The selling out of Europe by Merkel was so egregious, so blatant that even he had to call it out, the same with the underfunding of defense in Europe because many felt America paid the bill.
Successive US Presidents called out these issues.
Now Germany is going to reap Merkel's harvest and in winter all of Europe will.
Her hope, and her master's hope is that as winter comes in the severity of the economic crisis will cause sanctions to collapse.
She may well succeed in that.
I said in some regards. They're not getting routed from positions like had been in the earlier days. The war has had distinct phases and failing less miserably than they had been is still getting their sh1t together in some regards.
Even a stopped clockwork Orange is right twice a day.
Digging in isn't getting their sh1t together, it's practically giving up and relying on the waiting game. Who can hold out the longest?
Historically stoic Russians, but city (those that count) Russians used to more Western lifestyles of late seeing such lifestyles slowly ebb away Vs Historically stoic Ukrainians fighting for their very existence supported by the West (top level - Love Island fans notwithstanding). My Money would sill be on Ukraine.
Without the equipment provided by London and Washington the Ukraine would already be in military collapse.
The EU countries have sent a small portion of the overall.
Is that the same Trump that was impeached for blackmailing Ukraine and openly performed fellatio on Putin at every opportunity he got?
Yep, that Orange prick is one of the many reasons we are where are today.
The Russians have slowly been getting their sh1t together in some regards.
Reinforced Russian air-defense systems in eastern Ukraine are increasingly limiting the effectiveness of Ukrainian drones, undermining a key Ukrainian capability in the war. Foreign Policy’s Jack Detsch quoted several anonymous Ukrainian officials and military personnel that Ukrainian forces have largely halted the use of Turkish Bayraktar drones, which were used to great effect earlier in the war, due to improvements in Russian air-defense capabilities.
Ukrainian officials are reportedly increasingly concerned that US-provided Gray Eagle strike drones will also be shot down by reinforced Russian air defense over the Donbas.[2] Ukrainian forces have reportedly scaled back air operations to 20 to 30 sorties per day and are facing a deficit of available aircraft for active pilots. Russian forces are likely prioritizing deploying air defenses to eastern Ukraine to nullify Ukrainian operations and to protect the artillery systems Russian forces are reliant on to make advances. However, the Ukrainian air force and armed drones remain active elsewhere, inflicting several successful strikes on targets in Kherson Oblast in the last week.
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 22 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)
Also in more negative news it looks like Ukraine lost their position on the Eastern Bank of the Inhulets River too. Near Davydiv Brid.
'I'd not be betting on Russia getting their heretofore unannounced special operationswar goals.'
I hope that's the case, just wish thru would get the finger out and supply quicker.
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.
No posts in over 10 hours. According to logic from a previous poster - the war must be over
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.
I don’t he was thinking about European security when he criticised nations not fulfilling their defence spending commitments.
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.
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.
Maybe Trumps weakening of NATO might have emboldened putin ?
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
It is fair to single her out, because neither the UK nor the US are currently funding Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Germany is.
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.
Yes. She made a terrible, terrible mistake.
I'm not defending her. I'm saying claiming she was "at Putin's command" is stupid.
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.
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 just happened that her distorted view benefited Russia to an extraordinary degree and cost Germany and Europe.
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.
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.
The reason why they are being told nothing is because the Separatists are actually on 'special joint operation' with the crew from the Moskva.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
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