Trump and Putin (the whole and the half) have had a WhatsApp meeting and the rumor was that Putin was in some conference joking that Trump could well wait with this year’s widest grin – I find it difficult to sift through all the psyops right now so maybe not jump on that.
It seems that Putin has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire and that it would happen? But the good news is that it is Zelensky’s ceasefire that they are following – water and air, not land.
First of all, Trump is far from our time’s Gandhi – this seems like a failure. What do you think about McDonald’s Gandhi?
And UA can continue with offensive operations on the ground, which is appreciated (we don’t know for sure what Trump is saying on WhatsApp, but formally there is no stop).
I had a post ready yesterday that I was going to post when I got home from work, then the computer started up and restored to a previously unsaved copy so now it’s double work and done. Another annoying thing is when Chrome shuts down and there is no “open all” in the history so all the pages come back up – you have to go through the entire history and open the pages one by one…
After the retreat from Kursk, there isn’t much to report from the fronts other than that everything else stands – and that RU may be active on the southern front but I have no desire to write about that (yet).
Then there is a huge SALTINT (extremely salty!!) about new attack vectors on the northern front from UA so I don’t dare to touch that yet even though that’s exactly what we are waiting for here.
Putin has managed to get Trump on board, now we are in the middle of March and I see no signs TODAY that Trump will strike at Putin. If it’s 5D chess, the move must come before Putin jumps on the Baltics presumably?
Assuming that 5D chess is good for us in the EU and not just good for the USA and Russia.
The EU is somewhat quiet and the latest I heard was that we should consider peacekeeping troops in a ceasefire so we have let ourselves be talked down by Trump when it comes to a ceasefire I think, that it’s even on the table?
If one should interpret it kindly, perhaps the EU is waiting for Trump’s – Putin’s WhatsApp exchange when Putin is done humiliating Trump in front of the audience – highly self-inflicted for our somewhat overweight Gandhi of our time.
I have the impression that the EU is roughly skipping over the whole part of how we get there but then trying to decide on the following – 10,000 peacekeeping troops in Kiev, Lviv, and Kharkiv for eternal peace.
And avoiding addressing why the troops are not placed at a demarcation line and what happens if Russia breaks the peace – all the central and fine print is not included accordingly.
We have known for a month now that Ukraine “wants to continue fighting” because Trump leaked it. We know that it is what Ukraine wants because Zelensky and UA have said so, and we know that it is what UA citizens want in all opinion polls.
We also know (or can reasonably guess) that Putin needs calm at the fronts in Ukraine so he can take the next step in escalation – my guess is the Baltics.
We can reasonably assume that RU is at a low point now in March 2025.
Things are not as they seem – a ship with NK weapons is slipping through the English Channel
And not until 2025 can the EU no longer buy Russian crude oil because the USA stopped it.
Do we need enemies with such friends?
Moreover, European companies sell everything RU needs to a mass – place instead without anyone caring. And RU buys it with money they received from the EU until the turn of the year.
I am trying to find historical points of contact here and want to go through some misunderstandings, I have already done a couple of posts and here come more puzzle pieces because over the years many claim that the EU has nothing and that US support is critical.
In 1939, the UK (or then GB – Great Britain) stood quite alone and the rest of Europe was either the enemy or down to zero so the USA was a formidable potential ally and our only lifeline.
The UK tried to get the USA on board, which stayed away until Japan made the mistake of attacking, but the USA tried all the time to trade help for the UK to decolonize – it was a running point on the agenda from the USA. The UK also lost its empire post-WW2 and was in debt until 2006 but they won the war – because lend-lease was about skinning the UK for everything they could.
Just in passing, you might also wonder if the Soviet Union also made a final payment on its lend-lease in 2006 and I can reveal that they did not. Do you think they paid off harder on all the material they received, which was 30% of what the UK got, or do you think they got some kind of debt write-off?
So did the USA collect more repayments from its friends than its supposed enemies?
In 1943, the USA started to bypass the UK and go to the Soviet Union instead as they considered the Soviet Union to be a greater “superpower” than the UK.
At the end of the war, the UK desperately tried to at least get Poland free but the USA allowed the Soviet Union to occupy half of Europe.
The same USA that did its utmost to get the UK to release its colonies now allowed the Soviet Union to become a major colonizer.
The Cold War was by no means bad for the USA and as a country, they probably had some of their best years then, “American dream”?
Europe was under a wet Soviet blanket and since 1989, it has been considerably better, most people would probably agree?
Now I have peeled off everything and shown it in the clearest possible way – the USA wanted to remove UK dominance and then they divided the world between themselves and the Soviet Union, sort of.
I think it’s clear that the USA would not mind a new Cold War at all today and I can understand why if you look in the rearview mirror – the USA, Biden, and Trump are/were all working against it.
For several years, I have argued that we do not need the USA and can solve this ourselves, but the WW2 thinking still lives on in far too many.
The truth is that the US military and MIC are somewhat of a paper tiger today – if you compare the cost with what they have, they get very little bang for the buck.
However, the UK is not alone today – we are 27 countries including Germany, Italy, and France who are on the same side in this conflict.
And Sweden is not neutral, nor is Spain.
The EU is an absolutely formidable military force to be reckoned with here, I have previously summed up personnel and materiel and it is obscenely much.
It is not 1941 either where the central thing is to get the USA to join – the big thing in this war is what China will undertake.
So far, it is the USA that is confrontational with China, not the EU.
What Trump is doing, if not unimportant, is at least not central. What the EU does in the case of Russia, on the other hand, will shape our national security for the next 100 years. If we don’t bring Ukraine into the EU, if Belarus becomes westernized, and if Kaliningrad is demilitarized, we will miss an opportunity that may only come once every hundred years, if even that.
Right now, I’m getting a lot of Groundhog Day vibes actually with Trump – “I have asked Putin to spare the lives of several thousand UA soldiers who could retreat,” “we have given 350 billion USD,” “I am the only one who can make peace” – all qualified nonsense.
Then I’ve been pushing something for a long time – this thing about Iran wanting to kill Trump. It’s a little Trump psyops that he stirs up from time to time, and nothing else 😀
But what China does will determine whether this becomes a global conflict with conscript armies or not. If China seriously starts a war, this will become a world war with mass armies again, just like WW1 and WW2.
If there’s one thing you’ve learned in this war, it’s probably that infantry is the backbone, and then comes the ability to sustain production over time. The UA war is exciting because it’s high-tech and it’s infantry in its simplest form – very exciting.
That we would cheer in 2025 because Germany wants to go to war and they themselves say “Germany is back baby” is somewhat worrying perhaps, but that’s where we are now.
Taurus seems to be coming at least before the Germans start mumbling about Lebensraum and looking around again.
Whether we like it or not, we are at the point where Putin either gets his breather and can aim for round two, or he loses the war and the air goes out of the global escalation – in the year 2025.
I was a bit euphoric about 2025 before Trump started his “peace negotiations,” which brought my mood down a few notches to see McDonald’s Gandhi shuffling around.
USA is now openly discussing what territorial concessions Ukraine must make, and Mark Rutte is open about Ukraine not joining NATO. If the USA recognizes Crimea as Russian, it would depart from a US practice since the 1930s – a best guess RUMINT though.
How do you think Ukrainians feel right now as all of this washes over them?
Where are the EU statements about the borders of 1991 and so on?
The EU also needs to start with strategic communication for our citizens in the EU – we need to start preparing for a war that may be months away.
The EU has only difficult decisions to make in the future, and decisions must be made. We have reached the point in our lifetime where those of us who are in the wrong age and in the wrong positions are forced to take responsibility, and also the consequences of not taking responsibility.
Back in the day, country after country was drawn into the maelstrom of war, and those of us who love to criticize the Ukrainians’ poor soldier qualities managed to hold out for weeks before being overrun.
Germany had “Blitzkrieg” as its superpower, and Russia has its subversive activities that help them conquer countries from within. Russia needs the war, but the primary focus is on an enormous subversive activity that even those of us interested in this do not fully understand the extent of.
There was nothing wrong with Putin’s plan if you consider that he envisioned maintaining a defensive force and turning his gaze towards the EU already in late 2022 or 2023.
It didn’t turn out that way because the Ukrainians had the audacity to refuse to give up, and Putin is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to try to resolve this. Putin’s plan is still to bring down Ukraine and move on towards Europe – he just needs a breather first.
Russia can only do one thing for the past 300 years: if they meet resistance, they escalate the level of violence until they win or crash. They are quite happy to sit on the Titanic and sink, provided that everyone else sinks with them.
The new thing is that the USA has shown that it wants a new Cold War and apparently a weak EU, all the Hollywood movies were scripted.
Since 2022, I have been saying the following –
-this is the prelude to our era’s global conflict.
-the intensity is high enough that Western arms factories have restarted, and we will arm ourselves for the next 30-40 years.
We are now at the point where either we extinguish this and our era’s world war was limited to Ukraine.
Or Russia escalates its efforts, and at some point, no one can say when, today’s leaders will no longer be able to control the situation.
This takes on a life of its own and spirals out of control.
I think Europe is still a bit like WW1 – “if there’s a war, we’ll send our proud soldiers east, win this in a few months, and then have a BIG parade and medals.”
I seem to hear this even among those who have followed the Ukraine war for three years – “our battalion in eastern Baltics will hold the line,” kind of.
Of course, it won’t go that way – we will probably be reactive when it comes to the Baltics, it’s mid-March now 😶
And what does it mean for our Swedish battalion in eastern Baltics in the worst-case scenario if the West is reactive, do you think?
The next step after the Baltics is to seriously try to bring down Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania.
The amount of sabotage in the EU is increasing and will increase even more. Furthermore, we have not yet activated our criminal gangs, criminal clans, right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists, and Islamists in earnest.
Something I’ve missed in the EU is large-scale forest fires – don’t understand why.
MENA is far from settled even though Israel turned out to be more than adequately proactive.
Africa is a powder keg waiting to explode.
South America is now controlled by Russia and China in the sense that they drive drug trafficking and illegal immigration up to the USA.
USA has just rolled back to pre-Pearl Harbour, that’s where we are whether we want it or not.
China… if they don’t stay in check, Taiwan is threatened along with South Korea, Japan, and Australia to varying degrees. China is building a Royal Navy in about two years in terms of production pace.
Today, the only country that can deliver a deadly blow to Russia is Ukraine, but ONCE AGAIN after three years, the USA pulled the rug out from under Ukraine, for how many times.
Moreover, the risk is even higher now as Trump actively tries to destabilize Ukraine along with Putin, but so far, we seem to have gotten the expected Trump effect – Ukraine is even angrier at Russia than before.
The time until this fall will determine our fate for a long time to come – for the first time in this war, we must start facing the consequences of our actions.
Speaking of consequences, never go to the Caribbean – where we are, you need a triple-signed letter from the Ministry of Education for your child to start school, and the nonchalance is total (yes, they probably want money under the table, but I don’t know how to do that yet).
They tell us, “yes, we approve class 2 only, but if you want class 3, the school can test and decide.” The school says, “we must follow exactly what the ministry says” even after they have done a study test confirming class 3 – nothing happens until the triple-signed letter arrives, and it has been 8 weeks.
A school thought we could start but wanted the full annual fee just for the last three months of the year (100,000 SEK), another said one thing and then something completely different, so we ran around in circles for a month, and a third private school said we were not the right people to be part of “our school’s family unity.”
So, I’m here because no one else in the country can do my job. The country’s richest and most influential person owns 51% of the Italian company I work for, and I have a salary that is 70 times what the truck drivers at work earn – so they judged based on appearance 😀
I haven’t played any of those cards yet, just trying to start children in school and pay for us without being mocked, humiliated, and deceived by authorities and schools in a self-reinforcing loop.
I’m already getting tired of this, and you know how it goes – you start circulating your CV, then you get a bite after a few months and leave. As an employer, you have to be responsive so it never gets to that point, especially if you have employees who find it easy to get a job.
If you liked the post, feel free to share it on your channels.
If you want a fun comment section that is really starting to pick up and is no longer just me talking it up on Bluesky – johanno1.se. The comments are of high quality, I can promise you – you learn something new every day.
I recommend everyone still commenting on Substack or Bluesky to jump over to that thread instead – then your grandchildren will read your historical archive and start liking you. I also don’t have time to respond there as I’m starting to get busy at work.
On Substack – don’t forget to become paying subscribers, even those of you who already follow. It’s nice to see that some of you find it worth reading, appreciate all the work put into this, and took the step to subscribe 👍
https://bsky.app/profile/johanno1.bsky.social
Swedish rescuers, the ones I’ve been in contact with, work quietly and deliver supplies to Ukraine. You don’t see them constantly on social media because they are instead working to support Ukraine.
Don't forget to donate, Ukraine's cause is ours! Support Ukraine!
NOTE: Those of you who do NOT want to allow automatic translation of your comments, please go to your profile page and set it.
Hover over your name at the top right, select edit profile, and you will then find the setting under the language settings heading.
Update from 08:00 on 19.03.2025 regarding the Russian invasion
A total of 140 combat actions were registered during the past 24 hours.
#Kharkiv 10💥
#Kupyansk 5
#Lyman 12💥
#Siverskyi 2
#Kramatorsk 6
#Toretsk 21💥
#Pokrovsk 39💥💥💥
#Novopavlivka 9💥
#Huliaipil 2
#Orikhivsk 3
#Prydniprovsky 3
#Kursk 21💥
According to the updated information, yesterday the AFRF🇷🇺 carried out 65 air strikes against the AFU🇺🇦 positions and populated areas, released 81 guided glide bombs, and used nearly 2,200 kamikaze drones for attacks. AFRF🇷🇺 also conducted 5,300 artillery attacks, including 88 from MLRS.
During the past day, the AFU🇺🇦 air force, missile troops, and artillery hit 16 areas with personnel concentrations, two artillery systems, and a depot of weapons and military equipment belonging to the AFRF🇷🇺.
👍
Ack – har gått upp igen
Oh – have gained weight again
Russian losses in Ukraine 2025-03-19
1060 KIA
12 Tanks
14 APVs (Armored Personnel Vehicles)
64 Artillery systems
1 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System)
100 UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
111 Vehicles & Fuel tanks
Glory to Ukraine!
https://bsky.app/profile/matsextrude.bsky.social/post/3lkpgdeti2k2s
Goes well for the artillery 😂😂
“In total, 140 combat clashes were recorded during the past day.
According to detailed information, yesterday the enemy launched 65 aerial strikes at the positions of Ukrainian units and settlements, dropped 81 KABs, engaged almost 2,200 kamikaze drones. Also the enemy carried out 5300 artillery shelling, including 88 – from jet systems of salpovogo fire.!”
Second on it, missed 205’s post. 🤷♂️
“Russia: Flera ukrainska drönare slog till mot oljedepån och rörledningen Kavkazkaya i Krasnodar Krai. Anläggningen används för olja som är avsedd för export.”
There is a nice fire now in the oil depot Kavkazskaya in the Russian Krasnodar region. 227 men and 99 vehicles from local fire departments are now involved in the extinguishing work. You see! Not only are the Russians getting help with green transition, they are also getting help with labor market measures! Pure bingo!
Good – asking for a friend if oil export is energy or not?
Since Putin is well disposed to stop bombing energy, one can probably draw that conclusion.
Energy? No, isn’t it just asphalt production that Russian crude oil is good for?
Moreover, Russia is likely to continue bombing hospitals, schools, and residential areas.
“Banning attacks on the energy system is a profitable compromise for Russia, as it will protect the Russian energy sector from attacks by Ukraine, which has just increased the range of its Neptune missiles from 200 to 1,000 km, — Politico”
Boris and I share the same opinion:
“Boris Johnson: “What a surprise – Putin rejects an unconditional ceasefire. He wants to keep bombing and killing innocent Ukrainians. He wants Ukraine disarmed. He wants Ukraine neutralised. He wants to make Ukraine a vassal state of Russia. He isn’t negotiating. He’s laughing at us.”
https://bsky.app/profile/meanwhileua.bsky.social/post/3lkowmce5sk2h“
Boris has always been a guiding star when it comes to Ukraine.
Did you think I was going to write that I’ve always been that? 😉
“Putin did not demand to stop providing aid to Ukraine,” – Trump.
▪️The US and Russia can establish economic relations after the end of the war in Ukraine;
▪️Communication with Putin was “great”;
▪️Russia has the resources that the US needs, including rare earth metals.
Good morning,
The fact that the USA is going to be buddy-buddy with Team Lada and fossil fuels and diss Team Mercedes with democracy and a large modern market for incredible economic success with a dictatorship feels macabre.
We’ll see what the oracle comes up with in the coming days that changes what he just said.
The EU has decided to invest 9,000 billion euros in the defense industry, and the purchases will be made in European companies… Thank you JD Vance thank you 😁… did you hear that I said thank you? 🥳
Just about like that 👍🏻.
Yes, it is quite strange that the USA chooses this path, I suspect that Trump is mostly thinking about money. He aims to reach a favorable business deal with Putin.
What sensible person discusses a peace agreement with one of the warring parties, and then chooses to talk about how many huge deals they will make with them once there is peace, and oh yes, also that they will meet in hockey? Incomprehensible.
Exakt.
Very strange things are happening now.
Thank you thank you JD 😀
“A hospital in Ukraina’s northeastern city of Sumy and another in the town of Krasnopillia were hit by drones during a series of attacks on Ukraine, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to accuse Vladimir Putin of de facto rejecting a ceasefire.”
“Ukrainian Air Defence shot down:
▪️72/145 Shahed UAVs;
▪️56 drones suppressed by EW;
▪️?/2 Iskander-M missiles;
▪️?/4 S-300 missiles.”
Beautiful peace pipe of Putin
“There was some footage which is claimed to be Ukrainian forces entering the Belgorod region, but this is not yet confirmed nor geolocated.”
“Kuban, oil refinery… and those mysterious “unidentified drones” again!
Looks like some drones just couldn’t resist visiting Russia’s Kuban oil refinery for a little “inspection.” Coincidence? Maybe. Precision? Absolutely👇”
Say what you want about Trump, but he is incredibly slippery, he personifies Teflon, little sticks to (inside) the forehead, easily lets go and is toxic and harmful to deal with.
It’s like trying to fish jellyfish out of a bowl of water with your mouth without using your hands.
Now I have to go and will be offline, seen several military vehicles on the roads, more than usual, long convoys, it feels good, they meet me, I go one way and they go the other, sometimes I pass them….you won’t get more information…you don’t want to give coordinates of places and geography to the Russian scum who probably sneakily read here.
A Swede 🐅
👍✊
Take it easy 👊
Yes, certain countries in the EU have now realized that there could be war.
That the summaries of the meeting by Russia and the USA are different can only be due to one thing. Trump doesn’t understand what is being discussed, energy infrastructure or energy and infrastructure?
Just the same in his State of the Union speech, transgender mice or transgenic mice.
No wonder his own business is doing poorly if he doesn’t understand the one sitting on the other side of the negotiating table.
McDonald’s Ghandi has embarrassed himself
Thank you johanno1, your comparison with WWII and the US relationship with the UK is interesting!
France is the only country in Europe that consistently has not allowed itself to be lulled by pax americana. They have always maintained their own arms industry and have acquired their own umbrella. They also, for a while, did like Greece, i.e. paused their membership in NATO in order not to be hindered by the community’s unspoken demands. France is a natural leader right now because of its stance.
Germany has an industrial capacity so great that it can tip the scales even in a global conflict. The fact that Germany is now making a major effort is a great relief because without Germany, this project would be much more difficult to accomplish.
The project to stop Moscow will be led by the major countries in Europe, and all countries bordering the Moscow realm will want to participate. I believe the UK will also be involved, it’s their history and their policy as a European country.
The EU is not the organization to do this, each participating nation will need to explain to its people what is at stake and why it needs to be done. The EU will coordinate certain aspects related to trade and payments, but whenever there is a risk of being blocked by Putin sympathizers, it will instead be in the form of a coalition of the willing.
So France, Germany, and the UK together with the Nordic countries, Poland, and the Baltic states will find the forms, and I believe the first three countries will take the lead.
The Swedish battalion may find themselves in hot water, it must be admitted. But the Baltic Sea is easy to block off and can be cleared with devastating results for Russian capabilities. There are many moves to play that Moscow cannot handle. We’ll see if and what they dare to attempt.
I have to stop writing EU and start writing Europe instead because everyone makes the connection you do.
Yes, I share the same opinion as you that different countries in the EU will shape themselves, and then it will become something overarching about financing the border protection so that Portugal doesn’t get a free ride again.
The closing argument Lynx makes is exactly what I was thinking about the other day. Now the commentators are starting to stop focusing on the details and see the bigger picture. I really like it.
Never engage in a battle where the conditions favor the enemy. Choose your battles. – Example: What is 100 square kilometers of land in a Baltic country if four Russian nuclear submarines with strategic nuclear weapons implode in the world’s oceans after getting holes in their hulls? At the same time? And the enemy discreetly gets 24 hours to disappear to their own border if they don’t want all the submarines they have to “perish”? If they want any tonnage at all, above the water surface, east of the British Isles? If? If? – Fill in the blanks yourself.
It may be that Putin demands it even though it never came up to discuss it with Trump.
“Trump: Not true that Putin demanded aid stop”
“In the Kremlin’s report after Tuesday’s phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, it is stated that Putin ‘demanded an immediate halt to aid to Ukraine in order to proceed with this deal’.”
“- No, he did not. We actually didn’t talk about aid, we talked about many things, but aid was never discussed, Trump says to Fox according to Newsweek.”
https://omni.se/trump-slar-tillbaka-mot-kreml-diskuterades-aldrig/a/kwGVOa
I guess I’ll have to bring the equivalent news from BS since Omni is unpopular with some.. 😉
“Putin did not demand that aid to Ukraine be stopped, Trump said.
▪️The US and Russia can establish economic relations after the war in Ukraine ends;
▪️Communication with Putin was “great”;
▪️Russia has resources that the US needs, including rare earth metals.”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lkpma5m62k26
🤗🤗
😄👍
Don’t forget to send my 5% from the Omniposting
Still good that Trump can talk to Putin. He is a doer. Not a technocrat. And he is so typically American optimistic. It could lead to something that could provide an opening. But Ukraine must be on board. Unfortunately, as Johan mentioned above, there is a Russian pathology where one either wins or goes under. I believe Putin fears a compromise where he risks becoming a victim of forces in Russia that he cannot control.
Deeply marinated in diesel and hanging by his feet from a gas station, he curses Trump and his compromises.
Believe that Trump is fundamentally a unique individual, if Putin is to be dealt with. – Trump knows he leads a superpower and understands that Putin does not… Trump just wants things to be calm in UA, no matter how. – However, he doesn’t quite succeed in understanding what Putin grasps or Putin’s motives, as success in UA must be beyond the possible. Or, partial success, a few square meters, maybe is enough for the Russian, in round one…
Trump et al. couldn’t care less about what we, the media, or others think. He believes he can achieve his goals by flattering and behaving in a certain way. If he thinks provocations and stirring up emotions work better, then he behaves in a familiar manner (claims bizarre things to provoke). – I agree with David Eberhard’s mini-analysis of Trump (column in Fokus, google it and then spend 49 SEK, money well invested), Trump is like a bazaar merchant in a Middle Eastern country. I don’t think “The Art of the Deal” is any stranger than that.
Unfortunately, I no longer believe that the US and Trump have much sympathy for Ukraine. Support for UA should probably be seen as what they believe is suitable to moderate the relationship with Putin. Unfortunately, I also think they are in uncharted territory if it is the relationship with China that is to be influenced. The China-Russia relationship will swing back and forth on its own, regardless of the US. But that’s probably why Trump is shouting about tariffs, China needs our money…
👍👍
Thank you for your comment about the Shadow Fleet on another forum, Johan. I didn’t know what you wrote. The fact that Europe on one hand donates a lot of money to the UA and on the other hand ensures to buy oil and gas from the Moscow state makes me think of “Capital raises the rents and the state the housing benefits”. Madness!
Nothing is as it seems 😀
Did you just arrive here now or am I inattentive and you have been writing all along?
Only now, after three years, is Europe starting to fall into line
Nah, I mostly just read here. I might have made a post a while back, but that’s it.
Fun, it seems like most have found their way here except for Erik14 who hasn’t realized that this is where the action is yet.
The old man completely gave up social media, which was sad – it was partly his constant wish that gave birth to the idea for the site.
There are very good comments here, and above all, a constant good tone even in discussions about Trump, which is probably a Swedish record at least.
Exactly. And I hope the comment section remains the same! – No attacks just because someone writes something that is not politically correct or in line with the “chorus”.
OT: Another federal judge going against Trump (we’ll see if she also risks impeachment).
“A federal judge in the US has blocked Donald Trump’s presidential order to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military, reports Bloomberg.”
“This is also the latest in a series of decisions by federal judges that prevent Donald Trump’s executive orders, previous injunctions have involved, among other things, immigration policy and cuts to agencies.”
“Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the crisis risks leading to a constitutional crisis.”
https://omni.se/domare-nekar-trumps-order-om-transpersoner/a/mPd2bO
Yes, the development is interesting. The American system of checks and balances, i.e. the division of power between the legislative and executive branches, is under pressure. Trump’s and currently at least the GOP’s concept of democracy is that the majority decides through political decisions and the legislative branch should follow the executive branch without objections. In other words, the majority is always right.
Historically, such a view of democracy has never been successful because it leads to absolute power.
Instead, protections have been built in various ways in the form of constitutions and various parliamentary principles that are intended to restrict absolute democracy and make it very difficult for a majority to obtain absolute power in all respects.
And now Trump is trying to increase his own executive power at the expense of the legislative. No more checks and balances.
I wrote here about a month ago that I believed Trump would continue on the same path until he came into conflict with the constitution. I think we are approaching that now, and I repeat what I wrote then, if the constitution holds, Trump will be gone. Perhaps not literally, but then the pseudo-Maoist revolution will be over for this time.
Yes, as you write, their constitution has indeed been created to prevent the president (or anyone else for that matter) from gaining too much power, and soon we will probably see it put to the test. It may not happen in a single decisive case, but in several smaller ones, but in about half a year, we will probably know where the USA is heading.
Then there is also the question of how the reactions will be. If Trump doesn’t get his way, the 25% who voted for him may consider that he should not be prevented from doing what he wants (that will be Trump’s message, at least). Will we see violent riots, threats, and hatred towards judges and politicians? The same goes if it’s the other way around, if Trump starts to gain almost unrestricted power, will people just stand by?
Even though I don’t believe it, it could end in total chaos.
There are well rules regarding what presidential orders typically should be able to concern. Trump may have stretched the rules. The president should not have too much power according to the American principles of power sharing.
Yes, that is what will soon be tested. One problem is that the Supreme Court appoints judges based on their political affiliation. It is an institution that is supposed to prevent a president from gaining too much power, but if he controls the majority of the judges, will they resist?
The same goes for Congress, of course. Who dares to vote against him when they know what it means for their own chances in the next election? Trump has ostracized the Republicans who have opposed him and, of course, praised those who have supported him. This is followed up on social media, etc., where those he dislikes are subjected to smear campaigns, etc. It takes integrity to dare to speak up.
Currently, the situation is quite evenly balanced, and it often takes more than just a majority when they vote. Hopefully, it will hold in the cases where Trump clearly crosses the line.
When it comes to the legal aspect, law is always to some extent open to interpretations. There is therefore a margin of discretion within the legal system that allows individual issues to have different solutions depending on the judge’s own preferences. We will never get away from that part of the law, and it is also the reason why certain issues must be handled politically (which presupposes a separation of powers).
I don’t think it will help Trump to install “loyal” judges. In different specific matters, these judges may come to different solutions than a judge with different sympathies, but it still happens within the system and still upholds checks and balances.
If Trump de facto tries to reduce the power of the courts as defined by the constitution, I believe he will have the system against him.
I do believe that loyal judges can still have quite a significant impact. It may not be necessary to reduce the power of the courts if they already do as one wishes from the start, but you are probably right that it is only when someone tries to completely override them that significant problems arise (and hopefully a backlash).
Feels like the Americans have a problem with prioritization when the employment of transgender individuals seems to be a bigger issue than the Russians.
There must be a lot of Swedish descendants over there. 😆
Although we Swedes have tightened up a bit lately after waking up on our green-pink cloud.
It is perfectly possible to drive countries into the ground without being able to prevent it – rewind to the 70s and how it looked in Europe, for example with a lot of military juntas, and then Yugoslavia had wars in the 90s.
Now, the extreme would be if Trump is assassinated or if he starts killing dissenters, and we are not there yet.
But it is quite likely that things will escalate a bit before it resolves itself?
I have a salary in dollars 😭
Yes, it can absolutely go downhill quickly.
Oh, it’s not easy to be both environmental underclass AND currency underclass. MP has a lot to answer for!
It’s probably a long way off before it’s a bad idea to have a salary in US dollars. When SEK makes some marginal spasms upwards, it skyrockets… When all rates above 5 SEK per USD are crappy, really.
Here is an interesting news story that Expressen angles with a picture of you-know-who. But as a European, I must say that it is about time for SACEUR to become a European general. I believe it will be to our advantage, even though I also realize that the path from being in NATO’s boys’ room to actually making decisions in the NATO house is arduous.
I suspect that politics becomes more decisive than competence when the person is to be appointed. France always wants to be involved, just look at the idiocy with the EU that is supposed to move the whole circus to France regularly.
Has France had any good and successful general since the Battle of Austerlitz?
Is the Prussian spirit well buried?
The English are usually quite decisive and do not back down whether they are defending the local football club, the country, or hopefully Europe. They dream of taking command.
When federal judges don’t do as one wishes, they naturally ensure to replace them with yes-men.
Interesting, and perhaps a bit worrying, that they are looking for judges who are brave and fearless. It’s courageous to go against Trump, but if they get loyal judges, in what way will they need to be brave?
“In the coming weeks, Donald Trump is expected to nominate new federal judges, according to several sources for Politico.”
“And among the new judges that Trump wants to appoint, one thing is sought: Loyalty.
– They will be looking for even more courageous and fearless judges. Judges who have been tested in battle, says Trump’s advisor Mike David, who assisted in Trump’s appointment of judges to the Supreme Court during the president’s first term.”
https://omni.se/trump-vill-ha-lojala-domare-som-har-testats-i-strid/a/vg120p
The difference between Sweden and the USA is that in Sweden, many politicians are raised in youth organizations and take the long road. In the USA, the legal profession is often a path into politics, which means that law becomes more politicized regardless of who appoints judges, as those who are considered often have made a public political statement.
A bit like when the Green Party wanted to shut down nuclear power, you think 😀
I had no idea that nuclear power became an issue for our courts whose judges were appointed by the Green Party! 😱
Just think how much you can learn here! 👍
When the CEO and board don’t do as one wishes, of course one makes sure to replace them with yes-men – only needed to change two words 😀
All newly appointed presidents probably want loyal employees, but they usually tend to find those who are both loyal and competent. Looking at Trump’s appointments, it seems a bit like loyalty and competence exclude each other, I wonder why? 🤔
Johan No.1 – good that you incite and chase on, necessary to awaken the people from their dream sleep. All of Europe is stretching and rubbing its eyes.
Probably all attempts to interpret Donald Trump are doomed to fail, his modus operandi is to confuse and operate in the unclear state. What you see is not what you get.
One of my previous professions is a conversation therapist, often dealing with complicated relationships. Before the process starts, individual meetings are held with the parties to capture wishes and opinions, which doesn’t work when both are present with beaks and claws.
Europe MUST now organize its own defense in the direction of the rising sun. The alternative is one that we cannot morally handle – to turn Moscow into a generously sized parking lot. The USA also does not want to see a collapsed Russia full of invading Chinese.
The question is whether our rearmament can be accelerated further? Putin is no fool and has a good handle on when different time windows close.
Finally – under which hat should Europe’s collective military efforts be managed? I am terrified of the talking visionaries in the EU. It will probably be some, possibly informal, gathering around our strongest countries – France, Germany, the United Kingdom.
And there could be a conflict as big as the one with Putin himself.
Feel that there is a lot of talk right now and more could be done.
Sweden’s politicians should shout BUILD Out to Hägglunds, Bofors, Saab, Mildef, etc. and provide guarantees now so that the process starts today and not in six months.
We need to arm ourselves but we also need to ensure that a lot of all these billions that Europe is going to invest end up in the Swedish defense industry.
Then all environmental permits, appeals, etc. need to be handled quickly and smoothly.
Exactly. Big difference in plain language between Mette in DK and Ulf in SE.
Production resources and raw materials are crucial.
The state, now led by Uffe, must put an end to all cozy arrangements and point with the whole hand, build, build, build…
👍
haha, right now everyone is caught up in a tangle of disinformation including Ukraine – I have given up trying to interpret.
Exactly – we need Belarus’ eastern border and Kaliningrad as a holiday destination for sandy beaches.
And we need Ukraine in the EU without a bunch of fat contracts with China.
We can get there but then we need to address this.
I want to have my own house elf.😀
A house robot – the new home assistant of our time?
Without pay but free shower on Saturdays?
On A, I answer yes, and on B, it depends on the availability of an outdoor shower. 😄
I think it’s enough for them to use the washing machine once a month, that kind of luxury they are not used to.
Then I guess I’ll have to buy a bigger washing machine if I’m going to fit a Russian in it 🙃
One should therefore acquire a small-sized house elf
Ah, I thought more that they can use it and fascinatedly watch while it does its job.
😱
“At last – under which hat should Europe’s combined military efforts be managed? I am terrified of the talking visionaries in the EU. It will probably be some, possibly informal, gathering around our strongest countries – France, Germany, the United Kingdom.”
Or will it be something unexpected, based on decisiveness. – Wet dream: Sweden acquires nuclear weapons with Finland, before the summer, we team up with Poland, which takes the lead, and Germany joins in, half a step behind but still with…”
The last thing would be something 🤩!
I am yellow 😍
It’s just because I haven’t been able to figure out what shade of snake green is!
😂😂
😶
Curious?
The American Department of Defense, the Pentagon, is planning to lay off between 50,000 and 60,000 civilian employees, according to a senior defense official speaking to ABC News. This means that somewhere between five and eight percent of the workforce, out of a total of 878,000 people, will be let go.
https://omni.se/a/KMRgE6
The Pentagon is not a small workplace with nearly nine hundred thousand employees.
IF Trump had had good intentions, one could argue that the US defense forces have become somewhat administration-heavy nowadays, but now that’s not what he’s doing – he’s also trying to fire people in the arms industry.
Is it true that the American defense is supposed to protect the constitution first and the president second, even though the president is the Chief in Command?
Well, soon it will no longer be a truth in the USA that Russia has kidnapped children from Ukraine.
Many American pro-MAGA and pro-Russian accounts have called it fake news throughout the war, but now it is indeed becoming the official stance of the USA.
“Reuters reports that the Trump administration may have deleted data on the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russians.”
https://bsky.app/profile/wartranslated.bsky.social/post/3lkq4wmfnq22d
It is possible to pretend that reality does not exist, but they cannot escape the effects of pretending.
Stylish when Russia themselves boast on moving images and dated that they have kidnapped 700,000 children…
There are many who deny the Holocaust as well…
I don’t know about Gulag denial. One could, however, think that Muscovites feel proud of their ability to kill their own and others’ population.
Sigh, reality will probably kick them in the ass sooner or later, but unfortunately, a few things might happen before that.
A little reflection…
If Russia is as wonderfully civilized as MAGA and the trumpet say, why don’t MAGA and others move there???
Apparently, it’s okay to have weapons in Russia too… (solely based on some clips of people – even ladies – shooting AK47s out the window to celebrate New Year’s), and weapons are apparently the basis of “traditional” values…
Just like the Norrland communists in the 1930s, those who return bitterly regret it.
Or the master spy who preferred prison in Sweden rather than staying there 😂😂
ja.. a ryzka “motorway” is not like in uza…. it’s a clay field more suitable for a “mud run”…. maybe not so compatible with patriotic tezla…. And if you complain, the window is unexpectedly close.
Don’t forget the right to beat wife, children, and household staff. That right is strong in the Moscow state. Shame! I hope that all MAGA supporters and a not insignificant number of Swedish fools move there.
Damn! Both the Dow Jones and Tesla are rising at the opening. Sometimes the ‘market’ is considered to make the most rational economic decisions through the wisdom of the masses, but who the hell is dumb enough to buy Tesla stocks at this price? The company is set up for bankruptcy like a golf ball on a tee, and yet shares are evidently being bought at a P/E ratio of about 110. Unbelievable!
Tesla is probably a pretty good car. Perhaps it is more important than the owner’s political views. Everything is not politics.
Guess what the AP Fund recently bought.
The easiest way to have a common defense is probably through a modified NATO.
If the EU wants to contribute extra funds to it, then of course it is free to do so.
In the past, each county had its own regiment.
It can’t be more difficult than each country having a certain number of soldiers based on its population, right?
If countries also want to have local units, such as home guard, civil defense, or working dog clubs, then it’s up to each country.
See that there is something wrong with the voting above, do not email me with IT questions, the inbox is flooded.
Now Trump wants Ukraine to give away its nuclear power plants as well.
The question is, who is worse here, the USA or Russia 😀
Trump is completely shameless
Ukraine has more nuclear power plants than the ones the Russians hold. If it had only been in Zapo… If it had, of course, been a good idea.
(Edited as I forgot to finish.)
Read the entire text:
“They add that Trump said that American ownership of the nuclear power plants would be “the best protection” for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
Just like the best protection for Ukraine was to share its mineral resources.
Äh, would be a response to the Analyst.
Then it’s game over, it doesn’t count if it’s in the wrong place.
Well, that’s probably a bit of an extensive interpretation. “Helping with the operation” (according to Omni) is not the same as stealing them.
(I don’t know what the slightly shady Financial Times originally wrote, but it could be anything with a corresponding level of truth.)
The statement could have many layers or none at all…
Hm, I wonder what the ulterior motive behind that statement is. Nuclear power plants haven’t been bombed because they are nuclear power plants, at least not yet. They could place American operators in the power stations and combined heat and power plants instead, so they would be useful.
Erdogan took the opportunity to lock up the leader of the opposition now that Europe is in need of Turkey’s support. The hope was that it could go a bit under the radar.
However, the Turkish stock market reacted very negatively, and now there are major demonstrations, especially in Istanbul.
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3lkqzh42ypk2l
Things are starting to get restless in many places right now.
https://bsky.app/profile/nanafella-kilroy.bsky.social/post/3lkraib54yk27
A lot of people are out
Do you know how to succeed in business in the former Soviet bloc? You apply the four Bs:
Bullshit
Bribery
Blackmail
Backstabbing
😂😂😂
Ukraina förnekar ryska påståenden om misslyckat försök att invadera Belgorod Oblast.
This is starting to get interesting now – the attack is confirmed and mechanized, we know that.
Now we are all waiting for additional attack vectors.