Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Nope. Why don't you repeat the rest of what they said… that Russia weren't abiding by the deal, and had no intention of doing so. The EU didn't set that up.

Merkel actually said, to give context: "Putin could have wrought gigantic damage in Ukraine."

You left that part out.

Here's the full debunking of the piece of Russian propaganda you are spreading.

Ukraine implemented as much of the Minsk agreements as can reasonably be done while not having control over the territory and addressed every point… The Russian side and its proxies failed to implement a ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, implement all-for-all political prisoner exchange, or ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism. On the contrary, Russia strengthening the illegal armed formations in eastern Ukraine.

https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/merkel-admitted-that-the-minsk-agreements-were-a-ruse-to-rearm-ukrainian-armed-forces/

The US stock market is in absolute rout (and crypto) with all the volatility Trump has created

I don’t think it has yet sunk in that

• Trump has destroyed us defence industry
• Inflation is coming back and hence instead or rate drops it’s gonna be increases as fed pivots
• Tarrifs are going to screw everyone, Warren Buffet called tarrifs a declaration of war
• Retaliatory tarrifs are being announced by hour

was listening to a Bloomberg podcast where they are openly talking about the US defaulting on its bonds and selectively not paying bonds to certain countries (this happened to Japan in 30s)

I’m going to be spending whole morning trying to think of second order implications as pension/investment pots are at severe risk now

All the unfairly threadbanned were pardoned a few months ago and Boards now encourages freer speech for all with less regulation. 1 month later the US followed the same path.

As Anthony Scaramucci said, people like Trump don't just die.

He's gone full Liz Truss. But unlike Liz they can't get rid of him for another 4 years, should they even want to.

I agree with a previous poster that Putin would have preferred a more subtle, gradual shift of US policy by his stooge in Washington. Doing it too quickly has finally awakened Europe, and although it will take Europe a few years to ramp up production lines, Russia is in no position to take advantage in the interim.

Something (800bn euro) is brewing all right

jeez…not only is all that a kick in the nuts for Zelensky and Ukraine,it seems like a right rap in the plums for nearly the rest of the world…except putin and russia…for most of my life(im 65) all ive heard from america is "ussr/russia and china bad,usa are the good guys" but since donnie got the top job bought for him every thing is back to front and upside down and inside out…like WTF?

Much better to invest/buy from their own arms companies. No point in buying equipment from the US while Trump/MAGA remains in power, if at all.

Except few critical areas I doubt there be much purchases of US equipment, Trump has completely pulled the rug under the US defence industry, it just hasn’t sunk in yet to many, meanwhile European defence stocks gone vertical

that fancy F35 can endup being an expensive lump of metal from lack of updates and missiles

Or that order your country placed might not arrive at all because Trump taken a dislike to your country on the loo that morning, if it happened to Ukraine it can happen to Poland etc

An interesting bit of context to the broader news this morning…

From PBS news

Directly contradicting the OSG.

It may have been said here before but wouldn't it have been better to have had the European summit first and then Zelensky go to Washington. I don't get this mineral deal, Trump wants 500 billion (even though their aid to Ukraine was a fraction of that), Zelensky maybe negotiates a lower figure and then what?, US aid restarts?, security guarantees against future Russian attacks?. What concessions has Trump asked of Russia? #sarcasm. When could they even have started mining?. Vance comes to Europe saying we don't have free speech while reputable news agencies like AP are banned from the White House while crazy right wing broadcasters are given access along with TASS.

And I am older than youand I've never seen anything comparable to Trump. Not a huge surprise to anyone who has been following events over the last few years. Unfortunately, most posters here don't appear to read much history. Rather they deal in soundbites, the response to any alternative view is references to Putin Bot, Orwell Road, without any substance. Europe welcomed Zelensky back from the debacle in the White House like a hero, hugging and cuddling him, giving him the ultimate reward of a visit to meet Prince Charles. Promised Zelensky unlimited military and economic support until Russia was defeated. Keir Starmer and the British establishment fairly lapped up the praise yesterday. Some reality check this morning.

Adopting an 'alternative' viewpoint to the NATO / western one suggests accepting that Putin is a regular statesman simply seeking peace and an end to the war. Most of his near neighbours in the region regard him as a psychopath for whom human life is meaningless (witness how he kills his political opponents)…..this is not a guy who you can do a normal deal with and expect him to keep his word.

So what’s the outlook for Ukraine militarily now?

Is it game over?

It is a question of how quickly they can ramp up production. I think the money will be found and I hope they find a way to use the frozen Russian assets for some of this. Can Ukraine hang on though…