There's a few silver linings within all this.

1. Trump is picking more fights than he/the US of A can realistically handle, inside and outside the country, with allies and not alike
2. Trump has chosen to ally with Putin instead of China. China is arguably the bigger threat to the Western sphere.

With all that said, it leads to my next assumption:
Trump doesn't think he'll stay in power, otherwise he would be taking a more measured approach instead of trying to shotgun everything at the same time. Parts of me thinks he's trying to make his mark in history and trying to go in the books as one of the greats with his drastic measures.

The moment Trump is gone, Musk is likely going to be indicted for something. I can't see Musk weaseling his way out of this. I do not believe for a moment that the average moderate Republican is supportive of Musk, but they need to "look" united for the time being.

I also see the Democrats becoming more ruthless.

I'd also like to add that it wasn't money that was given to Ukraine. It was old munitions. Americans don't understand this part.

Munitions have a shelf life, it makes sense to give the aging stuff to Ukraine rather than letting it expire. The stuff that was given away will now have to be replaced and that equals jobs for Americans...

Guess nobody told them that part... lol

I don't believe there is a circumstance where republicans turn on musk. They are fucking cowards.
They know he's beneficial to their loser base and if they risk losing the "alpha male" Twitter incels that's a huge hit to their demographic.

I can't speak for the viability of Russia's goals to further expand beyond Ukraine, but if we look at the Russian economy now, things are not looking good in the grand scheme of things, but they have managed to shift into a wartime economy to support the war effort. They continue to sell energy to China, India, and they continue to play the cat-and-mouse game to smuggle various essential goods they need -- eg. semiconductor and other supplies -- to keep the war going.

They are drawing on personnel and munition support from North Korea. They are in bed with Iran to get their drones. And of course they are relying on China to supply them with a ton of things, from civilian to military items.

They are not going to be rich, but even though the country (and its civilians) are hurting, they can probably sustain the war for at least another few years if the current war of attrition drags on.

In additiona to what Dbone has mentioned, I suspect it is more likely that Russia will try to annex some of the smaller eastern European countries that are only candidates to join EU, or have intentions to join EU. Moldova, Georgia, etc. These countries still have factions within them that are totally pro-Russia, and some of them (such as Georgia) already have governing parties that are shifting away from EU.

some of it was and some of it wasnt.

It’s important to note that of the $175 billion total, only $106 billion directly aids the government of Ukraine. Most of the remainder is funding various U.S. activities associated with the war in Ukraine, and a small portion supports other affected countries in the region.

and of that 106B about 70B (as of reporting in late september 2024) was for munitions.

https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much...-going-ukraine

Hard to keep up with all of this.
I kind of have to agree that I can't see Russia going against another country ( especially a nato country) as they have struggled to take out Ukraine. That being said if NATO fails then I think its all back on the table. Im not sure if the US pulling out means Nato automatically fails but certainly it would be diminished

Whatever happens Canada better start shoring up its allies outside of the US .

Also was listening to a podcast today describing Trump as "flooding the zone"http://https://www.npr.org/2025/02/0...flood-the-zone

Seems a pretty good description.

I believe Putin is going to invade Belarus, though keep in mind both Estonia and Latvia are NATO countries and very much isolated up against Russia. He can always invade any of these countries while holding the threat of nuclear weapons over everyone's head if he's trifled with. If the USA becomes complicit with his actions as the only previously opposing nuclear superpower then we got a big problem.

Isn't Belarus already basically a state of Russia? I thought they were deeply tied allies and essentially a puppet extension.

yep belarus is already effectively a vassal state of russia. he even tried to join forces with russia to create a single state at one point but it fell apart.

Belarus is already under Russia's control. They are even training camps, and Russian nukes in Belarus (at least, as declared by Russia anyway).

I'm going to stop my doom and gloom for the day. I'm so glad we live where we do.

I disagree, Belarus and Russia haven't gotten along very well since 2010, Putin was running campaigns to get rid of Lukashenko. Yes they allowed Russia to stage some of their attacks into Ukraine from there, but they've also been economically isolated by Russia at various times and cut of pipeline access to Russia a few times as well... Lukashenko has repeatedly stated that the war should end and they should all be together with Ukraine against the West not fighting within and that Belarussians are their own people, not Russians.

Lukashenko is a total piece of shit, but I don't think he's on as good terms with Putin as some might be led to believe nor do I think he would bow to Putin walking in and taking the country he's basically iron fisted over since the 90's and wants his son to take over next.

Lukashenko is trying to run a tight rope of working with Putin but at the same time not overtly being controlled in the hopes of staying in power. Lukashenko is also HIGHLY unpopular in Belarus, and you can bet that the moment Russia tries to invade it'll open a Ukraine #2 can of worms. Will Belarus put up as strong of a fight as Ukraine? My guess is no, but it definitely would not be a walk in the park and Russia does not have the resources to increase it's front lines by another 40%

Poland would be the ultimate prize for Putin. One step closer to conquering Europe.

Trump negotiating with Putin over Ukraine without them present is giving out Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact vibes

Ya right, haha :lol

Crazier things have happened, lol.

Answer of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to the speech of what he calls Christofascist vice President Vance,

‘ I am incandescent with rage right now. I feel sick to the stomach. A US Vice President stood today on the soil of where so many Americans gave their lives to defeat fascism in Europe. He delivered a disgraceful speech that spat on their graves. Not that we should expect any different, given his boss skipped visiting the graves of fallen Americans in Europe for fear of getting his hair wet. The same man who called the same fallen heroes suckers and losers.

As a Brit that loves America and the American people, I am deeply disturbed at the insults delivered by a man who once described Donald Trump as an “idiot" and said he was "reprehensible." Privately, comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

How times have changed. Vance is now part of the most authoritarian administration in American history. An administration actively seeking to deny bodily autonomy to women. An administration pursuing the same mass deportation of immigrants that Europe witnessed in 1930s Germany. Vance is a man that his own president doesn’t even see as his successor.

He came to Europe to vomit his Christo-fascist bile on leaders from the UK and across Europe, in what appears to be a retribution tour designed to assert American power.

The U.S. are to my knowledge the only NATO country to have invoked Article 5 of the NATO charter after 9/11. We, his European allies, met that call with no questions asked. We sent thousands of soldiers to the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to fight a war on the false premise of Donald Rumsfeld’s ‘known unknowns’. We did this despite millions of our own citizens protesting in the streets of our cities.

Our military stood shoulder to shoulder with his military and we, like many Americans, stood to salute our fallen young men and women returning home day after day. I have tears in my eyes as I write this, thinking of them and their loved ones. Our brave men and women willingly gave their all and far too many made the ultimate sacrifice in support of an American led war.

For the record, 6000 Ukrainian solders server alongside American soldiers in Iraq. This, despite Ukraine not being a member of NATO. In 1994 upon signing the Budapest Memorandum they gave up their nuclear weapons in return for security assurances from the US and the UK. These were then reneged upon in 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea. They were told ‘An assurance is not a guarantee’.

Now, despite their friendship and their brave sacrifice on the battlefields of Ukraine, the President of the United States has decided to abandon them and hand a victory to an indicted war criminal, who illegally invaded the sovereign territory of a US ally. An ally who’s soldiers had previously lost their lives supporting America in its war on terror.

SHAME ON HIM. Shame on the man who dodged the draft and never served a day in defense of his nation. He is a coward and I would gladly call him that to his face. To all those Americans on social media currently posting vile insults to those who have always been there for America, I say, democracy is bigger than you, as you sit anonymously behind your phones posting poison.

America might have the most powerful army on the planet, but remember, that same army fled from Saigon after being handed their ass by a bunch of peasant rice farmers, armed with grenades made from discarded US coke cans. Ukraine have been to the Russian army what the Vietnamese were to you and we salute them.

You might want to throw Ukraine under the bus while stealing there mineral deposits, BUT EUROPE WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. I know for sure that the UK will not abandon the Ukrainian people. Our aid to GDP contribution already exceeds that of the US as does Poland, Germany Finland and others.

The U.S. is no longer a reliable ally and if need be, we will stand with Ukraine without America.

As for your pathetic tariffs, do your worst. You will soon have no friends but thugs and autocrats, so I’m sure Wun Dum Fuc will be right at home."

F.D.T. !!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The real White House Twitter account posted a photo of Trump in a crown with the headline of "Love Live the King". The founders are rolling around in their graves. Trump is not a very intelligent man (most who know him say he's very stupid) but his ability to execute on the same strategy as Hitler used to takeover Germany is impressive.

What's creepy to me is grown men slobbing all over this guys knob. It's literally a cult.

I am at a loss for words.

^
These were the "parasites" Elon was talking about. I guess she just found out what FAFO means.