The UN condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine today
- Thread starter Bill4411
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Just search for the term conservative posted by him. Be warned, you have to wade through his effusive praise for Liz Cheney as a conservative and multiple posts about his various conservative family members though.
51 nations started tge UN. Now the membership is 193. Many of the additional members are nations that can’t even govern themselves and regularly deny natural rights. .
What do you expect from an organization that has a human rights council with China, DR of Congo and S Africa as current members?
Nothing. I don’t expect anything from it.
That said, in some areas I think the UN has done some good work. The World Food Programme, for example. And individuals, like Kofi Annan were good people.
But by and large the UN is a scandal-ridden waste of time and money.
I think you already nailed it pretty well. No reason to gild the lily.
So if it is a total nothingburger, we didn't gain anything by voting the way we did? The argument exists that voting against Russia would harm negotiations, if no one at all cares, negotiations couldn't be harmed.
Quite a bit of the Ukraine's rare earth minerals that President Trump desires are located in those two provinces.
Always good to be voting alongside North Korea, Belarus and Sudan. Is this part of MAGA? Do you feel great?
Then abstain from voting.
Pretty simple. Instead they put Israel in a chokehold to vote for something they don't believe.
Becoming very clear that NATO is likely dead and the post 1945 defense posture is over. I believe that the Trump admin would prefer to ally with Russia long term, or at very least become neutral with regard to Russia v Western Europe. These are things that have been pretty obvious for a long while.
Also need to understand the major underlying shift that's occurring in US foreign policy. Basically since JFK, US foreign policy has been centered around promoting democracy around the world. I think that's over. Closing USAID was just step 1, but that's only a small piece. I expect that we'll see a major retrenchment in all US power in the middle east and European sphere and all resources put into the Pacific.
Centcom and Eucom should expect major cuts. Space Force and Pacom big increases
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The Romanian presidential candidate whose election was annulled under pressure from the EU was just arrested on his way to registering as a candidate for the follow-up election…forcing him to miss the filing deadline.
There’s absolutely no defending this. The forces behind this are no better than Nicolas Maduro….or the J6ers.
There’s absolutely no defending this. The forces behind this are no better than Nicolas Maduro….or the J6ers.
This is well put. I can’t tell what your opinion is on our foreign policy shift - which in my opinion is long overdue.
If we learned anything from this Russia/Ukraine conflict it’s that Russia is not a serious threat outside of their nuclear arsenal. Continuing to build the wall against them in Europe is a fool’s errand. Furthermore, it’s high time that our European allies stop leaching off us while simultaneously providing us next to nothing. I’m not diminishing them as allies, but the world has changed and Russia is no longer the Red Menace. They’re neutered.
The new Clubber Lang is China and will be for the next 100 years. All of our focus has to shift to them and countering their power at all points. Part of where I hate this USAID shutdown is that it lets china come in to Africa and be the good guys. I think we’ll fix that ASAP but this is where Trump’s guys fall short.
Here's my issue. If the minerals are worth $500B on paper, but cost $1T to extract how much are the minerals worth?
And are we just throwing around a bunch of BS or have these deposits been evaluated. I fear it's the former.
My only slight quibble is that Russia is Italy to China's Germany. While China is a problem, should a war break out with China we have to account for the possibility that Russia helps China. While Russia is limited in offensive capability, she clearly could grab the baltic states and part of Poland. More critical is, at least in opening moments of a war where the attacker has initiative, what her missiles and air can do to areas within their reach. Sub launched missiles can hit areas like Suez or Panama. So there are threats presented by a weakened USSR. Oh, not to mention her ability to supply oil and other material to China.
So while China is a threat, there is nothing wrong with having Europe as a bulwark in case Benito Putin goes off on an adventure of his own. The UK supplied 10,000 men to Afghanistan. That isn't what we sent, but it is a decent committment. If we go to war against Chine I think we would want every man, ship, and plane we can get.
I think the criticism is nonsensical. The Ukrainian parliament just voted to continue martial law. It's a Ukrainian problem.I am well aware it’s their constitution not the man. But he’s unelected at this point. Would I call him a dictator? No. Is martial law still necessary outside the East? Probably not and it opens the door for criticism.
But we’ll see what happens when a real and legitimate peace proposal emerges and how well the unelected president negotiates in good faith for his people and their security.
In the meantime:
China is a bigger threat to Russia than Russia is to the United States. Look at the length of their shared border. Having said that, I don't see any logical reason why we need an alliance with Russia. We are supposedly energy independent now.
Agreed but two things:
- I’m not advocating we abandon Europe. But they need to wise up, secure their borders, and stop pretending they are who they were 100 years ago. They’re largely irrelevant now from a geopolitical perspective but yes, we need to stay warm in case an alliance needs to be formed. For us, NATO is on autopilot - for them they need to catch up.
- I hear you re Russia being Grover Dill (@HurryingHoosiers ) to China’s Scut, but that keeps China as the prime adversary that requires our intense focus. Russia should know by now that Europe can squash them.
We do not and should not have an alliance with Russia. There is a spectrum and space in between the words “Ally” and “enemy”.
Agreed.
Having said that, in this age of Trumpian mercantilism I don't understand his approach to Russia. Even if we wanted to make numerous concessions, at least squeeze Putins balls. Their economy is starting to hurt. On Trump's comments alone the ruble and stock market have jumped. I can't stand Trump's approach to negotiations. Less yapping and more tough ball would go a long way. He is big on boastful claims and declaring wins on little to no substance. All optics.
Without a massive change to Russia, I don't want an alliance with them. But as Wakeboarder said, there is a huge gulf between enemy and ally. I don't want them helping China, I would be content with them being the Swiss.
Probably a bit less than that, but I’m directionally agreed. Agreeing to lift sanctions if they demilitarize or stop forward progress is not appeasement since the sanctions were a result of the behavior they’re now agreeing to cease.
It’s just negotiating terms.
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I'm betting that the situation you describe is one of the reasons for Trump's attitude towards Putin.
I've heard FP analysts discuss this--that it might be better for a US/Russia alliance vs. China based in realism than a moralistic stand that pits Russia and China v. the US.
. . . or it's because Putin has videotape of Trump peeing on women. That's much more likely, I'm sure.
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