Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-25

[Syt]

I agree.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

It just shows that the world would better of without Russia.

That said:
More rumors that the ROK is mightily pissed of and might end up sending help that makes Russians go boom or splut

[grumbler]

Their chocolate factory moniker is lame.

That's just used by the Register, as far as I know.

[garbon]

Their chocolate factory moniker is lame.

That's just used by the Register, as far as I know.

Yeah it kept taking me out so I googled and saw it is something only they use.

[Josquius]

NATO has confirmed that North Korean troops have been deployed in the Kursk region.

I do wonder what the hell is going on. I assume they are used to guard the safest sector because their morale must be the lowest in the history of morales, but how can this possibly be a good look for Putin back home? Is the idea that this frees up a few thousand conscripts to feed into the Donetsk meatgrinder because the Big Push there is just around the corner?

My thoughts are its less about Kursk being safer and more that its within Russia's actual borders.
Russia has shown in the past despite what they say they definitely regard occupied areas differently to actual-Russia.
As...having soldiers from a friendly country within your borders...what could be wrong with that? Just ignore that its North Korea for a minute (horrible racist west something something) and its a lot more OK to have allies send troops over for training than to be using them in an invasion.

[grumbler]

My thoughts are its less about Kursk being safer and more that its within Russia's actual borders.
Russia has shown in the past despite what they say they definitely regard occupied areas differently to actual-Russia.
As...having soldiers from a friendly country within your borders...what could be wrong with that? Just ignore that its North Korea for a minute (horrible racist west something something) and its a lot more OK to have allies send troops over for training than to be using them in an invasion.

If North Korean troops are involved in combat as North Korean troops, the NK becomes a belligerent in the conflict.  If they are just "volunteers" serving in the Russian army (but only receiving the pay and benefits all Russian soldiers get), or do not engage in any conflict, then they are legit.  The distinction is not between whether they are engaged in conflict n Russia or Ukraine.

[DGuller]

On the positive side, it seems like things are looking up in North Korea.  If even their soldiers are now getting enough agency to be able to volunteer for assignments rather than just having to obey orders, then imagine how free the civilians are.

[crazy canuck]

Soon they too will have the freedom to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

[HisMajestyBOB]

It just shows that the world would better of without Russia.

That said:
More rumors that the ROK is mightily pissed of and might end up sending help that makes Russians go boom or splut

A dozen artillery shells and a thousand tons of 79 year old spam?

But only on the condition that they aren't used in Russia, or on a Thursday.

[Zoupa]

First recorded DPRK casualty. This timeline is retarded. Now Ukraine has to fight 2 nuclear states?

[Josquius]

The amount of Koreans sent isn't enough to make a huge difference. It's a week's worth of meat for Russia.
I'm hoping the south Korean response more than makes up for it. They've been pretty reluctantly involved so far, going through round about routes of selling aid. More directly setting their industry towards supporting Ukraine could be great.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

What is galling is that a European country, trying to become a free and democratic state is now being invaded by discount Mongols and the worst-place-on-earth-to-live and we're still not talking about boots on the ground or at the very least a no fly zone for invaders... fact is, we're barely talking about it at all and if it is talked about it's mainly in context of can we self-deter more efficiently rather than helping

[crazy canuck]

What is galling is that a European country, trying to become a free and democratic state is now being invaded by discount Mongols and the worst-place-on-earth-to-live and we're still not talking about boots on the ground or at the very least a no fly zone for invaders... fact is, we're barely talking about it at all and if it is talked about it's mainly in context of can we self-deter more efficiently rather than helping

We are all holding our breath hoping a pro Putin president will not be elected to lead the United States.

Everything else is pretty minor at this point.

[Sheilbh]

Senior Politico EU reporter:

Hans von der Burchard
@vonderburchard
Nov 4
As Olaf Scholz meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Berlin today, he opposes a membership perspective for Ukraine.

Now a counter proposal has popped up in my discussions with officials in Berlin: Ukraine should take a "neutral" status like Finland had for decades ... 1/
2/ The (unofficially) voiced proposal comes amid talk in Berlin of setting up a "contact group" together with China, India and Brazil to negotiate a peace solution with Russia.

Giving Ukraine a NATO membership perspective would make such peace talks impossible, the thinking goes
3/ But the Finland idea has an obvious flaw: Helsinki just dropped its decades-long neutrality and joined NATO because Putin's Russia is so dangerous and violates international law...

Ukraine even argues that Merkel opposing Kyiv's NATO membership in 2008 lead to today's war.
4/ Notably, Finland's ambassador in Berlin, Kai Sauer, speaks up to oppose the idea: "It is not in our interest to restore any artificial spheres of interest", he told me.

We are "obliged to respect the freedom of choice" of Ukraine, "as well as its territorial integrity."
5/ More about the discussion and Rutte's visit in Berlin today in Berlin Playbook:
POLITICO Berlin Playbook
politico.eu
6/ Since this thread received a lot of attention, an update:

The "Finlandisation" option was mentioned in my discussion with sources (which already says a lot), yet it's no agreed gov position.

A spox says it wasn't part of the discussion with Rutte yesterday.

The other issue is that Finland didn't join the EU until the 90s. So basically Ukraine wouldn't be able to get into the EU, or NATO and would have to rely on Russia respecting their neutrality rather than trying to make further territorial advances - or moving to, say, the Baltics and seeing what pressure could do there?

[Admiral Yi]

Awesome move Germany.