Thread by @althecat

NZ PM Chris Hipkins arrives on the red carpet in in Vilnius for the NATO summit. Maybe he can provide them with some Kiwi common sense. https://t.co/akFEYYjT5b

https://twitter.com/althecat/status/1678794129910710272

NATO Summit Press Conference with NATO Sec. Gen. Stoltenberg. Broadcast live 2 hours ago.

"Unless Ukraine prevails there will be no NATO membership of Ukraine to discuss."

Earlier he said that NATO had agreed to invite Ukraine to join NATO (by a 1 step not 2 step process). however it seems from his clarifications later in answer to questions that this is not fully… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The Ukraine President @ZelenskyyUa was apparently not that happy with the announcement - in particular the lack of a clear timeline to membership. And said so in near real time. He's since tweeted quite a lot more.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1678480526280216576?s=20

ZELENSKY IN A NUTSHELL: "It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine's membership."

"We value our allies. We value our shared security. And we always appreciate an open conversation. Ukraine will be represented at the NATO… https://t.co/09KXbdgbjPtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

This NATO Summit is an unprecedented mess.

One can only wonder whether that what is really going on here is a preparation for a negotiated end to the war.

If as it appears to be the case - that the reason that the US is providing cluster munitions to Ukraine is that the West… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

US News Update: CNN was briefly carrying the NATO Summit Live - currently they are taking a picture of all the leaders and it seems also - and there are a lot of them.

They have now cut away though to domestic news. Somewhat oddly MSNBC isn't covering it at all yet.

Some front pages of live news websites..... @BBC @Washpost @Guardian and @nytimes - oddly the NY Times isn't even leading with it yet.

The biggest unasked question in all of this is a fairly simple one.

Given the chaos of the last 72 hours in the leadup to the summit and the qualification of the NATO membership issue (no timeline nor clarity on what "conditions" means - and the media response - i.e. Zelensky… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The most interesting possible answer to this (particularly given the barely started offensive and the issue about not having enough artillery shells for the long flagged counter offensive) is fairly simple.

Is it possible that the outcome of this summit will be a move by NATO to… https://t.co/ghQf58Q2kztwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

See a hot take here from Sky News' @haynesdeborah - two versions with different headlines - so very hot take it seems.

Somewhat unbelievably the @BBC and @SkyNews are still not covering this breaking news. They are completely hung up about something to do with a BBC presenter and explicit images.

@CNN and @MSNBC however are now on the case

Morning Joe on @MSNBC tends to have a good window into the White House and yesterday was no exception.
Richard Haas of the CFR here provides a preview in which among other things he fortells today's events very precisely.

1. Ukraine not entering NATO until the war ends
2. No… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@MSNBC This is followed by a pangyric of sorts from @JoeNBC about why the US is all OK with the world. Nothing to worry about.

On Friday the decision on NATO membership was well and truly foreshadowed by the US via CNN first with @JakeTapper on The Lead. This report also addresses the clusterbombs issue which was raised in the @France24_en report cited near the top of this thread.

@jaketapper @France24_en The full @FareedZakaria interview with @JoeBiden is here. Out of the bat in his IV Biden says that not withstanding the bad news on NATO membership America "is prepared to provide Ukraine with the capacity that that it needs to protect itself << if there is a ceasefire, if there… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden On the Cluster Bomblet Munitions issue, Biden says while reluctant to agree to the shipment of these weapons, he cites the lack of munitions as being the reason that he agreed after consultations to allowing the cluster munition shells (which he says have a low failure rate) to… https://t.co/JIF8TV5r2xtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden He adds two more qualifications.

1. The cluster bomb weapons are needed to "stop the tanks (presumably Russian ones) from rolling"

&

2. The decision is temporary "during a transition period"

On its face this remark from Biden may be related to his earlier remarks, "if there… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden And then he talks about Israel somewhat critically, and Saudi somewhat favourably, which is relevant to the China issue given China's newly minted oil deal with Iran and Saudi.

And China in turn is also a relevant player when it comes to any possible Ukraine Ceasefire… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden Here's the BBC's @Channel4News report on the Vilnius Summit which adds some important additional context, the location of the summit close to Belarus on the new frontline of what now looks to be an expanding NATO, one that will eventually also include part of Ukraine if not all… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden @Channel4News The comprehensive @Channel4News report also features a Ukrainian spokeswoman who is explicit about who she considers to be the villians in today's dissappointments, Germany and the US, who will also the richest and most important likely donors to a Ukrainian rebuild effort is… https://t.co/snkYU5QHZftwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden @Channel4News In my experience FWIW, peace agreements, when they do come, often come quickly. And it has been somewhat obvious for some time now, following the Chinese and African delegations to Moscow that while the window to end this enormously destructive war is very narrowly open, that it… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden @Channel4News A new CNN report, the speaker here Ivo Daalder - an ex-NATO ambassador also appeared in the @France24_en report at the top of this thread. Daalder repeats his remarks from earlier pointing to obstacles for Ukraine in joining NATO due to "corruption" issues.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden @Channel4News And finally to complete this breaking news thread.

@dwnews' (Germany) English language report on today's developments in Vilnius.

https://t.co/x7SfBfrke7

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden @Channel4News @dwnews Final observations.
1. Europe has European Parliamentary elections next year and the @EU_Commission is more than a little concerned that a lingering war is strengthening right wing parties in EU member states.
2. It is clear that the main apparent change in all of this is US led… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@jaketapper @France24_en @FareedZakaria @JoeBiden @Channel4News @dwnews @EU_Commission /ends

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