In a rational world, Trump would calculate that Putin is not the strongman he thought he was, and he would readjust his priorities by helping Ukraine to resist Russian aggression.
Unfortunately, Trump is not rational. He is driven by desire, fear, and grudges. He desires money and doesn't care how he comes by it. Over the past couple of decades, Putin has been only too happy to oblige, while keeping the big prizes, such as a Moscow Trump Tower, tantalizingly out of reach. As Fiona Hill recently pointed out, another key to Trump's character is that he is physically afraid of Putin. He knows Putin is not like him, and that people who betray Putin in any way are not taken to court. They are thrown out the nearest open window or sprayed with the latest lethal poison in Putin's arsenal. Trump also holds grudges. He will never forgive Zelenskyy for refusing to be extorted into faking up an investigation against Joe Biden, an act of courage that eventually led to Trump's impeachment, and nearly his conviction.
So, Trump may feign frustration at Putin, but he's too afraid and too greedy to cross him. Similarly, he may at times seem like he's trying to be even-handed with Zelenskyy, but his true nature always reasserts itself.
We should not waste our energy trying to maneuver Trump into doing the right thing. At best, he can only be neutralized. A better hope lies in convincing the Senate to do the right thing and restore American honor by restarting US aid to Ukraine. That's where our efforts should be focused.
So well said. Yes, trying to understand Trump or to envision a change in his thinking about Putin is all a waste of time. He is completely unpredictable and completely self-serving. He needs instant gratification, and he needs it constantly.
Thank you for your assessment. War it is and Zelensky is proving to bring it into the 21st century we really want. No casualties. Destroy the oppositions weapons. Glory to Ukraine. ♠️♥️♣️♦️🇺🇦
Wow, this is a comprehensive summary of the war. Three key points stand out and deserve attention: zero casualties（“all without losing a single Ukrainian soldier or intelligence officer in the operation”）, zero use of foreign-made weapons（“Operation Spiderweb relied solely on Ukrainian-made weapons”） and zero intelligence support from the United States.（“without U.S. intelligence support”)
Of course, the latest focus is on how to maximize sanctions against Russia, the unrealistic nature,and the consequences of the U.S. turning pro-Russia. Being pro-Russia would mean abandoning China, abandoning Ukraine, and abandoning Europe. That doesn’t seem to align with traditional American policy.
As the Russia-Ukraine situation evolves, the real question is: we call for President Trump to stand with victorious Ukraine.
Like the good and kindly man that he is, the writer says 'hopefully' the extra-ordinarily successful Operation Spider web should cause Trump to rethink his views of Putin as 'strong' and a 'winner' and Zelensky and Ukraine as weak'.
There's always hope I guess but if Trump has ever shown a capacity to rethink his positions in the face of clear facts to the contrary I have not detected it. I mean the war and the obvious economic carage has shown that Putin's Russia is anything but mighty and heading into the bottom half of the members of BRICS, But Trump still backs him.
Putin is bluffing once again and leading us by the nose.
He is facing a recession in the economy and a decline in military production.
All previously available Soviet military resources have been exhausted, and those that remain available need to be restored.
The vaunted reserve fund of the Russian Federation is left for 3 months - if it is used for military production and is not enough - to cover the budget deficit of 2025.
That is why Putin decided to play with Trump, feigning peacefulness in words, trying in every way to convince - that Ukraine itself is to blame for everything.
Though I do not know about the automation and drone engineering and techniques to complete the attack on the Russian Federation bomber fleet as illustrated by Ukrainian security monitoring, the success of this is astounding given among other things how far it is within the borders of Russian Federation. I find much of the rhetoric about the war in Ukraine to be hype and it is difficult to tell from what is published what the leaders are actually saying to each other versus what is fed to the press that sometimes hangs on every word and expression. People at least deserve medals, recognition and more for what they have done here to save Ukraine and Ukrainian lives. As a footnote, Putin's aims appear to be megalo - imperialist just looking at the human toll, not to mention the other costs to Russian Federation in its invasion efforts.
In a rational world, Trump would calculate that Putin is not the strongman he thought he was, and he would readjust his priorities by helping Ukraine to resist Russian aggression.
Unfortunately, Trump is not rational. He is driven by desire, fear, and grudges. He desires money and doesn't care how he comes by it. Over the past couple of decades, Putin has been only too happy to oblige, while keeping the big prizes, such as a Moscow Trump Tower, tantalizingly out of reach. As Fiona Hill recently pointed out, another key to Trump's character is that he is physically afraid of Putin. He knows Putin is not like him, and that people who betray Putin in any way are not taken to court. They are thrown out the nearest open window or sprayed with the latest lethal poison in Putin's arsenal. Trump also holds grudges. He will never forgive Zelenskyy for refusing to be extorted into faking up an investigation against Joe Biden, an act of courage that eventually led to Trump's impeachment, and nearly his conviction.
So, Trump may feign frustration at Putin, but he's too afraid and too greedy to cross him. Similarly, he may at times seem like he's trying to be even-handed with Zelenskyy, but his true nature always reasserts itself.
We should not waste our energy trying to maneuver Trump into doing the right thing. At best, he can only be neutralized. A better hope lies in convincing the Senate to do the right thing and restore American honor by restarting US aid to Ukraine. That's where our efforts should be focused.
So well said. Yes, trying to understand Trump or to envision a change in his thinking about Putin is all a waste of time. He is completely unpredictable and completely self-serving. He needs instant gratification, and he needs it constantly.
Thank you for your assessment. War it is and Zelensky is proving to bring it into the 21st century we really want. No casualties. Destroy the oppositions weapons. Glory to Ukraine. ♠️♥️♣️♦️🇺🇦
Wow, this is a comprehensive summary of the war. Three key points stand out and deserve attention: zero casualties（“all without losing a single Ukrainian soldier or intelligence officer in the operation”）, zero use of foreign-made weapons（“Operation Spiderweb relied solely on Ukrainian-made weapons”） and zero intelligence support from the United States.（“without U.S. intelligence support”)
Of course, the latest focus is on how to maximize sanctions against Russia, the unrealistic nature,and the consequences of the U.S. turning pro-Russia. Being pro-Russia would mean abandoning China, abandoning Ukraine, and abandoning Europe. That doesn’t seem to align with traditional American policy.
As the Russia-Ukraine situation evolves, the real question is: we call for President Trump to stand with victorious Ukraine.
Like the good and kindly man that he is, the writer says 'hopefully' the extra-ordinarily successful Operation Spider web should cause Trump to rethink his views of Putin as 'strong' and a 'winner' and Zelensky and Ukraine as weak'.
There's always hope I guess but if Trump has ever shown a capacity to rethink his positions in the face of clear facts to the contrary I have not detected it. I mean the war and the obvious economic carage has shown that Putin's Russia is anything but mighty and heading into the bottom half of the members of BRICS, But Trump still backs him.
There’s a larger problem afoot … US is also vulnerable… https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/opinion/ukraine-attack-russia-us.html?smid=url-share
Putin is bluffing once again and leading us by the nose.
He is facing a recession in the economy and a decline in military production.
All previously available Soviet military resources have been exhausted, and those that remain available need to be restored.
The vaunted reserve fund of the Russian Federation is left for 3 months - if it is used for military production and is not enough - to cover the budget deficit of 2025.
That is why Putin decided to play with Trump, feigning peacefulness in words, trying in every way to convince - that Ukraine itself is to blame for everything.
Though I do not know about the automation and drone engineering and techniques to complete the attack on the Russian Federation bomber fleet as illustrated by Ukrainian security monitoring, the success of this is astounding given among other things how far it is within the borders of Russian Federation. I find much of the rhetoric about the war in Ukraine to be hype and it is difficult to tell from what is published what the leaders are actually saying to each other versus what is fed to the press that sometimes hangs on every word and expression. People at least deserve medals, recognition and more for what they have done here to save Ukraine and Ukrainian lives. As a footnote, Putin's aims appear to be megalo - imperialist just looking at the human toll, not to mention the other costs to Russian Federation in its invasion efforts.
Here's the rub: Ukraine is unwilling to bribe Trump, Putin is . . . and has . . .