DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Ukraine: I really thought the recent thread would be the last

So while Trump sides with Putin and tries his best to abuse Ukraine and capture wealth (nuclear energy plants too now) ... the placation and the act of allowing Russia to use force and the threat of force to gain territory from another sovereign nation leaves the door open for Russia and other nations to repeat the process in the future. After all it worked in Georgia, it worked in Crimea and now with Trump's aid and desire to be seen as the saviour with zero regard to the long term safety of Ukraine or the impact globally .... now it has worked in Ukraine.

Ukraine a tiny nation that held Russia back for 3 years ... albeit with aid from EU and the USA. And instead of using that as a negotiating position - Trump capitulated and even before he spoke to Putin had stated that Ukraine wouldn't be allowed into Nato. That territory Russia invaded would need to be ceded to Russia. Told the world that Ukraine had no cards to play. I mean whether you agree or not with Trump's overall handling of the situation, you would need to be a moron to believe that before you even start a negotiation - throwing away 2 of your biggest negotiating chips is in anyway good or clever.

Anyway - with all that said. Here's an article about China's capability to one day seize Taiwan. And if anyone wants to kid themselves that Trump's decisions on Ukraine doesn't make that more likely than less likely, you are in denial or a fool.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...iao-ships-what-does-this-mean-for-taiwan

It's unfolding before their very eyes and they support it. Disgusting.

So Trump special envoy praises Putin and says he's not a bad guy - while ridiculing and belittling NATO allies.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/trump-starmer-ukraine-russia-putin-ceasefire-talks/

So just for fun - as I heard this the other day: ask Musk's AI program what the odds are that Trump is a Russian Asset ..... Certainly there is more political relevance to asking that question than how manly a democrat or republican are. Or the relevance of the price of eggs.

https://grok.com/?q=What+are+the+odds+Trump+is+a+russian+asset%3F

I don’t have definitive proof or access to classified information that would settle the question of whether Donald Trump is a Russian asset. Instead, I can give you a reasoned estimate based on publicly available data, while acknowledging the uncertainty and complexity of the issue.

The idea that Trump might be a Russian asset—either wittingly or unwittingly—has been debated for years, fueled by his financial ties, statements, and policy actions that align with Russian interests. Let’s break it down:

- **Financial Ties**: Trump’s business history shows significant Russian investment. Donald Trump Jr. said in 2008, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” and Eric Trump reportedly told a golf writer in 2014, “We have all the funding we need out of Russia.” After U.S. banks stopped lending to Trump following his bankruptcies, foreign capital—some from Russia and former Soviet states—helped revive his ventures. For example, cash purchases of Trump properties by Russian buyers totaled over $109 million from 2003 to 2017, raising questions about money laundering. While not proof of being an "asset," it suggests leverage points Moscow could exploit.

- **Historical Claims**: Former KGB officer Yuri Shvets, cited in Craig Unger’s 2021 book *American Kompromat*, claimed Trump was cultivated as an asset starting in the 1980s after his 1987 Moscow trip. Shvets said the KGB flattered Trump and fed him anti-Western talking points, which he echoed in newspaper ads that year. Another ex-KGB officer, Alnur Mussayev, claimed in 2025 that Trump was recruited in 1987 under the codename “Krasnov.” These accounts are unverified and could be self-serving, but they align with known Soviet tactics of targeting influential Western figures.

- **Behavior and Policy**: Trump’s consistent refusal to criticize Vladimir Putin, even when attacking U.S. allies, stands out. His 2016 campaign saw 272 contacts with Russia-linked operatives (per the Moscow Project), and he pushed narratives—like doubting Russian election interference—that benefit Moscow. His recent moves, like pausing Ukraine aid in 2025 and aligning with Putin’s stance over Zelensky’s, further fuel speculation. Intelligence reports, like the 2021 U.S. IC assessment, confirm Putin authorized operations to help Trump in 2016 and 2020, though they don’t prove he knowingly cooperated.

- **Counterpoints**: Trump denies any Russian ties, claiming in 2017, “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” The Mueller investigation found no conclusive evidence of a conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia, though it documented extensive contacts and lies about them. Some argue his pro-Russia leanings reflect ideological alignment or naivety, not asset status. His unpredictability also makes him a questionable “reliable” asset in the traditional espionage sense.

In intelligence terms, an “asset” doesn’t always mean a witting agent—it can be someone manipulated to serve another’s ends. Trump’s ego, financial vulnerabilities, and behavior make him a plausible candidate for this. Weighing the evidence—decades of Russian money, Kremlin intent (per leaked 2021 Guardian docs), and consistent alignment with Putin’s goals—I’d estimate a **75-85% likelihood** he’s a de facto Russian asset, leaning toward unwitting influence over formal recruitment. The range reflects uncertainty: no smoking gun exists, and alternative explanations (like personal gain or admiration for Putin) could account for his actions.

That said, this is a probability, not a fact. Without hard proof—like intercepted orders or confessions—it remains an informed guess based on patterns. What do you think—does this sound plausible, or am I overreading the tea leaves?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93n05z48ldo.amp

Russia says sanctions must be lifted before Ukraine maritime ceasefire can start

Putin is playing Trump like a fiddle....

Same as it ever was.

If trump lifts any sanctions on Russia he’s a fool. Even if the ceasefire is successful. Putin needs to pay for the damage he’s caused first.

And this isn't even a ceasefire of the war. It's restricted to the Black Sea. Putin is playing games.

Who'd have expected that, though? It's only something that he's done for, oh, the past twenty-five years or so...

I'm not sure who didn't expect it. I know this one guy who said he could end the war in a day. Either he was lying his ass off or he wasn't expecting it....................

Trump says he can end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. Russia’s UN ambassador says he can’t

https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893

It looks like Russia was right again.

https://www.politico.eu/article/mac...once-peace-has-clearly-been-established/

Putin is playing games with you, Starmer and Macron warn Trump
European leaders distance themselves from U.S. attempts to relax sanctions on Russia, saying Putin is up to his old tricks.

Trump has called out every ally as some sort of enemy and has never said one bad word about putin. He is a disgusting human being. Makes me very sad for america.

It’s seriously Putin 101. If Trump falls for it, well…

He has already fallen for it. Any time you agree to major concessions before the negotiations ever begin you lost before you started. Who knew that the art of the deal meant giving the other side everything they want to make a deal? And even at that still hasn't been able to make a deal.

Revealed: Trump’s plan to force Ukraine to restore Putin’s gas empire

America holds gun to Zelensky’s head with unprecedented reparation demands

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Related Topics
Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Russia-Ukraine war, Global economy
27 March 2025 5:34pm GMT

4974

Donald Trump is holding a gun to the head of Volodymyr Zelensky, demanding huge reparations payments and laying claim to half of Ukraine’s oil, gas, and hydrocarbon resources as well as almost all its metals and much of its infrastructure.

The latest version of his “minerals deal”, obtained by The Telegraph, is unprecedented in the history of modern diplomacy and state relations.

“It is an expropriation document,” said Alan Riley, an expert on energy law at the Atlantic Council. “There are no guarantees, no defence clauses, the US puts up nothing.



“The Americans can walk away, the Ukrainians can’t. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

The text leaves little doubt that Mr Trump’s chief objective is to incorporate Ukraine as a province of America’s oil, gas and resource industries.

It dovetails with parallel talks between the US and Russia for a comprehensive energy partnership, including plans to restore West Siberian gas flows to Europe in large volumes, with US companies and Trump-aligned financiers gaining a major stake in the business.

The revived gas trade would flow through Ukraine’s network, and later via the Baltic as the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines are brought back on stream.

The new draft states that the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund will control Ukraine’s “critical minerals or other minerals, oil, natural gas (including liquified [sic] natural gas), fuels or other hydrocarbons and other extractable materials”.


All critical materials listed in the US Energy Act are covered, including both rare earths and 50 other minerals such as lithium, titanium, cobalt, aluminium and zinc.



The US will control infrastructure linked to natural resources “including, but not limited to, roads, rail, pipelines and other transportation assets; ports, terminals and other logistics facilities and refineries, processing facilities, natural gas liquefaction and/or regasification facilities and similar assets”.

Three of the five board members on the new fund will be chosen by the US. It will have “A” shares and golden shares. America will receive all the royalties until Ukraine has paid off at least $100bn of war debt to the US, with 4pc interest added – less than the $350bn floated earlier by Mr Trump but still half of Ukraine’s GDP, and unpayable.

Ukraine has only “B’ shares and will receive 50pc of the royalties only once its arrears are paid off.

The fund is registered in Delaware but under New York jurisdiction. The US has the first right of refusal on all projects. It has authority to examine the books and accounts of any Ukrainian ministry or agency whenever it wants during working hours.


The US can veto sales of Ukraine’s resources to other countries, which might mean banning rare earth sales to China but might also restrict sales to Europe.


Prof Riley said: “It is not compatible with EU membership, and perhaps that is part of the purpose. I have to wonder whether the real intention might not be to force Zelensky to reject it.”

The US pays in no investment capital, deeming its contribution to be past military aid. No security guarantee is offered.

19th century-style treaty
The contract makes a few rhetorical nods to Ukraine, stating that the “American people desire to invest alongside the Ukrainian people in a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine”.

It acknowledges Ukraine’s contribution to peace “by voluntarily abandoning the world’s third-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons” in the Budapest Memorandum in 1994.

However, the terms are if anything even harsher than the original drafts, which were deemed predatory and neo-colonial by international lawyers, and which caused outrage in much of Europe. The document smacks of the unequal treaties imposed on China by the European powers in the 19th century.

It is a cruel way to treat a democratic ally fighting for its political existence and defending the West’s outer line against Russian imperialism.

The Trump White House says Putin would not dare to attack if America has commercial skin in the game, but this has no currency in a context where it is also negotiating sweetheart energy deals with Kirill Dmitriev, the McKinsey-trained head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.


The Russian media says these talks cover the return of US drillers to the Kara Sea and the Arctic, but also cover US fracking technology.


Germany’s Bild Zeitung said talks have been underway for weeks in Switzerland to reopen the Nord Stream 2 pipelines, conducted secretly by ex-Stasi agent Matthias Warnig and Mr Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell, a man known for his Kremlin sympathies.

The terms would give US contractors operational control and a fat revenue stream, creating money out of “thin air”. A cynic might call it a legal “donation” to Mr Trump’s circle by the Kremlin.

“There is talk about Nord Stream. It would be interesting if the Americans put pressure on Europe, to make them stop refusing our Russian gas,” said Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister.

Diplomatic disaster for the West
Ukrainians are expected to accept the fig-leaf assurance of the minerals deal even as Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s negotiator, parrots Kremlin’s propaganda, validating the sham referenda of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, and pre-emptively ceding the four oblasts that Putin is not even close to conquering.


If Mr Witkoff listened to the hearings of the Senate Intelligence Committee this week he would have heard General Jeff Kruse, head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, testifying that Russia is having serious trouble prosecuting the war and will run out of steam altogether by the end of the year – if the West holds its nerve.

Putin has exhausted his rainy day fund and is blowing the gaskets of his military Keynesian economy. Ukrainian drones are hammering his oil export facilities, which is why he may need an energy truce more than Ukraine.

“Trump has blown a winning hand,” said Tim Ash, from Chatham House.


Diplomatic disaster for the West is now unfolding briskly on all fronts.

Mr Trump has agreed to help Russia restore its “access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions” as reward for the non-concession of a Black Sea maritime truce, which also helps Russia more than Ukraine.


Putin specifically wants Russia’s farm bank, Rosselkhozbank, restored to the Swift payments system, and he wants the embargo lifted on farm equipment, which has dual-use capability for his war machine. He is well on his way to securing both.

Europe’s sanctions regime is near to disintegration as well. Hungary and Slovakia have both said they will not vote for a roll over of existing curbs, which means that sanctions will automatically expire in July, and so will control over €200bn (£170bn) of Russian central bank holdings in Europe.

“If even one EU member state votes against the asset freeze, the freeze will lapse. The Central Bank of Russia can then immediately withdraw its deposit from Euroclear,” said Anton Moiseienko and Yuliya Ziskina, from the Royal United Services Institute.

“For all the talk of reparations and accountability, the EU would find itself handing over €200bn to the regime that launched Europe’s biggest war since World War Two – an Afghanistan-style moment for EU foreign policy.”

That is where we are heading with Europe’s “carefully calibrated dithering”. Europe and Britain will end up having to foot the entire bill for rebuilding what remains of Ukraine at the end of this betrayal, while Mr Trump scoops up Ukraine’s chief means of economic recovery, and Putin gets his €200bn back.

John Ratcliffe, CIA director, told the Senate committee this week that Mr Trump knows it would be dangerous if Putin achieved his “maximalist” objectives.

You could have fooled me. All evidence so far is that Trump & Putin Inc is a perfectly harmonious joint venture.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...-force-ukraine-restore-putin-gas-empire/

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/20...ance-with-bloodbath-for-ukraine-support/


Russia Threatens Britain and France With ‘Bloodbath’ Warning as Ukraine Support Talks Kick Off in Paris

The only way this war ends is with Putin dying. I think Europe and Ukraine figured that much out. Now will we side with democracy or the axis of evil? I’d say that’s up to the MAGA base. If the make Trump save Ukraine, we win. If they allow Putin to take Ukraine, we lose. Trump-Tardism Syndrome is a real thing.

I know the Trump supporters think they have a "Get out of Jail Free" Card to play by saying we should never pay attention to what Trump says .... but I think in some cases on some subjects it matters.

Trump again lies and says Ukraine started the war.
Talks about a great conversation with Putin.
Gives Russia free pass on recent attack that killed 30 non-military. "it was a mistake".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5q0mev07lo

Trump aligns with Putin. They align with Trump.

US will abandon Ukraine peace efforts ‘within days’ if no progress made, Rubio warns

The United States could end its efforts on ending the Ukrainian conflict within “days” if there are no signs of progress, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday.

“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” he told reporters before departing Paris, where he had held high-level talks with European and Ukrainian officials. “We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable,” he said.

Rubio’s comments point to mounting frustration within the Trump administration at the lack of progress at bringing the three-year full-scale war to a halt.

Asked to clarify what Rubio meant that the US would “move on,” a US official told CNN the secretary of state was talking about the US moving on from negotiations and that the next few days will be important to figure out where things go from here.

A source familiar with negotiations for a Ukraine peace deal told CNN’s Pamela Brown that Rubio was “communicating the president’s views.” Characterizing the administration’s thinking on where things stand in the conflict, the source said, Trump “doesn’t have limitless patience for people to posture and play games.”

“It’s time to get serious,” the source added.

A broad framework has been presented to both sides, Rubio and the State Department have said, to determine whether the differences can be narrowed in this short timeframe. Rubio said it would be taken by the Ukrainians back to Zelensky to discuss, and it was raised between Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on a call on Thursday.

If there’s no movement, the US official said, the administration will have to make significant policy decisions. Trump has threatened secondary sanctions and tariffs on Russia. But he has also said the US won’t continue to fund Ukraine indefinitely and that Europe needs to step up, the official noted.

Moscow has stalled on negotiations and rejected a ceasefire proposal agreed by Kyiv. Having promised on the campaign trail to end the fighting in a day, US President Donald Trump more recently said “Russia has to get moving.”

Despite US officials holding talks with Ukrainian and European counterparts on Thursday in what the State Department touted as an “excellent exchange,” and progress being made toward a landmark minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv, peace still feels out of reach. Meanwhile, a partial ceasefire on energy infrastructure brokered by the US came to an end on Thursday, an agreement both sides frequently accused each other of violating.
Vance ‘optimistic’ about negotiations

Vice President JD Vance said hours after Rubio’s comments that the Trump administration feels “optimistic” they will ultimately be able to successfully negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and also some of the things that have happened even in the past 24 hours,” Vance said in Rome during a bilateral meeting with Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

He continued, “I think we have some interesting things to report on, of course, in private, some negotiations. I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close.”

A US-authored outline of a peace plan had received an “encouraging reception” at the talks in the French capital, according to a State Department readout, which did not give details on the outline. Rubio also spoke with Lavrov and conveyed the same outline, the readout said.

Speaking Friday, Rubio said he and Witkoff had come to Paris to “begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war” and whether or not this is a war that can be ended.

“If it’s not possible, if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen then I think the president is probably at a point where he’s going to say we’re done,” he said.

“It’s not our war. We didn’t start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years and we want it to end, but it’s not our war,” he added.

“President (Trump) has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to and end. We are now reaching a point when we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not. Which is why we’re engaging both sides.”

Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine overnight, hitting a residential neighborhood of the city of Kharkiv. The strike killed one person and wounded 67 others, authorities said Friday, adding they feared more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of a damaged apartment building.
Step towards minerals deal

Rubio’s words of warning on Friday come after the US and Ukraine moved closer toward clinching an agreement on a minerals deal on Thursday night.

Kyiv and Washington have now signed a memorandum as a move towards the proposed agreement, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Svyrydenko said in a post on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said earlier Thursday that a memorandum related to the deal could be signed remotely that day.

“This document is the result of the professional work of the negotiating teams, which recently completed another round of technical discussions in Washington,” Svyrydenko continued. “Ahead is the finalization of the text of the agreement and its signing — and then, ratification by parliaments.”

“There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries,” Svyrydenko concluded.

An earlier iteration of the minerals deal went unsigned following a public argument between Zelensky and Trump in February.

Details of the proposed deal have since been in flux, with Treasury officials meeting a Ukrainian delegation in Washington this week to hammer it out, sources told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/18/europe/rubio-russia-war-in-ukraine-us-talks-intl-hnk/index.html

Trump says he can end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. Russia’s UN ambassador says he can’t

July 2, 2024

https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893

Trump says his vow to end Ukraine's war in 24-hours was 'sarcastic'

https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/15...he-could-end-the-war-in-ukraine-in-24-ho

Yeah, because using sarcasm to help win an election, while people are dying in a war is so much better than helping to end the war itself. Pffft. And those silly Goper’s took the bait, hook line a sinker.

JC

Trump says we’re close to a deal with Russia.

Russia attacks ukraines capital.

Trump begs Putin to stop….on truth social.

While trump attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday for saying he wouldn't approve of Russia keeping Crimea or any other Ukrainian occupied territory.

The Art of the Deal

Bro, Trump is really going out of his way to please Putin. The peace deal they released is a freaking joke. and He's really blaming Zelensky for the war instead of the guy who INVADED.

We really are the villains in this arc, if we do go through with this.

The Art of Baloney......I recall Trump boasting he'd have the Ukraine War over in 24 hrs..........he is our President, he is a convicted felon, his Easter message- on the HIGHEST holy day of Christianity-- he attacks his "enemies"......WOW.....what a President.

J/C

Mark it down. trump’s biggest mistake, is trusting Putin, or any Russian for that matter.

"Although it has dramatically ramped up its military production, it is essentially using all of that production within weeks of it rolling out on the factory floor," he said.

Russia has gone through its vast Soviet-era stockpiles of equipment at a staggering rate since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In February, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that Russia had lost 14,000 main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers since the start of the full-scale invasion.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-dramatically-upped-military-production-093455066.html

Here’s what bothers the piss out of me that even smarter posters on this board don’t get. We spend BILLIONS in R&D, production, sustainment and CLS to counter the Russians. We could spend a FRACTION of what we currently spend on just giving money to Ukraine to hold out in their war.

We could do it from a disinterested, shrewd business perspective to say “This is for our advantage and nothing more” and still come out ahead. Why? Because of the above quote. Our near-peer adversary is imploding itself for the sake of ego…fighting against what it originally believed to be its far inferior neighbor. However, it’s getting its ass kicked.

How could that happen? Well, here’s the opportunity for all of us to get patriotic. Because our systems are FAR SUPERIOR TO THEIRS. What we’ve witnessed over the past three years is a far inferior team use our equipment and go toe to toe with “the best in the world” and kick their ass in the process.

To that end, much has been made about giving the Ukrainians F-16s. Ohhh the horror! Oh no! What if Russians get the plane! OMG!…..


Please….

The F-16 is entirely being produced exclusively for foreign partners now out of Greenville, SC (Bulgaria, Slovakia, Taiwan, Morocco, Jordan, Bulgaria again, Philippines, and Türkiye).

The bottom line is this…we have EVERY chance to both reduce our own defense budget from the TRILLION that this administration wants to increase it to (Gee…I wonder why????) to accommodate our ALLIES in Ukraine to combat our ADVERSARY in Russia and then focus on our pívot to countering China.

So let me rephrase…we have the chance to reduce our military budget, eliminate a near peer adversary, and then focus our military budget against our only remaining near peer adversary using the same amount OR LESS than we currently spend…OR…


….



…..


We could spend our time focusing on Zelenskyy and how he’s the problem because his country was invaded for no reason and he’s not giving immediate concessions. Does anyone understand how truly insane this sounds???

I swear…our biggest problem is just getting out of our own way, and getting out of the way of common sense.


Here for any rebuttals….

If you don’t want to rebut or debate and decide to put me on ignore, use hashtags, or “Houdini” yourself from the conversation, that’s on you…

Other than that, I have no pride. Call me out. Find flaws. Do whatever. This is a bigger deal than most realize.

Strong leadership indeed.

Putin’s cuck.

Putin says Russia has the strength to finish Ukraine operation

https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-says-hopes-no-nuclear-075316595.html

and he's back to threatening nuclear strikes.

If you're truly winning a war that you started, why the threat of nukes? We know why....

It’s all he has at this point.

Keep draining him. He’s quintupled down on a losing hand at this point. Hope we don’t fold.

In fairness, Taiwan has been a target for China for decades. Over the last 10 or so years they have ramped up to see that happen by 2027, at least that is their goal, so no matter what one feels about the Ukraine situation, it has no bearing on what China wants or plans.

I do agree there is a very good chance that China makes a move in the next few years. I brought this up in a thread a few years back but most everybody but Swish shrugged off.

Hey, wait a minute,, Didn't Ukraine start this war? I thought that's what Trump said!

If you think that the world letting Putin invade Ukrane and "winning" - by keeping sovreign territory of another country - isn't going to influence or enable China and have that factor into their decision then I don't know what to tell you. Seriously.

As someone who believes China has its sights set on Taiwan the way Putin wants to take Ukraine, how do you think our wussing out of the conflict in Europe is going to impact China's plans?

Bad time for us to be defending ourselves from incoming nukes. The Ruskies just got a lot of good intel from the doge hackers, rather intentional or not. And here we are can’t even keep planes in the air and we are in-fighting. Trump was a true gift to Russia and China. They are both eating our lunch while Trump builds fences and ballrooms, and tells everyone that gas is a buck 98 and groceries are at an all time low… he’s so far out of touch with reality it would be pathetic if he wasn’t in the most powerful seat in the world. If most people had a relative acting like him, they’d get them medical/mental help.

em·bold·en

give (someone) the courage or confidence to do something or to behave in a certain way.

You don't say...

Vance says Russia ‘asking for too much’ to end war with Ukraine
Felicia Schwartz and Robbie Gramer
Updated Wed, May 7, 2025 at 9:58 AM EDT4 min read

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vance-says-russia-asking-too-135853945.html


Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Russia is “asking for too much” to end its war with Ukraine, underscoring new frustrations in the Trump White House over its efforts to court Moscow on peace talks.

Speaking to the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington, he said that the U.S. is focusing on a long-term settlement since Russia has rejected the U.S. call for a 30-day ceasefire. Moscow has said that sort of temporary pause is not in its strategic interest because it would allow Ukraine to regroup.

Vance stressed that Russia is likely to have to make concessions — the latest sign that the Trump administration is willing to get more aggressive with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” Vance said.

The vice president was channeling growing impatience in the White House with Putin. Late last month President Donald Trump said Putin may just be “tapping me along” and suggested he may employ sanctions to change the dynamic.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war,” Trump said of Putin on his Truth Social platform in April. The post came after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome.

Vance said in his speech Wednesday that Trump was prepared to walk away from the talks but stopped short of threatening sanctions.

He said the next step is to get Ukraine and Russia to agree to talk to each other.

“We would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” Vance said. “That is the next big step we’d like to take.”

He said that he’s “not yet a pessimist” on the process even though there’s “a big gulf” between where the Russians and Ukrainians are. He said that “it’s probably impossible” for the U.S. to mediate between the parties without them having at least some direct contact.

Vance, speaking to the audience of senior transatlantic leaders visiting Washington, struck a much more diplomatic tone than his fiery speech before the Munich Security Conference in February and touted the importance of U.S.-European ties, saying that they are on the “same civilizational team.” The Munich Leaders Meeting is put on by the Munich Security Conference organization.

With tension palpable in the room — filled with many sharp critics of Trump and skeptics of his administration’s approach to transatlantic ties — Vance said he was “having fun” at the confab and joked that his team was “very nervous.”

He said he was not sure he would be invited back to address the group after his February appearance in Munich. There he stunned the audience by lashing out at European governments, criticizing them for ignoring the will of their people, overturning elections, ignoring religious freedoms and failing to stop illegal migration.

At the end of the question-and-answer session with former German ambassador to the United States and chair of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger, Vance revisited his controversial speech. While his tone was more conciliatory, he repeated his warnings for the continent, which he said also applied to the U.S.

“It's not ‘Europe bad, and America good,’” he said. “I think that both Europe and the United States, we've gotten a little bit off track, and I'd encourage us all to get back on track together.”

Vance’s remarks appeared to calm tensions among those gathered at the meeting in Washington at least a little.

“I came into the speech pretty nervous,” said one conference goer, a Western European. “I left slightly less nervous.”

Another attendee noted the softer tone but said “there were a lot of questions left unanswered. How many concessions are you willing to offer Russia? If Ukraine can’t join NATO what will you do to prevent future Russian invasions? Because without hard defense commitments to Ukraine we all know it will happen again.”

Some remained troubled by his attitude toward Moscow. All participants were granted anonymity as the two-day event was held under Chatham House Rules, which stipulates that participants may be quoted but not their names or affiliations, to facilitate more candid conversations.

“He charmed, he cleaned up from the February speech, he reassured, he made everything okay,” said a third participant. “But to come off as somehow neutral between Russia and Ukraine is morally repugnant. One side is the aggressor, one the victim fighting for its survival. Nice speeches can’t change that.”

As Vance spoke, the United States and Germany’s new government were in a fresh public spat over Berlin’s decision to label its far-right political party, the AfD, as an extremist group.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio lambasted the decision by the German government last week as “tyranny in disguise” and said the establishment parties’ “deadly open border immigration policies” were what was extremist.

New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called that an “absurd observation” in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday.

“I would like to encourage and exhort the American government to leave German domestic politics to Germany and to largely stay out of these partisan considerations,” he said at that interview.


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The frustrating thing about this is that it has been obvious to most on this board with any international experience...Russia does not negotiate in good faith. They never have under Putin and they never will. It is all about leverage. What little concessions he's willing to make, he will not honor. But he will accept our concessions. The only reason Russia and China get along - and they get along a lot worse than most people think - is because China operates the same way. It's a dominant-submissive negotiation. They do not accept the Western win-win style negotiations, certainly when it comes to combat operations. It has been like that since WW2 (remember how Russia acted after the war was over?).

You have to find a leverage point and press that point as firmly as possible until they cry uncle or collapse. That is the only way. If you concede, they take your concession and then ask for more.

ya think? I thought Trump passed the cognitive test with flying colors.