Ukraine and NATO

[HALL85]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/...more-to-increase-defense-spending/ar-AA1zf82q

Rutte urges NATO countries to up their defense contribution to NATO at 5% of GDP. Apparently Trump meeting unilaterally with Putin first, had a play in this.

 

[SHallguy2]

Interesting to see the stark difference between weak and feeble no leadership to an active leader driving the bus. We needed Biden to stop this war but he was not capable. Can you imagine Kamala Harris driving the bus right now. Good god people actually voted for that to happen.

 

[SHallguy2]

Can anyone imagine this woman cutting waste, lowering inflation or ending wars. This is from yesterday. Some people almost got us all killed.

 

[HALL85]

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/18/trump-tariffs-europe-economic-growth

“European elites are increasingly acknowledging that a lack of competitive fire, in both the economic and national security arenas, has resulted in overdependence both on U.S. companies to drive innovation and the U.S. government to defend Europe from Russia.”

No surprise that EU countries need to pony up if they want a seat at the table.

On a similar front, with all the joking about taking over Greenland, if you ask anyone in Denmark, they will tell you the best outcome would be for Greenland to become a territory of the US. Greenland wants independence but with only 50k people with limited skill sets, they are dependent on Denmark for financial support and resources. Denmark would rather take that money and invested in military assets. But the fear with giving Greenland independence is that Russia or China can enter the picture. The US has experience there with having bases and Denmark would be only too happy to let us assume control.

 

[cernjSHU]

Interesting to see the stark difference between weak and feeble no leadership to an active leader driving the bus. We needed Biden to stop this war but he was not capable. Can you imagine Kamala Harris driving the bus right now. Good god people actually voted for that to happen.

Weak leadership is exemplified by trump holding peace talks with Russia without Ukraine. Weak leadership calls Zelensky a dictator. Weak leadership is parroting the propaganda of Putin. Trump has hung Ukraine out to the wind. He is letting off Russia who weakens by day militarily and economically.

 

[SHallguy2]

Glad we have something to discuss, we disagree but without talks nothing happens. In my opinion the only way to negotiate this deal is to make Putin the A-hole feel important, he’s not going to sit down or stop bombing if he feels you don’t respect him. You have to play both sides and hang something over both of them to get them to the table. I would not be surprised if Trump and Zelensky have talked and he knows the basics of Trumps strategy. We need a positive result to stop financing death and destruction. Both parties leave the table unhappy and it’s a win. Financing death and destruction with our tax dollars does not sound like a plan to me. I’m a peaceful guy so in my mind you do what is necessary to broker a deal.

 

[HALL85]

Glad we have something to discuss, we disagree but without talks nothing happens. In my opinion the only way to negotiate this deal is to make Putin the A-hole feel important, he’s not going to sit down or stop bombing if he feels you don’t respect him. You have to play both sides and hang something over both of them to get them to the table. I would not be surprised if Trump and Zelensky have talked and he knows the basics of Trumps strategy. We need a positive result to stop financing death and destruction. Both parties leave the table unhappy and it’s a win. Financing death and destruction with our tax dollars does not sound like a plan to me. I’m a peaceful guy so in my mind you do what is necessary to broker a deal.

I sure as hell hope that Trump knows what he’s doing and that there’s a lot of back channel negotiations going on behind this theatre that we are witnessing.

Nothing is black and white. Everyone obviously worries and focuses on Putin for obvious reasons but Zelensky is no angel in Europes eyes (as he sabotaged the Nordstream pipeline). He’s also no seasoned negotiator….remember he was a comedian before being elected.

NATO countries also know they have underfunded on defense and some of them at barely 1%. Don’t assume they are all united either as the countries that have funded their share are bitching about those that don’t. And News flash, they know 2% isn’t nearly enough but selling their constituents a 4 or 5% contribution while they are feeling inflation even worse (and some facing a worsening immigration crisis - once again, some European countries (Netherlands) have been stricter on allowing illegals than others (like Germany) is not popular. But Macron’s emergency meeting somehow yielded agreement that they need to up it.

We are going to have to watch this play out. I hope for the best. Russia is a threat, but more so for Europe (and they are scared shiteless right now). They know we will have to do the heavy lifting going forward. China, though, is the bigger threat for obvious reasons and Europe will be more dependent on the U.S. for defense and technology going forward.

We had a binary choice in November. Trump is unpredictable and is not making friends with these gestures. But a process has started and I would ask the question if the election went in the other direction WWKD? I think we know that answer.

 

[SHallguy2]

Nothing is no longer an option, can Trump get this done? Thinking we should all be rooting for a solution and a call for peace but it feels like 40% of the country are hoping he fails and looking for an excuse to bitch about ending death and destruction. I believe Putin wants out of the mess he created but needs to save face. He needs a small win to hang his hat on. I’ve been hanging out all week with 3 Ukrainian guys who are working on my house. Surprised to hear them say that they understand what Putin is trying to do just not the way he’s doing it. They thought Ukraine could benefit from being part of Russia, but were angry he was bombing and killing their people. Its a perspective that we don’t hear in the media.