Hikuro-93

Don’t do it. Seriously. They’ll take the minerals and after a few years when Russia attacks again they’ll go “peace out bro, it was good while it lasted, not really our problem since we have this big and beautiful ocean separating us, thoughts and prayers” and abandon the place.

Better do it through Europe (harder but better in the long run) and collectively secure a more lasting and strong peace by way of actual deterrence and sharing of common interests. Europe won’t ever say “we don’t need to help you since we don’t need to”.

Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security, and it understands that.

Despite the internal issues Canada is facing, sadly, there are worse external problems to worry about at the moment.

European here, proud of Canada for standing up to those echoing totalitarian rethoric. We all need unison, and given that even the so-called ‘freest nation on earth’ is at the precipice of fascism, no one should underestimate that possibility from happening to any other free nation if given the chance to fester.

For a safer world for all of us, Europe has your back.

Of course experiences differ from person to person, culture to culture, and between different circumstances. But in my experience…

• Have a brother-in-law who married my SO’s older sister many years before we even met. Had 3 children together. Out of nowhere he decided to run away and live with another woman, then got back, decided “people felt different” and left again, only to again try to return and be denied by my sister-in-law. They were the favorites of my mother-in-law until the separation.

• Have another BIL, married my SO’s younger sister. 2 kids together, just months ago he threatened to leave to a younger woman (a friend of his younger sister). He was the only one to sympathize and side with the first BIL, guess why. Might still run away, because he clearly is only there for convenience.

• Me and my SO, not married, 13 years together through thick and thin, we never saw any real point to it since we always built our relationship based in trust and mutual understanding. Still going strong and any time we have issues we face them together. Now my MIL tends to favor us over the other ‘couples’, now “marriage doesn’t guarantee anything after all”, not that I personally care about that.

The point being. Marry if you want, but never feel forced to do it. If you need a fancy piece of paper by the government or religion to stay together then it’s nothing more than a self-imposed cage, and it’s far from a guarantee against infidelity.

You only have this one single life. Live happily, don’t try to please everyone against your own happiness. Everyone will still be unpleased, and you’ll only get increasingly miserable.

At the moment the portuguese defense minister won’t rule out a cyber attack, and the task force created to investigate it says it seems like the problem originated outside Portugal.

Trump the coward. The definition of ‘getting peace’ is to just make the smaller side capitulate to the bigger one. And then act surprised when said peace doesn’t hold long.

No surprises that Russia is volunteering to mediate the Iran-US conflict either. Friends always watch each other’s backs.

A mediator doesn’t take sides. It’s the most basic principle. If you’re gonna do that - taking the easiest and cowardly way - just step aside and let more competent people handle it before you make an even bigger mess. Some ‘help’ simply isn’t worth the hassle.

And Russia did not take more land for a simple reason - not because of concessions or kindness, but because the small David held their ground against the Goliath invading them. It’s that simple, nepo crybaby.

Just saw another reporting on MSNBC’s YouTube that according to Trump internal sources “they expected China to be one of the first to come begging, given the size of their exports to the US”.

1. Anyone who knows China, as a millenia-old civilization, knows they are too proud to grovel and give in to bullying. Regardless of them being right or wrong. They know suffering, they have ancient history.

2. There it is. The obvious statement some seem to miss. This is what Trump wants. He wants others to grovel at his feet, simple. Refuse to grovel, show some backbone and tell him to take a hike, and he’ll quickly backtrack in cowardice. As he did with China, with the tariffs, and everything else.

And the funniest part? They don’t even have an actual goalpost set, as they just demonstrated with Japan when they visited the US to make a deal. They want to trick those afraid into overcomprimising themselves as much as they can out of despair. “How much are you willing to give us for our blessing?”.

Bullies only attack when they think they might succeed. Show them you’re not afraid, and they shrink into their shells. Acknowledge their fake power, and they’ll only get worse with time. We might hurt in the short term, but he’s gonna endure the consequences of his stupidity in the long run.

Stand strong. Stand united. Don’t give in. And this mainly to Europe, Canada, Mexico, and all of the British Commonwealth.

This european feels exactly the same way. Let us support each other even more than before, and if the dictators want deals they’ll have to accept our terms.

We all are already suffering the consequences of being majorly dependent to an economic world power. Not excited to depend on them ever again.

Business relations? Yes, if needed and to our benefit. Dependency? Nope.

Looking forward to where this goes if Europe sticks to its guns when things get ugly. Let them belittle us, let them antagonize, misdirect and make fun.

We haven’t even started pressing where it really hurts the US and its oligarchs. Which is precisely their precious digital exports we all consume and barely tax.

Never give in to bullies. Absolutely never, no matter how enticing or harmless they make it seem. Watch them repeat a Trump-China by poking the bear then sheepishly back down and say “Europe needs to make a deal with us” when it bites their behind.

Thank you for the input. Given the current US admin’s way of doing things, I have to wonder if they really see the problem in its entirety, or a crudely simplified version of it.

I mean, these are the same people who started a global trade war to get manufacturing over to the US, as if that would magically happen overnight or even with the high amount of uncertainty for business investments. It really seems to them the simplest solutions are the best ones - flip the tariff switch and done, problem solved, the US is great again after “a brief period of hurt” (whatever that specifically means), as if there weren’t a million nuances to the current workings of world global societies.

Anyways, regardless of the how’s and why’s, we can only guess what goes on on the heads of these people…

Wasn’t it always the case, though? Wasn’t he always implying that “Ukraine better be ready to lose some land” - aka we don’t know how to force Russia out of the lands it already invaded? Or how to balance the clear conflict of interests between aiding Ukraine stop an invasion and Trump’s agenda of getting the US closer to Russia as an economic ally?

Funny. The only difference I see is that he is now fully committed to make Ukraine capitulate by any means he can, perhaps in a last ditch effort to get that mineral deal since he needs it more now due to China stopping the mineral supply. Notice how he only began this ultimatum right after China stopped the minerals. Not suspicious timing at all.

In any case, better for incompetents to step away than fumbling the game even worse than they already did since taking office. Some “help” simply isn’t worth the cost. Europe and any other allies of freedom will see this through, one way or another.

Just don’t come begging for rewards or reparations once Russia’s imperialist ambitions are stopped. The US is only owed what it contributed until Biden left (and the real value, not the overinflated one), plus a nice good discount for the Trump admin’s interference and undermining Ukraine. And that’s being generous.

Trump rant about the EU existing just to screw with the US incoming. As if the fact that we don’t even properly tax the US on its digital services exports wasn’t enough.

Oh no, Vance got Vance’d… Lucky it wasn’t televised for the whole world to see.

Anyways, can’t wait for the snarky tantrum and projection condemning the Pope once he’s far away.

Bet the poor Pope couldn’t even attend because in addition to his health issues he must have felt the evil pressure oozing from Vance.