ZEEPER FOLLIES PINGLIST!(((PING!)))
Posted on 11/08/2024 7:45:59 AM PST by marcusmaximus
President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss Ukraine with Donald Trump but that does not mean he is willing to alter Moscow's demands, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remarks after being asked at his daily news briefing if Putin's readiness to talk to the Republican president-elect reflected a willingness to change those demands.
"The president has never said that the goals of the special military operation are changing. On the contrary, he has repeatedly said that they remain the same," Peskov said.
-snip-
Putin on June 14 set out his terms for an end to the war: Ukraine would have to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from all of the territory of four regions claimed by Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
His demands from the first have been honoring the electorate in Donbas. They voted to join Russia and the UK signed the Minsk agreement to that effect. Then, the PedoPres jumped in and with endless taxpayer $$ (with a kickback) he persuaded Zylynskyy to fight.
Stupid. Give Russia what they deserve and tell UK to F off.
“One such card is China. As Nixon understood, the key to influencing Russia is through China.”
That ship has sailed. DC has been spoiling for war with China. And China has put us firmly on the enemy list. There is no spend a weekend in China at a summit making it all better.
Russia and China are now firmly driven together. China has manufacturing, Russia has resources, both know the west is implacable and a committed enemy. China has a powerful navy and a large Army, Russia utterly eclipses them in nuclear weapons. BRICS is developing at a steady pace.
No old soft shoe western diplomacy dance moves are going to split them up. Because the reality is we do not seek honest and mutually beneficial relations. We only seek to manipulate one against the other and they are all smart enough to see it. India, China, Russia, the Saudis and Gulf States, etc.
They all see it. Biden’s SWIFT cut off, the grabbing of Russian gold and currency on deposit, the sanctions, the threatening of poor African nations if they bought Russian fertilizer and grain, and blowing up Nordstream showed the entire world that they need an alternative.
“Having said that, if the war continues the Russian economy will collapse. It will just be a slower collapse. Putin is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.”
And we are the largest debtor in all of human history.
So it’s a race to the bottom.
The cost of unnecessary wars is very high. The cost of stupid wars probably higher. This ends poorly for everyone. Putin needs an off ramp
ZEEPER FOLLIES PINGLIST!(((PING!)))
OF COURSE his demands haven’t changed.
But they have, though. Putin’s bandit regime has “annexed” into Russia large Ukrainian cities that are not under Moscow’s control. That is the old Soviet maximalist positioning and there is no basis to negotiate. Putin is gaslighting Bolshevik that says whatever suits him at the a particular moment. President Trump will pay no attention to such nonsense when he formulating his America First policies as they relate to the decaying and increasing irrelevant Russian World.
I wonder if Trump is able to end the war before he is even in office?
After more than a million dead and a trillion of dollars spent, I think it’s time.
We gain nothing from having the Russian economy collapse. That is how wider wars start and/or depressions happen.
I agree with a lot of what you say except that China does NOT have a powerful navy. Actually it is quite weak in any way compared to ours.
What is your solution to this? Bleed Ukraine red with years more war supported by the West’s money and arms, all the while making us weaker and weaker ourselves with no real hope of Ukraine “winning”.
The West (NATO) has reacted to this invasion by growing larger with better strategic geography and getting back into military footing, in other words getting stronger, it is Russia that is being drained militarily.
You don’t believe Ukrainians have a right to their own borders, language and culture separate from the Russian World? Interestingly, that’s exactly what Marxist Democrats believe about Americans.
The solution here are America First polices that put a cordon sanitaire around Russia and let Russians wallow in their own slime until they decide they no longer wish to be a nation of genocidal bandits. Making Russia Great Again has never been an America First policy and conservatives have.
Russia achieved their political goals, no NATO for Ukraine.
Russia achieved their military goals, seize Eastern and ethnic Russian areas.
Now it is Russia that has the initiative and is seizing land while Ukraine is on the defense just trying to hold on.
Regards the real human cost to this war, it is well known, we’re just not told what that is by our “transparent” government. However, every side is tracking casualties for self and the enemy, as well as material losses.
The gap between what is real and imagined/speculated is far smaller than what our news media indicates based on leaked documents that do use accurate information: https://www.newsweek.com/2023/05/05/read-leaked-secret-intelligence-documents-ukraine-vladimir-putin-1794656.html The Ukrainian advantage was marginal to begin with, and it is highly likely significantly less with Ukraines attempted counter offensive as well as the loss of the initial advantage through our infusion of weapons against which the Russians have adapted technically, tactically and organizationally.
Think about this, EU membership for Ukraine was well in reach before the war. Now it’s a dream that won’t happen for decades if ever.
Regards demographics and economics, IN EVERY ASPECT, GDP decline, population decline, debt, currencies value, Ukraine is WORSE off than Russia.
It would have been smart to end the victory charade after the 2023 Ukrainian failed counter offensive. That would have made sense militarily, from an economic and humanitarian stand point. But it didn’t make political sense.
The ones getting crushed the most are the Euros, who now confronted with a massive rise in energy costs can’t industrially stay competitive on a global market: example https://www.news18.com/amp/business/bosch-lays-off-7000-employees-ceo-stefan-hartung-says-more-layoffs-cant-be-ruled-out-9109016.html
As we wrap this war up, the obvious reality, that Russia is at 8% GDP for war, and Ukraine at 33.5%, Ukraine has to dig deeper and deeper to man their military, while a 3.5 times more populous Russia is achieving their numbers with ease, and that it’s Russians sitting on what once was Ukrainian real-estate, will come into play.
We have to try very hard to carve out some argument where we prevailed, why NATO East expansion was worth destroying a nation and causing the deaths of possibly in excess of 100,000 people just on Ukraine’s side.
Or imagine this scenario:
We f-ed with a weaker but nonethless near peer power, a former global super power (the Soviet Union), which means their nation and military war machine was built as a sovereign base.
Russia has an R&D capability, industry and manufacturing capacity, and is a substantial economy on the world stage in terms of PPP (#4) and population, 144 million people.
They export something others need gas / oil / coal / food / fertilizer / titanium / gold. Strategic resources needed in industry and transportation.
Russia has a political reach around the world (BRICS, OPEC+, arms, food and energy sales), functioning military and intel service.
They have seen the games we play with economic warfare, how we leverage our MSM, big tech, NGOs (oxymoron), state department, intel service, and came up with remedies or mitigation strategies.
We’re not going to snap our fingers and watch Russia implode.
Should say larger than imagined are stated.
This war will create the impetus for the Euros to organize and come up with their own combined security organization and policies.
Like with the beginning of this Ukraine war where folks thought Ukraine is winning, give it some time. In another 5 years or so let’s discuss this topic again.
It is this Ukraine war that will tear NATO apart. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-25/macron-says-eu-can-no-longer-rely-on-us-for-its-security?embedded-checkout=true
Russia also has weak demographics and a declining technological and industrial base cut off from international capital, markets, and technology. Many of Russia's best people with transferrable skills have fled the country rather than be sent to die in Ukraine.
“Trump and NATO can apply more pressure by strengthening sanctions and generating internal political pressure against Putin. “
NATO will be making sneaky side deals with the Russians as they did with the Soviets all along during the Cold War.
Yet side deals did not permit the Soviet Union to survive.
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