I never thought I'd see the US aligning with Russia

To be fair most of this applies to the UK as well.

YABU. He’s doing exactly what most people expected him to do: enact Project 2025, destroy the institutions that have kept the West (mostly) safe since the end of WWII, and align himself with dictators.

Well go on then Trump, go and play games 'bigly' with your mate Vlad. It's gonna be beautiful, you're gonna do a job, a beautiful job. Let's see when you send Vance to the next Moscow conference. Better be careful his speech there stays in line. He might find himself, I don't know, suddenly dead on a park bench from a mysterious nerve agent. Perhaps in a Siberian jail, never to return. Yes he'll find out about the real meaning of free speech soon enough.

Most countries fight out of self-interest @sleepwouldbenice . We're not supporting Ukraine because we love Ukrainians, or because "its the right thing to do" regardless whether we do or it is. We're supporting them because we want them to fight the Russians in Ukraine so we don't have to fight them in Latvia or Lithuania or Estonia or Scandinavia.

@sleepwouldbenice yep interestingly everywhere he's after has certain 'assets' that would be useful. Thing is you just know the idiots who support will be going 'you go Trump' because they are all brain dead

@SandlersToe there are plenty of Americans with lots of brain cells- sadly I think less of them than those who believe any old bullshit/simplistic solutions - and it's pretty close here in the UK too - although the bonus in the UKs favour is that I think far fewer would rush to support Putin

They won't come for integrity. Just oil or minerals
America is so great...

You really have swallowed every lie you've been fed haven't you.
Won't be any tax dollars left soon don't worry
The only allies you have left are Russia and Israel. Those lovely leaders can't believe their luck

You are quite correct! Marx. Google fail on my part.

Apparently Winston Churchill did say
“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations,”!

The similar quote I was actually trying to find was 'those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it'
That wasn't by Churchill either apparently.

100% with you @VolcanoJapan DH and I have been talking about this very thing this week, but we have Elon Musk added into the mix too. All 3 together (Trump, Putin, and Musk) are very powerful, and it's terrifying because they are all a bit dense and clueless. I am genuinely worried for the future.

And I don't know why the FUCK Trump has suddenly sided with Russia. Absolute plank head!

As a few posters have said, he is re-writing history. Ukraine did NOT start the war. Russia did! Fortunately, many people know he is a whack job and know he is full of shit.

.

Everyone was warned where this was all heading years ago. Americans don't have an iota of a brain cell between them - literally supporting their own demise.

Dream Matte Mousse being chummy with Putin is a surprise? Really?! Come on.

That was in Vance's Munich speech, too. We shouldn't worry about a little bit of disinformation and let elections run their course. Just like the Jan 6 attackers did; that was practically a democratic peace march.

Same with his remarks on the Munich and Austrian attacks. These attacks were bad, no doubt, but the hypocrisy of his benevolent advice on the background of Americans shooting at each other regularly and the Police regularly shooting dead unarmed citizens because they got the wrong end of the stick.

Trump says VZ should never have started the war. WTF! What were Ukrainians supposed to do - wave cheerily to the Russian tanks as they rolled in?*

Russia Vs Ukraine was only ever going to end one way, and it could have been ended before it began and saved an awful lot of money and bloodshed

Well not exactly run to our aid tbf @LifeExperience. Come to it certainly, eventually, reluctantly- which is fair enough. But it's not only been a one way street.

As an aside, I don't think anyone who had to actually fight the American military would be quick to denigrate it.

@sleepwouldbenice I was rather amused myself at it! The audacity of someone saying Zelensky doesn't pass the sniff test but presumably a felon who paid off sex workers, is busy declaring he's looking at taking certain country's assets himself , declared false accounts and urged his own supporters to cause havoc because he didn't like an election result does pass the sniff test-

It’s terrifying!

Wasn't that quote by Karl Marx?

Lol at standards. America has put a convicted felon in charge. A felon with the attitude of a two year old.

Amazing, biggliest standards there.

We're allowed to call them what they are because there's no more woke. They will tantrum and point the finger (like Trump is currently doing) but we no longer pander to twats. It's free speech so the buttercups can suck it up.

Trump has lost the plot over the last few weeks. I knew he was unpredictable but this is something else.

We now desperately need to write our military a blank cheque and encourage our European allies to do the same. We cannot rely on the USA anymore, but we must continue to support Ukraine.

Apparently we’re not supposed to call them idiots because it will make them cry and vote for someone even more crazy and against their own interests. I think the term now is ‘low information voters’.

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." Winston Churchill

Anyone recall what happened after Appeasement of Poland?

Nice to denigrate a military that has come running to Europe's aid for a hundred years. Remind me again why I should keep shelling out tax money for your security?

To answer your question, the US military serves at the pleasure of the president, who sets the standards. Serving as an officer requires dedication, education, extensive training, good judgment and the ability to build and maintain a complex and highly skilled but very human team of people in an intense, unpredictable environment.