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- cross-posted to:
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U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a suspension of all military aid to Ukraine, escalating pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky mere days after a heated exchange in the Oval Office cast doubt on U.S. support for Kyiv.
A senior Defense Department official told Bloomberg that all U.S. military assistance to Ukraine is on hold until Trump determines that Ukrainian leaders are making a genuine effort toward peace.
The pause affects not only future aid but also weapons already in transit, including shipments on aircraft and ships, as well as equipment awaiting transfer in Poland.
Edit: changed source from Bloomberg to Kyiv Independent b/c there’s no paywall and more detail in the story.
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So the record currently stands at…
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - Why are you so Disrespectful?
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - Putin is a victim we’re undoing sanctions
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - Why won’t Zelensky do a deal?
Zelensky - Let’s try a deal, we just need security guarantees
Trump - We’re stopping Aid.
I kinda wonder what people in the 3 letter agencies are thinking right now. I would hope that enough of these agencies actually view Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy, because he actually is. People have warned for this to happen, for a while now, even though many are surprised at the speed at which it happens. But still, you would kind of hope for some of these agencies to actually stand for the constitution, instead of for the ruling party and his current president.
The US is so much more than just the current political ruling class. It’s sad that there seems at least, to be so little visible opposition to their efforts to derail the US geopolitical power and to overthrow the system of law and order. One who the Republicans should hold deep, and definitely the people who pledge their allegiance to the constitution. I wonder if it would have gone different if someone like Saunders or Obama would have tried a similar play.
I have not a lot of knowledge how American politics work, but isn’t this for congress to decide? how is Trump so powerful? (sorry for my daft question)
It is for Congress to decide such matters. It says so right in our constitution, but our Legislative branch has been ceding their ability to check Executive overreach for decades. Now, with a complicit Congress as the majority, they will never challenge Trump on anything he does, no matter how unconstitutional or illegal it might be. Same goes for the Judiciary as well, chock full of partisan hacks who bend and twist their interpretation of the language of the constitution to cherry pick a favorable ruling for anything that Trump does.
Basically, our system of checks and balances that are meant to keep one aspect of the government from becoming too powerful has been completely subsumed by ideologues who prefer monarchy to democracy. The executive now essentially has unchecked authority and is in full control of the government apparatus.
We are entering a “yeah and who’s going to stop me era of US politics”
It’s very illegal. He has already been impeached once for withdrawing military aid to Ukraine in his first term.
And you see where that got us.
Yeah indeed, but now he has got the full backing and more Trump tronies?!
The president was always able to stop aid under certain conditions. Trump is just going to certify that one of those conditions exist no matter how ridiculous it is.
It isn’t daft. The Republicans since Reagan have pushed a fringe legal theory called the Unitary Executive Theory. Basically, they want the president to fully control the executive branch and military such that theirs is the only voice that matters for much of the government. Not unlike a king, but partially checked by congress and the courts. They have been taking (illegal) actions to try to get sued, and also have been suing others/other branches of government, to try to get the Supreme Court to hear cases that will support this fringe legal theory so that it becomes the law of the land.
I am not a lawyer, but this is possibly something Trump can legally do since he is Commander in Chief of the armed forces. However, this seems more like an apportionment thing, which is Congress’ responsibility. Congress has allocated funds to send military aid to Ukraine. So, even if Trump as Commander in Chief could say “no more weapons to ukraine”, it seems doubtful to me that he could (legally) stop weapons shipments currently en route.
But, by the time whatever government office sues the office of the president to get a judge to enjoin them to send the agreed upon weapons that were already apportioned, it will already have hurt Ukraine somewhat. Trump often weaponizes inefficiency. And these sort of illegal acts aren’t crimes per se - they’re just procedural breaches - the legal remedy is just to reverse the action.
So, probably not legal. But Trump gets to weaponize his administration’s incompetence (or feigned incompetence) to at least delay aid. More competent people may support these actions, knowing they’re illegal, to try and strengthen the president’s role even further.
Wow! Thanks so much for this reply! this is very helpful, thnx a lot
The answer is simpler than that: the “checks and balances” system is a facade created to prevent meaningful progressive policy from passing. There’s a reason why Trump can modify a billion laws from day 1, but poor Biden couldn’t possibly do anything to codify abortion as a right or prevent the bombing of children in Gaza.
This isn’t quite right. Trump didn’t really modify laws. That isn’t even something he can claim to do since he is the head of the Executive branch, not the Legislative one. He issued executive orders, many of which were illegal, and he had some cronies who enacted some of them anyway - others did not enact some of these. He did rescind many policies, but he can’t just make laws go away on his own. There are literally hundreds of court cases currently challenging these executive orders - seeing as how the judiciary is the primary check on the executive branch, that is the system working to check presidential power.
However, I am not a liberal, I am a socialist and do not think this is working well - there are many problems here. The highest levels of the judiciary have been largely captured by far-right judges, many of whom are specifically aligned with Trump’s goals and support the unitary executive theory. Also, this method of checking presidential power is extremely slow. For every illegal action Trump’s administration takes, a court case has to be crafted, filed, heard, and adjudicated. Every one. And invariably, some will not reach the correct outcome and others will never actually be taken to court - there are just too many.
Basically, the administration is using the fact that they control every branch of government to dismantle or capture core government agencies and to provide cover for various illegal actions - forcing them through if only temporarily for various political and structural ends. A soft coup, basically. So yeah, the fact that something like this is possible is proof of the flaws inherent in this system of government.
That’s a lot of words to say that I’m right in practice even if not in principle lmao.
I’m a commie too, BTW. You’re way too charitable to the US institutions IMO.
Republicans hold the majority in congress, so they’re refusing to push back and are just allowing him to usurp power from them.
Thnx for your reply! i understand that, but it seems nothing goes via congress?!
Congress is a check and balance to executive power, just like the judicial.
They are not checking or balancing his power. So they are in effect, impotent.
And they don’t care because the White House is occupied by someone on their team. This country fucking sickens me.
I would love to see everyone just start ignoring Trump and everything he says and just keeps doing their job.
The way it should be
And very seriously listen and write down his commands and say of course sir then just not do it. For years and report back to him that he is hailed as the best president ever for his orders, and let him live his fantasy, we can even hold parades and stuff and the fun thing is that people would actually genuinely be glad when he comes because they know it’s going to be a festival and their job is just to pretend to be awed by his senile ramblings, which honestly sounds so much fun
https://www.itamilradar.com/2025/03/04/look-who-we-have-here/
“The ambiguous American behavior continues: on the one hand, they (verbally) threaten to withdraw support for Ukraine, including intelligence assistance, while on the other hand, they are increasing SIGINT flights over the Black Sea.”
Who says those SIGNT flights are for Ukraine anymore?
At best they won’t share, at worst it’s for russia
How do we know they were for ukraine to begin with? One thing is clear: they aren’t for russia so the narrative that USA is helping russia or halting operations against them doesn’t old much against the evidence.
What narrative about helping russia? If they stop supporting Ukraine, they are helping russia…
they are helping russia…
this one
It’s not a narrative though
The US wouldn’t stop military aid to Israel while the IDF destroyed hospitals and killed children and journalists among many other war crimes. They will freeze aid to Ukraine as it defends itself in a war of conquest. Evidence suggests the USA would rather align with criminals like Putin and Netanyahu than war victims.
That really is a stark contrast. What do the apologetics say about this?
Probably “we won, you lost, get over it” as if that’s how any of this works.
They won, all lost
Each time I read “Trump orders”, “Trump does X”, I always ask myself: “Wait, can he do that? Congress? House? Judiciary? Cheks? Balances? Hellooooooooooo…?”…
… but this is still the first few months of his second term. At this pace, he will be a literal king in a few more months.
A scary prospect to say the least, and I hope it’s not too late for America to do something about this. This should not be normalized. This cannot be normalized.
This just proves that american gloating over their “checks and balances” was bullshit all along. US will never live this down.
The average us citizen doesn’t have a solid grasps of how our government actually works.
Defunding education and gutting curriculum and removing civics education has … been impactful.
I’d say the average republican does have a solid grasp of how the government works, seeing the extremely high activity of Trump’s government. Turns out the “checks and balances” and the “branches of government” and all of that shit only serves to slow down progressive policy. When it’s about bombing brown kids or defending healthcare, policy can speed through the fucking system
Checks and balances are only are good as the morals of the people enforcing them.
So they don’t formally exist and the entire political game is just about whether you choose the good or the bad representatives, and all knowledge and legislation about institutions is liable to be simply ignored without penalty
I mean, yeah, if everyone stopped enforcing laws then there are no laws. It’s not like there is a machine that does it.
Laws only have value as long as someone is willing to enforce them. It’s all a social construct.
I’m not from the US and am far from being a legal expert, but your country appears to be close to being lawless (or is getting there at an accelerated pace).
I mean it’s really not close to lawless, it’s just we’ve decided one man is king and can’t do anything illegal
until Trump determines that Ukrainian leaders are making a genuine effort toward peace.
They are literally shooting every Russian they spot on their soil, how is that not making a genuine effort toward peace?
He means “capitulate to the enemy”
They are literally shooting every Russian they spot on their soil
There are 8 millions russian speakers living in ukraine i hope these don’t count as “russian”
How many English speakers are there in the world. Are they considered English? Don’t be stupid.
Are they wearing a Russian military uniform? Then they are an enemy combatant.
It’s really not that hard, dude.
Only the Russian imperial narrative is so that Russians speaking people are considered Russians. There are Russian speaking people in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and in many -Stans, they are not Russians.
Not a very useful remark. The Ukrainian army is full of Russians speaking people.
There are ethnic russians there. What i’m pointing out is that “shooting every russian they spot” sounds racist.
I saw you around, and I know also you are Italian, so I will tell you in a way you understand. You are being a “puntalcazzista” to throw shade on Ukraine with vague racism claims. Anybody with a pulse will understand that “shooting every Russian on the spot” means “shooting every invader”, and that roughly would include also north Koreans or other ethnicities, should those set foot in Ukraine to assist Russian invasion. You are trying to claim an interpretation that doesn’t make sense, because - as I told you and you can easily verify - the Ukrainian army itself is full of Russian speaking people, who you might call “ethnic Russian” - whatever you think that means. So unless you are honestly suggesting that OP was suggesting Ukrainian army is also shooting on the spot to members of its own army, we both know what you are doing.
I saw you around, and I know also you are Italian, so I will tell you in a way you understand. You are being a “puntalcazzista” to throw shade on Ukraine with vague racism claims. Anybody with a pulse will understand that “shooting every Russian on the spot” means “shooting every invader”
You must be new here, people have been racist toward russians for a good time.
https://sh.itjust.works/post/27157199
How exactly i’m throwing shade on ukraine by pointing out a racist generalization in comment?
You’re either not understanding the intent of their message or you’re willfully twisting it.
That’s what is being pointed out.
They’re clearly referencing the invaders, you misunderstood and took umbrage where you didn’t need to. Having been corrected you’re still pushing the idea that they were being racist.
You’re acting in bad faith.
You’re either not understanding the intent of their message or you’re willfully twisting it.
How i’m twisting anything? To me it looks like you are try to twist things here accusing me of being in bad faith when i simply pointed out yet another discrimination against “russians” as if they were all bad. Are you aware that there are russian people living in ukraine?
I am not new, but I have a skill that you might find useful, it’s called “context”.
racist generalization in comment?
Because there is no any racial generalization. From the context it was clear to anybody who is in good faith what OP meant. Even if it wasn’t, OP comment was a statement on what is happening, so your remark “I hope they don’t…” doesn’t make any fucking sense, because you can just check what they are doing. Currently Russians in Ukraine that are being shot are invading troops.
So let’s make a parallel. “Partisans were shooting germans”, in the context of Italian resistance. Do you think it’s a racist remark? Would you feel the need to say " oh boy, I hope they don’t shoot German civilians", “oh, there are ethnical Germans in the north, I hope they are not shooting them”. No you wouldn’t, because what you are doing is not in good faith, you are not raising any valid concern, you are just purposefully misunderstanding OP to stir shit.
partisans were shooting germans troops, soldiers or the nazi they weren’t “shooting every german on the spot"
Since he can’t do this and needs congress’ help, why aren’t they stopping him? Why are they all bending over backwards to please Putin?
Because the only meaningful political move for Republicans today is to follow Trump. If they push back they get cut from the pack and lose support.
Because congress is dominated by the oligarch sycophants as well.
Just as his master told him.
The US media still does not dare to call Trump a Russian agent, despite him showing all symptoms.
There has been no single Russian attempt to destroy the US being as successful as putting their own agent into the White House, right into the Oval Office.
The US media still does not dare to call Trump a Russian agent, despite him showing all symptoms.
US operation in the black sea today
https://www.itamilradar.com/2025/03/04/look-who-we-have-here/
That may be because Trump doesn’t know about it. May stop anytime, just like “cyberwar”. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2er34w0jgdo
Who’s to say that data is for Ukraine?
I’m gonna guess it’s for russia then
Best case they will still share data, they could also just be gathering it up for themselves, worst case is sending it to russia
worst case is sending it to russia
It was a joke it’s not for russia…
It could very well be
It could very well be
🤦
He’s a Russian asset. How is this a surprise?
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And then finally we will build a memorial building in their honor? One where all their carcasses are placed in a viewing chamber protected by glass at the basement of the building where as the first floor and subsequent other floors are all subdivided in public toilets and urinals. You stop there waiting for a bus, but you need to go. So you get into urinal #275. You do your business, then you either flush or you pay $0.50. Then you go to the basemen if you paid. There you press in your urinal number to watch a beautiful yellow fountain splash on their graves. Putin will land there first. Then after every nazi will end up in there. All profit goes the LGBTQ+A community. Anyhoo, I’m not the first to propose this instead of a library. We could have an LGBTQ+A library on the 2nd floor?
We can blame the people who voted for hillary clinton in the 2016 primary for why we have 2 trump presidencies.
We can blame the people who voted for Biden in the 2020 primary for why we essentially have 12 years of trump.
Democrats have shown repeatedly they’d rather have trump over someone who tries to reduce the disparity in wealth, so that’s what we get.
Now they can all order doordash from their quarter-of-a-million-dollars suburban homes while complaining they don’t have enough money. (and get mad at anyone who criticizes them for it)
What suburb are you in that you get a whole house for 250k AND doordash still delivers there???
Take a look on Zillow.
No, i think I’m primarily going to blame the people who voted for Trump for Trump being elected.
You can blame both!
It’s just expected that republicans will work against the working class at this point. The “lesser evil” is seen as good because of how weak, greedy, entitled, and pitiful liberals are.
Wait, you guys are getting houses at quarter of a million.???
For sure, you just need to travel back in time thirty years for any place you would want to live.
Depends on the suburb, but that’s the minimum.
Ok. Part 1 is done. Part 2 & 3 (order doesn’t matter) is that Trump ends sanctions and then stages a massive false flag attack that they then blame on Ukrainian Extremists upset over the ending of support to enact a full police state.
Part 4: ???
Part 5: profit
Part 4: USA falls apart
Part 5: China profits
China already owns part of russia
Yes, he’ll set the
ReichstagCapitol on fire and go from there.I’ve been wondering where the US Tiananmen Square is going to be.
The US already bombed black neighbourhoods and murdered unionists, and the police kills “nonwhite” people at astonishing rates, it’s just those things aren’t talked about in the US at all.
I think the counterpoint is that when something like Kent state happened, the government backed down. The question will be if they’re willing to use live rounds in the future and not back down (not that less lethal munitions are much better, but it is different).
The U.S. Military and the CIA must know what a threat to the country Trump is, right?
…right?
As far as I’m aware, the military, in the best case, will simply refuse to follow unlawful orders. There are formal processes to do so. That’s part of military culture and law. Whether that system will hold up to Trump is unknown. When he issues unlawful orders, will soldiers simply refuse to comply? Unknown.
But one thing is for sure. It’s not part of military culture to actively resist. There is no formal process for that to be protected or OK. That’s simply insurrection and rebellion.
Dictators fear military coups, that’s why people like Putin keeps them weak and fighting themselves
I don’t think it’s insurrection when our president is actively selling out our country to a hostile foreign power.
He’s a threat for the people not for the government or he wouldn’t be the ceo.
What a fucking nonsensical comment
You gotta go for quality over quantity if you really want to impress the handlers 😉
What a fucking nonsensical comment
same for yours
The military that he just dismissed the leadership of and replaced with his own people, and the CIA that’s directed by his people?
Here’s the pickle though. Wouldn’t it be reasonable if another administration get in power and then need to purge all these positions of pro trump people?
Like what happens next? it’s such a bleak world now.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable if another administration get in power and then need to purge all these positions of pro trump people?
Oh no! You have a great point for horror fans there.
I’d even say, it probably is somewhat necessary in order to resume administration. What a beautiful, postfactual dilemma:
The Reps fear an ideological, systemic witch hunt, which they use as an excuse to replace government workers. The new workers are ideologically aligned with the Reps, encouraged to assist the dismantling of non-Rep institutions and carry out the King’s will above and beyond the law.
Now when votes swing the other way, the new administration kind of has to revert some of this damage to assume functioning.
Which is where the circle closes; the prophecy fulfills itself. Now the Reps have evidence for their previously baseless claims. The whole system is locked in a back-and-forth mud wrestling of replacing workers based on ideology.
That’s the problem with the two-party system in the USA, in a full democracy this dynamic wouldn’t happen. This is the achilles heel of american democracy and the downfall seems to have begun.
his own people,
of which are wildly incompetent
And the competent ones (as in the ones with experience at creation local militias and terrorist organizations) are gonna be out there creating the resistance.
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But the deep state!
Yep. Those ones. And the ones loyal to them.
“Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic ;that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: So help you God?”
Sometimes I wish the US were what tankies say it is.
You wish the US to be a genocidal empire? poof nothing’s changed
I’m pretty sure Trump has proven every single tankie argument about the US.
Except that whole thing about Dems being just as bad, which is like 90% of tankie arguments about the US.
Trump treats white people like Obama treated Arabs.
It’s funny how much the tankies have in common with the liberal socialists. If only they weren’t so darn argumentative.
What do you mean? Trump is an asset of the ruling class.
Rich people in the nation have literally nothing to fear while he’s in office, so we shouldn’t expect the military or any 3-letter agencies to do anything about it.
I don’t know that the CIA has ever given a shit about the United States.
Hell H.W. Bush was the son of a man that tried to overthrow the government and Ford appointed him to CIA director in the 70s.
Given how big a security leak the dipshit is, and he already got a ton of their agents in the field killed the first time around, it’s not so much them caring about the US, but then seeing a threat to their own power.
Now that I would believe
Edit: I was wrong HW was at the CIA the year after the Church Committee.
If… Let’s say if… It’ll take some planning, they wouldn’t just do it willy nilly they gotta plan the hit, find the right assets, find the right areas, research, etc. it takes a lot of work to whack somebody it’s not like The Sopranos or anything.
Have you seen some of the shit they tried for Castro!?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro
Yeah it’s fucking wild the efforts they go through. Even if it’s as discreet as a walk-by in a parking garage with a suppressed pistol or strangled in a car, there will be at least 10 people doing different jobs with zero knowledge of what the others are doing or what the end goal is, all doing a very simple task that any normal person could do with probable ignorance. Real life examples of how the mafia do hits are really intricate: You pay one guy to flatten a tire, you pay another guy to drive the tow truck, you pay another guy to ask them for directions to delay them a bit, you pay another guy to be an uber or taxi driver, you pay another guy to receive where the taxi/uber is going, this is all after paying probably a few other dudes to study their schedule and the schedule of their visitors/guests, pay another dude to get keep their neighbor or something distracted, pay another dude to take the shot and dip (source: I know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy). It’s very expensive and time consuming, that’s why organized hits don’t happen a lot it’s gotta be worth the investment. This would be much harder to pull off against someone with 24/7 secret service guard, but the CIA/FBI/Police are pros at pulling shit off like this.
Very detailed. Are you, by any chance, a mob boss or their accountant?
It’s up to the man on the street to take action.
