The thief wants to be part of the neighborhood watch program.
Posted on 08/24/2025 6:41:37 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Vice President JD Vance remains confident the U.S. can broker an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine despite potential hang-ups that have emerged since President Donald Trump’s meeting this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We believe we’ve already seen some significant concessions from both sides, just in the last few weeks,” Vance said in an exclusive interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Vance also weighed in on a Russian missile strike in western Ukraine overnight Thursday that hit an electronics factory owned by a U.S.-based company. Asked by moderator Kristen Welker if he was “enraged” by the strike, which the company said injured several workers, Vance pivoted to a criticism of former President Joe Biden.
“I don’t like it,” Vance said of the assault. “But this is a war, and this is why we want to stop the killing. The Russians have done a lot of things that we don’t like. A lot of civilians have died. We’ve condemned that stuff from the get-go and, frankly, President Trump has done more to apply pressure and to apply economic leverage to the Russians, certainly, than Joe Biden did for 3 ½ years, when he did nothing but talk, did nothing to bring the killing to a stop. So you asked me what I’m enraged by? What I’m enraged by is the continuation of the war.”
Trump told reporters Friday that he was not happy about the strikes on western Ukraine and indicated that any peace deal between the countries could be weeks away.
“I think over the next two weeks, we’re going to find out which way it’s going to go,” Trump said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
The thief wants to be part of the neighborhood watch program.
I read this article not the entire transcript.
From what is in this article, I would say the most interesting question to Vance would have been, when or if Zelensky will meet face to face with Putin.
I just don’t think Putin will ever meet with Zelensky to seriously negotiate any terms.
Any meeting will be a photo op over deal done in advance.
Not happening anytime soon.
Putin wants all of the Donbass.
Zelensky is not going to give up the territory that are held by the Ukrainians.
The Russians will just rebuild and then attack again later.
Thanks!
1) Do you believe that Zelensky can say or sign something that Parliament will agree to? What legal authority does he really have?
2) Regardless of the mechanical technicalities of diplomacy or who in fact has authority to make peace, how on earth are they ever going to agree to anything while Russians are on Ukrainian soil?
Either there is a translation problem or maybe a willful misunderstanding, but Lavrov has spoken about this in years past.
The context was usually a pro-Russia government in Ukraine. At which time of course security guarantees would require the involvement of Russia.
Now events have overcome that scenario, if the government is elected, because in the elections prior to 2014, pro-Russian candidates were winning the Ukrainian elections. They did so with regional voting advantages from those votes coming out of the Crimea and out of the Donbas.
Those votes are gone now. Republicans could not win the presidency if votes from Texas and deep red states were excluded. The same thing is true in Ukraine now. Those oblasts will no longer vote in Ukrainian elections.
That and a cruise missile into Zalensky’s bedroom.
They also won by lying. President Yanukovych, elected in 2010, ran on a platform of joining the EU, but after a meeting with Putin, suddenly reversed course.
Since 2012, Ukraine and the EU had been negotiating a free trade and association agreement. In 2013, the Ukrainian Parliament overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU,[188] and Yanukovych urged parliament to adopt laws so that Ukraine would meet the EU's criteria and be able to sign the agreement in November 2013.[189]
Russia, however, put pressure on Ukraine to reject the EU Association Agreement.[10] In August 2013, Russia began restricting Ukrainian imports, which Ukraine's opposition parties described as "a trade war" to pressure the country not to sign the agreement.[10] The agreement was to be finalized at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. On 21 November, a week before the summit, Yanukovych suddenly announced he was pulling out of the agreement, and instead strengthening economic ties with Russi
In 1994, Leonid Kuchma was elected president and the only Ukraine prez elected twice. His term of office was marked by improvement in Ukraine-Russian relations. There was an economic weakening that led to his choice to not run for a 3rd term.
He chose not to run in 2004 and instead supported Victor Yanukovych — who lost after some election controversy to Victor Yushchenko (who had been poisoned during the campaign, generating substantial sympathy vote). Yushchenko’s presidency was marred by continued infighting and a falling out with his Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The Wiki does not describe any significant actions by him as prez, concentrating on corruption in the administration.
The next election was 2010 and Yushchenko lost to his original opponent Viktor Yanukovych, placing 5th behind him and his estranged PM Yulia Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko opposed close relations with Russia. She lost the 2010 election by about 3%, complained about election irregularities and protested the result, and not long after withdrew her protest. International observers declared that election free and fair and to her credit, it was immediately after this declaration that she withdrew her protest.
Yanukovych served as president for 4 years until the 2014 coup. His presidency advocated military non-alignment. There was democratic backsliding, jailing for a time Tymoshenko. Economic pressures evolved from issues with Gazprom flow to Europe and accusations of theft of gas during its transit. Gazprom increased prices and decreased transit fees until the domestic tapping of the gas pipeline ended, and raged about failure to make payments owed from flow of previous years. The transit fee adjustment was intended to recover that money not paid.
Yanukovych gave conflicting orders to investigate this situation. In the meanwhile, the economy weakened from the lack of transit fee income. This created protests and his removal from the presidency by force.
So 2 of the 3 presidencies since independence were pro Russian. The third was essentially one without policies other than internal corruption.
All three ran on a pro-EU platform so not sure how you can classify that as "pro-Russian".
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has made EU membership for the former Soviet Union state his key foreign policy aim
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-unlikely-to-get-eu-entry-invite/
Yanukovych had made an election campaign promise to maintain Ukraine’s European integration
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/historic-breakthrough-for-ukraine-as-eu-agrees-to-begin-membership-talks/
They were pro Russian because the wiki said so, wanting military non-alignmnent. Being pro EU meant nothing because the EU was refusing them in those days — because they were stealing gas out of the pipeline locally and not paying for it.
Always start analysis with oil and gas. In this case, the GAZPROM flow to Europe. THAT was the source of the Ukraine economy and all those candidates were always talking about closer relations . . . with the folks that supplied the lifeblood. Which was not the EU.
Of course they wanted good relations with the EU, but that’s not the measure of pro vs anti Russia. In those days it was not either/or. The measure of pro vs anti Russia was . . . did the guy want better relations with Russia.
Europe was refusing them because they would only be a burden. Russia, to the contrary, because that was the flow route of GAZPROM product to Europe (pre Nordstream (2011)) put up with their gas theft for literally years, though the bills were not expunged.
Look, this is not even debateable. The flow of gas through Ukraine was their lifeline — via transit fee. It was the country’s lifeblood. The EU wasn’t going to give them any money. The candidates knew this.
At least not until a war started, and they will be ramping that down quickly if Trump doesn’t ante up even more.
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