Here’s a useful explainer on the land in question (at the moment, at least - whether Putin would stick to any such agreement or come back for more in a few years’ time is another matter)
The Sinclair-adjacent publisher of the Baltimore Sun this morning urged Trump to pull the U.S. out of NATO in return for Ukrainian membership. He cited George Washington’s disdain for foreign entanglements as his grounds.
Hmmm…yes. Washington made that comment in his September 1796 farewell address. Outside the borders in Europe the War of the First Coalition raged while there was always the thorny issue of whether to support the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg over the Principality of Solms-Braunfels. So very, very apropos of our times.
Another really interesting take on the situation by strategist Anders Puck Nielson.
The war continues and is even more vicious. There is also reoprts of large attacks on Kiev. How many more times will Putin show contempt for any Western peace efforts?
Link Major Russian attack in Ukraine kills over a dozen, hits British Council : NPR
The Guardian live feed
This would be the same UN Security Council that Russia has a veto on?
I wonder if Ukraine is still getting US satellite intelligence? I saw reports it was restricted a few months ago. But US policy can change at any time.
That information is crucial for advance warnings of Russian troop buildups and new infrastructure.
I think US satellite intelligence can predict preparations for major air strikes on Ukraine?
The former speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Andrij Parubij, has been shot dead. I only found German and Spanish sources so far, English news sites seem to be having a nice weekend:
Some excerpts from both sources:
Former Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy was killed on Saturday in Lviv in a shooting attack around noon.
According to police, the victim, who was born in 1971, died at the scene from his injuries. Regional police, the Ukrainian National Police, and the Security Service are investigating the crime.
Efforts are currently underway to identify the perpetrator and determine their whereabouts.
In 2004, Parubi was actively involved in the Orange Revolution. In 2007, he was elected to parliament for the first time, representing the Our Ukraine–People’s Self-Defense bloc.
In 2016, he became the speaker of parliament.
Born in 1971, Parubiy was Speaker of Parliament from 2016 to 2019. During the pro-Western revolution on Independence Square in Kiev, he also appeared as commander of a tent camp and leader of the “Maidan Self-Defense” organization. In 2014, the year of pro-Western protests in Ukraine, he held the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
Sergei Markov, a Russian political scientist close to the Kremlin, described Parubiy as one of the organizers of the “mass murder” in Odessa on May 2, 2014, when several pro-Russian activists died in the fire at the trade union building. “He was literally a madman,” Markov wrote on Telegram. “He bears responsibility for the deaths of many people after the Ukrainian leadership cracked down on the Russian-speaking population in 2014 following the overthrow of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych.”
I think I know in which direction the investigantions will focus.
I first heard about it on the BBC:
Today I learned that Lviv is Leópolis in Spanish. The Spanish language has this affinity for classical Greek names.
Not sure if this thread is suitable for post this, but some observers are noting that Ukraine is way over-using tourniquets, even in situations where tourniquets aren’t needed or justified, and this is leading to many needless amputations and deaths.
It could be a internal Ukrainian power struggle. Blaming the Russians would be the easy answer.
It’s interesting no one has commented on motive. Volodymyr Zelensky is investigating first before commenting.
19 Russian drones violated Polish airspace this morning, leading Poland to shoot down several of them and call for Article 4 consultations. A few more such incursions and there may finally be a sharper NATO response.
I am increasingly convinced that Putin has a fatal condition of some kind and has decided that if he can’t have the world, no one can and intends to burn it all down.
At his age, every Russian man has a soon-to-be-fatal condition. For decade-ish definitions of “soon”. So does trump for that matter.
I don’t think that has anything to do with it. Putin knows he will die in office, or within minutes of being deposed from office. So anything that would trigger a palace coup is to be avoided. From where he is today, there’s no going back on Ukraine; he’d be promptly deposed. History shows you can always outwait the democracies in a [can’t win / can’t stand to lose] situation.
So keep the slow-motion meatgrinder going, and hope his pal planted agent trump delivers him Ukraine on, if not a silver platter, at least a rusty hubcap. So far he’s winning this slow-motion arm wrestle. A pyrrhic victory to be sure, but he is winning.
Trump: The drone incursion into Poland “…could have been a mistake…”
Given that drone shootdowns have been at Warsaw, and even west of Warsaw, i.e. a great distance into Poland, that statement is ludicrous.
The US reaction to a threat against Poland has been tested now, and with the desired result.
Exactly what should be expected from Putin’s man in Washington.
Ukraine has quietly attacked Russia’s oil refineries throughout this summer.
Ukraine scores another hit almost 900 miles away.
Two interesting comparisons. A drone launched from St Louis could hit Washington DC (815 miles) or Denver Co (850 miles).
Our military leaders are certainly aware of the danger. Defending territory and infrastructure is much more difficult in a drone war.
There is always a possibility partisans launched the drone from inside Russia.
Link Ukraine drone starts fire at one of Russia’s largest oil plants | Russia | The Guardian
Tyler Rogaway and others on TheWarZone have been sounding the alarm for years that the United States is 1) severely deficient in anti-drone defense and 2) severely deficient in pumping out its own cheap Shahed-like drones.
“Cheap” isn’t in the vocabulary of the Military-Industrial Complex.