Support for Ukraine is waning in the US and has totally dried up in Germany. French president Emmanuel Macron is making a symbolic last stand but it’s more likely to backfire than help Ukraine. 
Macron’s Heroic Stand
SPD Now Openly Supports Partition of Ukraine
I do no not have details of that because it’s behind a paywall. But it is from Eurointelligence, a source I trust for accuracy, but not philosophically. The latter because it is very pro-EU, and I am not.
In a Eurointelligence article that is not behind a paywall, please consider Scholzing, Season Two . The title is named after Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany.
Olaf Scholz is refusing to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. But the stated reason is clearly wrong. They do not require the dispatch of German ground troops to Ukraine.
What happened is that Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister, is now trying to solve Scholz’s German-troops problem through a ring exchange: send the Taurus to the UK, and let the UK increase its supplies of Storm Shadow missiles. But Scholz does not want that either.
This is another story of German unpreparedness. The two things that will need to happen are a change in immigration policies and a reform of the debt brake to exempt investments, including on security.
That’s just one position, but Germany is a key one.
I did a search for “EU Support for Ukraine Declines” and the article were split.
The problem is always how things are worded. Do you support Ukraine and are you willing to raise taxes to do so, are not the same thing.
In the EU, unlike the US, the money has to come from something other than thin air, and it also needs to be unanimous.
Foreign Policy magazine disagrees with what I said, so let’s take a look.
Can Europe Hold the Line on Ukraine?
That’s the question Foreign Policy Magazine asks Can Europe Hold the Line on Ukraine?
While America’s impressive commitment to Ukraine has diminished steadily over the last two years, Europe’s has increased. The percentage of Americans stating that the United States is providing “too much” support for Ukraine has grown. Now House Speaker Mike Johnson and a substantial part of the Republican caucus opposes legislation to further aid to Ukraine. Yet, Washington and Moscow have both been slow to recognize that Europe has marched in a different direction. Since February 2022, EU support for Ukraine has grown dramatically.
Countries like Germany—which initially refused to send any military support to Ukraine or even let such aid cross their airspace—now rank among Ukraine’s largest suppliers of military equipment. Public opinion polls show that Europeans continue to strongly support Ukraine. Moreover, EU countries went from politely refusing to consider Ukraine for EU membership before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, to offering Ukraine candidate status in June 2022, to opening membership negotiations in December 2023. France and Germany even supported NATO membership for Ukraine at the NATO Vilnius summer in 2023. Meanwhile, EU financial support for Ukraine accelerated. With a new 50 billion euro commitment, the European Union surpassed the United States to become the largest source of pledged funds for Ukraine, despite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s obstruction.
What explains this divergence between the growing level of commitment in Europe and the declining commitment of the United States? The answer is simple: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shattered Europe’s sense of security in a way that it has not for the United States.
In addition, European countries rapidly diversified energy supplies, quickly building liquefied natural gas terminals, finishing pipeline projects, and slashing reliance on Russian oil and gas to less than a third of its previous levels. European countries also slapped a price cap on Russian oil that forced Russia to find customers elsewhere. Revenues of Russia’s top oil and gas companies fell by 41 percent in the first nine months of 2023. While some energy-intensive industries in Europe suffered, Europe kept the heat and the lights on all winter. Europe will do so again this winter with the help of Ukraine’s massive gas storage facilities.
Support? What Kind of Support?
Support for Ukraine in opinion polls, support for Ukraine in NATO, willingness to spend money, and willingness to send weapons are four different things.
Here’s another interesting clip.
As Europe proved last winter, its population may accept the sacrifices necessary to defeat Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen frequently reminds Europeans that Ukraine “is fighting for us.” Yet currently, Europe’s commitment to this war remains relatively low when compared to Russia’s. Analysts estimate that in 2023 Russia spent at least 6.4 percent of gross domestic product on defense, compared to the average of 2.1 percent in NATO countries. To replace US military assistance, European countries would have to spend a higher proportion of their budgets on their militaries, trading off other priorities. While Europe has continued to ramp up support for arming Ukraine, creating new EU wide facilities, training Ukraine’s soldiers, and boosting European arms production, European countries have been reluctant to commit to large arms contracts. Europe would have to substantially increase its commitment to win without the United States.
Yet, doing so is not impossible. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already called for talks at the EU February summit, stating that, “the arms deliveries for Ukraine planned so far by the majority of EU member states are by all means too small … We need higher contributions.”
Scholz vs Scholz
Apparently there is Scholz and there is Scholz. The real Scholz just stood up.
On March 13, Politico reported Europe Accelerates While America Stalls
Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted on Wednesday it would be “irresponsible” to send Germany’s Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
He told the Bundestag that the only way to deliver the missiles would be with German staff in support, a decision he said is “out of the question.”
“That is a line that I — as chancellor — do not want to cross,” he said.
The Foreign Policy Magazine report reads more like western political propaganda than anything else. It is from February 13 so perhaps Scholz changed, but I doubt it.
No German Missiles for Ukraine
It’s not just Scholz personally. AP reports Germany’s parliament rejects a new opposition call to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
German lawmakers on Thursday rejected a new call by the opposition for the government to send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, a day after Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended his refusal to supply the weapons.
Parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, rejected the opposition Union bloc’s motion by 495 votes to 190, with five abstentions.
The criticism didn’t diminish after Scholz finally offered a detailed explanation last month, pointing to his insistence that Germany must not become directly involved in the war.
Von der Leyen, 2.0
Germany does not want to be involved in the war. But Macron, who once had the same position now does.
Foreign Policy noted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen frequently reminds Europeans that Ukraine “is fighting for us.”
Let’s hone in on that idea with another take from Eurointelligence.
Please consider Von der Leyen, 2.0
At stake at the European elections in June this year will be everything that defines the modern EU: a vast volume of net zero legislation, a values-based foreign policy and ever more intrusive business regulation. Polls suggest that the centrist majority that has supported these policies is getting thinner and thinner.
Ursula der der Leyen has been the quintessential representative of that majority.
Whether or not she will succeed, will depend to a large extent on whether the centrist four-party coalition that supported her in 2019 will hold.
What we are seeing all over Europe is a backlash against the kind of policies the von der Leyen Commission represented. The far-right is part of that backlash, but the main political shift that has taken place has been inside Ursula von der Leyen’s own political group – the European People’s Party, of which the German CDU/CSU is the largest member.
This backlash follows one of the most hectic political phases in recent EU history. When Covid struck in early 2020, von der Leyen was instrumental in setting up the EU’s recovery fund to help countries deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic. Then came the Green Deal, a large volume of legislation on renewable energy, land use and forestry, energy efficiency, emission standards for cars and trucks, and directive on energy taxes. There was also legislation to tighten standards on pesticides, air quality, water pollution and waste water.
Farmers are revolting against those policies because it affects their livelihoods. Industrialists, too, are not happy. An important part of the Green Deal was the Green industrial policy. The flagship legislation was the net zero industrial act. Industry used to be the EU’s strongest supporter. But with the new laws came new bureaucracy. All EU-funded investment must have a Green component of at least 30 percent. A carbon border adjustment mechanism, to take effect in 2026, will penalize imports that do not meet the EU’s own carbon emissions standards. Together, the EU legislations of the last few years amounts to a near total corporate regime change.
My expectation is that the hyperactive phase of the Green agenda will end with the June elections. Some of it might even go into reverse. I am even starting to doubt whether the EU will end up enforcing the 2035 target for the phasing out of the fuel-driven car. There is an industrial policy disaster in the making because Europe’s car makers are all having trouble selling their electric cars.
I would not rule that von der Leyen could once again assemble a majority. What I struggle to see is a coalition that encompasses both the Left and Meloni.
What is also not clear is whether Renew Europe, the liberal grouping in the European Parliament, will still support her. Support for liberal parties is weakening everywhere, including in France. Mark Rutte’s Party for Freedom and Democracy lost last year’s Dutch election. The German FDP is fighting for its political survival inside the coalition in Berlin. Von der Leyen’s hyperactive green industrial agenda represents the antithesis of what conservative-liberal parties like the FDP are standing for.
And herein lies the ultimate irony. If von der Leyen were to end up winning a second term, she would spend most of undoing what she did in her first term.
America Pulls Back from Ukraine
On March 14, the New York Times reported America Pulls Back from Ukraine
For two years, Ukraine has relied on American weapons to fight Russian invaders. It has bombarded Russian lines with U.S. artillery, destroyed tanks with Javelin missiles and stopped aerial attacks with Patriot launchers.
But American support has sharply declined. House Republicans have blocked additional aid to Ukraine, and the Biden administration cannot send many more weapons. (The $300 million package announced this week will likely help Ukraine for only a few weeks.)
Ukraine’s allies across Europe have not picked up most of the slack as American support has dwindled. [This position conflicts with Foreign Policy. Commitments and doing are two different things. Time frames are a third.] European countries have promised to build up their military spending to protect themselves and one another, but that process will take years. Ukraine might not have that long.
In the longer term, America’s diminished support will likely force Ukraine to cede more land. Russian forces currently hold about 20 percent of Ukraine’s former territory, and they want more.
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, recently talked about seizing what remains of Ukraine’s coastline, which would strangle Ukraine’s ability to send and receive shipments through the Black Sea. He also wants to take the rest of the eastern region of the Donbas, where Russia supported a separatist movement before the war.
The United States is not Ukraine’s only ally, but it is the only one with the willingness and means to supply Ukraine’s war effort. Many European nations lack a political tradition of arming other countries. They have sent Ukraine some impressive weapons, like German tanks and Swedish shoulder-fired missiles. But “they cannot pump out munitions,” Julian said. “They cannot produce large numbers of artillery shell rounds — the No. 1 thing Ukraine needs.” [Tanks are mostly useless and German tanks are suspect in particular. Germany did supply tanks but they are fodder for drones.]
On Second-Best Outcomes
Let’s return for a final time to Eurointelligence for On Second-Best Outcomes
When Russia suffered its first setbacks in the war against Ukraine in the spring of 2022, hubris ruled in the salons of western foreign policy discourse. Western governments pledged unconditional support for Ukraine for however long it would take. Some hotheads even called for the west to declare regime change in Russia as our official goal. Two years later, the hubris turned into depression. Russia has gained the upper hand in the war. Last weekend, Russia captured the town of Avdiivka to the north-west of Donetsk. Western military supplies for Ukraine have dried out. The Biden administration’s military aid package is stuck in Congress. But the drought in US supplies already started last autumn.
European ammunition supplies are also running below target. For the year to March, the EU had promised 1m shells, but will only be delivering half of that. Rheinmetall, the German defence contractor, said it will increase its current production by 10% this year. The big boost to production will not come until 2025 when a new factory goes online. In the short-run the situation on the battlefront will probably get worse for Ukraine.
The EU could buy ammunition on world markets, but Emmanuel Macron is blocking this, on the grounds that this would damage its own defence contractors. Germany could send Taurus cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia, but Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, fears that these missiles could trigger an escalation. Everybody has a reason to stall. To Vladimir Putin, it looks as though the West is backing off.
The long sequence of misjudgements started right at the beginning of the war with the western sanctions package. The idea was to deprive Putin of the means to fight the war. On that count, it was a complete failure. Iran is sending him drones. North Korea is sending him missiles. China is sending him dual-use goods and high-tech components. Western goods get re-routed through Kazakhstan into Russia.
Unlike the west, Russia has switched to a war economy. The result is that Russia grew faster than any of the large western economies last year despite the sanctions. The IMF is predicting the same again this year.
So what are the options now? The first and most important step for the west to take right now is to ditch the idea of total victory, and start thinking about non-binary war goals. Western leaders cannot deliver unconditional commitments beyond their term in office. We see this in the US right now. Joe Biden over-promised.
A realistic first goal should be to help Ukraine stop the advance of the Russian army. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, is potentially vulnerable to a Russian insurgence – or at least the eastern parts of the Kharkiv oblast. In other words, the west should switch its support to help Ukraine fight a defensive war, and shift supplies accordingly. The ultimate long-term goal should be to get to a point in which both sides realise they have more to gain by cutting a deal. We are not at that point now.
Political Reality
The political reality in the west is that political support for Ukraine aid is falling. In Germany barely half of the population supports weapon deliveries according to a recent poll. In Italy, support is even lower. With the return of fiscal austerity, support for Ukraine is starting to compete with domestic policies.
You might call the Congressional Republicans irresponsible. But they would not be doing this if a large majority of the US electorate supported Ukraine.
When total victory is no longer a realistic option, the second-best outcome is to avoid defeat.
Eurointelligence once again contradicts Foreign Policy. And again I side with Eurointelligence.
I suspect the US will reluctantly come up with more aid, but that will be the end of it if Trump is elected.
Putin Threatens the Use of Nuclear Weapons
Batting for Putin?
What’s the Real Background Story Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?
On February 24, 2022 I asked, and answered the question What’s the Real Background Story Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?
What Happened in Ukraine?
The mess today in Ukraine has its roots in the 2014 when democratically elected Ukrainian President Yanukovych was toppled in a US-backed coup.
Q: Why did the US want to get rid of Yanukovych?
A: Because he was against Ukraine joining NATO.
The current comedian president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, repeated two days ago his desire to join NATO.
I use the term comedian because he literally is a comedian who ran for office and won.
McCain dined with Svoboda Party leader Oleg Tyagnibok. The Svoboda Party is a group of neo-Nazis.
The citizens of Ukraine were used as pawns in yet another US mission that backfired.
Well who cares about Neo-Nazis as long as they want Ukraine in NATO.
And that’s the rest of the story US media will not discuss.
This no way absolves Putin, but US meddling backfires again, and again, and again.
Ukraine Flashbacks
- March 11, 2022: Russia Can Easily Survive, Perhaps Even Thrive, Isolated From the West
- April 21, 2022: How Russia Avoids Oil Sanctions: Transfer at Sea to “Destination Unknown”
- August 27, 2022: Ukraine Violent Stalemate Sets In, How Long Can It Last?
- September 19, 2023: Lesson of the Day: Sanctions Don’t Work Because They Create New Markets
- December 20, 2023: White House Hysteria: New Domino Theory, Putin Won’t Stop With Ukraine
What’s the Goal?
On November 7, 2023, I asked If the US Has a Goal in Ukraine or Israel, What the Hell Is It?
We still don’t have a clearly defined goal or a clearly defined amount of money we are willing to spend.
But we do know that support for endless wars is not unlimited.
Sometimes the Best Thing to Do Is Nothing At All
Please consider Sometimes the Best Thing to Do Is Nothing At All
After pointing out how much US and EU sanctions have backfired, someone asked me what I would do.
I responded, why do I have to do anything?
The urge to do something should not be so intense that it overpowers analysis as to whether any actions can possibly work.
President Biden on Putin
On March 26, President Biden proclaimed “For God’s Sake, this Man Cannot Remain in Power”
The Wall Street Journal and perpetual warmongers agreed. But Biden’s staff quickly backtracked on his controversial statement.
On March 29 I pointed out all the loopholes in sanctions on Russia, For discussion, please see Misguided Souls Still Do Not Understand This Simple Truth: Sanctions Don’t Work
I wrote that on April 8, 2022.
Also in 2022, I said the war would end in a negotiated settlement and nobody would win.
What did I get wrong?
The sad thing is US meddling precipitated this whole sorry affair.
It’s time for a new strategy and a goal: Negotiated settlement.
If we supply Ukraine with anything, we should only do so if it aids that goal. For now, we still have no goals.
Every strategy must have milestones and off ramps. There never was a strategy, nor will there be one. Perhaps we get lucky and doofus doesn’t stumble into a nuclear war with Hitler (oh, I mean Putin).
The elephant in the room is the same one which is responsible for increasingly all developments since at the latest 2010: The West lost. Everything. But refuses to recognize that. China has been a better ran country than ANY Western one, for decades. By now, even the rather less inspiring Kremlinstan is; at best; not any worse governed. And furthermore; the above has been going on for so long, the same now holds true even for quality of life for farand away most people: A random person is much better off born in China, than in America or Europe. Has been so for decades. And despite what the Ukraine lobby and card carrying members of the gullibles comprising the Western indoctrinati are being told to mindlessly regurgitate: That also now holds true even for Russia.
None of which in any way means neither China nor Russia is all that. But rather that “we” are now nothing more than a collection of bona fide hellholes. And nothing but.
No matter what lock limited indoctrinated Western (and honestly Ukrainian although they do have better casue…..) dupes are gullible enough to uncritically fall for; and no matter how “mean” bogeyman Putin is said to be: People, and countries, are still near infinitely better off governed by Putin, than “owned” by Blackrock. That will never change. No matter what.
The goal is to have have European democracies toppled by an autocratic dictator.
Support for autocratic rule is on the rise in the US, but support for the European democracies is still quite favorable.
“When Covid struck in early 2020, von der Leyen was instrumental in setting up the EU’s recovery fund to help countries deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic.”
Gaslighting. Economic consequences were due to the economic lockdowns. Governments chose to ignore the science.
WW1 began in 1914. This thus far proxy world war began in 2014. In 1914, an impromptu Christmas truce could have marked the end of the war. In this war, it could have ended in 2022, just months after it started, except for Boris Johnson representing those who wanted the war to continue to the far deadlier result to date.
Those involved are continuing to play with fire. Thus far the war has been contained, but events do spiral out of control due to changing circumstances. In Korea, there was a desperate fight to maintain a foothold in the southeast corner of the country. With the Inchon landing the U.S. gained the upper hand, but the plan was to save South South Korea and morphed into liberating the whole peninsula, which lead to China jumping into the war. There is a lesson in there waiting to be relearned.
Everything east of the Urals belongs to China if China stays out of the war.
“Ukraine Won’t Win the War”
Perhaps the (many) people who said ^^THIS^^ two years ago can be consulted/involved this time around…?
Noetic Continental | Part I: How CIA Foists Military Equipment Through Private War Companies
link to gospanews.net
link to noetic-intl.com
Ukraine has served its purpose. The Billions have been laundered, and divided up, the older weapons used up, and new orders to replace them are on the way, and the evidence has been hidden, and The message of a United World Order has been clearly sent.
There good (maybe take out a couple more oil fields, on the way out), and this will be over shortly…
Ukraine is damaging one or two oil refineries per day. By the end of April Russia won’t have petrol, Diesel, and kerosene. You’ll know when it’s over because Moscow won’t have automobile traffic, air service, nor railway service. Farm crops cannot be planted nor harvested without fuel. All ships run on fossil fuels.
Everyone in the world will experience high fuel prices. The Russians will experience no fuel at all.
Existential war is a two way street. Putin did not plan his Special Military Operation past the first three days and the big Victory Parade in Kiev. Russia can end the war any day by going home and paying reparations to rebuild Ukraine. Mail the first $100 Billion check to Zelinski in Kiev.
Drone attacks on Moscow keep the anti aircraft defenses pinned down. Nice Kremlin you got there. Be a shame if it burned down. Oil refineries are left defenseless. Life is full of choices. Putin prefers to keep his artful Kremlin and let the oil refineries burn.
Agent KGB are you really this fukin stupid or as a know nothing ivy leaguer with no life experience, have yoi been given the job of attempting to spread hilarious propaganda to “your own” people? I suggest you get out before you sell your entire soul. I despise all of you moloch lovers
Russian Culture Collapse:
link to twitter.com
Gone with the wind.
What is best in life, Zelinski?
“Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women,”
‘Putin did not plan his Special Military Operation past the first three days…’
Gen. Milley says Kyiv could fall within 72 hours if Russia decides to invade Ukraine: sources | Fox News
Russia is the least of Europe’s problems, as the coming elections will demonstrate.
America does nothing for any part of Europe other than exploit it, and most European countries don’t pay for NATO insurance – it’s a mutally abusive relationship.
Europe is facing a massive invasion now, and it’s not a Russian invasion. There is no chance that the population of European countries, seeing their leaders do nothing against the real invasion, will be mobilized by these leaders against a fantasized invasion.
Yep! Crime and social dysfunction is on the rise. Europe has traded it’s nice, peaceful, civilized society for a multicultural hellscape. And for what?
For crime, poverty, and disease.
“And for what?”
For the same reason as America. And before that Argentina: To enrich an ever shrinking clique of connected middlebrows-to-rank-imbeciles. By way of debasing useful members of society and handing the loot to the connected imbeciles. Who never created anything, never comprehended anything, never neither created nor even were of any value whatsoever. That’s the “what.”
You’ve got to wonder about the tenacity by which they destroy their own countries by importing foreign cultures, and at the same time fighting a common culture.
The case for lunatic asylum that the whole West has been led to.
Patriot systems are destroyed one after the other on the front line in Ukraine. The Ukrainians only have this to use as anti-aircraft defense. Russian sites have detected what they consider to be a new Western tactic for destroying Russian missiles: a Patriot system is placed on the front line, a Russian missile soon arrives and destroys it. That’s one less Russian missile!
Some good irony there!
Russia cannot win either. It doesn’t matter if ukraine has zero soldiers. Ukraine is the testing ground for AI robots by the west. AI robots should be classified as a category similiar to WMDs, but alas it isn’t. Russia cannot win.
Russia cannot lose.
“Ukraine is the testing ground for AI robots by the west.”
If the Ukrainians are dependent on whatever childbrain fantasies who are currently fashionable in “The West”, they’ve lost already.
Ukrainians are innovating militarily themselves, though. Much more relevant.
And far and away the most interesting takeaway from this conflict: Scrappy, rapid-iteration miltech inventions. Between the Ukranians and the Houthies; and perhaps a resurgent Afghan militia; they may; step by step; iterate towards ways enabling serious hurt to be put to the totalitarian has-been “superpowers” of the world.
And given that citizen militias; as specifically opposed to standing armies; are a necessary prerequisite for free societies and freedom in general: That can’t help but being a long-term boon. Even if less-than sentient chicken littles may be scared into remaining pliably bent over for Massa by a bit of possible transitional chaos.
Putin’s three day Special Military Operation was a colossal miscalculation. He bet the farm and he is losing his bohunkus. Another colossal miscalcucation is thinking Germany is not in it to win it. Rheinmetal this week contracted to build not one but three weapons manufactures in Ukraine. That is a large investment. German corporations do not make a move without government assurance that their investment will be protected. Rheinmetal has been promised they won’t lose the investment.
Any weapons factory built in the Ukraine will promptly be destroyed by Russia.
link to foxnews.com
Europe is mobilizing.
link to politico.eu
It is and it is only the start.
the start of the end, for Europe… imploding under obese public sector debt and ravenous hordes of islamic illegal immigrants. Russia is the least of Europe’s problems, as June’s elections will illustrate, and fantasies of “mobilisation” will be abruptly introduced to reality.
European socialism is playing the end game. Socialism failed at every attempt. Socialism always ends in dire poverty for all.
if only they had money to pay for that, and public support to back it: they don’t.
mobilizing what exactly?
Europe has ZERO effective military operations capacity. ZERO.
Good luck drafting/conscripting european millinnials to fight… the notion is laughable.
“miscalcucation”? Freudian slip much?
The miscalculation was obviously America’s and NATO’s. No amount of breathless propaganda changes the dynamic ebb and flow of military strategy and messaging.
Mish wrote in 2022 “Also in 2022, I said the war would end in a negotiated settlement and nobody would win.”
I am not seeing where a negotiated settlement comes from. At “best” I see a collection of local ceasefire agreements. Just as the borders between East and West Jerusalem of 1949 were originally just temporary ceasefire lines agreed to by the local commanders.
In the all-too-real possibility you mention elsewhere above, Russia takes control of the whole Ukraine littoral and eastern ‘Donbas’, but because of exhaustion can’t take all of Ukraine at the time. So Russia suggests terms for a temporary truce, which Kyiv has little choice but to accept. Likewise, Putin had annexed 5 Ukrainian oblasts. He may change his mind and decide that nominally-autonomous causes him less problems than explicitly annexed.
Look at a map of the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. The oblasts that went for Yanucovich. Those areas will all be annexed by Russia. Aka Novorossiya.
The women’s republics? Russia murdered all the men in those oblasts by sending them on meat attacks.
Russia doesn’t want western Ukraine, but it can choke its life out unless it signs the peace deal that Putin is going to dictate.
God Damn. You’ve changed! As a fellow Chi town boy. All your posting is B.S!!! ATM
Uh huh. Thanks for sharing.
Look at Putin’s posture, Look at his hands. His is hands signal submission. Does he look like a guy who will start WWIII
Putin is holding aces and eights.
wishful thinking like that won’t get much traction anywhere, why bother?!
The Ukraine war was lost a long ago. Military experts like Col. MacGregor and Scott Ritter said as much early on. As a result of this neocon stupidity 1/2 million Ukranian men and 100k Russian men lie dead. Thus, Putin has good reason to be angry with the West who intentionally fomented this war.
This war will end on Putin’s terms. They have ground the Ukrainian army to dust and they have ramped up their military machine. Jabba the Hut (aka Victoria Nuland) the architect of the Ukraine debacle going all the way back to the Obama administration, recently stepped down from her position in the State Department. Perhaps the Biden Administration is just going to pull another Afghanistan.
The important question is, why does anyone listen to these evil, stupid neocons when they have led us from one disaster after another?
Mish: What did I get wrong?
Third item that you get wrong:
Belief that all you need is to throw Ukrainians under proverbial bus and everything will be peachy again.
Nope. Just nope. Things will get ugly, very very ugly.
Even if every outside power will cut all military help to Ukraine, Ukraine is not devoid of internal resources.
All that means that Ukrainian resistance will never stop. To be fair Russians are mostly aware of this. For example Russian mil-bloggers talked about supposed 20 years of Ukrainian guerilla resistance and supposed unique Russian skills to suppress that guerilla activity. Well this may be… as over-optimistic as other Russian assumptions. But for wider world context this means that this region will remain one big source of instability for decades if not century or more (you may look at Israel if you do not believe in decades assessment).
It would be far far better to everyone if key world leaders would convince Putin to drop this stupid colonial war and instead to make some kind of reconciliation steps between Russian and Ukrainian nations. In ironic twist of fate this choice would be far better for Russia too in long term, because long term conflict with Ukrainians will suck Russian resources and every Ukrainian death produces more and more hostility.
CIA panic post. The only Nazis are in Ukraine, that subscribe to Stephan Bandera’s version of the ultra nationalist German Nazi party, Via the AZOV battalions which are basically all dead now.
Putin already tried to reconcile by agreeing to and following the Minsk Accords 1 and 2 in which Germany, U.K. and U.S. repeatedly violated.
There is no Nazis in Ukraine. At least no more than KKK members in US, i.e. no more than few scattered idiots.
And real life Stephan Bandera had almost nothing in common with imaginary bogeyman version created by Soviet propaganda.
Real Stephan Bandera fought against Polish occupation between WW1 and WW2. He was imprisoned in Sachenhausen concentration camp early in WW2 and spent all WW2 as Nazi prisoner.
Like I said, Russia has killed 90 percent of the AZOV battalions. The only ones left are the commanders that were not on the ground. They were part of the first NATO army that was destroyed in the beginning of the conflict.
So… what? Why do you think this is important?
Oversized battalion may have up to 1000 fighters. According to various estimates all Ukrainian military formations have from 900 thousand to 1 million 300 thousand personnel. In war where multiple Army Corps are executing single operation, destruction of single battalion is hardly significant event.
Yes, AZOV had/has oversized reputation. I guess Ukrainians will build nice monuments for them after war. But in brutal realities of mass war fate of single battalion do not have significant impact.
^ yeah, it’s well known Bandera was a Saintly man, beloved by small dogs and children, who fought for peace, love and justice
loser
No, Bandera was radical underground ‘freedom fighter’ (or terrorist if you are Polish). Notably in 1934, he organized the assassination of Polish Interior Minister Bronislaw Pieracki.
Soviet propaganda invented bogeyman out of him after WW2 because he was ‘freedom fighter’ of inconvenient sort, one that fought all occupying powers.
my family is from Poland, you are full of shit
If being a freedom fighter = working for Hitler and commiting genocidal massacres of hundreds of thousands, I guess we have varying definitions of freedom fighter
why haven’t you gone to Ukraine to fight Putin?
Absolutely… Ted.Starchild is glowing like Chernobyl: CIA panic post.
I’ve heard the average age of the Ukrainian army is 42 and they are starting to draft women. I guess you’re willing to fight to the last Ukranian.
I would suggest to think twice before believing Russian propaganda fantasies.
Second, I just explained that Ukrainians unlikely to submit to occupation and terror even if your statement was true.
I would suggest to think twice before believing American propaganda fantasies.
There… FTFY…
^ Field Marshall vonNuland has entered the chat
Isn’t that compromise what Putin offered initially, which would have been accepted but for the interference by Boris J ? It is the US and Europe that threw Ukraine under the bus.
pure drivel.
Yeah, Ukraine will not win the war because there are a bunch of right wing politicians, including Trump, who are eager to please Putin. Because despite the biggest military budget in human history, the US is incapable of winning a war to save its life. You know, defense spending is not only about enriching the industrial military complex.
Gee Andy, there a guy’s who volunteer to go over and fight. I’m sure you would be welcome and you might just win a Darwin Award!
“The Darwin Awards honor those who improve the gene pool by removing themselves from it. “
“Because despite the biggest military budget in human history”
Come on, man. Nothing adding a few more Trillion to the Defense Budget won’t cure. But if only adding money to the bloated Budget, and putting the economy on a war footing, would actually increase production of actually effective systems in large enough quantities. Just think, the USA could spend 100% of the whole Federal Budget on Defense, and everything would be quickly fixed!
OK, maybe not.
The prescient RUSI study of April 2022 entitled “The Return of Industrial Warfare” forecast all this exactly 2 years ago. The West lacks the capacity, and the ability, and the will, to catch up to Russian industrial military production, of today, by which time Russia will be producing even more. Now because so many NATO nations have sent so much arrms to Ukraine, and then Israel, the back-log to replace that is decades. To get to a situation where stockpiles are big enough to actually wage war with Russia , and all NATO nations ae ready to fight that war, schedule it in for about 2040.
TLDR: War with Russia now is not feasible. NATO has been defeated, go nuclear, or go home.
Putin is attempting to do what America attempted, and it’s backfiring much the way it did for America. (Sweden, Finland now in NATO)
Force always has the same result, America is still hated by Iran for Britain & Eisenhauer’s enforcement of the Shah over their own elected leader, much of South America for things Nixon did (namely Pinochet / Chile) and now the middle East for Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
For over 50 years it’s been the American Right’s excessively forceful foreign policy that’s gotten us hated….and now they point fingers elsewhere, claiming “it was Neocons, not us”
Mish claims America provoked Russia in 2014, I disagree, Russia tried to impose it’s own “Shah”/”Pinochet” and it backfired when Ukraine kicked him out.
Diplomacy, not force, wins allies, crying “but the U.S. did it” doesn’t make it right, Putin will mot force other countries to view Russia in a positive light, any more than we did.
Ukraine doesn’t want foreign rule any more than Iran did, nor Chile, the U’S. and NATO are only offering help to avail them self rule.
We didn’t invade or bomb Ukraine, we stopped doing that when Iraq backfired so badly even Republicans abandoned the “nation building” platform,
And in our defense, we were lied to about Iraq – We were fed our own version of “Denazification” – “WMD’s” the Green Zone….. by “Neocons”…who are apparently no longer the GOP, or, something.
.
Agent Starchild’s second email account. CIA needs to be drug tested.
The US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan after terrorists blew up the world center. We cut
our losses in Afghanistan, bc we surround Iran from 25 bases east, west and north of them. The last thing Iran wants is a war with the US. The last thing Biden needs is a regional war that might last until/beyond the Nov election. Biden’s new tough policy in the UN : prevents Bibi from invading Rafa and a prolonged ceasefire.
“cut our losses” is a hell of an understatement… $3BN of shiny new high tech weapons flooded the black market following that cut and run.
Do you think it gives much confidence in places like Taipei, never mind Kiev?
More glowie wishful thinking.
“Mish claims America provoked Russia in 2014, I disagree, Russia tried to impose it’s own “Shah”/”Pinochet” and it backfired when Ukraine kicked him out.”
McCain wasn’t a vacationer who accidentally walked into Maidan Square during a protest. He was there to meddle. Yes, Russia was provoked, just as the U.S. was during the Cuban missile crisis.
There are not enough 155mm in Ukraine and in the US. Demand is high. The cost of 155mm is $8,000. Ukraine spends 100,000 155mm/month. A smart 155mm/GPS Excalibur M982 cost $68,000. 2,000,000 155MM were used by Ukraine. When Putin artillery opens their mouth, Ukrainian radars and US satellites expose them. Within minutes the battery is gone. Ukraine has rockets that can fly 300 miles. They can hit targets in any direction. Their motion isn’t ballistic like the 155mm. They can hit bunkers or widows. Drones are looking for moving targets, ammunition dumps and Russian logistics centers. They are attacked either by 155mm or missiles. The Russians step back. HIMARs can shoot and disappear fast. HIMAR stopped the Russian offensive.
Two F16 can drop 8 M84 bombs on one target. That quickie is 7/8 tons. They come,
unload, disappear, and come back for new mission. One 155mm battery has to shoot for 10 min nonstop until their gun melt to compete with them. The first M84 can open
a cavity on the roof. The next ones cont down to the basement. They can blowup bunkers. 155mm can’t. There are plenty of recycled F-16 in the world.
Get me 20 red votes.
Ukraine isn’t going to last the summer. The reason we’re $34 Trillion in debt is because dumbass believe all the crap the evil politicians spew.
They can probably last for ages doing very little but using up what’s left of their gear, the Russians are happy to seige them dry.
Mish: What did I get wrong?
Second item that you (and overwhelming majority of americans) get wrong:
Belief that some sort of “compromise” agreement can be reached.
But in reality this war is colonial war and outcome of colonial wars by their very nature are binary: either imperialist power (in this case Russia) manages to conquer (in this case re-conquer) colony or fails to do so. Most Ukrainians and most Russians instinctively understand this but most westerners do not
Imagine if someone said to Washington after Battle of Lexington: “hey you have to accept that you have no chance to defeat British Empire. You must preserve lives of American youth! Your little uppity colonies will stay as British colonies, obviously, rebel leaders will be hanged, obviously, but some sort of compromise must be reached”.
Obvious goal of imperialist side in colonial war is to “break” (future) colonial nation, to force its population to accept subservient status, exact legal forms are not important. We had small glimpse of probable Russian policies in Bucha massacre and other less famous massacres (for example Izum).
Goals of colonial population in liberation war is obvious too:
I once said that best example is Algerian Independence War.
Back in beginning France said that Algerian independence is completely out of question. Pieces of Algeria was ‘departments’ of France, Algeria was ‘integral’ part of France forever. Independence War lasted 8 years, about one million Algerians died in process (mostly civilians) but in end France get f. out of Algeria.
Yes it takes great effort and many casualties to convince imperialist power to accept its de-imperialization. Everyone understands that. Or at least should understand.
But even more people fail to understand that this is high stakes war for Russia too.
Russian control in Russian sphere of influence (what Russia calls “near abroad”) is based on implicit threat of military invasion. If Russian military adventure in Ukraine fails, then entire Russian empire can start to unravel. French empire is good example again: high-profile military defeat in Vietnam encouraged Algerians to rebel and second high-profile defeat in Algerian Independence War caused rapid failure of entire French Empire. We already see some nervous reactions from pro-Kremlin mil-blogers, for example in form of threats to ‘de-nazify’ Kazakhstan.
Your analysis is good but in this case it would be as if France after recognizing Algeria’s independence by formal treaty after twenty years decides to invade Algeria in the most brutal fashion to take control of it again.
You have been in your cubicle too long agent. Long post on irrelevant and unrelated historic references that do not coincide in a logical explanation regarding this topic. Did you cut and paste and then fill in a few spots?
Might as well call me an agent too, and by the way – Who are you? Where are you from?
I don’t recall seeing you comment here before.
You’re not clever enough to be an agent: we can tell from your dumb posts.
Most agents are utter retards. They are oligarch family that got in to Ivy schools, paid full tuition, and were recruited with ZERO life experience in anything. And these are the fukin criminals that “craft policy” in agencies and govt staff positions. We are doomed
All of these people are Russian bots.
Extremely well written, thank you.
Putin is attempting to do what America attempted, and he refuses to see it’s backfiring much the way it did for America. (Sweden, Finland now in NATO)
He could have chosen a different route, but now he’s frequently resorting to saber rattling “nukes” and the western world is increasingly less inclined to abide.
He’s made himself the new Stalin/ Hitler.
.
Clown post.
There are too many people who adore Scott Ritter and Col McGregor passion. High end journalists keep bringing them on for ratings. They are worshiped like gods. Their doomsday predictions failed for two years. Their “enlightenment” audience doesn’t care.
Larry Johnson: Russia Warns of War’s Escalation
link to youtube.com
When the bully threatens, yes, worry…oh no, he.. might threaten some more of we don’t fear him.
They are loved on Russian TV. Gives them hope or something like that.
When it gets to the point the elected officials in the highest level of government successfully drum up support to impeach the executive using disinformation handed to them by Putin, it’s time to reflect.
Maybe time to ask – Where is all this “Deep state”, “Fake news” and anti-government sentiment coming from?
Don’t get me wrong, I hate a vast majority of the way my government functions, especially with money in politics, but I hate Putin’s Oligarchy far, far more.
Over 50 un-elected American intelligence officials are the ones that signed their names to the disinformation they created themselves.
Russia didn’t hand them anything.
🎯 NINE
show us on the doll where The Putin touched you.
Those two are not necessary for anyone to realise what is and isn’t going to happen.
Is NATO going to pile in with millions of troops, thousands of tanks, aircraft, vessels, artillery, and missiles? No… why not? 1. It would prompt nuclear war; 2. They haven’t got any available to mobilise, fuel, or feed, or supply with ammunition; 3. it would have dire global economic consequences – never mind Nancy’s insider trading on US defence stocks, or Hunter’s corruption payments, or Volodimyr’s embezzlement.
Idiot politicians and generals have sent men to the slaughter many times in the past. General Douglas “Butcher” Haig was one such person in WWI (google him). If Macron et al don’t realise that a NATO-Russia confrontation will reply escalate to nuclear war they are criminal psychopaths
Looks to me that Putin is the one sending his men into slaughter in a war he decided start. A three day military operation it was supposed to be. Now what do you do with someone who threatens nuclear war to other nuclear powers if they don’t surrender because that is what it comes down to?
U.S./NATO trained and equipped over 250,000 Ukrainian troops from 2014-2021. Zelensky was in talks and had a negotiated settlement drafted and was about to sign it when Boris Johnson from the U.K. visited and told him No. Russia didn’t start anything. But, they are going to finish it.
That is Putin’s line to justify the invasion.
facts are hard things Doug, which is why you don’t deal with them
If China trains 250,000 Mexican troops, equips them, provides them with recon and intel to attack the USA, and they then starts killing Americans living in Mexico, is the US justified to invade Mexico?
Of course not, then the USA would be as bad as Putin.
No, it’s just not the line you are pushing to justify America’s coup.
I think you know I agree, we often don’t.
America started this war, with it’s coup in 2014, and bombardment of Ukrainian civilians who speak Russian, for about 8 years. What do you call someone who tests banned biologcal WMDs in Ukraine labs and lies about it (and their corruption)?
Haig has an unfair reputation
Funny how oligarchs only exist in Russia and Ukraine. Bezos? Gates? Nope.
Putin is church supported? Really? Explain Kadyrov and crazy Chechens. I can’t but I’m impressed. Talk about making sworn enemies into allies.
We’ve gone beyond mere defeat for Ukraine – now the threat is their flirting with demographic extinction. (Eric Prince, Blackwater plus many Ukrainian observers of emigration and their birth rate). Their land will be poisoned and full of mines and unexploded munitions amidst probable hyperinflation. The US/EU wrecked Libya in the name of ‘duty to care’ and then walked away. Ukraine will lose value once they can’t kill Russians.
Mish: What did I get wrong?
You mean besides regurgitating Russian propaganda fantasies about “the Real Background Story Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine“?
In reality there was no “US meddling” in 2013 Ukrainian revolution. Indeed, those events took US and EU by surprise. Revolution was spontaneous explosive reaction caused by Yanukovich promising and then retracting promise to sign EU agreement. Agreement was not very important one, but many Ukrainians pinned tons and tons of hope on it. If Yanukovich would have handled this situation in less stupid way he may well still be president/dictator of Ukraine (see shrewder dictator named Lukashenko in Belarus…).
I do not know if you honestly believe in propaganda, you are peddling or not, but if you believe then this is first item you are wrong. To be continued…
The CIA must be sleeping in late today. Glad you finally made it.
The problem with this “revolution” is that it was made in the anti-russian part of the country (they did vote 73% against Yanukovich in Kiev). This could not be accepted in the eastern part, where 90% did vote for him, or in Crimea (75%)
You put too much faith in fake election results. As subsequent events demonstrated there was not much real support for Yanukovich.in any part of Ukraine. Do you forgot that he escaped to Russia and not even attempted to gain any power in Eastern Ukraine in his supposed stronghold?
Hey agent starchild:
Do you mean like Operation Mockingbird propaganda?
Or the countless other criminal agency propaganda programs?
“F**k the EU”. That is a quote within the context of the US (Nuland) deciding who would be in the Ukraine government. A bad decision by a leader doesn’t justify a coup in which he runs for his life.
Great work as always Mish.
I don’t think this will change the outcome, but has revealed a Russian ( and probably global) vulnerability to drone strikes on oil infrastructure.
link to news.yahoo.com
The three facilities hit in Ukraine’s attack account for about 10 percent of Russia’s oil-processing capacity, according to FT’s report.
“A Ukrainian official told The Financial Times that the strategy is “to deprive the enemy of resources and reduce the flow of oil money and fuel.”
Do trust whatever FT and other corrupt msm try to tell their brainwashed audience !
link to youtube.com
3 minutes – hit 1000 miles within Russian borders
….in the meantime Whorekraine has 0% oil production capacity
Didn’t say Ukraine was going to win.
I said they have exposed a vulnerability to sitting duck oil infrastructure using drones.
This allows smaller players to get in on the action.
Like the middle east.
And what do you think Russia might do if long range weapons are given to Ukraine to hit deep within Russia? Britian is trying to pretend its still agreat power when it is a basket case. They have 40 tanks total in their army and their Navy is a laughing stock.
Ron Paul guy has a review of the Tic Tok controversy.
link to mailchi.mp
“House Republicans have blocked additional aid to Ukraine”
I wonder if there is not a tacit agreement between the Republicans and the Democrats. Both camps are for stopping the “Ukraine project”. They have done well: each of the two camps can hold the other responsible for the cessation of aid to Ukraine. The Democrats denounce the Republicans’ blockage, and the Republicans denounce the refusal to deal with the problem of the southern border, which would have made aid to Ukraine possible. So America as a whole is not responsible for anything.
Republicans and Democrats are one and the same. They are all getting rich on the kickbacks for whatever crises arises week to week.
This guy has done a good job of posting reality on the Ukraine debacle.
link to moonofalabama.org
That is Larry Johnson’s website. Him and Ray McGovern are ex-CIA. excellent analyzers.
Here is link to you tube explanations from Larry Johnson
link to youtube.com
Larry’s site is sonar21.com, Moon of Alabama is different.
Yes, Moon of Alabama has been spot on for a long time,
Mish, you left out or did not perceive the real reason for the wicked evil witch Victoria Nuland change of president there in 2014.
It was to get the right guy in place to do the money laundering for the Obama / Biden / Nuland crime syndicate. They send a BILLION and the kick back to the crime family is whatever they want, say 20%, or TWO HUNDRED MILLION! It is now revealed that the money went to the 12-15 off shore companies Hunter Biden set up for distribution to the Obama / Biden family crime syndicate.
Does anyone seriously believe that Obama got the tens of MILLIONS of cash to buy his five multi-Million dollar houses from his government salary or some flaky book deals??
Why is Biden still sending hundreds of Millions to Zelensky still, as it is obvious that the war is lost? A guess, repeat a guess, it is so Zelensky will not reveal the details of the money distribution?
Macron is just stirring the pot and the E.U. have shot themslves in the foot politically, financially and economically . . . the European Parliament has no power whatsover its all upstairs . . . Ursula der der Leyen days are numbered and she is angling to becoming the head of NATO while Macron wants her job. Europe is a mess and broke and the coming elections will swing it to the right . . . Get ready for a CIRCUS . . .
It’s not important that Ukraine win. It’s important that they don’t lose. Best solution is that they become sort of a (more) corrupted version of Switzerland.
As for support waning. What else is new? The US had trouble selling War Bonds in 1944.
Putin in the Ukraine now is Hitler in the Rhineland in 1936 or in the Danzig Corridor in 38. Putin has made no secret about wanting to put the band back together, as China has made no secret about wanting to restore itself as the Middle Kingdom and the center of the world. If you think Putin will get what he wants and go home as a happy and contented man you are in for a nasty surprise in the future. Old saw about those who forget history are condemned to repeat is a trope, but a true one. Problem is the second time is usually not a farce.
yeah, Russia has invaded Europe so many times in the past, for sure they will do it again. You really kow youre history Herb.
actually Russia invading Europe and getting rid of the EU would be an improvment over the present situation, but Putin won’t do it, damn him. Lets’ start a petition.
The news concerning the French economy is increasingly worrying. Budget cuts have already been announced, then increased, growth forecasts are collapsing, the number of business bankruptcies is exploding. And on top of all this we await with concern the decisions of the rating agencies which should arrive in April-May, it will certainly be very unpleasant.
It is already predicted that the debt burden will be the first state budget in 2027. With the ratings lowered, it is expected to be even worse, perhaps even next year. France is gradually getting closer to the Greece of the 2010s.
So all these rumors of war are indeed just noises. The French army is not of serious size to claim to wage war against Russia. This army would also be much better used in France, with more and more uncontrollable zones.
So, to try to forget macabre news and perspectives, what could be better than playing war with a wooden saber?
The war of attrition is proceeding as intended to the inevitable collapse of the Russian Federation. Europe contributed very little until USA went cold turkey quits. Sometimes you need to slap a mule across his head with a two by four to get him to move. Now Europe is dimly aware that they must raise an army, manufacture weapons, and support Ukraine lest they face the Russian hordes themselves. Ukraine is worth sacrificing to defeat the Moscow slave culture. Only Ukrainians could disagree, They have no choice but to fight or be enslaved again.
War of attrition….. thats right there is hilarious.
The eeeeevill soviets will be coming through the Fulda gap any day right KGB? That fuckin loser mindset is in stone on boomers and will never change until we turn that loser generation page
We do appreciate your eloquent contribution but…. Wha’ a fn ignorant , msm brainwashed fool you are !
Russians refuse to accept their fate and down vote reality. That’s good. Putin is impaling the flower of Russia on an Ukrainian trident faster than they can reproduce. Putin is the West’s most valuable player. Isn’t it great when the Maidan plan comes together and your enemy cooperates? After the election Putin will mobilize another million Russian men. This time the bourgeoisie of Moscow and St. Petersburg won’t be spared. You cannot escape because Russian borders are closed tight. You get two weeks training and two magazines, 60 rounds of ammunition. You will be welcomed to Ukraine with an endless supply of drone dropped land mines and 4.7 million rounds of USArmy surplus cluster munitions. The vaunted ammunition shortage was a lie.
It is a war of attrition, but, it’s Ukraine that’s attriting.
Have you guys any idea why France of all places, has become so fckn bellicose towards Russia in recent months, weeks even !? Well, let me explain : it is ALL about AFRICA !! Nobody in the western, so called ‘democratic’ (lol) world, actually gives a fckn shit about basket case Whorekraine, the most corrupt nation, or what s left of it, on the fckn planet ! In the meantime though, Russia ‘s political influence has now become predominant in countries like Mali, Burkina Faso,Tsjaad, Niger, C A R, Gabon, Guinea and other (ex) French colonies and ticking , putting a final end to France’s colonial slavery and exploitation for cheap natural resources benefitting ONLY France and the African local corrupt political mfrs they ve been bribing for ages in order to play along . THAT is what it is all about NOT about fckn Whorekraine ! So don t you even doubt it, sore loser , Louis XIV, alias Macron, is definitely considering sending thousands of his, kicked out of Africa soldiers , to Whorekraine ! On the other hand the fckn US of A ‘s criminal agenda, or wet dream rather , has always been ever since WW2, destroying and carving up Russia under the ‘divide et impera’ policy ! SO let NOBODY tell you that the insane risk of WW3 is about fckn Whorekraine , you d be stupidly gullible if you believed similar BS ! Thanks Mish for letting me explain and please pardon my fckn f words ….
Louis XIV was the Enlightenment king. He believed that a ruler should better the lives of his subjects through art and science, but with a limited toleration for liberties and voting rights. His two grandsons : Louis XVI and Carlos III built the navies and forces that oust GB from the American colonies.
The Europeans competed with each others to block Islam from expanding in Africa and to extract commodities. Belgium, that little microbe, was the most brutal and the worst offender. Reverse colonialism infested Europe.
Macron attacks Israel to please his Muslim population.
Louis XIV was the epitome of absolutism in a kingship and not at all tolerated liberties nor voting rights. He was for art and science as long as it was in his service. As for ousting GB from the oceans, I think it was rather the contrary.
wtf you on about !?
We need to unleash the power of the printing press to help Ukraine. $60 billion is pocket change. How about $60 trillion? Just add it to the tab.
Putin’s war on Ukrainians ends when Jinping publicly criticizes Putin for his action. Instead of sending weapons and money, US officials should hammer out a deal with Jinping.
Another Ukraine piece? Must be a slow day.
A couple of new things have emerged. One is that Macron said what every other head of state in Europe is thinking but not saying yet, notably that European troops will be in Ukraine in numbers if necessary. Secondly Scholtz said that British troops have been in Ukraine for a while. It would be more accurate to wonder which Nato country does not have troops in Ukraine already. The fact is that Europe sees preserving Ukraine as existential to Europe’s security. The debate is over. Even Le Pen came out against Russia for the first time in from of the National Assembly in France. Another development is the EU commission setting up a common arms production program and putting in serious money into it to finance and subsidize munition production and R&D and of course it will be expanded to levels not even conceived of a few years ago. They said it was for defense against Russia but they underlined that it is also for security in general. Read in between the lines and you see that it is also for securing Europe’s borders. Essentially Europe is gearing up for a war economy and will out-produce Russia.
Additionally they announced yesterday that the interest on the frozen Russian funds will go to purchase arms for Ukraine. The ball for peace has been in Putin’s court for a long time now and as Macron said recently, there is nothing more to discuss. Once that sinks in the choice becomes binary. You either surrender or you fight. Europe decided to fight. The folk memory of what it is like to be occupied is very strong. If you are not in Europe it would be hard to understand what is going on and how everything has changed in the last two years.
Now I wait for all the down votes.
You are getting down voted because you have no idea what you are talking about. If NATO seriously committed troops and walked across the border it would be a nuclear war. Right now Russia is just annihilating NATO commanders and CIA advisors and mercs with targeted strikes. If Russia wanted to prosecute a real war Kiev would already be wiped off the face of the earth. Life in most of Ukraine goes on with the day to day normally. Quit being a fox news tard.
You think so? If Russia was so good as that they would have conquered Ukraine in the first days but they couldn’t. You overestimate Russia’s industrial and manpower capabilities. The numbers are against Russia and if you are counting on making up the shortfall by superior elan then you are mistaken.
You must have trouble with basic math. Russia initially went in to try to force a negotiation for settlement. Because of all the violations of the Minsk accords 1 and 2. Ukraine killed over 14,000 in the Donbas region of Ukraine after the far right Azov divisons took over control of Zelensky. Russia has destroyed 3 different armies that NATO formed.
Over 500,000 dead, over a million wounded, hundreds of thousands missing arms and legs.
Russia has signed up around 1.5 million men who have been trained or are being trained. Russia is signing up over 10,000 men a month as we chat. Russia is preparing for nuclear war, not a conventional war. You need to educate yourself
My math is good. Yours is magical thinking. You reveal yourself when you say that Russia will go nuclear if we don’t bow down to them. That is what expressly convinced everyone that Putin and Russia must be stopped because you can’t deal with someone like that. It has been expected for a long time that Putin will go nuclear.
You, as an American agent, are in no fckn position to moralize ! So far it was the US of fckn A that dropped 2 nukes on a already defeated enemy ….
The former FromBrussels knew how to argue. This version has no idea how to do that so it just insults and accuses others of being agents.
you watch too much CNN. When exactly did Putin say The USA has to bow down, again?
“It has been expected for a long time that Putin will go nuclear”
Yeah, the obvious ploy for victory – start nuclear, win! Putin is a genius!
….and yet Nazilensky was willing to sign a peace agreement with Russia in Istanbul in Marz 22……TILL Boris fckn Johnson flew over to Kiev actually forbidding (bribing) Zlensky to do so ! All the military support you need you ll get to bring Russia to its knees he must ve said …and personal riches beyond your imagination….
Bucha happened.
OF COURSE….now I remember how all of a sudden dead people showed up laying on the streets DAYS after the Russians had withdrawn….only a fool wouldn t see it was all staged ….
And Ukraine did it.
France should first control its own borders from now on, which are real sieves. Then it should deal with the events taking place on its own territory and which increasingly resemble a war, rather than dealing with what is happening elsewhere.
It is plain obvious Doug you are some kind of an ex American overseas official… That being said, explain to me how allready overendebted nations are going to switch to a war economy , nations lacking resources, having dramatically outsourced production of components to not so friendly nations ?? We don t stand the chance of a snowball in hell to overcome Russia boy(texas accent ) ! Let s try it anyway, wouldn t stay near Paris if I were you boy….EVIL now comes straight from Paris, London and Washington….although Warschau s a mfr too …
Don t you think the electorate should be asked whether we want war or not ? Votes will go to anti war parties in june , you ll see ! Nope Marine does not want more support for Whorekraine ….ask ‘ton chou’ to translate in case there s any doubt ..
Under the banner of Putin (imaginary) invasion France and Germany are building their defense industry. They beef up their armies. Iran and the Hooties are testing new hypersonic missiles. If the Hooties sink a NATO ship it will boost the defense policy. There are not enough warships to fight China and Iran. High paying jobs in the defense industry feed their satellites and replace China policy.
Ukraine stalled. Abu Mazen to Hamas ==> “The Palestinian people are split since Hamas took over Jasa in 2007. Who did u consult with before u started the Oct 7 fantasia. U caused a Nakhba worse than the one in 1948. Hamas leaders escaped Jasa. They live in Qatar in 7 star hotels. There is NO Palestinian STATE without Jasa, but Jasa is gone. The Palestinian people want a ceasefire, supply and a buildup, but Hamas leaders don’t care” That Abu Mazen, not Bibi.
“Under the banner of Putin (imaginary) invasion France and Germany are building their defense industry. They beef up their armies.”
At best the defense industries won’t be up until 2030, and that assumes they give up their Green fantasies and burn coal like there is no tomorrow.
Then beef up their armies with whom? You do know about Europe’s demographics right? Do you think they can draft the immigrants? Maybe in another generation. Right now it’s “Why would I die for you?”
The best outcome is that the US loses its dominant position in international affairs and stops pulling allies into quagmires.
Got to love Macro pulling the “if we don’t stop them in Ukraine, WE’RE NEXT” card. They have been telling us for over two years that Russia can’t fight their way out of a paper bag yet somehow Macro thinks they will go after France once they polish off Ukraine.
I believe that Mish has the precipitation of the Ukraine war wrong.
Russia, at least since 2000, and at times before that, has wanted control of Ukraine, at least to make Ukraine its student, under its tutelage. Russia had meddled in Ukrainian presidential elections twice before 2014, losing in Yanukovich’s first run for president and winning the second time. (Is Russia:Belarus a better model?)
In and before 2014 Ukraine was negotiating for a good economic deal with both the east and west. Ukraine’s population wanted a deal with the west. The E.U. insisted that Yulia Tymoshenko, a former PM then political prisoner be released, as part of an economic deal. Yanukovich abruptly ended those negotiations and concluded a deal with Russia. Protests erupted. Yanukovich failed to quell those protests. Parliament imposed early elections. Yanukovich fled.
– We still have arguments whether the U.S. caused or promoted those protests, and how much involvement neo-Nazi political factions had in them. (I say “so what?” regarding those neo-Nazi accusations. The same accusations were made at the time that Slovakia and Croatia won independence.)
There continue to be arguments over our diplomacy towards Ukraine during the entire era 1991 to today, and often times such as 1991 and 2014 the U.S. government has held back, way back, from Ukraine in order to avoid antagonizing Russia. Vs. during GW Bush’s administration when we advocated too much for Ukraine NATO membership. Diplomacy can be a tricky job.
Going back to the Reagan administration, Secretary of State, James Baker, met with Mikhail Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze. With the reunification of Germany, it was promised that NATO would not expand to the east towards Russia. Since that meeting and with the beginning of the Clinton Administration, 16 additional countries have been added, the latest being Sweden. Many of the countries admitted to NATO are east of the German borders, many bordering Russia.
keep on watching CNN boy …
“I say “so what?” regarding those neo-Nazi accusations”
yeah, those 30 or 40 militias units with the Nazi tattoos and the SS sysmbols and those hundreds of thousands of well armed landscape painters, beloved of small dogs and children, inspired by thier spiritual leader Bandera, they have nothing to do with Nazis, nothing at all. Nope. Like General Z, recently booted to London,who has a Nazi symbol bracelet and 2 busts of Bandera in his office. Who doesn’t have 2 busts of Bandera in their office, anyway?
Belarus is a great model. Lukashenko is fantastic. His hamburgers have potato and salad in them. link to m.youtube.com
How many more innocent Ukrainians need to die, be displaced or dismembered before Biden’s puppet masters are satisifed?
SCOTT RITTER LIVE | America’s Next Conflict CHINA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, IRAN
link to m.youtube.com
“We” should have never been involved. The “new strategy” should be to get out of the 5 active wars and 2 proxy wars and take care of our own business instead of destroying nations and ending human life
The biggest funder of this war has been America. Europe follows what America dictates. Compromise could hurt the Democrats image before this coming Election.
Also many Elections even in Europe in 2024 — so a stalemate seems baked in.
Nothing serious will probably be done towards Peace until 2025.
The problem for the politicians (any politician) is that when they make the wrong call, they are like an inept gambler. Instead of cutting losses, they will ‘double-down’. No way in hell that a politician will admit that their ‘omnipotent acumen’ was wrong. Their delusions cause many innocents to suffer.
Ukraine was a a money laundering scheme for the corrupt U.S. political class to steal U.S. citizen tax dollars which were repatriated back to defense contractors and then repaid in donations and transfers to secret bank accounts. Most of the money never made it to the ground in any meaningful way.
And most of the weapons were diverted and sold off on the black markets. As we are now seeing American weapons showing up all over south America and Africa and even in Gaza.
Ukraine was sacrificed and had no chance to win from day one. Zelensky basically ordered over 500,000 men to their deaths because he was installed by the U.S. for the U.S. You can not win a war with no air support. Which they did not have from day one.
Welcome to the left side of the bell curve that the majority of humans represent.