Starmer says ‘coalition of the willing’ to present Ukraine peace plan to US

[rangerrebew]

Starmer says ‘coalition of the willing’ to present Ukraine peace plan to US

UK, France and Ukraine agree to work on a ceasefire plan to present to the United States following Zelenskyy-Trump spat.

European leaders' summit in London
Leaders from NATO and the European Union meet in London to support Ukraine [Justin Tallis/Pool via Reuters]
Published On 2 Mar 2025
2 Mar 2025

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told European leaders that they all need to step up to a “once-in-a-generation moment” for the security of the continent, at a summit in London aimed at strengthening military cooperation and reaffirming support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

At a summit in London on Sunday, just two days after Volodymyr Zelenskyy clashed with US President Donald Trump and cut short a visit to Washington, world leaders offered a strong show of support to the Ukrainian leader and promised to do more to help his nation.
 
European leaders agreed they must spend more on defence to show Trump the continent can protect itself, and with many nations struggling with already stretched public finances, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the bloc could ease its rules around debt.

Starmer said the United Kingdom, Ukraine, France and some other nations would form a “coalition of the willing” and draw up a peace plan to take to Trump. He did not mention which other nations, but said more countries were willing to join.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/2/european-leaders-gather-in-london-to-strengthen-support-for-ukraine

[rangerrebew]

Biden should have been pushing for something like this all along instead of Arming Ukraine at the expense of US Military readiness, draining the SPR, pushing wokeness, DEI, weakening enlistment requirements, arming Islamic terrorists, building floating piers, and like Obama, drawing meaningless "lines in the sand."

[rangerrebew]

EU pitches plan to free up €800 billion for defense spending

By Rudy Ruitenberg
 Mar 4, 2025, 05:43 AM
 
PARIS — The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, proposed a plan that could free up around €800 billion ($841 billion) in defense spending over the next four years, as the continent prepares to face Russian aggression and help Ukraine to defend itself.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a five-point plan, dubbed ReArm Europe, to help pay for more security spending ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday. She said the world is seeing an era of rearmament, and the 27-nation bloc is ready to “massively” boost defense spending.

The plans include €150 billion in loans to member states to build up pan-European capacities in areas like air defense and ammunition, and activating a fiscal escape clause to let countries spend more on defense without triggering the bloc’s excessive-deficit procedure, Von der Leyen said.

If member states were to use the clause to raise defense spending by 1.5% of GDP on average, that would create fiscal space of nearly €650 billion over a period of four years, according to the commission president.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/03/04/eu-pitches-plan-to-free-up-800-billion-for-defense-spending/

[rangerrebew]

Where was all this money when Biden was POTUS and the US was paying billions to the EU?

[DefiantMassRINO]

The E.U. must have checked for loose change between the sofa cushions.

[libertybele]

Where was all this money when Biden was POTUS and the US was paying billions to the EU?

EU paid out some $$ to Z but as long as Biden was dishing out money and lining their pockets they didn't care.

[Wingnut]

They must have dipped into their USAID funny money slush fund.

[MeganC]

Within a few years the EU will become a national power with a military powerful enough to challenge America.

And they will.

[Wingnut]

Within a few years the EU will become a national power with a military powerful enough to challenge America.

And they will.

you forgot the sarcasm tag.  Some people might think you are being serious.

[MeganC]

you forgot the sarcasm tag.  Some people might think you are being serious.

I am serious. The EU's desire to become a federal power and to assume control over the various national militaries of Europe was a key reason for the Brexit in 2016.

They backed off of this plan but now that Trump is signaling an American retreat from both Europe and NATO then now the EU elites can justify their plan. In about a decade the EU will be a military superpower. Which is what the elites have wanted ever since the advent of the European Common Market.

[libertybele]

Within a few years the EU will become a national power with a military powerful enough to challenge America.

And they will.

So, will that be with or without France and will that be before or after the Muslim takeover of EU?

[MeganC]

So, will that be with or without France and will that be before or after the Muslim takeover of EU?

Oddly, the Muslims are somehow part of the plan but they're also the likely fly in the ointment.

[mountaineer]

In 2022, Ursula von der Leyen made fun of Russia by portraying it as a pathetic military that had to scavenge chips from stolen washing machines. Three years later and she's calling Russia a "clear and present danger on a scale never before seen in our lifetime" that requires defense expenditures of 800 billion euros to protect Europe. ...

https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1897624053751439535

[libertybele]

Biden should have been pushing for something like this all along instead of Arming Ukraine at the expense of US Military readiness, draining the SPR, pushing wokeness, DEI, weakening enlistment requirements, arming Islamic terrorists, building floating piers, and like Obama, drawing meaningless "lines in the sand."

Only, it was Biden running the country.

[Right_in_Virginia]

... Trump is signaling an American retreat from both Europe and NATO ....  In about a decade the EU will be a military superpower.

Trump is not signaling a retreat of any kind, from anyone or anything; and the United States will remain the sole superpower. 

Trump is signaling to the world a change of direction ---- from war after war after war to trade/commerce.   It will probably take a decade for Europe to figure this out.

[libertybele]

Trump is not signaling a retreat of any kind, from anyone or anything; and the United States will remain the sole superpower. 

Trump is signaling to the world a change of direction ---- from war after war after war to trade/commerce.   It will probably take a decade for Europe to figure this out.

IF Europe remains in tact for that long (or as we now know it), I have my doubts.

[rustynail]

Macron delivered a very important 15 minute speech to the nation tonight in which he announced he will offer France’s nuclear weapons umbrella “to all allies on the European continent”

https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1897419108691665145

[cato potatoe]

Macron delivered a very important 15 minute speech to the nation tonight in which he announced he will offer France’s nuclear weapons umbrella “to all allies on the European continent”

Well, I’m glad to have visited Paris. 

[MeganC]

In 2022, Ursula von der Leyen made fun of Russia by portraying it as a pathetic military that had to scavenge chips from stolen washing machines. Three years later and she's calling Russia a "clear and present danger on a scale never before seen in our lifetime" that requires defense expenditures of 800 billion euros to protect Europe. ...

https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1897624053751439535

So what? American leaders denounced talk of the Japanese threat right up until the war started. Churchill was denounced for warning about Hitler. Germany and Japan grossly underestimated the American response to war...both thought we would roll over. American leaders underestimated Al Quaeda even after 1993. American leaders scoffed at the Russian threat in Europe all save for Sarah Palin who correctly saw in 2007 that Russia would invade Ukraine.

And now the EU is taking the Russian threat seriously. A little late IMHO but all the same.

Nothing ever changes. No one ever learns.

[GtHawk]

Good, let the EU and their coalition spend the money and build a large well armed fighting force, they’ll need it when the real threat tomEurope and the rest of the world makes its move, and that’s not the  bogeyman Russia but China, who has been building a huge conventional and nuclear capability along with a huge standing army.

[MeganC]

Good, let the EU and their coalition spend the money and build a large well armed fighting force, they’ll need it when the real threat tomEurope and the rest of the world makes its move, and that’s not the  bogeyman Russia but China, who has been building a huge conventional and nuclear capability along with a huge standing army.

China isn't building a massive inventory of nukes for the same reason Russia doesn't have thousands of nukes. They cost a lot of money to maintain. They deteriorate at a rapid pace and must be continuously replaced.

Russia no longer produces nukes and hasn't for eight years now. Not since the disaster at their Mayak facility in 2017.

Within a few years Russia will be a non-nuclear nation. It is inevitable.