14:47 – Johan No.1
What has been almost the most interesting thing about the whole war is that things you had a feeling were not good, hidden motives, turn out to be true or otherwise go against the prevailing opinion at a certain time often have proven to be true over time.
Zelensky is also unusual in that he has revealed a lot about the political dirty tricks from the West and told us how shabby our leaders are behind closed curtains.
15:00 – MatsExtrude
Good point. The idea that the USA and NATO would have so much more information and that they know exactly what they are doing feels increasingly watered down.
15:08 – Johan No.1
Considering Gregg, one wonders if the French have also taken over border control against Belarus in some form because that would free up a lot to move to the eastern front.
Anyway, nice that Macron delivers and that it wasn’t just hot air.
16:52 – Johan No.1
If I remember this correctly now PerraG55, it was Germany and France who were in direct contact with Putin and convinced (guaranteed) Zelensky that Putin would not attack.
This has been somewhat scrubbed away in hindsight but I think Zelensky chose not to escalate at that time which has cost Ukraine dearly but he probably trusted France and Germany, maybe?
The USA has since 2001 trained UA officers in the USA, since 2014 tried to get the army in order and delivered all that near-PV that stopped the Russians in the beginning.
14:44 – Johan No.1
We have an ongoing discussion about how the USA knows what they are doing in their non-escalation doctrine with Russia and that the rest of us who do not support it should go back to Rise of Nations in our parents’ basements because we don’t understand better.
In this context, it is interesting that the CIA states that the Kursk offensive was a great strategic success – how is that explained?
The USA was so negative about it that Ukraine didn’t tell them anything and probably, after the Russians called Austin who put the phone to Zelensky, Zelensky probably promised never to cross the line again 😀