"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (6 Viewers)

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Warspite63 said:

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff dismisses Starmer plan for Ukraine

Steve Witkoff says the UK plans for an international force to support a ceasefire are a "posture".
www.bbc.com
I'd love to say that this 'useful idiot' is shocking. Sadly, he isn't
Click to expand...

It's really depressing, isn't it. While Witkoff did caveat his remarks with "Russia believes" he also did nothing to contradict the Russian narrative while, in the same interview, he openly criticizes America's allies.

I truly don't know what America wants any more. First, Europe is told to do more to defend itself. Then, when they start organizing to do precisely that, they get criticized for it. At the same time, Europe is entirely excluded from peace negotiations. Putin clearly doesn't want European peacekeepers in Ukraine but Washington isn't putting any other ideas on the table, except vague references to US civilians who will operate mines, nuclear power stations, and goodness knows what else. This isn't strategy...it's chaos being conducted without allies or partners and with no clear vision of how to achieve the stated objective of peace.

All the while, Russia's narrative is being amplified with nary a comment about its factual accuracy. For starters, I'm interested in learning when Ukraine ceased to be a nation. It was clearly a nation in 1994 when it signed the Budapest Memorandum. Presumably, it was still a nation in 2014 for the signing of the Minsk Agreements...so when did it stop being a nation? Do we no longer believe in territorial integrity of nations? I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question.

Then there's the nonsense rhetoric about "Why would they want to absorb Ukraine? For what purpose?" Regardless of the "why," can't we all agree that absorbing Ukraine was precisely what Putin intended with his 3-day special military operation? He also criticized Starmer for his stance on supporting Ukraine, calling it "simplistic" and claiming that fears of Russian attacks against NATO nations were "preposterous" despite the fact that the US has done Putin's work for him by opening gaps in NATO to the extent that many fear the US won't fulfill its treaty obligations (e.g. "Estonia? No, we're not going to war for Estonia.").

Sorry for the rant but Witkoff's drivel really ticked me off today. Zelensky must be really disheartened that this idiot is leading the negotiations for the US.
 
GTX said:
They are. The UK, France and now Germany are building. Unfortunately, one can't just make it happen overnight.
Click to expand...

Further to this:


Sparked in large measure by concerns that the U.S. is aligning itself closer to Russia, receding from its traditional ties with NATO and the stability of U.S. weapons exports, the European Union has created a new initiative to increase defense spending and drastically boost local arms production. The move to 'buy local' could effectively freeze the U.S. out of billions of dollars in potential arms sales.

Rankled by U.S. President Donald Trump's imposing tariffs and repeatedly saying that Canada should become the 51st state, Ottawa is deep into talks about joining this initiative.

The goals of the new "European Defense Readiness 2030" plan were laid out Wednesday in a white paper issued by the alliance. The initiative calls for increasing defense spending, simplifying regulations and streamlining industrial programs. It seeks the creation of an 800 billion Euro ($872 billion) pool of money to boost European arms production. That includes a suggested 1.5% of GDP increase in defense budgets anticipated to raise 650 billion Euros (about $709 billion) and 150 billion Euros ($163 billion) for the new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loan program "to help countries invest in key defense areas like missile defense, drones, and cyber security," according to the EU.

New European Union Plan To Boost Local Arms Production Would Freeze U.S. Out Of Billions

Canada, angered by Trump's tariffs and rhetoric, may also join this new initiative as concerns over reliance on U.S. weapons grow.
www.twz.com
 
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Oh he doesn't want all of Europe...that's ok then:

Putin doesn't want to take 'all of Europe', US envoy says

European nations have rushed to boost defence spending in recent weeks, who fear the US is seeking to turn its back on them to pursue a deal with Russia.
www.abc.net.au

I prefer Kyiv's read:

'They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums,' — Witkoff parrots Russian propaganda, legitimizing Putin's claims in Ukraine

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who recently emerged as a leading figure in negotiations regarding Russia and Ukraine, revealed insights into ongoing ceasefire talks between Moscow and Washington. In an interview on March 21 with American far-right political commentator...
kyivindependent.com
 
GTX said:
Oh he doesn't want all of Europe...that's ok then:

Putin doesn't want to take 'all of Europe', US envoy says

European nations have rushed to boost defence spending in recent weeks, who fear the US is seeking to turn its back on them to pursue a deal with Russia.
www.abc.net.au
Click to expand...
I wonder if Witkoff considers the Baltics to be in the part of Europe that Putin wants...because they seem to think so and are preparing:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdhNwRB_0w8
 
Thumpalumpacus said:
Further to this:


Sparked in large measure by concerns that the U.S. is aligning itself closer to Russia, receding from its traditional ties with NATO and the stability of U.S. weapons exports, the European Union has created a new initiative to increase defense spending and drastically boost local arms production. The move to 'buy local' could effectively freeze the U.S. out of billions of dollars in potential arms sales.

Rankled by U.S. President Donald Trump's imposing tariffs and repeatedly saying that Canada should become the 51st state, Ottawa is deep into talks about joining this initiative.

The goals of the new "European Defense Readiness 2030" plan were laid out Wednesday in a white paper issued by the alliance. The initiative calls for increasing defense spending, simplifying regulations and streamlining industrial programs. It seeks the creation of an 800 billion Euro ($872 billion) pool of money to boost European arms production. That includes a suggested 1.5% of GDP increase in defense budgets anticipated to raise 650 billion Euros (about $709 billion) and 150 billion Euros ($163 billion) for the new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loan program "to help countries invest in key defense areas like missile defense, drones, and cyber security," according to the EU.

New European Union Plan To Boost Local Arms Production Would Freeze U.S. Out Of Billions

Canada, angered by Trump's tariffs and rhetoric, may also join this new initiative as concerns over reliance on U.S. weapons grow.
www.twz.com
Click to expand...

No surprises there. I made the same point a few pages back about the replacement for F-35 and whether Europe would buy American or go local. My money is firmly on the latter.

Just because America is the 600lb gorilla and goes around thumping everyone (except Russia), that doesn't mean that the smaller nations don't have some freedom of maneuver to take their own decisions...like boycotting American products.
 
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