UK PM Starmer Tells Zelensky: We Stand With Ukraine For As Long As It May Take
http://youtu.be/wQvlq6FYdGA

He's got Putin derangement syndrome

Ursula von der Leyen: A free and sovereign Ukraine is in the interest of the entire world
http://youtu.be/CMU4fxIZ1_I

All she cares about is her new slush fund

Meanwhile in Ukraine...

http://x.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1895899745706754239
http://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1895752927991792126
http://x.com/RTH36598411/status/1896443933653373121
http://x.com/NewRulesGeo/status/1874803442083881055
http://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1878795870948442453
http://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1874553686808260677
http://x.com/ShadeyGamez/status/1896597670124515546
http://x.com/TheJBlackMamba/status/1895848375154852062

http://x.com/SMO_VZ/status/1896301636773101685

And you idiots think I'm on the wrong side of things...

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Dear mhaze,

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You wrote :

« Zelensky had requested the photo op and asked that the press be allowed to witness the discussions. »
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In that case, I suppose he felt he was about to accomplish something historic that should be recorded for posterity.

Little did he know that the something historic was his crucifixion.

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The following comments of Senator Elissa Slotkin resonate with my own ideas on the subject …
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[ Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) on Wednesday declared that Donald Trump echoing pro-Russia propaganda and attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marks a “really disturbing day” as the U.S. president looks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Slotkin, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Homeland Security Committee, told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that Ukrainians are now seeing the U.S. “walking away” from defending democracy in favour of “siding with the aggressor, with the autocratic regime.”

“I can’t overstate how different this is in the post-World War II America, and I think Ronald Reagan must be rolling over in his grave right now,” said Slotkin, who was part of a bipartisan delegation that recently met with Zelenskyy in Munich.

She continued, “To watch a Republican administration, after all he did to help us win the Cold War, now not only sort of supporting Putin’s position at the table but just sort of gushing over him in this bromance that they have.”

Trump falsely claimed that Ukraine “started” the war in 2022, which led Zelenskyy to declare that the U.S. president was in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”

Trump hit back by calling Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections,” comments that led some Republican lawmakers to stress that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the “evil” and “murderous” dictator.

Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s invasion of the country, thus suspending its elections.

Slotkin said the moves by Trump have made European allies “hedge” what they share with the U.S. and added that the Chinese government is “taking notes.”

“They’re looking and they’re basically saying, ‘America just doesn’t have the willpower to actually defend when a democracy is invaded, that’s important for us to know because maybe we’re interested in taking over a territory like Taiwan,’” she said.

“So, I just think it’s not just about Ukraine, it’s about the signal it sends about America retreating from the world and being totally fine to cede leadership to places like Russia or China.” ]

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Hi Banjo,

Trump's speech to Congress, is there a German translation? The Fuhrer wants to hear it, taking notes for his next speech!

"In that case, I suppose he felt he was about to accomplish something historic that should be recorded for posterity."

Well no one quite knows why he wanted the commercial deal signed in the WhiteHouse when they'd normally be signed in some embassy which was the original plan. The working theory is that he hoped to shame Trump into agreeing to security guarantees in front of the world and that he was encouraged in that by the Democrats who he'd met with before the WhiteHouse meeting. It backfired big time.

The US isn't going to give security guarantees. Under the doctrine of America First, Ukraine is a side issue. The US no longer sees its role as being to defend every country that claims to be democratic no matter where they are in the world.

Trump can't just walk away because Biden had locked the US into a bad deal. But he wants to get a peace deal done that stands a chance of succeeding and then leave the Europeans to worry about Europe.

Russia is no longer a threat to the US. It hasn't been since 1989. Remember when Obama mocked Romney in 2012 for saying Russia was a threat calling it a 1980's policy? Obama was right!! But then Hilary concocted the whole Russian collusion fantasy and suddenly the Democrats were fanatical anti-Russian.

Zelensky started talking about how, eventually, the Atlantic wouldn't protect the US from Russia, But its rubbish and Trump smacked him down for talking rubbish. Russia isn't a threat to the US. It's army has been shown to be a paper tiger and Poland and its immediate allies will be able to handle it. Additionally, Russia is now pushed out of any Middle Eastern role. So there is no longer any reason for the US and Russia to oppose each other and plenty of reasons for them to adopt a level of rapprochement.

The Europeans aren't happy with that but they no longer figure in US calculations. Trump as usual is ahead of the curve but most USians are now on-board with his thinking.

The Europeans and Ukraine are desperate to try to lock the US into security guarantees for the Ukrainian border. They want US boots on the ground in a nation that holds no particular strategic value to the US.

The European leadership grew up in an age when Europe could criticise the US for its lack of social security systems, lack of a welfare state, and yet demand as a right US protection that they themselves refused to provide.

For decades, the US has spent around 5% of GDP on defence which was used to also defend Europe while the Europeans spent less than 2% and used to rest to provide its welfare state. Trump warned them in 2017 that the world was changing but they laughed at his naivety. Well no more.

Recently Ursula von der Leyen, Head of the European Commission was pushing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine. She was asked if any of her kids were in the military. She laughed and said effectively "of course not". The leaders never send their own kids to fight these wars.

The Europeans have been quite happy to ridicule the rednecks from middle America while nonetheless demanding that they have access to the taxes from those same people and their kids lives. They are shocked that Trump is saying no more and can't quite work out what to do about it.

They keep saying they'll spend more on defence then dills like Stammer say they'll increase spending by 0.2% !! He then says he'll send kids from someone else's family to defend Ukraine while also demanding the US does the same.

The world is changing. Trump knows it and is delivering the change that best suits the US and his supporters. The Europeans are bamboozled by it all and just want things to go back to the good old days of the Cold War.