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- cross-posted to:
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U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a suspension of all military aid to Ukraine, escalating pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky mere days after a heated exchange in the Oval Office cast doubt on U.S. support for Kyiv.
A senior Defense Department official told Bloomberg that all U.S. military assistance to Ukraine is on hold until Trump determines that Ukrainian leaders are making a genuine effort toward peace.
The pause affects not only future aid but also weapons already in transit, including shipments on aircraft and ships, as well as equipment awaiting transfer in Poland.
Edit: changed source from Bloomberg to Kyiv Independent b/c there’s no paywall and more detail in the story.
How much more do we have to witness before we accept, as a society, that Donald Trump and the GOP are enemies of the United States of America, and act accordingly?
We are suffering and losing our position as a world leader because of a felon rapist traitor. When are we going to stop this?
Have you decided what means are acceptable for resistance for yourself yet
Ohhhh man we’re gonna primary them so hard.
When are we going to stop this?
When congress starts impeachment proceedings. Call your representatives. Listening you complain is their job.
Didn’t you guys try that before?
You can be impeached more than once. I think this would be his third time.
Yep that’s my point
It sounded like you were saying “You already impeached him, and he’s still president (so impeaching him again is a waste of time)”, but I could’ve misread you.
That is also my point. Don’t worry though, you keep impeaching him until he dissolves congress.
You’re response being ‘yeah but you can be impeached multiple times’ exactly demonstrates the weakness of that action.
- Joining and organizing within your local community to create connections with others is incredibly powerful, will lay the groundwork for effective resistance.
- We can effect things drastically with a general strike. This can massively impact their income streams, and can bring a government to its knees if done on a large enough scale.
- Join the IWW and attempt to unionize your workplace, so that the general strike is even more effective.
If we put in the work, we can resist this and we can win. Join up with allies while we still can easily!
The US wouldn’t stop military aid to Israel while the IDF destroyed hospitals and killed children and journalists among many other war crimes. They will freeze aid to Ukraine as it defends itself in a war of conquest. Evidence suggests the USA would rather align with criminals like Putin and Netanyahu than war victims.
That really is a stark contrast. What do the apologetics say about this?
Probably “we won, you lost, get over it” as if that’s how any of this works.
They won, all lost
In my limited exposure to the ramblings of conservative acquaintances, they now consider Zelensky to be a “little dictator” who was rude to their favorite douches.
Regarding Israel, I think it’s something along the lines of “judeo-christian values” good, brown savages bad, and OH LOOK SOMETHING SHINY!! Sorry, you were saying?
Hallelujah
This is what got him impeached the first time, right?
Yup, although that’s not going to happen this time around.
Kind of. Last time he was trying to get them to say they were investigating Hunter Biden, so somethithathat would more directly benefit himself. This time I guess he wants the US to have the rights to all their minerals, which I don’t even understand how that would work, but I guess that could be seen as benefitting the US if you’re a total psychopath.
Is there a historical precedent for punishing the defender for daring to successfully resist invasion by a third country?
Economic sanctions on the early RSFSR after the Bolsheviks defeated the English, French, Italian, USA coalition that invaded them in the Russian Civil War.
The peace agreement between Napoleon and Austria included Napoleon taking independent (but in the coalition) Venice.
It was kind of an awful elitist place but it was also the oldest democracy in the world at the time. Napoleon destroyed that, and all the monestaries. You can see the ruins of them around the lagoon if you visit.
Finland had to accept responsibility for being invaded by Russia. Also, they had to give away land mass that Russia failed to grab. Also, they had to give up some sovereignty. Also, they had to pay ginormous reparations and sign deals to buy army stuff from Russia.
Nice army stuff, though. I’ve been in a 1995 KRAZ with a wood frame for the driver. Also they don’t have a tap for draining motor oil, because who would expect them yo return from the frontlines?
Does it matter at all? Trump is compromised and is actively working for Putin. This is transparent and not being denied. Is there precedent for a puppet to do whatever he’s told by his master? Yes, lots.
Let’s be very clear, it’s not just Trump, but the ENTIRE GOD DAMN administration that has been, and is, being put into place. Hegseth already told our intelligence teams to stop looking into Russia.
If Trump was luigied tomorrow, an entire government is now in place to allow whatever they want to happen, to happen. It wouldn’t even matter if he was gone.
I think a lot of the problems with the current administration wouldn’t change if Trump was Luigied. Dismantling our federal institutions, consolidating power in the executive branch, stripping away human rights - all those things would continue.
However, I think that the support for Putin nearly exclusively comes from Trump himself.
It is being denied. Had some chud on here mocking me the other day (at about a 4th grade writing level) for saying as much.
Palestine. Maybe not successfully, but note that the idea that Palestinians have the same natural right to armed self defense as any other group is completely absent from mainstream political discourse. Most simply cannot even comprehend that the Palestinians should have just as much right to kill to defend themselves as Israelis do. Partly this is due to colonialism. Part of it is classism. The violence of the Israelis is clean and high tech. The violence of the Palestinians is crude and performed with simple weapons. We judge the morality of violence based upon the wealth of the people committing the violence.
No, you don’t get it. These Palestinian kids are brainwashed from birth to hate Israel and the Jewish peoples. They have school books that teach them to hate Israelis and Israel.
/s but sadly not because the above is something I literally heard around me for years. I believed it until I met someone from Palestine who explained yes those books do exist and they are called history books.
Gaza
Is it a third country if the one punishing is a proxy of said country?
Yeah that shit happens all the time throughout history, actually. Especially when colonized countries dared to fight back against colonizers.
I would love to see everyone just start ignoring Trump and everything he says and just keeps doing their job.
The way it should be
And very seriously listen and write down his commands and say of course sir then just not do it. For years and report back to him that he is hailed as the best president ever for his orders, and let him live his fantasy, we can even hold parades and stuff and the fun thing is that people would actually genuinely be glad when he comes because they know it’s going to be a festival and their job is just to pretend to be awed by his senile ramblings, which honestly sounds so much fun
Just as his master told him.
The US media still does not dare to call Trump a Russian agent, despite him showing all symptoms.
There has been no single Russian attempt to destroy the US being as successful as putting their own agent into the White House, right into the Oval Office.
The US media still does not dare to call Trump a Russian agent, despite him showing all symptoms.
US operation in the black sea today
https://www.itamilradar.com/2025/03/04/look-who-we-have-here/
Who’s to say that data is for Ukraine?
I’m gonna guess it’s for russia then
Best case they will still share data, they could also just be gathering it up for themselves, worst case is sending it to russia
worst case is sending it to russia
It was a joke it’s not for russia…
It could very well be
It could very well be
🤦
That may be because Trump doesn’t know about it. May stop anytime, just like “cyberwar”. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2er34w0jgdo
They are not going to stop that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s_global_surveillance_disclosures
I have not a lot of knowledge how American politics work, but isn’t this for congress to decide? how is Trump so powerful? (sorry for my daft question)
how is Trump so powerful?
The Republican party controls Congress and they have abdicated their responsibilities to our Constitution and, by extension, the American people in favor of an authoritarian because they have accepted him as their leader, thus giving away their own power.
Our forefathers never expected Congress to give away its own power. Because it doesn’t really make any sense in the long term for them to do so.
We are experiencing a coup. Most Americans are too uneducated to understand this.
It’s very illegal. He has already been impeached once for withdrawing military aid to Ukraine in his first term.
And you see where that got us.
Yeah indeed, but now he has got the full backing and more Trump tronies?!
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It isn’t daft. The Republicans since Reagan have pushed a fringe legal theory called the Unitary Executive Theory. Basically, they want the president to fully control the executive branch and military such that theirs is the only voice that matters for much of the government. Not unlike a king, but partially checked by congress and the courts. They have been taking (illegal) actions to try to get sued, and also have been suing others/other branches of government, to try to get the Supreme Court to hear cases that will support this fringe legal theory so that it becomes the law of the land.
I am not a lawyer, but this is possibly something Trump can legally do since he is Commander in Chief of the armed forces. However, this seems more like an apportionment thing, which is Congress’ responsibility. Congress has allocated funds to send military aid to Ukraine. So, even if Trump as Commander in Chief could say “no more weapons to ukraine”, it seems doubtful to me that he could (legally) stop weapons shipments currently en route.
But, by the time whatever government office sues the office of the president to get a judge to enjoin them to send the agreed upon weapons that were already apportioned, it will already have hurt Ukraine somewhat. Trump often weaponizes inefficiency. And these sort of illegal acts aren’t crimes per se - they’re just procedural breaches - the legal remedy is just to reverse the action.
So, probably not legal. But Trump gets to weaponize his administration’s incompetence (or feigned incompetence) to at least delay aid. More competent people may support these actions, knowing they’re illegal, to try and strengthen the president’s role even further.
Wow! Thanks so much for this reply! this is very helpful, thnx a lot
The answer is simpler than that: the “checks and balances” system is a facade created to prevent meaningful progressive policy from passing. There’s a reason why Trump can modify a billion laws from day 1, but poor Biden couldn’t possibly do anything to codify abortion as a right or prevent the bombing of children in Gaza.
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So it turns out that what matters most in the end is less the intricacies of the system, and more what type of people get elected
This isn’t quite right. Trump didn’t really modify laws. That isn’t even something he can claim to do since he is the head of the Executive branch, not the Legislative one. He issued executive orders, many of which were illegal, and he had some cronies who enacted some of them anyway - others did not enact some of these, and others were not really actionable (like when he declared that no one has a gender). He did rescind many policies, but he can’t just make laws go away on his own. There are literally hundreds of court cases currently challenging these executive orders - seeing as how the judiciary is the primary check on the executive branch, that is the system working to check presidential power.
However, I am not a liberal, I am a socialist and do not think this is working well - there are many problems here. The highest levels of the judiciary have been largely captured by far-right judges, many of whom are specifically aligned with Trump’s goals and support the unitary executive theory. Also, this method of checking presidential power is extremely slow. For every illegal action Trump’s administration takes, a court case has to be crafted, filed, heard, and adjudicated. Every one. And invariably, some will not reach the correct outcome and others will never actually be taken to court - there are just too many.
Basically, the administration is using the fact that they control every branch of government to dismantle or capture core government agencies and to provide cover for various illegal actions - forcing them through if only temporarily for various political and structural ends. A soft coup, basically. So yeah, the fact that something like this is possible is proof of the flaws inherent in this system of government.
That’s a lot of words to say that I’m right in practice even if not in principle lmao.
I’m a commie too, BTW. You’re way too charitable to the US institutions IMO.
Republicans hold the majority in congress, so they’re refusing to push back and are just allowing him to usurp power from them.
Thnx for your reply! i understand that, but it seems nothing goes via congress?!
Congress is a check and balance to executive power, just like the judicial.
They are not checking or balancing his power. So they are in effect, impotent.
And they don’t care because the White House is occupied by someone on their team. This country fucking sickens me.
The president was always able to stop aid under certain conditions. Trump is just going to certify that one of those conditions exist no matter how ridiculous it is.
We are entering a “yeah and who’s going to stop me era of US politics”
It is for Congress to decide such matters. It says so right in our constitution, but our Legislative branch has been ceding their ability to check Executive overreach for decades. Now, with a complicit Congress as the majority, they will never challenge Trump on anything he does, no matter how unconstitutional or illegal it might be. Same goes for the Judiciary as well, chock full of partisan hacks who bend and twist their interpretation of the language of the constitution to cherry pick a favorable ruling for anything that Trump does.
Basically, our system of checks and balances that are meant to keep one aspect of the government from becoming too powerful has been completely subsumed by ideologues who prefer monarchy to democracy. The executive now essentially has unchecked authority and is in full control of the government apparatus.
Since he can’t do this and needs congress’ help, why aren’t they stopping him? Why are they all bending over backwards to please Putin?
Because congress is dominated by the oligarch sycophants as well.
Because the only meaningful political move for Republicans today is to follow Trump. If they push back they get cut from the pack and lose support.
So the record currently stands at…
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - Why are you so Disrespectful?
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - Putin is a victim we’re undoing sanctions
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - Why won’t Zelensky do a deal?
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - We’re stopping Aid.
The US won’t provide the security guarantees Zelenskyy is asking for. He can try getting them from European countries though, but they do not seem willing to provide them either.
At least count I’m pretty sure the UK, Sweden, and Australia have all said they’d be willing to put troops into Ukraine for peacekeeping.
UK has stated in no uncertain terms that they require US involvement in order to put troops into Ukraine for peacekeeping. I’m not sure about Sweden & Australia.
I hadn’t heard that. Nice to know we can still count on the UK to follow us down the rabbit hole of insanity.
😂
Yep. That pretty much summarizes it.
He’s a Russian asset. How is this a surprise?
This is so cool. STOP FUNDING WAR.
Guess what. War is gonna happen regardless. Except now the Ukrainians are going to have a harder time fighting back, while the russians start their pogroms.
Right then why fund them and send people to their deaths?
Why not just succeed a little land and sign a cease fire
Russia will keep killing Ukrainians, so they need be forced to stop. Letting russia next it’s neighbours is a fucking stupid take. Appeasing the colonial fascist has never gone well before, and it won’t now. Ukrainians are fighting for their homes. Succeeding land like Crimea didn’t stop russia from invading so it won’t stop it again.
It’s better to try something. What your idea is to do nothing. Great idea, let’s just continue letting people die.
It’s better to try something. What your idea is to do nothing. Great idea, let’s just continue letting people die.
No, my idea isn’t to “do nothing”. It’s to fund and support Ukrainian sovereignty lol. No clue where the fuck you are pulling that from. You want more people to die, let russia have it’s way, way more people will die. I’m glad your comfortable with the thought of other countries just annexing territory on a whim. Fucking shit tier take
Oh sorry, your supporting Ukraine, so they can continue the killing. What a moronic route.
So just continue with the killing.
That’s not doing anything differently.
Succeeding land will stop the war.
Make Russia sign a peace treaty with America and Ukraine for the land.
It’s infinitely better than your idea of just continue the killing. “It’s fine”
Brain-dead.
Oh sorry, your supporting Ukraine, so they can continue the killing. What a moronic route.
Nah, I’m supporting Ukraine to defend their sovereignty. The killing can stop, russia needs to fuck back off to russia
Ceeding the land to russia won’t stop any war, at best it will put a temporary pause until they want more, causing more pain and suffering and death.
Make russia fuck back off to russia is the only viable option, unless you think appeasing fascist dictators is a good idea.
Brain-dead.
That is the only explanation as to why you said the things to say. Hey being self aware is step one. Maybe don’t victim blame.
This is what I hope happens next: Ukraine wins anyway. European politicians that still weren’t sure about defending themselves without the US will be emboldened not to rely on America anymore. Europe as a whole becomes stronger and much less willing to tolerate Trump’s obnoxious demands, and see him as the weak puppet that he is.
Weak puppet with strong army. What makes anyone think stopping aid to Ukraine is all he can do. The sanctions against Russia are going to be lifted next, and if necessary, the aid is going to Russia. Europe has enough power against Russia, but not against Russia + the US.
Ukraine wins anyway.
Lol.
Can we, as a society, label anyone who things otherwise as a traitor? Any politician against, or even dragging their feet, immediately written off, perhaps even deported from yhe continent?
Please?
At some point, Europe has to start wondering whether it’s really such a good thing to have US military bases all over their continent.
Build up the EU military. Kick the US out. Free airbases.
Look, stranger things have happened but I get the sense it’s more likely Putin dies and the whole thing kind of crumbles. That’s the likelier, although still entirely unlikely scenario.
It’d still be pretty nice to see less reliance on the US except global peace relies on more trust, not less. The US might need systemic reforms to get there, but even Russia looked like it could be an ally to EU prior to Putin, just all countries need better safeguards to avoid backsliding into authoritarianism. I’m not sure what those would be, but you can’t have global peace without addressing these countries.
To be honest, I think we are well passed that scenario. Even if Putin dies today, his puppets in Russia will grab for power. Meanwhile, they still own the president of the US. They know they have the support needed to win in Ukraine, they will use it to build trust with the citizens of Russia and show strength. Even better, the US will be weakened in supporting Russia, but that’s not really a bad scenario for Russia either.
*past
I’m taking very long term, honestly. Germany is a fine example, except we had to have WW2 to undo it. I hope the US and Russia don’t need WW3.
The U.S. Military and the CIA must know what a threat to the country Trump is, right?
…right?
It’s up to the man on the street to take action.
The military that he just dismissed the leadership of and replaced with his own people, and the CIA that’s directed by his people?
But the deep state!
his own people,
of which are wildly incompetent
And the competent ones (as in the ones with experience at creation local militias and terrorist organizations) are gonna be out there creating the resistance.
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Yep. Those ones. And the ones loyal to them.
Here’s the pickle though. Wouldn’t it be reasonable if another administration get in power and then need to purge all these positions of pro trump people?
Like what happens next? it’s such a bleak world now.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable if another administration get in power and then need to purge all these positions of pro trump people?
Oh no! You have a great point for horror fans there.
I’d even say, it probably is somewhat necessary in order to resume administration. What a beautiful, postfactual dilemma:
The Reps fear an ideological, systemic witch hunt, which they use as an excuse to replace government workers. The new workers are ideologically aligned with the Reps, encouraged to assist the dismantling of non-Rep institutions and carry out the King’s will above and beyond the law.
Now when votes swing the other way, the new administration kind of has to revert some of this damage to assume functioning.
Which is where the circle closes; the prophecy fulfills itself. Now the Reps have evidence for their previously baseless claims. The whole system is locked in a back-and-forth mud wrestling of replacing workers based on ideology.
That’s the problem with the two-party system in the USA, in a full democracy this dynamic wouldn’t happen. This is the achilles heel of american democracy and the downfall seems to have begun.
We really needed something more akin to coalitions
They don’t intend for there to be a “next” administration.
I don’t know that the CIA has ever given a shit about the United States.
Hell H.W. Bush was the son of a man that tried to overthrow the government and Ford appointed him to CIA director in the 70s.
Given how big a security leak the dipshit is, and he already got a ton of their agents in the field killed the first time around, it’s not so much them caring about the US, but then seeing a threat to their own power.
Now that I would believe
Edit: I was wrong HW was at the CIA the year after the Church Committee.
“Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic ;that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: So help you God?”
He’s a threat for the people not for the government or he wouldn’t be the ceo.
What a fucking nonsensical comment
You gotta go for quality over quantity if you really want to impress the handlers 😉
What a fucking nonsensical comment
same for yours
Sometimes I wish the US were what tankies say it is.
I’m pretty sure Trump has proven every single tankie argument about the US.
Except that whole thing about Dems being just as bad, which is like 90% of tankie arguments about the US.
Trump treats white people like Obama treated Arabs.
You wish the US to be a genocidal empire? poof nothing’s changed
It’s funny how much the tankies have in common with the liberal socialists. If only they weren’t so darn argumentative.
If… Let’s say if… It’ll take some planning, they wouldn’t just do it willy nilly they gotta plan the hit, find the right assets, find the right areas, research, etc. it takes a lot of work to whack somebody it’s not like The Sopranos or anything.
Have you seen some of the shit they tried for Castro!?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro
Yeah it’s fucking wild the efforts they go through. Even if it’s as discreet as a walk-by in a parking garage with a suppressed pistol or strangled in a car, there will be at least 10 people doing different jobs with zero knowledge of what the others are doing or what the end goal is, all doing a very simple task that any normal person could do with probable ignorance. Real life examples of how the mafia do hits are really intricate: You pay one guy to flatten a tire, you pay another guy to drive the tow truck, you pay another guy to ask them for directions to delay them a bit, you pay another guy to be an uber or taxi driver, you pay another guy to receive where the taxi/uber is going, this is all after paying probably a few other dudes to study their schedule and the schedule of their visitors/guests, pay another dude to get keep their neighbor or something distracted, pay another dude to take the shot and dip (source: I know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy). It’s very expensive and time consuming, that’s why organized hits don’t happen a lot it’s gotta be worth the investment. This would be much harder to pull off against someone with 24/7 secret service guard, but the CIA/FBI/Police are pros at pulling shit off like this.
Very detailed. Are you, by any chance, a mob boss or their accountant?
What do you mean? Trump is an asset of the ruling class.
Rich people in the nation have literally nothing to fear while he’s in office, so we shouldn’t expect the military or any 3-letter agencies to do anything about it.
As far as I’m aware, the military, in the best case, will simply refuse to follow unlawful orders. There are formal processes to do so. That’s part of military culture and law. Whether that system will hold up to Trump is unknown. When he issues unlawful orders, will soldiers simply refuse to comply? Unknown.
But one thing is for sure. It’s not part of military culture to actively resist. There is no formal process for that to be protected or OK. That’s simply insurrection and rebellion.
Dictators fear military coups, that’s why people like Putin keeps them weak and fighting themselves
I don’t think it’s insurrection when our president is actively selling out our country to a hostile foreign power.