Joe

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!