Michael

A lover of dogs as companions in life. I believe the only way to truly save this planet & the animal kingdom is through reversing our population growth 🐋🦍🐘🦏

[Michael @HardBackStrider]

Budapest Memorandum hypocrite

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

Despite the murder of thousands of innocent Ukrainians, this war has become a geopolitical game of imperial 3D chess.

I’ve already debunked the NATO expansionism claim and the threat to Russia as a nation. We have established the aggressor is Russia and the innocent party is Ukraine. These are easy to verify FACTS.

Three years have passed of brutal fighting which has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

10.6 million Ukrainians have been displaced, 6.9 million of them abroad. More than 2 million homes have been destroyed. That’s about 10% of the housing stock. 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of long-term mental health consequences from what they have endured.

Ukrainian losses even at the lowest estimates are 153,000. To date, 12,654 have been verified by the UN to be civilian casualties. The true total though is likely to be considerably higher.

Russia has lost at least 95,000 soldiers and currently holds 20% of Ukrainian territory.

State Department figures indicate that Washington appropriated nearly $174.2 billion from 2022 to 2024. This figure includes assistance through USAID, the World Bank and other agencies. The total amount of aid Ukraine has received from donor governments over the course of the war is $279 billion. This includes military, financial and humanitarian assistance.

I provide the above FACTS simply as context, so we are all aware of the starting point.

I’m not going to re-litigate the Oval Office engineered theatrics, other than to say, before this meeting even took place, Trump had called Zelenskyy ‘a dictator’, inferred he was an illegitimate president and had started the war.

If anyone in that room had a right to be unhappy it was Zelenskyy. He had effectively been briefed against by his hosts before he even walked through the door. The only crime Zelenskyy had committed was to show support for the previous administration during the election campaign. Hardly surprising given Trump was running on removing Ukraine aid. However, his biggest crime had been to refuse to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in 2019, which led to Trump’s impeachment.

Trump has a visceral hatred of ANYONE who has disagreed with, or even perceived to have disrespected him. History is littered with the bodies Trump has thrown under the bus who refused to show him fealty. As soon as Zelenskyy pushed back, Trump started the usual concertina solo and we were off down the road to the Russia Russia hoax and Hunter Biden grievances.

The administration had already tried to strong arm Zelenskyy into signing a totally one sided deal, sight unseen.

National Security Advisor Mike Walz, was so confident they could force Zelenskyy to sign, he stated at the time, “Here’s the bottom line: President Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term,”

This was a deal to hand the rights to Ukraine’s minerals to the US in perpetuity. This was a blatant act of extortion from a ‘so called ally’. Who needs enemies when you have friends like Trump?

In the run up to the Friday meeting, press were reporting that the deal was only a framework deal. However, Walz had already said to Fox News, Zelenskyy should “tone it down” and sign the proposed deal. What happened here was, Zelenskyy was expecting to sign a framework agreement to begin negotiations on the final deal. He believed this would then give him the opportunity to make the case to include security guarantees before the final deal was signed.

Trump simply wanted the deal signed so he could screw the guy who screwed him in 2019 on the ‘beautiful phone call’ which led to his impeachment.

Trump is purely transactional. He feels no obligation to do what’s good for America. He simply wants what’s good for him. He’s prepared to burn down the house down, leave NATO and the UN on his vengeance tour. Tragically, everybody around him who DO KNOW BETTER, are enabling him. It’s terrifying.

Next Up : Finding a solution.

[Kevin Baron @DefenseBaron]

This Ukraine aid bill was no "strong bipartisan message." It reinforces that House conservatives fear Trump and permit Putin. Johnson blocked it since April of LAST year. Only a procedural trick broke thru.

18 Republicans for
195 Republicans against
https://t.co/3hYxOgmxR7

[Jorge Liboreiro @JorgeLiboreiro]

It's confirmed: Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Kier Starmer will meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to discuss military support for Ukraine, economic pressure on Russia and ways to revitalise the peace process.

The meeting will be in London.

[Maria Avdeeva @maria_avdv]

This is Veronika Chuian. She was 28.

Russia killed her in missile strike on Kyiv as she ran with her children to a shelter.

Her 2-year-old is badly injured. Her mother lost a leg. Her 4-year-old is now with relatives.

Behind every Russian strike is family in Ukraine like this.

[Warren Kinsella @kinsellawarren]

I'm entertained by how much this notion upsets conservatives. Isn't making friends to trade with a principle of capitalism and all that? "Finland's Stubb says EU should expand to 40 states, including Canada" https://t.co/LtvnMCpv6h

[iza @izamamaa]

Wasn’t her husband assassinated in broad daylight here in the U.S. while Trump was president?

[Meaghan Mobbs @mobbs_mentality]

Most Americans want a strong America First foreign policy, one that puts American interests first and takes a firm stand against adversaries like Russia.

[Michael @HardBackStrider]

@therevjoeblank @Jpod_art Read the Budapest Memorandum you DF. America promised to defend Ukrainians sovereignty if they gave up all there nukes.

[🇺🇦Julia Pod 🇺🇦 @Jpod_art]

The US House has backed legislation that could impose 500% tariffs on countries continuing to buy Russian energy.

Now the only question is whether Trump will stand with Ukraine and America’s allies - or once again do exactly what the Kremlin wants

[Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ @RepDonBacon]

This vote was about standing up for freedom and a victim of an invading thug. I know how Ronald Reagan would have voted. He told Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. If alive today, he’d demand that Putin “get the hell out of Ukraine.”
https://t.co/JU6WQduslX

[Olena Rohoza @OlenaRohoza]

🔥 Madyar and the SBS operators struck five vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight that were being used to steal Ukrainian goods.

Last night, our SBS drone operators carried out an unscheduled “technical inspection” of five vessels in the Sea of Azov. You know, the same vessels that were trying to quietly haul stolen Ukrainian products out of the occupied territories.

Spoiler alert: they failed the inspection.

The occupiers’ logistics system has become a masterpiece of self-destruction. First, their roads started having “problems.” Then their railways began falling apart. And now the sea routes are getting the same treatment.

At this rate, their only safe route may be walking back across the border. Though even that isn't guaranteed—the sky is being watched too.

Thanks to the SBS for keeping thieves on their toes… and sometimes on the seabed. 🫡

[D.Radka, #NAFO 🇨🇿🤝🇺🇦 @DakdaR22]

"Russia will not have peace while it continues to occupy Ukrainian land."
- Zelensky 🇺🇦

The message is clear: firing missiles at Ukrainian cities comes at a price. Ukrainian long-range missile systems extend deeper into Russia

Weapons plant in Tula🔥🔥

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Putin needs war to survive, and anyone criticizing Ukraine for not surrendering "for peace" should realize that Russia's war would then continue, but without Ukraine defending Europe.

[Devana 🇺🇦 @DevanaUkraine]

🗣️ Putin claimed that he captured four times more territory of Ukraine during the war against Ukraine.

📊 Putin claims that he has captured 2,440 thousand square kilometers of Ukrainian territories, whereas the total area of Ukraine is 603.6 thousand square kilometers. Furthermore, in response to Zelenskyy's letter, he said that the war will not stop until Russia achieves its set goals, he sees no point in meeting with Zelenskyy, and he took offense at the letter from Zelenskyy. He also says that he will seek the destruction of the Ukrainian nation (this is precisely what Russia understands by "denazification").

🇪🇺 Has everyone finally understood why a truce with Russia is impossible? The war will continue as long as Russia exists—if not against Ukraine, then against another state in Europe or the USA.

[Michael @HardBackStrider]

@itswpceo No Putin just showed himself to be a war monger. If we live on a peaceful earth why would you have to rank countries. I would say the EU + Ukraine could wipeout Russia

[Michael @HardBackStrider]

@KamVTV To honour the commitment in the Budapest Memorandum to defend Ukraine sovereignty. I guess under the Trump MAGA administration there is no honour. No empathy to save lives. Your narcissism shows you to be a true Trumper.

[Michael @HardBackStrider]

@Mylovanov The military gave Ukraine Javelins.
If Trump had the same stranglehold today he would have given nothing.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Trump‘s hands have been untied for a year and a half and he’s only used them to try to strangle Ukraine and put Russian money into he and his cronies' pockets. Letting Trump do whatever he wants means letting Putin do whatever he wants.

[Michael @HardBackStrider]

@Flux_Flux10 Evil. Murderer. War Criminal
His role is the evil bad guy.

[Dr. Fred Hoffman, Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) @InfoAgeStrategy]

Please read this 👇

Why do we criticize Ukraine (the victim) and tongue-bathe the hind quarters of the genocidal, terroristic aggressor (Russia)?

[CanadianGirlRM @CanadianGirlRM]

Trump had the nerve to say the allies that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan fought to support them stood back. We lost 159 of our finest supporting their back stabbing asses. More Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan than in all UN peacekeeping missions combined since the 1950s. Afghanistan was Canada's longest war and one of the most intense combat operations Canadian troops have fought since Korea. No, we don't have the military might of the great USA, but history is showing the biggest guns don't always hit the target. Fact, the longest recorded kill shot by a sniper was made by a Canadian! No American has even come close and it happened in 2017.