Trump Zelensky today.....
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The EU imports the most oil from the USA worth $57.02 billion in 2023. The top countries from which the EU oil imports are the most include:
- USA: $57.02 billion
- Norway: $52.09 billion
- Kazakhstan: $27.41 billion
- Libya: $24.25 billion
- Saudi Arabia: $22.06 billion
- Netherlands: $21.94 billion
- Nigeria: $21.01 billion
- Iraq: $19.87 billion
- United Kingdom: $14.97 billion
- Azerbaijan: $13.69 billion
EU Oil Imports & Consumption Statistics for 2023-24
Explore the latest EU oil imports or consumption statistics. EU oil imports accounted for $349.58 billion in 2023 and 479.6 million tons in quantity.
www.tradeimex.in
Russia will continue to 'bomb" the ukrops into the Stone Age regardless of anything NATO does. If NATO had the wherewithal to stop it, they'd have done so. Seventy five years of neocon adventure have created a political black hole and the US is swirling around the edges. The military-industrial-surveillance state that Eisenhower warned about has been basically unimpeded in it's rush to Armageddon.
Now Trump, JD, Hedgseth, and Rubio have the challenge of playing a handful of cards with the high card being a seven
Anyone who thinks V. Putin can be rolled is an idiot. Anyone who thinks there is any chance, at all, of Russia leaving the Crimea, Donetsk or Lugansk is delusional .
V.Putin has already pointed out to the Euros that he has not attacked any Euro country, is not at war with the EU, and is ready, willing and quite able to restore cheap energy to the EU immediately, and that the mineral wealth of Russia can be developed by the EU as easily as anyone else.
Vicky Nuland should be hung.
Did you say it in front of the entity you were negotiating against? If I was in a negotiation and my lawyer did that in front of the party I was negotiating with, instead of behind closed doors, my lawyer would be fired.
Nordstrom pipelines were destroyed in 2022.The EU imports the most oil from the USA worth $57.02 billion in 2023. The top countries from which the EU oil imports are the most include:
I haven't heard Europe blame the US for its problems.
- USA: $57.02 billion
- Norway: $52.09 billion
- Kazakhstan: $27.41 billion
- Libya: $24.25 billion
- Saudi Arabia: $22.06 billion
- Netherlands: $21.94 billion
- Nigeria: $21.01 billion
- Iraq: $19.87 billion
- United Kingdom: $14.97 billion
- Azerbaijan: $13.69 billion
EU Oil Imports & Consumption Statistics for 2023-24
Explore the latest EU oil imports or consumption statistics. EU oil imports accounted for $349.58 billion in 2023 and 479.6 million tons in quantity.
I never made any confidential communication with any third party present. That said, public entities whose decision.makers are not always on the same page say all kinds of shit they believe will help their position.
And another point is that Russian public opinion criticism of the SMO is that V.Putin
has shown too much restraint over the past three years.
The Russian people are solidly behind V. Putin. Zelenskiy is a 100% invented stooge of the Swamp creatures who have stolen $Billions (borrowed) from the American people,,.
Only one.
There are two.
Russian petroleum products could be flowing almost overnight.
We can count on getting the Russian perspective from you. Thanks.
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Never had a reason to be one way or the other about NATO. I don’t know why pointing out NATO’s shortcomings is anti-NATO. A few things are undeniable. First, NATO’s original purpose is no longer a reason to have NATO. Second several members don’t do their part to keep up their military. Third, NATO accepted for memberships countries who will never be military players, are only NATO responsibility without benefits. Fourth, NATO has become unwieldy bureaucracy with membership of wildly divergent views.
Nearly every country in NATO is now meeting the 2% of GDP goal and all are getting closer to meeting or exceeding it. An aggressive Russia has been a big incentive. A majority has proposed upping that goal to 2.5 percent. Their militaries are generally good and very professional with some very good. Poland can kick ass. The exercises they do within NATO, including with the US, improve NATO's combined capabilities every year. You are mixing up NATO with EU and individual country views on things other than military. None of what you said is very accurate and it sounds very much anti-NATO to me. What happened to you?
Yeah..., there's very little dissent in Russia because those that even hint at not going along with Putin are either jailed and poisoned..., just simply poisoned, or (in what seems to be his favorite technique these days) thrown out of three plus story windows...
There seems to be such an amazing rash of regret amongst Putins Russian detractors that they all nearly immediately see the error of their ways and conveniently (for Putin) commit suicide...
Easy answer. I don’t believe the Domino theory that Biden and others kept advancing.
As a side note, I am much more concerned about the religious fanatics in the ME than I am about Putin. The Syrian AQ are killing Christians and the wrong-believing Muslims by the train- load and there is no response from anybody. When the Palestinian/Iranian HAMAS did that to the Jews On October 7, there was hell to pay. NATO not a could muster a coherent message of support.
Are you in favor of Israel becoming a NATO member? I would hope do. If not that doesn’t bode well for NATO.
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I'm concerned about both. It's not really a Domino Theory, it's about helping a NATO and US partner nation defend itself from Russia, a very corrupt dictatorship and oligarchy, which must not be allowed to take all of Ukraine.
Don't know why you'd shift to Israel and NATO. Israel doesn't fit into the NATO model. Besides even if we tried to force it to fit, it takes 100 percent agreement among the member nations to admit another member. Think Turkey would approve. Hell, the US under President Trump wouldn't approve of it either.
That required unanimous consent of the members. Thus, the US approved every single one. The critical thinking question is, why did the US agree?
First, that’s not a critical thinking question.
Second, I don’t know other than to say the west liked the message of including former Soviet republics in NATO
Here is my question to you and @Aloha Hoosier:
What would need to happen to make NATO no longer necessary?
World Peace. The idea that NATO is unnecessary is ludicrous and dangerous.
The South East Asia Cold War treaty organization is gone, although some aspects of the mutual defense pacts might still be alive.
Cutting through the crap, I guess my real question is do you think Russia and the west are destined to be perpetual enemies? What would be needed to change that? FWIW, I think the religious fanaticism that is festering in the Middle East is a bigger problem. It isn’t the Russians who shut down shipping through the Suez Canal. It was the Iranians which some in our government seem to only wink at.
I’m not playing what about with you. Russia is the obvious threat in Europe and will be as long as Putin remains in power. NATO will remain important and necessary as long as that’s the case.
I don’t think it’s at all a what if. Putin being gone at some point is a known.
NATO member Poland:
www.bbc.com
Donald Tusk announces military training plans for all men in Poland
Poland's prime minister said his government plans to have a model ready by the end of the year.
www.bbc.com
History tells us that free nations are rare and fleeting. History tells us that dictatorships, under whatever label, and war are the predominant mode of existence. Even today peace is fragile or non-existent in various parts of the world.
An honest, observant assessment of the world today tells us there exist many nations with the wherewithal to annihilate life on earth.
MAN HAS CREATED THE ABILITY TO ANNIHILATE LIFE ON EARTH WITHOUT CREATING THE CORRESPONDING ABILITY TO MAKE MAN SANE.
Think about that. Comprehend that.
The current world order could best be described as an anarchy of nations (the UN has no actual ability to unite nations). Combine that with nukes and one realizes we are walking a tightrope.
Also, there are both powerful nations, such as Russia and China, who avowedly want to subsume other people and their land into their own country, and terrorist organizations hellbent on creating chaos and destruction against their avowed enemies.
On top of all that there is untold amounts and types of economic terrorism and espionage.
As has been mentioned here recently, after two world wars, the US and other nations decided to create NATO to put a stop to the fighting amongst European nations and it has worked. The US and Europe have used this peace to create the most profoundly successful nations, economies, science, and so on, by far in the history of mankind.
To not acknowledge the integral role of NATO in maintaining peace is to not face historical reality.
Who replaces him? How often do despots' hand-picked successors switch from despotic to liberal democracy? Usually, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; see Venezuela or Cuba where things haven't changed much.
As to what value NATO is without Russia, over 1000 non-US NATO troops died in Afghanistan. See the list of casualties below. Some countries lost a higher percentage of their population in Afghanistan than the US. NATO can be an alliance for more than Russia. It is at its core a like-minded alliance of liberal democracies. Do we really believe we would be better off without that? I am sure Europe would love to have Russia and China courting it. Arranging sweet deals to isolate the US from allies. I'm not at all sure that makes us better off. In fact, I am darn sure it doesn't.
Coalition casualties in Afghanistan - Wikipedia
We discovered in WW1 that an alliance of "you do your thing and I'll do mine" really isn't that effective. In WW2, the US and UK partnered up very nicely. There were issues, but largely speaking we coordinated amazingly well. NATO practices together, they are a team. I don't think waiting until we get in a way with China and then finding a team will be NEARLY as effective as a team that works together all the time.
Hard for a wannabe dictator to stretch his legs when stuck on a team of countries that aren't his yes men.
CoH, as Lurker pointed out, should have asked, Why would a mediator tell one side they have no cards?
I’ve heard mediators say worse, both to me and to opposing counsel/ clients.
But this isn’t a typical mediation because we have skin in the game and angling for more. Zelenskyy has a stubborn streak that both Biden and Trump called him on.
I would think we have extensive dossiers on all possible successors. There is a lot of room for flexibility between the despot and liberal democracy poles.
As a side note. Did you watch Reagan? I was surprised to learn the Russians were building a dossier on him before he was governor.
I agree dictatorships are gaining ground in the world. Why do you think that is? ( a better critical thinking exercise).
Every European democracy evolved from a top- down monarch or religious government, or combination of both. Ours is different in one important way— it started with a. “Consent of the governed” model. . I think that is significant.
Also of importance is unfettered free expression, Europe is working on ending that. See, Article 10 of UK human rights act and Article 11 of EU counterpart. . (Vance was excoriated for pointing this out). Europe does not see free expression as an inalienable natural right as we do. The first sign of oppression is suppression of expression.
I don’t think there is a cause and effect between NATO and European cohesion and economic success. The cohesion is a product of the Soviet threat and the economic success is the result of Uncle Sam with the Marshall Plan and very favorable tariff structure which Trump is trying to change after 75 years.
I think the long term objective of a productive foreign policy would be to make military alliances like NATO unnecessary for as much of the world as possible. Religious fanaticism seems to be the biggest threat.
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I agree with your long-term objective. Isn’t the question, how to attain that without force?
In other words, the simple answer to why dictatorships are on the rise is that force rules. Force works. Look at animal packs. Hierarchy by force. Challenge the next one in line and win, move up the hierarchy. Military coups work by force. Gandhi and non-violent resistance is rare. It was working with MLK until a single bullet brought him down. Even Trump was one swivel of the head from assassination. Force works.
How to achieve world peace without force? Even in the US I marvel at the simplest purchase at the grocery store. What’s to stop the cashier from taking my $20 bill, pocketing it, and demanding another? Our daily transactions are (used to be before credit cards) based on simple trust. In the US we have gone a long way toward achieving a trusting system. But even here in bad economic times theft rises. So it appears one requirement is a minimum standard of living to satisfy averages Janes and Joes.
Addressing extremist religions? Who knows? Societal tolerance? Increasing fellow awareness? Taking down barriers?
A mediator says it to a party to get them to come up or down on their number, if they are being intransigent or unreasonable.
A good one would never say it in front of the opposing party, however. If that happens, you immediately walk out and get a new mediator.
What is wrong with Article 11?
"1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.
2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."
In much of the US now, including IU, one needs a permit to protest. At one time "don't cry fire in a crowded theater" was US law. Jurors aren't allowed to discuss their case, we reject things like child porn as free speech (protection of health and morals above). I am not sure where above jumps the shark.
The warmongers are very sick people. Their blood lust is not a reason to let this disaster continue. They should fly over there and enlist if they are that passionate.
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