European Union must have a central role in Ukraine peace deal, Ursula von der Leyen said.
She is right. Why is Trump playing power broker and making deals with Russia over Ukraine?
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ElwoodBlues · M
Why?? !! MONEY !!
Putin has offered to invest $300 billion in frozen Russian assets in the US, and tRump insiders are lining up to make their claims.
Putin has offered to invest $300 billion in frozen Russian assets in the US, and tRump insiders are lining up to make their claims.
At his waterfront estate, billionaire developer-turned-special envoy Steve Witkoff was hosting Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund and Vladimir Putin’s handpicked negotiator, who had largely shaped the document they were revising on the screen. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had arrived from his nearby home on an island known as the “Billionaire Bunker.”
Dmitriev was pushing a plan for U.S. companies to tap the roughly $300 billion of Russian central bank assets, frozen in Europe, for U.S.-Russian investment projects and a U.S.-led reconstruction of Ukraine. U.S. and Russian companies could join to exploit the vast mineral wealth in the Arctic. There were no limits to what two longtime adversaries could achieve, Dmitriev had argued for months: Their rival space industries, which raced one another during the Cold War, could even pursue a joint mission to Mars with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
For the Kremlin, the Miami talks were the culmination of a strategy, hatched before Trump’s inauguration, to bypass the traditional U.S. national security apparatus and convince the administration to view Russia not as a military threat but as a land of bountiful opportunity, according to Western security officials. By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies.
Dmitriev was pushing a plan for U.S. companies to tap the roughly $300 billion of Russian central bank assets, frozen in Europe, for U.S.-Russian investment projects and a U.S.-led reconstruction of Ukraine. U.S. and Russian companies could join to exploit the vast mineral wealth in the Arctic. There were no limits to what two longtime adversaries could achieve, Dmitriev had argued for months: Their rival space industries, which raced one another during the Cold War, could even pursue a joint mission to Mars with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
For the Kremlin, the Miami talks were the culmination of a strategy, hatched before Trump’s inauguration, to bypass the traditional U.S. national security apparatus and convince the administration to view Russia not as a military threat but as a land of bountiful opportunity, according to Western security officials. By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies.
sree251 · 41-45, M
@ElwoodBlues
Make America great again is Trump's policy. Releasing the Russian assets, that were arbitrarily and unjustly frozen, is the right thing to do. This is a win win deal.
Why?? !! MONEY !!
Putin has offered to invest $300 billion in frozen Russian assets in the US, and tRump insiders are lining up to make their claims.
Putin has offered to invest $300 billion in frozen Russian assets in the US, and tRump insiders are lining up to make their claims.
Make America great again is Trump's policy. Releasing the Russian assets, that were arbitrarily and unjustly frozen, is the right thing to do. This is a win win deal.
ElwoodBlues · M
@sree251 In 1994, Ukraine was the 3rd largest nuclear power on Earth. They made a treaty to give up the weapons in exchange for a no invasion policy.
I'm talking about the three-way treaty known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
Essentially, Ukraine agreed to give up all its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for safety from a U.S. or Russian invasion. Russia's invasion of Ukraine violates that treaty. And as a signatory to that 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the U.S. has a definite interest in righting Putin's current wrongs.
Russia promised specifically NOT to invade Ukraine, and the U.S. promised specifically to ASSIST Ukraine if the treaty were ever violated. And that's what the U.S. had been doing until tRump trashed the treaty and switched to appeasement.
I'm talking about the three-way treaty known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
Essentially, Ukraine agreed to give up all its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for safety from a U.S. or Russian invasion. Russia's invasion of Ukraine violates that treaty. And as a signatory to that 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the U.S. has a definite interest in righting Putin's current wrongs.
In the final version of the deal, Russia promised not to attack Ukraine. While the U.S. and the U.K. assured Ukraine they would aid if it was attacked by Russia, that promised aid did not guarantee military support like a NATO country would receive.
In 2009, Russia and the U.S. announced that the assurances in the Budapest Memorandum would continue to remain in effect in the future.
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/global-conflicts/ukraine-agreed-to-give-up-nukes-in-exchange-for-safety-from-russia-invasion-attack-budapest-memorandum-treaty/536-8748a51f-10ee-47f0-be30-b4088750ee44In 2009, Russia and the U.S. announced that the assurances in the Budapest Memorandum would continue to remain in effect in the future.
Russia promised specifically NOT to invade Ukraine, and the U.S. promised specifically to ASSIST Ukraine if the treaty were ever violated. And that's what the U.S. had been doing until tRump trashed the treaty and switched to appeasement.
sree251 · 41-45, M
@ElwoodBlues
You are the Orwellian realization of 2+2=5. Big Brother is watching over you, Elwood.
In 1994, Ukraine was the 3rd largest nuclear power on Earth. They made a treaty to give up the weapons in exchange for a no invasion policy.
You are the Orwellian realization of 2+2=5. Big Brother is watching over you, Elwood.
ElwoodBlues · M
@sree251 You can't counter the facts about the obligations of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum non-invasion treaty, nor Putin's re-ratification of it in 2009, nor his current total violation of it.
So instead you throw insults at me. SAD!!
So instead you throw insults at me. SAD!!
sree251 · 41-45, M
@ElwoodBlues
It was not an insult but a statement of fact. You don't like the truth because you can't deal with the truth.
So instead you throw insults at me. SAD!!
It was not an insult but a statement of fact. You don't like the truth because you can't deal with the truth.
ElwoodBlues · M
@sree251 The truth is in 1994, Ukraine was the 3rd largest nuclear power on Earth. They made a treaty to give up the weapons in exchange for a no invasion policy.
The truth is Russia signed the treaty in 1994 and re-ratified it in 2009. The truth is Russia has grossly violated that treaty.
The truth is we have treaty obligations. These are all truths you can't deal with.
The truth is Russia signed the treaty in 1994 and re-ratified it in 2009. The truth is Russia has grossly violated that treaty.
The truth is we have treaty obligations. These are all truths you can't deal with.
sree251 · 41-45, M
@ElwoodBlues
Third largest? Big Brother has been screwing with your head, Elwood.
Upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Ukraine inherited physical custody of a substantial portion of the Soviet Union's nuclear forces stationed on its territory, positioning it as the holder of the world's third largest nuclear arsenal with 1900 nuclear warheads along with ICBMs, SLBMs (submarine launched), up to 4000 tactical nuclear weapons, and 44 strategic bombers. However, operational control, targeting data and launch codes remained centralized in Moscow. Similarly, the US's nuclear arsenal is strewn all over America's mainland in ICBM silos. Does this mean that every state in fly over country such as Oklahoma, Kentucky, Utah, Mississippi, or Arkansas is a nuclear power bigger than India, Pakistan or Israel?
The truth is in 1994, Ukraine was the 3rd largest nuclear power on Earth. They made a treaty to give up the weapons in exchange for a no invasion policy.
Third largest? Big Brother has been screwing with your head, Elwood.
Upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Ukraine inherited physical custody of a substantial portion of the Soviet Union's nuclear forces stationed on its territory, positioning it as the holder of the world's third largest nuclear arsenal with 1900 nuclear warheads along with ICBMs, SLBMs (submarine launched), up to 4000 tactical nuclear weapons, and 44 strategic bombers. However, operational control, targeting data and launch codes remained centralized in Moscow. Similarly, the US's nuclear arsenal is strewn all over America's mainland in ICBM silos. Does this mean that every state in fly over country such as Oklahoma, Kentucky, Utah, Mississippi, or Arkansas is a nuclear power bigger than India, Pakistan or Israel?
ElwoodBlues · M
@sree251 Your post confirms it: Ukraine had the "third largest nuclear arsenal with 1900 nuclear warheads along with ICBMs, SLBMs (submarine launched), up to 4000 tactical nuclear weapons, and 44 strategic bombers."
You don't think a few smart engineers could figure out another way to trigger some of those bombs? Particularly those 4000 "tactical" nukes fired from an artillery piece?? You have absolute faith in Soviet era safeguards??? Seriously????
You don't think a few smart engineers could figure out another way to trigger some of those bombs? Particularly those 4000 "tactical" nukes fired from an artillery piece?? You have absolute faith in Soviet era safeguards??? Seriously????
sree251 · 41-45, M
@ElwoodBlues
A few smart engineers? I definitely don't think a few smart engineers can figure out a way to trigger nuclear bombs in the US arsenal or even that in India or Pakistan. It's not a matter of safeguards. It just cannot be done the way you blow up a propane tank in your backyard.
You don't think a few smart engineers could figure out another way to trigger some of those bombs? Particularly those 4000 "tactical" nukes fired from an artillery piece?? You have absolute faith in Soviet era safeguards??? Seriously????
A few smart engineers? I definitely don't think a few smart engineers can figure out a way to trigger nuclear bombs in the US arsenal or even that in India or Pakistan. It's not a matter of safeguards. It just cannot be done the way you blow up a propane tank in your backyard.
ElwoodBlues · M
@sree251 H-bombs are tricky; A-bombs are not. I majored in physics, and when we studied the equation for mean free paths we learned, qualitatively, how an A-bomb is built. The movie Oppenheimer even covered it qualitatively. Here is the basic design: a radioactive core (U235 or Pu239) surrounded by a high explosive shell.
A reduced version of this (4000 copies) is what the Soviets left behind in Ukraine. In 3D, the thing looks a bit like a soccer ball. The 32 detonators are distributed one per soccer ball facet. All of that, fully assembled, is what the smart engineer starts with.
The job of the smart engineer is simply to get an electrical pulse to each detonator at the same time. Equal length wiring is already built into the detonation wiring harness. It needs a battery power supply capable of delivering the right detonation pulse; that will probably be stored separately. It also needs a trigger device to decide at what altitude or time to send the pulse.
The only job of the smart engineer is to get a strong enough electrical pulse to the detonation wiring harness at the right time. Most people with an electrical engineering degree can manage that.
A reduced version of this (4000 copies) is what the Soviets left behind in Ukraine. In 3D, the thing looks a bit like a soccer ball. The 32 detonators are distributed one per soccer ball facet. All of that, fully assembled, is what the smart engineer starts with.
The job of the smart engineer is simply to get an electrical pulse to each detonator at the same time. Equal length wiring is already built into the detonation wiring harness. It needs a battery power supply capable of delivering the right detonation pulse; that will probably be stored separately. It also needs a trigger device to decide at what altitude or time to send the pulse.
The only job of the smart engineer is to get a strong enough electrical pulse to the detonation wiring harness at the right time. Most people with an electrical engineering degree can manage that.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@ElwoodBlues Whether the US could lay on its hands on the "frozen" money I do not know, but the motives and aims seem clear:
For Russia: money and imperialism...
For America: money and isolationism.
For Europe, which is not a single nation but nearly thirty separate ones: nothing.
For China: trying to be the World's Top Economy: hard to say. It might try to muscle in on such a "deal" for its own benefit.
For all other nations; nothing.
For Russia: money and imperialism...
For America: money and isolationism.
For Europe, which is not a single nation but nearly thirty separate ones: nothing.
For China: trying to be the World's Top Economy: hard to say. It might try to muscle in on such a "deal" for its own benefit.
For all other nations; nothing.