Summary
After a tense Oval Office encounter with Donald Trump and JD Vance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a warm UK welcome, including an official audience with King Charles at Sandringham.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened a defence summit with European and NATO allies to reaffirm solidarity with Ukraine, discuss unlocking frozen Russian assets, and counter the rift caused by Trump’s accusations of Zelenskyy’s ingratitude.
European leaders fear the spat endangers Western unity and peace efforts and are vowing no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukrainian involvement.
These headlines man… “After TRUMP white house meltdown”
“Keir Starmer will also host European heads of government and the leaders of Canada and Turkey at a special defence summit aimed at presenting a united front on the Ukraine crisis.”
So….a defence meeting with Great Britain, Europe, Turkey, and Canada without the US. This sounds an awful lot like a NATO meeting without the US.
Trump may not have to worry about leaving NATO. They may do it for him.
King Charles steps into diplomacy; is this soft power or a risky political gamble?
🐱🐱🐱🐱
The royals meeting heads of state happens regularly no?
Sure, but this meeting carries symbolic weight given the ongoing conflict and alliances.
😺😺
They could play coy?
“Sorry our kid turned out to be such a douche.”
The motivation now is for Europe to finance the entire war… to ensure Zelensky doesn’t need to go back to the US.
Such disgrace. I’ve heard of “ugly Americans”, but this is ridiculous.
I mean we had to get off the US’ teats at some point, it’s been 80 years. A pity that it had to happen like this, but we have to look forward and turn Europe into the beacon of democratic ideals that the US refuses to be anymore. It will be a hard and rocky road for sure, but we can come out the other side stronger and better in every way.
Us practically made eu dependant on them for military protection
With the new privacy nightmare policy, we can improve democracy right? … right?
Wait, in Europe? What’s the new privacy nightmare policy? I thought y’all enjoyed the GDPR. Did I miss something recent? :(
…but also I’m posting from the U.S where privacy is “whatever you can encrypt yourself”, which isn’t much… it’s a very low bar.
Yea, it’s a shame that the American people elected this clown to represent them. I’m really heartbroken they/we didn’t choose better.
…twice.
It was also heavily rigged just like 2020, republicans will never investigate that
Conspiracy bullshit is ruining this country. Didn’t contribute.
I agree, but also if we follow the 'pubbicans PR pattern of “Loudly accusing you of doing what I’m actually doing right now in front of everyone.”
…it’s almost hard not to believe it was tampered with from their end. Not on the vote counting side, like they accused “the libs” of doing (and just ended up harassing a bunch of poll workers, after all, they hate anybody who works.) but this mutated monster GOP never plays a fair game if they can help it.
You think so?
Trump has implied it himself a handful of times, and the fact is Elon Musk
was paying peoplestarted a sweepstakes for people in Pennsylvania to win $1millioneach, to vote for trump.Not each, it was a sweepstakes, but that was absolutely manipulation. Man what a blatant way to insult the working class by dangling a chance at table scraps at them in exchange for their integrity…and no doubt many went for it.
I wonder if any actually got paid?
Thank you for the correction. It’s annoying being the one saying something inaccurate, but I always appreciate it being pointed out.
That’s absurd and it’s this kind of misinformation that has led our country to be the joke it is today. Do better.
Chill bro, I fixed it. The truth wasn’t that far off
Events from yesterday are sad, not just for Ukraine or even Europe, but they will also hurt US long term.
US right now is on the path of losing its dominance. All the soft power US is losing, China is stepping in. Russia also believes it can once again become a superpower hopefully EU get’s its security seriously and won’t let them.
That’s why they compromised trump.
Really tired of people saying “this is so bad for the US!”
Yea…no shit. That’s literally the whole point of all these insane actions.
And I’m also getting a little tired of them expecting me to be sad that this is bad for the US. A lot of the “woe is me, the US is losing influence!” Sounds almost as whiny to the non-American audience as some of the MAGA stuff about the world not being “grateful” enough for them.
The US’ international influence has been a mixed blessing for a long time. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing what Europe manages to put together as a replacement. Could be a step up.
Yeah, but this assumes that the EU will be able to get itself together and act. Right wing governments are on the rise and the biggest bloxk opposing them in the EU Parlament are the conservatives. Europe is not known for its fast and swift decision making. Everything takes ages over here.
I just don’t see the EU acting in union enoth to be able to face the challenges “stepping up” brings with it.
“Step up” are the exact words Europe needs to take to heart right now. Fuck the US. We’re the worst of everything everyone says about us and we don’t deserve a moment’s sympathy. I mean it’s been literally decades since the last time we pulled Europe’s security out of the fire for them. So show us what you can do without leaning on us.
A lot of the “oh noes the US is losing influence” comes twofold from:
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General sinophobia as China is often seen as the next viable global superpower.
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Americans who deep down know exactly how good they’ve had it because of that influence and are suddenly scared that their own country could become the true corrupt, broke shithole it has always really been. We only ever had wealth because we dominated and stole it from the rest of the world.
I’m with you, US losing influence isn’t a bad thing. It’s only bad for US citizens, who need to get a grip on how comfortable and coddled they have really been, even if they are poor. US poor is not international poor, once again, because we stole so much wealth from the rest of the world. I say this as a US citizen who is daily disgusted by the selfishness and coddled ass attitudes of his fellow Americans.
A good example of why is how we took the worlds outpouring of compassion after 9/11 and squandered the fuck out of it by playing world police and killing untold millions in the middle east and Europe has been dealing with the aftermath for 20 fucking years now.
US losing influence isn’t a bad thing. It’s only bad for US citizens
The US has ordered the world for 70ish years, for better and worse. When that dominance topples, everyone will be rolling the dice on wherever comes next. China is poised to gain from that. Name your favorite Western European nation and it’s much more of a toss-up. China’s neighbors are more likely to come out as China’s vassals. Thinking only the US have benefitted from the US led world order post WW2 is hilariously naive. You talk a good game, ready to rush into a future without it, but you are leading with the chin.
I agree that lots of US folk are too complacent and miseducated to be useful, and many of our biggest wishes is just trying to get grown adults to have even a shred of responsibility for themselves and those around them.
I think people generally were a bit less useless until corporate influence pushed its hardest to culture-breed a dumber and more subservient consumer-employee type of human being, and was mostly successful.
Paywalling and undercutting education being a massive factor here.
But “sinophobia”? LOL! No.
Willing to bet most people , aside from the usual suspects, are just fine with Chinese people and culture.
Anyone with sense should be afraid of Pooh-bear’s CCP dominating global politics. A regime which tells the Chinese people what “their culture” is allowed to be, and forcibly injects itself into daily life.
Politically, judging by how they treated Hong Kong, and are currently treating (was gonna list but…dang that’s a list.) …every neighbor …yeah that would be bad news.
This country isn’t perfect, obviously. But I’d rather have the shred of a chance for us and other countries, that getting our shit together could change something for the better eventually.
You simply wouldn’t get that chance with China or Russia holding dominating influence.
As someone living in Asia, the US losing influence is a really scary thing. China has been increasing their aggression in the region and the US’s presence has always been the counter to that. It was a good balance but a weaker US will tip the balance to China’s favour. Not to mention that the US has been a key factor in getting Korea and Japan to work together on security matters. Unfortunately, there’s no EU or NATO equivalent for us to rely on.
As someone living in NATO area, I wish we would start NATO 2 without the US. They can effectively veto anything they want.
Time for a new collaboration.
Isn’t that what the EU is? What are the military aspects of being in the Union? I’ve only ever heard about the economic aspects.
Exactly. I’m an Indian and I’d rather prefer USA as global superpower than China.
Yeah, tell the Filipinos or Taiwanese that the US going down is a good thing. China is constantly testing both country’s sovereignty and waters.
I has maybe planned to retire to the Philippines with my wife, live out our days in her homeland. Now? Fuck.
Unfortunately, there’s no EU or NATO equivalent for us to rely on.
I would say this is a good time for you guys to make one. My home country is Canada, and I think it’d be great to see defensive pacts in both the Atlantic and Pacific - we’d be keen on joining both of them, I suspect. We’re threatened by Chinese influence too.
As an eastern European who knows what it’s like to have an angry belligerent neighbour next door, I feel for you. I don’t have much to offer other than hoping you and yours continue to be ok, and hoping that nearby countries in similar situations can organize somewhat to help eachother.
US losing influence isn’t a bad thing.
It does raise the risk of the USA doing desperate and destructive things, like starting a world war.
Personally I think we still have way too much to lose for that to come from the US. And we could lose half of what we have and still have more to lose than anyone. WW3 is much more likely to come from Russia, who have already lost everything they have and mostly look around the world and see what they have to gain.
Yeah, power slipping from a collapsing empire run by an autocrat is usually a recipe for a series of senseless disasters, and bad news for everyone involved.
Well put, I keep trying to tell our local racist shitheads to direct their anger for violence by PTSD refugees at the American administrations, not at foreigners. You can imagine how well that is (not) going…
Very well said, and I echo the sentiment. Americans have been too comfortable their entire lives. Now, they may learn what it actually is to suffer and be poor.
Problem is, a lot of them already are suffering and poor. Look at the nightmare that is American health care, for example. They’re dead last among the developed world and people would rather risk death than call an ambulance because they fear it’ll put them and their next-of-kin into debt forever. Losing a job can mean death for some because their health insurance depends on employment.
And yet the propaganda reverberates back and forth among them; “The United States is the greatest country in the world! Land of the free and home of the brave!”
I’m Canadian, and Trump’s been Trumping a lot about how Canada should be forcibly made the “51st state.” He said, among other insane and offensive drivel, that Canadians would get better healthcare if that happened. I honestly think a lot of Americans believe that. They are deeply indoctrinated.
We’ve seen plenty of other countries where this kind of indoctrination works. People may live terrible lives of deprivation, but as long as they believe their enemies are worse off they love dear leader for the bounty they’ve been given.
Most Americans already know what this is like. But still they vote to make it worse.
So you think American poverty equates to levels of poverty seen in Africa?
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Yeah it definitely sucked when the British Empire was dominant. But when their power declined, we had two world wars.
Hence why I said “I’m kind of looking forward to seeing what Europe manages to put together as a replacement.”
I get that it sounds whiney, and you are certainly entitled to whatever opinion you want. However, upsetting the balance of power will reverberate around the entire world, literally. Everyone will feel the influence of the new USA + Russia + North Korea axis… eventually. It has nothing to do with gratitude. imho at least.
That axis is “USA + two regional powers that can’t even invade a neighboring country properly and have negligible economies.” Not exactly an upgrade over the alliances the US had before.
Doesn’t that mean they care about the US?
If they care about themselves, the point is self enrichment. If self enrichment is the point and they don’t care about our country, the fact it is bad for the US is simply a tragic externality.
Maybe they’re stupid enough not to realize they’re doing permanent damage. The supporting evidence there that I can think of is that they themselves and their families are less safe. How will they spend their Bitcoin if things go south, will they enjoy living in Russia or China?
The BRICS partnership (Of which China is a key player) encompasses almost 50% of the world’s population, and their Belt and Road initiative is a soft power wet dream.
The world has actually already become multipolar, but most Western media won’t make that clear because they are still stuck in the old Colonial mindset of Captialist-Democracy = 100% civilized / Not-a-Capitalist-Democracy = 100% backwards.
Trump is just switching gears from the slow decline harder towards the Capitalist-Not-a-Democracy segment BRICS’s most namesakes inhabit. He just doesn’t bother to mask the racketeering into something like the Belt and Road
It’s gone. The USA is a superpower only because of its allegiances. In the past week it’s been demonstrated that the US no longer wishes to be a part of that arrangement.
Super powers in general should not exist.
In the same sense as cancer shouldn’t exist, but that won’t make it go away. We have to agree to keep them in check and somewhat sane. The USA lost all sanity.
Does this make WW1 chemotherapy and WW2 radiation treatment?
Time for some radiation therapy in Maralago
I wish it was given their current government, but it still is the number one military and economy, so they can do a lot of damage. It will depend on what happens after Trump, if they continue spiraling down or not.
The US has already lost its dominance. Anything you think you see to that end atm is general inertia. People are mentally prone to incredible inertia in behaviors.
The signs of power vacuum between first trump term and second trump term are there. China. Israel. Russia. And now the world is already rallying together against the new world bully.
Because that is who Trump is. A bully with a giant war chest. No one likes a bully. Incidentally, on the psych side, they usually have daddy issues and/or have been abused at home.
The brunt of it ends when Trump dies in his sleep from his medical ailments (he doesn’t look good). And then we see the real agenda of the people around him in this admin, in full force. Likely less erratic with the war chest though, and more focused on destroying any and all remnants of power and will to live in the working class.
What does it look like beginning with that rigor mortis?
Russia can be a superpower if they didn’t rob the nations resources instead of investing in it and its people.
Aka Russia will never be a superpower. Russia history motto is “and somehow, it got worse”
US right now is on the path of losing its dominance.
That may present an opportunity to develop international democracy, to replace the violent, hegemonic rule of any one nation.
All the soft power US is losing, China is stepping in. Russia also believes it can once again become a superpower.
Crazy how you wouldn’t think it was the EU and NATO countries.
Since, you know, the entire point of him going to see trump was to show them that they needed to fill the void.
Didn’t you notice all the “thank you” messages and how this visit was already scheduled…
I don’t think Zelenskyy was humiliated, it was the US. He stood up for himself well. Trolling and bullying an ally isn’t a good look.
I hardly think I’m in some piddling minority in thinking that my country is a fucking disgrace and Zelensky is a righteous man worthy of respect.
No most of you do but you don’t organize so a foreign country has taken control and is dismantling the government
There are dozens of us.
As a Ukrainian living in the US, I appreciate people like you.
Try millions…
There is no way I’m gonna try a million raspberries.
Oh I am game. Raspberries are my absolute favorite.
Raspberriesareyummy! Run!
It’s interesting that conservative circles are lauding Trump for removing the US from wars in “matters that don’t concern us”. Their take, not mine.
And yet. All of this feels like a seismic shift prefacing going to war.
Even the first term I always had the sense Trump wanted to play with war toys. Akin to him acting like a little boy playing with toy truck when behind the wheel of a construction vehicle. Now he’s more erratic than ever before, and has the people around him willing to do his bidding.
And this is not an administration that would hesitate to draft people.
a seismic shit
Despite the tone of this thread, this made me chuckle. Thank you.
Nice. I almost don’t want to edit.
Yea, this whole “matters that don’t concern us” take is really scary to me. It scares me that people don’t want to learn from history and realize that it eventually will.
There will always be people who feel if it doesn’t touch their family circle, their immediate living situation, then it’s unimportant.
This take happens more in the living paycheck to paycheck set which may as much as 60% of Americans at present.
I do get that to a point. But to express this view so unapologetically is a little painful to see.
All this you feel? It reeks of the stuff leading up to WW1. Just waiting on the Zimmerman telegram now.
We’re going to backslide to the prewar days where violence was the only way to amass power, before the days of the UN, USAID, NATO, and the rest.
And that isolationist shit is consistent with America pre WW1 and the interwar period before WW2.
Preaching to the choir.
The billionaires in America don’t care though. They don’t care about our Constitution either. They just want to play ball so they’re not monopoly busted by Trump in retaliation and so they get a place at the feeding trough as these assholes dismantle us and our country.
Remember the stupid parade that he was so desperate to have and never got?
And yet. All of this feels like a seismic shit prefacing going to war
And what’s the solution to that? Further militarization of the US and Europe? Or diplomacy and negotiations?
Diplomacy? From Trump? That’s not happening on any timeline.
So let’s push for ramping up the military industrial complex in Europe instead?
him acting like a little boy playing with toy truck when behind the wheel of a construction vehicle
You missed this one then? https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/vroom-vroom-vroom
Apparently I also missed this one https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/trump-truck
Thank goodness, I’m embarrassed that the walking cheeto would melt down like that while holding one of the most prestigious offices in my country, although unfortunately I’m not surprised by it. I’m glad Ukraine has other places it’s leadership can turn too in this time of need. Sadly, I can only hope that the dark spector of mortality does it’s work swiftly in the oval office and this geriatric orange is done for good sooner rather then later.
He didn’t melt down. This was a performance, theater, or as he himself said: great television. It was a planned insult and betrayal of Zelensky. Putin couldn’t be more pleased.
Then you get President Vance, but maybe his lack of charisma woyld start to turn the public away.
This Jerking Dick Vanker is a piece of shit, can’t even make a simple deal. He only had 1 job to do.
I hope the UK & EU get all of those tasty mineral rights and Trump get left holding nothing but his limp mushroom dick.
I hope Ukraine keeps its mineral rights, and we all fund their war. We should be thanking them for kicking Russia in the cunt, not taking away their resources while they fight a war for the EU and NA.
That would be very funny.
I’ve never seen starmer smile so much .
*after Trump’s Whitehouse meltdown
