European Union must have a central role in Ukraine peace deal, Ursula von der Leyen said.

@pdockal Well Russia makes it's own decisions but Ukraine has not been able to make it's own decisions since 2014 and is managed out of the White House and London and the rest of Europe is desperate to pretend they are still relevant.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
Looks like a fire burning in the forest. It can either smoulder and go out or flare up if the wind is blowing. Something unholy is driving the conflict and fanning the flames.

@sree251 If they can keep it going long enough to fail on Trump's watch they can also blame selling out the future of their own countries to be good American lapdogs on Trump and believe they can save their political careers.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
You are saying a lot here and it is pretty convoluted. Can you unpack that?

@sree251 Quite simple. Many EU countries committed economic suicide to please the Americans. Going along with blowing up an oil pipeline they were entirely dependent on, picking a fight they could have stayed out of with their largest energy supplier to prove they were good little lapdogs to Washington. Causing massive increases in energy prices and making it more susceptible to disruption.

Paying extra for no reason to go through 3rd parties to buy Russia energy at a premium.

Countries like Germany their entire industrial base is entirely dependent on cheap Russia oil and is unsustainable with out it.

France decided to behave like petulant children toward Russia so Russia helped liberate some of their last remaining colonies causing a jump in cost of living in France so Macron is no competing with Trump for most unpopular leader.

If they can create the optics that Trump "lost the war" they can blame their own idiotic choices on him.

ie "It is not my fault the German economy is failing, it would have been fine if Trump hadn't lost the war."

It also is a way for them to pretend they still matter.

Ukraine now literally has more deserters than the entire combined armies of the UK, France and Germany.

@sree251 Fun fact. A good indication that Ukraine is just a proxy now is the fact that they are supposedly in an existential fight with Russia yet have had troops deployed in Africa desperately trying to win back French colonies.

Make that make sense.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
Please Americans? I thought it was the UK and the EU countries that drew us into the conflict with Russia. Blowing up the Nordstream pipeline looked like a US/UK job but the Germans, now led by Merz, not only did not complain but is pushing for aggression against Russia. Why would the Germans care about Ukraine?

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
None of the geopolitics out there make sense. This lead us to believe that something behind the facade is pulling the strings. I am watching podcasts on Youtube and Rumble now to get a grasp on what's going on behind the smoke screen.

@sree251 Nope. Started with the US coup that took control of Ukraine in 2014. MI6 helped but that is the best the Brits could manage.

The EU out of living in the past feel they are owed a position to dictate global politics. The Nordstream was indeed a US/Uk operation and yeah Germany rolled over and played dead as per usual.

They did try and stall as long as they could though. I think Nordstream was partly to punish Germany for not going along with American designs for Europe.

Germany doesn't really care but they were dragged into it by the Americans and like it or not Germany is an occupied country that doesn't have an independent foreign policy really.

Much like Japan the US still effectively has veto power over German foreign policy decisions.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
Yes, Germany and Japan are occupied countries. The Germans and Japanese are literally shackled in irons by Americans since the end of WW2.


The Pentagon is a kingdom unto itself at the expense of American taxpayers. DOGE was quickly dismantled before Elon Musk could get inside that rat nest of four-star military bureaucrats controlling 800 bases all over the planet. It is more formidable that the Vatican running the world with its bishops in every country in the world.

@sree251 I agree with some of that.

But handing over all government financials to an oligarch man child is worse.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
Is that even happening? I have a feeling Trump is like Punch in a Punch and Judy Show. There is nothing innately powerful about him. He is like a 100 pound weakling in a 10 ton body armored suit. He can't lift a finger on his own volition in that suit.

@sree251 That is exactly what happened when Trump handed over the keys to the finances of the country to Elon Musk and invented a fake department to do it.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Do you think Musk can do any worse? We have a massive national debt now, and it's the same bureaucracy that has created that debt. Would you rather hand those keys back to Nancy Pelosi and gang?

@sree251 Absolutely. Musk is a devotee of Curtis Yarvin who is basically a cult leader. Debt doesn't matter as long as the US is the reserve currency and is a distraction to justify robbing the majority to give more free stuff to people like Musk. He also has a bizarre white supremacist bent to things growing up at the knee of literal nazi grandparents.

Giving control to a random rich guy is not the bureaucrcy.

Nancy Pelosi is elected and answerable to their constituents. Musk is answerable to literally no one.

Lets not pretend it is remotely the same.

And lets be real. If it were Bill Gates conservatives would be screaming.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
Do you believe that we - as individuals - are all equal? "Robbing the majority" sounds evil. How does that happen in a free society like the USA?

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
No it is not the same. Musk is an entrepreneur taking personal risks in the marketplace and facing consequences of his own decisions.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
Why is that? Bill Gates is also an entrepreneur out for himself. You don't think so?

@sree251 Lol. Musk is no entrepreneur and he is not taking any risks at all. That is pro oligarch nonsense.

A good part of the world believes him to be a literal nazi and people around the world tried to damage his business and the only "consequence" is he was rewarded for it by being made the first trillionaire in history.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow
In Russian politics, the term first came about in the 1990s to describe a dozen or so powerful men who amassed immense wealth. Elon is a lone wolf and came out of nowhere.

There is a cabal of rich Jews controlling the west since the Rothschilds. Are they oligarchs also? In my opinion, this is not a healthy way to view the wealthy or the politically powerful. Some make it in life and others don't. It's that simple.

@pdockal They have. ]

The Ukrainians want to be an independent, sovereign nation.

Russia, or rather Russia's president, has decided the Ukrainians have no such right.

@ArishMell

Not the point to my post

@ArishMell
NATO robbed Ukraine of that by using it to advance it's militarized border right up to the front door of Russia. Ukraine can be an independent, sovereign nation if NATO is disbanded and the US ends its military presence in Europe. This is a simple achievable outcome.