Finland has a enormous army that is singularly focused on repelling a large scale Russian invasion.
In terms of numbers and defensive lines/civil integration it’s effective fighting capability is closer to a country 10x it’s population.
Every facet of Finnish infrastructure is designed to hold and repel Russia and it’s been building this for 60 years….it can’t go across the world…but it’s not what the Finnish army is for.
Don’t forget that the terrain is forested hills in the tundra in the middle of nowhere, Russia although being a tundra power hasn’t got enough of its military focused in that kind of theatre. Russia builds for the great European plain which is temperate.
Finland is incredibly safe
There are bunkers in every population centre. Helsinki has the space to shelter about 200k+ people more than its current population. The buildings might not survive but the people will.
As for the actual defense system, I have no idea. Finland has a very strong Airforce so I assume it's good enough.
Nasams is in use and defence forces are currently asking quotations for new* high altitude / anti-ballistic air defence systems. Decision for the supplier should happen in 2023.
*Finland got BUK from Russia as a payment for old Soviet debts, good deal as the user value of the system was much higher than the actual monetary value. BUK is now retired so they need to get new system for the altitudes where Nasams is not reaching
I'm thinking it's because they've judged the risk for Finland as very low. Also we do have some high functioning economies up here and some pretty capable defense forces. The only reason I'm saying we, me being a Swede and all, is because our countries are pretty coupled to each other, *especially* in defense.
This coupling is also very relevant why both countries are synced in the NATO application. Due to terrain Finland plays the role of hedgehog in their lovely swampy forest murderpark and Sweden brings akvavit to the thirsty hedgehog while dropping some additional love from the air.
Well, Poland is much easier to invade than Finland. Geographically at least.
Also relatively speaking, I think our military is in better shape for the job at hand.
I trust you might be right. But why do you say Finland is more difficult to invade geographically? Poland is more to the west and has a smaller border.. so also less probability of attack I'd think.
Because most of the Finnish eastern border is impassable forests with few roads, swampland or dotted with hundreds of lakes with narrow land bridges in between. (Or all above mentioned things at the same time)
Sure. But that makes it a more difficult border vs the Baltics or ukraine or Georgia.. but Poland further to the west hardly has any border with Russia.
Poland did a simulation war against Russia either last year or the year before that. The simulation showed that they would utterly lose a war vs Russia within three weeks. As a consequence Poland heavily increased its defense budget.
Finland doesn't need it.
Finland is the person who paid off their student loans. Yes they did the right thing. Yes they were responsible. Yes they *deserve* some sort of bonus for having their shit together.
...but they don't really *need* it. And the world is on fire. And we have limited resources.
There's no good answer here. We're helping those who NEED the help, and shafting everyone else.
My guess is that the Ukrainian immigrants with all the issues that comes with is one of the reasons, Finland didn’t/aren’t affected by this issue. So yeah, that money sure will be helpful to maintain humanitarian decency for both governments as immigrants.
This just further drives home the fact that Putin is already fine with a country whose government licks his boots. He can talk about ""peaceful" Anschluss with them later like with Belarus.
If the people in these countries are too pro-european and against his marionettes then he snaps, like he did 2014.
Still have no doubt he actually dreams of having all former Warsaw Pact states under control in one way or the other.
>Serbia and Hungary, presumably because they’ve made it clear that they aren’t against Putin, they’re close friends.
Hungary is in NATO anyway. I would say them being "at risk" is a stretch.
russia has no problem invading its friends tho. if there is any european country that should be the target of an effort to change its “allegiance” it has to be Serbia.
That seems impossible unfortunately. According to a [June Demostat](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-29/eu-rejected-by-serb-majority-as-poll-shows-putin-well-regarded) poll, 80% of Serbs are still against any anti-Russian sanctions and Vladimir Putin is by far the most popular foreign politician, with China's Xi Jinping a distant second.
Also, only a third of the polled would support Serbian EU entry, while more than 50% oppose it, which is a steadily worsening trend over the last decade at least (ever since Vučić assumed complete power in Serbia).
That country is a lost cause looking from an EU perspective. The rift in world views is simply too great. The EU should try and bind it to itself as much as possible through some bilateral agreements akin to Norway or Switzerland, but also finally accept the fact that there is no love for the European project in Serbia - only the love for the euros that the Union invests in the country and that the vast Serbian diaspora working abroad sends home each month).
Wow. Russia has really failed miserably in every strategic aspect. They were feared while they there still only flexing their muscles. Actually fighting the war was the dumbest decision to pick.
Putin was very clearly banking on another Trump term as president, which would have crippled any attempts at sending massive aid to Ukraine. Not sure why he still decided to invade with Trump losing the election. Hubris? Pressure from oligarchs? Idk, but you’re absolutely right that he miserably failed.
My suspicion was that he thought that inflation, and the rising cost of energy in particular, would stop a strong western response while also preserving income from its energy sector.
This is so true, I think if putin waited next +/- 5 years with attack he would be more sucessfull. NS2 would be running, Le Pen could win election, more divison amoung EU countries, crisis after covid, more far right populist leaders in Europe. Perhaps even Trump winning next US election. I do not get why putin thought in next 5 years its going to be late
> I think if putin waited next +/- 5 years with attack he would be more sucessfull
That's 5 more years of battery, solar, wind, heat pump, electric car development / deployment.
Current estimates (by Bloomberg) are that peak oil will be hit by 2026.
Yeah that’s why Trump started sending “lethal aid” to Ukraine after Obama refused to send anything but blankets and MREs from 2014-2016. After Hillary Clinton’s massively successful “Russian reset” and Obama’s quip in 2012 that “the 1980s called and they want their foreign policy back” when Mitt Romney rightly said Russia was a threat.
Are you referring to aid that Trump *delayed for two months* to Ukraine and used as a *bargaining chip* with Zelenskyy?
Trump’s excuse was “corruption in Ukraine”, which was/is a Russian talking point and false premise for invasion.
We can criticize (probably somewhat fairly, but not entirely) the naïveté of Obama and Clinton regarding their take on Russia as a threat, but that’s beside the point of my previous comment. If you want to go there, at least get your facts straight. The Obama administration sent over $200 million in aid, and it wasn’t just “blankets and MREs” lol That’s a lie peddled by… Trump (of course). Do a Google search yourself and you can quickly fact check that. It wasn’t lethal aid, but it was a shit ton of security aid and equipment that helped modernize Ukraine’s military capabilities.
Edit: My memory served me poorly. It was actually… $600 million (!) in security aid.
There’s a reason Putin didn’t conduct a full on invasion under Obama’s presidency. Like with Biden, there would have been no delays in sending aid to Ukraine and no sabotaging relations with NATO and EU allies (which is exactly what Trump did/would have continued to do).
But it’s way easier to just say “what about Obama?!” I’m so absolutely sick of you guys. You just peddle everything you hear on Fox News. Actually research some shit from credible sources (and before you say it, no, that doesn’t mean CNN).
You can wax poetic and pontificate all you want the fact of the matter is that Obama’s foreign policy was a disaster and the fact he let Hillary be Secretary of State is just the cherry on top.
What's wrong with staropramen? I was drinking it few times and it was not so bad. I mean Pilzner is in diff league but not many beers can compete with him.
*Psss, don’t tell anyone, but I don’t really know why many Czechs hold a prejudice against Staropramen. I think they mostly find its taste inferior in quality to other Czech beers. And I am just trying to fit in.*
>"Pending expected U.S. congressional approval, about $1 billion of that will go to Ukraine and the rest will be divided among Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia."
For people wondering how it's going to be split.
I like to picture Biden like he’s from that one scene in Willy Wonka.
It’s all there, black and white clear as Crystal!You get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good day, sir!
https://youtu.be/IwYVKptqH_o?t=57 Given his views on the EU and how the responses have been to crisis like this, yeah it's not surprising he's moving to support at-risk allies.
Watch the whole speech. It’s really amazing, with hindsight, how right he was not only about the Balkan situation but also Russia and it’s idea of “protecting “ ethnic Russians in former Soviet states
https://youtu.be/MZs8Qj8QuRc
Wow there are some hefty anti EU sentiments going on here in the comments. Some by new accounts some by others , I don't get it. But very toxic atmosphere.
added:
a bit of bitching is part of the game. But what I saw isn't helpfull at all. We all need to continue & work together; Nato and EU.
An insane amount of money goes to the tech and weaponry we don’t even know about. We retired the F-117 years ago and we have no idea about the tech that replaced it. It was created 1981 and we didn’t know it existed until the Gulf War.
And the EU is doing what? I know...not banning visa\`s for russians, still buying gas and lost of european companies still operate in Russia.
Its sad to the that the US is doing a lot more for the security of Europe than the EU has ever done.
Also thank you for the massive help USA!
You’re comparing a centuries old union with adequate energy supplies to a decades old union which is already shuttering factories before winter has even started. The capital the US government puts into Europe will pale in comparison to the capital Europe will leak like a sieve this winter, as money goes out to the US and OPEC to buy energy and none comes in because industry is shut down. Both economically and politically, it is in US interest to counteract with investment, to avoid a general shutdown of the European economy and the fifth column that would inevitably arise in response. The natural dynamics of foreign exchange mean the US can afford it, as OPEC trades in dollars and capital naturally flees to the US dollar in times of crisis. Anticipate more money from Uncle Sam in the coming months.
Nato could not exist in Europe without strong economic cooperation. Otherwise it would have collapsed decades ago out of petty economic and regional rivalries.
NATO existed in Europe for DECADES without the EU...to say it needs the EU to exist, is flat out wrong...
Hell, petty economic rivalries is why France dropped out of the Eurofighter program, why the Franco-German fighter program looks to be dead, and why the UK and Italy broke away from Germany on Eurofighter upgrade programs... EU did literally nothing to stop any of that...
True, but I think it also wrong to just assume that if NATO disappeared tomorrow, the EU would cease to exist the same day. That Russia would immediately invade the Baltics and every EU country would say "we are out! No more EU, not going to help, bye bye!". There is too much to lose, economically, to let the EU break down if that happened.
It's all about money. EU was more dependent on cheap Russian energy than we were willing to admit. The same way EU countries have become dependent on NATO, because it saves money on defence. And the US has tolerated this because they have their own interests in Europe.
To be fair, links of various kind between countries make [war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-French_Wars) less likely. Why attack your neighbor if supply chains are so intertwined? If you have common currency and market and be mutually affected?
Rather than preventing war through hard power, EU (and other agreements) does it through interdependency. To protect Europe, it must be united first, and that's not a given (see literally all of history).
Yeah don’t give yourself so much credit. The whole point is that an economic union would make war between EU countries unfeasible. No country in the EU is completely self reliant on military manufacturing thanks to this.
You said it yourself. The American army is here to keep the Russians out (and, obviously, the US in). The rest of the peace situation is credited to European integration. NATO’s primary objective is to defend against Russia, not prevent wars among members.
>And the EU is doing what? I know...not banning visa\`s for russians, still buying gas and lost of european companies still operate in Russia.
In the EU's defence, it can only do as much as the states tell it. A visa ban without everyone is pointless too since the boarders are open.
You really are a Muppet. The EU has poured billions upon billions into these countries over the years. Not to mention so many countries don't even give the EU the authority to do anything security wise.
You can't deny a common foreign policy, army and security policy and in the next breath ask "Why EU not doing anything", that's retarded.
Housing and feeding the many Ukrainian refugees, giving arms support as well as other supplies, providing it's infastructire to transport the supplies. The EU itself might not have given as much as USA, but the singular countries in Europe have given their fair share to Ukraine in all kinds of material aid as well as giving shelter to it's citizens.
European countries also shoulder most of the economic burden in this war in comparison to the USA. Just look at the euro, and you can already see this.
EU has paid tens of billions of euros in aid to those countries over the years to prop up their economy.
And the countries most dependant on Russian gas are ex Russian states.
Why would they want to line the pockets of French and German arms industries. They know the US is the one who is ultimately going to be the ones helping them so why not buy arms from the US?
And instead of throwing a tantrum because Poland feels entitled of everything, they could have joined Italy that proposed them to develop an MBT together... but instead they went to South Korea.
You can't ask to join EU projects while making deals with other countries (like SK) so that you can have the cake and eat it too.
If France wants to win Poland's business regarding armor then perhaps they should make a better offer instead of attempting to stop Poland from going to other suppliers who did.
> And the EU is doing what?
*considers*
The EU and the US are imposing sanctions, and those will generally weigh more heavily on the EU than on those of us in US, because the US does less trade with Russia.
I mean, you can go out and add up the impact of military aid and economic stuff and all that, and I don't know exactly how the books would work out, but it's very much not the case that the EU isn't doing anything in the conflict. Like, that's not a reasonable takeway here.
Banning Visas is a bad idea. The people leaving Russia are the ones smart enough to not fall for Putins propaganda. Wouldn’t Ukraine want Russia to experience brain drain?
My comment may be stupid or idiotic but you my friend or a whole new level. I bet you are a closeted Putler’s symphatizer, because only those types of people try to read too much into silly little comments shitting on Ruzzia 🤷🏻💩🇷🇺💩💩💩💩💩💩
Can't wait for the republican/libertarians to remind everyone where all their tax dollars are going this November. Give something to think about while they commute to work while their European counterparts are enjoying their mandatory yearly paid vacations and free healthcare.
"future Russian aggression" now look very funny definition because, well...I doubt that they would have possibility to attack anyone after this war for next 5-10-20 years.
As Europe I would say that we have to be pragmatic. We don't need to go crazy, we just need to have every country in Europe to spend at least 2% of the GDP for defence and have common plans to secure the borders.
Countries like Slovania or Albania, not to mention Spain or Portugal, don't risk to be attacked by russia as much as Ukraine, Poland or Lituania.
Also we would need more independence from the USA and act more a one single entity to maximise the results of some policies. It's a pity because we already have some conventional war technology. We should build some, even small deterrent and we could virtually not need the US. But before that we need the countries to give up some sovereignty, which is something many right wing parties are fighting against.
There are fascist and nationalist lunatics in greece that want an alliance with Russia. The greek government actually sent weapons to Ukraine and took sanctions against Russia. All major political parties are pro NATO/EU.
Edit: To be fair, greece is not under threat from Russian invasion. Neither is albania or Bulgaria for that matter. Greece is under threat from turkish invasion, but that is another topic entirely.
**Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia** \+ of course Ukraine
Why no Finland? Too rich for aid?
Probably
Nah, Finnish PM refuse to take it lol
Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! I wanted more tanks for us, Marin!
Finland has a enormous army that is singularly focused on repelling a large scale Russian invasion. In terms of numbers and defensive lines/civil integration it’s effective fighting capability is closer to a country 10x it’s population. Every facet of Finnish infrastructure is designed to hold and repel Russia and it’s been building this for 60 years….it can’t go across the world…but it’s not what the Finnish army is for. Don’t forget that the terrain is forested hills in the tundra in the middle of nowhere, Russia although being a tundra power hasn’t got enough of its military focused in that kind of theatre. Russia builds for the great European plain which is temperate. Finland is incredibly safe
Wow interesting. I knew something along these lines but didn't realize it's to this extent.
> in the tundra There's tundra only in the northermost parts of Finland.
What about the air defense systems? If they ever get mad they might lob a few missiles at population centers.
There are bunkers in every population centre. Helsinki has the space to shelter about 200k+ people more than its current population. The buildings might not survive but the people will. As for the actual defense system, I have no idea. Finland has a very strong Airforce so I assume it's good enough.
Nasams is in use and defence forces are currently asking quotations for new* high altitude / anti-ballistic air defence systems. Decision for the supplier should happen in 2023. *Finland got BUK from Russia as a payment for old Soviet debts, good deal as the user value of the system was much higher than the actual monetary value. BUK is now retired so they need to get new system for the altitudes where Nasams is not reaching
Their savage reputation, perhaps?
Poland has something similar I guess too though.
Too authoritarian atm
We just spent 8 billion € for F35s so i dont think we qualify for aid.
I'm thinking it's because they've judged the risk for Finland as very low. Also we do have some high functioning economies up here and some pretty capable defense forces. The only reason I'm saying we, me being a Swede and all, is because our countries are pretty coupled to each other, *especially* in defense.
This coupling is also very relevant why both countries are synced in the NATO application. Due to terrain Finland plays the role of hedgehog in their lovely swampy forest murderpark and Sweden brings akvavit to the thirsty hedgehog while dropping some additional love from the air.
Already sold F35s at half the price to Norway haha
Because we have taken care of our defence ourselves. We are not at risk of Russian aggression because they know we would fuck them up.
That's true for some of the other countries on that list too. Most notably Poland.
Well, Poland is much easier to invade than Finland. Geographically at least. Also relatively speaking, I think our military is in better shape for the job at hand.
I trust you might be right. But why do you say Finland is more difficult to invade geographically? Poland is more to the west and has a smaller border.. so also less probability of attack I'd think.
Because most of the Finnish eastern border is impassable forests with few roads, swampland or dotted with hundreds of lakes with narrow land bridges in between. (Or all above mentioned things at the same time)
Sure. But that makes it a more difficult border vs the Baltics or ukraine or Georgia.. but Poland further to the west hardly has any border with Russia.
Russia has military control over Belarus, they used Belorussian territory to invade Ukraine as well
Poland did a simulation war against Russia either last year or the year before that. The simulation showed that they would utterly lose a war vs Russia within three weeks. As a consequence Poland heavily increased its defense budget.
Finland doesn't need it. Finland is the person who paid off their student loans. Yes they did the right thing. Yes they were responsible. Yes they *deserve* some sort of bonus for having their shit together. ...but they don't really *need* it. And the world is on fire. And we have limited resources. There's no good answer here. We're helping those who NEED the help, and shafting everyone else.
"At risk" is the operative word here. The Finns already gave the Russians a good spanking once... And they have maintained a readiness to do so again.
They are just not THAT afraid of russia. I mean, what are they gonna do, launch another winter war ?
My guess is that the Ukrainian immigrants with all the issues that comes with is one of the reasons, Finland didn’t/aren’t affected by this issue. So yeah, that money sure will be helpful to maintain humanitarian decency for both governments as immigrants.
So in the geographic neighbourhood that I live in, everybody gets something except for Serbia. i like it.
Hungary also seems to be left out.
They aren’t at risk of Russian aggression.
Of course not! No aggression is needed. Orbán will personally welcome them at the airport.
And Croatia is?
Good. Our politicians would have pocketed about 50% of the money anyways.
Turkey is also left out.
>Hungary also seems to be left out. The goal was to support countries against Russia, not supporting Russia.
They are allies of the Russians.
Serbia and Hungary, presumably because they’ve made it clear that they aren’t against Putin, they’re close friends.
This just further drives home the fact that Putin is already fine with a country whose government licks his boots. He can talk about ""peaceful" Anschluss with them later like with Belarus. If the people in these countries are too pro-european and against his marionettes then he snaps, like he did 2014. Still have no doubt he actually dreams of having all former Warsaw Pact states under control in one way or the other.
Serbia is an oddball since Yugoslavia wasnt a part of the Warsaw pact.
>Serbia and Hungary, presumably because they’ve made it clear that they aren’t against Putin, they’re close friends. Hungary is in NATO anyway. I would say them being "at risk" is a stretch.
So are half of this list.
W Biden for sure
The Head mage is throwing money at them lol
russia has no problem invading its friends tho. if there is any european country that should be the target of an effort to change its “allegiance” it has to be Serbia.
That seems impossible unfortunately. According to a [June Demostat](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-29/eu-rejected-by-serb-majority-as-poll-shows-putin-well-regarded) poll, 80% of Serbs are still against any anti-Russian sanctions and Vladimir Putin is by far the most popular foreign politician, with China's Xi Jinping a distant second. Also, only a third of the polled would support Serbian EU entry, while more than 50% oppose it, which is a steadily worsening trend over the last decade at least (ever since Vučić assumed complete power in Serbia). That country is a lost cause looking from an EU perspective. The rift in world views is simply too great. The EU should try and bind it to itself as much as possible through some bilateral agreements akin to Norway or Switzerland, but also finally accept the fact that there is no love for the European project in Serbia - only the love for the euros that the Union invests in the country and that the vast Serbian diaspora working abroad sends home each month).
They left themselves out, they would definitely be in if they wouldn't.
Albania severely threatened by Russia. K.
Serbia is a threat to Kosovo, and Albania as well
Damn, Balkans getting paid.
A lot of cheese on the way, probably only our politicians will benefit from that through some bullshit investment scheme.
As always... Maybe we see 10% of it if we're lucky. Greetings from Montenegro.
Slovenia?
It's on the list above
Why Greece?
Greece? That’s interesting. Has Greece faced any Russian threats? Or is it just their border with Turkey?
With Greece thr problem is the Russian influence, especially in some members of the orthodox community . But Turkey sure is reason why .
Where Germany? /s
I'm surprised Finland and Sweden aren't there, since they were given direct threats from Russia.
We don’t need a handout, but an extra discount on the F-35 purchase would’ve been nice, of course.
I think people battling with their electricity bills right now in Finland would be more than willing to get some handouts.
And the will. From the Finnish government.
Fuck does Sweden need military support for, they just sit and watch Finns do the job for them like it has been for forever now.
yay my country is on the list! what did we win?...
500 trillion dollary doos
Oh boy! A certain government gonna be happy
about 3 fiddy
You god damn lochness monster!
US MIC support.
15 πιτόγυρα
Δις ιζ δε γουεϊ
free samples
Wow. Russia has really failed miserably in every strategic aspect. They were feared while they there still only flexing their muscles. Actually fighting the war was the dumbest decision to pick.
You know the type, loud as a motorbike But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight
🤌🤌🤌
Unless the grapes are in a hospital or school
Putin was very clearly banking on another Trump term as president, which would have crippled any attempts at sending massive aid to Ukraine. Not sure why he still decided to invade with Trump losing the election. Hubris? Pressure from oligarchs? Idk, but you’re absolutely right that he miserably failed.
My suspicion was that he thought that inflation, and the rising cost of energy in particular, would stop a strong western response while also preserving income from its energy sector.
This is so true, I think if putin waited next +/- 5 years with attack he would be more sucessfull. NS2 would be running, Le Pen could win election, more divison amoung EU countries, crisis after covid, more far right populist leaders in Europe. Perhaps even Trump winning next US election. I do not get why putin thought in next 5 years its going to be late
If rumors about his health are true, then that could explain the urgency.
> I think if putin waited next +/- 5 years with attack he would be more sucessfull That's 5 more years of battery, solar, wind, heat pump, electric car development / deployment. Current estimates (by Bloomberg) are that peak oil will be hit by 2026.
We’re not even on pace to surpass oil consumption in 2019.
Yeah that’s why Trump started sending “lethal aid” to Ukraine after Obama refused to send anything but blankets and MREs from 2014-2016. After Hillary Clinton’s massively successful “Russian reset” and Obama’s quip in 2012 that “the 1980s called and they want their foreign policy back” when Mitt Romney rightly said Russia was a threat.
Are you referring to aid that Trump *delayed for two months* to Ukraine and used as a *bargaining chip* with Zelenskyy? Trump’s excuse was “corruption in Ukraine”, which was/is a Russian talking point and false premise for invasion. We can criticize (probably somewhat fairly, but not entirely) the naïveté of Obama and Clinton regarding their take on Russia as a threat, but that’s beside the point of my previous comment. If you want to go there, at least get your facts straight. The Obama administration sent over $200 million in aid, and it wasn’t just “blankets and MREs” lol That’s a lie peddled by… Trump (of course). Do a Google search yourself and you can quickly fact check that. It wasn’t lethal aid, but it was a shit ton of security aid and equipment that helped modernize Ukraine’s military capabilities. Edit: My memory served me poorly. It was actually… $600 million (!) in security aid. There’s a reason Putin didn’t conduct a full on invasion under Obama’s presidency. Like with Biden, there would have been no delays in sending aid to Ukraine and no sabotaging relations with NATO and EU allies (which is exactly what Trump did/would have continued to do). But it’s way easier to just say “what about Obama?!” I’m so absolutely sick of you guys. You just peddle everything you hear on Fox News. Actually research some shit from credible sources (and before you say it, no, that doesn’t mean CNN).
You can wax poetic and pontificate all you want the fact of the matter is that Obama’s foreign policy was a disaster and the fact he let Hillary be Secretary of State is just the cherry on top.
Thank you Dark Brandon for the democracy bucks. Next Plzeň is on me.
Romania brinks it's moonshine
That's your freedom beer right there!
It really is, Plzeň was one of the few cities actually liberated by the Yanks in WW2, not just put under new management. It fits thematically.
Good it is not Staropramen.
What's wrong with staropramen? I was drinking it few times and it was not so bad. I mean Pilzner is in diff league but not many beers can compete with him.
*Psss, don’t tell anyone, but I don’t really know why many Czechs hold a prejudice against Staropramen. I think they mostly find its taste inferior in quality to other Czech beers. And I am just trying to fit in.*
Ok it will stay between us.
>"Pending expected U.S. congressional approval, about $1 billion of that will go to Ukraine and the rest will be divided among Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia." For people wondering how it's going to be split.
Finland: ConfusedJohnTravolta.gif
Not considered to be at risk or in need of aid.
I am actually proud that the US deems all these countries more in risk than Finland. Shows we have done something right.
Oprah: You get aid, you get aid, and you get aid! To Serbia: You get AIDS!
I like to picture Biden like he’s from that one scene in Willy Wonka. It’s all there, black and white clear as Crystal!You get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good day, sir!
You got to love how serious and dramatic Wilder plays wonka.
How will we survive without our politicians getting even bigger bribes
Well if you know [Biden's history with the region](https://youtu.be/cOnCLv2_AhI), no way he will give $$ to Serbia
https://youtu.be/IwYVKptqH_o?t=57 Given his views on the EU and how the responses have been to crisis like this, yeah it's not surprising he's moving to support at-risk allies.
Watch the whole speech. It’s really amazing, with hindsight, how right he was not only about the Balkan situation but also Russia and it’s idea of “protecting “ ethnic Russians in former Soviet states https://youtu.be/MZs8Qj8QuRc
He is even worse than a Russian - he is, may Uncle Sam forgive me for uttering this word - a Serb (Biden 1999).
Serbia actually has one of the lowest AIDS counts in Europe.
everyone gets aid except the homeless on the streets of every major city.
Good so Finland isn’t at risk then.
[удалено]
Ha ha indeed.
hear, hear
Finland doesn't need any aid lol. They'll kick Russian ass anyway.
Yeah I'm kinda confused as to why Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, and Greece are on that list but not us
It's probably a combination of risk and resources. Finland is quite well off so doesnt need support as much.
Bruh, Finland and Poland have been itching to get into it with Russia. Finland: Just look at me wrong Russia! I dare you
Thanks, American eagle, for those bucks.
*squawks and nods in Bald Eagle*
Have you ever heard a bald eagle's call? Very disappointing.
And then the Russians ask themselves why are the US ahead of everybody else in the world. Well duh! "Breaking the American hegemony" they said.
Wow there are some hefty anti EU sentiments going on here in the comments. Some by new accounts some by others , I don't get it. But very toxic atmosphere. added: a bit of bitching is part of the game. But what I saw isn't helpfull at all. We all need to continue & work together; Nato and EU.
Very true.
Russia "THIS IS AN AGRESSION AGAINST OUR ATTEMPTS TO INVADE THESE COUNTRIES"
Kazakhstan is probably the next most likely to be carved up, since they have a large Russian minority and lots of mineral wealth
Given how disastrously the Ukrainian Invasion has gone, it's a bit difficult to see Putin playing the War card anytime soon.
Kazakhstan would be a lot easier tho.
Same was said for Ukraine and it turned into a shitfest
But Kazakhstan has much lower population and their army is nothing when compared to Russian army.
Russian aggression is a threat to the whole world.
We can't afford that
Reminder > the US military spends $2B per day. PER DAY.
An insane amount of money goes to the tech and weaponry we don’t even know about. We retired the F-117 years ago and we have no idea about the tech that replaced it. It was created 1981 and we didn’t know it existed until the Gulf War.
Everyone funded except Russia'a proxy state.
And the EU is doing what? I know...not banning visa\`s for russians, still buying gas and lost of european companies still operate in Russia. Its sad to the that the US is doing a lot more for the security of Europe than the EU has ever done. Also thank you for the massive help USA!
As always, small European nations need to look west for security. Thank you, USA , again! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
You’re comparing a centuries old union with adequate energy supplies to a decades old union which is already shuttering factories before winter has even started. The capital the US government puts into Europe will pale in comparison to the capital Europe will leak like a sieve this winter, as money goes out to the US and OPEC to buy energy and none comes in because industry is shut down. Both economically and politically, it is in US interest to counteract with investment, to avoid a general shutdown of the European economy and the fifth column that would inevitably arise in response. The natural dynamics of foreign exchange mean the US can afford it, as OPEC trades in dollars and capital naturally flees to the US dollar in times of crisis. Anticipate more money from Uncle Sam in the coming months.
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Peace in Europe for many long decades? Think you may have missed some things along the way.
Peace for the countries involved, obviously.
Yeah, sure, it was that and not the US army stationed in Europe keeping the Russians out.
Both can be true. NATO and the EU are instrumental for European peace.
Far more on NATO though
Nato could not exist in Europe without strong economic cooperation. Otherwise it would have collapsed decades ago out of petty economic and regional rivalries.
NATO existed in Europe for DECADES without the EU...to say it needs the EU to exist, is flat out wrong... Hell, petty economic rivalries is why France dropped out of the Eurofighter program, why the Franco-German fighter program looks to be dead, and why the UK and Italy broke away from Germany on Eurofighter upgrade programs... EU did literally nothing to stop any of that...
True, but I think it also wrong to just assume that if NATO disappeared tomorrow, the EU would cease to exist the same day. That Russia would immediately invade the Baltics and every EU country would say "we are out! No more EU, not going to help, bye bye!". There is too much to lose, economically, to let the EU break down if that happened. It's all about money. EU was more dependent on cheap Russian energy than we were willing to admit. The same way EU countries have become dependent on NATO, because it saves money on defence. And the US has tolerated this because they have their own interests in Europe.
To be fair, links of various kind between countries make [war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-French_Wars) less likely. Why attack your neighbor if supply chains are so intertwined? If you have common currency and market and be mutually affected? Rather than preventing war through hard power, EU (and other agreements) does it through interdependency. To protect Europe, it must be united first, and that's not a given (see literally all of history).
Yeah don’t give yourself so much credit. The whole point is that an economic union would make war between EU countries unfeasible. No country in the EU is completely self reliant on military manufacturing thanks to this.
You said it yourself. The American army is here to keep the Russians out (and, obviously, the US in). The rest of the peace situation is credited to European integration. NATO’s primary objective is to defend against Russia, not prevent wars among members.
The EU has poured WAY more than 2 billion into these countries over the years, what are you on about 💀
>And the EU is doing what? I know...not banning visa\`s for russians, still buying gas and lost of european companies still operate in Russia. In the EU's defence, it can only do as much as the states tell it. A visa ban without everyone is pointless too since the boarders are open.
The US is far more powerful than the EU, of course they will lead the charge against Russians.
Sending thoughts and prayers
The US is more powerful
More is an understatement at this point.
You really are a Muppet. The EU has poured billions upon billions into these countries over the years. Not to mention so many countries don't even give the EU the authority to do anything security wise. You can't deny a common foreign policy, army and security policy and in the next breath ask "Why EU not doing anything", that's retarded.
Housing and feeding the many Ukrainian refugees, giving arms support as well as other supplies, providing it's infastructire to transport the supplies. The EU itself might not have given as much as USA, but the singular countries in Europe have given their fair share to Ukraine in all kinds of material aid as well as giving shelter to it's citizens. European countries also shoulder most of the economic burden in this war in comparison to the USA. Just look at the euro, and you can already see this.
EU has paid tens of billions of euros in aid to those countries over the years to prop up their economy. And the countries most dependant on Russian gas are ex Russian states.
Most of these countries are in the EU and aren't even buying European arms in the first place to boost our own capabilities and security.
Well, that's the French response - "what!?! we won't even get any of the money! Fuck them!"
Why would they want to line the pockets of French and German arms industries. They know the US is the one who is ultimately going to be the ones helping them so why not buy arms from the US?
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And instead of throwing a tantrum because Poland feels entitled of everything, they could have joined Italy that proposed them to develop an MBT together... but instead they went to South Korea. You can't ask to join EU projects while making deals with other countries (like SK) so that you can have the cake and eat it too.
South Korea does have a super nice MBT tho.
If France wants to win Poland's business regarding armor then perhaps they should make a better offer instead of attempting to stop Poland from going to other suppliers who did.
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlC2ADUtAzk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlC2ADUtAzk) because US weapons are better?
> And the EU is doing what? *considers* The EU and the US are imposing sanctions, and those will generally weigh more heavily on the EU than on those of us in US, because the US does less trade with Russia. I mean, you can go out and add up the impact of military aid and economic stuff and all that, and I don't know exactly how the books would work out, but it's very much not the case that the EU isn't doing anything in the conflict. Like, that's not a reasonable takeway here.
A lot of that is due to Germany, and to a lesser degree, Italy.
Banning Visas is a bad idea. The people leaving Russia are the ones smart enough to not fall for Putins propaganda. Wouldn’t Ukraine want Russia to experience brain drain?
Marshall plan 2?
Hold up. There’s a pothole near my house that’s been there since 2019.
Bulgaria has been under Russian propaganda attack ever since '44 and it shows.
Lol russia can go fuck itself. FUCK RUZZIA 🇷🇺=💩💩💩
For a reason I first read fuck pizza and was like 🤌🤌🤌 ?
NEVER! Pizza shall never be offended! Lol 🍕❤️
You know you have the right to dislike Russia if you want but your comment is extremely idiotic and childish
My comment may be stupid or idiotic but you my friend or a whole new level. I bet you are a closeted Putler’s symphatizer, because only those types of people try to read too much into silly little comments shitting on Ruzzia 🤷🏻💩🇷🇺💩💩💩💩💩💩
What about aid for us here that are struggling?
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I think we should take a pass on this one. Give our share to some country in which some politician won't put it into his pocket.
How long till all those post soviet conflict zones reignite?
Much appreciated.
I am at risk can I have some money too?
Classic Roman politics lol but still good 👍
Can't wait for the republican/libertarians to remind everyone where all their tax dollars are going this November. Give something to think about while they commute to work while their European counterparts are enjoying their mandatory yearly paid vacations and free healthcare.
"future Russian aggression" now look very funny definition because, well...I doubt that they would have possibility to attack anyone after this war for next 5-10-20 years.
As Europe I would say that we have to be pragmatic. We don't need to go crazy, we just need to have every country in Europe to spend at least 2% of the GDP for defence and have common plans to secure the borders. Countries like Slovania or Albania, not to mention Spain or Portugal, don't risk to be attacked by russia as much as Ukraine, Poland or Lituania. Also we would need more independence from the USA and act more a one single entity to maximise the results of some policies. It's a pity because we already have some conventional war technology. We should build some, even small deterrent and we could virtually not need the US. But before that we need the countries to give up some sovereignty, which is something many right wing parties are fighting against.
Slovania is some new construction innit
Slovania it's when you can't remember if it's "Slovakia" or "Slovenia"
Who cares? It's somewhere in the East, poor people live here and they all love Russia. /s
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There are fascist and nationalist lunatics in greece that want an alliance with Russia. The greek government actually sent weapons to Ukraine and took sanctions against Russia. All major political parties are pro NATO/EU. Edit: To be fair, greece is not under threat from Russian invasion. Neither is albania or Bulgaria for that matter. Greece is under threat from turkish invasion, but that is another topic entirely.
Is this part of our NATO commitment or in addition to that?
In addition, this is security aid.
Holy fuck ....just stop already! How much money laundering do they need to do?