Trump: Putin may have territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine

United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that "it is possible" Russian President Vladimir Putin might have "territorial ambitions" beyond Ukraine.

"I know one thing. He would like to settle. He would like to get out of this thing. It's a mess for him. He called the other day [and] said: Can I help you with Iran? I said no, you can help me with Russia," Trump told reporters while attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) summit.

The US head of state remarked that he believes Putin is a "misguided" person, adding that he thought the settlement between Moscow and Kiev would be easier to reach than it is.

It was all based on Cold War imagery and fear mongering.

Now, with Russia partially mobilizing their nation for war, their armed forces are about the same size as ours in absolute manpower. But they won't maintain that long-term. Russia gets the “guns vs. butter” concept and they are trying hard to conduct this war without causing even more damage to their economy.

Before the war, their ground forces were 55% ours. Their air forces 47% ours. Their naval forces 43% ours.

And they did not have the strategic capabilities (carriers, satellites, bombers, theater level missile defense systems... we have). They don't have our IC with 16 members that bring a lot to the table in a conflict as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Community

They do not have our population, 44%. They don't have the number of men reaching military age, 40%. They have ~1/10 our economy in volume, 1/8 or so of our manufacturing base, less high tech, less research funding and centers.

Russia before the war was spending in absolute dollars 1/10 what we were on defense. Even now they are at about 1/4 of what we spend.

Their allies are few: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan. Of these 6 member states, their strongest ally is Belarus, which has about the manpower in their armed forces of the Netherlands, BUT is less well equipped: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Security_Treaty_Organization

Their allies are weak.

Their allies are mired down in internal or regional/neighbor conflicts (Armenia - Turkey) to where they can't help much.

Yep, Russia with gen 4 fighters, no true stealth, their one carrier that is broke most of the time, using a T72 on steroids (T90)... is something we need to fear according to some. Never mind China BTW, they are our friend (we still manufacture rope there, with which they'll hang us)!

Don't get me wrong, the Russians aren't totally backward and incapable. They are a complex force that understands war is a spectrum, they are doctrinal, they are capable of combined arms and joint operations. They get that information operations, cyber warfare, drone's etc. are part of modern warfare. Like us, they have paramilitary forces they deploy around the world (Wagner) that work hand in glove with their IC and Spetsnaz. They do well making military hardware, on the cheap.

They will achieve their political and military objectives in Ukraine (they mostly already have). They are capable of projecting force. They have one of the larger military's on the planet (#5). But they have NOTHING like what we have and if you include alliance systems, they're a twerp compared to us. This narrative of Russia threatening us is laughable. They avoid us and know we are the big kid on the playground. It's us pushing on them (Venezuela, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Georgia), not them pushing on us.

The ONLY area where Russian enjoys near parity is with their nuclear arsenal. Even there, in all reality we have more nukes deployed, more capabilities in deploying them, and with our allies the French and UK we have a larger stockpile than they have, BUT at least in total numbers and only us vs. them, we are fairly equal.

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Somehow, this is a threat to NATO and the US, they are going to invade NATO countries and keep rolling unless we stop them in Ukraine. (can't stop LOL)

This narrative was about as stupid as the remake of Red Dawn where North Korea invades the US: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234719/ (LOL)

When we fear monger and try to get people stirred up (our propaganda in order to get people behind this war effort), at least make it remotely believable.

I agree,

Russia has a PPP about 1/4 ours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)

But within NATO you have: Germany (6/7 of Russia), France (4/7 of Russia), the UK (4/7 of Russia) and Italy (1/2 of Russia).

Our fear mongering created arguments that weren't even remotely feasible.

But here is the irony and contradiction in this: While we peddle off imaginary threats to the masses to get them excited about war, it is exactly the opposite, Russia's perceived weakness by our policy makers which led us trying to ram the NATO issue down Russia's throat. I don't think we thought Russia had this in them. I believe, we expected Russia to yell and make threats, but acquiesce.

While we sell the Russian expansion and threat story to the masses and resort to Cold War cliche's and imagery (got to stop them now or they'll keep going!), to get the people behind this war, we actually see Russia to be militarily conventionally weak and unwilling to pay the political and economic cost of trying to block NATO accession through force. Especially since we have been building up Ukraine for 7 years and created a formidable force. We know Russia is politically stable, and their nuclear forces will only be used under very specific and existential threat type scenarios, so Russia isn't going to use them, even if we're responsible for killing thousands of them and that was fairly certain. But, we were gambling regards a conventional war in Ukraine.

“Right now, Russia illegally occupies parts of several European countries.”

That’s right, but who is going to do anything about it? Not you and pussified France. Just like you, France will shoot its big mouth off but in the end do absolutely nothing. We’re not going to either, so shut up about it already.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The EU — alongside the United States — is mounting a decisive strategic pushback against Russia by supporting Ukraine in its fight to defend its sovereign territory. But Ukraine’s resistance does more than protect its own borders; it is actively draining Russia’s military capabilities, effectively weakening a key adversary of the West. This sacrifice is buying Europe invaluable time — time it is now using to reawaken and rebuild its military-industrial complex.

The shift is already underway. In a historic move, the EU has approved a trillion-dollar defense bill, signaling a new era of European rearmament. At the same time, NATO’s European members have rallied behind the call for increased defense spending, embracing the 5% GDP target proposed by Donald Trump — an idea once controversial, now seen as essential.

In short: while Ukraine holds the line, Europe is rearming at scale. The continent is no longer merely reacting — it is preparing. NATO stands to emerge from this crisis not weakened, but historically strengthened.

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