"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (8 Viewers)

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According to dpa (German press agency) Erdogan remains at no to Finland and Sweden's NATO membership.
He also reminded the USA onto it's obligation towards terrorism - if necessary Turkey will conduct military action towards Syria by themselves.

Germany, France and Italy are presently discussing a change of direction regarding their support towards Ukraine. (due to Ukraine's unwillingness to enter ceasefire negotiations with Russia, they fear further escalation)
However I can't find a secondary source to confirm the latter statement at present.
 
SaparotRob said:
I subscribed to his channel. He presents bad news as well as good news. He seems very credible to me. He also flies Boeing, always a plus.
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I agree with your points. There is one thing that has dropped from the conversation and that is Odessa. There was a significant amount of effort into taking Odessa, as that would have a significant impact on Ukraine, both now and in the future. It looks as if its another significant failure on Russia's aims as there is nothing going on in that area.
 
I'd rather trade Sweden and Finland for Turkey, at least under its current dictator.
Is there an option to suspend NATO membership if a country does something wrong like attacking a neighbour?
I assume there's another option by creating a bilateral contract signed by all NATO members (except the Troll) to act as defense pact is Sweden or Finland are attacked.
 
Regarding Erdogan, I was just reading an opinion piece at TNI about it. An excerpt:


In addition to his ties with Moscow, Erdogan is using Turkey's membership in organizations like NATO to realize unrelated concessions from the West. Ankara is recklessly standing in the way of Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO membership, which has the support of the Biden administration and will be ultimately approved. Rather than agreeing to a quid pro quo, Washington should exact a toll on Erdogan for muddying the waters at a key historical moment for Finland, Sweden, and the NATO alliance.

Showing such disunity in the face of Russia's horrific war against Ukraine is irresponsible, misguided, and contrary to Turkey's short- and long-term interests. Erdogan's intransigence will not score him any points amongst policymakers who are weighing the arms sales that he covets. In fact, it is accelerating the spread of anti-Turkish sentiment. As former U.S. ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman pointed out, "There is broad support for Finland and Sweden in Congress, and many members would like nothing better than to trade Turkey as a member for the two Nordic states."

Don’t Fall For Erdogan’s Not So Charming Offensive

Erdogan’s silver tongue is a reminder of who he really is and whose side he’s on.
nationalinterest.org
 

Quality of reply is usually closely related to quality of post being answered. I'm a fairly plain-spoken guy.
 
They can not advance to Odesa until Mykolaiv stands. And landing operation is hardly an option.
 
Ok - enough! It's obvious you don't need to be here, good-bye!
 
Sid327 said:
This information is also available online. Suggest you get off your high horse and try a little free-minded thinking.

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This guy posts good knowledgeable content:
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People who know me on this forum also know I'm a pretty balanced guy who tries to apply experience and reason....so throw rocks at my so-called lack of free-minded thinking if you wish. However, here are a few points for you.

I started reviewing your "evidence" with the intent of countering each point made...but I had to give up because it would have occupied pages and pages of contradictions to push back on the nonsense. A democratic, Western-leaning Ukraine is in US and European best interests. It's what the Ukrainian people voted for (and why they evicted Yanukovich in the first place). I've actually worked at US European Command HQ in Stuttgart and I've never, EVER seen any sort of plan that discusses aspirations for US bases in Ukraine. Back in 2014, USEUCOM's primary mission was funneling forces into the USCENTCOM region so to suggest that, somehow, USEUCOM was planning for Ukrainian bases in 2014 is ludicrous.

It's funny how all the commentary is about the Obama administration and its ties to Yatsenyuk and yet no mention is made of the in-person visit by Republican John McCain where he met with Yatsenyuk. Again, if the coup was an American conspiracy under the Obama administration, why would McCain, who was Obama's competitor for the office of President in 2008, buy into it? Surely McCain would be screaming about such a conspiracy?

There is so much spin and glib commentary in these videos. They prove NOTHING except that the US State Department actively works to promote US interests overseas. To suggest that the State Dept can foment regime change covertly at a national level is, frankly, laughable. To think that somehow this was a great conspiracy that a few YouTube video bloggers have managed to uncover is even more ridiculous. In order for such actions to succeed, it would require (a) the US Govt to be incredibly effective and integrated, and (b) that it has direct influence over the daily lives of the people in foreign countries. Neither of those requirements are met. If you've ever worked in or near US Govt, you'll know how dysfunctional it can be. Also, as we've seen with Russia, there's the law of unintended consequences. The actions you take may not work out the way you want. The whole idea that the US fomented the coup in Ukraine and that it came of flawlessly is simply unrealistic. Look at the US invasion of Iraq which was a disaster because the US Govt failed to plan for the peace, assuming that the Iraqi people would welcome US forces with open arms. Look at the pull out from Afghanistan which was equally disastrous. Look at the Libyan Embassy disaster, Arab Spring, and the failure in Syria...and we're supposed to believe that, somehow, the coup in Ukraine was designed and implemented by America without a single glitch?

Some of these videos repeat other conspiracy theories, for example throwing George Soros into the mix. Let's suppose, for a moment, that Soros was involved in fomenting the coup in Ukraine in 2014. Two years later, Trump became President. Why did he not order an investigation of their actions? Why was the charitable status of Soros' various humanitarian organizations not revoked? Let's face it, the rhetoric within certain quarters of the Republican party seeks to burn George Soros at the stake and, yet, when in power they took no action against him. Why is that? Is Soros so powerful that he can face down the Department of Justice, the State Department and even the President? Or is it, perhaps, that the rhetoric about him is merely that...rhetoric with no evidence to back it up?

I've worked in and alongside government for well over 30 years under politicians of multiple different stripes. Regardless of political bent at the time, the one universal trait is the uncanny ability of governments to demonstrate, all too frequently, that they couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery. The US Government isn't nearly as powerful as many Americans think it is. It isn't some all-knowing hive-mind. It's a bunch of civil servants, most of whom are massively underpaid. The presence of a few, high-profile, individuals does not change the fundamental nature of the bureaucracy because, ultimately, those same civil servants remain in their posts. Yes, the political appointees change but the underlying processes don't. That's why progress within government is such damned hard work...and it's a problem I work every single day of my professional life, so please don't throw conspiracy nonsense at me. I've seen the inside of Government and it's a scary place...but only because of how incompetent it is, not because it's some evil nexus for everything bad in the world.
 
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