O'BRIEN: Trump believed Ukraine had no cards, that he could bully Ukrainians into giving Putin very good deal.
He didn't understand that Ukraine was developing their own capabilities and their willingness to fight.
So, Trump failed for two reasons. First, Ukrainians adapted, and that wasn't expected by him.
You can see there have been some changes in his rhetoric lately, where he has to grudgingly admit that Ukraine has actually done better.
The United States completely underestimated Ukrainian resilience.
Secondly, Trump thought Europeans would bully Ukraine along with him because they would be afraid of United States leaving NATO.
He thought he could use NATO to push Europeans to force Ukraine to take a bad deal. Europeans eventually helped Ukraine more than he thought.
They seem to understand that it's actually better for them to have Ukraine fight the war the way Ukraine wants.
Trump didn't understand what Ukraine was capable of and he misjudged what Europeans would do.
Russian Z-bloggers post footage of Ukrainian drones freely flying over Russian-occupied Crimea, attacking fuel trucks and military targets.
They predict that soon this will lead to "panic and total collapse of all main roads."
@TijlDeBie Zij dienen niet méér te vrezen dan wij, maar enkel omdat ze rekenen op de afschrikking die anderen genereren. Er is een term voor dat soort houding. Oostenrijk is trouwens enkel geen NAVO lid omwille van hun "permanente neutraliteit", verklaard in 1955 op eis van... de USSR.
Hi Glenn, Bart here. I can explain international maritime law to you, and maybe you would then understand that freedom of navigation does not apply to stateless ships. This vessel is stateless as it was flying the flag of Madagascar but was not registered there. The reason? Because normally the flag state would be responsible for safety, security, and labour laws on board a ship. As the vessel is stateless, there is no flag state. As such, a port or coastal state has the authority (given by UN international maritime law) to board and detain a vessel to ascertain the nationality and basically act as a flag state. The coastal state is allowed to enforce these laws in international waters (the coastal state becomes the de facto flag state).
Why would we allow such a thing?
You see, when a ship would ground, sink, and/or get damaged and oil would spill on our coasts and kill birds, destroy the livelihood of fishermen, the tourist industry, and destroy nature, the insurance of the vessel would pay for the damages. As the vessel is stateless, there is no insurance company. So if a vessel were to flounder, the cost would fall on the citizens of the coastal state that got hit by the oil spill and not the shipping company. That's why, when UNCLOS 82 was negotiated, a lot of countries made sure that there were provisions so that a coastal state could take these vessels and remove them from our seas.
Now, concerning sanctions.
Of course, you can not enforce them in international waters on a ship flying a foreign flag. You would only be able to enforce those if the ship were flying the flag of your own country and/or if the ship were to sail in your territorial waters. (A vessel sailing through your territorial waters has to adhere to the laws of the coastal state and, as such, adhere to any sanctions, even unilateral sanctions.) But here's the thing. As I explained before, there is no flag state, so the coastal state has become the de facto flag state of the boarded vessel. And guess what... now the vessel has to adhere to unilateral sanctions.
I'm really happy I could explain this to you. Best regards
De PS wint in het Brussels Parlement; Anders en de MR buigen gedwee : de onderzoekscommissie kan niet meer de “door de pers aangehaalde beschuldigingen" (Pano) onderzoeken over inmenging in de toekenningsprocedures door publieke mandatarissen” en krijgt niet langer dan zes weken
We are launching a "logistics lockdown" for the Russian army. We are scaling middle-strike operations to systematically destroy enemy logistics and supply lines, stripping them of their capacity to mount offensive actions. We’ve allocated an additional 5 billion UAH for direct procurement by our most effective frontline units, while simultaneously launching large-scale competitive tenders.
The enemy’s rear is no longer a safe haven. We are seizing the initiative—using technology and the cold math of war to paralyze their operations.
Rusland heeft deze oorlog verloren, maar beseft het nog niet:
- Een mobilisatie kan de Oekraïnse vooruitgang tijdelijk afremmen, maar niet meer stoppen, en betekent het einde van Poetin. Het contract met de maatschappij wordt dan verbroken.
https://t.co/TwZCNtNzfN
@Stoonbrace Waarom in godsnaam zweren die FRA altijd en overal bij licht bewapende assets? Die denken dus nog steeds koloniaal, maar zelfs in die context werkt dat niet meer. Al sinds Dien Bien Phu.
The Kremlin is trying to make this video, in which the goblin dictator fails to yell “hooray,” disappear.
Let’s make sure it gets the online amplification it deserves.