Rat u Ukrajini

Orban said that the West needs to understand that Putin cannot afford to lose, and will not lose, because he's up for re-election next year, and he cannot run as the president who lost a war. What's more, he said, Russia cannot allow NATO to establish a presence in Ukraine. The time has long passed when Russia might have been able to conquer Ukraine, or install a friendly regime. Had Russia won a quick victory, that might have been possible, but it's hopeless now. Therefore, said Orban, Russia's goal is to make Ukraine an ungovernable wreck, so the West cannot claim it as a prize. At this, they have already succeeded. "It's Afghanistan now," he said. "The land of nobody." (Meaning: No Man's Land.)

The West doesn't understand that time is on Russia's side in Ukraine. Russia is a huge country, and can mobilize a vast army. Ukraine is already running out of troops. When that happens, then what?

"We are in big, big trouble," he said, of the West. If Russia's coming spring offensive proves successful, then the NATO countries are going to be faced with the question of do we send in soldiers to fight for Ukraine? This is not something Orban thinks the American people are considering, but it is front to mind among a growing number of Europeans, whose countries stand to be devastated if war spreads.

Really? NATO troops fighting Russians in Ukraine?

Yes, said Orban. It sounds crazy today, "but if you look at the tendency of how we got to this point today, it can't be ruled out."

"We are in a war with Russia. That's the reality," he said. "Every day we are moving further in."

To be clear, Viktor Orban doesn't want the West to be in a war with Russia. But he says that far too many Westerners are deluding themselves about what's really happening -- and what could happen. A journalist asked the prime minister if he thought the war could go nuclear. "I can't exclude that they would use it," he said, of the atomic bomb. He clarified that he was talking about tactical battlefield nukes, not mushroom clouds over Warsaw and Berlin -- "but I can't exclude that either." If Ukraine somehow, using Western weapons, gets to the point of crossing the border into Russian territory, then the future of the world will be so bright the West will have to wear shades.

Someone pointed out that the Russians have had a sorry battlefield performance to this point. Yes, said Orban, it's true. But if you look at Russian history, this is how it goes with the Russians at war. They start out poorly, but after a while, they figure things out, and then become hard to stop. He expects that will be the case this time. He also mentioned at the start of the session that Russia's being pushed into an alliance with Iran is extremely dangerous for Israel, and expressed hope that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, whose adult son was sitting at the table, could become a peacemaker between Russia and Ukraine. Though Ukraine has had some amazing successes against Russia, Orban said in the long term, he can't see that we in the West are on the winning side, especially considering Russia's manufacturing capacity.

Летећи Полип wrote:We are in a war with Russia - don't be a pussy about it/don't be an asshole manpussy about it. 

Летећи Полип wrote:We are in a war with Russia - don't be a pussy about it/don't be an asshole about it. 

Germany's government says Russia deliberately misinterpreted a remark by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock for propaganda purposes. She seemed to suggest NATO was party to the conflict in Ukraine, which the West denies.

Germany's government on Friday accused Russia of pouncing on a statement by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to twist it to the Kremlin's own ends and reiterated that neither Germany nor NATO were parties to the war in Ukraine.

Baerbock had called for Western unity during a meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Tuesday, saying, in English: "We are fighting a war against Russia, not against each other."

She seemed to suggest NATO was party to the conflict in Ukraine, which the West denies.

The US Treasury Department’s top sanctions official on a trip to Turkey and the Middle East next week will warn countries and businesses that they could lose US market access if they do business with entities subject to US curbs as Washington cracks down on Russian attempts to evade sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.

Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will travel to Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey from January 29 to February 3 and meet with government officials as well as businesses and financial institutions to reiterate that Washington will continue to aggressively enforce its sanctions, a Treasury spokesperson told Reuters.

“Individuals and institutions operating in permissive jurisdictions risk potentially losing access to US markets on account of doing business with sanctioned entities or not conducting appropriate due diligence,” the spokesperson said.

Istraživanje u S. Makedoniji: Makedonci daju podršku Rusiji, a Albanci Ukrajini https://t.co/tOnMj3zsFd

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