19 March 22
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Showing posts with label ARNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGER. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ARNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGER. Show all posts
Saturday, March 19, 2022
RSN: Harvey Wasserman | Putin's "Peaceful Atom" Apocalypse Draws Closer by the Minute
RSN: FOCUS: Arnold Schwarzenegger | I Have a Message for My Russian Friends
18 March 22
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The strength and the heart of the Russian people have always inspired me. That is why I hope that you will let me tell you the truth about the war in Ukraine.
In 1961, when I was 14 years old, I had the chance to attend the World Weightlifting Championships in Vienna. Yury Petrovich Vlasov won the world-championship title, becoming the first human being to lift 200 kilograms over his head. Somehow, a friend of mine got me backstage. All of a sudden a 14-year-old boy was standing in front of the strongest man in the world. I couldn’t believe it. He reached out to shake my hand. I still had a boy’s hand. He had this powerful man’s hand that swallowed mine, but he was kind. And he smiled at me.
I never forgot that day. I went home and put his photo above my bed. It inspired me when I started lifting weights, but it angered my father. He didn’t like Russians, because of his experience in the Second World War, when he was injured in Leningrad. (The Nazi army that he was part of did vicious harm to that great city and to its brave people.) My father told me to take Petrovich’s picture down, and to find a German or Austrian hero. But I did not take the photograph down, because it didn’t matter to me what flag he carried.
Years later, I was in Moscow to film Red Heat, the first American movie allowed to film in Red Square. Yury and I spent the whole day together. He was so thoughtful, so kind, so smart, and very giving. He gave me a blue coffee cup that I still use every morning.
The reason I’m telling you all of this is that ever since I was 14 years old, I’ve had nothing but affection and respect for the people of Russia. The strength and the heart of the Russian people have always inspired me. That is why I hope that you will let me tell you the truth about the war in Ukraine. No one likes to hear something critical of their government. I understand that. But as a longtime friend of the Russian people, I hope that you will hear what I have to say.
I spoke to the American people this way last year on January 6, when a wild crowd was storming the U.S. Capitol trying to overthrow our government. There are moments that are so wrong that we have to speak up.
I know that your government has told you this is a war to de-Nazify Ukraine. This is not true. De-Nazify Ukraine? It is a country with a Jewish president—a Jewish president, I might add, whose grandfather’s three brothers were all murdered by the Nazis. Ukraine did not start this war. Neither did nationalists or Nazis. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war; this is not the Russian people’s war.
Let me tell you what you should know. One hundred forty-one nations at the United Nations voted that Russia was the aggressor and called for it to remove its troops immediately. Only four countries in the entire world voted with Russia. That is a fact. The world has turned against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine. Whole city blocks have been flattened by Russian artillery and bombs, including a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital. Three million Ukrainian refugees, mainly women, children, and the elderly, have already fled the country, and many more now seek to get out. It is a humanitarian crisis. Russia, because of its brutality, is now isolated from the society of nations.
You’re also not being told the truth about the consequences of this war for Russia itself. I regret to tell you that thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed. They’ve been caught between Ukrainians fighting for their homeland and the Russian leadership fighting for conquest. Massive amounts of Russian equipment have been destroyed or abandoned. The destruction that Russian bombs are raining down upon innocent civilians has so outraged the world that the strongest global economic sanctions ever enacted have been imposed on the country. Those who don’t deserve it on both sides of the war will suffer.
The Russian government has lied not only to its citizens, but also to its soldiers. Some of the soldiers were told they were going to fight the Nazis. Some were told that the Ukrainian people would greet them like heroes. Some were told that they were simply going on exercises—they didn’t even know that they were going into war. And some were told that they were there to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine. None of this was true. Russian soldiers have faced fierce resistance from the Ukrainians who want to protect their families.
When I see babies being pulled out of ruins, I feel like I’m watching a documentary about the horrors of the Second World War, not the news of today. When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies of his government. When he left Leningrad, he was broken physically and mentally. He spent the rest of his life in pain: pain from a broken back, pain from the shrapnel that always reminded him of those terrible years, pain from the guilt that he felt.
Russian soldiers already know much of this truth. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father. This is not a war to defend Russia like your grandfathers and your great-grandfathers fought. This is an illegal war. Your lives, your limbs, and your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war, condemned by the entire world. Remember that 11 million Russians have family connections to Ukraine. With every bullet that you shoot, you shoot a brother or a sister. Every bomb and every shell that falls is falling not on an enemy, but on a school or a hospital or a home.
I don’t think the Russian people are aware that such things are happening. So I urge the Russian people and the Russian soldiers in Ukraine to understand the propaganda and the disinformation that you are being told. I ask you to help me spread the truth so that your fellow Russians will know the human catastrophe that is happening in Ukraine. To President Putin, I say: You started this war. You’re leading this war. You can stop this war now.
And to the Russians who have been protesting on the streets against the invasion of Ukraine: The world has seen your bravery. We know that you have suffered the consequences of your courage. You have been arrested. You have been jailed and you’ve been beaten. You are my new heroes. You have the strength of Yury Petrovich Vlasov. You have the true heart of Russia.
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PO Box 2043 / Citrus Heights, CA 95611
Friday, March 18, 2022
Top Trump aide ensnared in felony fraud probe
Today's Top Stories:
North Carolina investigating ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows over voter fraud allegations
Authorities have opened an investigation into Meadows' dubious claim that his legal residence was a dilapidated mobile home while he was serving as Trump's chief of staff.
VIDEO OF THE DAY: Kevin McCarthy makes pathetic misstep in latest attack on Biden
The House minority leader lamented the supposed "delay" in delivering military aid to Ukraine, conveniently forgetting the $400 million quid pro quo scandal that led to Donald Trump's first impeachment.
Republicans pull DISGUSTING stunt over gas price increases
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Unreal.
US citizen killed in Ukraine, State Department confirms
Putin now has American blood on his hands in addition to Ukrainian.
Ohio Supreme Court rejects Republicans’ third set of state legislative maps
Democracy may be on life support, but it's still breathing.
Arnold Schwarzenegger invokes his Nazi father in emotional plea to Russians to end the war
Schwarzenegger posted a heartfelt nine-minute video message on Twitter in an attempt to punch through propaganda and speak directly to the Russian people about the war in Ukraine.
Joe Biden slams Putin as "murderous thug" during St. Patrick's Day luncheon
The president is not mincing words about the Russian dictator.
They stopped a GOP gerrymander dead in its tracks — now they're going after Republican seats!
OD Action partner: No Surrender New York scored a huge win getting a blue firewall signed into law. Now they're going on the offensive to expand our Congressional majority!
Russia threatens Bosnia and Herzegovina with the same fate as Ukraine
The Russian ambassador implied that any attempt to join NATO could precipitate an invasion of the Balkan state.
MAGA Senate candidate Mo Brooks drops groveling 1/6 ad to try to get back in Trump’s good graces
After the disgraced ex-president mused about pulling his endorsement, the struggling Senate candidate from Alabama released an ad pledging allegiance to Trump and his election lies.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene panned as "useful idiot" for Putin over deranged speech
The QAnon congresswoman is aggressively staking out her position as the representative with the worst opinions on Ukraine.
Blinken warns China will bear responsibility for actions supporting Russia's aggression
Biden's secretary of state made it crystal clear that supporting Putin's illegal invasion will not be tolerated.
Russia, Russia, Russia
Say it ain't so
It's so
Hope...
Survivors emerge from theater bombed by Russia
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