I am astonished at Vladislav's seemingly positive view of Trump! His comments sound as if taken directly from the right-bending mainstream media. Trump's mental health is worse than Biden's, plus his intentions are merely to keep himself out of jail and to increase his power and financial status as much as possible. Netanyahu & Trump have a lot in common!
I agree with Claire that most Americans definitely do not hate Israel, but many do dislike Netanyahu. If Vladislav thinks that Trump's word can be believed and trusted, he's not a very good judge of character. A second term for Trump would be horrendous for Ukraine, along with the US and most of Europe. Harris and Biden have both talked often about the necesssity of a strong NATO and good relations with our other allies in maintaining world peace. Has US decisiveness in demonstrating support for Ukraine been lacking? Yes, I think so, which has left Ukraine in a precarious position, but I believe Harris is the only candidate who will continue to support Ukraine. I also think she can be pressured into taking a stronger stance. Trump would only do what pleases Putin.
Vladislav who I have met on several occasions has actually been moving towards Trump for a while I think because of October 7th and the fact his mother was in Israel at the time and had a near miss with Hamas.
Vlad also recently got divorced from his Ukrainian wife which I think has made him somewhat less connected on a personal level to Ukraine. He is still very anti Russian although he would tell you in person he has many relatives that are very pro Russia.
My own view is that the Ukrainian command decided on the Kursk offensive because it recognized that a war of attrition yields the initiative to Russia, whose main military advantage is numerical superiority. Standing on the defensive in the Donbas sector is, therefore, a losing proposition for Ukraine in the long run.
The Kursk offensive shakes things up in several ways. For one thing, it deals a blow to the prestige of V. Putin and his regime. Once again, the low military competence of the Russian Army has been shown up. A sizable chunk of Russian territory has been overrun by the Ukrainians, many prisoners have been taken—and, be it noted, this happened in the Kursk oblast, i.e. in the area of a storied Russian victory in the Great Patriotic War for the Motherland. Second…but I’ve written about this recently and so rather than repeat it all, here’s the link:
The main "reason" for the Kursk offensive is to get permission to fire the donated missiles into Russia. "See what you made us do? If you had only allowed us to shoot missiles where we need to, we would not have had to go in there physically."
Zelensky's latest (or the one before that) video address. In the original Ukrainian this motive is very strongly implied; in the English translation it's much less obvious.
Seems to me a more likely explanation for the timing of this operation is that it happened shortly after the Gershkovich et al prisoner swap was completed. Not sure how much detail Ukraine was privy to, but the swap was the culmination of a complex multilateral negotiation that took months to finalize, and the Ukrainians were probably aware of it at some level. Perhaps the US (or Germany or Poland, etc) asked them to hold off, or maybe they voluntarily delayed their operation, not wanting to be blamed for sabotaging the deal?
If the Ukrainian operation has been planned for months, how could it be influenced by Bibi's US visit? Seems a bit like Vlad is interpreting. the facts in a way to fit his view on the US admin / Biden.
Always good to hear Vlad, thanks!
I am astonished at Vladislav's seemingly positive view of Trump! His comments sound as if taken directly from the right-bending mainstream media. Trump's mental health is worse than Biden's, plus his intentions are merely to keep himself out of jail and to increase his power and financial status as much as possible. Netanyahu & Trump have a lot in common!
I agree with Claire that most Americans definitely do not hate Israel, but many do dislike Netanyahu. If Vladislav thinks that Trump's word can be believed and trusted, he's not a very good judge of character. A second term for Trump would be horrendous for Ukraine, along with the US and most of Europe. Harris and Biden have both talked often about the necesssity of a strong NATO and good relations with our other allies in maintaining world peace. Has US decisiveness in demonstrating support for Ukraine been lacking? Yes, I think so, which has left Ukraine in a precarious position, but I believe Harris is the only candidate who will continue to support Ukraine. I also think she can be pressured into taking a stronger stance. Trump would only do what pleases Putin.
Vladislav who I have met on several occasions has actually been moving towards Trump for a while I think because of October 7th and the fact his mother was in Israel at the time and had a near miss with Hamas.
Vlad also recently got divorced from his Ukrainian wife which I think has made him somewhat less connected on a personal level to Ukraine. He is still very anti Russian although he would tell you in person he has many relatives that are very pro Russia.
My own view is that the Ukrainian command decided on the Kursk offensive because it recognized that a war of attrition yields the initiative to Russia, whose main military advantage is numerical superiority. Standing on the defensive in the Donbas sector is, therefore, a losing proposition for Ukraine in the long run.
The Kursk offensive shakes things up in several ways. For one thing, it deals a blow to the prestige of V. Putin and his regime. Once again, the low military competence of the Russian Army has been shown up. A sizable chunk of Russian territory has been overrun by the Ukrainians, many prisoners have been taken—and, be it noted, this happened in the Kursk oblast, i.e. in the area of a storied Russian victory in the Great Patriotic War for the Motherland. Second…but I’ve written about this recently and so rather than repeat it all, here’s the link:
https://unwokeindianaag.substack.com/p/the-second-battle-of-kursk
The main "reason" for the Kursk offensive is to get permission to fire the donated missiles into Russia. "See what you made us do? If you had only allowed us to shoot missiles where we need to, we would not have had to go in there physically."
You know this how…?
Zelensky's latest (or the one before that) video address. In the original Ukrainian this motive is very strongly implied; in the English translation it's much less obvious.
Seems to me a more likely explanation for the timing of this operation is that it happened shortly after the Gershkovich et al prisoner swap was completed. Not sure how much detail Ukraine was privy to, but the swap was the culmination of a complex multilateral negotiation that took months to finalize, and the Ukrainians were probably aware of it at some level. Perhaps the US (or Germany or Poland, etc) asked them to hold off, or maybe they voluntarily delayed their operation, not wanting to be blamed for sabotaging the deal?
If the Ukrainian operation has been planned for months, how could it be influenced by Bibi's US visit? Seems a bit like Vlad is interpreting. the facts in a way to fit his view on the US admin / Biden.