So insulting Ukraine the real victims in this is ok. What the ****? I mean use some of the drain cells left and think how stupid you are looking right now.
That is why how the topic is approached and the amount of influence requested by the USA on mineral rights is so important. There was certainly an opportunity for the USA to get preferential access to the mineral rights in Ukraine and in the development and harvesting of those minerals - but the way it has been handled IMO is poor.
I agree that it is disgraceful for Trump to side with Putin. A lot of warts have come to the surface concerning Russia's military, but what are they holding back that we have not seen yet, is what scares me. I get that Russia has been significantly drained militarily but, what's left in the tank for Ukraine once Donald walks away from Zelenski?
How does Ukraine win? The same way Afghanistan beat the Russians? The same way that Vietnamese beat the USA.... same way that many invading armies have been repelled. At some point the invaders decide it isn't worth it when they fail to take a country over a long enough period of time. It has been three years since Russia invaded Ukraine...
Ultimately I have a low opinion of Europe as a whole. For a continent rich in history, they are forever embroiled in warfare. They are like the ultra wealthy House who has bred entitlement into generations of Europeans. Its completely absurd the problems Europe constantly fights with. I have no sympathy for them. They are ungrateful petulant children. There is an invisible hand that keeps them divided and very few people understand it. Global elitism goes further than Democrats and the United States. Ive said this before, but after a billion USD, money becomes less significant and power/influence becomes the obsession. It all becomes multi facet game theory. The British pound had dominance for almost 200 years before USD. It is the oldest currency in circulation. All reserve currencies fall. Its inevitable. We are not in a de-dollarization phase and anytime something alternative is brought up, its always immediately twisted into a false narrative of the USD falling. The primary advantage of a reserve currency is the ability to manipulate interest rates and to control trade. While BRICS will not replace USD or even become remotely useful, its important to understand that if something comes along that undermines a reserve currency hegemony, it will perpetually weaken its ability. And if that reserve currency flywheel involves manipulating and abusing countries all over the world to retain power, it will burn itself out quickly. Exporting USD is great for the short term, but over the long term, it will be catastrophic. There will never be lasting peace. If we can stop the killing for 4 years, that will be great. It beats the alternative of continued killing and risking significant escalation. Russia is exploiting a low hanging fruit opportunity with Ukraine. I do care about individual human life. IDGAF about Ukraines sovereignty. There have been many flags over Ukraine. Its current sovereignty is no more valid than the other 6 if it can't defend itself. I don't know why people continue to forget the current state of Ukraine is chalked full of corruption. They are not the epitome of righteousness. As stated early on in the war, nobody gives a **** about all of the other third world countries who get abused or even faced worse situations. We just being told its important.
I think Ukraine can "win" while ceding territory to Russia. If Ukraine is gathered into the European fold, joining the Western economic system, embracing Western ideals of liberal democracy, and enjoining in mutual defense with European countries, they win. They just might not win for Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk. I think they can get there if the main European powers can find consensus among themselves that they can't rely on the US for defense any longer. You can see them getting there, but then they articulate a plan with an American backstop and you just have to shake your head.
If we do nothing and side with Russian what does it say to other countries that will ultimately think they can do the same thing. Having wars all over the world will not make the world safe or stable. If you think immigration is a problem. It will be even worse.
For those that believe we should stay out of it, maybe we shouldn't have signed the Budapest Memorandum? If we are not honoring that, our word at the negotiating table is rather, doo-doo.
trump and putin cronies have spoken about "economic cooperation". mineral rights could be an excuse for putin to keep armed forces in the occupied territories.
Shouldn't that decision be up to the Ukrainians whether to fight or not, and not the US? Why the F is Trump siding with Putin - to the point of using their own spin and misinformation?
I would add Sweden to the list. The UK and France have already floated the idea of sending troops to western Ukraine, which is a very thin line between that and joining the Ukrainian troops on the front line. Poland has been very pro-Ukraine the entire war and are prepared to fight the Russian army, if needed. From man on the street interviews in Germany and Poland, people realize that Ukraine is fighting the war against Russian aggression for them and deserves more support from their respective countries. The US redrawing from NATO may provide the catalyst for the NATO countries bordering Russia (plus the UK an France) to send in the troops to stabilize the conflict. NATO trained and equipped troops should make short work of the current state of the Russian army. The open question would then be if Trump would send in US troops to fight along side the Russian's.
Don't want to get in the weeds, but the Russian economy was starting to show stagflation. We could have pushed their econonmy to colapse. There would have been a defacto truce like in the Korean war. They wouldnt get out of all of Ukraine, but they would be international pariahs and penniless for their troubles, and wouldn't be able to dictate terms or stop Ukraine from joining NATO. Instead we bail them out just when they were starting to drown. I'm sure the MAGAts have a different narriative, being the fanciful people they are.
We won't side with Russia Our country is fully in support of the Ukraine, our KGB owned President is not......just raise money from the public...... DD
That’s not the point though. Despots around the world are looking at the isolationist policies this government has and will look to grab where they can.
One of the oddest things to me is the amount of people that view Putin as some sort of master level ruler. The reality is that Russia was experiencing a rapid increase in economic growth until Putin decided to play Peter The Great. Ever since 2008 - when Putin decided to "expand it's borders", the Russian economy has tanked, and the quality of life has objectively gone down. Rampant inflation and interest rates have crippled any real efforts for the middle class to thrive in Russia. National defense spending had doubled since taking the Crimea a decade ago - while inflation has risen, and growth has just stopped. Putin is a fool - he believes in nation building like it is the 1200's.... he doesn't believe in economic growth, influential growth - but old land grabs, grabs after the land and infrastructure is destroyed... and that has very little actual value, especially when the seized land still doesn't view itself as "Russian" and when it alienates the rest of the world. Putin is far more like the North Korean dictator than he is some grand Czar that is playing chess while the rest of the world plays checkers.... the US lead sanctions on Russia, based on the expansionist moves of Russia have crippled Putin. Hopefully history remembers him for what he is - an amoral, middle level government worker that took advantage of opportunities to bankrupt his country for his own benefit. He parades around and want to be fascists kiss his feet, but he is weak.
