Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Survey results

Less than 10% think Trump is "not at all" a threat to peace and security in Europe

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/donald-trump-threat-to-peace-ukraine-talks-survey-western-europeans

With Putin a smaller subset.

Quite amazing that 5% of those polled think the guy invading Europe is not a threat to Europe. But that probably comes down to the "contrarian" effect. Which has been quite noticeable in this thread.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/16/stab-in-the-back-french-fury-australia-scraps-submarine-deal

From memory you're an Aussie. Unlike the Aussie govt, the Swiss won't act on on a whim. Things here move fairly slowly, because there will be discussion, evaluation, compromises, and the people will have their say. No-one likes Trump, but in less than 4 years now, he will be gone. His replacement might be a great guy. The alternatives to the F-35, notably the French Dassault fighter jets, also use a lot of US parts. If you want something totally independent from the US, you buy a Russian fighter jet. No thanks. The Swiss voted to confirm the purchase of fighter jets, but the bill left the choice up to the government. If it genuinely looks like the F-35 will be a bad option in the long run, and not just because Trump has been a complete tool in the last month, then other options will be looked at. I'm not convinced Switzerland needs fighter jets, but the Swiss policy is of being able to guarantee its own neutrality not rely on neighbour Britain (in Ireland's case) or neighbours France and Germany (in Switzerland's case) to come to their aid.

With the way the usa is at the moment its not wise them having all these bases in europe, i wonder has this been looked at, the quicker we ween ourselves away from usa the better. Get those bases and remove usa presence

That's my point.

If there is concessions given to Russia to get a "peace deal" you may have a cohort of hyper nationalists who refuse to.

Particularly if those concessions are forced in the form of blackmail.

I'm not saying it will happen, but Irish people especially are acutely aware it is a possibility.

A whim? The French took vast sums of money for four years and never so much as welded two pieces of steel together. The contractor was clearly dragging their heels because they were prioritising the large backlog of work they had building subs for the French Navy. They agreed to share the work and include Australian contractors, then they decided to give nearly all the work to French companies. When they started handing over technical documentation, it was all in French, when Australia said it had to be in English, they refused, and told the Australian government to translate it, likely requiring more large contracts to French companies. Spotting a pattern yet?

The security ramification of getting the documentation translated would have been huge and unacceptable.

They were taking Australia for a ride, and it backfired.

In 1987, after getting back from Moscow, Krasnov took out a full page ad in the New York Times, criticising NATO, which reportedly would have cost around $100K.

So that’s the eu defence spending approved.

I’m beyond curious, will Ireland take full advantage of it.

A poll on Ireland's neutrality would be interesting to see right now to compare with previous results.

Rather than kick them out, we just need to stop all funding. The consequences will hurt the population and Orban will get the boot. Kicking them out won't achieve anything other than having a Russian leaning agitator right in your midst with no means to control them. It'd be like having a brain damaged junkie living in your spare bedroom. The only outcomes possible are all bad.

Sure there is. Trump could stop Putin in minutes if he wanted to. Imagine if he had taken the opposite tack, and come out in full support for Ukraine? Hey, Vladimir, if you haven't started to pull out of Ukraine, all of it, in the next 3 days, I'm going full in with everything that the US military has. The clock is starting now. And Putin would withdraw from Ukraine. There might be some token resistance, but it wouldn't last, and most likely would trigger a mass collapse on the Russian lines.

Wishful thinking, I know, none the less Trump could do it.

Not the biggest fan of Macron but he really hits it out of the park with Putin

Macron: 'The only imperialistic power I see in Europe right now is Russia'

Here is more detail on what Macron said.

The French president hit back at Russia, after the Kremlin warned him not to threaten it with nuclear rhetoric. He drew comparisons with Napoleon’s failed conquest of Russia.

In a solemn address on Wednesday, Macron had warned the French nation that Russia was rearming quickly on the back of its invasion of Ukraine and could attack more countries if it was not firmly deterred, including with the French nuclear umbrella.

“I know President Putin well. If he’s reacting like that, it’s because he knows what I said is true,” Macron told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels.

“He’s making a historical error: Napoleon waged conquests. The only imperialistic power I see in Europe right now is Russia,” he said, responding to a question posed by a Russian journalist in exile in France.

Macron said he knew Putin could betray his word, because he had done just that when it did not respect the Minsk agreements signed with France, Germany and Ukraine after the invasion of Crimea in 2014.

He also said the reactions in Moscow on Thursday were probably so vociferous because Russia’s intentions to continue waging war with Europe eventually, if a rushed peace treaty in Ukraine is signed, had been uncovered.

“He was probably piqued by the fact we’re exposing his game,” Macron said.
Responding to a question on Trump’s comments questioning whether France would come to the US’s rescue if it was attacked, Macron said France and other European countries had joined US troops in fighting in Afghanistan after 9/11.

“Not only the French, but the Europeans were there when we were called for Afghanistan. And by the way, they weren’t politely warned when (the US left Afghanistan),” Macron said.

“We are loyal and faithful allies.”

Macron also said he had been approached by other leaders all day during an EU summit in Brussels about his offer to extend French nuclear deterrence to the rest of Europe and hopes to see cooperation by the end of the first half of 2025, after technical talks with other leaders.

He has invited other EU leaders to a meeting of European army leaders in Paris on Tuesday, he said.

It would be a bit more difficult for that to happen, Russia would need to qualify via the UEFA qualifying route and UEFA have a ban on Russia

More difficult - but not impossible

They can station a couple of those umbrella nukes here in Ireland if they like. I'll gladly donate a field. Though there is a spot on Orwell Road that'd be ideal. Just need to boot out some riff raff first.

The EU doesn't need Hungary gone, just Orban.