Meanwhile in Ukraine

[Dimron]

I'd be intrigued to know how many celebrated the "new" Christmas yesterday in Eastern Ukraine?

[Tonge moor green jacket]

3 hours ago, Dimron said:

I'd be intrigued to know how many celebrated the "new" Christmas yesterday in Eastern Ukraine?

There are very few inhabitants left in that area. Towns flattened.

 

[Dimron]

2 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

There are very few inhabitants left in that area. Towns flattened.

 

Good point, the only blazing star in their sky will be hypersonic and there aren't any wise men around

[Tonge moor green jacket]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/12/28/ukraines-winchester-drone-fires-dual-shotguns-at-russian-drones/

 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Good article on sky website about Russian hybrid attacks on the west. Apparently over a hundred now, and more have been deterred. 

Worth a read- we're going to have do slap them down at some point.

[Bertie]

As suspected the US is walking away….

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0pz3er37jo

 

 

[Sweep]

7 minutes ago, Bertie said:

As suspected the US is walking away….

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0pz3er37jo

 

 

Who'd have thought it......Trump said he'd get it sorted within 24 hours, so he's already behind schedule, but he will get it sorted. Ukraine, basically are just going to have to suck it up, and keep what they've still got, and let Russia gain what they've managed to take.

 

[gonzo]

He's right.

[Spider]

Trump has to sort fuel prices back home as they’re rocketing and he promised they wouldnt

[Sweep]

10 minutes ago, Spider said:

Trump has to sort fuel prices back home as they’re rocketing and he promised they wouldnt

hip pocket nerves are twitching....

As I said a few days ago some bloke on the radio was saying that there's a huge problem brewing, as he's saying "drill baby drill" and those who actually do the drilling are saying "fuck off" as they want to produce less, not more, as the price is already (so they say) unsustainably low.

 

Edited February 12, 2025 by Sweep

[Dimron]

About bloody time

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4g97971rwnt

 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Just need a bloody big dollop of weapons donated beforehand now, to put Putin on the back foot.

Add that to his country's terrible economic problems with interest rates and he may have to back down.

 

[Bertie]

Had to be sadly, but really sticks in the throat.  An aggressor attacks a sovereign country, destroys civilian infrastructure, steals territory……and then gets to keep it and goes unpunished 🤷‍♂️. Dangerous precedent in an already screwed up world.

[Dimron]

16 minutes ago, Bertie said:

Had to be sadly, but really sticks in the throat.  An aggressor attacks a sovereign country, destroys civilian infrastructure, steals territory……and then gets to keep it and goes unpunished 🤷‍♂️. Dangerous precedent in an already screwed up world.

Therefore we now increase our defence spending to 5% of GDP 

We can't even find the funds for half of that

[Bertie]

Just now, Dimron said:

Therefore we now increase our defence spending to 5% of GDP 

We can't even find the funds for half of that

Yep…..that’s what the US have “suggested” (even though they only spend 3.4% GDP of course).  We may increase defence spending (or may have to), but we won’t (or shouldn’t) get anywhere near that. Dumb Donnie isn’t World President last time I checked so we should tell him where to shove that “suggestion” (along with everything else).

[Nowack]

34 minutes ago, Bertie said:

Had to be sadly, but really sticks in the throat.  An aggressor attacks a sovereign country, destroys civilian infrastructure, steals territory……and then gets to keep it and goes unpunished 🤷‍♂️. Dangerous precedent in an already screwed up world.

I think that precedent got set many centuries ago.

[kent_white]

3 hours ago, Dimron said:

About bloody time

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4g97971rwnt

 

My prediction was that he'd end up conceding the donbass and etc to Russia and give them assurances that Ukraine wouldn't join NATO. 

Trouble is I thought that's where he'd end up. But it appears to be his starting position which is pretty scary. 

Let's see how good his deal making skills really are. I'd be expecting to see some massive rebuilding concessions from Russia for that kind of deal. It's the equivalent of rolling over and letting Putin take whatever he wants as things stand. 

Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until he gets it over the line and there's some detail. But it's not a great starting position. 

[kent_white]

2 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Add that to his country's terrible economic problems with interest rates and he may have to back down.

 

Putin is negotiating from a position of weakness and Trump could break Russia if he really wanted to. 

He'd better not fuck this up now!

[kent_white]

53 minutes ago, Nowack said:

I think that precedent got set many centuries ago.

It bloody didn't. This is what the World Wars were about! And he's also not the victor - unless Trump makes him one. 

[Cheese]

We should've just let the Nazis roll through Europe and take over Britain. Would've saved a lot of money.

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

Trump and his administration don't care about the war in Ukraine and view it as Europe's problem

Putin will know there's no appetite within the US government and Trump's support base to continue funding the Ukrainian war effort or to break Russia and will use both that and their indifference to the war generally to his advantage

[Not in Crawley]

32 minutes ago, Cheese said:

We should've just let the Nazis roll through Europe and take over Britain. Would've saved a lot of money.

Danzig was just a real estate opportunity.

[Dimron]

1 hour ago, kent_white said:

My prediction was that he'd end up conceding the donbass and etc to Russia and give them assurances that Ukraine wouldn't join NATO. 

Trouble is I thought that's where he'd end up. But it appears to be his starting position which is pretty scary. 

Let's see how good his deal making skills really are. I'd be expecting to see some massive rebuilding concessions from Russia for that kind of deal. It's the equivalent of rolling over and letting Putin take whatever he wants as things stand. 

Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until he gets it over the line and there's some detail. But it's not a great starting position. 

Agreed... the whole thing kicked off over eastward expansion of Nato and the ability to position medium range missiles in reach of the majority of the Russian state. Donbas has always been a "grey" area... part Russia and part Ukraine in leanings... maybe this will end up a demilitarised zone but who the hell is going to pay for its re-building?

Looks like the entire Eastern EU expansionism bonfire party has now been well and truly pissed on. There is going to be less EU/UK/US money to pay for "security" and "redevelopment" which also means less for their mafia gangs to skim off.

[Sweep]

3 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Just need a bloody big dollop of weapons donated beforehand now, to put Putin on the back foot.

Add that to his country's terrible economic problems with interest rates and he may have to back down.

 

Their economy is weird, their GDP saw c4% growth in both 2023 and 2024, out performing most major economies, I guess due to still trading well with Asia and Africa. I guess if you've got shit loads of oil and gas, you'll be fine, no matter what sanctions are imposed, as people will always want them. They have got inflationary pressures though, up at around 10%, so you'd expect that's biting

 

[Dimron]

1 hour ago, kent_white said:

It bloody didn't. This is what the World Wars were about! And he's also not the victor - unless Trump makes him one. 

It was always going to wind down into a wasteful stalemate and end up with people talking to each other.

At least our gas prices will come down soon....