This is Ukraine, real Ukraine.
Forget comments made on Twitter and on the other platforms. These are official estimates of Russian advances in Ukraine by the end of 2026. By that time, or before that time, Kiev will fall, according to an Ukrainian Official.
Be the end of 2026, Ukraine will have become a landlocked country after the fall of Odessa. It has also been reported that not less than 300,000 Russian troops are already deployed in Belarus.
Odessa is a key port facility. The fall of Odessa will actually mean that an import/export facility will be closed for business.
No matter what politicians and mass media are constantly telling you, reality calls and it comes from an official Ukrainian source. While EU politcians try to make you believe that they are there to threaten them, in reality this could be a pincer operation. While Ukrainian sources in Kiev believe that this is a threat right on the northern border of Ukraine, military sense tells you that by keeping forces to prevent a breakthough in the north, the natural consequence is that there is less manpower to prevent a Russian advance from the East.
Do you remember the chapter about Calais and Normandy during World War Two? Vital forces were kept away from Normandy because Germany believed that the landings were going to happen in Calais. The south of France was left practically unprotected and most forces were sent towards Normandy.
In this particular scenario what are the two main points? Kiev and Odessa. Kiev is the political capital of Ukraine and Odessa has the main port facilities.
Will Ukraine be Yugoslavia 2025?
Henry Kissinger stated that he saw the partition of the Ukraine as the only solution to achive lasting peace by separating the two sides - non Russians and ethnic Russians that live in the present Ukraine. Western Ukraine and Eastern Ukraine fough on opposite sides during World War Two.
While Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Secretary for Defense John Healey, and other members of the British government can go around making all sorts of promises that they might not be able to deliver, it is up to Rachel Reeves to do all sorts of malabarismos to make numbers add up.
When she talked about pension reforms, she thought that would get more than 160 billion Pound to spend, but recent calculations show that the amount the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have available is less than 11 billion.
In the meantime, John Healey, Secretary for Defense, has spoken publicly about building 6 munition factories, 12 nuclear submarines and so forth. More than 10 billion Pound are going to be paid to Mauritius for the transfer of the Chagos Islands. Billions of Pound are going to out to support military efforts in Ukraine, including training and sending of more than 100,000 drones (such is the number promised by Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he spoke about a tenfold increase. But there is a lot more.
In the meantime, there is constant talk about budget cuts affecting Education, the NHS, the benefits system, the Civil Service, the BBC and so forth, on top of cuts for the elderly, the disabled and for those who look after the elderly and the disabled. But the list is a lot longer than that.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is sitting around the table on a daily basis, including Sundays, negotiating with interested parties that are not happy with salary increases and cuts being proposed. So being Chancellor of the Exchequer in these circumstances is not the best post in the British Cabinet. When the Home Office, the Secretary for Defense, the local and regional authorities and whoever else asks for money, she is the one on the spot. The question is how long Rachel Reeves will endure the present state of affairs, before she herself decides that it is an impossible task.
The words Unconditional Surrender bring echoes of World War Two to the present conflict in Ukraine. After the Battle of Kursk, the greatest tank battle in Human History, Germany knew that it would be all the way to Berlin.
It dawning on EU Leaders and UK Leaders that as a long as the battle goes on there will be no ceasefire and this is why they now understand that unless a permanent solution is found before forces of the Russian Federation reach Kiev there will be nothing left to negotiate. EU or UK could hardly stand as "peacekeepers" when they have been supporting one of the sides in the conflict against the Russian Federation.
Macron and Starmer should be under no illusion. This is why after making extraordinary statements they will be on their way to Washington. They very well know that France, Britain and others are fully unprepared at a time when they are facing extraordinary national challenges. Britain has no Independent Nuclear Deterrent. Without US support, Trident is finished. Without American aircraft, the Royal Navy has no jets for its newest aircraft carriers. No one has nearly enough the number of enlisted men and women to face any serious challenge. They can kick and scream against the USA, but they know that without the USA, EU and UK are finished. So back to the USA, to mend relations with the USA. Lord Mandelson was criticized for saying that UK should implement President Trump´s Plan for Peace. Now, France, UK and Ukraine go to kneel down in Washington and to accept terms of engagement.
It does not go amiss that having made several decisions that led to absolute political chaos in France and to the inability of passing a budget without the threat of having Prime Ministers forced to resign, President Macron is now using the present issues about Ukraine as an opportunity to unite France behind him. For this General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri, Ukraine is his Islas Malvinas Moment.
When things go bad at home, nothing better than making people look elsewhere and look for justifications to ask for monies when the European Union has been alerting France that France has surpassed the allowed National Deficit. So, we France have an independent Nuclear Deterrent and we want to use it to protect you. Very interesting since Britain´s nuclear deterrent is neither British nor Independent. France and Germany have decided to start rearming themselves at quick pace and so France is planning to do exactly the same.
The major problem is that that rules about the EURO will have to change and major deficits will have to be allowed at a time when economic uncertainties are undermining national economies. So as Paul Samuelson put it - Butter or Cannons - Macron has decided to go for Cannons. Elegant justification to forget about Health, Education and other major areas of public administration. France can still rely on Britain to unload tens of thousands of illegal migrants. But, for how long? Countries like Italy and France itself have decided to get rid of Ukrainian refugees. Hardlines on migration, across the Europen Continent, are rising and rearming Europe has other disadvantages. You can never trust that today´s allies will be real allies and flash political changes can certainly lead to confrontation within the EU itself.
Europeans created wars and US had to intervene to rescue them. World War One? World War Two?
How many of those protesting on the streets will be willing to join the Armed Forces to go and die?
So, now the new American government is telling them that the US is not willing to engage in WWIII.
Suddendly, quite a few warmongers will fall quiet. How was the Good Friday Agreement negotiated? How was the Camp David Agreement between Egypt and Israel negotiated? You need to talk to the sides involved in the conflict. Politicians and media want you to believe a lie and accuse US of selling out when it fact all US is trying to is to bring the sides to the negotiating table.
I have got many reasons to criticize the US, but the intention to bring the parties together to end the war is not one of them. Dealing with reality is the best thing that anyone can do. The longer the conflict goes on the greater the chances of having a catastrophe in Europe.
This is more than Ukraine. This is an earthquake and the waves are spreading. In the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer had to turn around and deal with foreign aid, in the very same way President Trump decided to deal with foreign aid. This is a new world, Keir Starmer said.
Well, Keir Starmer should stop criticizing President Trump and listen and act accordingly. If you want to invest in defense, you must deal with budgets and waste. The Health Secretary is himself dealing with waste and cutting down redundant expenses in the National Health Service and pretty soon every cabinet minister will be asked to do exactly the same. Budgets will be cut in other areas to ensure that there are enough resources to invest in defense.
In France, in Germany and in every country associated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation will be doing the same and political parties will struggle to deal with financial stress with dramatic political consequences. Butter or Cannons, stated Paul Samuelson. That has not changed.
Like or not, Environmentalists will be put aside. Those seeking improvements in Health, Education, Transport and other vital areas will be put aside. The emphasis is now on Defense. What are the resources for war? Those are the resources that are going to become crucially important. Societal changes will occur to reverse what has been happening for decades. Woke will be dead and replaced with traditional realism. It will be a no nonsense approach.
The Ursula von der Leyen, the David Lammys, or the Grüne Leader Annalena Baerbocks of the world, might want a Europe-wide war, once again, but understandably President Donald Trump and those who support him do not want yet another European War because they know what the USA lost in terms of human lives left on the battlefield.
So the US does not want the maniacs to run the asylum. The idiots do not understand either that in order to put an end to a conflict you need to talk to those seen as your adversaries, the parties in the conflict. All the warmongering European politicians have done is to make matters a lot worse. After hundreds of thousands went to the slaughter, they want that more people go the slaughter. Do not talk, they say. Keep the war going, they say.
I have no way of knowing how the German electorate will vote on Sunday. I do hope that they vote for those who want to maintain rationality, for those who are against keeping to war going for, if the war keeps going, sooner than later we will have a European-wide War in Europe.
Keir Starmer´s idea about sending troops to Ukraine as peacekeepers did not go down well, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz made an early exit from the gathering in France, saying that it was extremely premature to talk about sending troops anywhere before any peace settlement had been agreed.
But this was not all, for obvious reasons, Germany does not want to send troops anywhere in Europe when there is even the slightest possibility of a conflict of major proportions. Given the perception that the Russian Federation might send a big number of troops via Belarus, that could threaten Polish borders and seize Kiev in no time, Poland does not think either that this could be a good idea. Spain under General Franco did not get involved in World War Two. There is no appetite whatsoever for any involvement.
For the moment and in the foreseeable future, there will be no EU participation in any negotiation. USA and the Russian Federation are the only two players involved and statements made by Volodomir Zelensky that no peace agreement would be possible without Ukraine´s participation and calls for the formation of an EU Army have little weight. In the end, if Ukraine were to reject a settlement agreed by the USA and the Russian Federation, USA could unilaterally decide to cease military and financial support. At this point in time, many EU countries that happen to be members of NATO might be thinking about the possibility of a reduction of American military presence in Europe.
With regards to Ukraine, he told NATO members and politicians that the way forward is peace with realism. Ukraine´s previous borders will not be restored and territorial concessions will have to be made. Ukraine will not be a NATO Member and any force, including European Forces and Non European Forces will not be protected by Article 5 if they enter Ukraine.
USA must give prioritz to the defense of its own borders and other threats in the Asia Pacific Region.
Link to talk about the issues Sunday, 16 February, 2025 from 2000 to 2200 GMT
Subjects to be treated on Sunday 16 February 2025 on Meetup via Zoom. Link bellow.
When in the 1970s, Britain was going under, North Sea Oil and Gas saved the day. When the war in Ukraine started the conflict led to a shortage of oil and gas that led many European countries and Britain to harsh economic realities.
Now, Britain has a Labour government that is bent on taxing oil and gas companies to the hilt. Companies pay almost 80% as taxes. There comes a point when exploration and production costs are no longer sustainable and the natural consequence is that the oil and gas business can become no longer viable. We already have the experience of what happened to British shipyards that could not remain competitive. They went under. They could not survive.
Now, we have a vociferous government that is bent in getting Britain into several wars, wars that could make oil and gas unattainable, unreachable. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and others happen to be in a region that could be engulfed by war and if that happens access to oil and gas produced in such region will no longer be a possibility. What will happen then? What happened before when we had no access to oil and gas?
The British Prime Minister that does not know what a woman is believes that carbon capture is energy production. The level of stupidity has risen exponentially. He talks about alternatives. Well, private business might not be interested in such alternatives when they don't make sense for business. In fact, in recent times that been public tenders and the private sector showed no interest in bidding.
It could be the case that everything will have to be financed mostly with public monies coming from taxation and not with private investment. But in the meantime, while the British governent struggles to transform dreams into reality we might find ourselves facing blackouts and mass unemployment should there be a military conflict that prevents from having access to present energy sources.