Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

In occupied Mariupol, Russian authorities have put up a giant 14-meter New Year’s tree right next to the Drama Theater — the very place where hundreds of civilians, including children, were killed when Russian forces bombed the shelter in March 2022 -- as EuroMaidanPress reports.

That strike took at least 300 lives, as journalist Mstyslav Chernov, whose 20 Days in Mariupol won an Oscar, estimates 70,000–80,000 people may have died during the city’s destruction.

Now, the site of one of Europe’s worst civilian massacres of the 21st century is being repackaged as a holiday attraction. Screens for Putin’s New Year address will stand where families died — part of a familiar pattern: erase evidence, overwrite memory, replace tragedy with spectacle.

While I largely agree, they also have an 'opposition' screaming blue murder at the slightest hint of diluting our 'cherished neutrality'. I suspect that if anything had happened Zelenskyy's plane, we'd have had the likes of PBP telling us his visit was a breach of our neutrality anyway.

Presumably the SF policy is to let the Brits continue 'looking after us', as it were.

You are ignoring the fact that aid from the USA for Ukraine has dropped off a cliff since the Trump administration took over in the white house. Weapons going to Ukraine from the USA are now paid for by other NATO members and Trump has been very vocal about not paying for Ukraine being able to defend itself in spite of the legal obligation his country undertook when Ukraine gave up its soviet nuclear weapons.

The proposed military aid package for Ukraine from the USA next year is worth 400million dollars or less than 1% of what had been given over previous years. The politeness to Trump internationally in my opinion is simply designed to make it more difficult for him to come out completely in support of putin.

Congress putting pressure on WH, asking why the administration hasnt supported Lindsey Graham's sanctions bill. Mixed signals. On the other hand there is some sanctions enforcement, including a $1 million settlement with a lawyer handling a trust tied to a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

First, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held on a call with Ukrainian PM Yulia Svyrydenko — and both sides immediately blasted out matching posts online. The vibe? “We’re moving fast.”

Bessent highlighted the administration’s newest hits on Russia’s energy giants — targeting Lukoil and Rosneft — and framed the whole push as proof of “bold leadership of Donald Trump,” — a clear hint for Donald Trump. Svyrydenko welcomed the moves which is „already squeezing the revenue streams fueling the Kremlin’s war machine“.

New poll shows both Democrats and Republicans support more aid to Ukraine, and want Ukraine to win. 70% of Americans dont trust Russia to honour a peace agreement, including 77% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans.

Does Trump care?

Nearly half of all respondents (45%) favored the United States backing Ukraine’s full territorial sovereignty until all of the country’s Russian-occupied areas were liberated. This was the top preference of the two major parties in the US.  

More than half of Democrats (58%) and one-third of Republicans (36%) said that they wanted to back Ukraine until all of its territories were liberated. Only 16% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans supported Ukraine giving up territory to achieve a ceasefire. 

Another 18% of Democrats and 27% of Republicans were on board with supporting a temporary ceasefire along the current frontlines without Ukraine needing to recognize Russian control of the territories Moscow occupies inside of Ukrainian territory. 

Americans, on the whole, want the United States to be involved in the peace process, and when it comes to ensuring that peace, they’re willing to back Kyiv for the long haul. 

The latest survey findings revealed that 70% of Americans don’t trust Russia to honor any peace agreement Moscow makes with Ukraine, this included 61% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats. However, that wasn’t the most interesting finding.   

There was also broad support (75%) for selling weapons to Ukraine and for providing a collective defense commitment to Ukraine, like NATO’s Article 5 guarantee (69%). Even more Americans (79%) supported an international force with European ground troops and American air support to police a demilitarized zone after peace is made. 

On a separate note:

Another Russian tanker has had an accident this afternoon

The real reason Ireland is neutral is because it's cheap, not because of an illusory moral high ground. Letting the UK pay for radars and Eurofighters and personnel and maintenance is a bargain, meaning the bleeding heart socialists have billions more to spend on social welfare.

Yep. We are stupidly reliant on foreign help. It's a sad joke.

For me joining or not joining NATO isn't even the issue. We are not neutral other then not being part of a military alliance. We are very firmly part of the open and free and democratic societal world. That world is under very real and very existential threat from many sources one of whom is the Russian dictatorship. It is clear right now we are acting as spongers in refusing to develop a fit for purpose defense and intelligence capability and expecting others to pay for and do it for us. That needs to change and fast.

Ukraine is very good at enforcing sanctions

Edit: apologies, already posted earlier.

well something has to give surely we cant have a luxurious unfinished 2 billion euro hospital, fancy 150 million euro hotels for ipas etc and a functioning defense budget or can we ?

The budget surplus was €26B last I looked. The largest in Europe, so yes we can, with ease and plenty to spare.

It's getting bigger

Michael Collins changed the rules of war. The Viet Cong also did later. Its not how big you are, though that's important.

Guerilla war cam humble the biggest armies. The Afghans have humbled both the USSR and the US.

We have some major advantages. One is distance, which would stretch supply lines if Russia invaded. The UK, French, German etc navies, if on our side, could help intercept supplies.

History should be a compulsory subject because many forget the lessons of history. We would simply not have a state if our ancestors had been defeatist .

How did any small country become independent if they thought it was impossible?

But we do need to build up a navy to frustrate a landing too.

It's actually a strategically sound approach too, crippling empty oil tankers means the enviromental fallout is limited and it prevents those ships from reaching Russia to export oil to begin with. Additionally if enough are crippled or sunk the Vatniks wont be able to bring them into the Black Sea at all at the risk of Kinetic Santions from Sea Babies.