Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Saturday (20 January) alleged neighbouring Ukraine was not a sovereign nation but was under the absolute control of the United States, in embrace of a Russian conspiracy theory.
The populist politician, who is against military aid to the war-torn country and opposes sanctions against Russia, also reiterated his opposition to Ukraine’s bid to join NATO.
“Ukraine is not an independent and sovereign country,” Fico told public broadcaster RTVS. “Ukraine is under the total influence and control of the United States.”
Slovakia is a member of both NATO and the European Union.
Fico is due to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal on Wednesday in the city of Uzhhorod, western Ukraine, on the border with Slovakia.
“I will tell him that I am against the membership of Ukraine in NATO and that I will veto it,” Fico said.
Population of Ukraine: 37 million
GDP: $360 billion
Military: Possibly the strongest in Europe atm, comparable to Turkey as an alliance member at worst.
Strategic value: High
Population of Slovakia: 5 million
GDP: $116 billion
Military: Literally one division of troops that have never seen combat
Strategic value: Could not be lower.
I’m Slovak and couldn’t agree more.
Even from the Slovakian POV there’s not really a downside.
Y’all don’t need NATO, the EU already comes with a defensive pact. I tend to view more international cooperation being better international cooperation, but if someone’s going to be a bad actor and reject a purely beneficial expansion in a relationship there’s only tertiary benefits for all parties in, why even be in it?
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be in NATO - it’s the current government I have issue with. Without NATO we would be next in line in case Ukraine would fall. Just because our nation is dumb and easily manipulated or bribed by populist decisions doesn’t mean we should be devoured. We will see how things turn out but hopefuly we manage to turn it around.
Because we are usless in the grand scheme of things right now doesn’t mean it should stay that way
Without NATO, EU countries are still legally bound to defend each other in case of aggression by an external actor.
Population of Ukraine: 67 million
Stopped here
Why? It’s a typo from 37 million. And even that still demonstrates the point rather handily.
It’s like you don’t care about the underlying point at all, and nothing could change your mind.
Why?
I don’t like missinformation
Only if its pro putin right?
It now says 37 million and you get downvoted for sticking to a pointless typo, that really wasn’t the point at all.
Who?
You.
With a population 1/7 of Ukraine, the GDP is 1/3 of Ukraine - not bad at all.
That’s Central vs Eastern Europe for you, and Ukraine actually did pretty well compared to some of their neighbors.
Wonder how much Russia bought him for
The fact that Fico got elected has to be one of the hardest blows against European unity in recent memory.
How funny would it be if Ukraine just shrugged and applied for statehood instead in response?
Like seriously, I’m pretty sure the main thing they’d have to give up control over is standards and measures and then the Interstate Commerce clause, pretty sure anything else they’d want to maintain control over they’d basically be able to.
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A guy on lemmy told me that it’s corruption in its core, sadly
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It usually goes hand in hand with the populists. Sadly there’s so many of them popping up in European politics, it’s a plague.
And that’s not even the worst thing he did/said. Can’t wait for Babiš to win Czech elections so 3 countries of the V4 will have a populist who’s stealing and murdering as a prime minister.
So, which country wants a senior architect/developer? Seriously considering emigrating the last few months.
Australia. We seem to be doing OK-ish vs. Right Wingers, but we still have our own issues…
The punishment is known. Feed him to Zizek.
Ah yes, cowardly ex-USSR state leader pleas for his own relevancy by licking Putin’s boot, hoping to retain his position as a token figure head in the coming vassal state.
Don’t worry. You’ll learn to hate Moscovites too, along with every other Russian.
This is what a 20% election victory looks like when people can’t be arsed to vote.
