Ukraine
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Why Putin may be ready to negotiate.
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Many of us thought that Russia would have more trouble with its economy than it has had, given the financial sanctions that it has faced. Russia has hung on as long as it has in part because it has sold its soul (and future) to China, and gone hat in hand to North Korea and Iran. Putin has also had skilled leadership at the Russian central bank (Elvira Nabiullina). As this article demonstrates, Putin has also been able to kick the financial can down the road a bit by hollowing out Russia's financial system in ways that will potentially bankrupt millions in the future, no matter what happens in this war over the next year or two.
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Many of us thought that Russia would have more trouble with its economy than it has had, given the financial sanctions that it has faced. Russia has hung on as long as it has in part because it has sold its soul (and future) to China, and gone hat in hand to North Korea and Iran. Putin has also had skilled leadership at the Russian central bank (Elvira Nabiullina). As this article demonstrates, Putin has also been able to kick the financial can down the road a bit by hollowing out Russia's financial system in ways that will potentially bankrupt millions in the future, no matter what happens in this war over the next year or two.
@Piano-Dad said in Ukraine:
Elvira Nabiullina
Looked her up. Apparently she tried to quit her job over Ukraine but Putin told her to stay put. Wonder what floor her office is on.
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Meanwhile, the US is considering whether to lift some sanctions against Russia.
https://kyivindependent.com/trump-administration-weighs-sanctions-relief-for-russia-reuters-reports/
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...and has paused all military aid to Ukraine..the Toddler-in-Chief is having a tantrum...
President Donald Trump is seeking to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia by pausing military aid to Ukraine.
A White House official said Trump wants Zelenskyy committed to the ending of the war that began when Russia invaded the now war-torn country. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance, added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Thank you, Sweden.
Link to video
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Link to video
Piers Morgan was bought and paid for a long time ago.
Link to video
Piers Morgan was bought and paid for a long time ago.
This is the actual history of this conflict. How much of it do our threads leave out? 90%?
The US will give up its unrealistic ambition of being the globe's unipolar power or there will be more foreign policy disasters (the list is a long one) and it will continue in the degradation of its infrastructure and the impoverishment of its people.
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JD, proving once again he's not ready for prime time.
JD Vance was hit by a wave of criticism from British and French politicians Tuesday as he mocked Europe’s plan to deploy troops on the ground in Ukraine to keep the peace.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Vance dismissed peacekeeping assistance from "some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 years" — interpreted by politicians across the divide in London as an attack on the U.K., which has been pushing such a plan alongside France.
It prompted a swift denial from Vance, who said he had not been referring to either Britain or France in his remarks — but not before politicians had piled in to accuse him of denigrating troops who had fought alongside the United States in the past.
The U.K. and France are drawing up a plan with Ukraine to present to the U.S. that would include a peacekeeping force comprised of an as-yet-unspecified "coalition of the willing."
When he's lost Nigel Farage....
Even Nigel Farage, a key British ally of Trump who has backed his strategy in Ukraine, told GB News when pressed on the remarks: "JD Vance is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.”
He added: “For 20 years in Afghanistan pro rata our size against America's we spent the same amount of money, we put the same number of men and women in. We suffered the same losses.
“We stood by America all through those 20 years putting in exactly the same contribution. And alright, they may be six times bigger, but we did our bit. So, on this one JD is wrong."
Apparently even LePen had a few choice words about JD...
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He's easy on the eyes not that it's relevant.
The sooner we stop thinking of Putin as Hitler and Zelensky as Churchill the sooner we can pull back from the highest possibility for nuclear war since the Kennedy administration.
This was always a proxy war and the goal was always regime change in Russia.
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...and has paused all military aid to Ukraine..the Toddler-in-Chief is having a tantrum...
President Donald Trump is seeking to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia by pausing military aid to Ukraine.
A White House official said Trump wants Zelenskyy committed to the ending of the war that began when Russia invaded the now war-torn country. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance, added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
...and has paused all military aid to Ukraine..the Toddler-in-Chief is having a tantrum...
President Donald Trump is seeking to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia by pausing military aid to Ukraine.
A White House official said Trump wants Zelenskyy committed to the ending of the war that began when Russia invaded the now war-torn country. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance, added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
Now we’ve stopped sharing intel with the Ukrainians.
The US has stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine after Donald Trump’s suspension of military aid on Monday, in another serious blow to Kyiv in the war with Russia.
White House officials indicated that both bans could be lifted if peace talks make progress.
Ukrainian officials suggested the US would no longer provide information about targets inside Russia, hindering Ukraine’s ability to carry out effective long-range drone strikes.
This would also leave Ukraine in the dark over the movements of Russian strategic bomber aircraft and the launches of ballistic missiles.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/05/us-stops-sharing-intelligence-on-russia-with-ukraine
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Macron speech today.
He announced that France would host a new meeting of UK, German and other European leaders in the coming days to discuss these responsibilities, with or without the involvement of the U.S.
“I want to believe that the U.S. will stay with us, but we need to be ready if it’s not the case,” he said.
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Link to video
The draft-- Ukrainian style!
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On Wednesday, Politico reported that four senior members of Trump's team held "secret" talks with Zelensky's top election rivals—Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko—and discussed whether the country could hold wartime elections.
Both Poroshenko and Tymoshenko confirmed on Thursday that they have been in touch with Trump administration officials, but said they oppose elections taking place during the country's war with Russia.
Elections were suspended in Ukraine in February 2022 under martial law that was imposed in response to Russia's full-scale invasion, but Trump and Putin have pressured Ukraine in recent weeks by questioning Zelensky's legitimacy as a leader.
https://www.newsweek.com/zelensky-trump-secret-talks-rivals-2040520
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The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the temporary legal status of 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the U.S. from Russia's invasion, potentially paving the way for their deportation, Reuters reported on March 6, citing four undisclosed sources.
The plan predates U.S. President Donald Trump's public spat with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 28 and is part of broader efforts to revoke the legal status of more than 1.8 million people staying in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, the news agency noted.
The move, which is expected as soon as April, would nevertheless threaten to further widen the rift between Kyiv and Washington after the U.S. paused military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
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Meanwhile Ukraine is actually taking back some territory around Pokrovsk.
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Meanwhile, in Germany.
Trump’s Embrace of Putin Has Germany Thinking of Nuclear Weapons
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Small arsenals, high costs, and production backlogs have been a hindrance as Europe arms Ukraine.
Denmark found a way to get Ukraine weapons that bypassed these issues.
It funds the weapons manufacturing in Ukraine so that they reach soldiers faster and for lower cost.
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Perfectly sensible, except for the risk that Russian cruise missiles blow up the production capacity.
On Germany, I would be acquiring nuclear weapons capacity really fast. They need to scrap the nuclear arms proliferation pact pronto and publicly announce that Germany will join the nuclear armed club and move to develop platforms to deliver them.
They also need to rebuild their military and put double the number of young people under arms as professional soldiers, i.e. 400K, not 180K.
