Russia and Ukraine

[The Grand Nudger]

They know. They don't believe the shit their government says. Thing is, they were sold on the invasion as a smash and grab. The problem with the war from their point is that theres been too much smashing of russian shit and not enough grabbing of ukranian shit.

To put a very fine point on this. Ukraine is defeating russia on the sea and on the land...with what amounts to kites. Over the counter toys with explosives duct taped to them. They have weapons and weapons programs..but the bulk of the work is being done by grown children playing video games with toys..and I am impressed. I would not want to fight them.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The question is; to what extent do the Russians realise how many have been slaughtered. State media seem to go extraordinary lengths to obfuscate that.
Every so often something leaks or someone puts 2 and 2 together and there's a flicker of protest but it gets silenced pretty quick.

They may or may not have the true loss numbers, but they know the costs have been enormous -- and I'm not arguing that the people will rise up, rather, I think that the upper echelons of government will find a window for him.

[The Grand Nudger]

That's the only way the russo ukranianian war ends in earnest. Putin finds a window.

[pocaracas]

Still waiting for Trump to follow through on his promise to end the war before he enters power... oh wait.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Now we get watch Trump screw up on diplomacy. It's North Korea 2.0

[Thumpalumpacus]

Now we get watch Trump screw up on diplomacy. It's North Korea 2.0

Putin will play him just as Un did.

[Thumpalumpacus]

... and this is in my newsfeed:

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that President Trump had “effectively surrendered” to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of expected peace negotiations, criticizing the administration for suggesting Ukraine be kept out of NATO.

“Well, I don‘t have any expectations anymore. I think we know exactly what‘s going to happen,” Bolton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in an interview. “President Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin before the negotiations have even begun.”

“The positions that Defense Secretary [Pete] Hegseth announced in Brussels, which I‘m sure I‘d be stunned if Trump didn‘t convey them directly to Putin in their phone call, constitute terms of a settlement that could have been written in the Kremlin,” he added. “Maybe they were written in the Kremlin and got out in propaganda channels.“

https://thehill.com/policy/international...ine-talks/

Say what you will about Bolton, I'm no fan of his myself, but he's dead right on this.

[The Grand Nudger]

Anyone who thinks ukraine is going to surrender based on pieces of paper from moscow and washington has screws loose. They know our deals aren't worth the paper they're printed on. That's how the war started in the first place.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Anyone who thinks ukraine is going to surrender based on pieces of paper from moscow and washington has screws loose.  They know our deals aren't worth the paper they're printed on.  That's how the war started in the first place.

Of course they won't, and more power to 'em.

One thing the appeasers here in America seem to ignore is that eleven months after Chamberlain, Daladier, Mussolini, and Hitler locked Czechoslovakia out of negotiations over its own dismemberment, bringing "peace in our time", WWII kicked off in earnest. This abject surrender to Russian aims will only increase Russian -- and Chinese -- appetites.

[The Grand Nudger]

Sure, and with no us boots on the ground that only leaves china to go save russias ass from the ukranian army in a new dmz.