Comments by "Curious Crow" (@CuriousCrow-mp4cx) on "Paul Warburg"
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If Zelenskyy plays the CRM/CRE card wisely, Ukraine isn't just securing weapons or funding—it’s integrating itself into the long-term strategic interests of the West. That’s a far more powerful and irreversible position than simply relying on foreign aid or military assistance.
Trump, with his "deal-making" mindset, likely didn't account for this possibility—he assumed the U.S. was Ukraine's only viable option. But if Ukraine diversifies its strategic partnerships through resource diplomacy, Trump is left out in the cold, watching Europe and other allies deepen their stakes in Ukraine's security.
This all means that Zelenskyy wasn’t in a position where he had to take whatever Trump was offering—he could afford to push back. If Trump had recognized this, he might have adjusted his approach, but instead, he overplayed his hand, assuming Ukraine would cave to his demands.
So, in essence, Trump walked into the negotiation thinking he had all the cards when, in reality, Ukraine wasn’t even at the same table—Zelenskyy was already playing a different game.
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What you heard and what is true, are two different things. The US did not produce weapons for Ukraine. They emptied their stockpiles of equipment and weapons near the end of their effective life. The money allocated was savings from not having to decommission the weapons they sent to Ukraine. Also, the money allocated went straight to US Defence Manufacturers to replace what was sent, then produce spares, plus training for maintenance crews. Ukraine did not wind down its own capability on independence, and so it has been innovating low cost but effective alternatives such as drone tech. Now, the meat and potatoes artillery that's keeping Russia's artillery backed off, is where Ukraine has to innovate again. So Europe can empty its stockpiles, supply civilian aid, and build up its own production capabilities to bring weapons to the fore. Accordingly, the war is going to continue for the foreseeable future.
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The facts as you present them are 100% accurate and true. But when people are fearful, anxious, or resentful, they no longer use reason to make their decisions. It's not that they are stupid, but their emotions are stronger than their reason. Add to that, a technocratic, abstract, and distant style of communicating, together with a string tendency to pay attention to the views of asset wealthy business owners, financiers, and billionaires who donate to them, and a reductive view of the electorate, adds to people feeling that their concerns aren't be listened to. So they act from how that makes them feel. And don't consider cause and effect. Like Google blew up with people researching tariffs after they had already voted for Trump, and it was too late.
Sadly, if Trump gets his way, the same lessons learnt earlier in history will have to learnt again. And the consumer who isn't asset wealthy will bear the costs. But that's the way it goes.
But what isn't okay is that jobs aren't paying a living wage to workers. Distribution of the wealth gained what the US does is skewed completely to the benefit of those at the top. And help is needed to direct and reskill the workforce, to work in high tech industries. That's what's missing. So those at the bottom are getting left behind, and it's not their problem. It's everyone's problem, simply because the economy relies on consumer spending to grow. And as work is cukturally favoured over UBI, all developed nations need to have a discussion about how we address this problem. Nobody's talking about this. Even though in the next decade or so, AI is threatening to shed jobs.
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Paul, you cut the story short. Where do you think this attitude came from? The unwillingness of American elites to pay the costs of what made them wealthy at home. It just an extension of that same attitude, which is hollering out the US economy. Where does it make sense that the infrastructure in the richest country in the world is breaking down, with poor transport networks, and everyone in need of repair? Polluted drinking water, inadequate energy provision? And then that neglect is further shown by the quality of life of its citizens, which is lower than in many countries that are less wealthy than it.
I think American elites unwillingness to pay the costs of what made them wealthy has created the political crisis that is, by many experts, only at its first flood. By granting it's own people economic apartheid, after the greatest wealth transfer in world history, American elites are reneging on their responsibilities to their own people. They don't want to pay to prevent the damage of climate change, they don't want to transition away from what will make things worse in the future. They cannot accept they have enough to prevent the disaster. They want to exploit it to make more money instead...
TBH, if the Ukraine War stopped completely, it would not change what is really going on in our world. The elites of the world are entitled and irresponsible, and are more afraid of being less rich, than they already are. That's it. And perhaps we should be more sceptical about billionaires and plutocrats ability to rationalise making other people suffer just to add a few more coins in their already overflowing pockets. I don't mind them being rich, but it is a problem when they forget that that privilege comes from the willingness of people to work on a culture, and to protect that society so at least all can get the basics and thrive, not just survive.
The truth is, Paul. We've been here before. The famous civilisations in the West were bought down by the same tendencies, where wealthy elites chafed against a state designed to support wealth creation, and then broke it by suborning it's politics.. Greedy people are shortsighted and don't plan for the long term. It was ever thus. They didn't want to pay taxes for the things that allowed these empires to survive, like the army, and weakened it over time. 5hey didn't want to support their allies and vassals. They just wanted tribute. They didn't want to stop getting more debt assets, so the wealth creation slowed. So when trouble came knocking at the door, there was no-one to stop it coming, or to prevent it destroying things.
We're repeating the same mistakes. With the same end results. Just saying.
As you said, history tells us how this goes down. It just uses rhyme, instead of prose. The true conservatives must speak out, because the vipers in your bosom will not relent from bleeding you dry unless you do.
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@ImperialDiecast It's an anomaly until it isn't. America itself was an anomaly. So was Haiti's independence. So your point about anomalies is half baked, because it's essentialist in nature. And comes from a perspective that your part of the world is the norm. It isn't. It's specific to you. And it would be an error to describe your world as an anomaly, wouldn't it? Because that would imply that other places aren't. And that they are the norm, and that your place is abnormal. And that would not make you happy, would it? So let's get real. Human nature because of how our brains evolved, likes recognisable patterns. So much that we like to impose patterns and structure where arguably none exists. We do that with people too. And to save processing power, we order our lives around familiar shortcuts, but that is not the way of nature. Nature relies on novelty, evolution, and adaptation. Our weakness is this tendency to fall back to ideological patterns that are truly specific, and try to generalise them. Russia's "pattern" is specific to Russia. America's "pattern" is specific to America. And China's pattern is specific to China. And so on. And, truth be told, everyone should just think for themselves how to make the best of the circumstances they find themselves in. No one shoe size fits all. No one ideology fits all. And the only thing that truly exists is the present. Pretending otherwise is folly. And we need to escape those stories that no longer serve us. So our people can live in peace and have a real chance at a good life. And the real enemies of that goal are those that cling to the stories that elevate them over others. Folly. Discard the old patterns or accept a Darwin Award. That is the choice for the whole of humanity right now, because we cannot control the climate, and the damage that is coming down the line. So we have a simple choice: hang together or hang separately. And the Big Bosses can rule over a hill of bones, and history can do nothing about that.
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