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.
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.
“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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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”
You win the internet understatement of the year.
That may present an opportunity to develop international democracy, to replace the violent, hegemonic rule of any one nation.
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…