In what respect? Not sure a noted right-wing senator espousing The Great Replacement conspiracy theory has much to contribute here. For sure we know the MAGA crowd are hell-bent on stopping Ukrainian aid, this guy's rant is only confirming what we know about their demagoguery.
The MAGA movement is anti-intellectual to the extent that its adherents are racist, bigoted idiots to a man (and woman). But the senator is representing Ohio, a state utterly removed from the Mexican border yet worried the brown people are coming. Go figure.
It makes sense if you ignore all those real world factors and just look at numbers on a spreadsheet, which are filtered with "Born in USA".
I don't follow. The US haven't had 10mil illegal immigrants enter the US under Biden's tenure. There was a border bill which was dismissed by the GOP.
A strong US, needs a strong Europe and a strong Europe needs Ukraine to prevail.
It's just nonsense.
Food for thought
Another oil refinery hit.
Piers Morgan is a pompous self-server.
Well no, I don't think you can use the USA to prove anything except its own dysfunction. Not least cos whatever shape the USE would take, we'd not be copying things like the electoral college system, and it'd be unlikely we'd end up with the lobbyist controlled duopoly that goes on there. Not to mention the not-insignificant factor that demagogues and theatrics play in government. In fact more realistically, we'd probably end up with the opposite and about a half dozen "parties" creating coalitions - and potential deadlock in its own. But I don't think we'd be strangled by a bunch of Orbáns or a EU-MAGA equivalent dictating what can or can't be done in Brussels.
The last line is incorrect. Just look at the way the USA is structured. Replace states with EU countries and you've something similar. Plenty of bad actors there holding stuff up
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/russia-builds-30km-tsar-train-barrier-using-over-2000-freight-cars-in-east-ukraine/a1056413573.html
I'd like to think functional federalisation would remove or reduce the ability of single states to veto decisions made at the Federal level; ATM the moment it makes sense while the EU is this loose-but-communal collection of states pulling together - and certainly we've used that veto to our benefit in the past, so I'm not ignorant of that particular detail - but in my head a USE would defer more working power to the Brussels parliament & whatever further executive bodies formed as part of reducing the democratic deficit.
Clearly in any state, federalised or not, there's an upper limit to how much control or influence single counties, regions can dictate "national" policy; we don't let Kerry influence national policy (well, notwithstanding the power of independent TDs) and full federalisation would, in theory, reduce the ability for bad actors like Orbán from holding up a USE's national policy.
Hamstrung by nato and UK in the past. Brexit helped with that.
But its not just Macron now. Scholz and the Polish lad (not typing it) on the same hymn sheet now.
Hopefully, but Europe being Europe, it will take until 2026, 2 years into a potential Trump presidency before something gets some actual motion in place when they realise they actually have to, when it's too late.
MEP's in general seem to attract the fringe extremists from every country, the ones who won't win at home, but are a bit weird and mad enough to take the "we'll stick it to Europe on your behalf" vote, because in General people think of Europe as this potential overlord that they don't want.
This results in a non conducive situation the Taoiseach et al arguing one side, with our democratically elected MEP's who are meant to be our European voice, arguing the polar opposite. Multiply that by 30 odd states and you have a clusterfuck.
Germany and Poland are in the same article, supporting the French conclusion, the three countries named in other articles as the 'Weimar' group/triangle.
Logical conclusion really when you think about it. Why not have a fallback for if/when Trump has a random ego tantrum. Or the other fella forgets which planet hes on.
It would be a weird and unexpected piece of fallout from Trump's deranged geopolitics, if it fast-tracked the whole "EU Army" idea that had become distinctly shelved for the past few years. And with that, greater Federalisation. Plenty of European politicians spoke about how America was no longer a dependable ally during the first Trump presidency and that remains true to an extent; Trunp's lunatic comments must surely reignite that sense that Europe needs to coalesce for it to survive and prosper.
Europe needs extra 'life insurance' in addition to NATO - France
Europe needs another "life insurance" policy in addition to NATO, France's foreign minister has said, following comments by US presidential contender Donald Trump that have cast doubt on his commitment to the alliance.
Mr Séjourné insisted that it was necessary to build on the European element of NATO and build up its own defence industry and "buy European within the framework of our defence industries and prepare in the event of conflict".
When Ukraine was getting the upper hand on Russia over a year ago Putin mobilised a few hundred thousand civilians and within weeks sent them to plug the gaps.
If Russia is getting the upper hand what do Ukraine do? Maintain defence while hoping better weapon deliveries improve their chances? If western jets could prevent the FAB bomb drops that alone would help massively.
Military and cybersecurity experts from France have reportedly uncovered a network based in Moscow that is actively disseminating propaganda and disinformation across western Europe. The Viginum agency, established in 2021 to identify digital interference by foreign entities attempting to influence public opinion, claims that Russia is setting the stage for a fresh surge in online manipulation leading up to the European elections and other pivotal votes in the current year.
According to the agency, the online network, dubbed "Portal Kombat," comprises a minimum of 193 sites spreading pro-Russian propaganda supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine while criticizing the government in Kyiv. The majority of the disinformation is being channelled through social media platforms and messaging apps, with a particular focus on individuals promoting conspiracy theories.
Full details of the story are here https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/12/french-security-experts-identify-moscow-based-disinformation-network
Must have been on the Moscow version of RIP so, I missed it!!! 😂
Lots don't, the paper costs a good bit.
It was on rip.ie alright though.
The Americans, Canadians, and Ukrainians destroyed 22 Russians at the stronghold. 08/23/2023
Amazing HD footage
It was actually the other way round we freed 80% of our territory from the invader.
You don't need to make a hypothetical equivalence. There's a real one. We did give away a significant fraction of our territory to an invader.
I agree with the intelligence services of Norway that the threat from putin to Ukraine and the rest of Europe needs to be taken seriously. While the armed forces of Ukraine are doing a great job of eliminating elements of putin's military they should be getting more help and many sensible country's have committed to continue their support for them and increase the supply of military equipment to help. Just because putin's empire continues to produce weapons and pose a threat does not mean they wont be defeated at some stage and while my post you quote emphasised the destruction of putin's army I in no way wanted to make a claim the job was already done.
Russia
Most military experts agree that Russia has the initiative and as long the west, even if you ignore the US, is not pulling its weight and could provide far more and could have done it far earlier. One reason of the failure of the Ukrainian offensive was the military aid delivered too little too late.
Also EU NATO countries have bigger defense spending than Russia. Cowering behind the US is getting old.
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