All I see in the MSM and a lot of SM is "Trump and Zelensky get in shouting match", "EU will carry the torch with US backing out", "NATO invoking article 5 meaning the US will have to get involved", "Zelensky is the new leader of the free world", and so much more uninformed and spun bullshit. Not to mention all the asshats on the other side who want to completely walk away from the situation.
-People forget the U.S. stuck their nose where it didn't belong years ago by helping to remove a democratically elected leader of Ukraine because he was pro-Russian. We probably wouldn't be here now if that didn't happen.
-Putin, without question, started this war illegally. He's a dictator, murderer, and likely has a teeny peeny. He is not the hero in this story.
-Zelensky, the "leader of the free world", has
consolidated Ukraine's TV outlets and dissolved rival political parties (NPR). Don't hold the lack of elections against him though, as their constitution halts elections during war, but
Newsweek points out many other things he's doing that are very "dictator-like".
-Many, many, many pundits and SM people condemn JD and Trump for the 2 minute clip spread on SM. However, the 50 minute clips of the entire meeting paints a very different picture. Konstantine Kisin initially bashed JD and Trump, but then followed up after watching the whole 50 minutes. His tweet is below. Kaizen Asiedu has a very logical take and criticizes all involved, but also points out why they act the way they act, and what their ultimate goals are and how the actions of the other do not achieve them. Again, below.
-Zelensky knows he's not winning this war and his access to unlimited funds just got cut off by Trump. That's got to be pretty frustrating. Trump's not wrong that the unlimited funds have to stop because it's unsustainable, particularly coming from what is essentially a broke country. We ain't rich, bitch.
-FYI, within 24 hours, Ukraine's parliament had members on their floor calling for impeachment hearings against Zelensky. Didn't see that covered a ton in our MSM did you?
-Another thing I saw covered, but not very extensively is that Trump did extend Obama's executive order about assisting Ukraine against Russian aggression (or however it's worded).
-FYI, NATO article 5 does not trigger if NATO members gets shot at in Ukraine by Russia because Ukraine is not a NATO member.
-FYI, the U.S. did NOT trigger article 5 post-9/11. European NATO members did.
-I think Trump has been an asshole by cutting Ukraine out of negotiations so far.
-I'm not 100% against Trump's asking for Ukrainian resources in lieu of repayments we all know will never come.
-Hey remember when Iraq was Bush's war and it was shameful that people died "for nothing" and so on and so forth? Biden funded this war in Ukraine for 3 years and never tried finding a peaceful solution. Our MSM has now taken to painting Trump as "Putin's Bitch" because he dares suggest peace talks. What the actual fuck do they expect? The U.S. to send troops to Ukraine? The U.S. to send trillions of dollars we don't have until Ukraine marches on Moscow? How many more people need to die before our MSM can get behind the concept of peace talks? When did ending needless death and destruction become a bad thing?
-Despite what all the super educated military experts on TikTok claim, this war will not be won by Ukraine. They don't have the manpower, and they will eventually run out of money. The U.S. has supplied them with the lion's share so far, and Europe is pledging them a pittance in comparison. This is really a proxy war of Ukraine with the U.S.' money and some EU change vs Russia with China's backing. Guess which countries are run by dictators and can continue on indefinitely, and which ones hold actual elections and have to answer to the people, and thus, don't have unlimited funds. Russia and China are nuclear powers. This isn't Iraq invading Kuwait. This is nuclear armed madman invading his neighbor with the support of his other neighbor that is also a dick and nuclear armed. Zelensky constantly fighting against peace negotiations is not him being a good leader or acting in the best interests of his people. This will be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, but Trump is right in suggesting actually talking to Putin is the only way to end this war. Ukraine might have to concede some land, but Russia is going to have to make some big concessions too. That's how these types of things work.
I probably hold a more unique viewpoint in that this was a breath of fresh air in the world of politics. Seeing politicians gladhand and smile while innocents suffer and die has never done anyone any favors. I liked Zelensky's follow up take that he doesn't owe an apology and both sides looked bad. To be fair, Zelensky probably does owe an apology for his behavior, but so does Trump with his "big brothering" of Ukraine so far. This hostile meeting actually lends itself to better and quicker meetings than any gladhanding session. This was real emotion and it's good to see. People can claim "shame" and whatever else all they want, but people who aren't on edge when people are dying are able to do so because they don't care.
I'm very curious to see what Trump plans to demand from Russia in exchange for allowing them to keep some of the land they want. NATO membership for Ukraine? Russia helping to foot the bill for rebuilding Ukraine?