Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-25

[Jacob]

No agreement with Russia will be permanent. Putin himself has already laid the groundwork to break potential treaties by  calling Zelensky illegitimate, thus rendering treaties with him the same.
Putin can't be trusted, Russia must be defeated decisively. But our politicians are to cowardly to face that thruth

Agreed. Supporting Ukraine is a moral (and practical) imperative. Putin is waging war against the West and has been for a decade or more.

I read that the new Belgian PM is a Flemish Nationalist. What's his - and his government's - stance on the war.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I'm assuming he's pro nato (one of his right hand men is, very much so) and pro ukraine. Not that it matters since Belgium doesn't have money.
They're going to try and up the budget for the armed forced so it reached 2%, somewhere next century at the current rate. Again: due to there not being any money. Despite having about the highest taxes in the OECD.
As it is: don't expect anything from a belgian goverment, cause that's generally what they deliver

[Jacob]

Thank you for the assessment - both funny and depressing.

[Valmy]

I'm assuming he's pro nato (one of his right hand men is, very much so) and pro ukraine. Not that it matters since Belgium doesn't have money.
They're going to try and up the budget for the armed forced so it reached 2%, somewhere next century at the current rate. Again: due to there not being any money. Despite having about the highest taxes in the OECD.
As it is: don't expect anything from a belgian goverment, cause that's generally what they deliver

How can they not have any money? The Belgian economy is larger than Sweden and Sweden has money.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I'm assuming he's pro nato (one of his right hand men is, very much so) and pro ukraine. Not that it matters since Belgium doesn't have money.
They're going to try and up the budget for the armed forced so it reached 2%, somewhere next century at the current rate. Again: due to there not being any money. Despite having about the highest taxes in the OECD.
As it is: don't expect anything from a belgian goverment, cause that's generally what they deliver

How can they not have any money? The Belgian economy is larger than Sweden and Sweden has money.

massive debt, massive deficit, extremely wasteful state (with two federated entities not giving a shit how many debt they generate cause the other one has no choice but to pay up)

[Josquius]

Seems reasonable as part of a settlement.. With the understanding this is Ukraines allies giving Russia something it wants and they expect something in return - Russian troops fucking off for instance.

I suppose that depends on whether you think a settlement at this stage will be permanent, or if fossil fuel trade will help entrench peace/a deal. I'm not confident on either of those.

I wouldn't be confident on a settlement being permanent no. Its not impossible but more likely to be not than so.
Though with that in mind Russian troops handing back a chunk of occupied territory so they have to grind through it again if/when they go for round 3 would be a positive move.
If Putin was sane then agreeing to let Russia have an economy again would be a huge win for the country. But...yes. Not confident he'd go for that. Its about lines on a map for him.
Nonetheless I do think its worth considering what fair offers can be made even if Russia is bound to reject them, to further underline we're the ones who want peace and they're the ones just playing games. If they're demanding Europe start buying Russian fuel again, then say fine, but first you have to pull back.

[Valmy]

The moskal patrol ship Sergei Kotov was sunk off the Kerch bridge 2 days ago.

One of the Ukrainian naval drones involved was the Nafoleon Blownapart, crowdfunded by NAFO lol.

Get wrecked katsaps.

Memory Eternal to Nafoleon Blownapart. Your life was short but awesome.

Elon is coming for you guys Zoupa.

[Zoupa]

I am: so incredibly scared. 

[Zoupa]

It's really amazing how stupid the richest dude to ever exist is.

[Solmyr]

I am: so incredibly scared. 

You say that now, but wait till Elon finds Languish.

[grumbler]

I am: so incredibly scared. 

You say that now, but wait till Elon finds Languish.

Yeah.  When he pays BvS $14 billion for Languish just to shut i8t down, we will all be so screwed!

[Jacob]

I am: so incredibly scared. 

You say that now, but wait till Elon finds Languish.

Yeah.  When he pays BvS $14 billion for Languish just to shut i8t down, we will all be so screwed!

What a payday for whoever owns languish then, though. Is it BvS?

[Jacob]

So I saw some reports that Trump is saying that support for Ukraine requires US access to Ukrainian rare earth metals.

Which on the face of me sounds kind of positive. It indicates that Trump might continue supporting Ukraine (which is a better case scenario than many other possible scenarios); Ukraine selling raw materials to the US is not on the face of it unreasonable; and if the US has a specific strategic and physical interest in Ukrainian outputs it's not a bad thing for Ukraine's position.

I don't know... have any of you seen more details on this?

[Zoupa]

So I saw some reports that Trump is saying that support for Ukraine requires US access to Ukrainian rare earth metals.

Which on the face of me sounds kind of positive. It indicates that Trump might continue supporting Ukraine (which is a better case scenario than many other possible scenarios); Ukraine selling raw materials to the US is not on the face of it unreasonable; and if the US has a specific strategic and physical interest in Ukrainian outputs it's not a bad thing for Ukraine's position.

I don't know... have any of you seen more details on this?

My Ukrainian friends/soldiers are pretty excited about it. Continued US support is worth a worthless promise to the rare earth stuff, especially considering they're pretty much all located in the Donbas...

It's all BS anyways with the US these days. Ukraine already "paid" for its border guaranteed by giving up its nuclear weapons. Nobody respected it. They're more than willing to give "rare earth" promises tomorrow for weapons today.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm hoping that some pro-Ukraine insider in the administration planted this beauty into Trump's head as a lever to get him to OK aid.  Of course, the Ukrainians would be thrilled to export anything to the US or for that matter just about anywhere else. Seems like Trump has rare earth minerals on the mind because it comes up during his Greenland brain farts.  I assume he's been told they aren't actually rare and I assume that information has had zero effect on his comprehension, in the same way he still thinks political asylum means releasing mental patients into the US.