War with Russia

[Pblakeney]

🎶🎶🎶 Money, money, money, always sunny in Donnie's world. 🎶🎶🎶

 

[briantrumpet]

From the BBC website. (Parts in bold by me)

"The draft proposes that $100bn of frozen Russian assets should be invested"in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine", with the US receiving 50% of the profits and Europe adding $100bn in investment for reconstruction.
This is reminiscent of the US minerals deal with Ukraine earlier this year, extracting an American price for involvement, and it also leaves the European Union with nothing but hefty bills.
The sums it mentions may not be sufficient, either: earlier this year the total cost of reconstruction in Ukraine was put at $524bn (€506bn).
Some €200bn in Russia frozen assets are largely held by Euroclear in Belgium, and the European Union is currently working on a plan to use the money to fund Kyiv financially and militarily.
The rest of those frozen assets would go to a "US-Russian investment vehicle", under the draft, so Russia would see some of its money come back, but again there would be a financial benefit for the US."

It's almost comically bad. My suspicion is that Trump doesn't really care too much, and he's handed the reins over to pro-Russia people who have just asked Putin what he wants.

 

[Psamathe]

It's almost comically bad. My suspicion is that Trump doesn't really care too much, and he's handed the reins over to pro-Russia people who have just asked Putin what he wants.

I increasingly question as to why our politicians are putting so much effort into "mangaing" Trump - it's a lost cause, he takes all the flattery and sycophancy and then just ignores everybody else's interests, few days later and repeat, then repeat, etc. Complete waste of time and there are enough challenges to be addressing elsewhere.

My impression is US can no longer really be considered an ally to the UK - they certainly don't behave like one. Maybe time for Ukraine's non-US allies to pull their fingers out and help with a real push and do everything they can to mitigate loss of US. My (maybe wrong) understanding is that these days US arms going to Ukraine are being paid for by others (ie US is just selling the arms) so what US is providing is limited and one must assume that Ukraine has been doing everything possible to prepare for US "changes of direction" ('cos there has been plenty of warning signs from Trump).

 

[briantrumpet]

I increasingly question as to why our politicians are putting so much effort into "mangaing" Trump - it's a lost cause, he takes all the flattery and sycophancy and then just ignores everybody else's interests, few days later and repeat, then repeat, etc. Complete waste of time and there are enough challenges to be addressing elsewhere.

My impression is US can no longer really be considered an ally to the UK - they certainly don't behave like one. Maybe time for Ukraine's non-US allies to pull their fingers out and help with a real push and do everything they can to mitigate loss of US. My (maybe wrong) understanding is that these days US arms going to Ukraine are being paid for by others (ie US is just selling the arms) so what US is providing is limited and one must assume that Ukraine has been doing everything possible to prepare for US "changes of direction" ('cos there has been plenty of warning signs from Trump).

This.

 

[Pinno718]

My impression is US can no longer really be considered an ally to the UK - they certainly don't behave like one.

I wouldn't fundamentally disagree but I would tweak it. This administration is not an ally of Britain. I expect that military individuals and intel services are still co-operating with the UK. This administration is transient, the long held and deep rooted exchange of security is probably intact.

 

[Psamathe]

I wouldn't fundamentally disagree but I would tweak it. This administration is not an ally of Britain. I expect that military individuals and intel services are still co-operating with the UK. This administration is transient, the long held and deep rooted exchange of security is probably intact.

(A bit off the Ukraine topic, sorry) I agree but also think the damage will extend long beyond the current US administration. The rapid and extreme switch from being a reliable ally should have broken confidence. Next administration might restore the relationship but who knows about the one after. Where before the current Trump term UK (and others) could pretty well rely on US now we've learnt that that relationship can disappear over weeks. US has demonstrated how it can act so we need to appreciate that and protect ourselves whatever stance the next administration might take.

(Back to Ukraine) Zelensky is not a fool and he will have realised Trump's attitude to the war probably long before the famous White House farce. So they must have been mitigating everything they could in preparation for what was always going to happen (or is going to happen).

 

[briantrumpet]

(A bit off the Ukraine topic, sorry) I agree but also think the damage will extend long beyond the current US administration. The rapid and extreme switch from being a reliable ally should have broken confidence. Next administration might restore the relationship but who knows about the one after. Where before the current Trump term UK (and others) could pretty well rely on US now we've learnt that that relationship can disappear over weeks. US has demonstrated how it can act so we need to appreciate that and protect ourselves whatever stance the next administration might take.

(Back to Ukraine) Zelensky is not a fool and he will have realised Trump's attitude to the war probably long before the famous White House farce. So they must have been mitigating everything they could in preparation for what was always going to happen (or is going to happen).

It'll be interesting how much more effort Zelenskyy puts into keeping up the facade that he's dealing with a rational person who might help Ukraine if presented with a coherent case for keeping Russia at bay and not giving in.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

There’s a lot of European commitment included in these proposals to which Europe wasn’t party.
Who does Donnie think has the right to sign us up on the dotted line, to this stitch up?

 

[Pblakeney]

There’s a lot of European commitment included in these proposals to which Europe wasn’t party.
Who does Donnie think has the right to sign us up on the dotted line, to this stitch up?

What Donnie wants, Donnie gets.
Let's face it, it has worked out fairly well for him so far. And it is all about him.

 

[Pinno718]

What Donnie wants, Donnie gets.
Let's face it, it has worked out fairly well for him so far. And it is all about him.

Donnie is no longer getting what he wants.

 

[Pinno718]

(A bit off the Ukraine topic, sorry) I agree but also think the damage will extend long beyond the current US administration. The rapid and extreme switch from being a reliable ally should have broken confidence. Next administration might restore the relationship but who knows about the one after. Where before the current Trump term UK (and others) could pretty well rely on US now we've learnt that that relationship can disappear over weeks. US has demonstrated how it can act so we need to appreciate that and protect ourselves whatever stance the next administration might take.

(Back to Ukraine) Zelensky is not a fool and he will have realised Trump's attitude to the war probably long before the famous White House farce. So they must have been mitigating everything they could in preparation for what was always going to happen (or is going to happen).

Sure but MAGA may splinter (it's already happening) to the point that populism will shrink in the US and therefore the next Republican administration cannot ride on it.

 

[Pblakeney]

Donnie is no longer getting what he wants.

I guess that depends on what you think he wants. He's made millions if not billions since getting back into office.
Is likely getting much more abroad when out of office, and is hoping for the peace prize.

 

[All uphill]

Sure but MAGA may splinter (it's already happening) to the point that populism will shrink in the US and therefore the next Republican administration cannot ride on it.

I'm confident that DJT could not care less about that. He will just keep doing whatever temporarily fills that gaping hole in his psyche.

 

[Pross]

Zelensky just needs to offer some Black Sea development land to Trump in return for support. That always seems to keep him sweet.

 

[Ian H]

A top-secret Russian unit based in Moscow has changed the landscape of drone warfare, turning what was an advantage for the Ukrainians into a vulnerability.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/22/europe/russia-rubicon-unit-drone-revolution-ukraine-intl-cmd