>

Nothing good about extorting our money because of a compromised president.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)


A brief wartime trip to the United States delivered "Good results," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his nation in a nightly video address on Thursday.
"We are returning from Washington with good results, with things that will really help," Zelenskyy said on a video posted to his Telegram account and linked to YouTube.
"This strongly suggests that it is not the U.S., but other influential NATO states, that are not convinced of the need to support Ukraine even more intensively," Polish historian Lukasz Adamski of the Mieroszewski Center in Warsaw told VOA. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Zelenskyy's trip only fueled the conflict.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: us^#1 Ukraine^#2 Zelenskyy^#3 Putin^#4 told^#5 >

Well it pissed Russia off, so I count that as a win. >

Well it pissed off Fox News/Tucker Carson and many Republicans so that’s a win.
Edit: spelling >

Was about to make this exact comment. Tucker seemed more bewildered than usual. >

His Russian owners are pulling the leash tighter, due to anger from Zelenskyy's visit. >

The speech was pretty much a thank you speech >

Tanks for the memories, eh? >

Thanks for all that cash. Dollars to donuts we see massive corporations somehow imbedded in that region in the near future. >

You have no idea what’s actually going on lol >

Do you? Lol lol lol lol >

Isn't it material and not cash?
Didn't Reagan do this with Afghanistan when the soviets invaded, to stop the Soviet spread?
It's funny how Republicans are all over Putins schlong, Putin who was an enemy agent in the cold war. Reagan is spinning in his grave while conservative clowns are crowing for Putin to put the USSR back together. >

There is some cash, but it's for rebuilding/maintaining infrastructure so a humanitarian crisis is averted as far as I'm aware. So there's nowhere to skim off, either the heat and water are restored or they're not. 
The goodwill will be repaid in Crimean oil/gas
/s(?) >

It’s also meant for keeping the government running - paying salaries and such >

Yeah, Biden's response doesn't sound especially promising LRM-wise. >

Long range strike capabilities isn't in the plans for what NATO wants to achieve with their support of Ukraine, at the moment. 
NATO is providing Ukraine with the tools to throw the Russians out of its occupied territories, not to dismantle Russia completely. 
However, the tune may change if Ukraine recaptures all of her territories and the Russians stall any peace talks. Until then, any attacks inside Russia has to be done by Ukrainian saboteurs, because missile strikes within Russia would be crossing one line too many for NATO. It's a lot of risk for potentially little gain, relatively. We want to nudge the lines, blur them out a bit before crossing any. >

The amount of impotent rage from Russia over this can't be over-emphasized. To the point that they were demanding the video of him receiving the flag to a cheering Congress be stricken from the internet. I think they thought they had a lot more influence with the GOP than is panning out, and this is genuinely panicking them. (Armchair only, not an expert of any kind.) They assumed this aid was more controversial that it's turned out. >

I don't really really follow politics, but I do feel that the support for Russia from within the right might be overstated.  I do think that a fair amount of uninformed GOPers think we're writing literal checks and sending them to Ukraine instead of sending aging equipment worth billions, but maybe that's because I don't watch Fox or CNN.  I'm in a really red area in Alabama, and around here it's 100% screw Russia.  But who knows what the real situation is, I guess. >

The fact that most Russia supporters in America are conservative doesn't mean most conservatives are Russia supporters. Also I think Russia overestimated how much support they'd get due to hating the libs, because they really don't understand how much American conservatives love a good war.
Seriously, the land of Murica fuck yeah! just loves some explosions. A half naked woman eating a hamburger while sitting on the back of a lifted pickup that's parked on the deck of an aircraft carrier while a giant line of explosions covers the horizon? Conservatives cream their pants for this stuff. Half a century of having every major war turn to shit, and now they've got one that gets cheered on for moral righteousness. Way more important than owning some libs.
The nation that celebrates its founding day by blowing stuff up isn't going to turn down the opportunity to look good to half the world by blowing stuff up. Lel. >

Mostly because it rattled Papa Pooty. Well done. >

The right is in shambles and all they can attack him on is that he didn't wear a suit and a photoshopped image of Biden touching his ass. >

Putin couldn’t have fucked his country more by starting this war. If Ukraine was on the fence before, now they’ll certainly join nato when this is all over. 
If NATO won’t let them join, then At a minimum, they’ll become one of the US’s strongest allies. Comparable to Australia, Japan or the UK. The best part is that they probably won’t even need direct help in terms of troops. Just giving them equipment and the knowledge how to operate it will be enough. And they’ll be grateful for the next two decades because of it. 
It could even mean a secure/reliable source of grain and oil for the west. Though the oil might be ambitious. 
And in exchange? We gave them a 20th of our annual military budget. >

1/20th the resource to kill 1/2 of the enemies. 
I have a second grader understanding of math and even I find this deal appealing. >

Great speech, I just would like the US and other NATO countries to give Ukraine more offensive weapons than just defensive. At the end of the day, baby Putin will not give a shit and threaten consequences for both so we might as well help the Ukrainians win while saving lives. >

Why should we give them any more weapons? Let the Ukrainians slug it out for themselves.  We're once again getting involved  in matters that do not concern the United States. As for Europe let them fight for themselves. Twice in a century should be more then enough for them to do it themselves.  As an American how do you support a regime like the Ukraine who are doing the same stuff that Russia does that we all despise? Jailing political opposition, restricting the press, restricting how people can pray if it's approved?  All that money spent and our return on investment is again in the negatives. I'm not a fan of Russia by any means but I'm also not naive and can see Ukraine is just as corrupted if not worse then Russia. >

Well the Russians certainly wasn’t jumping for joy >

Why not?  Zelenskyy left Ukraine - a bit delayed perhaps - but all goes according to original Russian plan! >

Hopefully this creates a long lasting friendship between the US and Ukraine, a nation they can always call on for help. >

Another victory for democracy >

Ukraine is extremely far from democratic. There not to different then the scumbag invaders they are fighting. >

Tovaristch Ivan is on commenting spree, I see! Making Motherland proud this bot is, da? Good job! >

Wish Europe and other NATO allies would pull their weight, instead they just shit talk Americans and the USA for world policing, then bitch and moan when we don't donate military supplies. >

Europe has donated billions? >

This cover image, it’s like he found a good pawn shop >

Let’s be real: this was a political stunt to make Americans more ok with helping Ukraine. Personally, I’d rather we skipped the stunt and just gave the assistance. Either way, it’s good it worked out well for them >

That's politics - making efforts to build the necessary support. >

Yup, still don’t like the showmanship of it all - reminds me of the Hunger Games. I wish as individuals we could just recognize such a massive problem and not need to be re sold on it every couple months. >

if we want to ensure ukraine's lasting security then we have to restore their nuclear status. The best defense against Russia would be for Ukraine to have nukes, and give them permission to use them if they're invaded again. >

No, let's not spread nukes around. We should be working to get rid of the devices that can wipe out all of human civilization if actually used. >

You have to convince countries not to develop weapons that have been proven to be the only deterrent against countries like china Russia and the U.S. from just showing up and taking your shit though >

I wonder if they realize no one takes their rhetoric or threats seriously. >

Their rhetoric isn't for us - it's for their citizens. All of it is posturing to show their people how unfairly they're being treated. >

I think you both are commenting in the wrong thread. This one is about ukraine not russia. >

Yea, cause he’s walking away with more American money that should be used for homeless Veterans. American shouldn’t be funding most of NATO and this European war. Your kids will be saddled with this 30+ trillion debt. >

The US will still be involved in this conflict 10 years from now. That's my prediction. >

Possibly, but we still win. We've completely ruined the Russian military capacity for the cost of something like 10% of our military spending, and not a single NATO soldier killed. Even if you are right, this is military brilliance on the part of the West. They get rid of 30 year old overstock, paid for by funds seized from Russia using the Magnitsky Act, and Ukrainians do the work of keeping the USSR from reforming and storming across Europe. 
But of course it's more likely Russia will collapse losing 100k per year while NATO loses zero per year. >

The promise of a short war has been offered at the begining of every major conflict the US has been involved in and it's almost never been true. >

I mean, we could have surrendered in World War 2. That certainly could have ended the war quickly. It all depends if you think Chamberlain or Churchill was right. >

To be fair to Chamberlain I don't think his attitude was "peace at any cost". It was peace at the cost of giving Germany back an area of Czechoslovakia that was ethnically German IIRC.
I think his outlook was "if peace can be achieved for that price it's worth trying" not realizing at the time that the cost would actually be infinitely higher than that.
It ended up being a stupid move. But having just witnessed WWI only \~20 years before and how horrific the bloodshed in that war was it's understandable why he, and other leaders, were reluctant to plunge the world back into global war over Germany wanting an ethnically German region back. I think it ends up being one of those situations where hindsight is 20/20 and if Chamberlain knew then what Hitler and Germany would end up doing he would have made a different decision. >

The real influence in that room is Lockheed Martin, not Zelensky. >

That was our school loan forgiveness money >

No it wasn't. It's not an either or and the loan forgiveness is being held up in the courts by the damn republicans. >

Santa will be delivering some Christmas presents by C-17 shortly >

Well, not if you watch Fox News and are an avid user of Facebook. >

Why he is smiling n taking photos. His people are fucking dying. >

Because it’s his job to ensure support to the troops from other nations and without his PR and his smile, this war would have been over and Ukraine would be RuSSia. 
I can imagine that smiling and being cordial is ungodly fucking hard for him, as you said his people are dying and the world is happy to look away if he doesn’t keep the PR train going. 
If you honestly can’t understand that you need some more life experience, maybe read a book or two about wartime and the historical achievements of the leaders during their times.
Zelensky is the the international face of Ukraine right now, his place at this time is not on the front lines and in the trenches, it’s putting on a smile through the pain and heartbreak and rallying external support. >

The western powers finally found a puppet ruler that people love. >

Better a western puppet than a Russian stooge >

Especially, like, what puppetting? What have we made him do? >

Nothing. Just playing on that guy's horseshit >

I wasn't really aiming that at you, as I hoped to get across by beginning 'especially'