The Real timschochet

The main issue of contention on Friday was that Zelensky said he didn’t trust Russia to keep their word. That’s what started Vance attacking him and then Trump joined in. In this letter Zelensky says he will agree to a ceasefire and several steps IF Russia does the same. So it sure seems to me like he’s saying the exact same thing: Ukraine wants peace but how can they trust Russia? Now the Trump folks may take this letter, call it a victory and sign the mineral agreement, but let’s not kid ourselves: if that happens it will be Trump reversing himself, not Zelensky. For some inexplicable reason Trump had a temper tantrum on Friday but now he will do the right thing, hopefully. (It was just reported that Trump may reverse himself on the tariffs too as early as tomorrow.)

Well to be honest I’m still a little confused. Here is a challenge for you: take a look at Zelensky’s statement and find something original in it that he did not propose until today.

But the other hand the 15 or so trannies who were thinking about competing in girls sports might reconsider now, maybe, possibly. So there’s that.

Is this a direct translation from the German version?

That would be very good news. One point that JD Vance made on Hannity yesterday is that the involvement of American firms in Ukraine is itself a security guarantee. I agree.

Of course you’re right. Not what I meant. What I meant is that it benefits us not to respond in kind. Example: we sell product X to China. They place a tariff on it. That doesn’t benefit us. China sells product Y to us. That benefits us. If we place a tariff on product Y (as a retaliation to the tariff China has on product X) that doesn’t benefit us, even if it’s fair, so we shouldn’t do it UNLESS the ultimate result will be a removal of tariffs on both products X and Y- but that’s a pretty big risk. It’s far more likely that X and Y will simply be higher as a result, because once trade wars start they are very difficult to stop.

First off I don’t know how my reply could be more thoughtful because your original post was so vague and unspecific. Putting that aside, my question as to what we are trying to achieve here is a rhetorical one. I don’t expect you to answer because Trump himself hasn’t offered an answer.

The items you’re listing were part of the agreement that Trump negotiated with Canada in 2018. They actually represent far LOWER numbers than we had before and a part of a larger deal which was very good for us, now broken.

I should restate: for clarity’s sake, I am in favor of unilateral free trade on our part no matter what other nations do. I don’t care about fairness so long as we benefit and I believe we do (from as few tariffs as possible.) That said this question of “fair trade” doesn’t apply to Canada or Mexico. Since the adoption of NAFTA 30 years ago we have had fair trade with both of those countries for the most part, and this was increased even more with Trump’s deal (perhaps his best achievement as President.)

I don’t understand, what is wrong with free trade?

What would you have him do?

@jbycho is the human equivalent of the goat from Animal Farm: “Trump goood, liberals baaaad!” That’s all he knows or needs to know.

He’s been ready. Is Trump ready?

Don’t bother. They don’t have an answer

I see Townhall and other conservative sites are repeating @Strike’s nonsense: the headline I just saw is “Zelensky caves” lol Still maybe this will be the face saving gesture that Trump needs to reverse his disastrous blunder. It’s a common formula at this point: Trump does something incredibly stupid, whoever is most affected makes a meaningless gesture, Trump accepts the “apology” and quickly reverses himself, MAGA says “WINNING!” Maybe it will happen again here.

This argument is wrong on a multitude of levels, not the least being that the money for this has already been allocated and spent. Withholding support for Ukraine will not save us any money at this point.

Most of your points are very general and have nothing to do with Mexico or Canada. But with regard to point #3, NAFTA ended years ago. Trump put a new deal in place, remember? He called it the greatest deal ever at the time. Last night he violated it (so much for America honoring our agreements; why should we expect others to do the same?) So I still can’t figure out any reason for these tariffs.

He’s made the same offer for a year: IF Russia does the same. He didn’t apologize for Friday.

Bump. Please explain how this is bending the knee, or any different from what Zelensky has been saying since Friday (or, for that matter, even before Friday)?

I did. How is it different?

How is it different?

Is there a poster here who has expressed support for Hamas? I’m not aware of that.

This is the same exact thing he’s been saying since Friday. It hasn’t been enough for Trump yet, maybe it will be now?

With regard to Mexico and Canada I still have no idea what the “better long term position” would be.

I don’t. But on the left reasonable criticism of Israel is often confused for anti-Semitism. And anyway my comments were specific to this forum. If there are any leftist Jew haters around here I’m unaware of them.