Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-25

[Jacob]

...JD Vance, ersatz hillbilly turned Yale law grad turned venture capital tech bro, turned populist tribune of the working man, turned edgelord crusader of the antiwokian hordes turned [ADJECTIVE NOUN], a man who talks out of so many sides of his mouth that the orifice threatens to break fractal geometry.

Sounds like a serious contender for GOP presidential candidate, unless Trump hangs on or one of his children manages to wiggle themselves in there.

[Zoupa]

Trump can withdraw all support. He can lift all sanctions. That will not stop the war. putin won't stop because he wants all of it. Ukrainians won't stop because they know what it means to live under muscovite occupation. They will fight them with sticks and stones and shovels.

All this does is increase casualties, mostly civilian casualties, as the moskal aviation will overwhelm air defenses without american missiles.

[mongers]

Trump can withdraw all support. He can lift all sanctions. That will not stop the war. putin won't stop because he wants all of it. Ukrainians won't stop because they know what it means to live under muscovite occupation. They will fight them with sticks and stones and shovels.

All this does is increase casualties, mostly civilian casualties, as the moskal aviation will overwhelm air defenses without american missiles.

Yep, no air defence missiles sent since Jan 22nd.

[Neil]

The question is, can Europe adequately defend itself without access to American technologies?  I'm thinking about missile and electronic components here.  Do they have domestic sources for all the equipment they use, or can they rig it up? 

[Jacob]

There's a lot of work to do, that's for sure.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

The question is, can Europe adequately defend itself without access to American technologies?  I'm thinking about missile and electronic components here.  Do they have domestic sources for all the equipment they use, or can they rig it up? 

Europe does have an arms industry and it does produce generally equivalent equipment, but... it's not unified thus lacking scale and it has suffered under anti-armaments sentiment over the past few decades. But despite that it's still standing.
Bringing everything back up to scale is going to be expensive, but it needs to be done. And fast. Same for unifying it. And while I'm not the biggest fan of merging all our countries in a full federation there's probably no other option anymore if Europe wants to remain free of Russia, China or potentially the US (as well as other bad actors).

edit:
https://www.youtube.com/@MilitaryRated/videos
this guy seems to have been going over european military kit for a bit now.  Adjust for scale and starvation though

[Zoupa]

Macron (and all previous presidents) have been screaming to buy EUROPEAN armaments for decades. I guess now we know why.

[Zoupa]

Btw enjoy those submarines that will never come, Australia.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I'm not sure.  Australia always seems like they're in danger of sliding in the direction we're going.

[mongers]

I'm not sure.  Australia always seems like they're in danger of sliding in the direction we're going.

But was Australia ever great in the first place?   

[HVC]

I'm not sure.  Australia always seems like they're in danger of sliding in the direction we're going.

But was Australia ever great in the first place?   

Make Australia a Gaol Again?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

But was Australia ever great in the first place?   

They've always seemed to be closer to the US than the Commonwealth as far as attitudes go.  "Great" is in the eye of be beholder, though.

[Zanza]

It won't go to the fascists unless the Conservatives decide to enable the fascists.

I don't have so much hope about the German conservatives. From my distanced perspective, and I might be wrong, they keep making the mistakes the French right made and Germany seems to be speedrunning towards the extreme-right.

Let's hope they don't.

[Zanza]

The German social democrats are full of traitors and idiots? I am not a fan, but the social democrats here are 'staatstragend' and are firmly standing for our liberal-democratic order and have supported Ukraine (with some hesitation at first to be fair).

The previous kanzler is an outright traitor and the present one has done his absolute best to sabotage military aid to Ukraine.

Both have support in the party.

Fair enough for Schröder. And also acknowledged that some other social democrats were too close to Russia, although most of them distanced themselves now.

Not a proper characterization of Scholz I feel. Yes, he dithered and hesitated etc. but not for traitorous reasons I think. I feel he genuinely supports Ukraine.

But I understand your point.

The party has voted pro Ukraine. And unlike the conservatives that I feel are on a similar fascist enabling course as other conservative parties in Europe, the social democrats will certainly not make common policy with the fascists.
 

[Zanza]

And while I'm not the biggest fan of merging all our countries in a full federation there's probably no other option anymore if Europe wants to remain free of Russia, China or potentially the US (as well as other bad actors).

Welcome to being an euro federalist.