High losses and a new record (241) for UAVs. The previous record was 217.
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“Trump: Intelligence freeze against Ukraine essentially lifted”
“Donald Trump claims that the USA has now essentially lifted the intelligence freeze against Ukraine. This comes after the American president was asked overnight if he is willing to reconsider, reports Fox News.
– We have essentially already done it. I mean, we have really essentially done it. And we want to do everything we can to get Ukraine to take it seriously and come to something.”
Maybe misspelled “against” Ukraine, should it perhaps be?
“Natoland countries in Europe buy majority of weapons from the USA”
“Ukraine has become the world’s largest arms importer in the past five years – between 2020 and 2024, the imports nearly multiplied by 100 compared to the previous five years. This is stated in a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Sipri.”
“During the same period, European NATO countries doubled their arms imports and almost two-thirds of the weapons were purchased from American manufacturers, as noted by the Financial Times.”
[Link to the article: https://omni.se/usa-tillverkar-majoritet-av-vapnen-natolander-i-europa-koper/a/PpBrg5%5D
“The Republican senator Lindsey Graham wants the American support for Ukraine to be resumed, he says in an interview with Fox News referenced by NBC.”
“Graham, who praised Donald Trump and criticized Volodymyr Zelensky after the failed meeting at the White House in February, says that if he were president, Ukraine would have received military support until a ceasefire was in place.”
https://omni.se/graham-bor-stotta-ukraina-och-ge-ryssland-sanktioner/a/rPyvb3
Lindsey has proven to be a weather vane lately. It’s nice that he’s supporting Ukraine today, the question is if he will do it tomorrow.
Just like most GOP politicians, he is fearful of Krasnov. 🤬
Yes, let’s hope that he now remains on the right side!
AFU “In total, during the past day, 151 combat encounters were recorded. According to information, yesterday the enemy carried out 91 air strikes on the positions of Ukrainian units and settlements, dropping 148 guided bombs. In addition, they fired almost 6700 shells, of which 186 were from rocket artillery systems, and deployed 2576 kamikaze drones for attacks.”
Trump is extravagant and talkative. He says what he thinks. When he thinks about it the next day, he may say something else. It’s hard to see any consistency. However, I believe I can discern a consistent line, and that is to reduce federal spending and increase revenues (like Trump’s speech about minerals). The federal budget deficit must decrease.
Of course, I believe, like you, that the economy can actually be a common thread in much of what he does.
However, I do not agree when it comes to stopping sharing intelligence data. Feels more like a pure attempt at blackmail to force Ukraine to be more compliant. “Look at what happens if we shut down.” The intelligence is already there, it can hardly be any significant savings to stop sharing. Moreover, preventing private companies from selling satellite data to Ukraine is a measure that reduces US export revenues and can hardly be related to reducing the budget deficit.
It rather feels like Trump acts first, sees what reactions he gets, and backs off if he notices that it is too unpopular. Here he probably faced a lot of resistance and changed his mind if it wasn’t, as I suspect, a scare tactic against Ukraine.
Maybe there are enough sensible people left in the party who are not prepared to accept anything. Friendliness towards Russia is hardly a tradition in the Republican Party, is it?!
No, that has not been the case before. Admittedly, those who vote for the Republicans have clearly started to waver in their support for Ukraine since he met Trump, but going so far as to embrace the Russians is probably too much for most.
Small correction, he issues a presidential decree on what he is thinking at the moment … the next day he can issue something else 🙂
Yes, it’s whims that govern. However, there may be cost-saving reasons behind it even if it’s not explicitly stated. That’s my opinion. Trump and his entourage may see the war in Ukraine as a black hole for American dollar billions.
Yes, those who only demonize Trump miss two things:
– It has become clear to the US that China is a real threat to their position as a leading power in the world. So, Europe is a distraction for them now, and they want to focus everything on China. This is not about Trump specifically, but about the “USA” in a broader sense.
– It has also become clear to the US that their national debt is becoming unmanageable, so very drastic measures are needed to prevent a collapse of the dollar. This is also not one of Trump’s whims, but the “USA” in a broader sense knows that this is a bitter medicine that nevertheless needs to be taken.
+1
To distance oneself from one’s closest allies in Europe, who have, by the way, lent out the majority (of their debts), and approach Russia while throwing Ukraine under the bus is hardly a winning strategy if one is concerned about China.
Maybe it’s not winners who are sitting in the White House. Approaching Russia can be advantageous if you don’t give a shit about millions of people in occupied Ukraine and only see the world map as the playing field in Risk.
The majority of US bonds are owned by American funds, among others. A very large share is owned by China, Japan, and the EU, and what is interesting about foreign ownership is that they can influence exchange rates.
But we should not over-dramatize the weight of the EU.
Europe’s holdings of US treasury bonds amount to 2700 billion USD, while China’s holdings amount to 760 billion USD, so even there Europe is larger.
Of course, China is significantly larger in terms of population and access to raw materials, and has considerably lower costs, which is what gives them a huge advantage.
Additionally, they naturally dominate the rest of the market in Asia and also engage in trade with Africa, so they are indeed a major threat to commerce. I don’t believe that the current US policy will improve the situation; I am more inclined towards what Johan No.1 has written, that Europe should seize the opportunity (even though some nations, of course, have a terrible history of slave trade to contend with).
If one sees the world as Risk, one should try to ally with the EU and not, as it is now, have all other actors against them.
The US national debt should have been dealt with a long time ago, but I doubt that Trump will succeed in doing much about either one with the methods he seems to be choosing.
By the way, I haven’t seen anything about him really aiming to reduce the national debt; on the contrary, he has suggested that there is fraud involved and that it is not as large as the official figures say.
He certainly seems to be doing everything he can to reduce government spending, but whether he wants to tackle the national debt or make it possible to lower taxes for the wealthiest remains to be seen. The national debt increased quite significantly last time he was president, while taxes for the largest corporations decreased.
He is creating economic uncertainty and instead risks increasing inflation and weakening the US (and the world’s) economy, while also deteriorating the overall security situation by showing that the USA is not trustworthy (and talking about Greenland and Canada as something he wants to become part of the USA).
Regarding China:
In 2024
China imported 144 billion USD
China exported 438 billion USD
EU imported 370 billion USD from the USA
EU exported 605 billion USD to the USA
Canada exported 412 billion USD
Canada imported 340 billion USD
Mexico exported 505 billion USD
Mexico imported 334 billion USD
So, Europe imports more than twice as much from the USA as China does.
Despite what everyone thinks, Europe is a larger and equally important trading partner to the USA as China. The same applies to Canada and Mexico as well.
Sure, one might think that trade balances are disadvantageous for the USA, but that is hardly the fault of the other countries but rather due to the USA’s incredibly high consumption. There are only a few countries where the USA exports more than it imports.
Trump can hardly force countries to start trading American products like crazy and overconsume just to make him happy, right?
Anyway, Trump manages to fall out with all of his largest partners.
I might have understood it if he had taken a tough stance against China if he is indeed afraid of their dominance.
The idea that Trump would be the great leader who doesn’t have time to care about Europe because he has more important issues like China and his national debt to consider, I don’t think is an excuse now that it seems like he (just as many feared) is betraying Ukraine.
Most of the support, after all, goes back to the US defense industry.
The trade balance is unfavorable for the USA vs the EU when it comes to goods but advantageous when it comes to services.
That is part of the problem, the USA wants there to be a balance regarding goods but doesn’t care about services. The EU wants to tax American services in the EU.
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/sv/infographics/eu-us-trade/
Of course, it’s not an excuse. My point was that it’s not just about Trump’s whims, but the Americans have a strategy they follow, and then there’s a bit of noise on top of that, of course. It’s bigger than Trump, just like the problem with Russia is bigger than Putin.
By the way, regarding reducing the national debt, there has been talk of a proposal to instead address the issue by forcing countries to renegotiate the bonds to be interest-free – and in return, receive continued military protection. Because it’s not really the US debt that’s the problem, but the interest on the debt… It’s not great advertising for the dollar, of course, which is also declining.
DJ, it’s a bit fun that you bring up bonds and military protection. It’s included in my scenario a bit further down.
+1
True.
I believe that’s absolutely right too
I don’t see that. He has promised tax cuts for high-income earners that cannot be financed anywhere near with savings. The budget deficit will grow catastrophically.
Operational information as of 08.00 10.02.2025 on the Russian invasion
In total, 151 combat engagements were recorded over the past day.
#Kharkiv 6
#Kupyansk 4
#Lyman 11💥
#Siverskyi 20💥↗️
#Kramatorsk 4
#Toretsk 18💥
#Pokrovsk 35💥💥
#Novopavlivka 5
#Huliaipil 9
#Orikhiv 4
#Kursk 27💥💥↘️
According to the updated information, yesterday the enemy launched 91 air strikes on the positions of Ukrainian units and populated areas, dropping 148 guided bombs. In addition, it carried out almost 6,700 artattacks, including 186 from multiple launch rocket systems, and used 2,576 kamikaze drones.
Over the past day, aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit 28 areas of concentration of personnel and military equipment, seven artillery systems, a command post, an ammunition depot and an electronic warfare/radar station of the Russian invaders.
👍
Thank you 205 for the compilation
“Donald Trump is not satisfied with a signed mineral agreement to restart weapon deliveries and once again share intelligence with Ukraine, sources tell NBC News.
The American president is said to have stated in conversations with colleagues that more is needed, including a changed attitude from President Volodymyr Zelensky regarding peace talks. According to the sources, Trump wants Zelensky to show readiness to make concessions by giving up parts of Ukrainian territory.”
Source: https://omni.se/kallor-mineralavtal-inte-nog-for-att-ateruppta-stodet/a/250Moq
High losses armor (tank / apc)!
There may have been battles in Kursk, which had a high number of attacks yesterday (44 in total).
Yes,, it seems to be where the Russians are focusing their efforts the most right now. Previously, it felt like they wanted to take as much land in Ukraine as possible before Trump came to power (probably ahead of the peace negotiations). Now, as they realize that it’s taking longer, they seem to have instead focused on retaking Kursk and deploying all reserves there instead. I saw something about them now having around 80,000 soldiers there.
Hmmm. It could be. Negotiating territories with Ukraine when Ukraine has taken land in Kursk can be sensitive in Russia and give Putin’s opponents arguments.
A grave site 💥
Still high artillery losses. Over 24,000 units in total. Is there any information on what is being destroyed? Old Soviet junk or newly produced? Catapults from the 12th century?
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any compilation for artillery in a long time. I guess there might be quite a bit of North Korean stuff nowadays.
In hundreds from NK
Then guaranteed GRK is included
Some “latest” Russian has been destroyed
Then a lot of old gun barrels standing in fixed defenses
“The Russian population is decreasing at the fastest rate since the pandemic years, despite President Vladimir Putin repeatedly stating that the population issue is the country’s top priority. Last year, 1.22 million fewer children were born in the country compared to the year before – the lowest number since 1999, according to Bloomberg.”
Maybe it’s not surprising if production stops when a large part of the male population is at the front.
It is probably the women who are the critical part here, a man can theoretically father children with hundreds of women while the opposite is considered more doubtful.
Driven to the bottom
“Russia introduces customs duties to curb China’s dominance in the Russian car market. The sales of Chinese cars increased dramatically after 2022 when other countries left the market.”
🙄 Does the Russian even have the means?
Propaganda aiming to paint a picture of a stronger Russian economy than is the case?
“For a while, Russia felt they had no other choice, but now they realize they have negotiating power – they are a quite important market for Chinese car manufacturers.”
A bit funny though. By the West withdrawing from Russia, Russia gets 100% Chinese products and thus gains more leverage against China?
Interesting
“Iranska, kinesiska och ryska krigsfartyg har påbörjat sina årliga gemensamma övningar, Security Belt-2025, där de visar upp sina militära band. Trump kommenterade att han “inte alls är bekymrad” över den uppvisning av styrka från de tre amerikanska motståndarna.”
🤣🤣
Trump, the great strategist 🤣.
“After a long break, the activity of a Russian A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft was recorded in the airspace of the 🇷🇺Oryol region of the Russian Federation, – monitoring public”
Just north of Kursk. Coordination of the much-discussed Russian attack?
One of those that have been on the ground and are now being repaired? It was just about a year ago that an A-50 was shot down and then it sounded like there were few left to be had.
Oops, they actually ran out of them and had to wait overtime to get one in the air 😳
Trump has ordered that Ukraine’s F-16s EW should be shut down, and then they obviously dare not fly near the contact line anymore. So now risk-free for A-50.
A year’s worth of tank production lost in a month 💥
For many statements – best to see in action from them. The Word Machine.
The third time yesterday I heard that RU has become more tree-safe.
Guessing it all depended on Starlink.
Can it be limited to the course maybe that one gives you mail output?
It seems far-fetched to me.
There have been reports that target data inside Russia has been blocked, so there may be something to it.
Now it’s dark among today’s comments, time for some positive news.
Ukrainian Armed Forces are making great progress in Donbass and are in the process of retaking Toretsk.
https://www.uawire.org/ukrainian-forces-seize-initiative-in-donbas-as-russian-offensive-falters-near-pokrovsk-and-toretsk
https://bsky.app/profile/madrykot316.bsky.social/post/3ljz3lp5ff22z
Good, some positivity is needed! 👍
Herregud, not in here 😳
https://bsky.app/profile/wartranslated.bsky.social/post/3ljwveezjss2u
😂 Not always easy to be the mouthpiece for the Russian propaganda machine!
But can’t they just do as they usually do? Downplay it like with the sanctions?
“It’s all good, we have such high overproduction anyway, and now we have the opportunity to build much better and more efficient facilities!”
Our time’s Julius Streicher
Ukraine has become the largest military laboratory. In garages all over the country there are brilliant researchers and engineers who are doing what no one has done before, – The Times
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3ljzfpzxjlk2x
I am convinced that this entrepreneurial spirit will continue to thrive even after a possible peace.
Imagine a population that truly does something instead of worrying about which song won in Mello.
There may well be a lot to it, surely many will start businesses when the war is over.
Isn’t a lot of technology born in war?
War and space race.
A bit like Sweden 100 years ago when they built motorcycles in the garages in the Ludvika area.
https://www.nyaludvikatidning.se/2025-03-06/the-era-of-motorcycles-in-the-garage-is-over-an-era-comes-to-an-end/
Comparisons with China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) are now being made not only by Trump’s critics, but also by neo-Maoist thinkers in China.
Trump is now orchestrating his own “American cultural revolution,” writes the pseudonym Yuan Long at the neo-Maoist research institute Kunlunce in Beijing.
https://kvartal.se/artiklar/den-amerikanska-kulturrevolutionen/
I find this quite interesting about the USA.
Personally, I cannot oversee the consequences, but also focus on Ukraine and there he is wrong for Ukraine and us anyway.
What if it gets better for the United States because of this policy?
Regardless, now he has 4 years ahead of him and we will see how the USA is after this turn?
It may be enough with the midterm election where we will see what the American people say.
Sure, absolutely
I follow the politics of the USA with a certain fascination, it’s a bit like Paradise Hotel with internal conflicts. Bannon has gone after Musk and called him an evil person. Musk has gone after Rubio for letting people retire instead of firing them, which led to Rubio asking Musk if he would rehire the people and then fire them.
I am eagerly looking forward to seeing who will be voted off at the next tribal council. 😁
The worst part is that Musk and his DOGE have made it so that no Swedish politician dares to mention the need for efficient management in the publicly funded sector. We continue to spend billions on nonsense/bureaucracy and borrow for our rearmament instead of freeing up capital.
He has ended up quite wrong with his strange approach to Russia. But it’s probably some kind of game theory. Ordinary Americans could not care less.
Read what MXT posted statements from the USA above and then what they do in action
https://x.com/jayinkyiv/status/1898830132468490451?s=46&t=Vah3JXV31B9lXwZOK5gF7w
Yes, unfortunately it seems like the USA is no longer our friend.
Good luck winning over these Putin
https://x.com/banderafella/status/1899045398322278908?s=46&t=Vah3JXV31B9lXwZOK5gF7w
“USA’s Vice President JD Vance’s cousin Nate Vance is a volunteer soldier for Ukraine, who has been fighting for the freedom of Ukrainians for almost three years. This is reported by the French Le Figaro.
Nate is disappointed in his cousin. When JD Vance first criticized the support for Ukraine, Nate thought he was mostly doing it to attract voters, but the scenes in the White House recently made him boil.”
“The Green Party in Germany will not provide the necessary votes for the constitutional amendment proposed by the country’s likely next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, reports AFP.
Merz wants to amend the constitution in order to invest billions in infrastructure and defense.”
Then Merz will have to cut back on some green investments.
Otherwise, I thought that the Greens have been sensible in their stance on Ukraine, but maybe that’s just because they’ve been compared to Scholz.
I think it’s a bit early yet. Merz asked the Greens to agree to the constitutional amendment immediately, thus proposing to implement it for the current government before the new government is in place.
We’ll see how it sounds later when CSU/SPD have taken office and the Greens have a real counterpart to negotiate with.
Now Americans will have it tough!
“Donald Trump’s tariffs against Europe could make European goods such as champagne and parmesan far too expensive for ordinary Americans, warn several producers to the Financial Times.”
😂 He is so cool!
“”Sorry I’m not in a suit,” — Zelensky about his outfit at the Shevchenko Prize ceremony.”
Sick amounts of drones!
“The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine plans to purchase 4.5 million Ukrainian-made FPV drones in 2025, allocating over 110 billion UAH (≈$2.67 billion USD) for this procurement.”
How many million drones is Sweden going to buy? 😬😬
Accumulation of 5 destroyed Russian tanks. Two T-62M and 3 T-72B
“Ryssland behöver en paus i kriget för att återhämta styrka, alla tecken pekar på det,” — Budanov
🤔 According to him, Russia has now reached the maximum production of weapons, they cannot produce more.”
I have to write a small comment today as well, to try to straighten out the skewed view of Trump. – Now it will be a repetition, but if everyone else repeats themselves, then I might as well too.
The commentator DJ is above, a sub-comment at 09.55. right on track. – The US must clean up its costs, thoroughly, and it is obvious that handling China is a priority. – Basics. – How so? In every way possible, at any other expense (seriously, any), as long as US voters (the majority) are satisfied and the US budget becomes more controlled with less deficit.
Trump et al. perceive themselves gravely misunderstood, that’s my perception. I haven’t had time (busy at work now) to watch the entire “Oval Room debacle,” but Z had a big part in that debacle. Point being, Z didn’t get it, what needed to be done, and when Trump et al. felt misunderstood or questioned, they went ballistic. – Trump is not Putin’s lackey, it just happens to look that way. Due to the debacle, as I see it preliminarily, Trump’s domestic political maneuvering space was curtailed. It would have been greater if UA had crawled in the dust, been bombed to pieces, and begged for US generosity. I think you get it. – We are where we are, and no one understands Trump’s twists and turns.
However, the US is not your friend, my friend, or UA’s friend, not in the way we have imagined.
Yet it is the US’s goal that no one seems to understand. See DJ above and get it.
The budget deficit in the USA is obviously a gigantic problem that no one has wanted to touch. Part of the solution is to cut costs, which is done with DOGE, but it is not enough. If costs cannot be cut, then revenues must be increased. Normally, taxes would be raised, but that is not popular, so now they are trying to get someone else to pay, and also the US population will unknowingly pay.
The USA is now testing a trade war with Mexico and Canada. A trade war inexorably means that prices of imported goods will rise; this “war” is fueled by statements about drug and immigrant smuggling to unite the population against the enemy and get the residents to accept slightly higher costs.
Europe is a tougher nut to crack as long as there is unity. Here, the goal is to sow division as much as possible and fuel conflicts within the EU. The war in Ukraine is one such issue where there is disagreement; a collapse in the EU would be a dream for the USA. By being unclear in support for Ukraine, Europe is forced to take on more responsibility, which costs money. Furthermore, if they are forced to invest heavily in their defense, it costs even more money.
Europe will become stronger militarily but weaker financially.
It is when Trump perceives Europe as weak that he will strike with uncertainty regarding NATO; shouldn’t the EU pay for American soldiers? Add some tariffs, and it is Trump’s hope that Europe will back down and indirectly pay a portion of the USA’s budget deficit.
Isn’t there also an advantage in the long run that Europe is militarily stronger and no longer operates at the mercy of the USA? We will be able to make decisions that are best for us without asking the boss.
Absolutely, it is good if we focus more on the core activities of the state, including defense. Unfortunately, politicians have tended to invest more in something that makes an impact on social media. Going on Twitter and saying that the state has invested 100 million in the purchase of a CV90 or for the replacement of a contact line does not attract any votes. They prefer to support a semi-final in Melodifestivalen instead.
I am not a military expert so I stick to subjects that I master, economics is one of them. The oil and energy market is another “area of expertise”.
Trump et al know that if nothing is done about the US national debt, the country will either go bankrupt or the so-called “market” will dictate the terms, which is what Trump wants to avoid at all costs. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss had to resign after only 2 months. Also, keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of commitments relate to entitlements (65%), which Trump absolutely does not want to touch – he would likely lose a lot of support in the midterm elections if changes were made.
Trump has probably tried to sell his Mar-A-Lago deal, I don’t know all the details but essentially it means that foreign nations’ assets in US national debt should be converted to 0% loans with a term of either infinite duration or +100 years. In return, they receive security guarantees from the USA. I believe that the interest from holders of such assets has been, to say the least, moderate, hence Trump’s change in attitude towards Europe. I think he coldly did not expect Europe to respond as they did, without obeying the boss.
Add to that, Trump is aware that China has a tremendous advantage with rare earth metals. The USA and Europe want electrification but are not willing to open mines – the Chinese have had a long-term strategy to control these for a long time.
Trump also knows that a low oil price is extremely important for economic activity worldwide, the correlation between energy consumption and economic growth is around 0.8. Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the USA account for over 30% of the world’s total oil production, and Saudi Arabia essentially controls OPEC, so that 30% is more likely 70-90%? Trump is willing to throw Ukraine under the bus to make a deal with Russia – he never envisioned that European countries would stand up as they have – hence he is now trying to “force” an agreement.
Finally – I may be completely wrong here, but my gut feeling tells me that Russia is facing an impending implosion. Trump is afraid that the Chinese will seize the opportunity and lay claim to central areas related to strategic metals and oil/gas. Therefore, he wants to try to “save” Putin and secure good deals (from the American side).
However, regardless of the outcome, unfortunately, there will come a day when Ukraine will likely face a collapse. The demographics with a significantly large deficit in births vs deaths, around 8 million people have left the country since the invasion, and since the early 1990s, the population has decreased from over 52 million to today’s 31.3 million. Yes, some of the 8 million may return, but I believe many will stay.
I also don’t see how Russia can exist in the long term as it currently stands. Who would want to invest in a country where you can automatically expect that the investment will be confiscated, either by a politician or a mafia-affiliated person? It is said that over 5 million IT-skilled individuals have disappeared from Russia, what would make them come back? I would assume that the birth rates in the Moscow regions and St. Petersburg are <1, how many hundreds of thousands of men have been mutilated by the war?
Best regards,
EmigrantJohan
Thank you for that and welcome (I think?)
Well, I have made up my mind about Trump in the UA war but I am thinking a lot about his domestic policy.
Everything he does is certainly not insane.
Interesting 👍
Interesting, EmigrantJohan, one of the most interesting things I’ve seen in the “Trump saga” in a long time!
I can probably (to the extent that I actually understand what is being said) say that it is highly plausible and it provides a relevant nuance of what is likely also happening. Trump is not crazy and never has been, those he surrounds himself with are not delusional or fascists either, regardless of what is claimed in some form of consensus in the media and elsewhere… They are highly goal-focused and, which we do not want to acknowledge, ruthless in their pursuit of their goals.
However, I believe the section about UA has limited relevance, assuming that UA “wins” the war, essentially takes power in its territory and has the muscles to defend it in the future. Steaming economic growth and dynamic effects, such as optimism and joy, can quickly turn that situation into a Klondike and 1945 combo. – Not just a wishful thinking, but I actually believe it. I think a lot of foreign capital also wants to be part of that “race”…
A bit of Trumpology at the end. Something I believe many commentators overlook is that Trump and others are stressed, by time and realities (economy, primarily). They are testing different paths forward, whether well thought out or impulsive. It can be anything, as blunt or offensive as it may be, and if something doesn’t work, the attempt is abruptly abandoned and a new path is tried. The fact that there is usually, or always, a plan doesn’t mean that plan is good or successful.
I have a bit about it in tomorrow’s post
Yes, it’s fine to repeat oneself and the thread should have different opinions, that’s why it was started.
Yes, here we even allow dissing Biden! 😆
“Rysslands vapenexport sjunker med 47% sedan starten av fullskaligt krig, enligt SIPRI-rapporten #Ukraine”
Tips if you have just over two hours to spare where you can listen is to listen to Markus and Malcom’s Podcast. Some rubbish and some good insights and angles.
One angle that was brought up (mixed with some own angles/theories).
Imagine all the great powers sitting at a table, it is in their interest that no upstart should take a seat at the table. For an upstart to be able to take a seat at the table, it is required that it “fights” until the others cannot deny the upstart a place. RU sees themselves as a great power. Part of their entering into Ukraine was to secure their influence in the neighboring area while Ukraine voted in politicians who wanted to turn the country towards the West. The West said no to RU’s demands for increased influence (if I remember correctly, one demand from RU was that we, Sweden, should not be able to control our own security policy). What happened then was that RU started the full-scale invasion attempt which Ukraine managed to stop and then push back parts of. Here the USA sees an opportunity to bleed RU to ensure that they do not get a seat at the table among the great powers and that is what Biden was working on.
For various reasons, Trump does not like this. He does not see how Ukraine can kick RU out of Ukraine, he sees death and he sees an RU that risks ending up entirely in the hands of China which will weaken the USA’s position at the great powers’ table and he sees his own large debts. So Trump makes a U-turn and now he wants to have the same relations with RU as the USA had 25 years ago.
The losers now are Europe (and Ukraine) who do not have and will not get a seat at the great powers’ table but who have financed large parts of the USA’s attempts to prevent RU from reaching the place. M&M compare it to a Nigerian letter from Washington.
“The Paradox of Trump’s Economic Weapon
Why Short-Term Success Will Hasten Long-Term Decline”
“More than 30 countries will participate in talks in Paris to plan a security force for Ukraine, reports AP. The information comes from a French military source.
The meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, and countries from Asia and Oceania will also participate in the discussions.”
The BIG question is whether the security force will come with a ceasefire or not – if it does, it’s just a Trojan horse but UA/Zelensky are very clear now and Europe is saying the right things.
“In januari återupptog USA majsleveranserna till Ryssland för första gången på nästan tre år, enligt uppgifter från den amerikanska statistikmyndigheten som RIA Novosti tagit del av.
Bushs ben kommer snart att rädda Ryssland från svält, precis som år 2000.”
“Without Western chips, Russia would not be able to produce key weapons. To prove that this line of supply continues despite bans from the U.S. and Europe, the Kyiv Independent tried ordering American microchips from Russian trading companies.”
I believe it is a misconception that sanctions prevent products from being available in the sanctioned country – it’s just about increasing prices and reducing volume. Everything else is wishful thinking considering the state of the world.
Interesting, now Twitter stopped working for me. I am logged in but no feeds are showing. “Try again”.
This page: https://status.twitterstat.us/ and this one: https://twitter.com/downdetector both show “This site can’t be reached”.
Äsch. Now it’s working again, had hoped that it would have crashed completely! 😂
Musk believes that some state may be behind it 😐
Who should he blame, Ukraine or Poland?
I think he should just give up, shut down Twitter, and let them have what they want. Think about the poor overloaded servers and the employees!
Yes, it will probably be Ukraine that gets the blame.
(Maybe even a false flag? 🤔😄)
It may be the Russians who are running it through servers in Ukraine.
“Denmark is ready to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine on the condition that a future peace agreement includes European presence in the country, says Denmark’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen according to DR.”
Has Lökke checked with Putin if the Danes are welcome?
😄
This has been mentioned before and I apologize if this is repetitive.
Do you think he is a Russian asset? Comrade Krasnov?
I did some quick research and unfortunately found more than I had hoped for. There are of course no concrete evidence, but there are many incriminating circumstances.
It all starts in the 80s. An invitation to Moscow in 1987 at a time when the KGB had a well-established strategy to influence Western entrepreneurs.
It is reported that there were four trips to Moscow for various meetings where he had to travel by private jet. Several former KGB agents have later independently claimed that he was recruited through flattery and “business opportunities,” which sounds like a reasonable way to get him interested.
After these meetings, the indebted Trump allegedly received several bank loans and also published full-page ads in newspapers criticizing the skewed distribution of NATO funding. Before the visit, his only foreign policy objection was that both the USA and the Soviet Union should dismantle their nuclear weapons.
Possibly, his admiration for “strong leaders” also began during this time? Apparently, he looked down on Gorbachev and before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he is said to have stated, “Russia is out of control and the leadership knows it. That’s my problem with Gorbachev. Not a firm enough hand.”
Contacts with Russia continued during the 90s and 00s. It is not entirely clear what the trips were about; there was talk for 30 years about building hotels in Moscow, but it never materialized.
In the 90s, he was deeply in debt again after several bankruptcies, but this stopped after oligarchs suddenly started investing in his properties (not a reliable source for this). American banks refused to lend money, but Trump turned to Deutsche Bank, which has been involved in laundering Russian money. Eric Trump is also said to have stated, “We don’t rely on American banks … We have all the funding we need out of Russia,” – “We go there all the time.”
He weakened NATO already in his first term while there were plenty of indications of Russian influence in the election.
It’s not easy to read Trump. He is impulsive, struggles with details, and notoriously lies, but I find it hard to believe that he only has an economic agenda. Undoubtedly, he wants to highlight his role in promoting the economy, but I struggle to see the pro-Russian stance in that line.
Therefore, there seems to be a rich history of close contacts with Russia where opportunities have been given on several occasions that are difficult to justify without reciprocity. There should be ample reason to be very skeptical of the intentions of the orange one, and what we see is completely in line with being biased in favor of Russia.
https://x.com/rshereme/status/1898714233384181912
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4572790-trumps-nato-hostility-and-russia-relations-trace-back-to-1987/
https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-lawsuit-trial-new-york-53313f64d57b0aa99f756c2c791d29ab
That he has received help from Russia to win both the previous and this election, there is certainly no doubt about, whether it was done in agreement and therefore he is in some kind of debt to Russia, or if they simply assumed he was the best option and had hopes that he would be well disposed towards them, it is impossible to say for sure. The same applies, of course, to financial support, have they seen it as an investment or has he promised favors in return?
Clearly, he will feel a certain pressure to repay the benefits they may have given him, but has he made any promises and to what extent does it influence him?
I also think about those who pay 5 million USD to have a meeting with him or 1 million just to attend his dinners. They are willing to pay, but can they expect to influence him to make decisions that will pay off in the end?
We can only hope that the truth will come out eventually.
Traveled a lot in the East at that time and remember how miserable the Russian economy was. The Russians sold everything they could get their hands on for a few dollars. Once I came home with 2 kg of Russian caviar that we happily devoured one evening.
It is unlikely that Russia would have resources to spend on an American playboy who showed no interest in politics.
Many have tried to establish themselves in Russia, especially after the fall of the wall, so Donald is not unique.
The argument against is that the Biden administration failed to convict Trump for this. Shouldn’t they be aware of this? They tried other legal campaigns that ultimately didn’t work.
It was Hillary who started nagging about Russians long before she lost to T1.
Even if it is known, it can be completely impossible to prove it. It’s largely about intent. It is not illegal to buy someone’s shares or to lend money, or to give someone money. If it happened, the KGB is likely to have been involved and they have probably been careful to ensure that there are no traces.
It is also not forbidden to pay influencers and others, but proving that the purpose is to influence an election becomes virtually impossible unless someone steps forward and confesses (and risks being punished themselves). Furthermore, if Russia is behind it, there is also the risk of accidentally falling out of a window.
I believe that as long as no one openly admits anything, it will never be possible to prove anything either.
Our former foreign minister had no problem with interfering in elections, it even turned out that she had a “slush fund” of 400 million to draw from.
https://kvartal.se/artiklar/sa-latt-var-det-for-ryska-busringare-att-lura-ann-linde/
At least she could have done it openly like with the opposition in Belarus.
Yes, it is likely impossible to prove intent and difficult to know where things come from since many MAGA narratives can be suspected of being planted by the FSB/KGB. And, an asset who doesn’t even know that he or she is one becomes even more valuable.
But even without a formal verdict, the close contacts should say something about who DT is. It’s not entirely impossible that the election would have turned out differently if the third estate had functioned somewhat over there.
It’s going well now Musk 😘
Tesla down 11% when I checked, we’ll see where it ends.
Down 14% now, the value has almost halved since Trump took office.
So long! A quite fitting name for a boat that moves forward like a torpedo.
https://bsky.app/profile/auonsson.bsky.social/post/3ljzlsmvs6223
A bit of bowling over it all.
Blue, yellow, and white – a nice color palette.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Ukraine would have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war, – NYT
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3lk2aoh6fgs2i
Someone who knows if Putin is coming to Saudi?
According to the Russians, he is not supposed to come, right?
Will not come, Zelensky is there today meeting MBS but will not be part of the meeting. Maybe it’s good if he stays away so he’s not pressured to sign anything.
A well-funded Moscow-based global ‘news’ network has infected Western artificial intelligence tools worldwide with Russian propaganda
https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/a-well-funded-moscow-based-global
George Orwell’s 1984
“Ukrainian IP-address… 🧐🇺🇦”
Should have been one’s own.
Of course. An evil clown in the shit circus.