Ukraine war

[stevenkesslar]

8 hours ago, Moses said:

If elections were held today, Zaluzhny would win against Zelensky

You're funny.   You are such a lying hypocrite.

This is rich coming from you.

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According to an interview with The Washington Post, in 2019, Zaluzhnyi was detained at the airport in Brussels, where he had arrived to participate in the NATO summit. The reason was that he was put on the international wanted list at the request of the Russian Federation. During his detention by Interpol, he managed to call Ukraine's ambassador to NATO, who subsequently resolved the situation.^[18][19]

Getting Zaluzhny, a popular general, is like stepping out of the frying pan into the fire for Putin.

He is pro-NATO, as that anecdote above explains.  If you are looking for another corrupt Friend Of Vlad's this guy is not who you want.  Vlad knows that, which is probably why Vlad put him on a "wanted" list.  Too bad he can't kill him, like he does all his domestic political opponents.

The main reason Ukraine can't have an election now is also thanks to Vlad.  They are in a war.

I'm sure Zelenskyy, like any politician, would prefer to win any election he is in.  But he did appoint and promote Zaluzhny.

What this makes obvious is that Vlad has also made Ukraine a very militarist society.  They have to be, because their lives and existence are on the line.  I don't know Ukraine at all.  But it might be a bit like the US in the 1950s, when we had a very popular General as President. I don't think this is good for Russia.

On a similar note, I read this today:

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At another point, Trump declared himself “in the middle,” seeming to formally break from years of American support for Ukraine. He went on to deride Zelenskyy’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.

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Zelenskyy added that Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees against another offensive.

“Everybody (is) afraid Putin will come back tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said. “We want just and lasting peace.”

“It’s so sensitive for our people,” Zelenskyy said. “And they just want to hear that America (is) on our side, that America will stay with us. Not with Russia, with us. That’s it.”

I think that is a great summary of the basic conflict, and the motivations.

I am pretty certain Zelenskyy is speaking genuinely from the heart.   Ukraine hates Putin.  Ukraine hates Russia.  The only good Russians are dead Russians.  And Ukrainians have killed a lot of them.   I don't think this is what Putin had in mind when he invaded. 

I don't think Ukraine was a CIA-designed trap for Putin.  It is obvious how Ukrainians feel without any help from the CIA.  But if you want to to believe this was a CIA trap, Putin was a fool to walk into it.

I will repeat the basic principle of Brzezinski, which played out exactly as he hoped in Afghanistan for the USSR, and then for the US.  It played out the same way for Poland, his beloved homeland, as well as the rest of the Warsaw Pact.

His point was that even when Poles more or less accepted the USSR as an inevitable reality, and didn't mind it all that actively, it was still only a matter of time.  It was easy to pick the threads of the alliance apart, with zero actual weapons.  Sending in a beloved Polish Pope really put that on steroids.

In Ukraine, you have deep and active and daily hate of Russians.  I've been in Europe a lot, and know that many Europeans know more about the US political system than Americans do.  So I'm guessing many Ukrainians know that this is a war in the US between two political parties.  And even between two factions in the Republican Party.  It will not last forever. 

But what will last forever, or at least a century, is the deep hatred for Russia Genocide Man has now created in Ukraine.

Good luck with that.  

[stevenkesslar]

I know I am in full rant mode with long posts.   But I am learning a lot of new things.  And I assume everyone who is not interested just ignores what I post.

Top Republicans say they want Ukraine deal 'back on track'

That was completely predictable.   

Again, Mike Johnson spoke for most Americans when he said we want Putin to be defeated.  But most Americans are sober, and realize for now he can't be.  Sorry we feel that way.  Couldn't happen to a nicer genocide maker.

I don't think JD Vance speaks for most Republican Senators.  I think most of them want the US to keep arming Ukraine.  They probably also want to offer Zelenskyy the security guarantees he wants.  But they know they have to blow smoke up Trump's ass constantly.

In Trump 1.0, the grown ups in the room were in the White House.  One very clear indicator that the insolent pig has the brain of a child seeking retribution is that he made sure all the people he appointed are loyal to him. 

But I think this proves that he just can't do that with Republicans in the Senate and House.  Johnson will blow smoke up Trump's ass, and then make pro-Ukraine deals.  Thune seems to not even have to bother blowing smoke up Trump's ass.  He just does what the majority of Republican Senators want.  Which is his job.  This confirms that the majority of Republican Senators want to defend Ukraine.  Despite Trump's affection for Genocide Man, his mafia crony.

 

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Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that he had a one-on-one conversation with Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, and “we are 100 [percent] getting this train back on the tracks.”

 

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“This mineral deal will be signed in short order, which will lead to a strong long-term economic partnership between the United States and Ukraine, and which will ultimately and naturally lead to security assistance,” Fitzpatrick wrote in a lengthy statement on X.

 

If I had to bet, I'd bet that statement is wishful thinking.   Trump runs the administrative branch.   And he wants it his way.  There is a silver lining on that cloud.  In theory, Trump can keep Putin defanged for four years.  Meanwhile, the EU can get organized around its own defense against Putin.  If a Democrat wins in 2028, the bipartisan consensus is back on track.  That is far from perfect.  But it is probably good enough.

 

 

I haven't read much about Zaluzhnyi until you mentioned him.  But I can see lots of advantages in him beating Zelenskyy in an election.

1.  If there is an election, it means there is at least some kind of fragile truce.

2. As you said, he is wildly popular.  Ukrainians love him.

3. He is pro-NATO and effective at killing Russians, by all accounts.  Vlad does not like him.  NATO and US hawks love him.

4. He dresses better than Zelenskyy.  Hopefully, he can tell stories about how Trump, in every war he has fought in, felled thousands of enemies with his erect penis alone.  He will tell Trump stories about how Ukrainians read books to their children about how wise and powerful Trump is.  And how handsome.  If only Trump could be King of Ukraine!

The fourth part may be the most important to Ukraine's future, sadly.  That is how stupid and narcissistic our insolent pig is.  And now we are stuck with him.

[bucknaway]