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brickstser69
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mulbot
……… At least some are calling out Trump
Double downing on Zelensky
I'm not sure why but it's alarming how much this notion of "Russia will try to take over all of Europe" is out there and it doesn't stand up to any reason. Russia invaded Ukraine because Ukraine elected a leader which aligned it with Western powers and threatened their security since they share a vast border which would be impossible to defend if it became littered with American military bases.
In reality the Russian capture of Ukraine failed miserably and 3 years later after enormous resources invested, international reputation in the gutter and sanctions endured they'll have to settle for just 20% of the territory (which was mostly already heavily aligned to them) and try to spin it as a win.
The Baltic states have been in NATO for over 20 years and there was never an "advance" on them from Russia. There's no reason for that position to change.
It's a stroke of sheer luck that the US election went has it did for Russia to have the opportunity to claim this as a very meagre victory. They're not going to try something like this again in a hurry.
My prediction is Ukraine will retain 80% of its territory, agree not to join NATO and Putin will be satisfied and spin it to the Russian public as a victory and display of Russian might.
Mad ain't it.
A president of the US using the kremlin tactics of weeding out self thinking journalists from the press briefings by ensuring he has only slave reporters present by the Gulf of America trick. In that any slave that doesn't refer to the body of water as the Gulf of America in writing is not allowed near any briefings. Everytime they refer to it as the Gulf of America they know themselves it is stupid. But they now tell themselves they have to do stupid things and behave stupidly to be near the president. So they lower themselves and become subservient.
Then have your own representatives refer to you in press briefings and interviews as the greatest president the country has ever seen. Make yourself a cult icon. Tell people you are an icon.
Then use your position to cowtow to Putin completely and appear cowardly but tell everyone you are the greatest to confuse people. There must be some philosophers and shrinks from the Kremlin working overtime on this project.
Americans will be more stupid and subservient than the russians when this is all brought to fruition.
True. North Korean soldiers were operating in European soil and nothing was done
Possibly since most of their effort was around the Kursk area, but still, very embarrassing for Europe.
Channels were kept open.
As predicted Putin played along, whilst never declaring one ceasefire or making a single overture - it was all an act.
South Korea are another country showing up to be spineless.
Ukraine had to fight off and push back North Korean soldiers all on its own.
did you get paid to write that?
Mod Edit: Warned for uncivil posting
Watching Trump's speech from Miami live and he is repeating his Truth Social post word for word, including calling Zelensky a 'dictator'.
A drunken Churchill and Stalin carved up Eastern Europe towards the end of WW2. 'Spheres of influence'.
Move on 80 years and Orange Balls and Putin are starting to carve up.
Ukraine doesn't have any allies though. Plenty of people willing to sell them weapons, or exploit them but what country is going to war for them?
At the end of the day, the whole linkage of support for Ukraine to economic benefits to the backers is morally dubious, and actually works against Ukraine. Whatever resources Ukraine can offer, Russia can offer more so if backers are motivated by economic gain they're going to make deals with Russia, not Ukraine.
Which is pretty much what the US is doing now.
It's really gutter stuff from a position once described as 'the leader of the western world'.
It's twitter or X level discourse. Molotov and Hitler had a far less insulting, cheap discourse in 1941 prior to Barbarossa.
On 22nd Jan, I see a story in the KI whereby Zelensky was dangling Ukraine's supposed mineral wealth* as a means of trying to influence Trump to support him.
https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-highlights-ukraines-investment-potential-seeks-global-investors-at-davos-forum/
Zelensky also gave a speech to the Ukrainian parliament on 16th Oct 2024 where he talked up Ukraine's mineral resources and said they either enrich Russia or enrich the west. Trump wasn't elected then, but Zelensky was already trying to link the minerals to support for the war. Of course, to be fair, he could have been influenced by the Sen Lindsey Graham who gave a morally bankrupt interview claiming the war was about money, and the Ukrainians were fighting and dying so the US could get the economic benefits of the minerals. There is a couple of pro-war think tanks who also made similar arguments around the same time frame. I think where Trump innovated was he linked the offer as a repayment of past US support, whereas Zelensky & Co hoped it would secure future US support.
Possibly, for all the (weirdly) public advice Zelensky was getting to trick or influence Trump by bribery, he never really had a chance with Trump. The whole impeachment of Trump was based on a call that Trump made to Zelensky back in 2019. Trump may have never forgiven Zelensky for his role in that.
*Re the mineral wealth - as I understand it, there isn't much Ukraine can offer. Much of the known reserves are held by the Russians already, and those that remain and are economically viable already have private owners. I don't think Trump or the US ever really put much value on them - Vance bringing paperwork to a meeting to ask Zelensky to sign there and then is non-serious. It had to be a deliberate attempt to humiliate Zelensky.
I'd like to talk to you about buying your house if you think there was a negotiation going on. You'd have to be pretty gullible to believe any good from come of what's happened and that the EU and Ireland will be better off as a result.
Agree. Baltic States, Poland must be very nervous.
When push comes to shove, Europe will step up. We won't have a choice. The US have always been insulated from their meddling regardless of the outcome. We don't have that luxury.
''A loser and sucker. Getting himself tortured and killed for what….a crowd of lazy wastrels, women, the poor, and other nobodies. Healing the sick….for nothing. Loaves, fishes and wine…for nothing. Imagine the money he could have got out of those rubes: miraculous wine-ten denarii a bottle. He could have been rich. Lived in a big house. Rode around in a gold chariot. Got hot chicks.''
what about the acorn and that big oak tree !!!!!!! . The more Trump ‘goes on’ / signs more EOs’ the more toes he will be walking on and they will not be ALL democratic toes. And one never knows what might happen if he walks on Toooooooo many toes!
It does damage people's health. A lot are kept alive with medication but are diabetic etc.
Some people like your dad and uncle get away with it. Overall though, look at obesity and diabetes rates in the First World. A lot of unhealthy people living longer.
It doesn't matter what Zelensky says and had he said anything differently, the outcome would be identical; Trump is saying what Putin wants said. It's all scripted; Trump asks for the Moon, Zelensky says he doesn't have it and can't provide it, as it's rather large and difficult to get out of orbit, and then Trumps says 'see I was being reasonable, he's a very bad man, which is why I'm cutting funding - I tried to be nice, gave him lots of chances.'
Ukraine is an immensely valuable country. If Ukraine was not a valuable country it would have zero allies. Ukraine was the most valuable part of the old Soviet Union. It’s got millions of acres of black earth soil where you merely have to scatter the seed and forget about it and it will grow. Billions worth of minerals and resources. It will pay back every penny. And the EU should make sure it’s at the top of the queue.
I am glad that preliminary moves to discuss a peace settlement are underway. Personally, and unlike the vast majority of posters on this site, I always believed that the EU and Britain should have engaged in less of the Russophobia and kept some channels of communication open. I believed that Ursula von der Leyen and Josef Borrell failed to give the requisite leadership and consequently we are left with the present 'unholy mess', where the entire agenda is set by Trump and is imo a recipe for a complete disaster for Europe, including Ireland. Quite simply that is my minority but independent view.
would the Americans stay there if body bags were being returned to the US as a result of a ‘ Ukerinian underground group ‘ acting under cover.?
No they havent. Atm it's more that Vatnik Russia is trying everything it can to claw itself out of the hole it dug itself into but Trump isn't so much going to save Russia but rather going to weaken America rather since he's too corrupt and stupid to realise the meaning of the rule of law. If anything what could happen is the power that America has amassed for the best part of a century will bleed away to some degree to China but more likely as Trump fúcks things up even more in the US that that influence and power begins draining away to the EU. After all investors value stability and if the US is run by a pathetic orange manchild and his south african snowflake friend then that's going to cause those who value stability to seek refuge elsewhere in the likes of the EU where the rule of law exists.
Also considering Vatnik Russia's precarious situation if Ukriane puts the boot in in the right places like Russias petro industry with repeated strikes of the dildo of consequences then Russia is likely to reach a tipping point and collapse under the weight of it's own corruption at some point in the near future.
Russia literally showed naked pictures of Trumps wife on national tv last year and yet here is Trump bending over for Putin.
Russia has had this planned for decades. Today they have won the Cold War.
USA first, Europe next.
It could be that simply the US can no longer afford its current global footprint. 170 bases around the world.
At least not everyone is going along with Trump's deranged, dementia driven bile - some headlines from the Sydney Morning Herald:
Trump has heaped more lies on Ukraine – it’s not helping anyoneTrump’s bizarre accord with Putin is downright dangerousWhy Trump’s bullying is going to backfire on him
Trump has heaped more lies on Ukraine – it’s not helping anyone
Trump’s bizarre accord with Putin is downright dangerous
Why Trump’s bullying is going to backfire on him
His former vice President, Pence, called out Trump and said that Russia invaded Ukraine who were in no way to blame.
John Bolton said: "Trump's characterisations of Zelensky and Ukraine are some of the most shameful remarks ever made by a US president.
I think it's quite clear at this stage. He's a Russian asset. Crash the US economy, gut the government, bring Russia back into the world fold, withdraw from NATO and weaken the US military. Trump only cares that he's taken care off.
Glass half full take!
Far from his adminstration worst idea.
There is speculation that he wants Russia and China to also cut their military budgets. Russia will do that anyway once the war is over. China has it's own financial issues so it might play ball, at least openly.
Once the US has even fabs then he will sell Taiwan out like he did Ukraine.
