Top beneficiary. A far cry from top dog.
Poland was the biggest monetary benefactor from the EU, coming out with 11.9 billion euros earned, far ahead of Greece (4.3 billion euros) and Hungary (4.1 billion euros).
Yeah but when polls show that less than half of slovakians and Lithuanians think western democracy is good for their country and Hungary(need I say more) maybe they’re just not compatible with the EU. Hungary for example has caused plenty of problems for the EU from within it.
Idk what the solution is but if a country isn’t compatible within the EU and takes the piss while receiving billions for that membership at what point do you tell them to just F off?
Ukraine and Poland ‘agree’ on grain solution as Slovakia lifts ban. From FT.
"Ukraine’s agriculture minister Mykola Solskyi said he and his Polish counterpart Robert Telus had “agreed to find a solution” over a stand-off that saw Poland, Hungary and Slovakia this week prolong bans on Ukrainian grain imports.
Solskyi’s statement came as Slovakia’s agriculture ministry announced it had agreed to set up a licensing system for Ukrainian grain imports, allowing its ban to be lifted.
Solskyi on Wednesday said he held productive talks with Slovakia and Hungary."
Would you have any links???
Can't talk for slovakians, but its hard to believe that only less than half of lithuanians support western democracy.
Unless results were:
Yes-47%
No-10%
Not sure/idk-43%
Edit: found that article, says fck all.
1000 people asked, says nothing about their age, location. Theres a lot of russians living in Lithuania compared to other baltic states, who still dont speak Lithuanian and watch only russian "real" news. And still a lot of people over 50/60 think that it was a lot better in USSR.
We might not be dealing with a rational actor in Putin,but despite what Manic Moran said previously I doubt others in the Russian military will blindly follow a command that likely leads to their own demise.
The EU will face consequences from any military /political defeat of Ukraine.
It is our interests that this does not happen .We must invest in our futures.
Ukraine is as European as we are in real terms (a better ally than Hungary it seems at the moment)
But as it stands the ban is still in place , ane this plan currently only involves Slovakia
Agree. Very doubtful myself on this re Lithuania. It sounds like stats guy stopped 4 person group on streets of Lithuania to ask the question and it happened to be the group of local vatniks.
I said grain issue would be sorted within the week, and not two hours pass and already Poland are mending fences.
How can Poland ever consider itself a powerhouse if it can't let parish pump issues dominate their geopolitical necessities?
As you can imagine the stats are nuanced. The figures that .Donegal. is referring to probably stem from a survey from a reputable Slovak research organisation from earlier this year. Respondents in all east European countries were overwhelmingly in favour of democracy. When participants were asked separately about their support for "liberal democracy" (without context) the picture was more mixed. This is in large part due to Russian covert efforts to denigrate "liberalism" through support for populist parties throughout Europe and to undermine western democracies that are perceived to have liberal policies on immigration, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, freedom to demonstrate etc.
Around 5% of Lithuania population is Russian. There’s a bigger Polish community there than Russians. Ethnic Lithuanians make up about five-sixths of the country's population. Lithuania has the most homogeneous population in the Baltic States.
Reading on the Globsec poll it lists 49% not 47% that believe a western style democracy is best while 27% believe an powerful leader who does not have to bother with parliament or elections is best.
The figures from Eastern Europe are startling
Latvia pro democracy 43%, anti 35%
Bulgaria 35%, 45%
Slovakia 49%, 38%
Romania 50%, 34%
Estonia is a lot more pro democracy with 65%, 17%(while almost 1 in 4 are ethnic Russian)
Austria the most “western” nation in the poll is 92%, 7%.
Globsec who conducted the poll, are based in Slovakia.
But yet the grain ban is still in place nothing has really changed
I think and certainty I hope that when and if any new EU expansion takes place that clauses in the accession treaty's on protecting democracy and democratic institutions are very much to the fore for any new potential members. That for me is the big issue with countries like Hungary the anti- democratic behaviour of the likes of Orban.
Now that poll starts to make sense. When one word is changed in using the word liberal the outcomes become very different even though they were describing liberal democracy exactly as when they just used the word democracy. Reminds me of an interview I saw years ago with some guy in Kentucky railing against Obamacare and socialized healthcare which had just been passed and yet he had signed up for the Kentucky version of it which was called Kynect I think but the guy was all happy to sign up.
This is worrying, first Poland and now a looming shutdown in Washington could major implications for Ukraine over the nest few weeks.
Gatling, What about the f16s? When do you think they'll be in operation over Ukraine?
Possibly next year ,I heard that the Danes were only planning to hand over 5 jets initially if all of the the training requirements , language and ground crews have been met ,the other F16s will be staggered over three years, there's still no word on the Dutch F16s zelensky said 42 but as far as I'm aware they only have something 16 actually operational, someone mentioned 60 + at some point but I'm not so sure they will get 60+ F16s time Will tell
Outside the dail yesterday mixed in with the dragged up goons who went after Healey rea was this person,
Some of us who have been here since the start will remember lucy aka the Russianirish
Fella on the right is all over twitter and tik tok shouting Russian propaganda and anti Ukrainian sentiment.
Think he’s Irish but married to a Russian.
Putin's daughter.
The state should be more active on these Russian embassy goons since they themselves are very active.
How anyone gets led by these dopes is beyond me. They're agitating for violence in this country. The same happens in every European country with these Kremlin agitators. People a bit slow to cop on to the modis operandi of these actors?
Sounds like a lad who needs a slap of cop the fcuk on.
People on Tik tok told him he wouldn’t have the balls to shout Slava Russia on the ha penny bridge.
He did a live video of him doing it a while back.
There's a few of them they even hold fundraising events for the donbas Arthur belgard formerly of belgard motors is one of the chief organisers
https://x.com/EastVeterans/status/1704602325904498961?s=20
I remember some in this thread just a few weeks ago saying US military support for Ukraine will never wane until victory is assured, even if Trump comes to power. This article also strikes a different tone. Backing is still there but it seems pretty clear that serious progress is needed soon
If Ukraine is left to it’s own devises it’s game over.
Putin wins and all the sacrifices made will be for nothing.
This must be music to Putins ears and will make him more determined to stay the course and more confident of victory.
EU countries could always contribute more.
This can't be a real tweet, surely...
It's real , unfortunately this has been discussed for years in Russia,it's nothing new but it brings a chuckle now
On the other hand from a tactical side such stories induce Putin to double down on his endless three day war.
If we believe nothing we hear and half of the battle maps we see then Russia as invader aggressor is bogged down and is being steadily picked off.
If some posters here are correct US aid for Ukraine is only tiny precent of their overall military budget and is unlikely to change in the near term. What is a threat is serious civil unrest in the US in the runup to the next election taking attention away from this war.
Part of the problem is that the US has commitments to a pacing threat in the Pacific, as well as the normal Korea concern. Ukraine needs to be primarily a European thing, as there is no indication that the Asian countries are paper tigers. It's not as if Poland or Germany will be heavily involved everywhere the US is.
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