21 hours ago, AndreasHG said:

 

I stand with Ukraine and support the Ukrainian people's right to free themselves from the slavery imposed on them first by the Mongols, then by the tsars, the communists, and now by Putin.

I'm also not a Trump fan. Frankly, I think he lacks the moral standing necessary to represent the American people and hold the highest office in the country.

However, judging by the reactions of Zelensky and European leaders, Trump seems to be close to a major achievement. Probably not a just peace, but something he can be proud of, and so can we.

. 

 

I'm tired of seeing young Ukrainians die for a piece of land. In the West, land has lost much of its value. People are the main resource of developed countries. People, their knowledge, their potential for innovation, their ability to generate value as individual contributors and as part of a team.

Land is the only precious resource of miserable countries like Russia. Their only exports are oil and gas, minerals, raw materials, more raw materials, and commodities, as well as weapons of mass destruction, the only things Russian industry excels at.

My message to Ukrainians after three years of war is: "Hang on, young people, build a future together with your Western friends, and let Russia shag the land where the sun never shines... Russia has paid a staggering price (1,000,000 victims) to increase its land mass by less than 1%. It's a price only an underdeveloped country like Russia would be willing to pay for such a paltry reward."

I can't help but appreciate Trump's sincere and unwavering efforts to reach a peace agreement. And I wish him success.

 

But I disagree that the whole "imbroglio" is just a matter between Russia and Ukraine. There was a time, not long ago, that Ukraine hold the third largest nuclear arsenal after Russia and the US.

The Budapest Memorandum is a series of political agreements signed in Budapest, Hungary, on December 5, 1994, by Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom among the others. These agreements provided security assurances to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan in connection with their decisions to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as non-nuclear-weapon states. In exchange for these assurances, the three countries agreed to transfer their inherited Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia for dismantling.

Now we know that whatever assurance Russia gives is just a joke. What it is not yet clear is if also the US is a clown on the same level as Russia. My opinion is no, the US is no clown. Rather, just like Winstons Churchill said, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they have tried everything else".

And I think Trump is genuinely trying to do the right thing here.

 

 

 President Trump is trying to do the right think here and lets hope he is successful. No other President could have accomplished what President Trump has so far. He is a winner. 

 

 

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

The world stand united against Russia 🇷🇺. 

 

Trump continues to stand with Putin.

21 hours ago, AndreasHG said:

 I usually ignore your comments which add zero value to the convesration. This one is no exception, but it is so short it caught my eye.

 

Your lack of knowledge of the world is embarrassing.
There are countless constitutions of democratic countries that suspend elections during wartime.
And the war between Russia and Ukraine is a war, despite the Russian press's inane efforts to call it a "special operation."
 

I would also add that no political opponents have died in Ukrainian prisons. And the only Ukrainian politicians poisoned (one with cyanide and the other with dioxin) were poisoned by Russians: Stepan Andriyovich Bandera (1959) and Viktor Yushchenko (2004).

 

Only a poor soul educated by the Soviets could ignore this reality.
And to paraphrase what they say about bargirls in Thailand, it was easy to take the Russians out of the Soviets. The difficult thing is to remove the Soviets from within the Russians. 

Oh yes, Bandera there are numerous streets and statues dedicated to him in Ukraine, and the black-and-red flags celebrate his OUN. As Bandera's deputy, Yaroslav Stetsko, reported in June 1941, 'We are raising a militia that will assist in the extermination of Jews... I am of the opinion that the Jews should be annihilated by applying the German methods of extermination in Ukraine.' Truly evil people but celebrated by many Ukarainian nationalists to this day. 

 

The factions differed in ideology, strategy and tactics:[51] the OUN-M faction led by Melnyk preached a more conservative approach to nation-building, while the OUN-B faction, led by Bandera, supported a revolutionary approach; however, both factions exhibited similar levels of radical nationalism, fascism, antisemitism, xenophobia and violence.[14][52][53] The vast majority of young OUN members joined Bandera's faction. OUN-B was devoted to the independence of Ukraine, as a single-party fascist totalitarian state free of national minorities.[54][nb 2][59] It was later implicated in the Holocaust.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaroslav_Stetsko

 

In 1983 he was received at the United States Capitol and, later, at the White House, where President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush received him as the "last premier of a free Ukrainian State".[22]

3 hours ago, candide said:

After trolling Trump and Zelinski by proposing a meeting in Moskow, Russia stalls Trump proposal of a direct meeting between Putin and Zelinski.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/world/why-putin-no-meet-zelensky-analysis-latam-intl?cid=android_app

Of course he is.

Bottom line -- Trump has made things WORSE.

He loves the big show for his own insane hungry for Nobel prize SELFISH reasons, but at the end of the day, all he's done, again and again and again is to  throw a spanner in any realistic plan to actually pressure Putin to a real negotiation. 

Pretty every toddler that has been paying attention that Putin does NOT want peace. But Trump's dumber than a typical toddler. He wants total control of Ukraine and he's a master at playing on Trump's bizarre affection for him (and all dictators). 

There is a way to force Putin into giving up his maximalist goals. Trump has done the total OPPOSITE.

On 8/19/2025 at 11:23 AM, theblether said:

I thought the coverage of the summit was disgraceful. Far too many talking heads often talking utter fantastical nonsense. 

 

I share some of the distaste of how brown-nosey some of the comments were in front of Trump. 

 

On the other hand the format did give the leaders a chance to say - ceasefire now, a policy that Trump bodyswerved - so he didn't get it all his own way. 

 

However - I'm stunned at one genius turn by Trump which if it comes off will make all the haters look stupid. 

 

The proposed Zelensky and Putin face-to-face summit. If Trump arranges that it will destroy the entire "Putin won in Alaska" narrative. 

 

It puts the entire imbroglio exactly where it should be - between the Russian and Ukranian delegation. 

 

If it falls to pieces at the summit so be it. Just getting these two into the same room is a diplomatic miracle. 

 

We'll see. 

No meeting? Correct. Putin has already stated preconditions to having a meeting with Zelenskyy including Russian determining what security guarantees will be allowed for Ukraine. The invader determine what will be allowed to deter future aggression?