Summary
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth struggled to answer what Russia would concede in Ukraine peace talks, instead defending the Trump administration’s negotiations.
His comments at NATO suggested Ukraine would have to give up NATO membership and lost territory, sparking backlash. Critics, including John Bolton, argued the deal was Kremlin propaganda.
Hegseth later attempted to walk back his remarks, but experts said he had already ceded too much to Russia.
Trump’s denial of ordering a retraction failed to quell concerns over Hegseth’s inexperience and the administration’s approach.
The sad/funny part is that the nations that would be Russia’s next prime targets are also some of the smallest in Europe. So we’re already doing most of what we can do here in the Baltics, but we can’t give ALL our military equipment away, Putin would just come for us next and at this rate, I don’t know if Article 5 can be relied upon with Trump in charge of the US. Fuck, maybe he’ll give orders to the American troops in our bases to start sabotaging local equipment before a Russian attack, then tell 'em to start shooting their (former) allies. If something like that were to happen, I just hope that there are enough links in the chain of command with integrity, that would tell their superiors to fuck off.