Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited Ukraine on Thursday, just two days after replacing Jens Stoltenberg as the head of NATO, demonstrating the alliance’s commitment to the proxy war.
“This is now my fifth time in Ukraine since the full onslaught of Russia started in February 2022,” Rutte said alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “But this is my very first time as NATO Secretary General, and it was important to me that I come to Ukraine at the start of my mandate.”
Rutte vowed he would work to support Ukraine’s continued move closer to NATO and eventual membership in the alliance. “Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever before. And we will continue on this path until you become a member of our alliance. I very much look forward to that day,” he said.
Rutte’s visit comes as Ukraine continues to lose territory to Russian forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. On Wednesday, Ukraine announced it was withdrawing from the strategic Donetsk town of Vuhledar, and Russian troops are closing in on Pokrovsk.
Fighting is still raging in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, but the invasion has failed to distract Russia from eastern Ukraine. Russian forces have been slowly pushing the Ukrainians back in Kursk since launching a counteroffensive a few weeks ago.
Zelensky is still pushing hard for the US to allow NATO missiles to be used in long-range strikes inside Russian territory, a step that would risk a direct NATO-Russia war and nuclear escalation.
“The frontline must be strengthened, and long-range capabilities must finally be provided in the way necessary to end this war. Everyone in the alliance understands the needs,” Zelensky said in his nightly address after meeting with Rutte.
Last month, the US appeared poised to approve the decision on long-range strikes but may have backed down after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned it would mean NATO is at war with Russia and ordered changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
If it hadn't collected all the reasons already Ukraine has been given another fine reason to become very worried. Rutte is a guy of multiple talents, well actually two of them. The first is an eerie ability to turn into shit everything he touches and the second an even more eerily ability to escape personal consequences for that. Neocon qualities for sure. It is why he's known as Teflon Mark in his home country.
"Teflon Mark" has no zing. "Markless Mark Rutte" ? Sounds a bit more like a welterweight boxer.
Yes I agree, no zing, just colorless, dreary and grey, cheap and fotgettable. Just like the man.
Just like his American puppet predecessor, Rutte states that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, not "may" or "should". All 31 NATO members must approve and several have openly stated they do not support this:
https://youtu.be/djPV8jELW-Y?t=646
“All are equal but some are more equal than others …”
I love how we’re to support “democracy” as this sacred rite, but in practice it means opening others to influence and domination by a foreign elite.
War is Peace
Democracy is slavery
Well, your not being selected for a job like that based on your smartness and intellectual abilities conducive to independent thinking. Rutte if anything knows how to hold on to positions he's completely unqualified for. He, in other words knows how to ignore realities and stay on message no matter what. There is no danger of him straying from message. That would cost him his job and he is just an empty suit without it.
"Ukraine announced it was withdrawing from the strategic Donetsk town of Vuhledar". My goodness; such spin. As Vuhledar was surrounded, with all roads cut, just "how" did Ukraine "withdraw"?
By accounts of the survivors, it was every man for himself, trying to flee through the (often mined) fields to the north, on foot, at night, while being bombed and shelled along the way.
By all reports, all equipment was left behind, virtually nothing was "withdrawn".
Fog of War, yada yada, but the same Ukrainian forces reporting this "orderly withdrawal" were the same ones claiming "no Russians have entered Vuhledar" when even their own partisan Deep State mapping showed the Russians in complete control of the southeast quadrant.
vuhledar was a blip on the map
we will be fine
If so. why did Ukraine fight so hard to hold it, and sacrifice one of their few remaining effective Brigades? Why not withdraw a week ago, in good order, before encirclement closed, and save their lives and equipment?
it was unimportant, but it was fortress city.
It is harder to defend fields than a city (albeit the russians have been having problems navigating them too)
Also, it has been bleeding the rus for every extra day we control it
estimated russians losses for wuhledar alone are more hundreds of tanks (assuming all estimates to be conservative), several hundred armored carriers, and thousands of troops, potentially more than 20 thousand. (assuming all estimates to be conservative)
Casualties and losses
(russia)
155th Brigade: ~5,000 killed, wounded or captured
130 armored vehicles destroyed, including 36 tanks[14][15]
72nd Brigade:
30 tanks and BMPs destroyed
5th Brigade: 304 killed, 22 wounded
Confirmed losses:
88+ armored vehicles, including 25+ tanks[18]
None of that is confirmed; just propaganda spin. Believe it if it makes you feel better; but the numbers do not add up.
Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Niu York, Ocheretyne, Krynky, the “counteroffensive”, now Vuhledar and the looming disaster in Kursk. All Ukrainian “successes’ until finally the Ukrainain government admits they aren’t. I hope you don’t have any close friends or family in the Ukrainian military.
You should actually READ some of the accounts on this site you post on; here’s 2, from VERY pro-Ukrainian sources; https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukrainian-lines-collapsing-east-worlds-attention-middle-east-war and https://archive.vn/cZknq “Ukraine faces its darkest hour”.
i am not saying we are winning
we aren't
but neither are the rus
bakhmut took a year and a half
avdiivka took longer (since 2014)
ocheretyne was a mistake
krynky was not a priority sector
the russians at this rate will expend 30 million men to fully conquer us
and it will take more than 30 years at this rate as well
so stop your doomerism and look at facts you couldn't care less about
Of course Ukraine is losing. Not even Zelensky is pretending otherwise.
and rus are incapable of taking l's
they aren't winning
That makes absolutely no sense.
Ugledar has been liberated. It's Russian again. Your Ukraine is dying the slow death of a thousand cuts.
its not liberated
it was captured
While Ukraine slowly dies you still give priority to sitting in classrooms hiding behind your student status. Ukraine needs men to defend it. Perhaps Ugledar fell to the Russians because of a lack of men. Where were you when Ukraine needed you? Hiding and hoping the war has ended before you graduate.
8 months
Your education can wait. Ukraine's crisis is now. Get to the front and fight. Now!
Artem Kolbasynskyi, an Ukrainian ballet dancer gave up his promising career to fight for Ukraine. He died for Ukraine this past September 27th, 2024. But you? You aren't willing to give up anything for the Ukraine you say you love. Why? Because you know your Ukraine is as fake as you are.
shut the hell up
you don't know anything about me or my goals or my needs or desires
Mmmm, looks like he hit a nerve on that point. This would all be over if your numb skull of a now unelected leader would just sit down and TALK……
not anymore unelected than putim
The eastern half at least, that the western half (at least politically) didn't care much about. "They never vote like the west half does!"
I wonder if it's like German reunification; my in-laws (from West Berlin) spoke of a great hesitancy among West Germans to "have to" take on the "burden" of socially, culturally, economically "backwards" East German "distant relatives".
Western Ukraine should be returned to the Poles. That would be condign punishment for both.
western ukraine is ukrainian not polish you idiot
and the east and central is ukrainian as well
The rest of Ukraine is owned by BlackRock.
For now.
They were already made whole by the US paying debts.
Wow, SOMEbody had a bad stay at the Vuhledar Holiday Inn & Suites in 2009…
They didn't want to spoil the visit of Ukrainian chief clown to U.S. Only after his return when the survivors ran away in unorganized mob, the "withdraw" was announced.
What does rout mean in military terms?
noun. a defeat attended with disorderly flight; dispersal of a defeated force in complete disorder: to put an army to rout; to put reason to rout. any overwhelming defeat: a rout of the home team by the state champions.
https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1841491773014831558
Aaron Maté @aaronimate
A parliamentarian from Zelensky's party tells the Financial Times that Ukraine's "radical" ultra-nationalists are a major obstacle to diplomacy and a "danger to democracy":
"There will always be a radical segment of Ukrainian society that will call any negotiation capitulation. The far right in Ukraine is growing. The right wing is a danger to democracy."
(Those of us who've long made this same point are reflexively accused of spreading "Russian disinformation.")
European and North American people are interested in peaceful coexistence with Russia, but their elites, with exception of Hungarian, Serbian and Slovakian, are not. It would be reasonable to change the elites. Unfortunately, it develops other way around: the elites are trying to replace European and North American people by migrants from South.
Rutte vowed he would work to support Ukraine’s continued move closer to NATO and eventual membership in the alliance. “Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever before. And we will continue on this path until you become a member of our alliance. I very much look forward to that day,” he said.
Someone should tell Volod the story about Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown to kick.
Rutte follows his predecessor by saying the quiet bits out loud.
Rutte's government in the Netherlands fell after having promoted what Americans ignorantly call "neoliberal" policies, which is a dumb word as there's nothing "liberal" with leftist control of social policies, including arresting people who criticize immigrant crime. His party was one of those who seek to combine socialist cultural control and mass immigration with somewhat lower taxes, which never works since you need massive taxes to push through socialist fantasies.
There once was a dwarf who panhandled throughout the world.
https://tass.com/politics/1852061
Putin open for meeting with Biden, but no talks on this issue as of yet — Kremlin
"There have been no talks on this issue and as of today, at this moment, there are no prerequisites for it," Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't recognize Volodymyr Zelensky as Ukraine's legitimate president. The absence of Ukrainian national elections engenders that decision, but that's likely not the sole reason.
If President Putin felt the same about America's 2020 presidential election, he might consider a similar tact against Biden. The Kremlin has probably determined Biden has a compromised mental or psychological state and others such as A. Blinken and Lloyd Austin are running US foreign policy.
An illegitimate US president in Kamala Harris doesn't augur for stable Russian-US relations.
The Russians have no reliable Western partners to discuss critical issues before Mr. Putin gives the fateful order.
Because EU is subordinated to U.S. it makes sense to discuss European security only between Russia and U.S. Let's hope Trump understands the importance of the issue.
The end is near!
As much as some are living in a fantasy world claiming Ukraine is doing well here is another update showing Ukraine getting it's tail kicked.
What does rout mean in military terms when territory is given up time after time?
noun. A defeat attended with disorderly flight; dispersal of a defeated force in complete disorder: to put an army to rout; to put reason to rout. any overwhelming defeat: a rout of the home team by the state champions.
Soon after an unconditional surrender will mean the departure of the comedian.
How many F-16s did the Dutch give Ukraine? How many remain?
In the American Civil War, the South did not have factories or the same large population as the North.
England supplied the South with weapons but against an industrial powerhouse with factories, research facilities, and logistics capabilities it was a simple mathematical formula for loss.
Russia is fighting with shovels as the mainstream Western News Media told Americans. Those shovels by another name are called hypersonic missiles, which were invented and are manufactured in Russia.
The conundrum of the South is we would have won ten years later, but slavery would have ended ten years later on its own, which is a major reason we seceded, to stop that from happening. Manufacturing and railroads would have empowered us and empowered the slaves.
The Russian bloggers here are having a hard time coping with Russia's losses and failures in Ukraine.
https://tass.com/politics/1851847
Biden’s administration pushes the world towards nuclear catastrophe — Russian ambassador
Anatoly Antonov also said he had tried to explain the essence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed amendments to the Russian nuclear doctrine to officials in the White House and the Department of State
MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. The administration of US President Joe Biden is pushing the world towards a nuclear catastrophe, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with the Big Game TV show on Russia’s Channel One.
"I’ve told the Americans, I’ve told my colleagues in the White House and the US Department of State that you are pushing [the world] towards a nuclear catastrophe," the diplomat said.
"I mean the Ukrainian crisis and the current US policies in the Middle East. They are supporting one party to the conflict, and this is absolutely not conductive to peace," he added.
Antonov also said he had tried to explain the essence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed amendments to the Russian nuclear doctrine to officials in the White House and the Department of State.
"This matter is of particular importance for me, because, in essence, the Americans are waging the war against us, but with the hands of Ukrainians," the ambassador said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the forthcoming adjustments to the nuclear doctrine on September 25 at a permanent meeting of the Security Council. Among the proposed amendments are the interpretation as an attack of any nuclear power’s support for a non-nuclear country that is at war with Russia and guarantees of a nuclear response to an attack on Russia's ally Belarus. The list of countries and military alliances and military threats to which nuclear deterrence applies is to be expanded."
The Kremlin understands the WEF elements in Washington and NATO.
Another take on Ukraine losing the war and suffering overwhelming death.
The end is near and the artificial invention created by Western elites is about to be swept into the dustbin of irrelevance.
In a few hundred years no one will even know the name of this woebegone place.
It’s so stupid. I keep remembering old videos of Ukrainians training as some sort of service to their nation, an inspiration to nationalists. They were devoted and organised, building towards a movement.
And then it’s all wasted to weaken Russia in service of the US which hates nationalism.
Sure, man. If you repeat that more often more Russians will believe it.
The strongest army in the world is struggling to take a few villages in Ukraine.
But it is all part of the plan.
Your Russian brothers are dying in masses daily and you continue lying about it hoping the war will one day turn in your favor.
Russian soldiers are suffering; many are not getting any ammunitions, water, food, they are just starving.
The suicide rate is insane. Ukraine has thousands of videos of Russian soldiers committing suicide in trenches. They don't even run away from drones, they just shoot themselves.
And here you are lying. Shame on you.
What propaganda have you been imbibing?
This guy is more pro-Ukraine but he is a realist.
Is this you argument? One video made by a Russian guy?
Do you even know what critical thinking means? Number 1: You have to not be biased.
Here are a few more sources beyond "One video made by a Russian guy"!
I have a dozen other sources which are not from American mainstream propaganda.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
The real circus is here in the USA. Harris supports the Israeli pogrom in Gaza (along with the rest of the ME, as far as I can tell). Trump just came out with another step on my foot episode by advocating Israeli bombing Iran's nuclear facilities.
Anytime these two open their traps, they stick both feet in.
With friends like Trump and Harris, who needs enemies?
War IS a racket!
Perhaps the most important observations of the changes wrought by the defeat of Ukraine and NATO are growing toward conclusion.
The seeds of a shifting paradigm have been sown by America's proxy war in Ukraine and now America and the West will reap the whirlwinds of change!
We are in the twilight of the American Hegemony which has existed since 1945 to present and experiencing a change to a multipolar world.
"In this video, the presenter introduces you to the 10 surprises of the war in Ukraine set out in Emmanuel Todd, The Defeat of the West (La Défaite de l'Occident). What has the reality test of the war taught us about geopolitics, history and the future of the US-led alliance of NATO?"
Rutte is another opportunist, a cloned Stoltenberg.