It doesn't matter. Facts are of interest to sociopaths such as Trump, solely to the extent that they can be weaponized. If the facts aren't convenient, bullshit is the next best thing.
sqkm is the wrong metric for success. Ask Napoleon or Hitler. Hitler lost at Stalingrad. Napoleon got to Moscow afterwhich it was disaster all the way back to Paris.
The correct metric is how much of your enemy has been destroyed.
Ukraine has put 2.5 to 3m men into this war, of which half are dead and maybe 300k remain under orders. Russia has lost about 150k out of maybe 1m participating men (but rotated so fewer active at any one time).
sq km is only a metric to obscure the realities of war.
They took back control over some territory covered by a deep Russian incursion NE of Pokrovsk. Not sure if it adds up to 160 sq km and most of it was just some Russian diversion and sabotage group showing up far behind the frontline without establishing permanent control.
Trump is weak, stupid and easily manipulated. Doesn't matter, if the manipulation works.
Anyway, the goal is not so much American money and arms, but the American armed forces. This was ever always only the real plan, and Trump is walking right into the trap, aided, of course, by Russian dithering and indecision.
Yes, because Europe’s economies are circling the drain due to Liberal policies and unlimited immigration of mostly military-age Muslim men.
Senior military leaders from NATO member states have publicly assessed that the alliance would prevail in a conventional war against Russia relatively quickly due to overwhelming advantages in personnel (over 3.4 million active troops vs. Russia’s 1.3 million), aircraft (22,000+ vs. 4,000), ships (1,100+ vs. 400), defense spending (3.5 times Russia’s), and GDP (20 times larger).
But note the phrase “in a conventional war.” This push for war with Russia leaves out TWO critical factors:
(1) China will support Russia because it knows it will be next; and
(2) It will turn nuclear, and Europe, with all its conventional power, can be turned to dust in minutes, not days.
Trump, with his “King of the World” delusion, will preside over the breakup of the EU, and possibly the destruction of several European capitals.
Nato is convinced that the important people will survive a nuclear war and besides, Russia doesn’t have the stones. Moreover, the strategy always was for the Americans to fight. Europeans can't fight schoolgirls.
Anyway, look at yields on Bunds. Europe is hardly circling the drain.
Europe has been committing economic suicide. Between the COVID-19 Lockdowns, the NET-ZERO Climate Change, and then the sanctions on Russia that doubled their fuel costs, you could not ask for a more braindead group of politicians who have ZERO comprehension of even how the economy functions and who see their domain as maintaining power at all costs. Europe refused to consolidate its debts, and all it did was move the volatility from the currency markets to the bond markets. They have the worst economic growth thanks to these policies blended with Marxism, making them the most oppressed economy period. Everyone sees their obstinant economic agendas and their insane warmongering, and there has been a mass exodus of European investment. They are indeed circling the drain.
Again, european bond prices do not reflect this. Sorry, it's not borne out by the numbers.
Anyway, if I thought I knew more than the market on german government debt (which is highly liquid and very sophisticated), I would buy long dated deep out of the money put options on bunds. LMK how that works out.
Qaddafi gave a hero’s welcome to the Lockerbie Bomber in 2009…that’s when he signed his death warrant. I didn’t take you as weak on terrorism. And Bush giving Qaddafi a pardon was just a desperation move in the first place because he so screwed up the GWOT.
Nope, from America’s perspective this operation had two objectives—take Russia’s EU natural gas market share…and degrade Russia’s military so we can pivot to China. We are energy dominant and have been since 2023 so we have achieved our first objective and we are by far the biggest energy producer on the planet. Russia is very clearly a paper bear with a degraded military and so now we can see a future in which we are pivoting towards China. Btw, I was calling Russia a paper tiger months ago and now Trump is calling them that because that is the reality!
Btw, Trump is squandering a lot of Biden’s achievements just out of spite because we should be delaying LNG export capacity because low natural gas prices are more important than energy dominance right now. So Trump going full steam ahead with LNG exports is exacerbating inflation along with tariffs. Both policies were literally the exact wrong thing to do in January 2025 when inflation was more or less defeated.
I wouldn’t be so inclined to believe Trump is being manipulated by Zelensky. Trump knows who is but is pissed at Putin whom he believed he had a good relationship with and has taken a lot of flak in the US for saying so. Trump really wishes for this to end but if NATO is going to pay full price for US arms so they can just hand them to Ukraine it’s a win win. He is a business man and this is nothing but a good business deal for the U.S. Everyone has seen Trump change his mind in a second. He will always do what’s in the best interest of the US. Money talks and bullshit walks.
Putin made America energy dominant!! That was perhaps the most important and achievable America First goal. All of the BS Republicans spouted about Ukraine was just a way to attack Biden and manipulate their gullible voters. Big Oil owns the GOP and they were never going to reverse course on Ukraine because this war has greatly benefited Big Oil.
I think Mr. Trump issued this statement to worry the Russians - and maybe get them to move more decisively to end this thing because it's clear the Ukrainians will not settle as long as the Europeans continue to support them both politically and financially.
Remember this isn't Russia vs NATO, it's Russia vs the people who control some NATO nations -but no longer control American policy. The ending, when it comes, will be swift - either Russian paratroops in Kiev or Zelenskyy in front of a firing squad staffed by his own officers.
Often in history, the worst and biggest wars are not launched by the will of one or both belligerent, but they are sparked by a bad evaluation which degenerates in a chain of events that become incontrôlable.
I don’t know if you read Simplicius or not but his opinion about it Trump post is that it was a complete troll of Zelensky/Europe. I also heard that Trump replaced Biden's picture on the wall of Presidents with a picture of the autopen in another example of trolling. Not sure what to believe but I certainly hope Simplicius is correct.
Trump’s latest Truth Social post makes it clear that he’s washing his hands of Ukraine and positioning himself so he can’t be blamed if things collapse. By explicitly placing the responsibility on Europe, he’s signaling a strategic shift in that NATO allies must carry the financial and military burden, while Washington steps back. Notice what’s missing - no mention whatsoever of US direct involvement or support, unlike under the Biden Administration, where America was front and center.
This approach allows Trump to hedge. If Ukraine falters, he can say Europe failed. If Europe escalates, he can keep America insulated from the fallout. It also reflects a deeper reality - US resources are overstretched, and the Pentagon has made clear that inventories are dangerously low. By offloading responsibility, Trump is forcing Europe to face the consequences of its own maximalist rhetoric and energy crisis–hobbled economies. In the long run, this exposes the limits of NATO’s unity and tests whether Europe has the will or capability to act independently without US leadership.
The war in Ukraine will not be won by "deals" It will be won by blood and determination. Zelensky's resources in the latter 2 categories are diminishing day by day.
While I hold Trump in the same regard as F.F., isnt it more likely that - as Mercouris argues - Trump is actually saying, "If you're winning, just proceed. We'll sell you guys all the arms you need"? Mercouris thinks that Zelensky and Kellogg are telling Trump that Ukraine is winning, so Trump is just telling them to party on. This must be right, because anyone fairly looking at the battlefield situation must acknowledge Ukr is being destroyed.
And he's saying right when Donetsk is on the brink... so it'll be interesting when someone is forced to confess the truth.
The other thing that must be stated is that ideology "liberal/globalist v. "conservative/nationalist") really plays no role in any of this.
Regardless of faction, the rulers of the West cares only for power. Ideology is simply a tool to get power, a tool that is picked up and dropped whenever convenient.
They buy medias and their mediatic minions to sell there agenda. They choose politics minions to take the apparent power to enforce their agenda.
Ideology is the way to convince people that what happens to it is normal for not to have to use to much coercion OR to convince a enough strong part of the people to make coercion against the other.
So the question is still the same: what is their agenda in a WW3?
With the current weapon, deadly accurate, there is no more front. Every body is on the line of contact.
One thing that puzzles me is the notion that American proxies are capable of usurping the chain of command. Dependents are not normally in a position to devise their own plans, much less take control by “manipulating” their master. While I do believe that Trump is being ensnared, I find his uncritical acceptance of Ukraine’s narrative incomprehensible, given his previous criticisms of Zelensky. Yet as soon as Ukraine complained of Russian violations, Trump just assumed that Ukrainian (or European) provocations had nothing to do with them. If Trump truly wanted a deal, then he should have done an investigation, rather than blindly side with Ukraine and Co. Moreover, after admitting that the Russians sought a deal, Trump somehow imagined that they would wreck it for the most obscure reasons. So Trump is either irrational or has concealed his actual motives up until now.
Did Ukraine really take back 160 sq km? In which sector did this happen if at all?
It doesn't matter. Facts are of interest to sociopaths such as Trump, solely to the extent that they can be weaponized. If the facts aren't convenient, bullshit is the next best thing.
Now I know how Palpatine felt when he brought Anakin to the Dark Side!! YES!!!!
Nope, they did not take back an inch. Fact checked this and it's completely bogus, except to Zelensky.
Anekdoten am laufenden Band aus der Ukraine....
sqkm is the wrong metric for success. Ask Napoleon or Hitler. Hitler lost at Stalingrad. Napoleon got to Moscow afterwhich it was disaster all the way back to Paris.
The correct metric is how much of your enemy has been destroyed.
Ukraine has put 2.5 to 3m men into this war, of which half are dead and maybe 300k remain under orders. Russia has lost about 150k out of maybe 1m participating men (but rotated so fewer active at any one time).
sq km is only a metric to obscure the realities of war.
They took back control over some territory covered by a deep Russian incursion NE of Pokrovsk. Not sure if it adds up to 160 sq km and most of it was just some Russian diversion and sabotage group showing up far behind the frontline without establishing permanent control.
Yes, the famous "Bunny Ears" incursion.
Der Berufskomiker Selenskyj manipuliert Trump in eine Katastrophe, alles wegen seiner
(Selenskyjs) Gier nach Geld und Macht, nicht aus irgendeinem legitimen Grund.
For people not familiar with the metric system, that is ~64 square miles, about the size of a US township.
Good question, which I was surprised about too. Surely this is not a net gain? Anyone?
Trump is weak, stupid and easily manipulated. Doesn't matter, if the manipulation works.
Anyway, the goal is not so much American money and arms, but the American armed forces. This was ever always only the real plan, and Trump is walking right into the trap, aided, of course, by Russian dithering and indecision.
Can you explain more please. What is the purpose? A WW3?
The purpose is to get the Americans to fight europe's war for them. Again.
The elites are betting that nuclear war will be survivable for them, and besides, Russia doesn’t have the stones.
Yes, because Europe’s economies are circling the drain due to Liberal policies and unlimited immigration of mostly military-age Muslim men.
Senior military leaders from NATO member states have publicly assessed that the alliance would prevail in a conventional war against Russia relatively quickly due to overwhelming advantages in personnel (over 3.4 million active troops vs. Russia’s 1.3 million), aircraft (22,000+ vs. 4,000), ships (1,100+ vs. 400), defense spending (3.5 times Russia’s), and GDP (20 times larger).
But note the phrase “in a conventional war.” This push for war with Russia leaves out TWO critical factors:
(1) China will support Russia because it knows it will be next; and
(2) It will turn nuclear, and Europe, with all its conventional power, can be turned to dust in minutes, not days.
Trump, with his “King of the World” delusion, will preside over the breakup of the EU, and possibly the destruction of several European capitals.
Nato is convinced that the important people will survive a nuclear war and besides, Russia doesn’t have the stones. Moreover, the strategy always was for the Americans to fight. Europeans can't fight schoolgirls.
Anyway, look at yields on Bunds. Europe is hardly circling the drain.
Europe has been committing economic suicide. Between the COVID-19 Lockdowns, the NET-ZERO Climate Change, and then the sanctions on Russia that doubled their fuel costs, you could not ask for a more braindead group of politicians who have ZERO comprehension of even how the economy functions and who see their domain as maintaining power at all costs. Europe refused to consolidate its debts, and all it did was move the volatility from the currency markets to the bond markets. They have the worst economic growth thanks to these policies blended with Marxism, making them the most oppressed economy period. Everyone sees their obstinant economic agendas and their insane warmongering, and there has been a mass exodus of European investment. They are indeed circling the drain.
Source: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/why-europe-wants-war/
Again, european bond prices do not reflect this. Sorry, it's not borne out by the numbers.
Anyway, if I thought I knew more than the market on german government debt (which is highly liquid and very sophisticated), I would buy long dated deep out of the money put options on bunds. LMK how that works out.
But Europe is not threaten.
Who says they need to be? Neither Serbia nor Libya were any threat to europe.
Qaddafi gave a hero’s welcome to the Lockerbie Bomber in 2009…that’s when he signed his death warrant. I didn’t take you as weak on terrorism. And Bush giving Qaddafi a pardon was just a desperation move in the first place because he so screwed up the GWOT.
Nope, from America’s perspective this operation had two objectives—take Russia’s EU natural gas market share…and degrade Russia’s military so we can pivot to China. We are energy dominant and have been since 2023 so we have achieved our first objective and we are by far the biggest energy producer on the planet. Russia is very clearly a paper bear with a degraded military and so now we can see a future in which we are pivoting towards China. Btw, I was calling Russia a paper tiger months ago and now Trump is calling them that because that is the reality!
Btw, Trump is squandering a lot of Biden’s achievements just out of spite because we should be delaying LNG export capacity because low natural gas prices are more important than energy dominance right now. So Trump going full steam ahead with LNG exports is exacerbating inflation along with tariffs. Both policies were literally the exact wrong thing to do in January 2025 when inflation was more or less defeated.
I wouldn’t be so inclined to believe Trump is being manipulated by Zelensky. Trump knows who is but is pissed at Putin whom he believed he had a good relationship with and has taken a lot of flak in the US for saying so. Trump really wishes for this to end but if NATO is going to pay full price for US arms so they can just hand them to Ukraine it’s a win win. He is a business man and this is nothing but a good business deal for the U.S. Everyone has seen Trump change his mind in a second. He will always do what’s in the best interest of the US. Money talks and bullshit walks.
Putin made America energy dominant!! That was perhaps the most important and achievable America First goal. All of the BS Republicans spouted about Ukraine was just a way to attack Biden and manipulate their gullible voters. Big Oil owns the GOP and they were never going to reverse course on Ukraine because this war has greatly benefited Big Oil.
And what happens when NATO stops paying full price for U.S. arms?
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-wont-be-able-keep-its-promise-buy-vast-amounts-us-weapons
Maybe, but I doubt it.
I think Mr. Trump issued this statement to worry the Russians - and maybe get them to move more decisively to end this thing because it's clear the Ukrainians will not settle as long as the Europeans continue to support them both politically and financially.
Remember this isn't Russia vs NATO, it's Russia vs the people who control some NATO nations -but no longer control American policy. The ending, when it comes, will be swift - either Russian paratroops in Kiev or Zelenskyy in front of a firing squad staffed by his own officers.
Hope you are correct.
Keep the excuses coming. If Trump tries to back away, his own words will be used to cudgel him.
Trump is retreating while making a lot of noise to cover his retreat. Seems that he is fooling you.
Often in history, the worst and biggest wars are not launched by the will of one or both belligerent, but they are sparked by a bad evaluation which degenerates in a chain of events that become incontrôlable.
This it it?
I don’t know if you read Simplicius or not but his opinion about it Trump post is that it was a complete troll of Zelensky/Europe. I also heard that Trump replaced Biden's picture on the wall of Presidents with a picture of the autopen in another example of trolling. Not sure what to believe but I certainly hope Simplicius is correct.
Trump’s latest Truth Social post makes it clear that he’s washing his hands of Ukraine and positioning himself so he can’t be blamed if things collapse. By explicitly placing the responsibility on Europe, he’s signaling a strategic shift in that NATO allies must carry the financial and military burden, while Washington steps back. Notice what’s missing - no mention whatsoever of US direct involvement or support, unlike under the Biden Administration, where America was front and center.
This approach allows Trump to hedge. If Ukraine falters, he can say Europe failed. If Europe escalates, he can keep America insulated from the fallout. It also reflects a deeper reality - US resources are overstretched, and the Pentagon has made clear that inventories are dangerously low. By offloading responsibility, Trump is forcing Europe to face the consequences of its own maximalist rhetoric and energy crisis–hobbled economies. In the long run, this exposes the limits of NATO’s unity and tests whether Europe has the will or capability to act independently without US leadership.
The war in Ukraine will not be won by "deals" It will be won by blood and determination. Zelensky's resources in the latter 2 categories are diminishing day by day.
While I hold Trump in the same regard as F.F., isnt it more likely that - as Mercouris argues - Trump is actually saying, "If you're winning, just proceed. We'll sell you guys all the arms you need"? Mercouris thinks that Zelensky and Kellogg are telling Trump that Ukraine is winning, so Trump is just telling them to party on. This must be right, because anyone fairly looking at the battlefield situation must acknowledge Ukr is being destroyed.
And he's saying right when Donetsk is on the brink... so it'll be interesting when someone is forced to confess the truth.
He is not the same man who wrote “The Art of the Deal”. It was written by Tony Schwartz, Trump just took credit for it, as he usually does.
And it is a very sad state of affairs.
Superman Zelensky can do anything - "All because of Zelensky’s lust for money and power, not any legitimate reason."
You've outcoped your usual here.
The role of King Charles III in manipulating Trump by flattering him should also be acknowledged.
It worked.
The other thing that must be stated is that ideology "liberal/globalist v. "conservative/nationalist") really plays no role in any of this.
Regardless of faction, the rulers of the West cares only for power. Ideology is simply a tool to get power, a tool that is picked up and dropped whenever convenient.
You forget a step.
People which have real power is oligarchy .
They buy medias and their mediatic minions to sell there agenda. They choose politics minions to take the apparent power to enforce their agenda.
Ideology is the way to convince people that what happens to it is normal for not to have to use to much coercion OR to convince a enough strong part of the people to make coercion against the other.
So the question is still the same: what is their agenda in a WW3?
With the current weapon, deadly accurate, there is no more front. Every body is on the line of contact.
And no bunker is safe.
They see Russian dithering and indecision and they smell blood.
One thing that puzzles me is the notion that American proxies are capable of usurping the chain of command. Dependents are not normally in a position to devise their own plans, much less take control by “manipulating” their master. While I do believe that Trump is being ensnared, I find his uncritical acceptance of Ukraine’s narrative incomprehensible, given his previous criticisms of Zelensky. Yet as soon as Ukraine complained of Russian violations, Trump just assumed that Ukrainian (or European) provocations had nothing to do with them. If Trump truly wanted a deal, then he should have done an investigation, rather than blindly side with Ukraine and Co. Moreover, after admitting that the Russians sought a deal, Trump somehow imagined that they would wreck it for the most obscure reasons. So Trump is either irrational or has concealed his actual motives up until now.
The reality on the ground will always bring us back to reality.