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brickstser69
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mulbot
The whole minerals thing is interesting as it does the exact opposite of what MAGA wants, it ties US to foreign obligations which in this case is US security guarantees, that the minerals are mostly in occupied areas is extra interesting
Notice how Trump said US wouldn’t send troops “on the ground” which is not what the Ukrainians want (they have plenty of men on ground) what they want are air and sea defences which US can provide without putting anyone “on the ground” and continued supplies of ammo and tech
Which all goes back to tying Trumps hands, he ain’t the brightest spark to begin with
I'm of a similar mindset. Much like his talks with Kim Jong Un, I suspect Donnie's main focus on peace talks with Russia are the optics and possible kudos he can glean from signing some kind of peace treaty. Problem of course is that Donnie doesn't really care about the "hows" or "whys" of any agreement, and since there's no real strategy beyond making Donnie look good, there's likely little in the way of a plan or any real bargening position. I think that's why Russia gave the appearance of stearing the narritive with the Riyad talks. The Russians actually have objectives, where as Donnie's people were likely just told to "get a Deal done".
Thankfully, the pool of available adults (and by that I mean the bulk of democratic nations in the Europe and the world at large) know how to distract Donnie and keep him focused on the shiny tinfoil of mineral agreements and the like.
What I am hoping for, and what my guess is Europe's strategy in this, is for all of this to be drawn out far beyond what the Russians counted on. The Kremlin likely hoped that Donnie winning in 2024 would bring a swift end to the Ukrainian effort and award them with a win. But that hasn't happened yet, and way the things are going Ukraine might be well up for continuing the fighting for a long while yet.
As I've said before, and will say again now, victory in this war is about outlasting the Russian war effort. They are maintaining one over-extended frontline with an increasingly wasteful use of meatwave attacks and the sacrifice of nearly all of their useful armor. If the AFU can keep it up (possibly even with rear gaurd support from European partners in Western Ukraine) there will be a moment some point in the future (in a timeframe which is hard to predict) where the Russian frontline cannot be maintained, and will collapse. Thereafter they face possible rout all the way out of Ukrainian territory with the AFU's well equipped Armored Divisions and Airforce potentially pressing that advantage.
The key is to keep Ukraine in the fight long enough for Russia to lose their ability to. Despite their population, there is only so much the Russian Federation can do when their very means of warfare crumbles beneath them. A guy in a field is just a guy in a field if you can't hand him a rifle and a helmet, or even get him over to where the fight it.
this whole ‘rear earths’ thing could be a real game changer for the UKr if it suits it to prolong the war. Why, Because the extraction will take years from the planning , agreement of same, tendering, development of infrastructure, shipping in of mining equipment and erecting of same , commissioning and , say , extraction going on for 10 to 30/years. so , who is the ‘ legitimate government ‘during all of this time especially if the mining is spread over the 4 4 Oblasts + Crimea. I wonder if this ‘Rear Earth ‘ thing a kind of a Trojan Horse equivalent? I find it mesmerising that in all the talk about ceasefires, proposals stopping the war, this rear earth agreement and suchlike there is no mention of where the border is to be in each case. For example, Ru wants it to be such that the 4 oblasts + Crimea is now Ru territory. Ukr /EU wants the border to be the pre 2014 one . Trump wants it to be the one that will extract the most money for him/us and this may change over time - depending on how the extraction is going!!
Earlier people were worried that western companies will come running back to Russia
Let this article dissuade you of any notions
even their “allies” in China who famously invest in every risky and questionable venture been staying out for most part
Maybe use 3 or 4 billion of the apple money as a once off additional spend on the military with the additional money we spend per year on the military as well. Technically government could say this is a once off spend and doesn't effect taxpayers as it was money awarded to Ireland in a legal case. So taxes won't rise etc. to cover it.
Only to give the Russians easy targets
Irish Far Lefties would say - “But think of all the hospitals we could have built since”
Everyone else 🙄
Until I see they fully go for it, I won’t hold my breath.
It’s about damn time we took this seriously and ramp up as quick as possible.
We dropped the ball on this and subsequently we are at the bottom of the list when it comes to procurement.
We should have started this the moment Russia invaded 10 years ago and not now when the US has told Europe to **** off
Irish government finally seeing the writing on the wall and looking to invest in defense. It's about half the investment though.
Hopefully they have enough sense to invest in an airframe like the Grippen which keeps money in Europe and suits our requirements of durability and low running costs.
Unfortunately, my Alaska trip got cancelled the day before I went there courtesy of a DoD freeze on media activities. I crawled over M10 prototype (not a tank!) a couple years ago, should be crawling over the production variant this summer. Which reminds me, I've an email to send…
Whatever else about FF, I have lot of respect for Martin.
I don't see no peace deal, Russia will agree to nothing .
Trump is already hinting at it '' will happen fast, or not at all ''
Europe has provided The Ukraine with no longer range weapons, they have a **** load and Russia is scrapping the barrel
I'd be surprised if Europe was in a position to provide a rock solid security guarantee for Ukraine without American support before Trump's time is up…
Could Zelensky sign a deal to buy time and some form of American security and then if and when Europe gets its act together to fully support Ukraine turn around and stiff Trump. Just in time for the mid term US elections so that the Republicans get wiped out.
The buck stops with Trump. He's been picking his staff, carefully surrounding himself with morons and incompetents.
To be fair it's not Trump writing that. Staffers should know better.
You didn't think Trump would forget to do to Ireland what he plans to do to Ukraine, did you?
I wonder what it would be like to have a job like that - he knows everything he says is a lie, but he still does it.
Yuri Filatov looking for attention - remember him? - disapproves of how the taoiseach uses his time.
https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2025/0227/1499360-ukraine-meeting-sacrificed-irish-interests-russian-ambassador/
So. This would certainly be an interesting deployment for our lads
Yeah....da fcuk...
Would be great if some polonium-210 got into Trump and Putin
A slightly different take:
Asked if he trusts Putin, Trump said he was guided by the "trust but verify" principle, but said he was confident that the deal, whatever it might be, would hold. He emphasized that he also has great relations with Volodymyr Zelensky.Asked if he still considers the Ukrainian president to be a dictator, which he has said several times in recent days, Trump feigned surprise and replied: "Did I really say that?
Asked if he trusts Putin, Trump said he was guided by the "trust but verify" principle, but said he was confident that the deal, whatever it might be, would hold. He emphasized that he also has great relations with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Asked if he still considers the Ukrainian president to be a dictator, which he has said several times in recent days, Trump feigned surprise and replied: "Did I really say that?
Possibly just being his usual dregs of humanity self.
He just said he has a lot of respect for Zelensky and Ukraine have fought really bravely.
https://bsky.app/profile/wartranslated.bsky.social/post/3lj6lhbvr7k2x
Trump "can't believe" he called Zelensky a "dictator".It was only a week ago.
Drumpf can't remember calling Zelensky a dictator!🙄
(Posted this in the trump thread by accident)
Realpolitik:
South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), says North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to help Russia's war in Ukraine.In a brief statement, the agency was trying to determine exactly how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.
South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), says North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to help Russia's war in Ukraine.
In a brief statement, the agency was trying to determine exactly how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.
Come on South Korea, you know you want to.
….
Can we ship him off somewhere
I think you're consuming too much US centric news and not seeing events in a global context.
Trump with his tariffs is essentially the USA repeatedly punching itself in the balls while the rest of the world continues on.
