I think the pile was stacked more so in the Argentinian dictator change from Videla and Viola doing that, rather than Thatcher looking for a war to divert to. The Argentinian's attacked the islands...for Thatcher to be looking for a war to divert to, she would have needed to collude with them.
Seriously when are we in Europe going to wake up and give Ukraine what it needs to finish off Putin once and for all.
I don't think he prefers Joe Biden at all. I think he's just saying that in the hope of damaging Biden in the elections, people will say "he prefers Biden because Biden is weak, therefore vote Trump" which is who Putin I think actually wants
If only, if only...
Stevie wonder can see what putin is doing there, everything Russia does is just trolling the west, the election, the UN, the embassy in Dublin, why anything that said out of that country is still in the news is beyond me. Why anybody discusses what the Russians say is beyond me., their should just be a total black out of discussing anything Russia says or in the media here and expel every sympathiser, and russian diplomat back there.
then the west needs to turn their attention to china, who are just contatantly taking the piss out of us. Use our democracy against us and reap the benefits of it all to our own detriment.
We will never get a TRUE answer. Another question could be ‘of those who voted how many of the total votes were spoiled’
It does not matter to Putin who wins the US election . What he will focus /has focused in on - in The US or elsewhere , in elections and other issues- is to cause as much confusion, conflict, misinformation as is possible with the objective of weakening their economies which would relatively make his stronger in comparison
It does not matter in Putins elections,,,,,any of them, because its who counts the votes who matter. There were vids of the election staff literally stuffing the ballot boxes with falsified votes. It was a complete sham from start to finish.
Because he wants to give himself the patina of democracy internationally, and at home in Russia, he can claim that he represents the majority, and in the sight of God and Man, he is the genuine leader (Tzar) of all the Russias.
And conversely just how badly are the ballots stuffed? Cos let's face it, there are bound to be genuine voters of Putin, maybe even a plurality - but an autocrat needs to create a facade of total adoration, of complete buy-in. Can't function as supreme ruler off of 51% of the vote.
I think there's a good reason he prefers Biden, Trump is fairly unhinged and is likely to do something stupid if his ego is tarnished by Putin. Biden is obviously more level headed and easier to control.
The wests reaction to what Putin has done has been weak as pi ss tbh. Europe in particular efforts are shameful. Drib drab of weapons and promises. Over two years into the war and if anything the urgency is dissipating.
Chat GPT creating accounts now?
I can absolutely guarantee you, if he wasn't such a coward, Putin would be over in the US stuffing the ballot boxes for Trump himself. The only reason he's saying he prefers Biden is the optics and to divert attention away from the fact that the Kremlin will be doing everything they can to interfere in the US presidential election in November.
You can be sure Orbans visit being timed with Trumps urgent need for a few hundred million dollars in legal penalties is no accident.
Putins literal only hope of a favorable outcome in this war is Trump in office. Trump has even said recently he'd not give a penny more to Ukraine. Thinking Putin prefers Biden is pure fantasy.
There is not any mental gymnastics or reality distortion you can perform to believe that Putin genuinely wants a Biden/ democratic administration in the White House in 2025. He said he preferred Biden for the sole purpose of giving his buddy Donald Trump a talking point on the campaign trail. You would need an IQ below about 80 not to see that very obvious move.
Correct it was misdirection from the Kremlin designed to embarrass Biden and give the false illusion that Putin doesn't support Trump.
Would not surprise me .. at all
Petr Pavel at it again. Apparently another 700k shells found for purchase.
It is noted that the Czech Republic has found an additional 700,000 ammunition that can be purchased to meet the needs of the Ukrainian military.
It just shows, there never really was a worldwide shell shortage, it was just the EU refusing to allow EU countries to purchase shells outside the block under the framework.
The money was there almost a year ago, these shells could have been purchased back then.
Blue check mark, definitely true.
You mean you don’t trust those Stalinesque voting numbers?
It could be that alright.
Another theory is that the countries that are supplying these shells are either supposedly friendly with Russia but would love the money for unused shells in their warehouses. (Philippines for example). Or are militarily neutral (but support Ukraine in principle) so cannot be seen to be sending shells to the Ukrainian warzone(South Korea). But they can be quietly negotiated with and in turn supply the Czechs. At which point Petr Pavel can do whatever the f*ck he likes with the shells.
I'd lean towards the latter anyway myself but I guess a pleb like me could never really know. So take all that with a grain of salt.
Approximately 50% stuffed apparently:
https://x.com/k_sonin/status/1769723043298136426?s=20
"Give them enough to stop them losing, don't give them enough to enable them to win" does, for whatever reasons, seem to be a very conscious policy for some time now which is why I expect everything will look very similar this time next year
I could be wrong but weren't France dragging their heels on allowing purchases outside the EU to protect it's own defense industry.
Event in central Moscow now to mark 10 years of Crimea and the presidential election. It is a pity that Ukraine or these supposed resistance fighters within Russia seem incapable of launching any kind of attack on the capital to force it to be called off, would send a huge signal, but seems the capabilities simply aren't there (the desire surely would be)
The fact the countries in question have not been named kinda works with your assumption. Maybe the fact Ukraine are suffering from lack of shells may have made those countries more open to the idea of supplying their stock.
Is bombing a load of civilians the way for Ukraine to win hearts and minds in Russia?
Get what you mean (in that countries incl. France and Greece opposed a plan where a large EU budget would be spent on getting shells from outside the bloc) but your phrasing is a bit off.
The EU cannot prevent the member states from purchasing shells for Ukraine from whoever they like, they do have their own money and their own militaries to go out and do it.
Seems the will/impetus wasn't strong enough for any of the members that wanted to go and arrange this themselves (outside the EU), unless EU contributor states were ponying up a big chunk of the cost.
I believe the Czech plan to purchase the shells is being part funded by Germany (and others) in any case, to tune of 100s of millions of Eur.
There are a few reasons why it did not happen earlier I can think of.
One of these is that it is a massive financial "bung" (money for old shells rotting away in storage) to countries that may not exactly be friends of the EU or member states, or even potential future aggressors with territorial designs (e.g. Turkey, if that is one of the sources).
Another is situation was not as urgent. There was a Republican/Trump cloud appearing over future USA aid for Ukraine at that point [spring last year if I am remembering?], but Biden admin. (and pro Ukraine people on right in US politics) were still promising it was all minor and would be just fine in the end, and support would not be interrupted. Well that hasn't panned out, as we know now (to Ukraine's cost).
I also wonder if there were over-optimistic projections given by weapons makers around Europe about manufacturing increases they could achieve if given the funds (and then they failed to deliver these on time)?
Most probably not, but after two years of having Russia indiscriminately slaughter Ukrainian civilians, I can't exactly blame Ukraine if they get a bit of ordinance to Russian population centres. Again, none of this would need to occur if Russia had not made the unnecessary decision to move forces into Ukraine in February 2022.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
