Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #13

[PommyMommy]

I had a productive call with the President of Finland @alexstubb. As always, full understanding and absolute support. Thank you!

After our meeting at the summit in London, we continue working with our partners on a joint plan for achieving guaranteed peace. Concrete steps, clear positions, and a shared vision are crucial foundations for ending this war.

Finland is making great efforts towards establishing a honest peace. We have aligned our plans for the near future and coordinated our priorities. Peace must become our shared success – Ukraine, the U.S., and all of Europe.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896978012916060288

Today, I spoke with the President of Finland @alexstubb, the Prime Minister of the UK @Keir_Starmer, the Prime Minister of Greece @kmitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Croatia @AndrejPlenkovic, the NATO Secretary General
@SecGenNATO, and the leader of Germany’s CDU party – @_FriedrichMerz – whose party won the recent Bundestag elections. Clear support for Ukraine. Thank you.

There are very important updates from the European Commission regarding substantial funding for Europe’s defense. For us, this primarily means additional air defense – more systems, more missiles, additional capabilities to protect our cities and villages, our positions. All of this creates a solid additional foundation for our efforts to bring the war to an end.

We will continue consultations, and new joint steps will be taken. Ukraine deserves peace. Ukrainians deserve respect.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897000790641844590

 

[Stunned]

5m ago01.53 GMT
Donald Trump, in remarks released by the White House, will pledged to take “historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths” in the US.

The president is expected to say that he is working “tirelessly” to end the “savage conflict in Ukraine”.

Trump touts renewal of rightwing policies in lengthy speech as Democrats jeer, protest and walk out – as it happened

Trump praises Elon Musk and defends trade wars; Democratic congressman Al Green was removed from chamber for early disruption to Trump’s speech

www.theguardian.com

He's looking at our National Parks! IMO

 

[PommyMommy]

US continues intelligence sharing with Ukraine despite military aid freeze, CNN reports. The U.S. continues to share intelligence with Ukraine despite President Donald Trump’s suspension of military aid, CNN reported.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896943589206417445

Ukraine strikes Russian military facility in Kursk Oblast, kills up to 30 troops, General Staff reports. The facility was reportedly used for planning attacks, including launching first-person-view (FPV) drones at Ukrainian positions.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896986719817470129

Russian fighter jet provokes French Reaper drone, French Defense Minister says.

A Russian Su-35 fighter jet engaged in a dangerous provocation against a French Reaper drone over the Mediterranean Sea, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896996596564550032

 

[PommyMommy]

If talk of conflict with the U.S. was once common on Russian television, now state-run media outlets are talking more positively about the U.S.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the U.S. policy now "largely aligns" with Russia's interests.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897034152760975855

DroneUA, a Ukrainian distributor of unmanned systems, has started supplying robots to NASA, the company announced on March 4.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897040844601041218

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told Fox News on March 4 that there are no plans to sign a mineral resources deal with Ukraine following Donald Trump’s speech to Congress.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897075015067296227

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia’s airlines face crisis as sanctions strangle aircraft maintenance. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 20, Russian aircraft experienced 11 engine failures—more than double the number from the previous 2 months, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897085475011354920

<modsnip>

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897069044898902033

 

[Betty P]

He's looking at our National Parks! IMO

He talks a big game, but he doesn't have the authority to enact most of the changes he's talking about. He's just putting on a show. He cannot unilaterally dissolve departments, etc. that were established by Congress.

 

[Stunned]

on Bluesky there is an official "Resistance team" of the US National Park Service. They are posting great stuff there. They have been on it for a while and they are awesome! Give them a follow!
Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social)

I follow them elsewhere, have for years! Wonderful group!
Edited to add I guess I can say FB, just can't quote from it?

 

[Stella123]

43m ago00.58 GMT
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said a rare earths minerals deal with Ukraine was not on the table, despite reports that Donald Trump is preparing to announce the signing of the deal tonight.

Asked if the deal was still on the table, Bessent told CBS “not at present”.

Meanwhile, the UK’s ministry of defense said defense minister John Healey will meet his US counterpart, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, in Washington on Thursday to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine.

Trump touts renewal of rightwing policies in lengthy speech as Democrats jeer, protest and walk out – as it happened

Trump praises Elon Musk and defends trade wars; Democratic congressman Al Green was removed from chamber for early disruption to Trump’s speech

www.theguardian.com

Trump blames Biden for 'out of control' egg prices ​

 

[keek]

on Bluesky there is an official "Resistance team" of the US National Park Service. They are posting great stuff there. They have been on it for a while and they are awesome! Give them a follow!
Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky

 

[Donswife48]

He talks a big game, but he doesn't have the authority to enact most of the changes he's talking about. He's just putting on a show. He cannot unilaterally dissolve departments, etc. that were established by Congress.

<modsnip>How do you think war can be ended, so the people of Ukraine can begin to rebuild and live their lives again? JMO MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

The Trump administration is against pressuring Russia

Journalist: "So far it looks like a lot of pressure on Ukraine, but not much pressure on Russia. Do you expect to do maybe, more sanctions on Russia, or any other steps, to pressure both sides if you want to have them at the a negotiation table?"

Vice president JD Vance: "I don't think that's right, actually. I mean, we still have a number of sanctions that are placed on the Russians. We do believe that the Russians, economically are struggling because of this conflict".

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896970460354474459

Friedrich Merz, the projected next German chancellor, plans to allocate an additional €3 billion in aid to Ukraine, which had been frozen by Scholz — Le Monde

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897025002568036839

“The US is talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin — a lying murderous dictator. Make that makes sense,” — Canadian PM Trudeau

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897049496498090346

 

[Stella123]

5m ago01.53 GMT
Donald Trump, in remarks released by the White House, will pledged to take “historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths” in the US.

The president is expected to say that he is working “tirelessly” to end the “savage conflict in Ukraine”.

Trump touts renewal of rightwing policies in lengthy speech as Democrats jeer, protest and walk out – as it happened

Trump praises Elon Musk and defends trade wars; Democratic congressman Al Green was removed from chamber for early disruption to Trump’s speech

www.theguardian.com

I'm quite concerned about this teasing vagueness about minerals. It has been reported that a deal with Ukraine over mineral rights is not on the table, as was expected tonight. The report above says "dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths".

Putin has offered the US mineral rights in Russia. Is there some secret up the sleeve here? Is Trump going to announce he's done a mineral rights deal with Putin?! Not Ukraine? Is he still that mad? MOO

 

[Snoopster]

<modsnip> How do you think war can be ended, so the people of Ukraine can begin to rebuild and live their lives again? JMO MOO

I think we all want that. I think more pressure must be put on Russia for their invasion.
Instead, Trump regime is now cutting slack for Russia. If you let the abuser (Russia) win, they will continue to abuse. We MUST hold Russia responsible for an unacceptable invasion of a sovereign nation.

 

[Stella123]

It's been reported in the majority of the media that a US/Ukraine minerals deal was going to be signed today/4th March. Yet this has now been said to be not on the table yet. (see previous links).

Why? If it was so certain today why didn't it happen. Why is trump being vague and evasive.

I think there must be a lot of thrashing out of details of the agreement in the background and it's still stuck. Trump kind of has leverage now - he's paused aid to Ukraine to force the deal. JMO MOO

 

[keek]

Trump blames Biden for 'out of control' egg prices ​

Trump blames Biden for 'out of control' egg prices ​

That was going to be thrown in at some point. I have a feeling some may have tried to convince him to leave it out as of course, no connection at all.

 

[Donswife48]

I think we all want that. I think more pressure must be put on Russia for their invasion.
Instead, Trump regime is now cutting slack for Russia. If you let the abuser (Russia) win, they will continue to abuse. We MUST hold Russia responsible for an unacceptable invasion of a sovereign nation.

I agree that we want peace, but Russia is heavily sanctioned by the USA. I don’t think we have any more leverage. Germany needs to stop buying oil from Russia, that would help. Russia is forging new relationships with North Korea. But I don’t see Russia conceding anything now after reading what has transpired between Ukraine and them. It appeared that after others have tried for 2 years, neither side is going to give up anything. I guess all the European nations, UK, Denmark can all mount an invasion of Russia, but it will effectively be called WW3, if that happens, and Russia has no chance to win, I see Putin’s last act will be to release Nuclear weapons.

 

[Snoopster]

I agree that we want peace, but Russia is heavily sanctioned by the USA. I don’t think we have any more leverage. Germany needs to stop buying oil from Russia, that would help. Russia is forging new relationships with North Korea. But I don’t see Russia conceding anything now after reading what has transpired between Ukraine and them. It appeared that after others have tried for 2 years, neither side is going to give up anything. I guess all the European nations, UK, Denmark can all mount an invasion of Russia, but it will effectively be called WW3, if that happens, and Russia has no chance to win, I see Putin’s last act will be to release Nuclear weapons.

I disagree that Russia is being heavily sanctioned by the USA. Here's what Trump admin has been doing:
Trump is:
• Lifting Russian sanctions
• Cutting aide to Ukraine
• Eliminating Russian Cyber Command
• Firing/exposing top FBI/CIA intelligence/counterintelligence pros
• Allowing Russian embassy, consulates to reopen

So, the problem in my eyes is that USA is opening the doors to Russia, at the expense of Ukraine and the rest of the free world.

 

[keek]

I disagree that Russia is being heavily sanctioned by the USA. Here's what Trump admin has been doing:
Trump is:
• Lifting Russian sanctions
• Cutting aide to Ukraine
• Eliminating Russian Cyber Command
• Firing/exposing top FBI/CIA intelligence/counterintelligence pros
• Allowing Russian embassy, consulates to reopen

So, the problem in my eyes is that USA is opening the doors to Russia, at the expense of Ukraine and the rest of the free world.

This week, so sure more sanctions that were put in place will be removed quickly and so very dangerously for us.

 

[SouthAussie]

Trump can then turn Ukraine into a lavish resort…

I heard on our Aussie radio news today that people around the world aren't going to let that kind of thing happen everywhere that Trump would like to do that.

Arab leaders endorse $53bn plan to rebuild Gaza as alternative to Trump idea

 

[HmmMysterious]

<modsnip> How do you think war can be ended, so the people of Ukraine can begin to rebuild and live their lives again? JMO MOO

Putin's surrender