Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.

Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.

Saturday, August 16, 2025

The Alaska "Bottom" Between US & Russian Despots: US FAILURE. RUSSIAN SUCCESS

When two world leaders meet, it's called a "summit". But that applies when the two leaders are decent civilized people. When the meeting is between a wanted war criminal and a convicted criminal felon, then it is hard to see any "summit" in there; it's more like the bottom of a barrel of horse manure.

Be that as it may, the much hyped meeting or "listening session" as the White House labeled it turned out to be a flop, a dud. If there is any points scored here, they were all in favor of Putin, the invader of Ukraine and the kidnapper of 20,000 Ukrainian children whom he is raising as brainwashed Russians.

With this meeting, Trump appears a TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) as ever.

Putin got:

- to continue his war. No ceasefire was even discussed, let alone announced. 

- to appear like a statesman. For an ostracized thug, killer of dissenters and journalists, and wanted war criminal, this is one occasion when his American alter ego raised him a bit from the barrel of shit in which he constantly swims.

- to tell Trump exactly what he wanted, and Trump apparently agreed with him: Ukraine will have to give up sovereignty over national territory. 

- keep the Europeans and Ukrainian president Zelenskiy out of the meeting as if Ukraine is an object, rather than the central party issue of the negotiations. This reminds me of the decades of US-approved Stalinist Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and of "peace negotiations" at Rye Plantation and Camp David in which occupied Lebanon was absent, and the Syrians negotiating on its behalf, and Lebanon was the object, and not a participant. Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.) seem to favor treating small and weak countries like junk while kissing ass to the rich and mighty countries.

- to convince Trump (who already had indicated his agreement) that Ukraine will have to cede territory in any deal.

- to convince Trump that Ukraine will never join NATO and the EU, thus weakening the eastern flanks of Europe in the face of Russian fascism and hegemony.

In essence, Trump is agreeing with the Russian criminal to reduce Ukraine from an independent and sovereign nation to a backyard of Russia. It may be - we'll wait for the actual deal, if it ever sees the light of day, for details - that Putin has offered greedy, money snatcher Trump the rights to extract Ukrainian minerals from annexed Ukrainian territory.

TACO rump got:

- NOTHING, other than giving his Russian fellow criminal a lifeline instead of the "very severe consequences" he's been threatening him with if he (Putin) doesn't agree to a ceasefire.

Perhaps, as often happens with this Moron-in-Chief, when face to face with Putin he's like a poodle. But then behind his back, he'll grandstand and make threats against him. Cowardice?

Finally, Zelenskiy of Ukraine is traveling to Washington DC to discuss what was discussed about him and his country between the two criminal despots. Trump has already declared that "it is now up to Zelesnkiy" who has no idea what was agreed upon behind his back. Trump, coming out fawning after meeting Putin, is ready to assault Zelenskiy and berate him one more time at the White House. You see, Trump has no principles. He'll cavort to the rich and powerful, and will demean the poor and the weak. He's done it amply in domestic policies (against the homeless, the immigrants, foreign visitors...), so do not be surprised when he does it in international affairs.

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Further...

Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman on Friday said preparing Donald Trump for high-stakes meetings is “notoriously hard,” and he laid out the most effective approach to use to convince the U.S. president to adopt a tough stance against Vladimir Putin during their face-to-face talks.

In an interview with “CNN News Central,” Vindman, who served as the director for European Affairs at the National Security Council during the first Trump presidency and also testified against Trump in his 2019 impeachment trial, was asked what advice he would give the president ahead of his hastily arranged Alaska summit.

“I’ve attempted to prep President Trump on numerous occasions in preparation for meetings with Russia, Ukraine and so forth,” Vindman said. “It is not the easiest task. He does not take good prep. He does not understand the history. He doesn’t care to understand the history.”

Vindman recalled Trump’s stance toward the Russian dictator during their meeting in 2018, when Trump infamously declared he believed Putin over the U.S.’s own intelligence agencies about Russia’s efforts to help him win the 2016 election.

“When Putin starts spouting off about grievances against” former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, “that’s gravy, that’s like red meat to Trump to kind of sink his teeth into,” Vindman said. “That’s what happened in Helsinki.”

Vindman said that while “it’s notoriously hard” to prep Trump for critical meetings like the one with Putin, the president cares about his image and could take a harsh stance against the Russian president if he were convinced that this would make him look strong.

“I think the best thing to do is just to point out that he could be embarrassed looking like a weak president, and that he’s being toyed with and played with. And on that basis, he might take a tougher line,” Vindman said of Trump. “With that tougher line, he’ll suss out whether Putin is sincere about peace.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his trip to Anchorage, Trump said he wouldn’t dictate territorial swaps Ukraine would need to make with Russia, seemed open to having the U.S. provide security guarantees to Kyiv alongside European countries, and warned Putin that the U.S. would do no business with his country until the war was over.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Vindman said those Trump comments “show a good level of preparation for the meeting with Putin.”

“The tone suggests Trump’s willing to apply pressure on Putin to coerce a peace settlement,” he wrote.

“Of course the [proof’s] in the pudding,” he added.

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