I think Starmer may well be having some very, very serious meetings right now with some of the very best defence minds in the country. This is not just "get stuffed, Trump", but a serious question about whether the UK can actually afford to rely on America. At this precise moment, if I were Starmer, I'd be calling Macron and asking him for a very urgent chat about the possibility of using French nuclear weapons technology in the Trident replacement, with a plan to develop (in the medium term) an independent launch platform, perhaps in cooperation with Poland through a nuclear-sharing deal.
We, the U.K. and the E.U. plus maybe the other N.A.T.O. countries other than the U.S.A. do need to cooperate in developing and making weapons systems. We should not and cannot rely on the U.S.A. now. Not until Trump and Vance have left office and an administration with a working brain has replaced them.
I also think that it might not be a terrible idea to simply tell the Americans to leave. Russia is no threat to Europe, and Europe (with Ukrainian drone know-how) can easily turn the weaker borders into killing fields should they get any ideas. We can also mine the borders quickly and easily, while simultaneously blocking off all access to/from Russia and Belarus. Perhaps one corridor could remain for humanitarian reasons, but other than that, let's fortify the borders.
The Americans will certainly have severe problems if we start cutting the cord. They rely heavily on assets such as the spy station in Ayios Nikolaos (SBA Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus), and without these assets, America will start to have really big problems.
Not sure about that. Certainly read them the riot act, sort things out with your administration or we will order you to leave / cut you off / throw you out
Likewise, cut off Starlink completely from the EU, as well as known propaganda platforms like Twitter, Rumble, etc.
Rumble? That's Canadian owned. But yes, U.S.A. owned companies should be told to clean up their act or be banned. As should companies that are owned elsewhere but which carry propaganda. But we do have to be careful not to ban reasonable free speech.
Let them feel the pain. If they want to come back, they're going to have to offer a lot more than they do now. Oh, and their defence contractors? Well, obviously there can be no more expensive contracts for American weapons systems. We might not be able to create truly cutting-edge weapons in the short term, but we can certainly create weapons that will do large amounts of damage.
The trouble is we need parts and support for the U.S.A. made / supplied / designed weapons systems that we have. We don't have the money to replace all of them. But for companies that we don't need, yes, tell them "sorry, we won't work with you or buy from you until sort your government out.
I've been reading quite a few independent analyses of the situation with drones, and they all are absolutely clear: Ukraine is building a drone production capability that is frankly frightening. They are developing so many things that Russia simply cannot counter them all, and this drone warfare capability is likely to become in huge demand in coming years because they've got tried and tested battlefield products. It seems that what's actually happening in Donetsk is that Ukraine isn't really engaging the Russians on the battlefield, but rather they're letting the Russians come forward, get blown to pieces with drone warfare, the Russians suffer dreadful losses when moving forward, and meanwhile the Ukrainians are retreating tactically while incurring relatively few losses.
Yes, the Russian MBT, APC, IFV, supply trucks, etc. often get blown up long before they get anywhere near the contact line.
Trump, I think, simply doesn't understand exactly where Ukraine is right now.
I'm not at all sure that he understands very much at all. The more that I watch and listen to him, the more that I think he has a problem. Maybe the early stages of Dementia or some other mental problem. Regardless, him and Vance don't have a clue about the history of this war.
I can't sleep, so I'm digging around online to see what the reactions are. Europe is completely disgusted by Trump's actions, and far from undermining Zelenskyy, he seems to have empowered him. There's a clear show of unity from most European countries towards Ukraine, and there are quite a few voices that Europe needs to look after her own defence. This is not something that is going to go away overnight, even if Trump and Zelenskyy meet again next week. The mineral deal is now far more likely to end up with Europe, and with Trump screaming about tariffs again, what more motivation than to simply move away from American tech products and develop our own?
Trump may think he's on a winner, but this sort of behaviour is also going to cause some serious questions about the continuation of the US dollar as a reserve currency. There's certainly no reason why the euro can't be used for things like aviation contracts.
The E.U. and the U.K.
NEED to insist on trading oil, refined oil products and gas in Euros instead of US dollars. That would put the jitters on the U.S.A. stock and trading markets.
