"Trump thinks about Canada in much the same way Vladimir Putin thinks about Ukraine. He identifies with his fellow imperialist. ... the way Trump talks about annexing Canada bears a disconcerting resemblance to the way Putin talks about annexing Ukraine."
As Evan Hurst notes, it's clear from multiple instances that
"Vladimir Putin mocks Trump to his face, he mocks him behind his back, and he mocks him on live TV in front of audiences of Russians."
Though Fox News and Trump epigones want to pretend that Putin didn't keep Trump waiting for their recent phone call — a humiliation tactic — there's video footage of Putin laughing about this to an audience who laugh back.
In response to #Poland declaration of exit from land mine (Ottawa) convention, #Russia MFA stated it “will take steps to increase its defensive capabilities”.
But land mines do not magically jump over the border and conduct offensives. Land mines are already a 100% defensive weapon so the only case when Polish land mines may cause any problems to Russia is when its soldiers illegally cross into Polish territory and get blown up in result.
The only “defensive step” Russia needs to take is therefore to abstain from invading Polish territory, and Russian soldiers won’t suffer from Polish land mines🤷 It’s really very simple.
P.S. I explained in the past that Russia uses its private meanings for well-established words. In 2010 Russia already absurdly described “Patriot” air defense batteries in Poland and Ukraine’s defensive fortifications in Donbas as “aggressive escalation”. This is because Russia perceives its ability to invade other countries as it wishes as some kind of its natural right or entitlement. Therefore any initiative these countries take to make Russian invasion more difficult reduces this imaginary entitlement, and thus dialectically becomes “threat to Russian security”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed his real intentions in Ukraine by bombing civilian energy infrastructure after telling Donald Trump that Moscow would stop such attacks, said Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
Before #Trump was inaugurated, his incoming admin was briefed by #Biden ofcls about the efforts & urged to continue monitoring #Russia's hybrid warfare campaign, fmr US ofcls said.
However, since Trump took office…much of the work has come to a standstill, acc/to 11 current & fmr ofcls, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss classified matters. Reuters is the first to report on the full extent of the Biden admin effort & how multiple different US agencies have since paused their work….
President Joe #Biden last year ordered his #NationalSecurity team to establish working groups to monitor the issue amid warnings from US #intelligence that Russia was escalating a shadow war against Western nations.
The plan was led by Biden's #NSC & involved at least 7 national security agencies working w/European allies to disrupt plots targeting #Europe & the #UnitedStates….
"Instead, Trump has aligned the United States with Russia, the chief military and political threat to Europe and Ukraine.
In two months, our nation has threatened the sovereignty of Greenland and Panama. Those nations provide vital transportation (shipping) and other services for the Western Hemisphere."
« Article 5
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security. »
That is: Even the proclamation of an Article 5 incident doesn't mean a military combat situation for each and every member state of NATO.
And so when Russia is said to be willing to test NATO in the near future for its readiness to adhere to Article 5, the supposition that this means Russia will be testing whether each and every member state is willing to engage militarily is an erroneous depiction of the situation.
Likewise, Russia's threat to reserve the use of nuclear weapons should this or that red line be crossed, which lead some European states (foremost Germany) to self-deter from support of Ukraine, displays an erroneous understanding.
Article 5 is way too "weak" to oblige any member state to contribute armed forces in a conflict with Russia. And that means that Russia cannot "test" the willingness of NATO to follow through on Article 5 simply by attacking a small city like Narva in Estonia with a considerable Russian minority. Every NATO member reaction would be an Article 5 contribution, and Russia cannot assess thereof what the NATO member states are furthermore willing to do to act in compliance with Article 5.
Thus these kind of war-gaming makes no sense for either party.
#Trump promised Wednesday to help #Ukraine get back thousands of children allegedly abducted to #Russia . But Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, which has been tracking the missing children, lost crucial funding from the US government as Trump made sweeping cuts into foreign aid. The Humanitarian Research Lab -- which is seeking donations to keep going -- says more than 19,000 children have been deported to Russia, with only 1,236 returned. #war https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByQRljNiE6Y
US ‘deletes evidence’ of #Russia’s kidnap of 35,000 Ukrainian children
“A #Yale University source said the US state department deleted the evidence which would have been used as part of rescue efforts to get the children home to #Ukraine.
It would also have been used to prosecute those behind their abductions – including Russian president Vladimir #Putin.”
Ahead of a leaders' summit: Russia threatens the entire EU, bloc's chief tells AFP
> Russia represents a threat for all European nations -- regardless of how far they lie from Moscow, #EU chief Antonio Costa told AFP ahead of a leaders' summit on Thursday.
> "Naturally, Russia's neighbours are most concerned by #Russia -- that goes without saying," Costa said in an interview. "But what is essential is for everyone to understand that this is a collective threat." https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2286727.html