Bullying on a Global Scale

Whether it’s Putin or Trump’s manipulation, the shell game being played with President Zelenskyy isn’t going to end well for Ukraine. What do we have to show from all the hoopla of a red-carpet meeting in Alaska and a summit of the willing at The White House?

Putin is a KGB agent and professionally trained liar and manipulator. Trump does it instinctively.

So what started out as a breakthrough—a ceasefire in Ukraine or very strong sanctions against Russia—devolved into nothing more than Trump promising to arrange another one-on-one meeting, this time between the invaded and the invader. So… not happening.

Security guarantees have come center stage only because there is absolutely no deal being made about the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Security, shmecurity. Security guarantees, boots on the ground, no-fly zones, and shared intelligence mean nothing with Russia being awarded the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Despite a change of clothes—really, we’re still talking about what Zelenskyy is wearing?!—the deal now is the same opaque arrangement that came out of the humiliation summit six months ago. It’s about the value of the 20,000 square miles of Ukraine that contain trillions of dollars of rare earth minerals (lithium, tantalum, cesium; “raw” as Trump called them) and massive quantities of coal and natural gas.

We may have trouble keeping our eye on what’s really happening (the sleight of hand is often hard to pierce), but I’d wager all the caviar in the Black Sea that what is really being negotiated here is how Trump and Putin will share in the spoils of war. It’s about power, money, and access to resources.

But now that the second most important part of what Ukraine seeks (security guarantees) and the easiest part of what the Europeans can deliver (weapons) are almost settled, Trump will be able to really put the squeeze on Zelenskyy.

Can’t you hear that patronizing voice, and see the shrug of shoulders, when Trump tells the president-with-no-cards that, “You can’t get everything you want. You got the security stuff. That’s enough. Don’t stand in the way of peace. Your people are getting slaughtered.”

Bullies, both Trump and Putin.