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@GottaLaff Can anyone think of an example where the leader of a country unfriendly to a world superpower gave up their weapons of mass destruction and it worked out well for them? Libya? Ukraine?
@GottaLaff So, the Iran stuff is probably a concession to Putin, considering all the Shahed drones they are selling to Russia.
So, Trump capitulated on all points in Ukraine, and also accepted concessions wrt to Iran.
What a "deal-maker" :p
I call BS
Putin is just giving Trump some cover and more to talk about. It's as meaningless as Trump "considering" more sanctions on Russia. All just words to keep attention focused on him.
Putin's financial situation grows increasingly dire.
His gold reserves are running low. He's cut off from SWIFT. He's increasingly at the mercy of China's Yuan & cryptocurrency manipulations. He's required to bank through Iran, a lethal combination of corruption & Islamic ideological purity.
Republicans used to believe in the harsher aspects of Darwinian "moral hazard" and adore it when the vulnerable crash & burn financially.
@Npars01 I hope Trump isn’t giving him added strength though
Trump's Republicans on Wall Street kept control of Iran's frozen assets for 40 years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_frozen_assets
Wall Street should be leaping at an opportunity to do the same to Russia.
Europe is using the interest off Putin's frozen assets to help Ukraine.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/06/europes-powerful-tool-against-russia-seizing-its-frozen-assets
The GOP is terrified that US financial institutions may do the same.
A defense of Ukraine could be funded with frozen assets & end GOP talking points about taxation.
I read one report that Ukraine's ability to block missiles dropped from 90% to 50% with the ending of US Intel. So, effectively, Trump doubled Putin's firepower with that one move - while also reducing Ukraine's ability to respond.
That intel relies on satellite imagery & on-the-ground spies.
Spies are cheap & Eutel is getting its act together to replace Starlink
In fact, a European funded spying system is more likely to succeed.
Closer to home. More motivated. Shorter supply chain & fewer possible points of failure.
The CIA is hopelessly compromised by GOP partisans & Trump's loose lips killed a lot of assets.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/575384-cia-admits-to-losing-dozens-of-informants-around-the-world-nyt/
https://nypost.com/2021/10/05/cia-reports-dozens-of-informants-arrested-or-killed/
Since Jan. 1st the rub/USD currency pair has shown russia's ruble strengthening by as much as 25% against the USD, right now that gain is ~22%
The fossil fuel financiers enabling both Trump and Putin have money to burn to artificially prop up a currency or suppress one.
The markets aren't very hopeful about the USD as Trump engineers a recession.
Conversion rate for Russian Ruble to United States Dollar
1 ruble equals .011 USD...
https://g.co/kgs/TR53UHM
It takes 89 rubles to buy a single USD.
This is the long term trend for the ruble...
Oligarchy really destroys economies...
@GottaLaff My country or the Scandinavia and/or the Baltic countries should build a nuclear weapon also. In the meantime we probably have France's nuclear umberella. France should station couple of their nukes in Finland because st. Petersburg is so close and it would save rocket fuel.
@GottaLaff The 2 biggest nuclear weapon countries are allied and no one is safe without their own nuclear weapons. Ukraine had nukes and they have them to Russia because USA and UK promised to keep Ukraine safe. Well what happened?