Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

I think Trump simplistic view was:

• Grow US military business by asking EU countries to up their defence spending
• Get cheap minerals for US companies with this Ukraine deal
• Bring back companies to US by implementing tariffs

However, he doesn’t seem to make the link that doing 2. could impact 1. and also anger his people which are also impacted by 3.

Because you view both of them as short actions. Change your view to a longer term view and you will understand

When are people going to get it?

Phrase that question as if you are putting it to Putrid himself - do X or the US defence industry suffers. Your answer would just be a sly smile. Putrid owns the Whitehouse, Krasnov is his puppet.

Does the EU represent the whole of Europe?

Does its inability to decide anything without years of discussions and caveats make it exactly what is NOT needed as the US and Russia now work together on the ruination of Ukraine ?

NATO was outside the EU. Mustn’t any military entity that replaces NATO be similarly outside the talking shop?

I won't be surprised if eventually there's a tap on the shoulder and people who he simply cannot ignore will explain why he needs to spend more time on the golf course and less in the Oval Office.

There has to be some economic pain for his voters first though.

Just to expand on cnocbui's reply to this post, the bulk of both France's and the UK's nuclear deterrent is embarked on their ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). Both countries have four of these boats, the Vanguard class with the Royal Navy and the Triomphant class of the Marine Nationale. Both submarines have launch tubes for 16 submarine launched ballistic missiles, each equipped with several MIRVs, Multiple Independently targetable Re-Entry Vehicles. Both nations have at least one SSBN on patrol somewhere around the world at any one time, although I remember reading that, at the beginning of the war in 2022, France put their SSBN force on a war footing and has made sure to have two of their boats out and on patrol at all times. Not sure if that's changed recently.

However, there are some significant differences in the nuclear posture between both countries. For lack of a better phrase, France's posture is much more aggressive. In addition to its SSBN fleet, France's "Force de dissuasion" also contains an air-launched element. This comes in the shape of two squadron of Rafale fighter aircraft armed with nuclear-tipped ASMP-A cruise missiles. As they're equipped with Rafale, these squadrons can, if need be, embarked on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. These squadrons have their own dedicated airborne tanker support. These squadrons are not so much a second-strike force, as the SSBNs are, but are part of France's "Nuclear Warning Shot" policy. This states that, should nuclear war seem imminent, France would use these forces to deliver a precise but limited nuclear strike as a final warning before unleashing its full ballistic missile arsenal.

It's also worth pointing out that, in recent weeks, an idea has been floated by France to share its nuclear assets with Europe. This would, in all likelihood, mean basing one of France's two nuclear-capable squadrons in forward positions, likely in Germany or western Poland.

Meanwhile, the UK's nuclear posture is far more defensive. It relies solely on its survivable second strike capability in the shape of its SSBNs, having never modernised their nuclear bomber force after the 1960s and disbanding the last Vulcan bomber squadrons after the Falklands war. In the present day, I'm not aware that either the RAF's Typhoons, nor the F-35Bs are capable of delivering nuclear weapons. What's more, I remember reading articles during the opening months of the 2022 war, that stated that the Vanguard-class boats were deploying with only half of their launch tubes actually full. Once again, I'm not sure if this has changed in the meantime.

The one big question that I have is what's going to happen to the US B61-12 nuclear weapons in storage at Büchel Air Base in Germany. Well, technically, they're currently stored at Nörvenich whilst Büchel gets upgraded to house the F-35A that Germany ordered, but you get the point. These weapons are technically US weapons, are linked into the US nuclear release chain, but are given to Germany under NATO's nuclear sharing policy, stored at Luftwaffe bases and planned to be deployed from Luftwaffe aircraft, currently the Tornado and from 2026 the F-35A. There's been a massive sea change recently in public opinion in Germany in favour of having these nuclear weapons since 2022. With the Tangerine Tantrum in the White House throwing his weight around, I wonder if those weapons are going to get removed?

Absolute sickening by Trump

This man is just evil, there's no redeeming qualities what so ever. By pausing arms he's effectively giving Russia the green light.

Trump is basically forcing Ukraine to enter peace talks to which they have no idea what the terms are and have no assurances when Russia breaks the truce the Americans will be there to assist

I notice Putin has all the cards, imagine that.

There is doubt in my mind Trump is compromised by Russia

We Europeans need to now isolate Trump more than ever.

Ah, but to make an omelette you need to kill a few hens. Erm, wait that's not right.

That can buy a lot of eggs

edit: oops was meant to post Trump thread had wrong tab open

As the saying goes 'never disturb your enemy when they are making a mistake'

As I was saying…

You sound like the rest of Europe laughing at Germany in the early 1930s.

I just don't get the logic - we have a nuclear power that is antagonistic towards Europe, forcefully invaded a sovereign European nation, has engaged in greyzone acts of aggression against various EU member states, has been proven to consistently seek to interfere in the democratic electoral processes of Western nations, has a dictator in power for over a quarter of a century, has imprisoned and murdered any meaningful political opposition, has been proven to have committed war crimes in Ukraine, and has demonstrated its ability and willingness to impoverish its population in aid of arming its military.

But we should just laugh because they've massively underperformed against a mush smaller and unprepared nation?

What exactly does any nation have a military for? Should we all just promise to be best friends? Even the US is now tearing up previous guarantees of peace and security based on trade, commerce and economics. It's picked fights with the only two nations on its borders, China, most of Europe and half of South America. Who should the EU being aligning themselves with now? Would you count on Trump to come to Europe's assistance in the event it was needed? Or would he just wait until we're on our knees and look to shaft us for his own profit.

The damage Trump is doing to democracy across the globe will be felt for decades to come. People will look back at the 12 years he directly infected US democracy with absolute astonishment and wonder how the citizens of the day could have let such a thing come to pass.

A new world order is being created which seeks to benefit only the super rich - the Musks, Zuckerbergs, Bezos of the US, plus the leaders of autocratic regimes like Russia and China. Trump sees that they can control the narrative, either by force in the case of Russia and China, or by holding the keys to power via the likes of Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos. He recognizes that by siding with them he stands to make a personal fortune for himself and his family.

Enriching the arms companies is the least of our worries. You can't have economic security if you can't guarantee military security. NATO was that security, Western diplomacy was that security and the UN was that security. Watch as Trump sets fire to them all.

If they are already in the EU then I'd imagine they don't want to go fight in the war.

Otherwise they'd already be there wouldn't they?

Are 'we' yes? You decided to volunteer after all then?

I have no issues fighting for my kids to grow in a free and prosperous Europe

I made that clear

If you had kids you would understand why people would do that, you might also be a bit more empathetic to Ukrainians and why they keep fighting despite everything thrown at them

Aside: did you skip reading the moderator warning higher up?