Trump Putin summit

I don't know about that. I think we can agree that Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump at the White House did -not- go well.
Z does not matter, it is the people who hand him his orders that do.

I have been sniffing my grapevine for post mortems on Alaska....mostly coming up empty....I have paid no attention to the latest Z performance.
 
I have heard (vaguely) that Trump et al. did do some subtle threatening. I think we can agree that Russia isn't changing its stance regardless. I keep on thinking that the best example of the U.S. being in a similar situation as Russia is with Ukraine was the Cuban missile crisis. It didn't matter that the U.S. was on the brink of nuclear war with Russia because of it- the U.S. wasn't going to back down. Fortunately, Russia realized this and withdrew those nukes from Cuba. Now it's the U.S.'s turn to realize that Russia will not back down and in order to avoid a nuclear war, it's the U.S.'s turn to remove its weapons from Ukraine. Or at least let them run out.
Yeah, and the next sovereign country Russia invades, just let them have it. Until Russia, with his new empire comes for us.

Not a great plan, friend.
 
Trump welcomed a war criminal onto US soil and gave Putin everything he wanted.

If that were true, the war in Ukraine would already be over. The fact of the matter is, Trump -can't- give Putin everything he wants even if he wanted to. Ukraine and its leadership may certainly be -influenced- by the U.S., but only to a point. And at this point, I don't see Zelensky agreeing to Russia's demands. I believe what youtuber Sebastian Sas said today is right- what won during the U.S./Russia summit in Alaska on Friday was diplomacy. Here's the video in question:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdVvt93Ncgo&ab_channel=SebastianSas
 
I don't know about that. I think we can agree that Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump at the White House did -not- go well.
Z does not matter, it is the people who hand him his orders that do.

I have my doubts on that. I think Sebastian Sas may be right in his assessment that Z may be the leader that matters the least amoung a bevy of other European leaders, but he still matters.

I have been sniffing my grapevine for post mortems on Alaska....mostly coming up empty....I have paid no attention to the latest Z performance.

I haven't either, to be honest. As I said, I think that Z matters, but not nearly as much as other European leaders. I think the country that -most- matters other than Russia is the U.S. and it looks like Trump is finally working on a deal with Russia- my hope is that nuclear escalation becomes a thing of the past and this war will end with Ukraine either getting to the diplomatic table early while it still has troops or getting there once its forces are almost completely exhausted.
 
I have my doubts on that. I think Sebastian Sas may be right in his assessment that Z may be the leader that matters the least amoung a bevy of other European leaders, but he still matters.



I haven't either, to be honest. As I said, I think that Z matters, but not nearly as much as other European leaders. I think the country that -most- matters other than Russia is the U.S. and it looks like Trump is finally working on a deal with Russia- my hope is that nuclear escalation becomes a thing of the past and this war will end with Ukraine either getting to the diplomatic table early while it still has troops or getting there once its forces are almost completely exhausted.
The NATO army in Ukraine is buckling......this conflict is headed for the terrorism phase....NATO has been for instance relentlessly attacking a nuclear power plant over the last two weeks, eventually they will hit it, causing a nuclear disaster.
 
I have heard (vaguely) that Trump et al. did do some subtle threatening. I think we can agree that Russia isn't changing its stance regardless. I keep on thinking that the best example of the U.S. being in a similar situation as Russia is with Ukraine was the Cuban missile crisis. It didn't matter that the U.S. was on the brink of nuclear war with Russia because of it- the U.S. wasn't going to back down. Fortunately, Russia realized this and withdrew those nukes from Cuba. Now it's the U.S.'s turn to realize that Russia will not back down and in order to avoid a nuclear war, it's the U.S.'s turn to remove its weapons from Ukraine. Or at least let them run out.
Yeah, and the next sovereign country Russia invades, just let them have it.

Russia's military operation in Ukraine only happened after years of provocations by the west- the first being the ever increasing expansion of NATO to the east and the second being the killing of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine for the past 8 years, despite the 2 Minsk agreements signed by Ukraine and ostensibly guaranteed by certain western nations. It was only after these twin failures of diplomacy that Russia came to the conclusion that the only way its security concerns would be respected is by the use of force. This result is something that John Mearsheimer predicted would happen 10 years ago:
 
Russia's military operation in Ukraine only happened after years of provocations by the west-
No, that's Russian propaganda. Ukraine did not ask to be invaded, their people killed and their children raped and kidnapped. That's ridiculous.
the first being the ever increasing expansion of NATO to the east and the second being the killing of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine for the past 8 years, despite the 2 Minsk agreements signed by Ukraine and ostensibly guaranteed by certain western nations.
Yeah, I'm sure that's what Putin told trump and trump bought every word of it.
It was only after these twin failures of diplomacy that Russia came to the conclusion that the only way its security concerns would be respected is by the use of force.
Bullshit.
This result is something that John Mearsheimer predicted would happen 10 years ago:
Total horseshit. Ukraine has resources, Putin wants them, he's trying to take it by force. End of story.
 
No, that's Russian propaganda. Ukraine did not ask to be invaded, their people killed and their children raped and kidnapped. That's ridiculous.

Yeah, I'm sure that's what Putin told trump and trump bought every word of it.

Bullshit.

Total horseshit. Ukraine has resources, Putin wants them, he's trying to take it by force. End of story.
FANTASY.
 
Russia's military operation in Ukraine only happened after years of provocations by the west- the first being the ever increasing expansion of NATO to the east and the second being the killing of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine for the past 8 years, despite the 2 Minsk agreements signed by Ukraine and ostensibly guaranteed by certain western nations. It was only after these twin failures of diplomacy that Russia came to the conclusion that the only way its security concerns would be respected is by the use of force. This result is something that John Mearsheimer predicted would happen 10 years ago:
From the mid 90's lots of people said that NATO aggression against Russia would end in disaster for all of us...they were generally shown the door as the WarPigs were unrelenting that it must be done......both because of the hate of Russians and because of the desire to enrich the empire by plundering Russia.
 
That the Ukrianian NAZI's refer to Russians as Orcs is a demonstration of the racist hate directed at Russians....it has been documented back to the 1840's in the British Empire, and it is not going away any time soon.
 
Russia's military operation in Ukraine only happened after years of provocations by the west
No, that's Russian propaganda.

No, it's the truth. It's how American Professor John Mearsheimer was able to predict Ukraine getting wrecked if it continued along the path it was on then 10 years ago. A good article on the subject can be seen here:
 


Hans Mahncke
@HansMahncke


Of course, the Ukraine war has strategic dimensions related to NATO and the broader geopolitical order. But at its core—and this has been aggressively suppressed by Western elites and the fake news—it is about long-standing tensions between Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking populations, or more broadly, between Western- and Eastern-oriented communities within Ukraine. It required a constant balancing act between these groups.That balance was ruined when Biden and Nuland decided to overthrow the government in Kiev, after which the Ukrainian-speaking and Western-oriented side gained the upper hand. That shift was totally ruinous for the country, as is almost always the case when idiotic Western elites show up to “fix” things. Ultimately, there are only two options. Either attempt to restore the previous internal balance that existed before 2014—which now seems impossible given everything that has happened—or reorganize sovereignty along lines of language and cultural identity. This probably should have been the plan from the start but, unfortunately, Western elites are extremely allergic when it comes to the issue of rejigging sovereignty (except, of course, in Kosovo, where it was totally acceptable).

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I dont agree because the overthrow of the government in Ukraine was arrived at by decisions to assault Russia made all the way back in the 90's, but that Russia had to save the Russians in Ukraine from what was essentially Imperial Empire aggression and hate there is no doubt.....it was the right honorable thing to do.
 
Russia's military operation in Ukraine only happened after years of provocations by the west- the first being the ever increasing expansion of NATO to the east and the second being the killing of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine for the past 8 years, despite the 2 Minsk agreements signed by Ukraine and ostensibly guaranteed by certain western nations.
Yeah, I'm sure that's what Putin told trump

Perhaps, but the important thing is that it's true. American Professor and Statesman Jeffrey Sachs got into the details of this in a speech he gave to European Parliament a few months ago. Quoting from an article made out of said speech:
**
As you know, Viktor Yanukovych was elected as president of Ukraine in 2010 on the platform of Ukraine’s neutrality. Russia had no territorial interests or designs in Ukraine at all. I know. I was there off-and-on during these years. What Russia was negotiating during 2010 was a 25-year lease to 2042 for Sevastopol naval base. That’s it. There were no Russian demands for Crimea, or for the Donbas. Nothing like that at all. The idea that Putin is reconstructing the Russian empire is childish propaganda. Excuse me.

If anyone knows the day-to-day and year-to-year history, this is childish stuff. Yet childish stuff seems to work better than adult stuff. So, there were no territorial demands at all before the 2014 coup [in Ukraine]. Yet the United States decided that Yanukovych must be overthrown because he favored neutrality and opposed NATO enlargement. It’s called a regime change operation.


[snip]

Now in 2014, the U.S. worked actively to overthrow Yanukovych. Everybody knows the phone call intercepted by my Columbia University colleague, Victoria Nuland, and the U.S. ambassador, Geoffrey Pyatt. You don’t get better evidence. The Russians intercepted her call, and they put it on the Internet.

It’s fascinating. By doing that, they all got promoted in the Biden administration. That’s the job. When the Maidan occurred, I was called soon after. “Professor Sachs, the new Ukrainian prime minister would like to see you to talk about the economic crisis.” So, I flew to Kyiv, and I was walked around the Maidan. And I was told how the U.S. paid the money for all the people around the Maidan, the “spontaneous” Revolution of Dignity.

Ladies and gentlemen, please, how did all those Ukrainian media outlets suddenly appear at the time of the Maidan? Where did all this organization come from? Where did all these buses come from? Where did all those people come from? Are you kidding? This is an organized effort. And it’s not a secret, except perhaps to citizens of Europe and the United States. Everyone else understands it quite clearly.

Then after the coup came the Minsk agreements, especially Minsk II, which, incidentally, was modeled on South Tyrolean autonomy for the ethnic Germans in Italy. The Belgians too can relate to Minsk II very well, as it called for autonomy and language rights of the Russian speakers of Eastern Ukraine. Minsk II was supported unanimously by the U.N. Security Council. (The Minsk II agreement was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council through Resolution 2202, which was adopted unanimously on Feb. 17, 2015.)

Yet the United States and Ukraine decided it would not be enforced. Germany and France, the guarantors of the Normandy process, also let it be ignored. This dismissal of Minsk II was another direct American unipolar action with Europe as usual playing a completely useless subsidiary role though it was guarantor of the agreement.

Trump won the 2016 election and then expanded arms shipments to Ukraine. There were many thousands of deaths in the shelling by Ukraine in the Donbas. There was no implementation of the Minsk II agreement.

Then Biden came into office in 2021. I hoped for better but was profoundly disappointed once again. I used to be a member of the Democratic Party. I now am a member of no party because both are the same anyway. The Democrats became complete warmongers over time, and there was not one voice in the party calling for peace. Just as with most of your parliamentarians, the same way.

At the end of 2021, Putin put on the table a last effort to reach a modus operandi with the U.S., in two security agreement drafts, one with Europe and one with the United States. He put the Russia-U.S. draft agreement on the table on Dec. 15, 2021.

Following that, I had an hour-long call with [National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan in the White House, begging, “Jake, avoid the war. You can avoid the war. All the U.S. has to do is say, ‘NATO will not enlarge to Ukraine.’” And he said to me, “Oh, NATO’s not going to enlarge to Ukraine. Don’t worry about it.”

I said, “Jake, say it publicly.”

“No. No. No. We can’t say it publicly.”

I said, “Jake, you’re going to have a war over something that isn’t even going to happen?”

He said, “Don’t worry, Jeff. There will be no war.”

These are not very bright people. I’m telling you, if I can give you my honest view, they’re not very bright people. They talk to themselves. They don’t talk to anybody else. They play game theory. In noncooperative game theory, you don’t talk to the other side. You just make your strategy. This is the essence of non-cooperative game theory. It’s not negotiation theory. It’s not peacemaking theory. It is unilateral, noncooperative theory, if you know formal game theory.

**

Full article:

The final straw was Ukraine's renewed assault on the Donbass Republics. Former Swiss Intelligence Officer Jacques Baud gets into the details there:
**
In fact, as early as February 16 [2022], Joe Biden knows that the Ukrainians began to shell the civilian populations of Donbass, putting Vladimir Putin in front of a difficult choice: to help Donbass militarily and create an international problem or to sit idle and watch Russian speakers from the Donbass being run over.

If he decides to intervene, Vladimir Putin can invoke the international obligation of “ Responsibility To Protect ” (R2P). But he knows that whatever its nature or scale, the intervention will trigger a shower of sanctions. Therefore, whether its intervention is limited to the Donbass or whether it goes further to put pressure on the West for the status of Ukraine, the price to be paid will be the same. This is what he explains in his speech on February 21.

That day, he acceded to the request of the Duma and recognized the independence of the two Republics of Donbass and, in the process, he signed treaties of friendship and assistance with them.

The Ukrainian artillery bombardments on the populations of Donbass continued and, on February 23, the two Republics requested military aid from Russia. On the 24th, Vladimir Putin invokes Article 51 of the United Nations Charter which provides for mutual military assistance within the framework of a defensive alliance.

In order to make the Russian intervention totally illegal in the eyes of the public we deliberately obscure the fact that the war actually started on February 16th. The Ukrainian army was preparing to attack the Donbass as early as 2021, as certain Russian and European intelligence services were well aware… The lawyers will judge.

**

Source:
 
No, that's Russian propaganda. Ukraine did not ask to be invaded, their people killed and their children raped and kidnapped. That's ridiculous.

Yeah, I'm sure that's what Putin told trump and trump bought every word of it.

Bullshit.

Total horseshit. Ukraine has resources, Putin wants them, he's trying to take it by force. End of story.
FANTASY.
No, "fantasy" is you thinking you have a friend.

I consider Hawkeye to be a friend, even if only of the online sort. I think he's done and continues to do a lot of research on what's happening in the Ukraine war as well as the major parties involved. He likes youtube podcasters who are quite knowledgeable. I generally like the same crowd, only I tend to focus on their articles as I find it cuts down on the time I need to spend to learn what they have to say- plus, it's a lot easier to quote an article then it is to quote a youtube podcast.
 
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