• Zacryon@feddit.org
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    2 days ago

    Classic Friedrich Merz: “We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war”, he says. And then invites over Netanyahu.

    He is a terrible person.

    • ikt@aussie.zoneOP
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      1 day ago

      painful ain’t it?

      Goes to show the stickiness of social networks imo, I doubt any of them have even heard of bluesky

  • ladicius@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    He shouldn’t thank anyone because he doesn’t need to.

    His country is carrying a whole continent on their shoulders. We should thank Ukraine. We are in deep debt to them.

    • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      You’re not wrong by any means, but this show of good faith is how he garners the support he needs to continue being our Frontline. I wish they didn’t have to be, but I’m glad they have such a dedicated and competent leader to guide them through this

  • atro_city@fedia.io
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    2 days ago

    One can only hope that without the US, Ukraine can still hold out long enough for Russia to implode. One must unfortunately further hope that the US doesn’t start helping Russia e.g by undoing sanctions or even sending over money and troops.

    • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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      2 days ago

      the day my country starts helping russia destroy Ukraine is coming soon, i fear. all this has been prelude to us, softening us up for the concept. wearing us out until we no longer have the energy to stand up and fight for what is right. our treatment of our ally will be a permanent bloodstain in the tapestry of history, and our turn towards russia a permanent singe.

      • foofiepie@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        If your country starts supporting Russia, the whole fucking world is going to be very puzzled if you’re not rioting by that point.

        Maybe take some lessons from the people who gave you the Statue of Liberty.

      • Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        Just a reminder that if you’re conscripted to fight on behalf of whatever stupid war the US is going to be initiating, sabotaging your troop transport on the way over is potentially a moral decision.

      • serenissi@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Trump wasn’t joking about gambling with ww3 unfortunately. He indeed has the cards but is stupid enough to play it wrong.

      • MonsterMonster@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        It’s already started. Trump is emboldening Putin with his attempt at brokering a peace deal and making concessions from the start without involving Ukraine. His threats to encourage Russia to attack NATO countries.

        He’s doing Putin’s political dirty work.

        The US could likely have a second civil war because of Trump aligning with Putin.

    • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyzM
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      2 days ago

      Through the whole of 2024 the Russia was advancing faster than anyone expected.

      During that year, they managed to occupy 0.7 % of Ukraine’s territory. Which basically rounds to zero.

      the Russia now works mainly without military vehicles. Even if there was a complete collapse of the Ukrainian front, the Russia would be less able to exploit it than they were able to advance in northern parts of Ukraine in spring 2022. I’d say that the best the Russia can do is to advance about ten times as much as in 2024. That is, they could maybe occupy another 7% of Ukraine’s territory. USA can of course try helping by lifting the sanctions, but EU won’t coöperate with that.

      If USA blocks Ukraine from getting air defence missiles, the Ukrainian electricity distribution will be in deep trouble. Not the end of the world right now, when it’s already spring in Ukraine, but the next winter might get seriously bad even if the Russia has already lost by that point.

      If the EU stays supporting Ukraine, it won’t lose before the Russia does. But it might be in for its most painful year in this war 😢

      💛💙 Дякую, Україно! 💛💙

    • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 days ago

      If we exclude number of nukes, because if they become the main factor of a war everyone loses, Europe (EU+UK) has more active military… everything… than Russia and China. In most metrics Europe surpasses the US, and if we include Ukraine then it surpasses the US in everything except spending.

      The only thing holding Europe back is Europe. If our politicians get their shit together and put their national egos aside for a bit, then the only thing we need from the US is for them to get the fuck out of Europe.

      • atro_city@fedia.io
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        1 day ago

        What would happen if Europe joins the war though? Who would join Russia? China? India?

        North Korea is already involved but for some reason that didn’t get Europe involved and there must be a reason why.

    • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      The sad part is knowing millions of American troglodytes would love to die on behalf of Putin and Trump.

  • Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    America: The war should have ended in 3 days.

    Zelensky: You sound like Russian propaganda.

    America: How dare you! We used the American translation!

  • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    Poor Donald Tusk. Having to have a name so close to the more (in)famous leader who seems to be your almost exact evil counterpart.

    • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      It’s still crazy to me how there is a prime minister whose name is a perfect merge of the names of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. It really makes me wonder if we are in some kind of simulation and one of the devs was being cheeky.

      • vonbaronhans
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        2 days ago

        Vance is so much worse than I initially thought. And my standards were already super low thanks to the unambiguously racist villainizing of Haitian migrants in Ohio at the VP debate, but holy shit this was grotesque. Literal schoolyard bully shit.

        • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          yeah man Vance is like a super Christian cult member who wants to be the leader. Like forget about separation of church and state, JD Vance would burn books just as quick if it had anything other than white pages on it.

          • vonbaronhans
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            2 days ago

            What’s really weird about all this is Vance is married to an ethnically Indian woman. But he does the Christian nationalist white supremacist schtick.

            I have to imagine that the Silicon Valley style tech bro culture that Vance was inculcated into is so full of high skill Indian and Asian people that he has something of a blind spot to what his political rhetoric will do to those people, too. I honestly don’t know how he squares any of his beliefs. Or if he even bothers to try to have a consistent set of beliefs in the first place.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    I wonder if anyone else has ever felt this feeling in history, if this is what citizens of Coruscant in Star Wars felt when the Death Star blew up, or citizens of the Fire Nation when Aang started kicking ass…

    Knowledge that the powers that control where you live are failing, and satisfaction because you realize that’s a GOOD thing

    There needs to be a word for this Anti-Patriotism

  • MrSilkworm@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians are bearing the weight in the frontline of the war between Democracy and Autocracy. They have my sword!

    • blind3rdeye@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      I’m sure they’ll make good use of it, and return when they’re finished - if possible.

      (and my axe, too.)

    • glimse@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yeah, that will save Ukraine!

      Why do people make these unhelpful comments? He’s stuck on X because that’s where all the world leaders are. Zelensky is in no position to spearhead a move away from it while his country is being invaded

      • merdaverse@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I was thinking the same earlier, but you can be sure that if there is a targeted campaign against Zelensky, Musk will tank his engagement, just as he cut off Starlink to Ukrainian military. Leaving X-crement is not purely aesthetic, it is a good safeguard

        • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyzM
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          2 days ago

          If Musk was to tamper with Zelenskyj’s visibility on Twitter, it would get noticed. It would probably backlash quite big time.

          Still, it would be awesome if world politicians could please migrate to Bluesky or even Mastodon. Maybe write all messages in two systems until the migration is reasonably ready.

      • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyzM
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        2 days ago

        That’s what world leaders are using, though.

        In this case Ukraine gaining support by communicating using a medium used by international diplomacy outweighs the cons of Twitter getting more visibility.

        Politicians should migrate to other platforms as well, but Zelenskyj is about the last person to have to take the first step!

    • serenissi@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Exactly. Only thing here bothers me that why so many state reps still are on this shit platform.

      • errer@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Zelensky has no choice but to play ball on Twitter. If that’s where other world leaders are, that’s where he must be too.

        Now for the rest of us…yeah get off Twitter.

        • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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          2 days ago

          How long before Musk starts kicking those leaders off because they don’t have a Trumpian attitude? And of course most of the residents of those countries will follow their leaders to a new platform, making twitter completely irrelevant.

          • blind3rdeye@lemm.ee
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            2 days ago

            He doesn’t need to kick them off. Its more advantageous for him to keep them on his platform, where he can influence who sees their posts; and for how long; and in what context. He can suppress messages that he doesn’t like; and twist narratives; and promote messages he does like - all while making “X” seem like a useful platform to get news and to reach followers.

            The high engagement numbers of X do make it look like a place worth staying on. But make no mistake, Musk can (and does) use his control of the platform to change what people see there for his own benefit.

            • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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              1 day ago

              Of course we all know those “high engagement” numbers are greatly fueled by bots. I wonder what would happen if all news organizations just suddenly stopped posting anything on X and moved over to Mastodon/Bluesky? Seems like you would see real quick who actually wants to follow the information and who just wants an echo chamber.

      • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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        2 days ago

        Turns out a number of the good reps are on Bluesky. Yesterday I even found Tim Walz has an account there and I’ve seen many from other states tagged in comments.

    • varyingExpertise@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      Hey, that’s not fair. Bring him a little black suitcase now and then and you’ll find you can rely on him without any worries.