The main impression of the Trump-Putin meeting is that Trump is subservient to Putin. Putin offered no ceasefire & as expected Trump ignored that he had promised "severe consequences" in that case. God help Zelensky when he faces Putin's servant in the White House!
Anders Åslund
@andersaslund.bsky.social
30690 Followers
2184 Following
Economist & author, specializing in the economics of Eastern Europe, especially Russia & Ukraine.
-
-
Thank you, never.
-
Putin's old problem is that he tends to overplay his hand & ever compromise. I suspect that he made that mistake today.
-
Trump has repeatedly promised severe sanctions on Russia unless it commits to ceasefire. Putin committed to no ceasefire today. What about your promise, POTUS?!
-
- But he achieved no ceasefire.
- Even so, he did not impose any new sanctions on Russia that he had promised.
- Can anybody take Trump seriously after this nonsense? /3
-
- Trump implied the Kremlin view that the war in Ukraine is really between Russia & USA, implying that it is a proxy war & not a war of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
- The press conference implied nothing was achieved. /2
-
Trump appears to have achieved nothing from his bizarre & unprepared invitation of war criminal Putin.
- Most important was that Trump received Putin subserviently. That says more about Trump than Putin.
- Trump recognized Russia as the superpower it no longer is. /1
-
No, Germany, Austria & Hungary could not say no. Read Margaret Macmillan "Paris 1919"! It shows how disastrous & unfair the Paris "negotiations" were.
-
Thus, Ukraine cannot afford to lose & Russia has no major interest in winning. So who will win? I continue to bet on Ukraine and Europe does so ever more, while Trump does not know what he is doing. /6
-
Ukraine spends that much because this war is existential for Ukraine. Either Ukraine wins, or much of the population will have to flee. In Russia, this war is only existential for Putin himself. Remember, he will soon be 73, almost as dement as Trump. /5