To think that Trump is not going to honor any agreement about Ukraine

It's true. Even if the rumored "pee tape" were real, and Russia released it, all it would cause is an increased uptake in water sports by Republican voters.

-If- it is real, Trump probably feared it's release at one time. He doesn't need to anymore.

I think earlier on Putin may have had something on him. Now I think they are a double act and merrily preparing to raid the world for fossil fuels together.

What could Putin possibly have on Trump that would make any difference though? This is a man who has been found by a court in the US to have raped someone. We all watched Jan 6th unfold. He's boasted about grabbing women 'by the pussy'. He refused to release his tax return. Has described himself as 'smart' for not paying taxes.

We saw it all.
It made no difference.

As they are not honouring the current agreement, no, the US can no longer be trusted or seen as credible. The same is of course also the case with Russia, but then that's not a new development.

It is clear that Trump is nothing but a puppet. Based on Trump's record of womanising and amoral behaviour, I bet the FSB has got some 'interesting' material which is being leveraged in Putin's favour.

i think he is afraid of putin too many murders and trump is a coward/ money (he gets 400,000 per yr) still has to pay for suits from women and he really is deep indebt

@Dotjones "Trump will be gone in a few years"

Will he? Will he, though? 🤔

Great idea. Who should it be? Do we know that Baron is heterosexual? Charlotte is too young. Louise has a boyfriend. Perhaps BT could wait for Lilibet then he would have Meghan Markle as his mother-in-law. That would delight The Donald.

To me it seems Russia is doing US dirty work for them. Estonia or anywhere else US fancies near Russie will be next.

Very good. There's a really good guy on IG who talks about dumplings and his voice is a great impression. Makes be laugh

I think the bigger danger is that Putin won't honour any agreement with Ukraine. Trump will be gone in a few years, Putin will be in his position until he dies. As he gets closer to death the more risks he will be prepared to take to ensure his name is forever remembered - and more importantly, the older he gets the less his life matters to him, so a nuclear annihilation of the planet won't be much of a concern to him. He's often said that if there is no Russia, there need be no world. I think he sees himself as Russia. Without him there's no Russia, therefore without him there need not be a world.

Badenoch would be joining them.

I think the Royal Family are going to have to bite the bullet and marry off one of the girls to Baron Trump… That’s what they would have done in the past.

We have big problems in the UK. Our security and military services are tied to the US, it goes deep.

I expect that was why Starmer got on that plane. Because he needs to know if the UK is speaking to the US or Putin I reality.

It is a high stakes moment and not really about Ukraine.

Sidestepping Putin's excuse for the invasion, what happens to Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe whilst Trump is king?

Sure Zelensky can sign over 20% of his land and his natural resources, then what happens when Trump gets behind Putin and his mad imperialist fantasies?

Ah yes. You're right. But who can better Musk's 'The UK government has enabled the rape of the whole country'? (I paraphrase)

DH is convinced The Donald is going to change the constitution so that he can be World King for the rest of his life. There is of course a precedent: Putin.

Gorbachev was promised that NATO would not expand to the Russian border. NATO says 'oh yeah but that agreement was with the Soviet union, thats gone now'. Technically true but bad faith nonetheless. They're all liars probably including Zelensky. But if I was him I'd promise Trump the sun moon and stars. Then renege when he's out of office. It's what DT would do.

This is the reaction I expect from Starmer's visit to Trump: a warm reception, especially to the rumoured invite to Balmoral; defence budget of 2.5% of GDP by 2027 is not enough; USA will not provide a backstop to keep the peace in Ukraine; a wild card that not even experienced commentators have thought of; a random phonecall in the middle of the meeting- 'I'm here with Prime Minister Starmer. He's a nice guy. We're having a beautiful discussion. Britain is a beautiful country. Nice people. Nice people. I've been there a lot.'

Easier said than done. It has taken around 80 years to develop the current NATO security architecture. Forces are interdependent eg The UK aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth is reliant on US destroyer escorts and US fighter plane capacity. Our “independent” nuclear deterrent contains US components which we cannot make ourselves. Deploying troops to front lines depends on infrastructure supplied by other NATO nations.

Changing this would require a massive injection of finance. And it would take years for non US NATO nations to develop the manufacturing capacity and skill sets needed to build things.

And nobody is clear whether we are aiming to pay mpre to keep the US in NATO. Or whether we want to develop an independent capacity. Answering that question will also take years.

I don't get why we're trusting this either

Why can't Europe provide its own security guarantee rather than rely on Trump. He might say yes and be no

Funnily enough I used that exact same expression myself the other day. I know it is extremely un PC these days but it does describe Trump to a tee.

I find the whole thing horrendous, worrying and distasteful. Trump has a bloody nerve. The only tiny glimmer of positive I can see is if the US invest heavily in Ukraine to extract minerals there is a level of security in that they won't want their mines/extraction plants taken over by Russia? But then they have been exploited by the US instead. It's all very depressing.