Excellent piece, thank you. I find being well informed on events, machinations and all the amoral intrigues in so many of our so-called elites has become more nausea causing and depressing than I foolishly would have thought possible 20 years ago….. of course the worst is that the US president is a thug, liar, sociopath lover of dictatorships everywhere.
In all of my 75 years I could not have thought it possible that a vile man like Trump could have become the president of the United States ever, never mind for a second time.
I don’t disagree but in all my 65 years I could have never thought it possible a vile man like Trudeau could have been PM of Canada ever, never mind 3 times
If we are paying for clearly and courageously articulated information we wouldn't find elsewhere then The Real Story is true value for money. Thank you.
King Leopold of Belgium would do nothing which may have been misconstrued as aggressive towards the Germans at the beginning of WW2. He refused permission for the French to cross his border with the intent of providing a pre-emptive defensive measure against German invasion. And now we have Bart De Wever.
Putin's aggression against Ukraine, and the West's apparent impotence in the face of it, are both, as you point out, indicators of the collapse of the international rules-based order. But that order was based on and ensured by a set of economic and geopolitical conditions that no longer exist. The U.S. is no longer the undisputed world hegemon, as was the case post 1945. That has as much to do with the deliberate bleeding out of American, and to some extent European, industrial capacity as it does with anything Xi or Putin have done
The Euroclear funds, and Belgium's reluctance to touch them, probably reflects, as much as anything else, a desperate wish on the part of oligarchs of ALL nationalities, to maintain the inviolability of financial "safe havens". In the same way, and for the same reasons that Switzerland was almost immediately forgiven for being banker for the Nazis during that period.
Trump's Dildo Doctrine lays out the betrayal of the Ukraine and Europe.
The United States is no longer a stable, trusted and respected ally. It has been corrupted by Mafia Don.
Merz assessment of the Trump regime's surrender of the Ukraine and warning the Ukraine and other European allies is accurate that the US has gone to the dark side.
Russia has invested heavily in finding allies throughout Europe and North America. To some extent this is a continuation of Soviet era practice. Here’s a good Substack on it (I think it’s free).
Thanks Terry. You know what makes me sad? It is that our "leaders" and I use the term very loosely, don't sit down and listen to you and others who actually do research. Our "leaders" seem so concerned with appeasing their followers that they inevitably refuse to make hard decisions. A wise man told me that leadership is more about saying "no" than saying yes - politicians love saying yes, especially to spending money on stupid ideas (firearm buyback anyone?), and can't seem to say "no" to bad behaviour (Putin, Xi) and dumb ideas like giving up a third of Ukraine.
My head wants to explode. Dont believe me? My wife hears me thinking ( not good) and grinding my teeth.
Belgium? The Muslims paradise.
As with Russia and the Islamist caliphates, just follow the money.
Sadly I will make a prediction. Your reference to Ribbentrop will come to pass again. For one and one reason alone. History repeats itself again and again. Europe never learns. The players change but the process and the outcomes almost always end on the same way, badly.
Lastly, I no longer mention my Irish roots when asked.
Nein, meine Lieber Frau Katze... Russia has corruption completely under control. There is no corruption in Russia - unless Vlady Putin gets his cut, his vigorish, if you will.
And what of the deeply rooted corruption in Ukraine that is also feeding off this awful war? How long do ordinary Ukrainians have to suffer before this ends?
The Stalin/Hitler pact is only one of a series of treaties made in Europe that have drawn and redrawn the map. It is the most recent bad one, but what of the post war "peace" that condemned Eastern Europe to Soviet vasallage? Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968?
History is the long sorry tale of how a shabby peace was accepted to avoid a worse conflict.
Why is it so different today? Nobody wants to fight for Ukraine (including a lot of Ukrainians) so why continue to work the meat-grinder?
"Appeasement" is simply accepting an outcome which offends our sense of justice. So Putin wins this? Stalin won a lot more and we lived with that.
I don't think I have a narrative, but I am a student of history and I don't see how else this ends. Will Ukraine miraculously recover lost ground? Will Putin retreat? Is there any likely change in NATO policy? How much longer will NATO money flow? Especially if corruption in Ukraine continues to be exposed.
I support your work, but I think you are not seeing this clearly. I would love to see Ukraine kick Russia out and for Putin to suffer humiliation and defeat, but it ain't happening. They need to stop before it gets worse.
Based on what? There is no evidence that Putin is on some world conquering campaign, and it is obvious to everyone that he can't take on NATO. Russia is just managing to grind down Ukraine which has a fraction of NATO's resources. How do you expect this to end?
If you are truly a "student of history" I don't think you're going to pass the finals.
"No evidence...Putin...world conquering campaign" There's your first fail. Under Putin's rule, direct wars or supporting wars in Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, all of which were once part of Russian Empire.
Second, Putin's own statements. '"It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union," Putin said of the 1991 breakup,' And '"We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost," said Putin, part of what he called "a major humanitarian tragedy".'
If it is 'obvious to everyone that he can't take on NATO,' then why hasn't he accept that fact and pulled back, or tried to be a bit less threatening to NATO?
I could go on at much more length, but you need to go back to the prof of your "history 101" class or at least dig a bit deeper in the text. For example, ask yourself why, during WW2, citizens of France, Poland, Holland, etc. kept fighting German occupation in country or as exiles, even when it meant death for some of them.
I know this is a bit disjointed. My apologies. But there is so much out of place with real life in your comments.
As you point out, Putin's priority is to reestablish hegemony by over former Russian satellite states, and of course Ukraine which was historically (over centuries) part of Russia itself.
This is the basis for his political career (aside from the Russian givens of corruption..).
A lot of this has been accompanied by various acts which outrage all human decency but that is how the Russians have always fought their wars. No quarter given or expected.
I am not arguing morals here- just realpolitik. What is possible to achieve given the facts on the ground.
If we aren't prepared to go to war about this, why continue the slaughter on eastern Ukraine? Who gains? The usual suspects (including Trump's cronies) will probably make money, but that is all.
"Why continue... who gains?" Ask the Ukrainians. Why do they continue to fight? (That was my point about the resistance people in W2 - why did they still fight back after being conquered?)
It's not up to "us" to decide that Ukraine has to surrender, no matter what Donny says. All it costs "us" is the price of some weapons to give Ukraine a chance, if they want to continue. And so far it seems they do.
I don't think this is true anymore. Opinion has changed. Recent polls indicate 60% or more are now in favor of a deal. Only 24% in favor of continuing. Many young people have left.
I would rather Ukraine winds this in some sense, but it seems that even Ukrainians are accepting that they can't.
Terry Glavina sometimes you make my day. Sometimes you break it. I have three sons and one daughter. I lost my adult son to multiple myeloma. I lost my husband to a genetic disease. They fought hard, for years, and lost the battle. But I would never willingly send my husband or son to battle for land in a scenario like Ukraine in today’s position. I’m no wimp. But I can do math and I have eyes to see and a long memory. I practiced law and mediation for 30 years and one thing is constant. When the money runs out, the fight has to stop. You can keep your bitter feelings for the rest of your life but the war ends when the bullets are gone. As I taught my children, use your words.
Excellent piece, thank you. I find being well informed on events, machinations and all the amoral intrigues in so many of our so-called elites has become more nausea causing and depressing than I foolishly would have thought possible 20 years ago….. of course the worst is that the US president is a thug, liar, sociopath lover of dictatorships everywhere.
In all of my 75 years I could not have thought it possible that a vile man like Trump could have become the president of the United States ever, never mind for a second time.
I don’t disagree but in all my 65 years I could have never thought it possible a vile man like Trudeau could have been PM of Canada ever, never mind 3 times
Thanks for speaking plainly.
If we are paying for clearly and courageously articulated information we wouldn't find elsewhere then The Real Story is true value for money. Thank you.
Thanks back. That's the highest tribute I can aspire to.
Excellent, as usual.
"He says he’s scared of armies of Russian lawyers..." He says he's scared, but more likely he's expecting a cut.
King Leopold of Belgium would do nothing which may have been misconstrued as aggressive towards the Germans at the beginning of WW2. He refused permission for the French to cross his border with the intent of providing a pre-emptive defensive measure against German invasion. And now we have Bart De Wever.
Putin's aggression against Ukraine, and the West's apparent impotence in the face of it, are both, as you point out, indicators of the collapse of the international rules-based order. But that order was based on and ensured by a set of economic and geopolitical conditions that no longer exist. The U.S. is no longer the undisputed world hegemon, as was the case post 1945. That has as much to do with the deliberate bleeding out of American, and to some extent European, industrial capacity as it does with anything Xi or Putin have done
The Euroclear funds, and Belgium's reluctance to touch them, probably reflects, as much as anything else, a desperate wish on the part of oligarchs of ALL nationalities, to maintain the inviolability of financial "safe havens". In the same way, and for the same reasons that Switzerland was almost immediately forgiven for being banker for the Nazis during that period.
Trump's Dildo Doctrine lays out the betrayal of the Ukraine and Europe.
The United States is no longer a stable, trusted and respected ally. It has been corrupted by Mafia Don.
Merz assessment of the Trump regime's surrender of the Ukraine and warning the Ukraine and other European allies is accurate that the US has gone to the dark side.
Russia has invested heavily in finding allies throughout Europe and North America. To some extent this is a continuation of Soviet era practice. Here’s a good Substack on it (I think it’s free).
https://olgalautman.substack.com/
Thanks Terry. You know what makes me sad? It is that our "leaders" and I use the term very loosely, don't sit down and listen to you and others who actually do research. Our "leaders" seem so concerned with appeasing their followers that they inevitably refuse to make hard decisions. A wise man told me that leadership is more about saying "no" than saying yes - politicians love saying yes, especially to spending money on stupid ideas (firearm buyback anyone?), and can't seem to say "no" to bad behaviour (Putin, Xi) and dumb ideas like giving up a third of Ukraine.
From one full-patch member of the reality-based community to another, thank you Terry for always standing up for democracy.
As always thank you Terry.
My head wants to explode. Dont believe me? My wife hears me thinking ( not good) and grinding my teeth.
Belgium? The Muslims paradise.
As with Russia and the Islamist caliphates, just follow the money.
Sadly I will make a prediction. Your reference to Ribbentrop will come to pass again. For one and one reason alone. History repeats itself again and again. Europe never learns. The players change but the process and the outcomes almost always end on the same way, badly.
Lastly, I no longer mention my Irish roots when asked.
They've taken enough. Don't let them take the Irish out of you.
How does the corruption scandal reveal in Ukraine play into all of this?
Alas, corruption can happen anywhere, even in a country fighting for its life.
It has happened before, even during the first and second world wars.
Minor. It will pass.
Rest assured that Russia is as corrupt as they come.
Nein, meine Lieber Frau Katze... Russia has corruption completely under control. There is no corruption in Russia - unless Vlady Putin gets his cut, his vigorish, if you will.
As I said, all under control... 😀
That anti-corruption enforcement is working better in war-torn Ukraine better than in the West.
They've taken enough. Don't let them take the Irish out of you.
I love your fightin’ Irishness.
And what of the deeply rooted corruption in Ukraine that is also feeding off this awful war? How long do ordinary Ukrainians have to suffer before this ends?
The Stalin/Hitler pact is only one of a series of treaties made in Europe that have drawn and redrawn the map. It is the most recent bad one, but what of the post war "peace" that condemned Eastern Europe to Soviet vasallage? Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968?
History is the long sorry tale of how a shabby peace was accepted to avoid a worse conflict.
Why is it so different today? Nobody wants to fight for Ukraine (including a lot of Ukrainians) so why continue to work the meat-grinder?
"Appeasement" is simply accepting an outcome which offends our sense of justice. So Putin wins this? Stalin won a lot more and we lived with that.
Enjoy your miserable "narrative," I guess.
I don't think I have a narrative, but I am a student of history and I don't see how else this ends. Will Ukraine miraculously recover lost ground? Will Putin retreat? Is there any likely change in NATO policy? How much longer will NATO money flow? Especially if corruption in Ukraine continues to be exposed.
I support your work, but I think you are not seeing this clearly. I would love to see Ukraine kick Russia out and for Putin to suffer humiliation and defeat, but it ain't happening. They need to stop before it gets worse.
Tell that to the families of the dead Ukranians. Gathering from the comment Putin wins this, you are definitely not ready to live with whats next.
Trust me.
Based on what? There is no evidence that Putin is on some world conquering campaign, and it is obvious to everyone that he can't take on NATO. Russia is just managing to grind down Ukraine which has a fraction of NATO's resources. How do you expect this to end?
If you are truly a "student of history" I don't think you're going to pass the finals.
"No evidence...Putin...world conquering campaign" There's your first fail. Under Putin's rule, direct wars or supporting wars in Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, all of which were once part of Russian Empire.
Second, Putin's own statements. '"It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union," Putin said of the 1991 breakup,' And '"We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost," said Putin, part of what he called "a major humanitarian tragedy".'
If it is 'obvious to everyone that he can't take on NATO,' then why hasn't he accept that fact and pulled back, or tried to be a bit less threatening to NATO?
I could go on at much more length, but you need to go back to the prof of your "history 101" class or at least dig a bit deeper in the text. For example, ask yourself why, during WW2, citizens of France, Poland, Holland, etc. kept fighting German occupation in country or as exiles, even when it meant death for some of them.
I know this is a bit disjointed. My apologies. But there is so much out of place with real life in your comments.
Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and the thousands of tonnes of bombs dropped on Syria on behalf of Assad.
As you point out, Putin's priority is to reestablish hegemony by over former Russian satellite states, and of course Ukraine which was historically (over centuries) part of Russia itself.
This is the basis for his political career (aside from the Russian givens of corruption..).
A lot of this has been accompanied by various acts which outrage all human decency but that is how the Russians have always fought their wars. No quarter given or expected.
I am not arguing morals here- just realpolitik. What is possible to achieve given the facts on the ground.
If we aren't prepared to go to war about this, why continue the slaughter on eastern Ukraine? Who gains? The usual suspects (including Trump's cronies) will probably make money, but that is all.
"Why continue... who gains?" Ask the Ukrainians. Why do they continue to fight? (That was my point about the resistance people in W2 - why did they still fight back after being conquered?)
It's not up to "us" to decide that Ukraine has to surrender, no matter what Donny says. All it costs "us" is the price of some weapons to give Ukraine a chance, if they want to continue. And so far it seems they do.
I don't think this is true anymore. Opinion has changed. Recent polls indicate 60% or more are now in favor of a deal. Only 24% in favor of continuing. Many young people have left.
I would rather Ukraine winds this in some sense, but it seems that even Ukrainians are accepting that they can't.
Terry Glavina sometimes you make my day. Sometimes you break it. I have three sons and one daughter. I lost my adult son to multiple myeloma. I lost my husband to a genetic disease. They fought hard, for years, and lost the battle. But I would never willingly send my husband or son to battle for land in a scenario like Ukraine in today’s position. I’m no wimp. But I can do math and I have eyes to see and a long memory. I practiced law and mediation for 30 years and one thing is constant. When the money runs out, the fight has to stop. You can keep your bitter feelings for the rest of your life but the war ends when the bullets are gone. As I taught my children, use your words.
Based on the families of the dead Ukranians. Are you not able to grasp that concept?
Then move on. Discussion is over.
And what about the families of the Ukrainians yet to die?
What part of discussion over dont you understand?
Well said Terry. Thank you. Everyone on the left and right has lost their moral clarity, which you have in spades. I salute you for that.
Trump might not be a foreign agent but his actions are what a foreign agent would do if they were POTUS.
Sorry, Terry Glavin*