BeyondGeography
BeyondGeography's JournalEU plans extraordinary summit on defence, Ukraine on March 6
Source: Reuters
BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - European Union leaders will meet for an extraordinary summit on March 6 to discuss additional support for Ukraine, European security guarantees and how to pay for European defence needs, EU officials said on Sunday.
"We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security. In my consultations with European leaders, I’ve heard a shared commitment to meet those challenges at EU level: strengthening European Defence and contributing decisively to peace on our continent and long-term security of Ukraine," the chairman of EU summits, Antonio Costa, said on X.
…Officials have been discussing the possible use for defence of about 90 billion euros of loans and some grants from the EU's post-pandemic recovery fund that are unlikely to be spent before a 2026 deadline.
Also under discussion is the use of EU cohesion funds - money from the EU's long-term budget earmarked for equalising living standards across the bloc - for projects that could help the military. Finally, the Brussels could declare all defence investment exempt from EU limits on government spending, which would avoid penalising governments for embarking on large defence projects.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-leaders-meet-extraordinary-summit-ukraine-eu-defence-march-6-2025-02-23/
"It's as if we lost the war to America. This looks to me like reparations."
‘It’s blackmail’: Ukrainians react to Trump demand for $500bn share of minerals…“It’s as if we lost the war to America. This looks to me like reparations,” Volodymyr Landa, a senior economist at the Centre for Economic Strategy thinktank in Kyiv, said. Ukraine’s overall reserves are worth $14.8tn. They include lithium, titanium and uranium, as well as coal, steel, iron ore, and undersea shale gas. Many deposits had not been developed, Landa said, either because they were not feasible or due to political instability.
Others are in areas occupied by Russia. Ukraine’s lithium deposits – about 500,000 tonnes’ worth – are among the biggest in Europe. One site is in Kruta Balka, near the southern port of Berdiansk, which the Kremlin occupied early in its 2022 invasion. Another is in the Shevchenkivskyi district, on the frontline in the eastern Donetsk oblast. Russian troops recently took control of the area. The deposit in Liodiane is one of two under Ukrainian control.
…Residents living near Liodiane said they supported the construction of a new lithium mine. They were not, however, ready to give the profits to Trump. “This idea is too much,” Tetiana Slyvenko, a local administrator, said. “He wants to take resources from a country in a time of war. How are we supposed to live? We have children. It’s as if the US seeks to deprive us of our economic potential. It would finish us off, the same as America did with Red Indians [Native Americans].”
…Trump has said he wants a share of “rare earths”, a class of 17 minerals. In fact, Ukraine has few of these. The US president appears to have confused them with rare metals and critical materials, such as lithium and graphite. Alyoshin said there was a further misconception that quick profits could be made. “People think you put a shovel in the ground and dig up money. We have been working on this project for five or six years. With investment we can begin production in 2028,” he said.
Read at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/22/its-blackmail-ukrainians-react-to-trump-demand-for-500bn-share-of-minerals?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Murdoch's NY Post: Putin is THE dictator and 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril
Vladimir Putin started this war, despite what President Trump said days ago…
TRUTH No. 2
Russia is fighting for conquest. The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine in 2022…
TRUTH No. 3
Ukraine is fighting for its independence…
TRUTH No. 4
Ukrainians are not Russians. Ukrainians and Russians are not “one people — a single whole,” as Putin wrote in a 2021 essay...
TRUTH No. 5
Putin is a dictator…
TRUTH No. 6
Zelensky is not a dictator…
TRUTH No. 7
Russia is not a friend of the US. It is a hostile, nuclear-armed state that resents American power and the world the US has built…
TRUTH No. 8
Ukraine is a friend of the US. Ukraine wants to be part of the American-led order. Its people and government are deeply pro-American...
TRUTH No. 9
Putin cannot be trusted…
TRUTH No. 10
American aid to Ukraine is not being wasted...
Read at https://nypost.com/2025/02/20/opinion/putin-is-the-dictator-and-9-other-ukraine-russia-war-truths-we-ignore-at-our-peril/
Senators react to Trump claiming Ukraine started the war with Russia
?si=lFwAZH4_9MJf2fFWI Got The Blues - The Rolling Stones
?si=nNrBAPpILgMRoCgnHouse Republicans call for show of strength in Eastern Europe
Lawmakers want Trump administration to make U.S. bases in the region permanentUnderscoring the need for “a consistent forward projection of U.S. deterrence,” the lawmakers wrote a letter Tuesday to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging them to make the nation’s bases in Eastern Europe permanent — a step signatories argued will “increase regional security and bolster our allies and partners.”
“Neither Russia nor China will stop until they have replaced the United States as the number one global hegemon, and a strong forward posture in Eastern Europe will allow us to deter our adversaries early and decisively,” the lawmakers wrote…”With the rise of global tensions in recent years and the ongoing war in Ukraine, it’s essential that the U.S. can properly and effectively project power within Eastern Europe,” the lawmakers added.
Led by Rep. Pat Fallon, the new chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, the letter comes as the Trump administration is laying the groundwork to help broker an end to the nearly three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war…Also signing onto the letter were GOP Reps. Michael R. Turner of Ohio, the recently ousted chair of the House Intelligence Committee; Daniel Crenshaw of Texas; Jen Kiggans of Virginia; and Claudia Tenney of New York.
https://rollcall.com/2025/02/18/house-republicans-call-for-show-of-strength-in-eastern-europe/
Flies are starting to appear in the Putin party ointment.
Starmer prepared to put troops into Ukraine to safeguard peace
Source: The Independent
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he is prepared to put a peacekeeping force into Ukraine if there is a deal to end the war with Russia, acknowledging this could put British troops "in harm's way" if Vladimir Putin attacks again. The Prime Minister is joining European leaders for emergency talks in Paris as they scramble for a strategy in response to US President Donald Trump's push for a deal with Russian president Mr Putin and fears the US will reduce its defence commitments in the continent.
Sir Keir said the crisis was a "once in a generation moment" and an "existential" question for Europe. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister said the UK was "ready to play a leading role" in Ukraine's defence and security, including the commitment of 3 billion a year until 2030. But he said that along with military aid to Ukraine "it also means being ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary".
"I do not say that lightly. I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm's way," Sir Keir said. "But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine's security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country. The end of this war, when it comes, cannot merely become a temporary pause before Putin attacks again."
Sir Keir has previously only hinted that British troops could be involved in safeguarding Ukraine after a ceasefire, but in an explicit message aimed at encouraging both European allies and Mr Trump to commit to deterring a future attack he confirmed he could deploy the military.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/keir-starmer-vladimir-putin-ukraine-emmanuel-macron-prime-minister-b2699244.html?callback=in&code=NDNIZTUYN2MTZDYZZI0ZNZK1LWEXYZUTMDC5NZAYMJC2Y2Y2&state=7b1974c7a8dd45049bdc729f92041354
Vance goes full MAGA and bombs in Europe
But that was the point of course.
Vance berates European leaders as tensions with close allies burst into the open
The vice president used the podium at the high-level security gathering in Munich that had been focusing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine to raise social issues animating many on the American right.
"The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any external actor," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "What I worry about is the threat from within — the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America….I’ve heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from and of course, that’s important. But what has seemed a little bit less clear to me ... is what exactly you’re defending yourselves for?”
The vice president's comments were met with an icy reception and only scattered applause — and groans when he joked about how if American democracy could "survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius denounced Vance's remarks during a session at the conference later in the day, saying in German that it was "not acceptable" that the U.S. vice president compared "the condition of Europe with the condition that prevails in some auto-authoritarian regimes."
…"I was in the room in Munich for VP Vance’s speech," Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., wrote in a post on X. "No talk about Russia, Ukraine, China. Just criticisms of our allies and focus on “the threat from within.” His speech is going to embolden our adversaries who will see this as a green light to act while America is distracted/divided."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna192182
Mendelssohn - Venetian Boat Song (Schiff)
?si=R6rzQ3cO2ihoQdEHAn "I am somebody" commercial
Without showing Jesse Jackson’s name or face.
GMAFB.
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