How Can The World Stand By While Trump Sucks Up To Putin?

[Nolieinforme]

OK, so this probably isn't an AIBU, but I'm speechless that Trump is behaving like a bully and seems to be getting away with it.

He just lies. "Zelensky is a dictator" "Ukraine started the war" "Putin has done nothing wrong" etc, etc. I can hardly believe what's been said on the news today.

Why are the rest of the world letting this happen? If America want's to align themselves with Russia, then we should be returning the Chagos Islands without the huge sum of money promised, closing all the US airbases in the UK, closing the US embassy, and expelling their diplomats, etc, etc.

Trump is a madman and what is going to happen if no-one stands up to him? If this was anyone else they just wouldn't get away with it.

"Although I do notice that when a poll giving a ringing endorsement to Zelensky is positive, this remark very rarely crops up.
I do so wonder why."

You brought it up! Nice to see that you think it is a ringing endorsement.

Oh dear. You really think Trump is great. When he is a dictator sympathiser. A rapist, misogynistic and narcissist. Unless you are fabulously wealthy you do know that Reform will screw you over. A bit like brexit which is being trashing our economy, (unless of course you happened to be very wealthy) we will end up much worse off. Hope you can afford to pay for your own private health care to a decent level and not rely on any public services as these will no longer be properly funded and sold off to Farage's mates.

maybe Zelenskyy is less popular, wouldn't war that be surprising. War is tiring and not exactly joyful.

He cancelled elections during WW2. because we were at war. Exactly the same as Ukraine

Read this from BBC Verify

Zelensky's first five-year term of office was due to come to an end in May 2024. However, Ukraine has been under martial law since the Russian invasion in February 2022, which means elections are suspended.

Ukraine's martial laws were drafted in 2015 - shortly after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and years before Zelensky and his Servant of the People party came to power.

This is a thread about how hard power is the only kind of power that matters, when it comes down to it, and how the West is slowly remembering that.

The military underpins that.

Ours is not currently sufficient to defend us because it has been systematically underfunded because we have designed it to support a world where we only send a few troops to help out primarily US-led foreign wars every now and then. That world is potentially going away. It's entirely reasonable to discuss what we've been spending our money on instead of investing in defence, and whether we need to realise that some of those things are luxuries and we now need to cut our cloth.

Elections were suspended in the UK during WWII.

Were we a dictatorship?

Where did you get that idea from?

state pensions have always dominated benefit claims and spend

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025

Bit like the UK cancelled elections in 1940 then? When Churchill was our Prime Minister

Britain did the same during the war. I doubt the infrastructure is in place in the Ukraine currently for a national election. Trump is talking shit-nothing new there. Absolutely terrifying what he’s up to. I just wish we could fast forward 4 years and pray god he doesn’t manage to change the law to enable a 3rd term.

In the UK, we are not about to challenge Putin (who really is a dictator, try running a democratic election there!) because a) we need his gas and b) Russia is a nuclear power and we don’t want to mess with that.

Edit: crossposted with @CallMeDaphne

Apologies for misleading, 55% is spent on pensions and 45% on non-pensions benefits. But I wouldn’t call 55 ‘dominating’ versus 45.

Not true - Zelensky was elected for a five-year term in March 2019. He declared martial law on the day of Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. The Ukrainian parliament has voted almost unanimously in favour of extending martial law.

But I wouldn’t call 55 ‘dominating’ versus 45.

No you would call it less than 😆😆

I'm sure I saw an interview with Zelensky where he said he probably wouldn't run for another term.

The man hasn't had a full nights sleep for 3 years.

Shame on all you that call him a dictator for staying and refusing to roll over for that kremlin psychopath

63% is on pensions.

13m pension claimants vs 150k job seekers/ income support.

it wasn’t misleading it was wrong, and even through it was obviously wrong you didn’t even question it before stating it as fact on an internet forum

To be honest, it doesn't really matter if you think Zelensky is a dictator or not, or whether you think Putin is a bully or not, or what you think of each party's historical claim to the land, or each party's respect for the norms of the international rules based order...

In 2024 to 2025 the government is forecast to spend £303.3 billion on the social security system in Great Britain. Total GBwelfare spending is forecast to be 10.8% of GDP and 23.8% of the total amount the government spends in 2024 to 2025. Around 55% of social security expenditure goes to pensioners; in 2024-25 we will spend £165.9 billion on benefits for pensioners in GB. This includes spending on the State Pension which is forecast to be £137.5 billion in 2024 to 2025. In 2024 to 2025 we will spend £137.4 billion on working age and children welfare. This includes spending on Universal Credit and its predecessors, and non-DWP welfare spending. In 2024 to 2025 we will spend £90.4 billion on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions, and £35.1 billion on housing benefits.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-information-and-guidance/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-information-and-guidance

I'd really love half dozen examples of countries that have held free and fair democratic elections whilst fighting off an invasion.
Lets have a look at who has managed to do that.

How did they hold national debates?
Or how did they protect voting booths?
Did they include votes from those nationals outside of the country?

One marvellous way to encourage a vote would be to withdraw foreign troops and free up the administration to arrange an election and allow political parties the space to campaign.

He also didn't call an election for 10 years. 1935-1945

You can also see from the same DWP link that the increase in claims from 2023-2024 is net 185k increase in all non pension claims (0.8%) and 56k in pension claims (0.4%) so where is the staggering increase you’re referring to?

You didn’t know that- you googled. What is the context for what you’ve linked to and how does it demonstrate the staggering increase in non pension benefits we’ve seen?

you can’t just post a wall of text and expect me to decipher what it says in relation to your point

We don’t though that’s the problem. We have a majority of net takers. Not enough people pay enough tax

But that doesn't mean we have more sick and disabled than anywhere else in the western world.

Sadly Trump has a God complex which is a direct result of him, in his own words, being saved by God in an assassination attempt.

The realty is very different, a nutter took a pot shot at him and because he had a shit aim Trump received a grazed ear and milked it for all it's worth to him.

He isn't putting America first he's putting Trump first.

I'm an 80s child. In simple terms, every film and TV programme I watched had the Russians as the bad guys and the USA as the heroes. He-man vs Skeletor. I thought Americans hated socialism because it's cousins with communism. And they hate communism because Russia .

This is like finding out that your mum and Mrs Jones down the road have started drinking tea and eating biscuits together, after a lifetime of slagging each other off.

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/health-related-benefit-claims-post-pandemic-uk-trends-and-global-context

Read the key findings.

I won’t be posting anymore about this as it’s not really relevant to the heart of the thread. But I think you’re acting faux naive on purpose.

He’s putting America first based on what they want- to not be funding a far away war that’s nothing to do with them

there is a massive arrogance in the uk and presumably Europe to assume we know what American voters want and what’s best for them.