last week ’s military maneuvers and movements conducted by Russia ’s infantry and airborne forces , as well as their naval assets and air force in and around the borders of the Baltic nations , primarily Latvia , Lithuania , and Estonia , as well as Ukraine and Poland . Recent reliefs of command ( and/or purges ) of several senior members of the Kremlin and the Russian military suggest ( as can be read in detail in other articles ) that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may be clearing out any of his advisors that may oppose future military operations in Europe . To increase tensions further , it has been reported that on Wednesday , August 24th , Turkish military forces have invadedconflict.attack.naSyria . The offensive has been comprised of Turkish armored units , special forces teams , and aircraft supported by “ coalition ” aircraft of the U.S. The purported objective was to dislodge ISIS from proximity to the Turkish border and to stem advances made by Kurdish militia .
Putin is despised by millions of Polish Americans , as well as Czech , Slovak , Ukrainian , Hungarian , Lithuanian , Latvian and Estonian Americans , who either escaped to this country from behind the Iron Curtain or whose parents or grandparents did . These voters know what it is like to live in a police state . Thus , many were appalled when , at NBC ’s Commander - in - Chief Forum last month , Trump stated with apparent admiration how Putin “ has very strong control over a country ” and declared him “ a leader , far more than our president has been . ” When host Matt Lauer pointed out that Putin “ annexed Crimea , invadedconflict.attack.invadeUkraine , supports Assad in Syria , supports Iran ” and asked , “ Do you want to be complimented by that former KGB officer ? ” Trump was unfazed . “ I ’ll take the compliment , okay ? ” he replied , pointing out that Putin “ does have an 82 percent approval rating . ” Not with Americans of Eastern European heritage , he does n’t .
George H.W. Bush governed in a time of transition to a world where the Soviet Union broke apart , a world in which the United States would become the lone superpower . When Saddam Hussein invadedconflict.attack.naKuwait , he assembled an international coalition to repel the Iraqi forces , using U.S. military air power and a huge ground army to drive them back , a war financed heavily with the bankrolls of U.S. allies . George W. Bush led the United States into Afghanistan after the attacks of Sept. 11 , 2001 , and , later , into what became a disastrous war in Iraq . In his second inaugural address , in the midst of the Iraq adventure , he offered an expansive vision for the United States around the globe , setting out a goal of ending tyranny by helping to spread democracy into parts of the world where it had never taken root .
But there is no understating what is now happening : A political party that once campaigned almost exclusively on American power projection and national security has just given license to a revanchist adversary to sow mischief across its borders and face no serious repercussions . I ’ve spent a lot of time in the Baltics recently , particularly Estonia where , even before Trump ’s unprecedented comments , there was a great deal of anxiety that Americans would not be willing to “ die for Narva , ” a popular refrain one heard from the realist school of the Washington foreign policy establishment in the months following Putin ’s seizure of Crimea . ( Narva is an Estonian border city where ethnic Russians predominate , even if they have no desire to be invadedconflict.attack.naor annexed by their next - door neighbor . ) Would Americans die for Narva ? What an ugly and stupid question .
Donald Trump is again insisting he opposed the Iraq War before it started . But despite his repeated claims , the facts are clear : He did not . There is no evidence Trump expressed public opposition to the war before the U.S. invadedconflict.attack.invade. Rather , he offered lukewarm support . The billionaire businessman only began to voice doubts about the conflict well after it began in March 2003 .
It is one incident in my long career . “ ) She also insisted that no ground troops would go to Iraq or Syria , making the cardinal error of ruling out options and , worse , ignoring the 5,000 or so troops already there . None of that — if you can believe it — was anywhere as awful as Trump ’s rambling , incoherent and at times jaw - dropping performance . He once again fawned over Vladimir Putin , who has invadedconflict.attack.invadehis neighbors and repressed his citizens . Besides , Putin has an 82 percent approval ! ( That ’s like saying Bashar al - Assad is the world ’s most popular ruler since he gets 99 percent of the vote . )
His campaign for president , frankly , looks a lot like his parenting . Trump has n't bothered to develop a real policy agenda ; his website has a few buzzwordy blurbs on a handful of subjects . He has n't learned the most basic facts about how the world operates ; he suggested abandoning NATO allies and had no idea Russia had invadedconflict.attack.invadeUkraine . Just as his children speak of his parenting in bland generalities , so Trump talks about what he 'd do as president in near - meaningless rambles . He has no understanding of the task he 's undertaking as president , and if his parenting is any guide , he has no desire to take on responsibilities he does n't enjoy .
Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz has said that Russia was being aggressive towards the European region as a whole , adding that Crimea " would not be invadedconflict.attack.invadeif Ukraine became a NATO member . " " We are seeing aggression by one state against another , as well as an occupation . Crimea is occupied , part of Donbass is also occupied , " Macierewicz told a Polish broadcaster on Wednesday .
This report deserves continuous monitoring , especially in light of last week ’s military maneuvers and movements conducted by Russia ’s infantry and airborne forces , as well as their naval assets and air force in and around the borders of the Baltic nations , primarily Latvia , Lithuania , and Estonia , as well as Ukraine and Poland . Recent reliefs of command ( and/or purges ) of several senior members of the Kremlin and the Russian military suggest ( as can be read in detail in other articles ) that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may be clearing out any of his advisors that may oppose future military operations in Europe . To increase tensions further , it has been reported that on Wednesday , August 24th , Turkish military forces have invadedconflict.attack.invadeSyria . The offensive has been comprised of Turkish armored units , special forces teams , and aircraft supported by “ coalition ” aircraft of the U.S. The purported objective was to dislodge ISIS from proximity to the Turkish border and to stem advances made by Kurdish militia .
! » turns out to have been more the start of a US defeat in an unprovoked invasion , than the start of a US victory against any authentic provocation by ‘ the enemy ’ . Obama ’s current plan to turn his defeat into victory there has no more reason to succeed than his predecessor , George W Bush ’s plan to do likewise in Iraq did after he had , on 1 May 2003 , declared victory there , aboard the warship USS Abraham Lincoln . Then , his famous 2007 « troop surge in Iraq » utterly failed to produce peace and to end the sectarian war the US and its allies had generated by their thoroughly counter - productive and shameful invasion against a nation that ( like Libya ) had n’t invadedconflict.attack.nanor threatened to invade the United States – nor its allies . There , as in Syria , too , America ’s aggression produced only mass death and misery – and trillions of dollars in US federal debt , which has n’t yet resulted from America ’s invasions of Libya and Syria , but might . And , of course , millions of refugees .
Who the candidates meet also could offer hints about their foreign policy goals — and invite backlash from critics . Clinton 's teams said she plans to see Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el - Sisi and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko . The meeting with Poroshenko is a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin , who has invadedconflict.attack.invadeUkraine , of Clinton 's pledge to be tough on Moscow if elected . It also would be a veiled slap at Trump , who has spoken kindly of Putin and insisted he would get along with the Russian leader . ( Putin is expected to skip the U.N. meeting this year . )
Video There is nothing new about intelligence services for the United States and Russia hacking each other ’s computer systems or trying to covertly influence other countries ’ domestic politics . In recent years , Mr. Putin has invadedconflict.attack.invadeUkraine , stoking political tensions there and in the Baltic States , and financed right - wing politicians across Europe ; during the Cold War , the United States secretly tried to influence elections in Indonesia , Italy , Chile and Poland . What seems new here is the idea that a government would publicly disclose information it got from hacking into the computers of an American political party in order to influence an election . The Democrats are eager to exploit a Trump - Putin connection .
He confronted Mr. Trump with a crass Twitter message from 2013 in which the future candidate suggested that sexual assaults in the military were a logical result of men and women serving together . “ It is a correct tweet , ” Mr. Trump said . When Mr. Lauer asked if Mr. Trump actually believed he knew more about the Islamic State than American generals , the candidate replied : “ The generals have been reduced to rubble . ” When Mr. Lauer brought up Mr. Trump ’s admiration for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia , noting that Mr. Putin had invadedconflict.attack.invadeUkraine and was suspected of hacking Democratic emails , Mr. Trump refused to say a negative word about him . “ Do you want me to start naming some of the things that President Obama does ? ” Mr. Trump asked . Still , with the formal debates set to begin on Sept. 26 , Mr. Lauer ’s performance seemed to preview the troubles that television moderators could face in balancing fairness with accountability .
! » turns out to have been more the start of a US defeat in an unprovoked invasion , than the start of a US victory against any authentic provocation by ‘ the enemy ’ . Obama ’s current plan to turn his defeat into victory there has no more reason to succeed than his predecessor , George W Bush ’s plan to do likewise in Iraq did after he had , on 1 May 2003 , declared victory there , aboard the warship USS Abraham Lincoln . Then , his famous 2007 « troop surge in Iraq » utterly failed to produce peace and to end the sectarian war the US and its allies had generated by their thoroughly counter - productive and shameful invasion against a nation that ( like Libya ) had n’t invadedconflict.attack.invadenor threatened to invade the United States – nor its allies . There , as in Syria , too , America ’s aggression produced only mass death and misery – and trillions of dollars in US federal debt , which has n’t yet resulted from America ’s invasions of Libya and Syria , but might . And , of course , millions of refugees .
1/10 The Mini The 1959 classic , that is , perhaps our greatest piece of industrial design , a miracle of packaging and revolution in motoring . Its genius designer was Sir Alec Issigonis , who was an asylum seeker . His family , Greek , fled Smyrna when Turks invadedconflict.attack.invadethis borderland in around 1920 , and he wound up studying engineering at Battersea Polytechnic . He went on to create that most English of motor cars , the Morris Minor , as well as the Austin - Morris 1100 , all much loved products of his fertile imagination . Getty Images
Clearly , he loves the semi - useful information hacked from Democratic officials , the Clinton Foundation , and state election systems . But Trump curiously refuses to acknowledge that this love originates with Russian criminals , and he still has n't explained his pro - Kremlin sympathies . He has n't explained why he repeatedly calls a kleptocrat a " stronger leader " than President Obama , other than poll numbers ; why he claims Russia had not invadedconflict.attack.invadeUkraine or annexed Crimea ; why he has n't denounced its intimidation of the Baltic states , or has n't pledged his allegiance to NATO allies against Russian aggression ; why he rejected Mike Pence 's call for Putin 's provocation to be " met with American strength " ; and why he calls for Russians to commit more cyber - espionage . Nor has he acknowledged how he was bankrolled by Russian investors , when American banks closed the spigot after his multiple bankruptcies ; and how his three advisors - Paul Manafort , Carter Page , and Lt . Gen. Michael Flynn - have connections to Russian oligarchs . The Clinton transcripts are interesting reading , but little else : She seems wobbly on fracking , trade and Keystone , but she largely comes across as a smart and pragmatic politician .