Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Might not seem palatable but China may be a far more reliable partner, with the rare Earth minerals, than America

You are missing the bit where this is a war and there is damage being inflicted on both sides. Orc intentions and Putrid's wants are dependent on factors that are degrading rapidly, like their income - they have had to stop exporting refined petroleum products due to so many refineries being damaged - then there is their war economy, with a severe labour shortage and a critical lack of investment needed to boost production. Can you imagine the fun they are having wth the Korean workers they are using given the communication problems?

They are spending like there is no tomorrow in human lives and worthless roubles for tiny amounts of land that generates no income and wont for the years it would take to de-mine - after an end to all hostilities.

This grinding down is not one sided. The EU has more money to keep Ukraine going than Russia has. A couple days ago Von Der Layen piped up and said there was the €408 B unspent Covid fund they could repurpose. Total US contributions to Ukraine are around €100 B and Ursula just pulls four times that from under her pillow?

How long can the Orc economy last with 25% mortgage rates? That one might be irrelevant because is there anyone left in the construction sector to build things?

https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/russia-seeks-zimbabwean-construction-workers-as-labour-shortage-bites/

In fairness to the Brits, Starmer and Johnson before, they have been staunch supporters of Ukraine.

And fair play for Starmer to step up and fill the void at a critical juncture, with some tangible support $3bn, together with some very contrasting fireside diplomacy, (Downing Street v Oval office).

Supposedly the geopolitical angel by US is that it's China they are worried about, and want to cosy up to Putin to keep him from an alliance with the Chinese.

But if they don't stand for freedom, democracy and Ukraine then they stand for nothing.

I do not trust the Chinese one bit, but Europe should threaten to pivot towards China in some ways to the detriment of the US, and maybe EU and the non US west should gang up on the minor Bully (US) and put some manners on them now, a few slaps, though not forgetting the real villain Putin, who needs a thorough kicking, and kicked back home.

I find all this rare-earths talk somewhat amusing. I used to live 2 doors away from the managing director of a mineral sands - rare earths - mining company in WA. They had vast deposits of super easy to mine sand at Capel. His company also processes the suff into zircon and synthetic rutile. I have chatted with him briefly and have seen a jar full of the garnet sand which I think is just a value adding by-product used in sand blasting.

Australia has Uranium deposits - be a great place for Ukraine to set up centrifuges out of reach of the US and Orcs.

Supposedly the geopolitical angle by US is that it's China they are worried about, and want to cosy up to Putin to keep him from an alliance with the Chinese. But if they don't stand for freedom, democracy and Ukraine then they stand for nothing.

@gk5000

True. I also can't see how it helps them in Asia anyway. They will need allies to help with threat of China (in addition to Putin's Russia!). I think it is a pipe dream that splendidly-isolated autocratic/Trumpist USA can tackle China in Asia mostly on its own, with few or no allies. It doesn't make sense.

Much more likely in a future crisis there, so long as China doesn't attack US forces directly, they'll be let do what they like and the US won't interfere.

They may be saying little (doesn't have much to do with them directly) but am sure their Asian allies must be watching + taking notes as they knife their oldest group of allies in the back at a critical moment.

It's getting to be a consistent pattern in US diplomacy and foreign affairs under Republican presidents (Trump so far, but no reason it will end when he is gone, with people like Vance who are worse coming behind). See the Kurds and Afghan govt. as prior victims.

Noone will trust a liar and a backstabber as far as they can throw them, certainly not with increasing dependency by alliances, where they put security of their country deeper into US hands. The US is highly flaky now.

Just seen this on BBC website, from Lavrov.

🙄

You know what Australia gets from seawater? Fresh water and brine. There is a lot of desalination going on in Oz and it's ever growing. If it were practical to get Uranium from the brine they could do that, but they don't, nor do they get gold from it, which tells you that despite the claims of practicality, it actually isn't.

This is a strange one. He is saying this while his boss is negotiating an altogether different piece plan at the summit in UK today

"The British Ambassador to the U.S. just went on ABC and called on Zelensky to give his “unequivocal backing” to Trump’s initiative for peace in Ukraine."

This explains everything does it not?

"Russian state TV on the new world order: "Now everything is being decided inside a big triangle: Russia, China & the US. Within this, the new construction of the world will come to fruition. The EU as a united political force no longer exists..." ['News of the Week', Russia-1]"

It's difficult to keep on side with a country who is turning around and calling Zelensky a dictator and that Ukraine started the war and then ganging up on Zelensky, publically, when he came to the Oval Office. America under Trump doesn't appear to be a reasonable, trustworthy actor. NATO partners could undertake to contribute 5 percent of GDP to military spending, per Trump's previous demand and Trump would come out the next day and say that it must now be 8.

The reason why US conservatives are skeptical about NATO is because they no longer view Russia as an enemy and they are not really interested in the kind of foreign adventures they had previously undertaken, so what use is NATO to them? They don't really care what happens to Europe vis a vis Russian encroachment, but we in Europe still have it as a major concern.

I agree with Michael Clarke's view that Trump sees the US, Russia and China as the three sovereign powers of the world and will eventually hold a summit with them to formalise the new geopolitical order. American membership of NATO is already at an end in the practical sense as I don't think there are any amount of concessions to Trump on defence spending which would have his forces coming to the aid of its NATO partners in their hour of need. He'd probably do what he's done with Ukraine - say they started it.

Well, yeah. This has always been the direction of travel since Trump got back in. Interesting times ahead…

Russian and Chinese courses are free on Duolingo, btw, just in case anyone feels the need to learn a few words of it, just in case. 'Spare the little ones' might be good phrase to try to get under your belts.

US Reapers say hi, hold my beer.

Trumps peace plan ''

He then goes on to describe everything but Trumps peace plan, as none of what he mentioned is anything the US is willing to do.

Crazy that EU doesn't call Trump out on his so called 350 billion claim. He should be asked to put it in writing. It's all fiction, they gave way less that Europe, and what they did give was old equipment they priced at new prices .

I'm not getting 5 k for a 100k car I bought 14 years ago .

Compulsive liar, clearly mentally compromised and nearly 80 years old.

Unfortunately he's always the loudest person in the room so gets away with spouting complete BS.