Comments by "" (@martavdz4972) on "The Telegraph" channel.

  1. From Czechia, with memory of Munich 1938, immensely grateful for the one word "SO-CALLED peace talks" from Brits. My country is meeting the 2% threshold and has sent 1.6 million artillery shells. Very good to hear from all the countries. It means we (or Ukraine) aren't alone this time.
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  2. History will remember Zaluzhny as a leader who deeply and genuinely cared about his soldiers. He´s loved in Ukraine as a humble person who personally visited the soldiers and their weddings, cried and rejoiced with them. I´m glad he´s staying in one of the top army positions.
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  3. David showed us that journalism can be deeply human and somehow - a bit - about kindness and hope, even when reporting on horrible events. And I appreciated his respect for other countries and effort to pronounce foreign names correctly. He liked Antonín Dvořák´s music, we corresponded briefly and... I still can´t get used to writing about him in past tense. From Czechia, a heartbroken listener.
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  4. Meloni may say what she wants, there's still support for Ukraine among the people in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. Not from everyone, of course. But in the Baltics, Poland, Czechia - every day, there's an event to support Ukraine. A charity auction, making candles, knitting sweaters, collecting money for drones, military vehicles, radars etc. I'm Czech, and Czechs and Slovaks have just collected money for a specialized vehicle in 12 hours. (Yes, not everyone in Slovakia voted for Fico 🙂 )
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  5. Just posting a neutral comment for the algorithm.
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  6. I like the interpreter, kudos to him, a very responsible job! I interpret brief, run-of-the-mill court trials and even that is very demanding. Can't imagine what this was like - the responsibility of knowing that if he misses a nuance in the translation, the meaning of the conversation will get distorted and tens of thousands of people will hear it.
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  7. The Tuaregs that defeated the Wagner Group are incredibly badass. The Tuareg nomads live in the remotest parts of Sahara in the scorching heat, know it like the back of their hands, only need a few things to survive yet produce the highest-quality videos, and raise rebellions against anyone who tries to limit their rights. Including the right to play the electric guitar. They play Saharan Rock music, totally recommend it. Tinariwen, Bombino, Imarhan, Tamikrest - they sell out venues in Europe and in North America. Which means they have friends in the West. Most of those smiling, easy-going guitar players are really incredibly tough and have lost a friend in an uprising or to a disease. The frontman of Tinariwen saw his father being executed for rebellion at the age of six. The Wagner Group couldn't have made a worse enemy.
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  8. Germany and France bickering over who helps Ukraine more is endearing. And Cameron being surprisingly clear and decisive - it feels like Piglet growing into Christopher Robin. I find myself actually having some respect for him. Whatever British ministers and PMs do in Britain, they´ve all been great on this issue. From Czechia, thanks, Britain!
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  9. Germany has also approved the 2024 budget, with ecology spending slightly cut in favour of defense and aid to Ukraine. I´m Czech and I´ve never loved our neighbours more. It took time, but they´re stepping out of their comfort zone big time.
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  10. Absolutely. A guy from my country fighting in Ukraine said that in September, Ukraine decided to abandon the NATO strategy and use more guerilla-style fighting, because the NATO strategy simply wasn't working without all the NATO weaponry.
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  11. Very serious words from Macron, pretty scary. But I'm also glad someone finally hints at a mind game with Putin. So far, it's been the Kremlin getting into our heads. Let them now rack their brains as to whether we would actually send troops to Ukraine or not.
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  12. 11:20 Whatever Johnson's faults, he's right in this case. The Baltic countries were either independent, or belonged to Vatican, Poland or Sweden for most of their history, and Latvia and Estonia had German-speaking aristocracy. They have a long history of nature-oriented paganism, Catholicism and Protestantism. Unlike Russia, they have medieval stone castles and typical European architecture. And Latvia has just won a Golden Globe for Best Animated Picture, and there's zero Russian culture or mindset in that movie (it's called Flow and it's a very Nordic/nature kind of thing). Those worlds just aren't compatible.
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  13. Anastasiia Marushevska is spot on about lack of engagement being a complete contradiction to "being great and powerful".
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  14. 17:06 Yes, Czechia and Lithuania have a very good relationship with Taiwan. Lithuania initiated this several years ago and Czech Republic followed suit. This is a new and surprising emerging "triangle". A mutually advantageous alliance of small countries. Czechia has never had any problems with Lithuania, but also not much cooperation. But now, we have the Czech foreign minister celebrating November 11th by attending a conference in Lithuania (that, by the way, has just had a delegation to Ukraine and promised ongoing support and weapons supplies). A Taiwanese song has just been played in the Czech version of Dancing with the Stars. In short, it will be interesting to follow the developments. Strenghtening the ties between Czechia, Taiwan and Lithuania is one of the few good things this war has brought.
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  15. The shelling of Kyiv was not only taking place while Blinken was there, but also when Olena Zelenska was organizing a First Ladies meeting. Our Czech First Lady was there. I don´t know whether to be pi**ed off because our First Lady is simply lovely, and a paragon of first-lady-ship, and I don´t want to lose her... or to think "well, yeah, of course the Russian army would do that". I´m pretty used to that jolt in the stomach "what if the Russian army killed..." by now.
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  16. Adding that Zelensky also visited Slovakia and agreed on shared manufacturing of Slovak howitzers Zuzana-2. This could be convenient to both countries, as Slovakia shares borders with Ukraine.
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  17. @goneaway9185 This isn't "oh well", this is "Ukraine depends on ecosystems because it's an agricultural country".
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  18. 30:36 "A lot has happened since we last spoke" - prime example of British understatement... It's actually touching, gotta admire Dom for it.
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  19. Yeah, and Czech guns and Czech and Lithuanian drones. Probably using equipment from all the countries that support them.
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  20. "I´m David Knowles and this is Ukraine: The Latest." The sentence has been tolling in my head like a bell whole day. Will never forget it.
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  21. What´s happening in the right-wing politics of the U.S. is the same thing that happened in Germany in the 1930´s. "That man can do no wrong." My country neighbours Germany and we studied that part of history a lot, and it certainly rings a bell. It´s the dark side of humanity that can rear its head any time, anywhere. It´s important to fight it, but also not to lose focus on the good things: fun with friends, hope and ideas for the future, fair play, creativity, understanding, honest conversations.
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  22. The Czech president, who is a retired general and holds a French medal for rescuing French soldiers, has just visited Macron and spoken about Ukraine to him, right after David Cameron did the same thing. As Macron met Orbán before the Ukraine EU accession vote, I suspect Macron secretly supports Orbán's views. But the other member states found out and now are "politely and diplomatically" reminding Macron of Ukraine and European security.
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  23. I rarely hear anyone mocking North Korea in my country. It's mostly mentioning the horrors, or very dark humour. But my country used to be behind the Iron Curtain, so I suppose it's easier for us to imagine the horrors based on what we heard about Soviet gulags.
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  24. Dom forgot that "canary in a coal mine" is not an expression used in all languages. It doesn´t exist in mine, might not exist in Ukrainian.
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  25. Yeah, he´s 38, he was only 5 when the USSR collapsed. Huge difference from the Kremlin, all those guys are ancient relics of that empire.
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  26. Totally agree. The more reasons, the more the offensive makes sense. Reasons have been popping up in news and in my head for 3 days now, I´ve collected at least 15. Uncovering Russia´s weakness for everyone to see, undermining the relationships within the heavily centralized and relationship-based system, hitting the already-stretched economy, proving to the allies that Ukraine is worth supporting, forcing the enemy to move the anti-aircraft systems from the Kerch Bridge to Kursk (I suspect Ukrainians want to give themselves a gift on August 15th - their Independence Day there)....
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  27.  @crckr2010  I dare to disagree with that. There's quite a lot of leaders who have some basic moral compass and patriotism. They're far from being a parade of heroes, but I wouldn't sell half of them short, either. The Romanian leadership, the Danish leadership, the Finnish and Swedish one, the Czech one, all the Baltic leaders (except for the Lithuanian PM who is a jacka**)... even Starmer has a bit of a spine in this matter.
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  28. 10:00 Spot on about Starmer´s personal qualities! I´d heard a lot of European voices asking for a British Churchill-style bulldog, but it might turn out a Labrador retriever also has certain advantages.
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  29. It´s not so uncommon in North-Eastern Europe. Finnish, Estonian and some Latvian politicians speak this way, too. The Telegraph did an interview with Latvia´s foreign minister Krišjānis Kariņš and his answers were brief, practical and to the point. Basically "We´re doing this, we´re going to do that, we think this, that´s why we plan to do that."
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  30. We as Europe are helping, and we´re increasing our production. But the problem is we started too fu**ing late. Production and procurement take time. Right now, Ukraine is kept alive partly by crowdfunding campaigns across Europe, especially crowdfunded drones. Drones for the rescue!
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  31. From Czechia, hopefully, yes. I'm doing volunteer work for Ukraine and preparing to take same courses that will increase the safety of my country, like first aid or drone piloting.
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  32. Too many conservative talking points on this episode (not that I don´t agree with some of them) and not enough Ukraine. But as a Czech, huge thanks for having Dalibor on! He made good points. Btw he´s Slovak and his surname should be pronounced Rohaatch, not "Rohak".
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  33.  @marktuffield6519  Btw I come from a totally different Czech social bubble: everyone I know sends humanitarian aid to Ukraine and nobody has a positive opinion of Putin. I know several people who regularly drive to Ukraine, almost to the frontline, and bring humanitarian aid there from private charity campaigns. The general opinion in my social bubble is that Russia is basically an Asian nation that took on the negative aspects of Central Asia, taking little positive from it. Some people have a better opinion of Kazakhstan than of Russia. No feeling of affinity at all with Russia. The language similarity doesn't make up for the cruelty and difference in mentality, not by a long shot.
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  34. Oh yeah, the "occasionally sober" Medvedev. I think it was Putin´s ex-wife who said "even in the 1990´s, his habit of finishing his friends´ vodka shots was already a bit disturbing" 😆
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  35. If Svitlana, who has probably had several friends killed or wounded like most Ukrainians, can get so moved by David's passing...
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  36. Has anyone been able to listen to the guest without major problems? I just didn´t understand him... He might have good points but with his unclear way of speaking, he might be better suited for the written article format. Or was that just his computer sound quality?
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  37. They both are.
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  38. Likewise! Unexpected but brilliant polite trolling. I spat out my water and was actually sorry I wasn´t drinking black tea at the time. That would have been British-perfect 😂
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  39. Recommend the NATO video recording of the breakfast at Victor Pinchuk foundation, at the Davos convention, on the NATO channel. I've heard many discussions but none was this interesting or revealing.
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  40. We are! There are millions of us contributing small amounts of money every month, witnessed by the fact that Ukraine is still alive and kicking. I support an ambulance driver who drives to Ukraine every month in his spare time and brings dried food, bandages, hospital equipment and the like.
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  41.  @fortheloveofnoise  None of that was a factor in this case.
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  42. Still a Ukraine flag ony my town´s town hall here in Czechia
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  43. I'd believe this if it wasn't copypasted below every single video I've seen.
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  44. After Chamberlain and Sudetenland, as someone from Czechia, it was so good to hear a British ex-PM say about Zelensky "I don´t want to badger him, he´s got enough on his plate". What a difference from Chamberlain´s "distant country we know nothing about!" Didn´t expect to say this about Johnson, but I was touched by the genuine respect and interest in his voice.
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  45. Oh my, the last thing we need is Ukraine arguing with Germany. I´m usually not the one to criticize Zelensky, but antagonizing Scholz really isn´t going to help him. They never had a great relationship, so he should show some political savvy and negotiate with his other allies and ask THEM to put pressure on the Bundestag.
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  46. Yep, I suppose Kremlin is upset after the attack on Crimea, so it´s unleashed its funny army.
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  47. There isn't one Europe. Some of the countries have the will, some don't. My own country is somewhere in between.
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  48. Itching powder, cow dung, sharp suits... 🤣🤣 thanks for the humour, it helps 🙂
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  49.  @eddiel7635  Yes, they've basically done what a lot of countries are already doing. Made their official language their official language.
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  50. From Czechia, willing to help any way I can. I'm an interpreter and I've started taking international negotiations jobs, which is something I'd never done before.
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