(July 5, 2025 at 11:00 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

Quote:THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Two Dutch intelligence agencies said on Friday that Russia is increasing its use of prohibited chemical weapons in Ukraine, including the World War I-era poison gas chloropicrin.

The Netherlands' military intelligence and the security service, together with the German intelligence service, found that the use of prohibited chemical weapons by the Russian military had become "standardized and commonplace" in Ukraine.

According to the findings, the Russian military uses chloropicrin and riot control agent CS against sheltering Ukrainian soldiers, who are then forced out into the open and shot.

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called for more sanctions against Moscow, and continued military support for Kyiv.

Brekelmans, who stayed on in a caretaker role after the Dutch government collapsed last month, said that he doesn't want to see the use of chemical weapons become normalized.

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russi...0683628712

I look forward to the day Ukrainian SpecOps finally gets to Putin.

Quote:The Defense Department is expected to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine, a reversal from the Trump administration’s decision last week to halt shipments of some missiles and munitions to Kyiv.

The update comes after President Trump, while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the U.S. must send more weapons to Ukraine so the war-torn country can defend itself against Russia’s ongoing onslaught.

“Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess,” the president told reporters. “We’re going to send some more weapons.”

“We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves,” he added. “They’re getting hit very hard now.”

The Pentagon confirmed the move Monday night, adding that the review of U.S. military stockpiles will continue.

“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.

(July 7, 2025 at 9:50 am)Leonardo17 Wrote:

(July 5, 2025 at 10:55 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Defeating Russia in Ukraine quickly would allow him to better focus on China. If, as you assert, that is his goal, then he ought to give more, and more deadly, aid to Ukraine, not less.

D. Trump might not be the most virtuous man on earth but I think he knows what he is doing on this issue. Afghanistan was a financial quagmire for the United States. There was no other solution for the US but to stay there indefinitely. Because it was not possible to create a Taliban-Proof Afghan government because the Afghan Government was basically a thing on paper that has nothing to do with the democratic governments in Japan or South-Korea after the end of the war in these regions.
 
I don’t know if Ukraine is very different from that. Let me explain: Many Ukrainians have simply fled the country and are not paying the ultimate price for their freedom. Corruption is also very widespread (like in many former-socialist countries). But it is true that the majority of Ukrainians will fight the Russians until the end if they have to.
 
Still: Russia is a formidable opponent. Putin is making the economy work based on military spending and export of oil. Russian who are not at the front have a rather good life with a good income. As strange as it mat sound, with 1/4th of the workforce dead or fighting on the front and another 1/4th who have fled to whatever country they can, the one who remain have good job offers and salaries. There are even people who come from central Asian states to work and end up being recruited in the Russian military.
 
So Russia is like another planet (for the first time since the end of the USSR). So you cannot defeat them “quickly”.
 
But as I said, A more emotional person may not have seen this as it is in both countries.
 
In fact the only issue with Trump is that the US might become a less democratic country when he is gone. That would be my focus if I was a US citizen.

(July 10, 2025 at 1:32 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote: I hear Hegseth neglected to inform his boss that we were pausing weapon shipments to Ukraine.

(July 7, 2025 at 9:50 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: D. Trump might not be the most virtuous man on earth but I think he knows what he is doing on this issue.

Quote:In fact the only issue with Trump is that the US might become a less democratic country when he is gone. That would be my focus if I was a US citizen.

(July 10, 2025 at 1:35 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(July 10, 2025 at 1:32 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote: I hear Hegseth neglected to inform his boss that we were pausing weapon shipments to Ukraine.

Indeed. One more reason he should be sacked, quite possibly the most incompetent SecDef of my lifetime.

(July 10, 2025 at 5:14 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Sorry, kids - just because you used to mop floors in a hotel doesn’t make you Conrad Hilton.

Boru