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Multiple US military officers casually show up as observers on a Belarusian/Russian military exercise, together with the Russian Deputy Defence Minister.

You read that right: While Belarus and Russia are training the invasion of Poland, the US military shows up in the audience.

If you live in the US, I hope you realize the gravity of such a signal to us Europeans. Especially after Trump has threatened to invade Denmark, and halted all US aid to Ukraine.

reuters.com/world/europe/us-mi…

in reply to Randahl Fink

Lorraine Lee
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Lorraine Lee
•
Hungary and Turkey were also in attendance. The axis is telegraphing its alignment. The least the Europeans can do is kick Hungary out of the EU. Too many fascist MEPs, I suppose.

reshared this

in reply to Lorraine Lee

AlexanderVI
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AlexanderVI
• •
@lori
Turkey seems perpetually on the fence about this whole thing.
@Lorraine Lee
in reply to Randahl Fink

Lorraine Lee
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Lorraine Lee
•
To quote @Aral Balkan , "Whoever you are, wherever you are, we have a common enemy: the nationalist international." WWIII, like WWII, will be a war against nationalism. In theory the various ethnonationalisms should be against each other, but right now they are really bonding on the idea of nationalism. It is the political ambitions of that idea, the idea of nationalism, which morally justifies warfare. The question is, who will be the allied powers this time around? Non-nationalism is skating on extremely thin ice in UK, France, Germany. Italy seems to have already fallen to nationalism (that is, fascism). Poland seems to be proof of concept that nationalist (that is, fascist) government can be temporary, but I think the jury's still out on Poland. I haven't yet seen nationalism (that is, fascism) shitcanned aggressively by an election result. I am extremely pessimistic. A world in which Donald Trump has a 30% floor is a world in which democracy doesn't stand a chance. The 30% are not worthy of our peaceful coexistence.
@Aral Balkan
in reply to Lorraine Lee

Januschka Abroad
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Januschka Abroad
• •

@lori

WWIII started a long time ago. But mostly as hyrbrid war, therefore unnoticed by the public.

@Lorraine Lee
in reply to Lorraine Lee

TwiceBitten
mastodon - Link to source
TwiceBitten
• •
@lori @aral @AlexanderVI you would be safe to assume they are and have been rigging elections, at least in the US.
@Lorraine Lee @Aral Balkan @AlexanderVI
in reply to Lorraine Lee

Veza85UE
mastodon - Link to source
Veza85UE
• •
@lori MEPs have no say in it. Once a country becomes an EU member, nobody outside that country does as there is no way to end a country's membership against its wish. Other sanctions are also not decided by MEPs but by the other 26 member states #WTFistheCouncil
#wtfisthecouncil @Lorraine Lee
in reply to Randahl Fink

PG19582🇺🇸🇹🇩🇺🇦🇵🇸
mastodon - Link to source
PG19582🇺🇸🇹🇩🇺🇦🇵🇸
• •
when I heard about this the other day I had to verify and I'm still shocked. You can't trust Krasnov.
Unknown parent

Randahl Fink
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Randahl Fink
• •

@tdr yes, it is quite clear by now that Viktor Orbán is Putin's ally. So no surprise there.

Turkey is a NATO member, so that is also bad, but I am somewhat less surprised, as Turkey has been a customer of Russian weapons for decades.

@Gero Stein
Unknown parent

Faraiwe
mastodon - Link to source
Faraiwe
• •

@copter_chief I believe the location of the Service designation tape is due to the fact it's a issue PARKA, not the service uniform, or fatigues.

If you recall, Army fleece had a different location of both rank and name tape.

@CopterDoctor
Unknown parent

Faraiwe
mastodon - Link to source
Faraiwe
• •
@copter_chief Also worth remarking that some outfits, namely those assigned to special operations often sanitize their uniforms, leaving nothing but US flag and Service designating tape ("Army", "Mistakenly Sapareted US Army Air Corps", "Drunken PA Tavern Pirates", "Boat Maintenance", "Space Joke" etc).
@CopterDoctor
in reply to Randahl Fink

Mikalai
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Mikalai
• •
I am sure there were always observers. Even in USSR times. Can we run a systematic check on this before hightening social alarms, ... in wrong places?
in reply to Randahl Fink

🍄🇪🇺ashtime🇪🇺🍄
mastodon - Link to source
🍄🇪🇺ashtime🇪🇺🍄
• •
Is it shocking-yes. Unexpected? No. If we do not start glexing our muscles-Trump will start taking pieces of West Europe and Grenland - these 2 dictators wnat a return to 1945 #Europe.
#europe
in reply to Randahl Fink

The Animal and the Machine
mastodon - Link to source
The Animal and the Machine
• •
To be fair, if an enemy wants to show you their forces, I’d let them. These are also relatively low rank and so the respect is minimal.
in reply to Randahl Fink

Gullikerl
mastodon - Link to source
Gullikerl
• •
I really disagree with this take. Strategically it is absolutely the correct move to observe a military maneuver of a neighbouring hostile power. Standard diplomatic procedure and good opportunity to collect military intelligence, while also discouraging using exercises as a smokescreen for actual attacks. It makes sense, has a valid purpose and any signal that this sends exists only for people who don't want to think about why this is a thing
in reply to Gullikerl

Tor Lillqvist
mastodon - Link to source
Tor Lillqvist
• •

@Gullikerl Yes, isn't that one thing that military attachés are supposed to do, in normal times at least, be observers at military exercises of the host country?

But whether this is a bad sign in current less normal times I can't say.

@Gullikerl
in reply to Tor Lillqvist

Randahl Fink
mastodon - Link to source
Randahl Fink
• •

@tml @Gullikerl to the best of my knowledge, the US has not been observers at Belarusian or Russian exercises in this century.

If I am wrong, please let me know, so I can update the post.

@Tor Lillqvist @Gullikerl
in reply to Randahl Fink

Nicole Parsons
mastodon - Link to source
Nicole Parsons
• •

Trump's army always shows up for the oil industry.

The EU is being ordered to remain a fossil fuel vassal of oil oligarchs.
boereport.com/2025/09/17/polan…

Switching oil supply from Putin's oil oligarchs to American & OPEC petrostate dictatorship isn't a good step forward.

theenergymix.com/delusional-pi…

desmog.com/2025/03/14/heritage…

reuters.com/business/energy/eu…


‘Delusional’, ‘Pie in the Sky’: U.S.-EU Energy Deal Shows Trump Losing in Global Trade Talks

“Delusional”, “ridiculous”, and “pie in the sky” are the adjectives coming from analysts after Donald Trump put fossil fuel exports at the centre of a framework trade agreement with the European Union.
Mitchell Beer (The Energy Mix)

Nicole Parsons reshared this.

in reply to Randahl Fink

DavΞ
mastodon - Link to source
DavΞ
• •
U.S. officers often attend for transparency under OSCE rules, to gather intel on tactics/equipment, and to signal that Washington is keeping a close eye on Belarus-Russia military cooperation. This isn’t nefarious.
in reply to Randahl Fink

Robin Barton
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Robin Barton
• •
That is so dystopian but is probably practice for the invasion of Greenland and Canada
Unknown parent

zl2tod
mastodon - Link to source
zl2tod
• •

@copter_chief

Is the US flag on his right sleeve being reversed left to right normal?

@randahl

@CopterDoctor @Randahl Fink
in reply to Randahl Fink

Tofu Golem
mastodon - Link to source
Tofu Golem
• •
The US is planning to side with Russia against Europe because Trump is Putin's lapdog.
in reply to Randahl Fink

Raymond W Gallacher
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Raymond W Gallacher
• •
Yes, we invited Russian officers to observe nato exercises. And vice versa.
in reply to Raymond W Gallacher

Randahl Fink
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Randahl Fink
• •
@RaySF while at war?
@Raymond W Gallacher
in reply to Randahl Fink

Raymond W Gallacher
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Raymond W Gallacher
• •
We weren't at war when I was a young reservist at the end of the cold war. But, we aren't officially at war now.
in reply to Raymond W Gallacher

Randahl Fink
mastodon - Link to source
Randahl Fink
• •

@RaySF you are right. War has not been declared.

But take one look at the budget in each of our countries, and I believe it is quite evident that there is a war, and we are part of it.

@Raymond W Gallacher
in reply to Randahl Fink

Raymond W Gallacher
mastodon - Link to source
Raymond W Gallacher
• •
Just in from the pub.
Agreed.
We need to get ready for the fight.
I think that Ursula von der Leyen is turning into a great war leader. Wars are won by economies and political will.
I am worried but confident.
It's not like 1940.
We know we will have to fight.
Much respect to you. Your journalism is important.
in reply to Randahl Fink

Nicovel0 🍉
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Nicovel0 🍉
• •
the Poles must feel so good having rearmed almost entirely with US weapons
in reply to Randahl Fink

Alex
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Alex
• •
but... but... I thought yall would like it if the USA and Russia get along for once or is the decades of propaganda making yall blindly hateful and xenophobic? Not surprised, but look at yourselves before you talk shit about America or Russia on this matter since Europe has a long history of being cunts.
in reply to Randahl Fink

Nonya "Lethal Precision" Bidniss 🇺🇸
mastodon - Link to source
Nonya "Lethal Precision" Bidniss 🇺🇸
• •
Yep infosec.exchange/@Nonya_Bidnis…

Nonya "Lethal Precision" Bidniss :CIAverified: 🇺🇸 (@Nonya_Bidniss@infosec.exchange)

U.S. officers at Zapad-2025 exercise. 👀 !!! My question: Did Tulsi Gabbard block intelligence reporting regarding the visit? I wouldn't be surprised if Putin's loyal DNI did something like that but granted, my opinion of her is she's an insider thre…
Infosec Exchange
Unknown parent

Randahl Fink
mastodon - Link to source
Randahl Fink
• •
@mloxton while at war?
@Matthew Loxton
in reply to Randahl Fink

David P
mastodon - Link to source
David P
• •

Surely they're breaking some sanctions?

And surely the US has the intelligence technology to observe the exercises in much better detail than sending senior US military personnel?

This is clearly sending a message. But to whom? Putin's likely gonna be doing a Palpatine "Good, Good", while the rest of Europe are having their opinion that the US is an unreliable partner reinforced.

#Europe #NATO #Ukraine #USPol

#uspol #europe #ukraine #nato
in reply to Randahl Fink

TwiceBitten
mastodon - Link to source
TwiceBitten
• •
Sir, respectively from the US, it should not have taken you this long to figure out that the US gov’t has been taken over by Russia. I wouldn’t be so sure Europe is safe from within at this point. Anywhere that has a christian conservative, anti-immigrant, or an anti-environmental push is at risk. UK seems to be the current target but you can see their attempts to influence AU, NZ, FR, DE, and NL already.
in reply to Randahl Fink

Chris 🤩 Reinbothe
mastodon - Link to source
Chris 🤩 Reinbothe
• •
Am I totally bonkers or does a Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
between Trump and Putin seems more and more likely? Of course it’s not about Poland anymore, but as both of them want to revert back to the good old times: reinstating the Iron Curtain. Cutting right through Europe.
in reply to Chris 🤩 Reinbothe

Randahl Fink
mastodon - Link to source
Randahl Fink
• •
@phneutral I do not think we would have seen US tariffs on India and a bombing of Iran, if Trump and Putin had a Stalin-Hitler alliance.
@Chris 🤩 Reinbothe
in reply to Randahl Fink

Lorraine Lee
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
Lorraine Lee
•
Sometimes history rhymes, sometimes it's free verse. One thing I know to be true is that nationalism has been aggressively expanding its market share in the marketplace of ideas, seemingly worldwide. Since 2015 the only political project that interests me at all is pushing nationalism back to the margins, back to the fringe of public opinion. Any other political goals or agendas I may have had are definitely on hold.

n8chz 🩎 reshared this.

in reply to Randahl Fink

Alex P Roe
mastodon - Link to source
Alex P Roe
• •
Makes you wonder whether Trump met Farange in the UK to get the UK to become a US Russia ally for possible invasion of Europe. Hungary and a couple of other nations are already onboard one suspects, speculatively.
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