Putin's war

Only one NATO country has used the alliance, the US after 9/11, when NATO jets patrolled the New York skies.

Who would be the freeloader in that situation?

Your boy Putin is floundering, I can see why he's using you and your fellow fifth columnists to attack Ukraine and western values.

You’re assuming erroneously.
I’ve followed Jolie’s humanitarian work for over a decade—I like her current choice to bring awareness to Yemen. It seems to be controversial here for some reason.

If I were you living in close proximity to Ukraine, I’m pretty sure I’d be consumed with the Russia/Ukraine war every day. My comments were in response to Glitterbag’s snarky comment that Jolie should leave Yemen and go to Ukraine and speak up for Europe.

I thought it was a ridiculous comment.

NATO is a tremendous benefit to the US, far outweighing our financial contribution. As the largest economy in the world, the US see tremendous benefits from peace and stability both in terms of being able to buy from the world and of being able to sell our products with ease. If you look at who has gained the most from 75 years of peace in Europe, I'd say the clear answer is the US. NATO is cheap for what we get from it.

The US intelligence services report a desolate mood in the Kremlin - now an alleged Russian spy is also coming forward. His report was leaked by activists, in which he draws comparisons to Nazi Germany.

The 13,000-character document was published by Russian human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin on Facebook and the anti-corruption website gulagu.net. The research platform Bellingcat classifies it as authentic. According to it, two other sources at the FSB had "no doubts" that the report had been written by a colleague.

Vladimir Osechkin on Facebook

The text itself has a lot to say: the FSB is said to have been left largely in the dark about Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's invasion plans. Even now, twelve days after the start of the invasion, the secret service lacks an overview. No one in the Kremlin can say exactly how many dead there are on the side of the Russian army, because "we have lost contact with important divisions". Accordingly, it could well be that more than 10,000 soldiers have already died. Officially, the Russian defence ministry has so far spoken of fewer than 500 dead.

The Russian FSB analyst outlines the further course of the war gloomily. Russia has "no way out": "There are no options for a possible victory, only defeats. For example, he says, the Russian army has to contend with very stubborn Ukrainians. Even if one of Putin's main goals - the killing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj - is achieved, Russia has little chance of occupying Ukraine. "Even with minimal resistance from the Ukrainians, we would need more than 500,000 troops, not counting supplies and logistics."

The intelligence officer's conclusion: "Our situation is like that of Germany between 1943-44 - except that it is our starting point."


(Above text with material from The Times [This war will be a total failure, FSB whistleblower says] and Spiegel)

Nato member Hungary allows Nato troops:
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long cultivated a political friendship with Vladimir Putin. Until now, he has rejected additional Nato troops. Now he is giving in - but with restrictions. (The authorisation is valid with the restriction that no NATO troop elements are transferred from Hungary to Ukraine and that no arms shipments are made via Hungary directly to Ukraine. Arms shipments destined for Ukraine can only be routed through Hungary if they first reach another Alliance country after passing through Hungary.)
The decree was published in the Hungarian Official Gazette today.

Yes, it occurred to me at the time, but I still don't think it was strategically wise or politically intelligent to be signalling division within the alliance. It looked to me like he didn't care about NATO and was, typically for him, seeking domestic approval using a populist argument – "YoUr MoNeY!!!" – to rationalize withdrawal for the benefit of his base.

The ruble continues to fall on world markets. It's now down to 0.007 dollars/ruble from 0.014 a month ago.

Ukraine has cleared the first small hurdle towards EU accession: according to SPIEGEL, the member states have agreed to have Kiev's application evaluated by the EU Commission.

I think one thing Putin counted on was that the war would split the Americans. That has worked to a small extent in that some Republicans, including Trump and Pence, are blaming Biden and the Democrats for the war. This is a routine strategy for an authoritarian. What Putin didn't count on was that his actions would so strongly unify NATO. Though Trump had undermined NATO, Putin's actions has strengthened and unified it overnight.

I'm sick of you. It's wrong when posters call other posters trolls, merely because they don't agree with them, but you actually are a troll. You often post merely to provoke. I'm tired of your propensity for personally insulting people you don't agree with. The very next time, you say something to me that I consider improper, I'm going to put you on "ignore," and when I put someone on ignore, it's forever.

NATO us very useful, but if I were a member of a group in which many of the members had promised to pay a share and didn't, I'd tell them to keep their word, and, whether I meant it or not, I'd make noises about leaving if they didn't.

I'm getting extremely angry about the thousands of bullsh*t accusations Trump gets from liberals. He was even belittled once in the liberal news for taking a sip of water during a speech.

If I were a member of an organization in which many of the other members promised to foot their share of the bills, but left it largely to me, I'd tell them to shape up, and, whether I meant it or not, I'd also make noises about leaving if they didn't, and so would you.

I apologize if you think my criticism was "bullsh*t". But, honestly, I don't think shaming our allies in public and displaying a disunited front is ever a good move.

That was because he tries to portray himself as physically fit but had so much difficulty picking the glass up with one hand.

But I wouldn't make a public spectacle out of it and give comfort to those opposed to the aims of the organization.

Pieces are now fully locking into place and I am left wondering how much longer can the West stay neutral as the death toll will pill up dramatically in Ukrainian cities as food and basic goods become scarcer...Zelenskyy appeal today:

I'm sick of you, throughout the Trump administration you were praising Putin, now you've done a volte face and it's suddenly all Biden's fault.

It's the hypocrisy I can't stand, and the blatant lying. It's not a case of disagreeing, it's a case of you making **** up and ignoring facts while constantly sealioning.

And you started out by insulting other NATO members.

You are the troll, Putin is invading Ukraine and you're attacking NATO.

III World War is now becoming a tangible possibility as no side has a way out with a clean face of the **** hole we ALL got ourselves in:

"You just want us to die" says Zolenskyy about west unwillingness to escalate according to US news, and so we will escalate: