Hard to believe that Trump doesn't have any coherent strategy. The only Bismarck he reminds me of is the one the Brits sank. And yet he blunders on, leaving death, broken alliances, economic hardship, and the U.S.'s reputation in his wake. Most likely, he has also increased the chance of future European conflict down the road. Lithuania is a potential victim of Putin's land grab - Article 5 be damned. Further, he has greenlighted Netanyahu's Middle East genocide. A frightening time for America and the world.
If he had ever bothered to study the words and actions of Putin, he would know he’s a ruthless dictator who believes Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent country, has no interest in peace and therefore Trump would never have said he could end the war Ukraine on day one.
Thank you, Leslie! As you know, the purge of anybody who knows anything about national security in this administration continues with another dozen or so intelligence experts fire just yesterday.
This is a terrific piece. Among other motivations that aren’t getting press is could it be that a possible true goal of the administration-initiated chaos surrounding the arrival of the deadline that the administration had put in place to increase sanctions (or maybe just new tariffs) on Russia, which has bipartisan support in Congress, was to throw everyone so off kilter that the pressure for sanctions somehow dissolved from press coverage? If that was a goal, it seems to have worked. All of a sudden, after all this herky jerky stunt-laden activity, nobody is asking the administration about implementing Congress’ proposed sanctions. Is it possible?
For the sake of President Zelensky’s well-earned integrity, it is worth asking if you intended to imply that a foreign country buying weapons from the US classifies as a bribe. It was probably intended as hyperbole-enhanced reporting of the fact that he was bringing a U.S. business opportunity with him. That’s true, but he is only still bringing it because he has been trying to buy advanced weapons from the US with funds offered by the EU for months and DJT has been rejecting the offer with statements like paraphrased here “he’s always trying to buy more missles, but I want peace”. Maybe if the weapons had been sold to defend Ukraine when proposed in the past, he wouldn’t still need to publicly highlight that every time he proposes this he is told his approach is anti peace (I.e. anti-surrender) and his money is no good here.
Thank you! Your point about sanctions is absolutely correct. Before the Alaska Summit, there were 80 senators who had endorsed a bill to impose new tough sanctions on Russia. You can’t get 80 senators to agree that today is Thursday. But after the summit? No talk of sanctions. No talk of getting tough. Just crickets.
Hard to believe that Trump doesn't have any coherent strategy. The only Bismarck he reminds me of is the one the Brits sank. And yet he blunders on, leaving death, broken alliances, economic hardship, and the U.S.'s reputation in his wake. Most likely, he has also increased the chance of future European conflict down the road. Lithuania is a potential victim of Putin's land grab - Article 5 be damned. Further, he has greenlighted Netanyahu's Middle East genocide. A frightening time for America and the world.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians continue to exceed our expectations. Don't know how far they can go, but ... https://happening-here.blogspot.com/2025/08/might-ukraine-be-winning-its-war.html
Well done! I have been saying this for months!
If he had ever bothered to study the words and actions of Putin, he would know he’s a ruthless dictator who believes Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent country, has no interest in peace and therefore Trump would never have said he could end the war Ukraine on day one.
Thank you, Leslie! As you know, the purge of anybody who knows anything about national security in this administration continues with another dozen or so intelligence experts fire just yesterday.
Yes, a massive brain drain…
This is a terrific piece. Among other motivations that aren’t getting press is could it be that a possible true goal of the administration-initiated chaos surrounding the arrival of the deadline that the administration had put in place to increase sanctions (or maybe just new tariffs) on Russia, which has bipartisan support in Congress, was to throw everyone so off kilter that the pressure for sanctions somehow dissolved from press coverage? If that was a goal, it seems to have worked. All of a sudden, after all this herky jerky stunt-laden activity, nobody is asking the administration about implementing Congress’ proposed sanctions. Is it possible?
For the sake of President Zelensky’s well-earned integrity, it is worth asking if you intended to imply that a foreign country buying weapons from the US classifies as a bribe. It was probably intended as hyperbole-enhanced reporting of the fact that he was bringing a U.S. business opportunity with him. That’s true, but he is only still bringing it because he has been trying to buy advanced weapons from the US with funds offered by the EU for months and DJT has been rejecting the offer with statements like paraphrased here “he’s always trying to buy more missles, but I want peace”. Maybe if the weapons had been sold to defend Ukraine when proposed in the past, he wouldn’t still need to publicly highlight that every time he proposes this he is told his approach is anti peace (I.e. anti-surrender) and his money is no good here.
Thank you! Your point about sanctions is absolutely correct. Before the Alaska Summit, there were 80 senators who had endorsed a bill to impose new tough sanctions on Russia. You can’t get 80 senators to agree that today is Thursday. But after the summit? No talk of sanctions. No talk of getting tough. Just crickets.
Trump is a double hero of the Soviet Union and true Bolshevik
Bolton has published his first take on the Washington Examiner today. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3780298/trump-utterly-incoherent-ukraine-strategy-john-bolton/
Thank you, Joe. Well stated!
In keeping with your piece, your comment on Israel should have been "Get Hamas to give back the hostages and thereby end the war".
Does that mean you don’t like him very much?
Short of an alien invasion, it’s difficult to imagine something worse that could happen to America.
I don’t disagree.