Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Have you the faintest idea how many US bases there are in Europe? No one asked the US for them, they were built mostly during the cold war when the US very much wanted them as they amplified and extended their force projection to counter the Orcs.

These are just 2 of the US airbases in the UK - look at those antennae. They operate such facilities world wide, not because The UK has a hobby of collecting antenna but because the US needs them to make their global intelligence and comms apparatus work. The Globalhawks, MQ170 and MQ180 drones stay aloft for days and do surveillance almost anywhere - probably delete the 'almost' in the case of those last two. They are completely reliant on satellite communications and those satellites need secure ground stations in friendly, politically stable countries. A lot of US expenditure has basically been to buy the stability they need.

No one asked the US to be 'leader of the free world' they appointed themselves to the role and made sure they kept it for decades by being top dog in military spending and alliances. They made damn sure to fight tooth and nail to prevent nuclear proliferation, with we-got-your-back you don't need it arguments based on their unassailable military strength.

Your re-playing of Krasnov's mournful tune is completely ignoring history and the reality of things. Sure, in more recent years the US has had a growing deficit problem, largely because they keep electing stupid Republican presidents who run up massive debts, and they have started a bit of a whinge about European spending, but in no way have they any right to play the poor injured victim card. That belongs to all those the US keeps asking favours of and betraying, like the Kurds, Afghans, Palestinians and Ukrainians.

The US are backstabbing sh​its and hearing their pathetic little bleats about how much they spend screwing others over in their various schemes - remember WMD's? and the big oil grab? - hurts my ears.

I am all in favour of countries upping their defence spending it's in and of itself a very good idea and will better allow countries to say no to the US in the future and tell them to go do rude things, but not because those US arseholes are crying poor-mouth.

NASDAQ is continuing its downtrend today. Here's the last 5 days -

The not yet 51st state getting it in the n*ts again from there neighbours downstairs. As one Canadian politician ( I think ) said .. Living in Canada at the mo is like living upstairs over a meth lab

It's interesting to note that French president Macron suggested in Washington today that a Ukraine truce could be just weeks away - Like him or loath him but thanks to Trump, Europe are for the first time talking about peace talks / cessation of hostilities in Ukraine. If Biden was still in power the words peace, truce etc would not be mentioned or considered - just more and more billions of Us $ being pumped into a pointless war that is just a stalemate with thousands of young men on all sides being sent to an early grave. (Ditto Gaza)

But it goes without saying that Ukraine will pay a high price for peace as they are currently paying for war, as the US is no longer supporting them militarily or otherwise they are in a no win situation. Their country may end up 20% smaller in size, their hope of becoming a full member of NATO is dashed. Trump is after their natural riches in oil, gas and especially their rare but precious minerals …………an he's not alone there. It could be argued that the world's super powers are dividing up the spoils of war between them - this may not end well as the Ukrainians are a proud and fearless people so a long drawn out gorilla war along the new drawn eastern border may be on the cards even if a UN peace keeping force is on the ground there.

Zelenskyy is, for the first time since the invasion, on a sticky wicket. If he agrees and signs unfavorable peace terms as dictated by Trump & co. he'll be a dead man walking politically speaking. On the other hand if he refuses to make peace and commits his people to years and years of an unwinnable war ………… his future looks bleak indeed.

As an aside but related to above Professor Jeffrey Sachs addressed the European Parliament just last week, I'm unable to provide a link here but it's available on you tube. His perspective on the Ukrainian war, on NATO's expansionism in eastern Eurpoe etc. is to say the least very interesting indeed and worth listening to.

A pointless war for survival for Ukraine. Usual Russian garbage. 3 years later and still this trash gets parroted

there are plenty taking daily pot shots - be it in schools, shopping malls, on the street or wherever. Such actions are mainly due to disgruntled aAMERICANS who were slighted at some stage during their lives. Nobody is exempt from being ‘potshotted at’. There are LOaDS of precidences. So, at least some members of the current admin - from the top down need to be VERY CAREFUL as a lot of toes are being walked on at the moment

Down-

It was also unacceptable that Finland and Sweden join NATO . So what - what did Putin do about it , NOTHING only moved soldiers away from the Finnish border down to the front

It’s reminiscent of what the two evils did when they decided to slice Poland between them. Not quite the same but you get the jist.

I'm making plans, I genuinely don't see it surviving past the coming months tbh. I could see Canada interceding to assist Northern states, if called upon.

By one interpretation of the second amendment to their constitution, US Citizens are actually obliged to take a shot at Trump at this stage. Particularly members of the armed forces who've sworn to defend the country against it's enemies "foreign and domestic". It must be a very confusing time to be a member of the Secret Service!

Or the entire US/Israel narrative is entirely bluster. Did Mexico build that wall for Trump? He hasn't mentioned in the second term his absolute failure to fulfil his biggest promise of his first term.

Depending which Israeli outlet you believe the IDF lost so much hardware in Gaza that it will take them nine years to reequip back to where they were before the recent campaign.

The stark reality is the US has only delivered a tenth of the supplies it promised Ukraine yet Ukraine's self arming capabilities are growing everyday. Russian gains are happening at an unsustainable attrition rate for Russian troops.

It is said that every army is perfectly prepared for the last war, and Russia is fighting with meat waves like it's WWII. Whereas Ukraine have integrated drones as a front line infantry weapon, a long way from the drones that the US used in Afghanistan that were piloted from a warehouse outside Las Vegas that were reliant on imperfect information relayed by unreliable actors in a theatre of war that was essentially a man hunt for a Saudi with little regard to Afghanistan.

WW2?

More like WW1 now by using donkeys and horses

At the moment the worst I could see happening is a bunch of MAGA loons loading up their flatbeds with weapons and heading for the Canadian border after an inspiring Trump diatribe, but it would peter out quickly with a Canadian border refusal.

It's just the unsavory atmosphere my relations talks about that's actually splitting families, neighbours and friends against eachother.

Original support was bipartisan, e.g. in May '22 the vote was around 90% of the senate and a little less in the house.

The situation has indeed changed, but the principle of it hasn't. These are the GOP, they don't have principles. So one by one that has dwindled right down. I wouldn't trust them for anything now, apart from a few "hold-outs", they are pretty much captured by MAGA.