Posted on 05/12/2025 8:37:26 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the "way forward for a ceasefire" in Ukraine with European counterparts, including the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and the EU's foreign policy chief, the State Department said on Monday.
Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and his German and Polish counterparts were also on the call, according to the readout.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.jpost.com ...
‘lil Marco is a neocon,
may as ell bring back vampiressVicky
Tell your Zelensky to stop dragging his feet, seek peace and to show up in Turkey wearing a proper suit and tie.
Posted elsewhere.
GPT: How many total sanctions are in place against Russia?
Reply: 16,700 by EU and US and a few other countries like Australia and Japan.
It is not clear what other sanctions there can be. Declaring the US will do no business with any country that buys Russian oil or gas would 1) end the flow of oil to the EU . . . Russian oil delivered via India and 2) Erase any money for the budget from tariff on Chinese trade.
16700 is pretty much maxed out.
Trump’s Treasury pick Bessent calls for stronger sanctions on Russia over Ukraine war
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-treasury-pick-bessent-calls-172644114.html
Trump threatens to impose ‘large scale’ sanctions on Russia until a peace agreement with Ukraine is reached
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna195333
Debating the troll marcusmaximus is like engaging the Babylon Bee.
You tell him the number of sanctions, and he immediately posts back piles of pony poo.
What a clown - babylonusmaximus. FR is cursed with the heartbreak of CMD - Chronic Mucus Disease.
Tell your Putin to show up in Istanbul on Thursday.
Only way this gets resolved is if both parties are BOTH unhappy with the outcome. Unfortunate, but that’s how most adversarial situations are effectively resolved.
When both sides are unhappy.
As long as Russia wants to be a ‘clear winner’ (whatever the heck that is), the war will not end.
As long as Ukraine wants to be ‘truly victorious’ (eg, kicking Russia out of all of Ukraine), the war will not end.
Russia will have to accept that whatever success narrative Putin required is out of reach. Ukraine must unfortunately realize that taking back Crimea (and maybe parts of the East) is off the table.
Is that rewarding Putin? Maybe, but what’s the alternative? The West going to (direct) war with Russia? That will not happen, simply because the West would absolutely hammer Russia conventionally and likely pass the threshold where Russia uses nuclear weapons. Sure, many say that will not happen, but you can be assured that the UK Prime Minister or French President will not risk British citizens in London or French nationals in Paris for Odessa or Kyiv. Not happening. President Trump himself has clearly indicated he’s not willing to get into a shooting war with Russia. So, outside increasing military aid to Kyiv, and more sanctions on Russia (amazing there are still more left), Ukraine is on its own.
Does that mean Ukraine lost? Only in terms of land and people. However, Ukraine will forever be the country that stood up against Russia. I know some don’t like President Zelenskyy, but he stood up firm when he could easily have run. That war was supposed to take between several days to two weeks, and they are still fighting three years later. That is not weakness.
However, it is necessary to be realistic. Which I think is what President Trump has also communicated. A resolution needs to be agreed on, and as much as the Europeans want Ukraine to keep fighting, outside the West getting fully involved that will not help. Already Ukraine may have passed a demographic threshold - a lot of people only report on Russian losses, but Ukraine has also lost a lot (not only on the battlefield, but more importantly, all the women and other people who left the country and have built lives in other countries).
As for Russia - the only reason its economy has not collapsed is because it has become a war economy. That is not sustainable long term, and also Putin is not immortal.
Both sides need to stop, and (unfortunately for Ukraine) the only way for that to happen is for BOTH sides to be unhappy.
There will be no ‘winner’, no matter what Pro-Russia or Pro-Liberty/Ukraine people desire.
The west really tried to break Russia. Instead Russia broke globalism. Nordstream broke the EU economies. It srarted with 1.2m Ukes under arms vs 540k Russians... now it is 1.7m Russians vs 600k Ukes. Russia has surpassed the west in air to ground, drones and mussiles. They produced over 375 main battle tanks in 2024 vs a handful. They repair 7 of 10 tanks knocked out.
Russia will soon have most of the EU Banks collateral under Russian management....
Russia only has to take the city if Zaporosa to make Ukraine literally a rump state. This one city us responsible for over half if Ukrainian GDP. If the Russians use those 300 invasion boats, Ukraine will never be economically viable.
Zelinski will not show without a ceasefire si Russia will destroy Ukraine, and Trump walks away.
That is a delusional take on Ukraine and the west. Excuse me for laughing at your Uke Tabloid Propoganda piece.
This will be resomved by a Russian declaration of war against Ukraine and the removal if Zelinskus Nazi regime jn Kiev. Mr Oresnik is going to destroy the conventional wisdom if western superiority.
Trump is all about Great Powers Regional Influence. Just as Panama is in the American sphere of influence, so is Ukraine in Russia’s.
So, stating that Ukraine will have to give up Crimea and (likely) part of the East; and that they may have passed a demographic threshold that they cannot recover from, is ‘Uke tabloid propaganda?’
Give it a couple of hours - I am sure someone else will come accusing me of Russian propaganda. ;^)
Either case, the issue will be resolved through an agreement that will make both sides unhappy. Putin will not get what he wants. Zelenskyy will have to give what he doesn’t want to give. The Russian economy is damaged, and this will be realized once the reliance on a war economy abates. The Ukrainian demographic situation may be irreparably damaged. Russia media will claim Putin ‘won.’ Ukrainian YouTubers will state Ukraine ‘won.’
But the war will end by an agreement that results in both sides being unhappy.
Evidently the secret to good negations with Europe and the little green goblin is lots of high quality cocaine.
That’s laughable.
Russia’s decrepit and rotten, and Putin’s as embarrassing as Joe Biden was, both presiding over nations they allowed to decline on their watch while filling their own pockets as fast as they could.
But dementia caught up to Biden and he’s been replaced with a reformer... and time will catch up to Putin. But will Russia get a reformer in time to save them from further disaster, or just another fool with personal ambition?
The Europeans don’t want peace. They just want a ceasefire so they can supply Ukraine with weapons and “peacekeepers”.
Crimea will never pass from Russian control. It is Russian, period.
Which is what I said. ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.