Joe

I think I speak for Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City when I say, I agree.

I still blame Nuland … she’s a fucking cookie monster /s

Correct. putin sold this line to many, who kept/keep repeating it eagerly - no doubt because they are incentivised to. Also: putin represents the worldview that might makes right, and many rich and “powerful” aspire to this. It is an insult to their worldview and therefore their personal egos that putin has failed to conquer Ukraine.

It is interesting to see trump realigning…

Hear hear. Broken clocks and all that.

AAedit: Although I don’t think he’ll do a damn thing against russia even if the EU manages it. He flutters his eyes at putin at every opportunity … I think it’s the image he wants to see in the mirror, and he really hopes it will stop laughing at him soon.

The EU certainly has, and is using the limited opportunity to purchase as much as possible from US’s spare production capacity while the winds are only blowing softly against them and Ukraine.

This is currently needed by Ukraine, and as a condition they know that to speak up against Trump would be the demise of this deal.

The risk is that the EU’s own manufacturing capacity is not being expanded rapidly enough, and if the US supply were to be cut off in the near future, they would continue to be caught with their pants down.

I fear it would take a direct attack before EU countries make the big commitments to defence manufacturing that are needed.

A measured response is to now start shooting them down across the borders of Ukraine, belarus, and russia - if they have the potential to pass into EU and NATO countries.

russia has now well and truly established intent, and a strong but measured response is needed.

My main concerns with the US weapons purchase programmes are (a) this is likely leading to underinvestment in the european defence industry, and (b) the US then decides to pause it at a critical moment. I understand the short term needs, but europe needs to be prepared for war without US backing or involvement. It needs to be a military power in its own right in order to protect its interests and to avoid hot wars through deterrence.

DJTaco seems to be a russian asset, trying to navigate a difficult political landscape to give his russian dictator pal and other benefactors advantages whenever possible. His erratic behaviour is used as cover for the underlying goals, which aren’t even his own (edit: I seriously doubt he understands them). Such an easy to manipulate narcissistic loser was propelled to power by others to fulfill their sometimes conflicting agendas. McTaco can’t keep up and his mental state will continue to decline.

Better destroy all evidence that it was Ukrainians themselves organizing and protesting.

If russia had their way, this would be painted in history books as a handful of US diplomats and CIA agents marching alone in the square with bags of cookies, while the masses cower in fear.

I would expect that the military & intelligence services engage in due diligence and risk analysis, though.

What the public gets is signalling at best, to set expectations without causing panic. I’d take it seriously when it’s coming from a trusted government.

Let the potatoes fly!

And, just like in a democracy, they can blame all the problems on the previous leader, and will enact new policies. There won’t be any former victories to claim as their own in putin’s case, though. It’s a hollow shell of a country these days, let alone an empire.

What a waste … think what russia could have been, had it invested in its own potential.

🤗

Revenue is only one side of the coin. What was left after costs?

Then, consider how much less willing or able some countries would have been to support Ukraine financially, had they needed to subsidize for even more expensive energy in their local economy and/or support more unemployed and working poor. Think how susceptible people are to the waves of propaganda that the russian machine sends to nearly every corner of the world.

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that this is complicated.

It takes an idiot to think it’s simple, though.

Continued intelligence & weapons. We saw what happened when they cut off intelligence last time. It doesn’t change the fact that the US has become an unreliable partner for Europe. Let’s hope that the fire under our bums is enough to enact real change.

As I understand it, rare earth minerals are mostly in the east of Ukraine (areas temporarily occupied by russia). For trump and his enablers, this is a way to spin the popular support for Ukraine in the US into a transactional business deal, which his entire self image is built on.

There is unfortunately risk in not playing along with this charade. So show the world what a winner you are by liberating Ukraine for personal gain, trump!

The US benefited from the slavish dependence of european countries on it, and the good business conditions that came with it. This started to change with the EU and in particular with the introduction of the euro.

I guess that it’s time for civilized Europe to become a military powerhouse once again.

You see, peace in Europe is only maintained through the ability (or illusion thereof) of russia being able to invade and otherwise exert influence over former soviet and warsaw pact states at any point in time with little resistance.

The moment there is the credible threat of resistance, it is a clear provocation and justifies a response, possibly an invasion.

I trust I cleared that up for you.

edit: The sad part is, this is similar to US and Chinese policy. World and regional power politics is closer to schoolyard bully behaviour than we’d like. Vote for your favourite bully today!