The war in Ukraine… is Russia’s war and will be resolved on Russian terms, and U.S. involvement will either quickly bring results that fully satisfy Russia, or, if the negotiations fail, everything will be settled on the battlefield.
Trump wants quick peace to confirm that he is a peacemaker, but he does not understand the Russian positions… in the last phone conversation, Putin told Trump… the Ukrainian issue is a Russian matter, not an American one, and the Tomahawks require Americans to operate them, so the United States would immediately become involved in a war with Russia…
You choose – that was Putin’s message to Trump.
The negotiations collapsed…
After the talks in Alaska, those who expected significant progress from these negotiations – a peace agreement, an international conference on the terms of ceasefire and the signing of that agreement, and so on – could rightly express disappointment.
Alaska certainly did not bring such results.
Its main outcome is that things continued as they were, and Trump stopped being an obstacle.
That is, he ceased demanding an immediate ceasefire and accepted that his predecessors had provoked and sustained the war.
And now, to stop the war, we should not rely on easy solutions for publicity’s sake, but on the tiring, time-consuming, and laborious untying of this knot.
The strategy of attrition against Ukraine is working
Apart from this diplomatic shift after Alaska, everything remains as before.
The strategy of attrition against Ukraine is working, the war of attrition continues, Europe is mired in internal problems and unable to effectively support Zelensky’s regime, and America is carefully and discreetly withdrawing from a hopeless, failed project… the Ukrainian war, because the U.S. does not want to be associated with the losers.
The goal of the new meeting in Budapest, Hungary
Russia’s goal, having agreed with the U.S. on a new meeting between the two presidents, is not to reverse or change everything, but to maintain current trends and momentum.
This requires taking into account both the character of the U.S. president and the context (domestic and international) in which he operates.
Trump does not need systematic, persistent work on Ukraine aimed at completely eliminating the possibility of conflict that has accumulated around that country, which could lead to a major war.
Trump needs a quick, flashy public-relations boost to confirm his claim of being the world’s leading peacemaker.
To fulfill his campaign promise to end Biden’s war.
To reaffirm his status as the leader of the Western world, which is currently being challenged.
The U.S. and Russia have different goals
The Alaska meeting demonstrated that, despite the shared strategic goal of achieving peace, the methodology for peace between Russia and the U.S. differs.
Trump, however, found it more advantageous to establish a process for conflict resolution rather than to pressure Putin and escalate the situation, to avoid America becoming involved in the war again.
As is known, there was never any progress — the talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine stopped completely… and other negotiation formats never emerged.
Instead of a peace process requiring time and addressing the deeper causes of the conflict, Trump gradually began again to demand quick and easy results.
The supporters of the war began to exploit this, dragging the U.S. president into the war on Ukraine’s side.
The Tomahawks would have turned Biden’s war… into Trump’s war
The incident with the Tomahawks was the culmination of this trend.
After their delivery, Biden’s war would surely have turned into Trump’s war.
A new meeting between the presidents of Russia and the U.S. is necessary, partly to point this out to Trump, as well as to highlight all the political consequences of becoming involved in someone else’s war.
It is also necessary to stimulate the undoubtedly beneficial impulse toward peace and to try to translate it into something practically useful for peace.
If it works, perfect — it means that Russia’s problems in Ukraine will be resolved more quickly through diplomatic means.
If not, they will still be resolved militarily, and diplomacy will help ensure that Russia is not obstructed in its pursuit.
The Russians kneel only to tie their shoelaces
Despite the incredible noise in the Western media, which obsessed over every detail of the upcoming meeting between Zelensky and Trump, in reality, Zelensky didn’t really need that official meeting.
Zelensky truly believed he would receive thousands of Tomahawks, forcing Russia… to change strategy.
Zelensky repeated the mistakes of the past by making new ones
All the mistakes of the past were taken into account, Trump’s psychological profile was analyzed, the necessary meetings were held, the required hints were made, the prepared compliments were delivered, the right people were activated, the timing of the meeting was perfect – after the provocations with the supposedly “Russian” drones in Poland and Denmark and at the peak of Trump’s political triumph in the Gaza issue.
Zelensky was being prepared by the entire European Union and NATO…
The issue was not the Tomahawks themselves, which, as such, are incapable of influencing the course of military operations – Russia was not worried about the Tomahawk missiles.
The issue was that by sending Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which cannot be operated by anyone other than U.S. troops, the Americans would automatically enter into a military confrontation with Russia – and that is exactly what Ukraine and the Europeans desperately needed.
Therefore, everything and more had been done to persuade Trump, and the only thing left was to obtain the final official approval.
Ukraine and Europe had made extensive preparations
According to sources from the Turkish news agency Anadolu, “the Ukrainian delegation prepared meticulously for the meeting,” even creating a beautiful presentation with many slides.
As reported by the British Time, “Zelensky was already preparing for an enthusiastic public announcement of expanded military aid (including Tomahawks),” and half of Ukraine’s leadership had flown to Washington specifically for this celebratory moment… but a terrible mistake occurred… which ruined the celebration for the Ukrainians.
Putin’s checkmate move
Russian President Putin had a phone conversation with Trump while Zelensky was flying to the United States.
And after his conversation with Putin, Trump declared that now the Americans themselves needed the Tomahawks.
Not even Achilles likely experienced such disappointment, anger, and pain as he pulled the arrow from his heel.
Western media described the moment quite vividly: “Putin’s conversation with Trump was an unpleasant surprise for Zelensky.”
“Zelensky’s visit to Washington began with a tragic surprise.”
“The phone call came at an extremely inconvenient time for Zelensky.”
“After Putin’s talks with Trump, the plans of the Ukrainian delegation sank.”
And the worst part was that there was no time to fix anything.
Instead of triumph, Zelensky received a disappointing reception…
No one greeted him at the plane.
The negotiations were delayed by 30 minutes because Trump was listening to an Italian singer.
The meeting did not take place in the Oval Office, but in the Cabinet Room, reserved for third-rate visitors.
There was no official joint statement or press conference — Trump simply left… without even saying goodbye to Zelensky.
As France24 reported, “Zelensky had been tasked with reprogramming Trump.”
According to eyewitnesses, Zelensky begged, evaded, argued, and offered Trump everything possible, but in vain.
Though not entirely in vain.
Trump promised to be on standby
Trump refused to give Zelensky the Tomahawks but promised to “be on standby” during future talks with Putin in Budapest (that is, to sit there and watch the phone, in case it rings), and even complimented his suit.
Trump had never complimented Putin’s suits, and it’s fair to say that Zelensky completely outdid him here.
As one character in The Godfather put it, “My boss prefers to hear bad news immediately,” so Zelensky rushed to call the Europeans, who, after an hour of shock, managed to utter the phrase that “support for Ukraine remains unwavering.”
Suddenly, the Tomahawks were sidelined
Before Zelensky’s meeting with Trump, the Western press had called the Tomahawks “game changers” and “Trump’s ace,” something that “could bring Russia to its knees.”
However, after Trump’s phone conversation with Putin, something bad happened to them: according to The Washington Post, the Tomahawks can now only have symbolic value and will have no practical impact on the course of the conflict.
As for the Russophobes’ dream of bringing Russia to its knees, the Slovak prime minister put it perfectly:
“There was a strategy: through this war, the West had the opportunity to bring the Russian Federation to its knees.
But anyone who knows the Russians knows that when they are on their knees, it’s only because they are tying their shoelaces.”
www.bankingnews.gr
Σχόλια αναγνωστών