[TrumpCard]

I don't have enough information to know just how far Ukraine has come in terms of restoring services to "de-occupied" areas, but Zelenskyy's apparent decision to make this a priority is smart.  Juxtapose the Russians -- who pillage the ruins of towns they first bombard -- with the Ukrainians -- who spend important resources in the midst of a war to restore utilities, transportation, and social services.  Zelenskyy isn't seeking territory or power for its own sake; he's seeking it to improve the lives of the people who hired him.

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/15...Tb2qoqAAAA

FYI to embed a tweet, just use the [*tweet] tag before the tweet URL and then the end tag [/*tweet] after the URL (subtracting the * which I placed there to demonstrate).

Look at that, it worked!  Thank you.

---

Question…why is it so important to us to admit Sweden and Finland to Nato? I understand why they want it (US military umbrella) but will it really strengthen Nato in some significant way? I admit Im affected because I think they likely had plenty of opportunities in the past to join Nato and seems like they want to buy health/life insurance now that there is a pandemic raging around them (probably a poor analogy). Im not against it but Im also not looking for less important reasons to goad Putin right now. Im ok goading him to supply/support Ukraine, but not sure where I come out on this one. Seems like it might be better as a bargaining chip (although maybe we’ve tried and failed on that).

My gut says the US would go to the mat for Finland and Sweden if they were attacked by Russia anyway, so may as well admit them to NATO, which gives the US the guaranteed support of some other countries who otherwise wouldn't lift a finger and which gives all of NATO a great spot for a miliary base that might deter further Russian aggression.

[TrumpCard]

I don't have enough information to know just how far Ukraine has come in terms of restoring services to "de-occupied" areas, but Zelenskyy's apparent decision to make this a priority is smart.  Juxtapose the Russians -- who pillage the ruins of towns they first bombard -- with the Ukrainians -- who spend important resources in the midst of a war to restore utilities, transportation, and social services.  Zelenskyy isn't seeking territory or power for its own sake; he's seeking it to improve the lives of the people who hired him.

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/15...Tb2qoqAAAA

FYI to embed a tweet, just use the [*tweet] tag before the tweet URL and then the end tag [/*tweet] after the URL (subtracting the * which I placed there to demonstrate).

Look at that, it worked!  Thank you.

---

Question…why is it so important to us to admit Sweden and Finland to Nato? I understand why they want it (US military umbrella) but will it really strengthen Nato in some significant way? I admit Im affected because I think they likely had plenty of opportunities in the past to join Nato and seems like they want to buy health/life insurance now that there is a pandemic raging around them (probably a poor analogy). Im not against it but Im also not looking for less important reasons to goad Putin right now. Im ok goading him to supply/support Ukraine, but not sure where I come out on this one. Seems like it might be better as a bargaining chip (although maybe we’ve tried and failed on that).

My gut says the US would go to the mat for Finland and Sweden if they were attacked by Russia anyway, so may as well admit them to NATO, which gives the US the guaranteed support of some other countries who otherwise wouldn't lift a finger and which gives all of NATO a great spot for a miliary base that might deter further Russian aggression.