Vladimir Putin

Embattled 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sat down for her latest interview on Wednesday and surprisingly, the liberal media’s questioner in Judy Woodruff of the PBS NewsHour (and Clinton Foundation donor) came prepared and hit Clinton on issues ranging from her e-mail scandal to the administration’s misjudgment of Russia’s global threat to allied super PACs attacking…

On Thursday's The Nightly Show on Comedy Central, host Larry Wilmore skewered President Barack Obama in the aftermath of Russia undermining the President's Syria policy by bombing the Syrian rebels Obama has been supporting. The Comedy Central host reminded viewers that Obama had mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 when the GOP presidential candidate warned that Russia would be one of America's…

On Tuesday's New Day, CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto tagged the Obama administration efforts to train Syrian rebels as an "utter failure" and he as CNN substitute co-anchor John Berman recalled the scant results of trying to build up Syrian rebels as opposed to the more substantial troops and weapons Russia has supplied to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The CNN…

Vladimir Putin probably had to wait 20 minutes for an elevator. Yeah, that's the ticket . . .  Josh Earnest, Barack Obama's spokesman, has excused Vladimir Putin's snub of the President of the United States, in which the Russian strongman turned up 20 minutes late for their lunch at the UN yesterday.  On today's Morning Joe, Earnest lamely defended Vlad's tardiness: "anybody that's been around…

During MSNBC's live coverage before President Obama's speech to the United Nations on Monday, a panel consisting of NBC's Chuck Todd and guest Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group fretted over the "disaster" of President Obama's Syria policy in the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent success in using the civil war to increase Russian influence in the Middle East.

While the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all covered on Monday night the developments at the United Nations (U.N.) and the meeting between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News failed to go the distance and report that Obama’s disastrous rebel training initiative in Syria had been suspended. In contrast, the CBS Evening News…

Does Donald Trump’s popularity among Republicans indicate that a big part of the GOP base is more authoritarian than it is conservative? Yes, suggested Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas in a Friday post. “The crazies don't really care about any conservative platform, they just want someone to reflect their own bigotries and xenophobia, all the while telling the weenies to fuck off…

On Sunday, the hosts of NBC’s Today laughed at how Russian President Vladimir Putin scored 8 goals during an exhibition hockey game in Sochi on Saturday. 

Reuters announced its latest poll results on Monday: “Republicans see Obama as more imminent threat than Putin.” Republican views were deemed the most newsworthy ones, because they sound vaguely unpatriotic about the president. Reporter Roberta Rampton began: “A third of Republicans believe President Barack Obama poses an imminent threat to the United States, outranking concerns about Russian…

On Thursday's "O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News, Dennis Miller put in an uproariously funny but also insightful appearance. On the more serious side, Miller and O'Reilly also discussed former Vice President Al Gore's expressed preference for punishing those who dare to question the conventional wisdom on "climate change." Someone needs to mention Gore's disturbing posture, as the Associated Press…

Should the United States not send arms to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia because our country would be angered if Russia armed Mexico against Texas?  A strange analogy, no?   But it's the one Joe Scarborough made on today's Morning Joe: "what is Vladimir Putin's response going to be to the United States arming Ukraine? Certainly I would guess no better than, you know, the Russians…

Every December, the people at TIME magazine choose the “Person of the Year,” who is described as “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.” Two of the candidates for the 2014 honor were: the Ferguson, Missouri, protesters, “who took to the streets ... following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-…

Joe Scarborough scoffs at Thomas Friedman's suggestion that the way to confront ISIS is for the US to adopt a carbon tax and permit oil exports.

Today's New York Times op-ed page includes a wide-ranging interview on foreign policy that Thomas Friedman conducted with President Obama.  Let's break down some of the low-lights.  Excerpts from interview in italics, with my comments following. And sure, when President Obama said "I don't worry about Israel's survival," he explained his insouciance in terms of Israel's military might.  But was…