UAF commanders have requested a media blackout for the Kherson region from all friendly sources.
Something big in the works.
No idea what they were saying; "There goes my new washing machine"?
Here's a longer version
Sensible talk here-
Russian controlled jack-up rig in Black Sea is still burning
Over half of all separatist forces the Donetsk militia are now dead.
and
Tom Cruise is not the only Top Gun!!!
Told ya so
if Hillary was president during Trumps reign would Russia have still invaded Ukraine ?
I don't know. This war has been brewing since at least 2014.
Given that during Trump's "reign" was from January 2017 to January 2021, there was no new invasion of Ukraine by Russia, your question is meaningless.
Now if Hillary had been elected n 2016 and re-elected in 2020, you might have a point. But this is totally hypothetical.
EU currently providing Ukraine with long-rage artillery, tanks and MLRS, per @eu_eeas Amb Charles Fries at EUDFF22. "We have adapted our offers to the Ukrainian needs"
That story about many separatists being dead is very plausible. A video surfaced on Telegram last week where a large number of wives of separatists were complaining that their husbands were missing and that the Russian authorities were telling them absolutely nothing. In that clip alone, I think they were talking of several hundred separatists being missing.
Putin was allowed take Crimea in 2014, without much response from the Obama/Biden administration.
While Hilary was gone a year at that stage, there is no reason to suspect she would have been different.
Putin shortly after Crimea ordered Merkel to sign off on Nordstream 2 and accelerate the winding down of German domestic energy production.
He had the most powerful leader in Europe at his command, America was not his concern.
Merkel was not at Putin's "command". She just had a distorted and clearly wildly incorrect view of what rational engagement with him would bring.
I think Hilary would have made a difference. She is absolutely psychopathic and would be much more likely to escalate things to an extreme degree. She may have actually made Putin think twice.
I think Trump showed in his interactions with Iran that he would be extremely unlikely to push for military action. There would have likely been a lot of threats which would not be carried out.
The reason why they are being told nothing is because the Separatists are actually on 'special joint operation' with the crew from the Moskva.
It just happened that her distorted view benefited Russia to an extraordinary degree and cost Germany and Europe.
The head of Nordstream is an Ex KGB Agent from East Germany, a very close and personal friend of Putin since they worked together in the 80s in East Germany.
The man Merkel handed over control of German energy to after the annexation of Crimea.
Maybe, just maybe Merkel was not controlled by Russian intelligence but if she was, would she have been any more loyal a hound to Putin than she was?
The Americans had her bugged in 2009, they knew something was up.
Yes. Not everything is a conspiracy.
She has made her logic and reasoning perfectly clear. She was wrong, but everything about her time in office suggests that she simply thought that engagement with Russia and "thawed" relations would lead t Russia becoming part of the Western order eventually.
It also benefitted Germany just fine until the invasion and the need to cut off supplies from Russia. It was a gamble that completely backfired.
And what did she and Germany do to ensure their energy independence in the 8 years since Putin invaded Crimea and the Donbas?
She got even deeper into the Putin mire. She couldn't admit she was wrong in 2014 and they're going to pay for it in spades now in 2022.
It was a mistake to treat Russia like an advanced state. We've seen how political and economic integration makes armed conflict far less likely since the 50s in Europe and it's an extension of that. Some of them are still in denial, some don't fuckin care.
Yes. She made a terrible, terrible mistake.
I'm not defending her. I'm saying claiming she was "at Putin's command" is stupid.
She was far from the only one anyway. The likes of Blair and Bush were cosying up to Putin in 2000-08 as were many other western leaders - it would be unfair to single her out.
Also, Putin began to change as a person and became much more isolationist and belligerent from around 2014 onward. Most of the bad news stories concerning Russia started from that point on.
It is fair to single her out, because neither the UK nor the US are currently funding Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Germany is.
Maia Sandu:Had a good phone call with President @ZelenskyyUa ahead of the important EUCO meeting. We have discussed @EU_Commission's recommendation on granting candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine. We are committed to strengthening our cooperation in regards to our EU integration
Maybe Trumps weakening of NATO might have emboldened putin ?
Wasn't he trying to force European countries to step up spending.
That famous photo of Merkel facing him down over it.
She was a loyal hound at every step for Russia.
Her establishing Russian dominance over German energy, her dedication in removing any alternative, even cheaper ones, the speed of the reduction she put in place.
Germany was facing an energy crisis even before the start of the latest phase of the Ukraine invasion.
Yes, but she didn't go on a solo run by cosying up to Putin.
The issue of Germany becoming energy dependent on Russia is something of a separate issue. Have a look at what the Brits were doing at the same time - arguably even more controversial, by allowing all that Russian money into the UK and them buying up half of London. Johnson sending arms to Ukraine may well be a smokescreen to cover up the former links to Putin and he putting the son of a KGB officer into the House of Lords.
I don’t he was thinking about European security when he criticised nations not fulfilling their defence spending commitments.
No he was thinking America was paying for it and given that most of Europe were militarily deficient.
Germany, the largest economy in Europe basically has an Army that has often had to train with sticks, it's a global weapons manufacturing superpower.
Obama called it out before as I think Bush did as well.
Russia had different ideas.
No posts in over 10 hours. According to logic from a previous poster - the war must be over
I think the West are doing a 'boiling frog' with Russia... ratcheting up more advanced military support bit by bit. While they were wary of providing such weapons in the heat of the early days of battle... they are slowly (possibly too slowly, but the EU is VERY conservative) but surely providing the good stuff.
I'd not be betting on Russia getting their heretofore unannounced special operations war goals.
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