Putin admits heavy losses as EU to open membership talks with Kyiv

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, oustaristocrats said:

There is only one interesting question, if one at least is interested how this war could end

IMO it will end when Zelenski ( if he hasn't run away ) decides it's time to negotiate.

Seems to me the Euros and the US are determined to hang on till the last Ukrainian.

[thaibeachlovers]

17 hours ago, wombat said:

This is crazy beyond belief…as it stands if Ukraine joins the EU then the whole of the EU is at war with Russia.
Please correct me if I’m am wrong.

Theoretically Ukraine can't join as long as an active war is going on, but if they want WW3 enough I'm sure they will invent some way to make it happen.

[ballpoint]

On 12/15/2023 at 7:31 AM, CharlieH said:

The announcement came after Vladimir Putin inadvertently admitted that more than 300,000 Russian soldiers have died or been heavily wounded in the ongoing war.

Oh dear. Putin will have to throw himself out of a window for that slip up.

[RayC]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

One used to wonder if the EU leadership were idiots or just the usual sort of politician. One now knows and IMO it's not the latter.

 

 

And the reason for your conclusion? I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with it being a slap in the face for Putin.

[RayC]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If governments can steal other people's money just because they don't like them, we are all in trouble. The EU isn't even at war with Russia so what legal means would they have to do so?

 

Replacing 'money' with 'land' rings true as well, don't you think?

[RayC]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Nothing is set in stone, if the politicians want something enough. After all they are the ones who make the rules.

Seems to me Euro politicians just can't wait to start WW3.

 

Whether Ukraine joins the EU whilst at war, at peace or not at all is irrelevant.

 

One thing remains true: It ,in no way, helps explain - let alone justify - Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

[RayC]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO it will end when Zelenski ( if he hasn't run away ) decides it's time to negotiate.

Seems to me the Euros and the US are determined to hang on till the last Ukrainian.

 

Adding a laughing emoji would be inappropriate but what absolute nonsense as usual.

 

Did you read the article? Did you miss the bit about your hero Putin's seemingly casual attitude towards the death of Russian troops?

[brianthainess]

On 12/15/2023 at 9:32 AM, JonnyF said:

Doesn't seem like Hungary is going to agree to these membership talks. More trouble for the EU.

Hungary should look back in history in WW2 when the Russians arrived raping and looting as they went, I have had a first hand story from a friend of mine when he was 5yrs old.

"My Mother had never hit me, and then one day she pulled down my pants and slapped me really hard, then sat me on the toilet balling my eyes out, when the Russians came they opened the door to this sight and left." He later asked his Mum "why did you do that?" "Because I didn't want to be raped" 

True story, it came out one day when I was asking what is your first childhood memory.

[RayC]

15 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

Oh dear. Putin will have to throw himself out of a window for that slip up.

 

I'm never usually in favour of suicide or murder but, in this instance, it would almost certainly* prove greatly beneficial.

 

* "almost certainly" because, unfortunately, there is the slim possibility that his replacement could be worse

[brianthainess]

Never mind Vlad, you should take up THIS governments offer and come for a nice break, 3 month free visa for you, can meet up with a load of your buddies down in Phuket, go for a very long swim maybe in strong winds, no shirt required.  Or Lean over a  15 story balcony PLEASE. 

[Dirk Z]

21 hours ago, tgw said:

 

That was indeed my understanding as well, however, as AFAIK the EU does not have a defence pact, I'd guess war with one EU member would not mean war with the others.

 

Defense is correct, but members of the EU are supposed to support one another and a country in war is a different ballgame.

[Dirk Z]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Nothing is set in stone, if the politicians want something enough. After all they are the ones who make the rules.

Seems to me Euro politicians just can't wait to start WW3.

 

 

There is no support for this remark.

[xtrnuno41]

10 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If governments can steal other people's money just because they don't like them, we are all in trouble. The EU isn't even at war with Russia so what legal means would they have to do so?

Sorry to tell you, but those governments can do a lot of stealing. Especially "my"country is very good in stealing.

The EU (government)  isnt, absolutely, any better. I know, probably when all is finished, all comes to court in The Hague and then they will take the money.

For now, all that money is frozen. So shows what they already can do.

The EU isnt physically at war with Russia, but never the less active in it. Now it cost too much for USA and they are about to back off.

Well happily Israel is also in a war, Yemen already 10 years, Sudan started up more. And we just finished (?) Afghanistan and Syria.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world. All governments and wannabees making a mess.

It is waiting on China to pop in.

 

"My"government said (beginning), we support Ukraine and therefor people had to suffer ! They said it out loud !

They did, they kept their high taxes (50%) on gas and price even got way higher. Eventually they did drop some of the taxes, way late of course, as common people arent of any concern.

They cancelled contracts and therefor way less gas. They had sanctions on Russian gas, but never the less bought a lot of Russian gas.

The latest, i saw Belgium and Spain bought a lot. That doesnt matter as they are all on EU gasnet, so they sell to other EU countries? PROFIT!

Of course not for the people, but mostly just for companies using gas. Sanctions? No way Jose.   

Connected all in a sneaky way to have the other program more running, climate change. Another scheme. Yes , Im aware climate change is happening.

Because of that , "my" country wanted H2 plant. Lots of bla bla bla and now it is in the fridge, as economically it isnt worth yet!

So it is not about climate change ?!

There is a report from the 8 ties, from a big oil company about effects of pollution and climate change.

They put it away in a drawer then and now we are in trouble. 

 

You seem to have a lot of faith in governments, I have 0.0 % faith in any government.

Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and USA government working on conviction of murderer, let it go. Because of ...oil !

  

  

 

[KhunLA]

On 12/15/2023 at 1:10 PM, tgw said:

 

which "all the links in the article" are you referring to ?

Thank you, as I don't see Putin saying anything like that.  Only real stat presented is well over 1 year old.

 

MSM BS IMHO

[Stargeezr]

So, do war criminals like Putin need a special visa to travel abroad and not be arrested?

  Just wondering. With the amount of fighting aged  Russian men and women getting killed,

I wonder how the factories and other businesses in Russia will be staffed after this Ukrainian war is over?

  Are all the Seniors in Russia rich, or are they the ones working now? Just wondering.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

You seem to have a lot of faith in governments, I have 0.0 % faith in any government.

I have no idea why you think that. I have less faith in government than you do.

Sooner we get an AI in charge and boot all the politicans the better IMO. An AI would do a better job IMO.

[thaibeachlovers]

21 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Hungary should look back in history in WW2 when the Russians arrived raping and looting as they went, I have had a first hand story from a friend of mine when he was 5yrs old.

"My Mother had never hit me, and then one day she pulled down my pants and slapped me really hard, then sat me on the toilet balling my eyes out, when the Russians came they opened the door to this sight and left." He later asked his Mum "why did you do that?" "Because I didn't want to be raped" 

True story, it came out one day when I was asking what is your first childhood memory.

They were probably worse in Berlin.

[Tug]

On 12/15/2023 at 2:41 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO it will end when Zelenski ( if he hasn't run away ) decides it's time to negotiate.

Seems to me the Euros and the US are determined to hang on till the last Ukrainian.

If he hasn’t run away…….really??that sir is one of the most corrupt disgusting things I’ve ever had to read that sir is uncalled for after what he and his country are going through he is a courageous man you sir are someone behind a key board espousing some wacky opinions jeese………. 

[RayC]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

They were probably worse in Berlin.

 

And that makes it ok?

[nglodnig]

On 12/15/2023 at 12:29 PM, wombat said:

Please correct me if I’m am wrong.

I think you're thinking of NATO

[billd766]

On 12/15/2023 at 8:08 PM, CanadaSam said:

Brexit?  Stupidest sh** I've heard of.  We need to band together, to fight off the criminal dictatorships who are trying to take over peaceful nations.  Run your own countries, don't try to take over neighbors who are having a tough enough time running their own.

Are you including Canada into Brexit?

 

AFAIK Canada has never been a member of the EU and certainly had nothing to do with Brexit.

[mikebike]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:48 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Theoretically Ukraine can't join as long as an active war is going on, but if they want WW3 enough I'm sure they will invent some way to make it happen.

Who is this nebulous "they" you repeatedly refer to anyway? 

[scorecard]

On 12/15/2023 at 10:10 AM, JayClay said:

 

So are you saying that member states actually do have a democratic say in the operation of the European Union? It's almost as if the EU isn't actually the undemocratic, dictatorial regime that it's detracors claim, then, wouldn't you say?

 

That's not the only way to analyse the situation.

[xtrnuno41]

17 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I have no idea why you think that. I have less faith in government than you do.

Sooner we get an AI in charge and boot all the politicans the better IMO. An AI would do a better job IMO.

It was what you wrote earlier

"If governments can steal other people's money just because they don't like them, we are all in trouble. The EU isn't even at war with Russia so what legal means would they have to do so?"

 

I read in it, you trust governments as they dont steal, otherwise we would be in trouble.

However they do steal. If it is not direct, they have a backdoor to still do it. You maybe only notice it later.

You are in trouble.

But we are on the same level, we dont trust governments.

 

AI is a wonderful invention, as humankind has done many great inventions.

But lots of inventions will turn against us, every time again.

Im more worried about the invention of AGI. We are working on a creation for replacing humans.

AGI do all by itself and when hooked up on all data, what will it do?

Connect it to a quantum computer, which it probably invented then and there we go.

It can easily find out then, humans could be bad for AGI and therefor wipe out humans.

Do we have a kill switch for it?

Yeah, I hear you thinking, that is terminator or borg wise. The stories have already been written and showed, so who knows?

Jules Verne also made stories about subs and rockets, which werent even there at that time.

There was a movie on youtube about levels of AGI, the last one would be a god - like AGI, cant find it anymore.

As it said, it could do anything, even traveling in time or in space.

However run into this one, AGI is there, if you have the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9nveUUiRto

 

Stating this in beginning:

 

 

So probably, I wil sadly experience it, in my age, the situation and I wouldnt be surprised if it would be devastating.

AI's can, I recently red, lie. They can give you false information. Parents are already warned NOT to let children do GPT.  

Then Poetin looks like a choir boy.

You want to check another stunning youtubem? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kza8TF8nb0k

Really amazing.

We are the borg, we will assimilate you. Resistance is futile.

[sirineou]

On 12/14/2023 at 7:31 PM, CharlieH said:

The announcement came after Vladimir Putin inadvertently admitted that more than 300,000 Russian soldiers have died

Is that a requirement for EU membership?

[pacovl46]

On 12/15/2023 at 3:32 AM, JonnyF said:

Doesn't seem like Hungary is going to agree to these membership talks. More trouble for the EU.

 

https://tvpworld.com/74805706/orbn-blocks-ukraines-eu-accession-talks-plus-aid-at-summit

 

It’s time for Hungary to get expelled from the EU because all they do is hold open their hands to receive money from the EU, but when the time comes to do something for them they cause trouble! 

[RayC]

8 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

It’s time for Hungary to get expelled from the EU because all they do is hold open their hands to receive money from the EU, but when the time comes to do something for them they cause trouble! 

 

Unfortunately, there is currently no mechanism to expel Hungary. Introducing a mechanism would require Treaty change and unanimous support from member states. Hungary would not, of course, support any such measure.

[pacovl46]

15 hours ago, RayC said:

 

Unfortunately, there is currently no mechanism to expel Hungary. Introducing a mechanism would require Treaty change and unanimous support from member states. Hungary would not, of course, support any such measure.

Well, then it's time to implement one!

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/19/2023 at 9:35 AM, pacovl46 said:

It’s time for Hungary to get expelled from the EU because all they do is hold open their hands to receive money from the EU, but when the time comes to do something for them they cause trouble! 

More fools the other members of the EU that wanted them then. It's not a good idea to try and expand the unelected in Brussels' power base by inviting just any old country to join without checking them out properly first.

 

Just the suggestion of having Ukraine join shows how ( IMO ) barking they are. So many things that would go wrong with that stupid idea.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/18/2023 at 8:36 AM, xtrnuno41 said:

It can easily find out then, humans could be bad for AGI and therefor wipe out humans.

Humans are, IMO, a self destructive race, and will do everything in their power to exterminate themselves ( just look at how we destroy the environment and pollute everything ). The creation of autonomous fighting machines ( already happening ) and an AI more intelligent than humans will, IMO, see us gone and the planet will move on to the next dominant species.