JazzG Come on now you're better than that.

I'm quite serious. I'm no great fan of Zelensky but this dumbass partisanship from a public figure with Musk's influence is likely to cost lives.

He's embarrassing.

The end result of Trump, Vance and Musk dragging Zelensky and flouncing off to turn off the tap of military aid to Ukraine has been to rattle Europe, throw the situation into chaos, and hand Russia a ton of additional leverage in any negotiations.

Trump's supporters are feasting on their favourite spectacle, Daddy being tough, but the United States doesn't have the same capacity to bully Putin, because it didn't promise Putin it'd help him win if he invaded.

Multi party peace talks haven't even begun because of this demand from Trump's office that Ukraine sign a minerals deal prior to agreeing any security guarantees. That amounts to "let's do the quid first, then we'll discuss the scope and scale of the quo".

And all this nonsense is accompanied by a bunch of absurd, divisive slander about who does, or does not want peace. We've seen just as bad or worse from Biden and co in the past, but make no mistake, this stuff is utterly contemptible. Extortionate, untrustworthy, disrespectful drivel from the posse of utter fuckwits running the world's most powerful country.

      Burnwinter I mean trump and the US has plenty of cards and levers over Russia given us in a war draining it of resource and people. But he instantly threw all that away to force Zelenskyy and Ukraine to fully agree to Russia dream terms. You have the whole of the Russian establishment unable to believe they have a US president giving them this. The outcome will be disastrous longer term with the precedent it sends and Russia won't be deterred that will just re-arm.

      He's done absolutely nothing to condemn the actual aggressors. Saying we need to stop the dying and it's Zelenskyy fault, why doesn't Putin just withdraw his troops, he never mentions that it's clear he doesn't care about peace.

      With his aligning with Putin Europe and the UK have to really consider whether we can share information with him he'll be straight on the phone to Putin asking what does he want to do

        Burnwinter There you go again. Ukrainian people are human beings, they have agency, they are not simple tools of this or that superpower. They have been "walked into a Russian massacre" because of Russian imperialism. If you don't believe me, just listen to the Russians themselves.

            Gurgen so Johnson and Biden didn't egg Zelensky on to reject the March 22 peace deal and to keep fighting instead?

                JazzG Are you comparing Elon Musk to Stalin now?

                Crazy right. Totally different. Stalin defeated the Nazis where as Elon worships them.

                  Gurgen If we returned to the earlier discussion we had about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the one that led you to form this habit of heaping abuse on me, I'd back up what I said then now.

                  A majority of Ukrainians have wanted peace negotiations for several months. Polling has been round 50–50 far, far longer. Russian lies, perhaps you'll say. But here I am, denying heroic Ukrainian agency because in your mind the parameters of this invasion haven't changed since 2022.

                  Go on then ... call me pro-Putin, call me a Russian dupe, and insist I'm the one condescending to the millions of people you currently speak for so confidently, even though millions of them don't agree with you.

                  It's a disgrace that NATO nations promised Ukraine strong backing and encouraged Ukraine to fight in 2022, but the situation has still arrived where it is now. I find Trump and Vance humiliating Zelensky and stopping military aid disgusting and treacherous. Do you think Ukrainians disagree with that?

                  I predicted when we last discussed this war that it would devolve to a Putin playbook frozen conflict, after tens or hundreds of thousands more casualties, with effective concessions along the lines of Minsk 2 and no Ukraine in NATO. This still looks plausible but Ukraine's position will be even weaker with the US turning its coat.

                  I said it would be better if the situation reached something like that unpleasant point soon without a lot more people getting killed. I stand by that too.

                  Yes, a frozen conflict and a specific set of territorial and diplomatic concessions certainly won't end Putin's ambitions in Ukraine automatically.

                  That's why I've recently pointed out that the current situation may require the European NATO nations to step up and provide far more to guarantee any peace than they have planned.

                  Having to lay out to support Ukraine will be a scenario that will play in the electoral favour of RN in France and AfD in Germany. That would be a troubling situation.

                  I know you will have nothing worthwhile to say in response. All I get is fairy floss about me being a Stalinist and tone policing because I didn't describe the facts the right way. You know that's dumb. Grow up.

                    Of course they want peace negotiations. Everyone does. The question is whether you try to negotiate from strength or make concessions to the aggressor, who by the way has refused to negotiate unless most of its demands are met before sitting down. If you want real peace negotiations you must first either defeat or weaken the aggressor sufficiently. Otherwise it's not a peace negotiation but an imposition of conditions by an invader, i.e. a reward for aggression. If the EU/US were not willing to help defeat or weaken the aggressor, they should indeed have said so sooner, instead of abandoning the fight now.

                      jones Not a single minute of those "negotiations" was real or sincere from the side of Russia. These are the same "peace talks" Azerbaijan does with Armenia. Surely you must know that?

                        Gurgen but if you are not willing or able to defeat or weaken the aggressor, is forever war the only option?

                            Kel Varnsen I’m trying really hard to find the other side of the argument with tariffs but there’s nothing beyond the hope that it might hurt trade partners more than than the US itself

                                Coombs If you are not able or willing, then what happens now is the outcome. Whether it’s the only option I don’t know, that assessment requires more knowledge than I have. Basically we’re seeing now what would happen if the people who wanted to “negotiate” with Hitler in 1941-42 got their way. And we will have more war, deeper in Europe, as our reward.

                                    Mirth it's personal with him and Trudeau. he can't and won't drop this 51st state nonsense because the golden rule of trumpism is never concede lest it make you appear weak. another reason why you don't elect a thin-skinned autocrat to the highest office in the land

                                      Gurgen The question is whether you try to negotiate from strength or make concessions to the aggressor, who by the way has refused to negotiate unless most of its demands are met before sitting down. If you want real peace negotiations you must first either defeat or weaken the aggressor sufficiently.

                                      The Ukrainians who supported this war in 2022 didn't rally to cries of improving Ukraine's margins in some future peace negotiations. But then Ukraine has not even improved those margins since 2022.

                                      Justifying the war in terms of weakening Russia's long term position would reflect the agenda of the former Biden administration more than the democratic will of Ukrainians. It doesn't match up with reality. It is empty.

                                      Today Ukraine is asking to sign on to pay the United States hundreds of billions in tribute over decades.

                                      200,000–500,000 or more people are dead on both sides since 2022, depending who you ask.

                                      Putin's position in any peace negotiations has become stronger since 2014. Putin's grip on power in Russia is also now stronger.

                                      Ukraine will not be protected by NATO Article 5 or any similar European treaty in the foreseeable future.

                                      Your reasoning about the state of affairs is completely discredited but it's still everyone else who's easily deceived, spineless or secretly totalitarian.

                                      Gurgen Basically we’re seeing now what would happen if the people who wanted to “negotiate” with Hitler in 1941-42 got their way. And we will have more war, deeper in Europe, as our reward.

                                      Take a seat and get one single thing right about this war before you start banging on about what the next one will be.

                                            awooga83 More on DOGE in a fun youtube video:

                                            Basically the pattern is, a bunch of far right morons don't know what they're looking and report their 'findings', Musk spins a bullshit yarn to suit the political agenda on twitter, the lackeys Trump has appointed to head various agencies lick his boots and do whatever their told, and then Trump spins an even bigger load of bullshit while looking like a senile pensioner (to anyone not in the maga nuthouse, I guess). Then repeat. Repeatedly.

                                            Meanwhile sometimes the legal system stops them from breaking the law, if it can keep up.

                                                Burnwinter since you’re such a political genius and I’m so stupid, can you give me one historical example where a brutal dictator was given land “for peace” and this deterred him from future aggression?