That’s not a bad question, but I think a better question is what’s in it for us to deny Putin any measure of success?
Yeah, Putin is a bad dude, but we must keep our best interests in mind—always.
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Trump's ending the war
- Thread starter snarlcakes
- Start date
Yeah, Putin is a bad dude, but we must keep our best interests in mind—always.
That’s a good question. Not sure. I’d have their asses paying us back mining Bitcoin, but that’s me.
Estimates of Vietnamese dead on both sides, north and south, civilian and military run to 900,000, with an additional 250,000 dead trying to escape. One of, if not the most shameful chapters in American history.
While the majority of equipment we sent Ukraine would have been “stuff going to scrap”, we still will need to replace billions of dollars worth of equipment we sent that we do still need and use. We’ve provided tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine outside what you have described.
We can’t afford it. Tough choices need to be made. Trump is making them. Thank goodness.
It's a pretty clear message to China that they can have Taiwan if they want it.
Tough to refute...
Watching this debacle is like watching your favorite football team methodically go down the field only to get a series of stupid penalties once you're down at their 5 yard line that end up moving you back to their 30...
Starting with Hegseth getting Way out of his Lane and ending with the Presidents worst press conference to date (where he looked and sounded tired [like a guy who'd had about 3 hours of sleep over the last 36] and made error after error) the Home Team has dug themselves quite a hole...
They need to call a proverbial timeout, regroup, get everyone on the same page, singing the same tune (DOD, State, Treasury, the NSC, The President, And the Ukrainians)and give it another try next week...
// Kick the Field Goal (by patching things up with the Ukrainians) and try again in the 2nd Quarter (with Everyone working from the same Playbook) would be my advice to the President... Having the President get some sleep might be a good plan too... \\
The past few days were a mini-disaster diplomacy and negotiating wise... Everyone in our Administration just winging it (which is sure what it looked like they were doing) was bound to get you that kind of result... The game is nowhere near over however...
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Pride goeth before the fall.
Zelensky is a dead duck.
It's not a metaphor.
The US has killed his country, led them down the garden path. He's next. Six months, tops.
Ukraine is the whore of Europe..and the little pimp is seeing his life pass before his eyes.
His Johns have empty pockets.
They've shot their wad.
This escapade is over.
Trump spewing Russian propaganda.
JD was a good choice by Trump. He's going to be busy the next 4 years cleaning up Trump's tweets.
I have forgotten more about history than you have ever known. You might want to read up about the Sudetenland.
Trump says Ukraine started the war that's killing its citizens. What are the facts?
Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.
apnews.com
No question the American education system let you down--that is for sure. But then again, not all of us can be a Petain or a Quisling.....
I would think that our best interests lie in a stable Europe without the overt and clandestine aggression of a Vladimir Putin.
Niall Ferguson says pretty much everything I think about this in response to JD Vance.
Just ran across this link.Some questions well worth asking.
For one thing, the EU has changed Europes dynamics. Second, what really is our national interests in being a tripwire for a Russian invasion of the Baltics?
The only thing we know for sure, the world changes.
The world does change. Wasn't BRICs specifically created to oppose US and NATO hegemony? Your conservative brethren were the ones bringing BRICs here as a threat
So is the solution to BRICs to dissolve all our old alliances? Does that weaken China and Russia, or does it just mean there is a new sheriff in town.
Is BRICs a threat to the US either militarily or economically? If so, what response should we have?
BRICs was formed to try and circumvent the Euro/Dollar. If your China, why would you make goods, ship them to US, and accept in return pieces of paper that aren't keeping up with inflation? Or won’t in the future. It's why China 10+ years ago started diversifying away from them and buying up gold and commodities around the world.
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100% we would.
At this point, we would know Ukraine will have to give up land--not just what the lost prior 2022, but new land after that. Any good examples of the map being redrawn in Europe that have not been a disaster (other than ones that were agreed to by all sides outside of a surrender party (WW1 and WW2). Will this satisfy the two parties or will it be another Sudetenland? The later seems a more likely end result.
There's the financial cost to prolonging the war (at least on the parties that contribute)
Would Europe put troops on the ground? I think that is possibility. Russia is using North Korean troops/prisoners as fodder.
Would we ever put troops on the ground? Highly doubtful
What is the cost of the US adopting a more isolation approach now? It seems contradictory to assert as Vance did that you don't like Europe's policies on immigration, etc and are trying to dictate change but not want to stay involved in a very significant power play in Europe.
We have few allies at this time. We've managed to crap on Canada and Mexico. We never had a good relationships with central or most of South America. We have been a disaster for 100 years in Africa. South Korea and Japan seem to be on solid ground. Australia always goes the way England goes.
Is ending this war really an altruistic advancement by the current administration? Or is there an opportunity to make money if the war ends? What if the war doesn't end and Europe provides a guaranty to Ukraine--a possibility.
What would a resolution negotiated by the US look like that wouldn't be perceived as an appeasement or one that would open the door to Russia to take additional steps to reclaim former soviet states. Our current president, days after Russia invaded the Ukraine, referred to Putin as a genius for doing so.
I think there needs to be an understanding of what Putin is really about--he doesn't want peace. He wants land and he wants to recapture the glory (or perceived glory) of the Soviet Union.
Lots to think about, but we can't cry for the loss of western civilization and then abandon the ones that birthed it.
Exactly--it was created to challenge the western financial institutions with a coalition of sorts of emerging markets. BRICs was nice in theory, but none of these members get along for the most part. No clue how much of a threat it is-if it all, but it something to watch for sure.
True, we don't know how much of a threat BRICs is. That said, we know China especially is making moves to get to as many natural resources as she can. That is the basis of her African aid. There are resources we need. There is competition for resources.
The other factor is our promise from Budapest. Yes, we didn't sign an agreement so it isn't a force of law. But generally speaking we will find it easier to have friends if we live up to our word.
You reckon he's the typical Russophile, or the kind that writes fan fiction where he creates alternate endings to movies like Red Dawn and Rocky IV where the Russkies win?
He's whatever Donald Trump tells him he should be.
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Lots of moving parts here. Some random thoughts.
Europe is hurting and the wounds are self- inflicted. The German economy is an important driving force in Europe and its economy is deteriorating. Partly because of its own energy blunders and partly because of the economic rise of South Korea, China/Taiwan. For his part, Trump in his normal crude way tried to alert Merkel to the problem and everyone laughed at him. The EU regulations are stifling economic development and economic well-being all over.
Vance’s Munich speech was an eye opener. The Europeans were expecting to hear about the Russian and other foreign threats to their security. Instead Vance told the ministers the greatest threat to their own security came from within by restricting free expression and coddling those who don’t give a damn about the cradle of Western Civilization. The ministers left that auditorium muttering to themselves about Trump not supporting them. Probably true, Trump won’t support Euopean status quo.
Putin’s adventures may or may not be a problem. We will have to see. Stopping the war may not really solve anything. That would mean a situation like a divided Germany or Korea. Solving the problems would of course be better. Is it really against our interests to agree Ukraine is not part of NATO, or allow at least a plebiscite for Donbas? In any event, a policy that includes retribution against Putin does not advance our interests. I also think Zelenskyy has come to take Uncle Sam for granted. He is no angel and we can’t allow him to be an impediment to peace. We pissed away our chance to deal with Ukraine/Russia issue before the invasion and early in the war. Now we gotta make the best of a bad situation.
I never understood the notion that Trump is an isolationist. His Mideast policy and recent comments about the Arctic prove the opposite.
Our long term policy about the Arctic is creative and I think spot on. A close alliance with Canada and Greenland focusing on Russian adventurous arctic policy is a great idea. That would leave only two players there.
Ramping up energy exports is also a good foreign policy move regarding China and Russia. Russia because it supplies Europe and China because it could interfere with energy to South Korea and Japan through the South China Sea.
The Minsk agreement that Russia violated by continuing attacks on Ukraine, that Misk?
Oh, remember the Russians shooting down a passenger jet?
Pravda said that was Chechen rebels
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