DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus War in Ukraine...continued

bruh, do you see these reports of all these unexploded bombs russia dropped? crap doesn't even work half the time. seeing these rockets laying on the ground like an art piece in a public square is crazy.

and now they just launched another hypersonic missile in odessa. lots of damage, but their weapons keep missing their intended targets.

i know we NEVER want to see this play out in real life, but in a different universe, this makes me want to see what China's military is really about now. no doubt they *should* be more effective....but by how much?

i've been trying to tell people for years that countries who do these dumbass military parades are weak countries. if you're really that dude, you don't need to display your arsenal. you let your enemies find out about your capabilities the hard way.

Honest question for you and prp: Is the U.S. what we're told, militarily?

yes. if anything we're underhyped. put it like this: We're Tyson in his prime. The only ones capable of stopping us is ourselves.

and not saying you don't know this, but in general: there's a huge difference between an invasion/fight and occupying. when you look at our invasion into iraq and afghanistan, it was quick. what screwed us was the occupying aspect, which we shouldn't be doing anyway.

Just a few minutes ago I read an article, which I can't find right now, that the u.s. has shipped so many stingers and some other weapon to Ukraine, that it has functionally almost depleted our supply. And, it could take up to 2 years (supply chain able) to replenish.

Does that, if true, worry anyone?

weren't you the one for years pointing out that the military always seems to ask for more funding no matter what's going on?

I'd say that, in a lot of ways, we're aren't what we used to be. In a lot of ways, we're a lot softer and we don't take care of our stuff the way we used to and that affects combat readiness, but balancing that out a little is the fact that we have a TON of leadership with combat experience and in terms of technology and going toe-to-toe with any other standing army in the entire history of the world, there is nobody even remotely in our class. Tyson in his prime may not even be a strong enough comparison..... and I'm basing what I'm writing on what I saw from us close to 20 years ago when the US went into Iraq, which was leaps and bounds ahead of our capabilities when I was dropping Marines ashore in Kuwait City ten years before that in '93. The M1 Abrahms tank is still a veritable God on the battlefield. The M1A1's that were everywhere when I was in have since been replaced by M1A3's and M1A2 SEP v4's that are supposedly in testing since last year. They're almost not even the same tank. Our ability to "reach out and touch someone" is nearly unmatched. Looking at Ukraine right now, our gear from the 80's and 90's is still superior to most of what we're seeing used there, and what we have today is just so far ahead it would be like the Germans in WW2 fighting the Polish cavalry..... or, the U.S. and the highway of death in Kuwait. We can destroy equipment faster than anyone could replace it.

To what Swish said about the difference between fighting and occupying; the better comparison, instead of Tyson, may be Achilles: We're all but unkillable on the battlefield, except for that one little thing (occupying), but that's simply because no army is built to occupy. That's the work of a police force. A military force is built to destroy another military force.

Nope. We *REALLY* should be upgrading our shoulder-fired surface to air arsenal anyway. We had a Stinger crew on my ship when I last deployed, and that was before half the people in the service today were even born.
Use 'em up, and replenish our stockpiles with something better.

Thank you.

Thank you.
Pretty sure the answer is "NO". I do not believe I have EVER said the military is over funded. I DO believe I have said something along the lines of "there is some waste, but fund them, because we'll need them."

I think you may have me mistaken with someone else.

Russian troops ill-prepared for Ukraine war, says ex-Kremlin mercenary

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-troops-ill-prepared-ukraine-114703717.html

NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France (Reuters) - The Russian military's failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, according to a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian army.

Marat Gabidullin took part in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin's behalf in Syria and in a previous conflict in Ukraine, before deciding to go public about his experience inside the secretive private military company.

He quit the Wagner group in 2019, but several months before Russia launched the invasion on Feb. 24 Gabidullin, 55, said he received a call from a recruiter who invited him to go back to fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

He refused, in part because, he said, he knew Russian forces were not up to the job, even though they trumpeted their arsenal of new weapons and their successes in Syria where they helped President Bashar al-Assad defeat an armed rebellion.

"They were caught completely by surprise that the Ukrainian army resisted so fiercely and that they faced the actual army," Gabidullin said about Russia's setbacks in Ukraine.

He said people he spoke to on the Russian side had told him they expected to face rag-tag militias when they invaded Ukraine, not well-drilled regular troops.

"I told them: 'Guys, that's a mistake'," said Gabidullin, who is now in France where he is publishing a book about his experiences fighting with the Wagner Group.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know who Gabidullin was and whether he has ever been a member of private military companies.

"We, the state, the government, the Kremlin can not have anything to do with it," he said.

The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

Gabidullin is part of a small but growing cohort of people in Russia with security backgrounds who have supported President Vladimir Putin's foreign incursions but now say the way the war is being conducted is incompetent.

Igor Girkin, who helped lead a pro-Kremlin armed revolt in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has been critical of the way this campaign is being conducted. Alexei Alexandrov, an architect of the 2014 rebellion, told Reuters in March the invasion was a mistake.

Gabidullin took part in some of the bloodiest Syrian clashes in Deir al-Zor province, in Ghouta and near the ancient city of Palmyra. He was seriously injured in 2016 when a grenade exploded behind his back during a battle in the mountains near Latakia.

Gabidullin spent a week in a coma and three months in a hospital where he had surgeries to remove one of his kidneys and some intestines. Reuters has independently verified he was in the Wagner Group and was in combat in Syria.

Wagner Group fighters have been accused by rights groups and the Ukrainian government of committing war crimes in Syria and eastern Ukraine from 2014 onwards. Gabidullin said he had never been involved in such abuses.

DIFFERENT PROPOSITION

Moscow's involvement helped turn the tide of the Syrian war in favour of al-Assad, but Gabidullin said Russia's military restricted itself mainly to attacks from the air, while relying on Wagner mercenaries and other proxies to do the lion's share of the fighting on the ground.

The Russian military's task was easier too. Its opponents — Islamic State and other militias — had no anti-aircraft systems or artillery.

Fighting Ukraine, he said, was a different proposition.

"I've seen enough of them in Syria... (The Russian military) didn't take part in combat directly," he said in an interview in Paris to promote his book, which will be published by French publishing house Michel Lafon this month.

"The military forces .... when it was needed to learn how to fight, did not learn how to fight for real," he said.

Wagner Group is an informal entity, with — on paper at least — no offices or staff. The U.S. Treasury Department and the European Union have said the Wagner Group is linked to Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin has denied any such links.

Concord Management and Consulting, Prigozhin’s main business, did not respond to a request for comment.

President Vladimir Putin has said private military contractors have the right to work and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they do not break Russian law. Putin has said the Wagner Group neither represented the Russian state nor was paid by it.

Gabidullin said although he had known the Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming, he did not expect it to be on such a scale.

"I could not even think that Russia will wage a war on Ukraine. How could that be? It's impossible," he said.

Russia warns NATO there’s a risk of ‘catastrophic’ conflict;
Ukraine counterattack near Kharkiv continues

The former president of Russia has warned NATO that military assistance for Ukraine risks sparking a wider conflict.

Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the supply of weapons to Ukraine “increased the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy’.”

It comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was the “most direct threat” to the international order.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html

Oh well in that case we should do What Donny would have done from the start, bend over and give them anything they want and then ask politely "Is there anything else sir?"

Putin can withdraw from Ukraine and not end the possibility of a wider conflict.

At the pace that Putin is losing equipment and people, he won't have anything left to start a fight elsewhere.

It is always a bad idea to open up a war on more than 1 front.

Just please tell me out loud that you are not rooting for the Ruskies... I don't think you are but some of these posts seem like it. I'd rather ask you than speculate.

Ridiculous! I report the News and Libs call me Rooskie.

Go back to living in your fantasy world where Socialism works!

Perhaps you want to know if CNBC, where I found the article, is a Communist Hive.

lmao@u, it was a serious honest question. But hey, whatever. Must have hit a nerve, secret Trumpian nerve. It's probably just how you trick out all your Russia reports in 14 point yeller fontz.

Russia has already lost this war.

Putin is backed into a corner.

Ever trap a rat in a corner? They lash out with everything they have.

What comes next is my concern.

yea i've trapped a rat in the corner. and then i killed it with a blunt object before it could do anything.

that's the point of getting someone backed into a corner; to finish them off.

Finland to apply to NATO 'without delay' as Russia threatens 'retaliatory steps'

https://www.yahoo.com/news/finland-...reatens-retaliatory-steps-133741633.html

Vlad giving the US easy lanes to the rim.

You know what would be crazy? St petersburg getting annexed. Close to the Finnish border, and the region decides it wants to be part of Finland, or more likely it's own sovereign state. Estonia helps push the borders up, and NATO expands Finland out NE to the white sea.

just dreaming.

Nice.

My blunt object was one of those big, wide, fat-mouthed coal shovels you see at all those ground-breaking photo-ops.
And my rat wasn't trapped- (s)he was right in the middle of my garage door- and ready to bolt in any direction. I froze. We locked eyes. And then it was over.

Bro- I was Bruce Lee with that tool. It was direct, decisive... and left a real mess I had to clean up afterward.
Similar to what we're prob gonna see in this Ukraine/Russia outcome.




Which is considerably less than Putin rocked 3 months ago. He juked his entire load with his first attempt at penetration... and Zalenskyy's Ukraine said: "Wait-that's it? That's all you got? This is the best grind you can bring? B#, please...."

After 20 years of absolute reign through intimidation, lies and strongman tactics, this is the mistake that will end Vladimir Putin's time at the top.
It will take time to see it all play out, but the die is already cast:

1. His vaunted military has been exposed as the second-rate Paper Tiger it has been for more than 30 years.
2. Russia's national economy is in shambles, and his people are feeling the hardship.
3. He's managed to make himself and his country a pariah on the Legitimate World Stage. His cred as a legit international politician is totally wrecked.
4. Ukraine's display of vertebrae and skeletal structure has emboldened other new countries to apply for NATO membership... at a time when NATO is actually performing to design.
5. The consequences of his ill-advised (read: fatally stoopid) dork-waving land grab will be profound and lasting. Russia as we know it, will be digging herself out from this Putin-dug hole for at least 2 generations. They will be scrabbling their way back from this for at least 20-30 years. We should hold out hope for them, once Putin is excised from the world's body politic. It's a lesson for any country who toys with the idea of electing its own Vladimir Putin (read: Bolsonaro in Brazil, Al-Assad in Syria, Erdoğan in Turkey, etc.).

____________________________________

Folks- we are witnessing a major watershed Historical event. A textbook Authoritarian is falling apart before our very eyes. Like they always do.

.02 here:

I personally believe that if Vladimir Putin ever became 'cornered rat' enough to actually consider opening his nuclear briefcase, Russian higher-ups/lesser-ups (who understand the ramifications of an active nuclear option) would move Heaven and Hell to shut him down. Deranged, delusional demagogues always leave the stage in ugly fashion. Putin's exit will be.... ugly, to say the least.

I hate when that happens.

Rand Paul stalls Senate passage of $40 billion in Ukraine aid

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul defied leaders of both parties Thursday and delayed until next week Senate approval of an additional $40 billion to help Ukraine and its allies withstand Russia's three-month old invasion.

With the Senate poised to debate and vote on the package of military and economic aid, Paul denied leaders the unanimous agreement they needed to proceed. The bipartisan measure, backed by President Joe Biden, underscores U.S. determination to reinforce its support for Ukraine's outnumbered forces.

The legislation has been approved overwhelmingly by the House and has strong bipartisan support in the Senate. Final passage is not in doubt.

Paul, a libertarian who often opposes U.S. intervention abroad, said he wanted language inserted into the bill, without a vote, that would have an inspector general scrutinize the new spending. He has a long history of demanding last-minute changes by holding up or threatening to delay bills on the brink of passage, including measures dealing with lynching, sanctioning Russia, preventing a federal shutdown, the defense budget, government surveillance and providing health care to the Sept. 11 attack first responders.

Democrats and McConnell opposed Paul's push and offered to have a vote on his language. Paul was likely to lose that vote and rejected the offer.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked by CBS News' Ed O'Keefe about Paul's insistence on the inclusion of an inspector general — and whether the Biden administration would establish some kind of watchdog entity to track the spending.

"I would say that we agree oversight is critical," Psaki replied. "That's why the package already includes millions of dollars to support additional oversight measures, including additional funding for existing inspectors general and we encourage all senators to promptly pass the bill as it stands, we feel what's in there sufficient."

Paul, who unsuccessfully sought his party's 2016 presidential nomination, argued that the added spending was more than the U.S. spends on many domestic programs, was comparable to Russia's entire defense budget and would deepen federal deficits and worsen inflation. Last year's budget deficit was almost $2.8 trillion but is likely headed downward, and the bill's spending is less than 0.2% of the size of the U.S. economy, suggesting its impact on inflation would be negligible.

"No matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America," Paul said. "We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy."

Democrats said they were objecting to Paul's plan because it would expand the powers of an existing inspector general whose current purview is limited to Afghanistan. That would deny Mr. Biden the chance past presidents have had to make an appointment to the post, they said.

"It's clear from the junior senator from Kentucky's remarks, he doesn't want to aid Ukraine," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York. "All he will accomplish with his actions here today is to delay that aid, not to stop it."

Schumer and McConnell stood nearly side-by-side as they tried pushing the legislation forward.

"They're only asking for the resources they need to defend themselves against this deranged invasion," McConnell said of the Ukrainians. "And they need this help right now."

The House voted 368-57 on Tuesday to approve the measure. All Democrats and most Republicans backed it, though every "no" vote came from the GOP.

The bipartisan backing for Ukraine has been partly driven by accounts of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians that have been impossible to ignore. It also reflects strategic concerns about letting Putin seize European territory unanswered as his assault on his neighbor to the west grinds into its 12th week.

"Helping Ukraine is not an instance of mere philanthropy," McConnell said. "It bears directly on America's national security and vital interests that Russia's naked aggression not succeed and carries significant costs."

Biden administration officials have said they expect the latest aid measure to last through September. But with Ukraine taking heavy military and civilian losses and no sense of when the fighting might end, Congress will ultimately face decisions about how much more aid to provide at a time of huge U.S. budget deficits and a risk of recession that could demand added spending at home.

The latest bill, when added to the $13.6 billion Congress approved in March, would push American aid to the region well above $50 billion. For perspective, that would total $6 billion more than the U.S. spent on military and economic aid around the world in 2019, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Paul pointed out that if the Senate approves the spending, the U.S. will have authorized $60 billion in total spending for Ukraine. "Kyiv would become the largest yearly recipient of U.S. military aid over the past two decades," Paul said. He added, "It is more than any other country spends on their entire military expenditures...our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia."

The push toward passage came as Russia continued blasting Ukrainian forces and cities in southern and eastern portions of the country. Reflecting international concerns prompted by the assault, Finland's leaders announced their support for joining NATO and Sweden seemed not far behind.

Mr. Biden asked Congress for $33 billion two weeks ago. It didn't take lawmakers long to add $3.4 billion to his requests for both military and humanitarian programs.

The measure includes $6 billion for Ukraine for intelligence, equipment and training for its forces, plus $4 billion in financing to help Kyiv and NATO allies build up their militaries.

There's $8.7 billion for the Pentagon to rebuild stocks of weapons it has shipped to Ukraine and $3.9 billion for U.S. troops in the region.

The measure also includes $8.8 billion to keep the Kyiv government functioning, more than $5 billion to provide food to countries around the world that rely on Ukrainian crops devastated by the fighting and $900 million to teach English and provide other services to Ukrainian refugees who have moved to the United States.

The biggest hurdle to rapid approval of the assistance was cleared this week when Biden and Democrats dropped their demand to include billions more in the measure to bolster U.S. efforts to counter the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans want separate COVID-19 legislation to be a battleground for an election-season fight over immigration that divides Democrats.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-p...xU83hIi3IlE57vv37tmHCsb-ObEIQJF6xHAKGdBs

Thank you Rand Paul for demanding oversight in legislation that already had oversight written into it. Your supreme leader Vladimir Putin also thanks you for making it harder for Ukraine to defend it's sovereign nation against his invading forces comrade.

I am beginning to agree with Paul.

For some reason I'm not surprised by this. Giving Putin a free pass to attack sovereign nations and delivering him at the front door of our NATO allies is exactly what I expect from certain people.

it isn't that. We seem to be just passing these bills, but do we really know what is in them?

I think it is important to know what is in them.

On one hand, just pass the thing already. On the other, I get Rand's point about how much aid we'll have given relative to entire annual budgets for military's in the region. To balance that, however, is that large chunks of that money are for non-military use.

The sneaky bit is how they're allocating money to give weapons and stuff, then also allocating more money to replace what they're giving away and have already allocated money for.
"First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"
-S. R. Hadden, 'Contact'


At least they managed to control themselves enough to pull the Covid spending from a Ukraine relief bill. That *almost* counts as progress for Washington.

Maybe I've misunderstood your position from the start. It seemed like you thought Putin was too unpredictable and this war was too far away for the US to support. My take away from your posts all along has been they you wanted to abstain from any direct involvement - money, support, aid etc.

No, not at all. I just want a little control

Are other NATO countries doing the same as a proportion? I agree with Paul that at some point we need to also do what is right for our country. It's not like we don't have some serious issues on the home front.

I am not sure that money can fix all of them, but even cutting back on spending is helping.

Let's just take a look rather than simply rubber stamp money requests from the White house or whatever other agencies are making the request. Is the money going to Ukraine or is some of it going to Ukraine and some going elsewhere?

That is all i am saying.

They got their walking orders from Fox and Trump this morning. Oppose helping ukrainian democracy over Russian threats because Trump's idol is Putin.

You must believe the overwhelming support from other Republican lawmakers are wrong and only Rand Paul is getting it right. Either that or Rand Paul is doing nothing more than acting as an obstructionist. As I said, the oversight he claims is needed is already baked into the bill.

Here's something I think everyone should consider. When a nation enters a war the costs are magnified like you wouldn't believe. When someone else is fighting your enemy your costs are far less. When and if Putin were to invade a NATO nation our costs would multiply. We would have troops coming home in body bags. We would be paying for support systems like we had to do with Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of now helping to fund Ukraine to weaken Putin is a bargain. To embolden Putin by allowing him to simply walk over Ukraine is the expensive way to deal with it. I'll endorse the bargain.

Final communication from the Moskva cruiser: Two holes, lying on its side

OLENA ROSHCHINA - SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2022, 13:17

Pivden (South) Operational Command has posted a recording of communications from the Moskva cruiser that took place as the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was sinking.

Source: audio recording on the Pivden Operational Command page on Facebook

Quote: "The final recording of communications aboard the Moskva cruiser: shouting about two hits, rolling to the side, need to save the crew."

Details: The communications officer informs the tugboat that there is an emergency on the ship: "Moskva-1 - two holes, propeller stalled, sinking, lying on its side."

The man shouts that there is a hole below the waterline and a roll of 30 degrees.

He says "there is no way to get closer" to the tugboats.

"We’re doing our best to save the crew," he says from the Moskva cruiser.

Background:

In the evening of 13 April, it became known that Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles had hit the Moskva missile cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. After that, the cruiser with its 16 cruise missiles was forced out of action and sank.

Experts analysed satellite images and determined the exact coordinates of the Moskva cruiser at the time when it was hit by the Ukrainian Neptune missile and concluded that half of the crew had been killed or wounded.

CNN and The New York Times reported that the US had allegedly helped Ukraine with intelligence regarding the location of the Moskva cruiser. The Pentagon denied this: "The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case."

Investigative journalists believe that the crew of the Moskva cruiser may have been two-thirds conscripts. Relatives of the Moskva sailors searched for them and were told that the cruiser was not on a combat mission and the sailors were missing in action. Survivors, however, said that the cruiser was on its way to Odesa with a landing force.

Forbes estimated that the sunk Moskva cruiser was worth US$750 million.

The Ukrainian postal service issued stamps commemorating the sinking of the cruiser that included the Ukrainian border guards’ phrase "Russian warship, go f#ck yourself".

https://www.yahoo.com/news/final-communication-moskva-cruiser-two-101751781.html

Coup to remove cancer-stricken Putin underway in Russia, Ukrainian intelligence chief says

A coup is underway to oust Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is "very sick" due to cancer, according to Ukraine's head of military intelligence.


"It will eventually lead to the change of leadership of the Russian Federation. This process has already been launched and they are moving into that way," Ukrainian Major Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told the UK's Sky News in an exclusive interview.

An interviewer asked if a coup is underway, to which Budanov replied, "Yes. They are moving in this way and it is impossible to stop it."

Putin has cancer and other ailments, he said, dismissing the suggestion that he was spreading propaganda.

The Sunday Times recently reported that Putin has blood cancer, citing an unnamed Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin. And a video recently resurfaced showing Putin shaking while welcoming Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in mid-February, according to The Independent, fueling speculation that the despot has Parkinson's disease.

https://fortune.com/2022/05/14/does-putin-have-cancer-coup-underway-blood-cancer-ukraine-war/

We can only hope that's true.

While this isn't something that is directly happening in the war it's certainly consequences directly due to this war....

NATO expects Turkey not to hold up Finland, Sweden membership

BERLIN/STOCKHOLM, May 15 (Reuters) - NATO and the United States said on Sunday they were confident Turkey would not hold up membership of Finland and Sweden in the Western military alliance, as the two Nordic states took firm steps to join in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed on Sunday that his country would apply to join NATO, while Sweden's ruling Social Democrats announced an official policy change that would pave the way for their country to apply within days.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she will go to parliament on Monday to assure support for an application, which NATO allies expect to be made jointly with Finland.

"Today the Swedish Social Democratic Party took a historic decision to say yes to apply for a membership in the NATO defence alliance," tweeted Sweden's foreign minister, Ann Linde. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine has deteriorated the security situation for Sweden and Europe as a whole."

The country's defence minister, Peter Hultqvist, warned that Sweden would be in a perilous situation if it was the only country around the Baltic that remained outside NATO. "We would be left behind," he said.

Turkey, which had surprised its allies in recent days by saying it had reservations about Finnish and Swedish membership, laid out its demands on Sunday on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin. Ankara said it wanted the Nordic countries to halt support for Kurdish militant groups present on their territory, and lift bans on some sales of arms to Turkey.

"I'm confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn't delay the membership," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined to go into details of closed-door conversations in Berlin but echoed Stoltenberg's position.

"I'm very confident that we will reach consensus on that," Blinken told reporters, adding that NATO was "a place for dialogue".

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said talks with Swedish and Finnish counterparts in Berlin had been helpful. The two countries had made suggestions to respond to Ankara's concerns, which Turkey would consider, while he had provided them proof terrorists were present on their territory, he said.

He singled out Sweden in particular, saying the Kurdish militant group the PKK, banned as terrorists by the United States and EU, had held meetings in Stockholm over the weekend.

Nevertheless, he said Turkey did not oppose the alliance's policy of being open to all European countries who wish to apply.

Any decision on NATO enlargement requires approval by all 30 allies and their parliaments. Ankara, a NATO member for 70 years, will be under immense pressure to yield, NATO diplomats said, because the alliance considers that the accession of Finland and Sweden would hugely strengthen it in the Baltic Sea.
'CALM AND COOL'

Sweden and Finland were both neutral throughout the Cold War, and their decision to join NATO would be one of the biggest changes to Europe's security architecture for decades, reflecting a sweeping shift in public opinion in the Nordic region since Russia invaded its neighbour Ukraine in February.

The announcement of backing for membership from Sweden's Social Democrats paves the way for Prime Minister Andersson to launch a formal application within days.

Once vetted by NATO allies - and if Turkish objections are addressed - approval could come in just a matter of weeks, although ratification by allied parliaments could take up to a year, diplomats and officials have said. read more

Moscow has responded to the prospect of the Nordic states joining NATO by threatening retaliation, including unspecified "military-technical measures".

Finland's Niinisto, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, said their conversation was measured and did not contain any threats.

"He confirmed that he thinks it's a mistake. We are not threatening you. Altogether, the discussion was very, could I say, calm and cool," Niinisto said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union."

https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...THDoY4WVcBaU1HF89m9-jgHAurwcm2RTHuvg7His

If it is in fact true, it might explain why he tried to do this insane thing at this time. Tried to cement his legacy, but severely overreached. Now, he'll be remembered as the loser who FAILED to recreate the U. S. S. R.

It'll be interesting to see who's next in line. If they're working with Putin, they still most likely will have a hard left ideology. Hopefully though, they will acknowledge what an idiotic move this war in Ukraine is.

Just so he isn't remembered as the man who ended human existence on planet Earth.