Member Info for Flatwhite

Kenny

Though not defending Vance but in the clip he says the war should be ended with diplomacy and Zelenskyy replied what sort of diplomacy are we talking about .

And then it became tense . In Zelenskyy’s defence when English is not your first language, it could come out more rude then intended but this was an opportunity to build bridges, after what went on last weeks and him supporting The Democrats in the election. He with folded arms and quick snap backs was perhaps not the right approach. Compare that to Starmer’s meeting with Trump , polished and diplomatic with careful words.

He is war weary leader and gets lauded all over Europe but in America, when this govt has a stance that they had enough of this European war across the ocean . He should have taken a more nuanced and humble approach to his biggest donor .

Let’s see how it pans out .

Tro the only benefit Trump is looking for is stop spending American money in Europe’s war and get something in return if possible like those rare earth minerals to lessen the dependency on China .

Hope the sanctions are not lifted until Russians budge a lot .

They should have done that long ago Tro . I remember when Trump visited Europe 5/6 years ago and lectured them about contributing more in NATO . Merkel and Macron were more amused than taking him seriously. Putin knew Europe was weak . He annexed Crimea in Obama time and got away with it.

They didn’t heed the warnings .

Russia is selling all that cheap oil unsanctionex to India and China to keep it going . Who knows how long will that last and how it got allowed despite sanctions .

I agree with you Tro . They have to finally show the will to increase their defence spend and not rely on America for their security. It’s in their own interest.

Tro ,

He really wants those critical minerals from Ukraine . That’s why trying for Greenland , Canada and so on .

American interest first and then everything else later.

Most of those rare minerals are in Ukraine’s east according to the BBC and may be that’s why Putin is after that region too . So now Zelenskyy has to decide who he would rather have those . Obviously as he would have realised by now that without continued US help there is not much chance of sustaining in war .

It’s a lesson for UK too as you mentioned earlier that we went along with their wars ( 911 ) , weapons of mass destruction . Perhaps next time we have to assess if it’s in our interest to go along .

H

My doctor messaged me to book an appointment to discuss my blood test results today . I called up to be told the earliest is 19th March . I booked it offcourse but in London it’s getting worse.

Something had to change. The war can’t go forever or most importantly can’t be funded forever by tax payers of the west . Europe for its own security had never paid enough for decades . Trump pushed them in his last term before this war started but Merkel and Macron didn’t heed his warnings.

Putin is absolutely the evil here but if Europe had the military might / spending / power he wouldn’t have dared . Trump is doing what he got elected for , that is to put American interest first. They have been the biggest funders of Ukrain . Surely Europe can’t expect them to keep protecting them indefinitely. Bar Poland no country pays near enough in NATO.

UK have rightly supported Ukrain so far by weapons / training / logistics / settlements but again it can’t go on forever when we can’t even support our Veterans/ pensioners / farmers / special education/ defence spending , the list goes on.

Fair enough Tro … lol

Tro

Not much of a wall when it suits them by sending their unwanted away from Calais .

Nom

We can all google articles to suit our narrative.

David Cameron for all his ills did try to convince and ask concessions regarding immigration from the EU before the Brexit vote . He was shushed away and they never believed the people will vote for it .

From then onwards they have tried to make things as hard as possible for the UK in every step of the way and it’s their prerogative as they wanted to make an example of our misery . They couldn’t let any other member leave like us .

We were one of the biggest net contributors to the EU but our voice wasn’t appreciated.

Any relationship breaking is fault of both sides . Sure we have suffered but so have the EU . German economy is in tatters , France and Italy not much better . The super state can’t even defend itself without America.

On our part we have rightly supported them against Putin from Boris the first leader in Ukrain to Starmer trying to convince Trump to keep supporting.

Not all fault lies with us . Only if they listenrd from their ivory towers in Brussels then .

Tro ,

No one will dispute the trade benefits this country enjoyed being in the EU but there were devastating and long lasting consequences aswell like mass uncontrolled immigration.

The freedom of movement meant especially since Blair let in the EU 6 I think in 2004 , unsustainable pressures on infrastructure, hospitals , schools , housing , police and much more .

I live in London and an immigrant myself since many moons ago ( legal one ) and have seen how it has changed since that 2004 Blair misjudgement. The infrastructure has been on the brink . There are many lovely Europeans and I have worked with many too , but there are some nasty characters which shouldn’t be here but you could not stop them being part of the EU .

Since Brexit itself , thousands and thousands keep coming to our shores from the very amazing continent of Europe. Surely this must be the land of milk and honey or else I am missing something.

The next decades the leading economies will be outside of Europe and we should be focusing on the future . Trade is good but did it bring prosperity to all in this country . Is the quality of life better now than 25 years ago ?

I know what I feel .