[MtnClimber]

It looks to me like Zelensky could be ready to flee the country. Putin is also in a precarious position in Russia.

[9YearLurker]

They’re squeezing more billions and military entanglements out of Trump and the US. Why would they want to stop or interfere with that?

[Openurmind]

Like with insolent teenagers, sometimes tough love is in order...

[Tench_Coxe]

"Those European and Chinese power-players who have long seen war between the Russian Federation and the United States as an opportunity to diminish both countries simultaneously will say all the right things in upbeat social media postings praising compromise, but they will regret that the America-last Biden administration is no longer around to stumble recklessly into nuclear war. Spy agencies across the West may pause their “color revolution” activities long enough to install a new Ukrainian puppet into the presidency, but they will continue their hybrid warfare operations in former Warsaw Pact countries."

Like what is going on in Serbia. Like the shenanigans in Romania and Georgia. And if you look at Fico in Slovakia or Orban in Hungary, there as well.

[Bernard]

The sooner Zelensky ends the war with Russia, the sooner Ukraine could hold an election and then Zelensky can start a civil war with whoever wins that. His alternative is to go into exile, but where can he go that where his preferred dress code is popular?

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

From the article -- "BlackRock, J.P. Morgan, and other international investment houses will be happy to make money from lucrative rebuilding projects in Ukraine, but they will lament that the war did not topple President Putin and open up Russian lands to their profit-seeking conquest."

October 2023, almost two years ago, I cited quite the same in a comment to an FR thread.

"...many prominent investors, including Vanguard Group, Kopernik Global Investors, BNP Asset Management Holding, Goldman Sachs-owned NN Investment Partners Holdings, and Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway's sovereign wealth fund. A number of large US pension funds, foundations, and university endowments are also invested in Ukrainian land through NCH Capital – a US-based private equity fund, which is the fifth largest landholder in the country."

Only this year:

"In 2025, the Ukrainian government plans to sell at least ten large companies to foreign investors, exceeding its $3.2 billion privatization revenue target for 2025.

Ukraine is continuing its large-scale privatization drive, aiming to sell off major state-owned enterprises and nationalized assets from sanctioned Russian oligarchs, acting State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) head Ivanna Smachylo told Forbes Ukraine in an interview.

In 2024, the SPFU privatized the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), a key titanium producer, and Aeroc, a gas concrete manufacturer previously owned by sanctioned Russian businessman Andrey Molchanov. Now, the government plans to sell at least ten large companies in an auction in 2025.

Ukraine Accelerates Privatization: Major Strategic Assets Up for Sale in 2025 Kyiv Post, 5 February 2025

So few media articles mention the Zelensky government's "State Property Fund of Ukraine." It's been selling for years, and some large consortiums have been buying. But they are not funding the war, as the last visit by European "leaders" to the White House seemed to be again seeking, along with photo ops of Merz, Macron, Starmer, von der Leyen, Meloni, Rutte and all.

A photo op with Larry Fink, Michael Maduell, George Rohr, Sandro Pierri, John E. Waldron, Nicolai Tangen and others will not be seen. But they are among the top brass in this war aiming to win no matter who loses, while urging mere governments to pay, and pay and pay some more.

The last list of names doesn't exactly tip off the tongue now, does it?

[dfwgator]

Maybe if all those fighting-age Ukrainian males would leave the nurturing bosom of Poland and actually fight, Ukraine might have a better chance.

[Uncle Miltie]

Documenting.

Ukraine’s defense spending as a percentage of GDP remained relatively low in the early 2010s but began to increase significantly following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, reflecting heightened security concerns. Based on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the percentages for the years 2010 to 2021 are as follows:
• 2010: 1.9%
• 2011: 1.5%
• 2012: 1.6%
• 2013: 1.6%
• 2014: 2.2%
• 2015: 3.3%
• 2016: 3.67%
• 2017: 3.24%
• 2018: 3.64%
• 2019: 4.07%
• 2020: 4.4%
• 2021: 3.43%

[Kazan]

This point can't be emphasized enough:

 Serious people may be warning about a looming civil war in the United Kingdom, but Ukraine’s territorial integrity is all that matters.  Churches in France may be burning down for unexplained reasons, but Russians are the real threat.  The German economy may be fundamentally unsound, but military spending will create jobs.  

Zeeper USA_France is a name that comes to mind when I read this.

This war is being fought for money and to enrich the globalist elite, who couldn't give a damn how much the populations of their own countries are suffering.

[SaxxonWoods]

I’m looking forward to all the angst, excuses and fantasies when this is over.