"On Friday night, in the Oval Office of the White House, a staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world, marked by brutality, a desire to humiliate, with the goal of making Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fold through threats. President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation."
Meanwhile, at The Washington Post, "Washington now ‘largely aligns’ with Moscow’s vision, Kremlin says/Tension between the United States and Ukraine, laid bare in the Oval Office meeting of Trump and Zelensky, is seen in Moscow as a 'gift.'"
Former president Dmitry Medvedev gloated over the “proper slap down” of “the insolent pig” Zelensky, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova marveled at Trump and Vance’s “restraint” in not punching him in the face. Zelensky’s “outrageously boorish behavior,” she wrote, “confirmed that he is the most dangerous threat to the world community.”The meeting fit Russia’s narrative perfectly, Konstantin Remchukov, the well-connected editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, told The Washington Post. “We don’t even have to step in — we can just retransmit what the Americans are saying,” Remchukov said. He noted that Putin had “smartly” withheld comment on the meeting, and could afford to stay silent for now. “The public will conclude that our leaders were correct in their assessment of Zelensky as a leader of Ukraine,” Remchukov said. “This is a huge gift for them.”
And I've been watching this:
पोस्ट्स
१०८ टिप्पण्या:
"President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation."
Indeed. Open the little, wooden box. There it is, on it's little, red, satin pillow. Take it out! Pin it on his chest! Ouch!
Everything is common interests and Trump is the expert on discovering them.
A deal is where both sides come out ahead.
Ukraine has not been forgotten but is not running this stage of the deal.
The EU is run by Left Fascists. They were Biden's allies. Biden is gone. Soon, they will be gone. Adios, Left Fascists.
Zelensky is now saying the war with Russia is very very far from an end.
this is the left talking thru him. He is just another puppet of the corrupt left. So sad.
WWIII is upon us.
Zelensky and his leftist puppets want war.
It's just that simple.
I'd like to know how much money US Senator Chris Murphy(D) makes in kick-backs?
Seems to me there are only three players involved with how things play out: Russia, the United States, and Ukraine. Without the United States involved, Europe is irrelevant in these matters.
The leftist media have their coordinated talking points down.
So many are so wrong.
Zelensky now says he will resign in exchange for NATO membership. Tell me this asshole doesn't want to start WWIII. If Ukraine joins NATO, the US should pull out. We should pull out of NATO either way.
BTW. Are "I stand with Ukraine" libs also anti-ceasefire? Zelensky doesn't want the bullets to stop flying.
The disagreement is over how much you can get by continuing to fight - minus the cost of continuing to fight - , versus how much you get if you stop now. Z thinks he comes out ahead fighting, which Trump will revise downwards. When both sides are ahead by stopping, they stop. That's where Trump comes in.
Here's a cut and paste link to David Sachs (of the All In podcast) who has IMO a more sensible take on why Z doesn't want peace.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/03/david-sachs-on-zelenskys-incentives.php
EU - 'the threat of PEACE! scares them.'
Well - there you have it.
Unfurling reminds me of Lileks characterization of women's porn - the guy doesn't unfurl his manhood until page 160.
Sach's points 2 and five are especially apt, I'd say:
2) The gravy train will end. Ukraine was widely acknowledged as the most corrupt country in Europe before the war, and there is abundant evidence that Ukrainian elites have been hugely profiting from the billions in Western aid. If the war ends, so does the gravy train. A post-war audit of where the money went would also be disastrous for Zelensky’s supporters.
I'm waiting for the 51 former intelligence assets to weigh in. They may not have security clearances, but they still have the phone numbers - don't they, Ms. Nuland?
If that’s all it takes to stagger France then Ukraine is doomed. They better sign whatever deal Trump offers them or find some new allies who understand what real brutality is like.
And, Accords of which I was unaware:
5) History will judge him harshly. Zelensky could have accepted a draft peace deal signed in the first month of the war, the Istanbul Accords, under which Ukraine would have kept all of its territory in exchange for neutrality. A deal now will likely be modeled on Istanbul but require Ukraine to recognize realities on the ground (i.e., loss of territory). Acknowledging that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have died only to get a worse deal may be too bitter a pill for Zelensky to swallow, now or ever.
In every war/conflict, there is one last person to die. Who, in Ukraine, wants to be that person?
Here is a FB reply from a left leaning relative regarding what the US got out a continuation of the war in Ukraine: "the weapons we send give Americans good jobs. that's the payback!" No response when I replied to her: "I was just wondering what people's commitments are to Ukraine. Apparently yours is to allow the Ukrainian and Russian people to die in droves for American jobs. I am sure the men and women dying in that war appreciate your callous viewpoint on their deaths."
Reality is that thing that does not disappear if you do not believe in it. The reality Ukraine was fucked the moment this war started and nothing short of NATO putting troops and aircraft to fight the Russian forces directly is going to change that. All we in the west have done and are prepared to do is fight to the last Ukrainian since we never were going to commit troops and air support for the simple reason that nuclear annihilation simply is not worth saving the Ukrainian government. And is is the Ukrainian government that the dying soldiers in Ukraine are fighting to save.
What NATO has done to date is morally reprehensible. Note the Zelensky supporters in this thread- not a one of them will state boldly that they support NATO fighting on the battlefield. They have all the courage of the Monday morning quarterback.
" Zelensky could have accepted a draft peace deal signed in the first month of the war, the Istanbul Accords....."
Is this the deal the Boris Johnson shuttled over to talk him out of? What I remember was a peace deal, early on, that would look good right now, under present circumstances - but he was told by 'the West' to keep fighting, and given the means to do so.
Confused by not finding more info I asked Grok, and this is the response:
The "Istanbul Accords" is not an official term for a signed treaty but rather a colloquial reference to a draft framework that emerged from peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 29, 2022, about a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion began. These talks produced the "Istanbul Communiqué," a document outlining tentative terms discussed by the delegations. According to reports from the time and subsequent analyses, the key points included:
Ukraine adopting a neutral status, forgoing NATO membership, and limiting its military forces.
Russia potentially withdrawing to pre-invasion lines (as of February 23, 2022), retaining control over Crimea and parts of Donbas.
Security guarantees for Ukraine from multiple countries, including the U.S., UK, France, and others, though the specifics were vague and contested.
I think the corrupt American mob left have the EU by the short hairs.
That's ho the corrupt American left operate. oh and FU obama.
Yes Aggie I believe so, with help from USAID and Vicky Nuland.
I'm old enough to remember when war was not healthy for children and other living things.
"President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation."
Show your appreciation by immediately kicking in a gift of $50Billion Euros and commit 1 fully equipped fully capable combat division on the ground in Ukraine. This should include supporting arms of at least 1 full combat ready airwing and at least 1 carrier group with submarine support to the Black Sea.
Let me know what that happens.
I'm half way thru listening.
Very interesting! - Thank you for posting, Ann.
Oh man, Grok says we are "seizing on" Boris's roll, but:
Arakhamia said Johnson told Zelenskyy, “We shouldn’t sign anything with them at all—let’s just fight.” This has been seized on...
TaeJohnDo said...
"Here is a FB reply..."
So far this year I have been unfriended by 6 people on facebook and blocked by 2 people because of political comments I've made.
I think Stephen Hayward at PowerLine got professor Sach's first name wrong.
Some see efforts to interfere in U.S. foreign policy by Rice/Obama/various other shitbirds as sedition.
And I didn't even vote for Trump. I'm just pointing out that the Democrats are digging themselves deeper and deeper into a hole.
The collective left think you can end a war with Russia without talking to Russia.
Not they they want an end to the war- they do not.
"If Ukraine joins NATO, the US should pull out."
NATO members are required to defend each other from attacks by any non-member. Which means that allowing Ukraine to join NATO is declaring war on Russia. VOZ certainly knows this, and is well aware that it is not going to happen. So, when he says he will do X for NATO membership, he is saying he will not do X.
He notes what we note - If anyone dare push back on the chosen narratives - you are instantly labeled by the corrupt left as a "Putinist."
Weevil: "nd that when they resume the war at a time of their choosing, they will attack not only Ukraine but Poland, the Baltics, or both, bomb Germany, and so on?"
So, the russia you continually tell us is losing this war and is doing human meat wave attacks with garden tools and have to remove their wounded by wheelbarrow and are getting crushed by sanctions and have a nation just waiting to splinter and is running out of men faster than Ukraine and has no effective Navy any longer and whose air force is pathetic is also simultaneously so very very very powerful that they are going to sweep across Europe and NATO nations!
LOL
The same old story as Iraq and Afghanistan: victory is at hand! It's just around the corner! Just another trillion dollars and 3 more divisions for just another year long surge.....or maybe 2 more years and 1.5 Trillion more dollars and a 4th division or so, that's the ticket. And then democracy will be protected and we won't have to fight Al Qaeda here!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you. Try and fool me 3 times and 4 times and n times, stuff it.
What a drama queen. And who cares that Trump's position aligns with Russia or not. Saying that is just a roundabout smear. Its like the journalists always prompting Trump to trash putin.
Dumb and childish. Perhaps the Frenchmen is an Ukrainian asset. No?
Considering Zelenski's lies - and double cross - I doubt very much that Zelensky would resign as promised.
his NATO deal would of course be considered an act of War by Russia.
Zelensky has already revealed his hand - by stating the war is far from over.
Did Rice, Nuland or Obama tell him to say that?
Collective Left Childish Narrative: 'If you want to end the war - YOU ARE A PUTINIST! '
You know, Europe had a good long run. A couple of millennia, pretty near. They have always had wars, but they have gotten worse and worse. And it appears that European "statesmen" start wars in order to maintain their own, internal power, even when the result is devastating to their countries. They have now embarked upon a pointless slaughter against Russia, at the same time moving to replace their traditional population with unproductive foreign criminals. Maybe Europe is past its pull date.
"Normal Prudent Statecraft" --- something the left is missing.
because war pays... corrupt leftists in America.
btw - communication and diplomacy is the name of the game here. not politics. (according to Sachs.)
Wow - what a concept?
Or maybe it's just the European "elites" who are past their pull dates. They are destroying their economies with their idiotic Green BS, even though they know perfectly well that it is utterly pointless to reduce Europe's carbon emissions so long as China and India have zero interest in reducing theirs. They pretend to be deathly afraid of Putin, but not scared enough to actually buy a gun. Poland's Tusk put it very well; Why are 500 million Europeans asking 300 million Americans to protect them from 140 million Russians?
"Why are 500 million Europeans asking 300 million Americans to protect them from 140 million Russians?"
Because the US "elites" have been rewarding such requests and playing the American people as complete suckers for 70 years.
Well, France. France wants to be important, it isn't.
wow - keep listening to the whole thing.
who knew Boris Johnson f***ed the Chicken?
I didn't.
27:30 mark.
"UK calling for the outright confiscation of Russian assets."
Another move - to keep the war rolling.
Incredible.
You know who else likes to sacrifice everyone else - for their lust for crime and power?
Soros family.
A passing thought from me - not found in that video.
Interesting article at Revolver, about why Lindsey Graham went from encouraging Zelensky to calling for Ukrainian elections in about an hour and a half.
I really could not come to an opinion on the war and what happened at the White House last week because I felt that I hadn't done my homework to the point where I could have a reasonable understanding of what really had been going on over there. That video sure cleared things up for me.
I was leaning towards give peace a chance. Now I'm solidly on the peace train. Nothing else makes any sense.
Getting on the Peace Train makes everyone a PUTINIST!
So sayeth the religious cult war machine. $$$$$$$$$
President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation. I would imagine once you blown Zelensky you're pretty embarrassed watching two REAL MEN refuse to go down on the guy. Hopefully very soon Europe and Canadian leaders are free to fellate Zelensky with their own money and military equipment.
Drago said So, the russia you continually tell us is losing this war and is doing human meat wave attacks with garden tools and have to remove their wounded by wheelbarrow and are getting crushed by sanctions and have a nation just waiting to splinter and is running out of men faster than Ukraine and has no effective Navy any longer and whose air force is pathetic is also simultaneously so very very very powerful that they are going to sweep across Europe and NATO nations!
Exactly. Russia not only lacks the conventional power to invade Europe, they are not interested in doing it. It's just more Russia left wing boogeyman bullshit like "they interfered in our election."
Current Europeans strike me as pre-WW1 Europeans (minus the fancy uniforms) again stumbling into a world war that should never have happened. Jupiter is correct. Thank God we have Trump and not Wilson leading our country.
Trump predicted this makes great television
France concur and confer cachet
If anyone sees this before it disappears, can you inform the others that I have plenty to say, but the stupid software is deleting all my comments? Thanks.
Macron screams that world leader was wrong to scream at lesser world leader.
I'm waiting for other countries to supply Ukraine with money and arms. Trudeau says he stands behind Ukraine. Put Canada's money where your mouth his.
The quote from John Bolton, “America gets treated like the unpopular person who brings cocaine to the party,” was made during an interview in 2018. Bolton was speaking about the United States' international standing and how the Trump administration’s foreign policy was viewed by allies and adversaries. The context of the quote reflects Bolton's frustration with how the U.S. was seen by other nations after withdrawing from agreements and creating uncertainty around its global commitments, such as pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate agreement, and other multilateral efforts.
In this analogy, Bolton was suggesting that America was like the unpopular partygoer who causes trouble or creates discomfort at a gathering (like someone bringing cocaine), even though their presence may be necessary or impactful. The “cocaine” part of the metaphor represented the controversial, disruptive, or highly polarizing actions of the Trump administration, and how, while America was a major global power, its actions were alienating or putting it at odds with traditional allies. In essence, Bolton was emphasizing that while the U.S. might still be a powerful and influential player, its international reputation was damaged due to the unpredictable nature of the administration's foreign policy moves.
Is it still "burying the lede" if the lede is in the second phrase of the first sentence?
"before the lenses of the entire world"
Matt Taibbi has a post about how U.S. money paid influencers to put out the party line on the Ukraine war.
Taibbi writes:
Following just this one group of contractors reveals the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars on “social media influence” all over the world. In Ukraine, much of the money went to European middlemen who created dummy Internet personalities to sell the war. They put this in writing! Zinc was obligated $1.23 million from the State Department’s Office of Acquisition Management for two contracts, each of which would “identify, train, and engage 25 to 40 social media influencers” who’d “produce and publish their own social media content in line with U.S. Foreign policy objectives.”
Your tax dollars, turned into dummy social media accounts.
https://www.racket.news/p/farewell-to-volodymyr-zelensky-the?publication_id=1042&post_id=158193741&isFreemail=false&r=2ip4z2&triedRedirect=true
Did any of this money support commenters on this blog?
How widespread is this? Does money from say the DNC or RNC sponsor commenters on this blog?
Containing Russian aggression is "childish" and "mindless"?
Lance - shutting off diplomacy and acting like high school mean grrrrl clicks, is mindless and childish.
Figure it out.
Taibbi begins his column today,
"From the BBC’s “Starmer gives Zelensky ‘full backing’ in warm No 10 welcome” today:
"'Sir Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelensky he has "full backing across the United Kingdom" as the two met in Downing Street.
"'The Ukrainian president told the prime minister he was happy his country had “such friends” after arriving in the UK in the wake of a White House meeting with US President Donald Trump that descended into a row between the two leaders…'
"I read that headline as 'Starmer gives Zelensky ‘full backrub,’ which might have been more accurate."
'Nuff said.
BTW. Are "I stand with Ukraine" libs also anti-ceasefire? Zelensky doesn't want the bullets to stop flying.
@Gusty Winds, how many of the “I stand with Ukraine” libs have kids in the military? Do they have any skin in the game if Ukraine turns into yet another neverending war.
Weevil: "If anyone sees this before it disappears, can you inform the others that I have plenty to say, but the stupid software is deleting all my comments? Thanks."
Your comments are not being deleted, but for some reason, and it happens to all of us, some comments (for some algorithmic reason, gets shunted off to a hold file which Althouse must go in and release, after which it can be seen.
Happens all the time. I've made it a point not to repeat a comment when it gets temporarily disappeared, though its irritating when you want to respond in a timely manner to other comments.
The globalist/socialist governments of Western Europe are much more of a threat to our peace and freedom and prosperity than Russia. We should not miss any opportunity to undermine them. I propose a new $1000 bill to facilitate tax evasion and drain the high-tax leftist government scum of revenue.
"America gets treated like the unpopular person who brings cocaine to the party"
Based on your analysis, you are going to the wrong parties.
In this analogy, Bolton was suggesting that America was like the unpopular partygoer who causes trouble or creates discomfort at a gathering (like someone bringing cocaine), even though their presence may be necessary or impactful. The “cocaine” part of the metaphor represented the controversial, disruptive, or highly polarizing actions of the Trump administration, and how, while America was a major global power, its actions were alienating or putting it at odds with traditional allies.
I don't think you understood his point at all. Someone who brings lots of cocaine to a party will suddenly find many new friends, even if he was previously unpopular for some reason. These new friends will be two-faced backstabbers and say awful things behind his back, but as long as the cocaine is flowing freely up peoples' noses, everyone wants him around and will behave like jovial old chums top his face.
[*everyone wants him around and will behave like jovial old chums TO his face.]
The Cold War was over in 1991 - (Thanks to Reagan and Bush). The current EU heads of state need to stop fighting it. The Warsaw pact no longer exists, Russia cannot overrun Europe.
Some history for those who forgot it.
"Washington D.C., December 12, 2017 – U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990."
See and read - https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early
In 1994, Clinton broke that promise and signed of on the NATO enlargement to the east.
In 1999: The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland join NATO
In 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join NATO
In 2007: Putin complains about the eastward expansion of NATO
In 2008: Talk starts about adding Georgia and the Ukraine. A month after the talks start Putin invades Georgia
In 2009: Albania and Croatia join NATO.
In 2017: Montenegro joins NATO.
In 2017: Montenegro joins NATO
In 2020: North Macedonia joins NATO
In 2021: Russia invades Ukraine (lots of other background to this is ignored)
In 2023: Finland joins NATO
2024: Sweden joins NATO
Look Russia is not a sparking example of virtue but they have been very upset by the expansion of NATO for 30 years. The talk of Georgia may have lead to a war BEFORE they were able to join. The talk of Ukraine would also be in impetus to war.
If Canada, Mexico, and all the Caribbean Island would have join the Warsaw Pact, the US would have shit bricks. Think of the Cuban Missile crisis on steroids. We need to get out of this Cold War mentality. After WWII, we made Japan, Germany, and Italy our allies. After the Cold War, we should have gone to pains to integrate Russia into the European homogeny instead of continuing to make them the boogie man.
Since we didn't do it then we are paying for it now.
(I posted on the wrong thread, so a repeat)
The EU response is typical for them, insult America again and demand our money and blood. After reflecting on the events of this affair my prior is that the the EU is looking for a hat trick, they want Russia completely destroyed with US blood so they can turn the pieces into a resource colony for their enjoyment. That is their historical MO.
In that process they want the US bloodied with no weapon stockpiles so that China can severely damage the US, including killings of US citizens on a Ukrainelike scale.
Last, they will build power based on Russian oil and minerals to counter China into a bi polar world while still thinking they can insult the shattered US into providing human cannon fodder to kill Chinese.
I think that about sums it up. It is perfectly obvious that the EU has:
1. Absolutely no respect for the US and places no value on the lives of US citizens.
2. Has no use for democracy and wants to rule as tyrants.
3. Has an insanely demonic sense of entitlement and feels the world is obligated to serve them alone.
4. Will never fight a war that results in the possibility of casualties to European young people.
This I believe, it sounds crazy, but a nation must respect the worst case threat.
Big Mike said..
@Gusty Winds, how many of the “I stand with Ukraine” libs have kids in the military? Do they have any skin in the game if Ukraine turns into yet another neverending war
Big Mike. I would bet the number is ZERO. You can see similarities between "standing with Ukraine" and "stay home, save lives." Neither require real personal risk or sacrifice. Both actually require the virtue signaling supporter to do NOTHING except feel good about themselves and their fake moral superiority.
https://www.steynonline.com/15081/give-war-a-chance
1. "Continuing the war" has a zero chance of ending successfully (i.e., Ukraine/NATO/USA defeat Russia). Why? No matter how much money/tactical (non-nuclear) arms you give to Ukraine, the war will continue only until Russia decides to end it with THEIR nukes (on Ukraine first, but then on anyone else who brought them to that point). Russia has already warned about that possibility. Do you feel lucky?
2) Regarding the question of whether we are now on Russia's side or Ukraine's side, Trump gave the 100% correct answer: we are ONLY on our own country's side in trying to successfully mediate this conflict, and do it in a manner that doesn't suck our troops into it. We may feel that Ukraine was unjustly attacked and has our empathy and moral support (as well as billions in aid and advanced tactical arms), but we are the MEDIATOR/ARBITRATOR here, or trying to be. We can't perform that role by expressing publicly "whose side we're on". How hard is that to understand? You want Sweden or Switzerland to do that job as mediator? Fine. But we appear to be, actually no, TRUMP appears to be the only party Putin respects/fears enough to get it done.
These cheesy comments about Trump being a "coward" or a "Putin stooge" are incredibly stupid and juvenile taunts.
Vichy Swine
Every time I listen to Sachs I'm annoyed by his conceit. He's not stupid, neither is Krugman, but neither seems to have a grasp of reality outside the left wing shoe box they live in.
Summary: Not as smart as he thinks he is.
Dr Weevil, apparently you don't follow the news much. There have been numerous such comments by Democrats, MSM commentators, and EU politicians.
Here's one link for you from Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) on CNN:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/a-coward-who-is-vladimir-putin-s-puppet-rep-moulton-on-trump-s-meeting-with-zelensky/vi-AA1A0zRu?ocid=BingNewsSerp
No, I don't follow the MSM. And when I'm in a blog comment section, I expect "These cheesy comments" to refer to the comments I'm reading. That's what "These" implies.
"I want all of those young people to stop being killed." - President Trump today.
Can somebody explain what is wrong with that goal? Remember when the libtards all said Trump would START WWIII? Now they hate him for trying to prevent it.
Libs don't know what they want. They only know what they don't want, and that is all things anti-Trump. Even war. No wonder their ideology is dominated by white women.
Currently they are against weeding out waste and corruption in our Federal gov't, and the continuation of a war, where people they 'support' but do not know die by the thousands.
Planetgeo - Seth Moulton served honorably in the military just as JD Vance served honorably. But when Moulton described Vance as a "pogue" Moulton exposed himself as a REMF. I met many REMFs when I served. Moulton is dead to me and a few other veterans I would guess.
And here I thought the French would empathize with those who fold.
Gusty -
Jumping off your point... the left only posture that they care.
It's all a show.
It's Trump's goal. The left HATE Trump - and therefore prefer never-ending war. The left are now Neo-con Cheney. The left need their war machine grift.
These are the same people who pimped and propped up Biden - the Ukrainian money whore for family profits.
Democrat senators for life - do the same thing.
You Puntinist!
I don't know who is advising Zelensky. Maybe it is Democrats and progressive world leaders. Maybe he did it on his own.
What I do know is that the people that voted from Trump don't really care were Ukraine's borders are drawn after the war. They certainly don't care if the EU wants to broker a deal without the US. That Trump was ready to do anything for Ukraine is assumed to be another one of Trump's methods of negotiation. I don't think his supporters care if the US gets rare earth minerals from Ukraine, Greenland, or Alaska. Trump's supporters don't even care if Trump gets a peace prize or not. They want one thing on this matter, stay out of foreign wars.
Right now, western Europe is buying roughly € 100 billion, annually of oil and gas products from Russia, directly or through third countries.
I remember Trump being scorned, years ago, when he suggested getting independent from Russian energy.
My cynical side is telling me that its easier to skim from that money flow, than from European local production.
Because I speak most of European languages fluently, decently, or at least politely, you could drop me into any **rural** area of Europe, and I'd get along and figure things out ... except for Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
I mourn the suicide of western Europe, which is almost intentionally headed for "museum" status, for having allowed academics and globalists to hate and dismantle what once made it great.
NATO was developped to protect Western Civilisation against Communists, which are now to be found primarily in western academia and bureaucracy.
Trump has planted a stake in the ground, telling Europe to, at last, take care of its own problems, even though it will require dismantling the social-goodies programs you used to keep yourselves in power.
That's MAGA for "grow a pair or go home."
Overdue by at least a generation, but maybe it will still work
I've been here before, saying the same thing. Russia is NOT the Soviet Union. That's good news for Europe and thus for the US, and the World. Putin thinks that the end of the Soviet Union was a disaster; his goal is to re-establish it. Our goal should be to block his goal.
Maybe I'm overlooking something, but what should "the West" care about peace in Ukraine unless it leads to Russian/Soviet domination?
Does it?
with the goal of making Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fold through threats.
What planet do these people live on? He came to sign a deal. A deal he already agreed to. There were no threats. There was no reason to 'fold.'
Sign the damn deal you agreed to.
“Maybe I'm overlooking something, but what should "the West" care about peace in Ukraine unless it leads to Russian/Soviet domination?
Does it?”
Yes.
"Marco Rubio says NATO is in jeopardy because the NATO member countries barely have a military, not because of Donald Trump. Fact check: True."
oh.
We should be building ships to deter China. We need more warships and we need ships to support warships.
Change my mind.
Zelensky was drunk or high on drugs, was cursing under his breath and looked like a crazy slob.
“Zelensky was drunk or high on drugs.”
White Lotus. Yam-yam. Shanghai Sally.
Those poppy seed bagels get you every time.
Boyd, ref ships to fight the Chi Coms:
I’m not gonna try to change your mind. I agree with you! The CCP are laughing themselves silly at the sight of Europeans killing each other. Whatever the morality of the Ukraine war, the greater morality is that we all have to get together and protect each other against a race-state that doesn’t feel secure unless it has crushed its enemies. The Ukes will just have to learn slightly different spellings and pronunciations again.
We need to build Retired Tinpot Dictator Island somewhere, for people like Zelensky to live out their lives. We can appoint Biden as the island’s Grand Panjandrum and Hunter as his Prime Minister. We can offer compounds there to Xi and company once we get our act together and put crushing pressure on the CCP. They’ll all love it, and it will make cases like this much easier to solve.
JSM
Macron should see what happened last time the French fought Russia. Maybe his wife remembers.
"Maybe his wife remembers." Hell, she was there.
Just read that Trump has stopped all shipments of arms and aid to Ukraine until further notice, even stuff that is en route.
I was very impressed that, immediately after the Oval Office meltdown, Rubio was instructed to immediately halt the financial aid that is deployed when the Ukrainian electrical grid must have its battle damage repaired. There was a call for it around the time of the meeting, or just after it, and that got denied. So: Immediate feedback mechanisms must have been put in place before the meeting - somebody was paying attention.
That must have been an ugly shock greeting Zelensky as he boarded his plane, knowing that some part of Ukraine is in blackout because there's no funding to fix it. Take heart, comrade - it can get much worse.
Bob Boyd: "We should be building ships to deter China. We need more warships and we need ships to support warships.
Change my mind."
Some ships and even greater numbers of drone swarm capabilities to overwhelm ChiCom assets.
But we can't get to that because the Ukraine dummies want WW3 in Europe to get cranked up.
Anyone serious about "even greater numbers of drone swarm capabilities to overwhelm ChiCom assets" would be begging Ukraine for help. They're currently making 4,000,000 a year, with devastating effect on Russian targets near and far.
Of course, anyone who thinks Ukraine wants World War III, or that sending them tanks and jets would make World War III more rather than less likely, is an idiot.
‘Zelensky was drunk or high on drugs, was cursing under his breath and looked like a crazy slob.’
It’s their national identity. It takes time to polish up a peasant.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks
It takes time to polish up a peasant.
As a not-nor-quite-majority Irish American but in all ways of Euro-peasant stock, I resemble that remark.
“proper slap down” of “the insolent pig”
We need more politicians that speak this way about their opponents.
Big if true.
Ukraine signed a mineral deal with the UK three days before Zelenskyy came to the US to meet with Trump.
https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/1896572894555332752
Weevil: "Anyone serious about "even greater numbers of drone swarm capabilities to overwhelm ChiCom assets" would be begging Ukraine for help. They're currently making 4,000,000 a year, with devastating effect on Russian targets near and far."
We are fine as far as drone technology and the ability to scale (again, we have the players in place to do this) if we can get our heads on straight and design for engagement with the ChiCom scenarios....which are NOT the scenarios in the Ukraine theater.
Duh.
Weevil: "Of course, anyone who thinks Ukraine wants World War III, or that sending them tanks and jets would make World War III more rather than less likely, is an idiot."
Zelensky absolutely, and its undeniable at this point, except by idiots like Weevil, desires WW3. WW3 is the endgame for you buffoonish morons, self-styled masters of the universe who can pull all the strings as though you are gods.
You aren't.
Oh no
The "good news" for the Forever War set, like Weevil, is that the EU is paying russia MORE money annually for energy as they give to Ukraine!
So very, very principled. What's not to love, right?
"a staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world, marked by brutality" Late to this party, but still: that French comment is such BS that it makes even us pro-Europe righties wonder: do they ever think about our POV? do they even want to be our "allies"? Z came into the OO to do a deal and insultingly proceeded to undermine it. Staggering indeed that the weak party would be so arrogant toward the strong.
Dragoboobs, still too stupid to understand tit-for-tat, just can't stop lying. So far from wanting a Forever War, I would like to see a victory, which could have been achieved already if Biden, and now Trump, were not so desperate to keep Russia from losing, and if they had supplied the weapons we have in abundance, that they promised to send, and that would cost less to send than not to send. Why does Dragoboobs feel so comfortable lying and lying and lying again? The only people who want a Forever War are the ones like Biden - and maybe Trump - who want to prevent Russia from losing while also (so they say) preventing Ukraine from losing.
I prefer victory to defeat, and victory to a cease fire. But what would victory actually look like in terms of body count, territory, and long term effects? Include second and third order consequences in your answer.
You say you want a revolution. Well, you know, we'd all love to see the plan.
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