Russia, US, Ukraine, and the Future

[Love Mountain]

If you can connect this assertion with the earlier reference to the US treaty, I might be able to see how you arrived at the conclusion. In the meantime, Articles 4 and 7 of the NATO treaty are examples corroborating the summary from the wiki:

You might consider this reasonable, but we can dispense with the notion of inaccuracy, never mind freezing things as they were in 2021.

I don't understand what you are trying to say.

I’d just be repeating myself, so I’m sorry you can’t see it. As you helpfully emphasized, a deal that says the US can’t deploy its armed forces anywhere outside its national borders perceived by Moscow as a threat is no deal at all. It’s an example of how unreasonable these proposals are, and that’s how they were received at the time.

It actually doesn't say that, as I've repeated in the last three posts.

These are all things I’ve discussed. If it’s wrong and the proposals were in fact an incredibly reasonable missed opportunity, the Kremlin failed spectacularly to give that impression.

Well, I'll agree that you failed to understand Kremlin's demands.

[Lord Thesaurian]

It actually doesn't say that, as I've repeated in the last three posts.

You bolded it yourself. It’s a reference to the US treaty, not the NATO one, hence the caveat being the respective national territories of each Party. The counterparty is the US. Let’s not insist on using verbatim language from the document just to explain it away.

Well, I'll agree that you failed to understand Kremlin's demands.

An assertion repeated yet unsubstantiated based on the treaty language. I’ve also provided commentary from people in the US government and academia to rebut the notion that Russian demands were perceived by anyone relevant as incredibly reasonable and an affirmation of current conditions in 2021.

[Mithradates]

Russia, in a new push to expand its influence in Africa, is recruiting for an armed force to replace the Wagner group’s mercenaries across the continent.

I'll let you guess what they ended up being named.

[Ludicus]

The chairman of NATO's military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, decided to scare the Europeans a few days ago by suggesting that they should prepare for a conflict with Russia as if it were tomorrow:” You need to have water in the house, a battery-powered radio and a battery-powered flashlight. So you can survive the first 36 hours” Clash Report

Sweden’s military commander-in-chief Gen. Micael Bydén warned the Swedish citizens to prepare for war. The civil defense minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin, told to the attended at an annual security and defense conference "There could be war in Sweden"

In the UK, General Sir Patrick Sanders, said Britain should “train and equip the citizen army"
Defence secretary Grant Shapps said that the "UK needs to prepare for war".

There is no consensus on the date of the attack. Some say a year, others three and others five to eight. They want to convince public opinion of the inevitability of a large-scale armed conflict, deliberately concealing the consequences that such a confrontation could have, namely dragging down of the whole of Europe.
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Is it a request or an order?
Ukraine's top general refuses request from Zelenskiy to step

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IMF anticipates boost in Russia's economy

These predictions raise new questions about the effectiveness of Western sanctions in undermining Russia's economic revenues and financing of the war in Ukraine

Eurozone narrowly avoids recession as German economy

The eurozone’s two biggest economies both performed poorly in late 2023, with Germany contracting by 0.3% and France posting no growth for a second successive quarter, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency.
There was better news from the other two members of the eurozone’s “big four”. Italy, which had been expected to stagnate, recorded growth of 0.2%, while Spain expanded by 0.6% – three times the 0.2% forecast.
Of the smaller eurozone economies, Portugal grew by 0.8% in the final quarter, Austria expanded by 0.2%, while Ireland’s economy contracted by 0.7% – its fourth successive quarterly fall in 2023.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago, the eurozone has been struggling to cope with higher energy and food prices, and the damage caused to business and consumer confidence. The ECB raised interest rates last year to their highest level since the euro was launched in 1999.

[Roma_Victrix]

Russia, in a new push to expand its influence in Africa, is recruiting for an armed force to replace the Wagner group’s mercenaries across the continent.

I'll let you guess what they ended up being named.

LOL. History does love to rhyme and repeat itself. Fairly on point and on brand for a bunch of fascists to emulate other fascists who came before them. Erwin Rommel was okay as far as Nazis go, though, if he was indeed involved in the failed 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler.

Come on, Russia! You passed up a golden opportunity to call these mercenaries in Africa as the "Black Russians"!

You know, the cocktail with vodka and kahlua, not the native pro-government militias of the Central African Republican associated with and formerly recruited by the Wagner Group.

[conon394]

Well obviously the fringe part of the republican house is still blocking Biden's Ukraine aid package - which is obviously not cool for Ukraine. But Biden does seem to be leaning to using the excess defense articles authority and sundry State Department and Pentagon financing options and approval of replacement arms shipment to get equipment to Ukraine.

A big deal with greece that clearly involves the F-35 procurement and bunch of stuff greece looks to be getting via the EDA. Ukraine gets Greece's Soviet AA stuff.
A deal with Ecuador to Hawk and Soviet era AA kit to Ukraine for something not sure what the US is giving Ecuador.
Also a deal that I am sure the US must backstopping somehow Kuwait giving its M-84 (T-72 upgrade) tanks to Croatia to be refurbished and sent to Ukraine. Number apparently over 150.

Also it appears Saab and Boeing have finally got their ducks in a row and the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb to Ukraine. This has been in the works for a while so is paid for already can't no story says.

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Since it looks like the House Republicans want to run on the boarder and thus no boarder deal and thus no Ukraine funding is going to happen. The above is all great but I suspect Biden is going to pull the trigger of actually taking the Russian assets the has frozen and hand then over to Ukraine if he wants to support Ukraine this summer. The 30 Billion the US has is comparatively small to what Europe has but I can't see the EU and Germany in particular budging us the US moves first.

[Lord Thesaurian]

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/st...34526678925682

Of course Putin relished the opportunity to rant and rave like your drunk uncle at the family table. It’s unfortunate Tucker made all this hype about going to Moscow to get some kind of unvarnished perspective just to listen to the same things the Russian government has been saying for 100 years. Even in terms of Moscow’s impression of Western perspectives and actions, or the perception western elites have failed to wake up to a multipolar reality, these are themes that have been discussed openly for years. I’m not sure what else he could have done, but it was a pretty boring and pointless interview imo. Sure seems like he just took the opportunity to go viral. Ballsy move in any case.

[irontaino]

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/st...34526678925682Of course Putin relished the opportunity to rant and rave like your drunk uncle at the family table. It’s unfortunate Tucker made all this hype about going to Moscow to get some kind of unvarnished perspective just to listen to the same things the Russian government has been saying for 100 years. Even in terms of Moscow’s impression of Western perspectives and actions, or the perception western elites have failed to wake up to a multipolar reality, these are themes that have been discussed openly for years. I’m not sure what else he could have done, but it was a pretty boring and pointless interview imo. Sure seems like he just took the opportunity to go viral. Ballsy move in any case.

How that interview went in a nutshell:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The funniest part is that Tucker had to just take his insults and ramblings, lest he gets a cup of polonium tea or make an unfortunate slip out a high window.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Anything for the memes. He should head to North Korea next.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[StarDreamer]

Wasn't there a part of Putin also going that it was Polands fault the Nazis invaded in 1939. I guess it is hard for him to argue otherwise when he himself is using just as laughable pretenses to invade. Putin 2024: "The Nazis did nothing wrong"

[reavertm]

Wasn't there a part of Putin also going that it was Polands fault the Nazis invaded in 1939. I guess it is hard for him to argue otherwise when he himself is using just as laughable pretenses to invade. Putin 2024: "The Nazis did nothing wrong"

And Tucker tried hard to set up Putin to say invasion on Ukraine was because of NATO. Instead, Putin went unhinged on historical essay, essentially saying that it's all about restoring Russian Empire natural borders and Ukrainians are in fact Russians 😂

Comedy gold 😂

[PointOfViewGun]

Yet another one:

Russian landing ship Caesar Kunikov sunk off Crimea, says Ukraine

A big Russian amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, has sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Ukraine's armed forces. Powerful explosions were heard early on Wednesday, according to local social media, which suggested the landing ship was hit south of the town of Yalta. Ukraine's intelligence directorate released video of what it said were Magura V5 sea drones striking the ship.

[Cyclops]

Poor Navalny has been murdered. It occurs to me this is an indication Putin is feeling pinch, removing an obvious alternative.

[dogukan]

I don't think they murdered Navalny yesterday but the conditions that they have put him into certain caused his death, hence they ended up "murdering" him. I think many Russians who opposed Putin would rather leave Russia at this point rather than protest and risk their lives. Russia simply needs to be defeated. Unfortunately, Kremlin seems to have mastered the art of manipulating social media and griviences of "MAGA" or alt-right to the point that they have turned them into their assets. I doubt Kremlin held this much influence over West at any point in its history.

[Coughdrop addict]

You're not wrong. Putin is easily the single most influential person in American politics, maybe in the world:

-He has run 7 candidates for POTUS (Desatanis, Gabbard, Kennedy, Paul, Ramaswamy, Stein, Trump twice and West).

-Some 42 Republicans in congress are Putin's agents, with his top agents including Comer, Gaetz, Hawley, Johnson, Jordan and Vance.

-He controls nearly all conservative media outlets like American Greatness, American Thinker, Blaze, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Federalist, Fox, Red State, Rumble, Spectator, Turning Point, X and many more.

-The most influential conservatives commentators in America take orders from him, Bannon, Beck, Carlson, Ingraham, Kirk, Musk, Owens and Pirro to name a few.

-He also controls CPAC, the NRA, the RNC, and the list goes on and on.

[Loyt]

It occurs to me this is an indication Putin is feeling pinch, removing an obvious alternative.

He wasn't any alternative, he was in jail in Far North and didn' matter. And even before, only people who have no idea how elections happen in Russia during Putins reign would say Navalny (or anyone else) had any chance ever.

[Lord Thesaurian]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56181084

The cynical sanctification of Navalny by the liberal establishment serves as an important reminder that they don’t have a problem with conservatism, nationalism, xenophobia or racism, as long as you are useful. The “white supremacy” they are warring against is just anyone capable of opposing their agenda. Now that he’s dead, I suppose the man will be buried by the myth of the hero.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I've missed a lot of this. Are we still collectively coping about Ukraine's chances or are we going to admit now that Ukraine is straight ed?

[Alastor]

I've missed a lot of this. Are we still collectively coping about Ukraine's chances or are we going to admit now that Ukraine is straight ed?

Well according to CNN, reporting shortly after the fall of the city, Avdiivka, the fortress that was previously described as the dagger at the throat of Donetsk, is of "limited strategic importance". So take a guess.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Yeah Zelensky is totally not going to get overthrown in a military coup by Klitsch and Zaluznyi. Any claims to the contrary is Putin posting on his burner accounts.