You cannot be subtle with the old KGB thug. He can negotiate an end to the Ukraine War or risk facing American military power turning the balance against him. Carrot or stick is what diplomacy usually boils down to between enemies.
Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Stick
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
This is what I vote for. I also very much like the fact that Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin the attached letter from First Lady Melania Trump.
Melania: “Here’s why you must stop the war.”
Donald: “Here’s what’s going to happen if you don’t.”
Why does Melania’s signature look like Trump’s?
Convincing people today it’s no longer exclusively a one-on-one conversation. It’s all about Optics. The leftists are experiencing a lot of bad Optics today because their lies are being exposed in spite of the DNC media. You can see it in the polling even as suspect as all the polls are.
Trump understands Optics. And this is Epic Optics. What are you going to do Vladimir? The choice is yours.
And since we’re talking about Optics in the first 8 months of Trump’s second term, consider the Optics of this flyover while attempting to negotiate peace with the pull out from Afghanistan by the last occupant of the White House which happened during the first eight months of his term. We’re coming up on the 4-year anniversary of that Democrat disaster.
What a difference a President makes.
The Ukraine War had some asinine premises (that Ukrainian nationality is ‘fake and gay’) and had asinine aims (extend Russia’s military frontier to the line between Konigsburg and Odessa, conquer a scrum of former Soviet territories in the process, and bully the western states into expelling from NATO every country which had joined after 1997). Putin and his camarilla discovered that the fake-and-gay Ukrainians weren’t going to submit to them willingly and that the Russian military had just enough punch to conquer and hold portions of five of the Ukraine’s 25 regions. The Russians also managed to persuade several neutral countries in Europe that it was time to join NATO. In 2012, political parties in the Ukraine which favored a Russophile orientation in foreign policy could command north of 40% of the vote. The smart money says they might score 10% today. Putin is keeping at this futile exercise in order to avoid a loss of face and there’s no observable way for the more practically inclined segment of the government to dislodge him. (One other thing we’ve learned is that among starboard talking heads who chuffer about foreign relations, a not inconsiderable number are on someone’s payroll or are idiots).
Art:
The most astounding thing to one who followed US-Soviet relations in the Cold War era is the adolescent bellicosity of so many on the current Left. Brezhnev was at least as much a monster as Putin (and commanded far more men and materiel), but anytime Reagan spoke about “Evil Empire” they squeaked “peace process” like a child’s bath toy. “Don’t endanger the PEACE process (squeak-sqweaka)!” We were told the Soviets were “no worse than us” and “we have propaganda, too” and all the moral equivalence rot. Now posters to NR gripe that Trump didn’t arrest Putin in Alaska or blow up his plane in the flyover (which wiser heads reminded them would be an act of war). Anyone saying that about a Soviet leader in the old days would be landed on by the entire national press corps.
Q: What about Putin triggers the current Left the way the same or worse stuff drew shrugs in the days of the USSR?
The regime enacted legislation which debarred adults from making sales pitches to youths in favor homosexual conduct. The regime also does not make use of any Marxist idiom.
I don’t think anything intimidates Putin. A thug through and through.
Although I am occasionally skeptical of Zelenskyy and how he has led his nations war efforts over the past 3 years. I get a sense that Trump summoning him to the White House and rousing on him is useless. I think Trump is only beginning to understand what Zelenskyy has been saying all along. Putin does not want peace. He stalls, lies and strategises. Putin is completely dishonest and does not want an end to this. Even if the only reason he is pushing through but to save face.
Meanwhile they are estimating half a million casualties and deaths in the last 3 years from both sides. Who know what the numbers actually are. Other sources say they have hit the 1 million mark.
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The Free Territory of Trieste was established by the Allied Military after WW II because both Italy and Yugoslavia claimed the area. The Free Territory was a prosperous city and port. It lasted 9 years before the division.
Losing Crimea must be very hard for Ukraine to accept. Russia certainly doesn’t want to return Crimea to Ukraine. Why not make the peninsula The Free Territory of Crimea? Governed by a completely neutral body. I am surprised that President Trump hasn’t proffered that. Remember when he broached Gaza being independent, a Riviera of the eastern Med? None of the Arab states went for it.
Crimea is different. Yalta a city of the southern end of the peninsula was site for a WW II peace conference with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin the principals.
Cam – it all comes down to what resources are in the territory being disputed. Either sides wants the economic potential of that territory. Self-government of the territory won’t resolve anything.
I mean have a look at Mahmoud Abbas, who is “meant” to be the Palestinian “President”. He was meant to self-govern the Palestinians, independent of Israel or any Arab State. However, he is a weak puppet and/or mute bystander of whatever extremist organisation decides to rule a particular region under his Presidency.
I say – Why not remove Putin – however way is required. Will that solve the situation? It might.