If that was true America wouldn't be a factor in this discussion. The EU has failed when it comes to defending Ukraine.
Replies
Not sure how 130 bn in aid is failure.
aug 18, 2025, 6:34 am • 12 0 • view
Does this look like success to you? Even Zelensky is quoted here as saying EU guarantees of security without the US are worthless. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...
aug 18, 2025, 7:37 am • 3 1 • view
I’m on Ukraine’s side. Are you? Is Ireland? Irish aid to Ukraine is a rounding error in the European aid total. If the EU needs to do more, maybe individual countries could step up. Hold the line till Putin exits.
aug 18, 2025, 7:45 am • 6 0 • view
I'm Welsh and the UK has supported Ukraine militarily before and after the invasion. But the lack of any cohesive EU strategy for years, and a stupid energy policy that even Trump used to warn Germany and others about, has left Ukraine's defence reliant on the US. That is a failure.
aug 18, 2025, 7:57 am • 4 0 • view
Ursula is a strong political actor and negotiator. Which would be awesome if she was dealing with a rational actor, but Trump decides what hes going to do on a minute to minute basis. The reason the world keeps being shocked by Trump is they keep assuming Trump has plans or that he's consistent.
aug 18, 2025, 4:56 pm • 2 0 • view
His whole schtick is dominating each 24-hr news cycle. Anyway. RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES, particularly the bank records.
aug 18, 2025, 9:51 pm • 0 0 • view
On all that we absolutely agree.
aug 19, 2025, 3:50 am • 0 0 • view
I dont respect people who recieve light disagreement and say things like "well I support Ukraine, do you?" As though any disagreement is the same as betrayal. He is right. The EU didnt do enough. They are going to DC to try to keep America in the fight cus they cant do it alone.
aug 18, 2025, 4:55 pm • 1 0 • view
🤣🤣 So you’re judging me as a person for defending myself from Barney because he came after me for posting something positive about the EU President? 1) Not sure you have the moral high ground 2) This is why we lose 3) I sign what I post with my true name and photo. Consider it yourself.
aug 18, 2025, 10:05 pm • 0 0 • view
Where did I 'come after you'? I posted an alternative viewpoint backed up with a news source quoting Zelensky himself. That isn't personal criticism. You had no need to 'defend yourself'.
aug 19, 2025, 9:10 pm • 0 0 • view
I just found out unfortunately info that I thought you'd wanna know. Apparently Ursula Von De Leyen has been behind an aggressive push to remove protections for wolf populations because one of her horses got attacked. She's hurting an ecosystem out of a Disney villain-like vendetta.
aug 26, 2025, 10:08 pm • 1 0 • view
That seems unethical and petty. She should know better. Thanks for the heads-up. 🙏
aug 26, 2025, 10:41 pm • 0 0 • view
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
aug 27, 2025, 9:07 am • 1 0 • view
Doing more research, I didnt realize how blueblooded she was. She's an Albrecht and married into the Von Der Leyen family. Both noble houses, one genteel and the other a Barony. She is the EXACT person to go on a vendetta against a wolf that killed the "family pony"
aug 27, 2025, 6:24 pm • 0 0 • view
The Von Der Leyens also helped directly with the holocaust in Poland and Czechoslovakia, the far right in those places today uses that as propaganda to say the EU is "occupying" them, which is silly. The more pressing issue is that they stayed wealthy through WW2 and therefore benefitted.
aug 27, 2025, 6:26 pm • 0 0 • view
I had respect for her even if I had critiques. But it changed the way I view her. Ive defended her before too. I figured youd wanna know before it got sprung on you in a future argument. Using the power of the EU for something so petty when there are bigger fish to fry makes me feel very strange
aug 26, 2025, 10:10 pm • 1 0 • view
We lose by holding them to a high standard? These are the most powerful people in the world. At they very least we should critique them so they can hopefully do better.
aug 19, 2025, 3:49 am • 0 0 • view
We lose by fighting each other rather than Putin and Trump. We lose by insisting on the perfect rather than the good.
aug 22, 2025, 2:05 am • 0 0 • view
I'm not asking them to be perfect. Just effectual. Doesnt have to be a fight.
aug 22, 2025, 7:22 am • 0 0 • view
America has been wildly unreliable in recent years after having pressured Ukraine to give up nuclear capabilities by assuring them of military backup. So yes, it’s taking time for Europe to respond to the betrayal.
aug 18, 2025, 7:08 am • 5 0 • view
The US has been increasingly unreliable. The point is the EU had years to get to a point where Ukraine wasn't dependent on American support, and failed. Even Zelensky is quoted here as saying EU guarantees of security without the US are worthless.
aug 18, 2025, 7:39 am • 1 0 • view
I agree, they have been overly cautious. But I think the gloves are about to come off.
aug 18, 2025, 8:07 am • 1 0 • view
Maybe, but precedent suggests lots of strong words and good optics, with little action thereafter.
aug 18, 2025, 8:10 am • 1 0 • view
Barney, you tell us how the EU has failed UKRAINE?
aug 18, 2025, 6:43 am • 0 0 • view
Does this look like success to you? Even Zelensky is quoted here as saying EU guarantees of security without the US are worthless. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...
aug 18, 2025, 7:37 am • 0 0 • view
They’ve been a bit slow but I think by now they have the picture. Which is that the US is their enemy not their friend. Collectively, they can hurt Trump’s dictatorship. They’re not all going there to be nice to him.
aug 18, 2025, 7:56 am • 0 0 • view
Your take from that article is that they've been "a bit slow"? The EU has handed Ukraine's future to the US. Even now, there is no cohesive EU strategy towards Ukraine, but individual EU countries offer varying degrees of support.
aug 18, 2025, 7:59 am • 1 0 • view
It’s an evolving situation. You’d agree that this meeting is not same old same old. Everyone in the Oval Office at once looks cohesive to me.
aug 18, 2025, 8:02 am • 0 0 • view
Those are the optics, and many strong words will flow, but actions and follow up have been lacking in recent history.
aug 18, 2025, 8:08 am • 1 0 • view
Totally agree with you there. Millions of us are following this closely. Meanwhile in Aotearoa NZ our Prime Minister is so lazy and useless that he couldn’t be bothered to join a virtual meeting with the EU delegation because it was at 1-2am NZT and he had a meeting in the morning. Shameful 🤬
aug 18, 2025, 9:03 am • 1 0 • view
Dervish, some people aren’t happy unless they’re miserable.
aug 18, 2025, 7:51 am • 1 0 • view
Misery is the conservatives way of life in America. And they feel obligated to try and spread it throughout the rest of the country. And they all can just fuck the hell right off! I’m happy and I know it and there ain’t a magaT anywhere that can change that. EVER
aug 18, 2025, 10:46 am • 0 0 • view