| European Summit 19:32 - Mar 2 with 1507 views | Kropotkin123 |
What's your verdict?
It's still very early, but seems lukewarm to me. No great movements forward, though going in the right direction. Eg, agreement on using the profits of frozen Russian assets, but not expropriating the whole lot. Or; Setting up a coalition of the willing, but counties still doing their own thing rather than an integrated approach to arms production. Or; Nothing on the German request to expand the nuclear umbrella. Or; Nothing on training Ukrainians within Ukraine.
We might get something on this in the future, we'll see |  |
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| European Summit on 20:12 - Mar 2 with 1356 views | Eireannach_gorm |
Early days yet. Zelenskyy has just been thrown out of the White House and Trump has aligned his country with Russia which is a little bit of a change in US foreign policy so maybe we should wait for a more considered European policy on this new normal. |  | | |
| European Summit on 20:21 - Mar 2 with 1317 views | redrickstuhaart |
| European Summit on 20:12 - Mar 2 by Eireannach_gorm |
Early days yet. Zelenskyy has just been thrown out of the White House and Trump has aligned his country with Russia which is a little bit of a change in US foreign policy so maybe we should wait for a more considered European policy on this new normal. |
Apparently "Bessent says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has "thrown off the sequencing" of how the minerals deal and peace deal were supposed to play out, and that it's unclear if he now wants to proceed."
Amazing how htings get out of sequence if you try to do deals before involving the person involved... |  | | |
| European Summit on 20:28 - Mar 2 with 1290 views | pointofblue |
| European Summit on 20:21 - Mar 2 by redrickstuhaart |
Apparently "Bessent says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has "thrown off the sequencing" of how the minerals deal and peace deal were supposed to play out, and that it's unclear if he now wants to proceed."
Amazing how htings get out of sequence if you try to do deals before involving the person involved... |
The Ukrainians thought they were entering negotiations with the Americans.
Trump and his followers were issuing orders. | |
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| European Summit on 23:09 - Mar 2 with 1137 views | Churchman |
Too early. But body language, comments suggest to me progress is being made. Time will tell, but I sense a true dawning of what is happening amongst the majority and a desire that wasn’t there at the meeting that took place the other week.
Key players, as I see it, are U.K., France, Germany, Poland, NATO head honcho, President of the European Commission, Italy (Meloni seems to get on well with Starmer) and actually Canada. You are never going to get agreement of all but I do think it was positive today.
Who knows what’ll happen in the next week. |  | | |
| European Summit on 06:07 - Mar 3 with 995 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| European Summit on 23:09 - Mar 2 by Churchman |
Too early. But body language, comments suggest to me progress is being made. Time will tell, but I sense a true dawning of what is happening amongst the majority and a desire that wasn’t there at the meeting that took place the other week.
Key players, as I see it, are U.K., France, Germany, Poland, NATO head honcho, President of the European Commission, Italy (Meloni seems to get on well with Starmer) and actually Canada. You are never going to get agreement of all but I do think it was positive today.
Who knows what’ll happen in the next week. |
You need to add Czechia into that list. Single handedly responsible for turning around the terrible situation when Ukraine were out-shelled 10 to 1 by sourcing ex-Soviet shells from all around the world.
The Czech arms industry is also one of those most capable of ramping up production.
Scandinavia and the Baltic States are also very important, especially in terms of equipping for, and potentially peace-keeping during, the Ukrainian winter. There has been a large delivery of anti-air batteries from Scandinavia to Ukraine recently. Not as capable as Patriot systems, but with a combined arms approach that could make them more effective against drones, and crucially with a supply chain completely out of Trump's orbit.
Two things to look out for within the Ukraine-Russia war itself over the next couple of weeks:
There are reports that the F16s are beginning to perform very well. Will any more become available? On the downside, it is not clear on the extent to which they are dependent on US Air Force programming, or whether there are others capable of performing that task from European Air Forces.
The wild-card: Transnistria. A long thin stretch of Moldova wedged up against the Ukrainian border which declared independence under a pro-Russian leadership, and received military forces from Russia. There are rumours that there are only 3,000 Russian troops left.
Could Ukraine attack them, and deliver Transnistria back into Moldovan hands? That would be a huge symbolic loss from Putin. It would also free up a long border which Ukraine currently has to defend.
The actual deal that is made is dependent on what happens in the war. I believe that momentum on the battlefield is currently with Ukraine. | | | |
| European Summit on 07:42 - Mar 3 with 913 views | BlueBoots |
| European Summit on 23:09 - Mar 2 by Churchman |
Too early. But body language, comments suggest to me progress is being made. Time will tell, but I sense a true dawning of what is happening amongst the majority and a desire that wasn’t there at the meeting that took place the other week.
Key players, as I see it, are U.K., France, Germany, Poland, NATO head honcho, President of the European Commission, Italy (Meloni seems to get on well with Starmer) and actually Canada. You are never going to get agreement of all but I do think it was positive today.
Who knows what’ll happen in the next week. |
Turkey also a key player going forward, particularly if the US remove / scale down their support for Ukraine - largest army in NATO after the US. |  |
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| European Summit on 08:07 - Mar 3 with 854 views | BloomBlue |
Unsure of using the 'coalition of the willing' didn't Blair and Bush use that term pre the Iraq war, and we all know how well that played out. |  | | |
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| European Summit on 08:58 - Mar 3 with 711 views | Guthrum |
| European Summit on 08:07 - Mar 3 by BloomBlue |
Unsure of using the 'coalition of the willing' didn't Blair and Bush use that term pre the Iraq war, and we all know how well that played out. |
Altho, to be fair, nomenclature was not the biggest problem in that situation. |  |
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| European Summit on 09:05 - Mar 3 with 700 views | Guthrum |
Quite a lot was formulated for one sitting.
A unified European defence umbrella and support network is not going to be just pulled out of the hat. Requires a vast amount of coordination - of governments, militaries, defence contractors, funding, responsibilities, areas of operation and so on.
Training Ukrainians in-country is very unlikely while the conflict is still ongoing. The instructors become (even accidentally) targets. Too easy to actually be drawn into the war. | |
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| European Summit on 09:20 - Mar 3 with 662 views | NeedhamChris |
Too much to digest for one morning, and I think what was agreed will likely seep out in days and weeks to come.
What I will say - is that it's been a while since I've felt proud of our country, but seeing our country taking a lead role again with our European (and Canadian) friends and partners was something to savour yesterday. | |
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| European Summit on 13:59 - Mar 3 with 514 views | Kropotkin123 |
| European Summit on 09:05 - Mar 3 by Guthrum |
Quite a lot was formulated for one sitting.
A unified European defence umbrella and support network is not going to be just pulled out of the hat. Requires a vast amount of coordination - of governments, militaries, defence contractors, funding, responsibilities, areas of operation and so on.
Training Ukrainians in-country is very unlikely while the conflict is still ongoing. The instructors become (even accidentally) targets. Too easy to actually be drawn into the war. |
There are suggestions on the latter point that this is something under consideration that would have a significant impact on Ukrainian manpower. | |
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