Michael McCune Analysis: Zelenskyy White House Meeting (good read)

Benson Chit Chat ^ | 3/1/2025 | Michael McCune

[ma_che62]

Who is Micahel McCune?

[kiryandil]

Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you might be thinking to yourself, Oh my God, Donald Trump just screwed up.

Personally, I saw it as President Trump and Vice-President Vance giving the grifting green-shirted punk a well-deserved beatdown.

And then they threw him out of the White House.

[fso301]

I came across Katie Hopkins take away and it is really good as well

Thanks! Was not aware of her. Thanks for posting.

[dfwgator]

Love Katie.

[SoConPubbie]

That is because Russia refuses to bend the knee to the left-wing global order including all things LGBT.

[Racketeer]

“Zelensky thinks he can get enough help from the Euros to keep the war going, and that Ukraine can then outlast Russia in their war of attrition.”

Ol’ Europe can hardly pay their NATO fee much less fund a war. Let’s not forget, US tariffs are about to come into play.

Deep down inside, MAGA is laughing at the clowns of Europe.

[navymom1]

Something tells me Zee better secure something very positive from Euro heads and fast; otherwise, he may not be long for this world.

[cuban leaf]

Was not aware of her.

---

Look her up on Youtube. She’s amazing, in a Ben Shapiro, et-al sort of way. She shuts them down every time, and as a middle aged woman, no less.

Search her name on youtube - and grab a cup of coffee or a six pack. 😁

[Reily]

Americans and modern Europeans don’t understand negotiations and don’t want to. To us “moderns” negotiating is being asked which credit card to use. We used to tolerate in buying a car but that’s dying if not already dead. Proof: look at the “here’s your price! Take it or leave it” car buying services. The only thing left is buying a house and everyone hates those negotiations.

Trump is at the international diplomacy bazaar and haggling. That’s not a criticism that’s an acknowledgement of his greatest strength. It is possible he may not “make the purchase “. As long as the other party thinks that he has leverage. His goal is a deal where everyone walks away with something positive not one walk away with everything and the other ends up wearing a barrel.

The media and the left and even many on the right hate this because it’s so foreign to how they understand things.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

“ Now, Democrats insist that Russia does not need any kind of buffer at all. For myself, I don’t think NATO needs to border Russia.”

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the two sides had the opportunity to create a nearly ideal - from the standpoint of preserving the peace - situation. The two militaries could have remained several hundred miles apart with a buffer of neutral states between them. And at first it appeared they would take that opportunity. But this is the cesspool of Europe with their inbred elite families…and it is NATO with careerists trying to prove their importance and need for massive funding. So they squandered a near ideal situation by hubris, aggression, hedonism and industrial grade stupidity - par for the course in Europe

[FlyingEagle]

The truth is, no deal sticks in Ukraine without corruption involved - Zelinsky was here for his cut, used to getting it from Brandon Junta Obama Rice.

No deal in Ukraine is worth the paper it is written on. I know this from personal experience and efforts.

Zelinsky is a CIA tool and he has lost his handlers. Europe cannot save him.

Time for Tulsi to enable new government in Kiev.

[Georgia Girl 2]

This is pretty much my take on it too. Trump tried to explain to Z that the minerals deal is the security agreement but he’s either too stupid to understand it or his EU overlords have instructed him not to agree to anything that results in NATO being pushed out of the deal.

[BroJoeK]

BikerJoe: "I guess I don't get the strategy.
At this point, Russia has 5 times the population."

Obviously, that depends on how you count them.
Wikipedia lists Ukraine's population as some 33 million, but that does not include another 7 million refugees in foreign countries who could return once peace is at hand.

Wikipedia lists Russia's population as 144 million, but of those, about 104 million are ethnic Russians.
This means the vast majority of Russian troops fighting in Ukraine come from only 40 million non-Russian Russians.
The Kremlin does not use Russian Russians in Ukraine (except for criminals & volunteers) for fear of rebellion by citizens outraged at their deaths.

Nobody knows the actual casualty numbers on both sides, but many different groups have made estimates.
Ukrainians claim an overall ratio of three Russian military deaths to every Ukrainian death, and I think that's likely true, though the overall casualty rates -- including wounded, missing and captured -- are closer to even.

BikerJoe: "Z can get all the Euro arms he'd ever want, but, as JD pointed out yesterday, he already has teams going out to grab conscripts, so he's running out of cannon-fodder."

Sure, but what is that?
Does everyone understand that during WWII and for many years afterward, every country drafted for its military -- it's a normal course of events in every major war.
The US used drafted troops in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
So why is Ukraine being criticized for doing what every country does when threatened existentially?

BikerJoe: "At this point, it's all about "will to fight" and who will lose it first.
I'll give Z points on that one, because it seems like the Russkies are having less of it all the time."

Yes, there are some signs that point at Russian weakness, but I would not put too much stock in them.
Russians are tough as nails and will suffer much before they take action against their oppressors.

So, if or when the end comes for Putin's regime, I would expect it to unfold suddenly and without warning.
As of today, I've seen no signs of that happening.

If Ukrainian refuse to stop fighting, then the war could go on for many more years.
Russia will lose when Putin departs this earth.

Imho, Yrmv

[BroJoeK]

Racketeer: "Ol’ Europe can hardly pay their NATO fee much less fund a war.
Let’s not forget, US tariffs are about to come into play.
Deep down inside, MAGA is laughing at the clowns of Europe."

You do understand, don't you, that there is no "NATO fee"?
What's at issue is the percentages of their own GDP that NATO countries spend on their own national defense.
Currently, NATO countries average a little over 2% of GDP, while the US is running around 3.3% and Pres. Trump has asked NATO to step-up to 5%.

5% of GDP would add around $700 billion to European defense budgets and there is now a plan to do just that:

"Europe Preps Huge Defense Package in Boost to Ukraine: 'Never Been Seen'"

$732 billion to increase Euro defense spending and support Ukraine.

That will do the job, I'd think.

As for "laughing at the clowns of Europe," I don't know where that comes from -- it's ridiculous and unnecessary.
What is necessary is for Euros to step up and do what's required to defend themselves, period.
So, mock all you wish, but Euros have a job to do, and must get to it, today is not too soon to start.

[BroJoeK]

"The media and the left and even many on the right hate this because it’s so foreign to how they understand things."

Exactly right, good post.

[Kudsman]

Article 13 allows a NATO member to withdraw after giving a 1 year notice. If they like their Article 5, THEY should keep their article 5.

If the Nato charter is not written in stone, it should be open to amending yes? I'd like to offer a suggestion that the US repeal that article, if walking out comepletely is off the table.

For the Euros that start screaming we can't do that, i would gently remind them that we amend and repeal portions of our own Constitution.

One more point if I may. Should it stand that we remain trussed to these gits to the point of Armageddon, i would like to see Israel added. Watch them run to the hills.

/rant

[BikerJoe]

BikerJoe: "Z can get all the Euro arms he'd ever want, but, as JD pointed out yesterday, he already has teams going out to grab conscripts, so he's running out of cannon-fodder."

Sure, but what is that? Does everyone understand that during WWII and for many years afterward, every country drafted for its military -- it's a normal course of events in every major war.

It's one thing to have a draft, it's something else entirely to have conscription squads grabbing people off of buses and off the street. Of course, I'll admit that those stories never mention whether those people are random, or had been ordered to report, and didn't.

[Beowulf9]

Well, that is very nice of you :) I do feel honored, and here on my favorite forum :) Also, did you ever hear of cartoonist Jimmy Hatlo? He is known mostly for “There Oughta Be A Law,” a single panel syndicated strip which ran from 1929 until his death in 1963. For years I looked forward to his little cartoon, 'Thanks and a tip of the hat'...and now I got 'a tip of the hat' 😊

[BroJoeK]

"It's one thing to have a draft, it's something else entirely to have conscription squads grabbing people off of buses and off the street."

Conscription is enlistment by force -- by whatever force is required.
In every conscription system, some will be given exemptions -- i.e., critical workers, or people outside the specified ages -- and anyone who can produce such an exemption on demand will not be harassed.

Btw, if it matters, I've seen similar stories in Russia, where police squads arrest whole groups of men in bars, charge them with disorderly conduct and give them the choice of enlistment or long jail sentences.

Desperate times require desperate measures.
Nobody should expect anything different.

[Racketeer]

I pray POTUS Trump, who is having a “special” speech tonight exactly 8 years after catching Barry Soetero for using illegal wiretaps, lowers the boom and pulls the USA out of NATO and the UN.

Then tomorrow, POTUS Trump ends the Federal Reserve!!