Ukraine Conflict - In the grim darkness of the near future, there is only war!

[Sarex]

Funny that the US is charging cash for brokering the deal, plus any profits that come out of the reconstruction.

[ShadySands]

Seems on brand

[Sarex]

4 hours ago, ShadySands said:

Seems on brand

Trump charging a percentage of that cash deal would be cherry on the top.

[kanisatha]

This is actually worse than Munich. At least then, the French and British leaders didn't include provisions of cash payouts for themselves in the sellout of the Czechs. I expect the Ukrainians will reject, knowing full well it will cost them a lot in Trump's retribution but that will still be better than complete surrender and loss of sovereignty. The real question, though, is how will London, Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw react? Will they also join in Trump's sellout of the Ukrainians?

[HoonDing]

Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

[pmp10]

23 hours ago, kanisatha said:

This is actually worse than Munich. At least then, the French and British leaders didn't include provisions of cash payouts for themselves in the sellout of the Czechs. I expect the Ukrainians will reject, knowing full well it will cost them a lot in Trump's retribution but that will still be better than complete surrender and loss of sovereignty. The real question, though, is how will London, Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw react? Will they also join in Trump's sellout of the Ukrainians?

Trump is trying to order them about on how to spend their money so obviously they will resist. 
Not that they have any intention to fill the void that US might leave behind. 

[Zoraptor]

If there's one thing Europe has acquiesced to frequently it's Trump ordering them how to spend their money. Indeed, that's almost certainly one of the reasons the slush fund provisions are there for realz rather than being laughed at. The EU/ US (and UK) trade deal is riddled with 'EU will spend this, EU will do this' provisions quite apart from accepting the tariffs. At the time of course we were told getting the US to keep helping Ukraine was one of the reasons for von der Leyen's capitulation.

(I am of course of the opinion that the agreement is more realistic than spouting pie in the sky 'stay the course/ more of the same but harder' rhetoric and insisting on conditions Russia would never agree to as if you're winning. But it's exactly the sort of agreement you'd expect from Trump, especially after he's been encouraged to see the EU and Europe as pushovers. In the end, if you fold every time because standing up to Trump is hard then having your opinions marginalised is the obvious result precisely because you've told Trump that you'll fold when pressed)