The Kremlin and its online stooges have hit back at President Trump over his sudden volte-face on the subject of the Russia-Ukraine War. When we last saw Trump, he was rolling out the Red Carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and the word was pushed out that Trump had "got what he needed" from the meeting and that progress in ending the war would be apparent in short order; see National Security Analyst: Trump 'Got What He Needed' in Alaska – RedState.
Then, concurrent with his speech before the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Trump did at least a verbal 180. Ever since coming to office, Trump has clearly been aligned on ending the Russia-Ukraine war on terms favorable to Putin. The highlight was Trump essentially tossing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky out of the White House after receiving a thorough dressing-down by Vice President JD Vance; see BREAKING: After Fiery Oval Office Exchange, Trump Sends Zelensky Packing – RedState. Tuesday was different.
After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like “a paper tiger.” When the people living in Moscow, and all of the Great Cities, Towns, and Districts all throughout Russia, find out what is really going on with this War, the fact that it’s almost impossible for them to get Gasoline through the long lines that are being formed, and all of the other things that are taking place in their War Economy, where most of their money is being spent on fighting Ukraine, which has Great Spirit, and only getting better, Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that! Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act. In any event, I wish both Countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!
DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
I tend to agree with Ward Clark that "take back their Country in its original form" probably refers to the status quo ante of February 24, 2022, (Big: Trump Predicts Ukrainian Victory) and does not recognize the September 2022 annexation of four additional Ukrainian oblasts, or provinces; see Russia’s Friends and Allies Join NATO in Rejecting Russia’s Imminent Annexation of Four Ukrainian Provinces. But, factually, the home port of the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol is not tenable now and would be much less so if Ukraine retook the occupied land bordering it. Without access to the aqueduct supplying Crimea with water, it is not tenable either. I think the post also syncs well with my earlier story about Trump wanting to wash his hands of the issue; see Is Trump Pulling the Plug on His Role in Ending the Russia-Ukraine War? – RedState. At the UN on Tuesday, Trump referred to the war this way, "I thought that would be, of the seven wars that I stopped, I thought that would be the easiest because of my relationship with President Putin, which had always been a good one. I thought that was going to be the easiest one. But in war, you never know what's going to happen." His Truth Social post says this, referring to Russia and Ukraine, "I wish both Countries well."
There are a lot of reasons for this change of heart. Putin has punked Trump serially since Trump took office. The "deadlines" Trump has established for Putin to agree either to a ceasefire or negotiations have become jokes. This culminated with a massive violation of Poland's airspace by Russian drones and a violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighters. All of this led to the invocation of Article 4 and emergency consultations by Poland and Estonia, and permission from Trump to shoot down future violators.
BACKGROUND:
The Russians aren't very happy with Trump's behavior, though if they had studied Trump in the detail the Democrats wanted us to believe during the Russia Hoax, they would've known Angry Trump is not someone you want to encounter. What really made their teeth grind was calling Russia “a paper tiger” that had been “fighting aimlessly for three and a half years.” All of which is true, but that doesn't mean they want to hear it.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry "Pornstache" Peskov used a local radio show to pooh-pooh Trump's social media message, “Russia is in no way a tiger. Still, Russia is more compared with a bear. There are no paper bears.” However, there are pooh-bears; but then Putin would have to wrest the image away from his buddy, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
The rest of Putin's clown car weighed in.
The outspoken former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev mocked Trump’s new position, saying he had been given a dose of “alternative reality,” and noted his often-changing views of the conflict.
“I have no doubt — he will come back. He always comes back,” Medvedev wrote about Trump on X. “The main thing is to radically change your point of view on various issues more often. And everything will be fine. That’s the essence of successful government through social media.”
Margarita Simonyan, who heads the Russian English-language state news channel RT, dismissed the U.S. president’s support for Zelensky as that of a carnival huckster.
“Trump debuts as the tarot card reader telling the thrice-divorced lady that she is going to meet that billionaire prince after all, as long as she buys the magic crystals,” she wrote on X.
It appears that the Russians have realized they may have overplayed their hand. So far, the response has been much more muted than I would have expected, and the commentary is taking place in venues where it won't receive a lot of attention within Russia. In major Russian media, the story is portrayed as Trump not being terribly bright and nothing to worry about.
Today's edition of the Izvestiya newspaper suggests the first reason.
"It's important to remember that Trump is influenced by the last person he has spoken to," wrote Izvestiya. "In this case it was Zelensky."
In other words, Moscow believes that Donald Trump's views on Ukraine are not set in stone and that he can be persuaded to come round to Russia's view.
"We will have the opportunity to convey our position to the American side," Peskov tells me. "Our foreign minister Sergei Lavrov can do this. He's meeting his counterpart [US Secretary of State Marco Rubio] in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly."
If they don't like Angry Trump, they definitely will not like Jilted Trump.
With Trump and the hapless Steve Witkoff out of the negotiations, but America's armories open "to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them" would be a huge boon for Ukraine. It would remove some of the pro-Russia voices in Trump's Pentagon from the mix, reduce US meddling in Ukraine's target selection, and bring home to Putin that there is no magic bullet to ending the war.
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