Scott
Verified User
I thought Simplicius' article, published yesterday, was quite good. I'll quote the introduction and conclusion, constructive feedback welcome...
**
After weeks, perhaps even months, of waiting to see what Trump’s strategy would be for escaping his own self-imposed Russian “deadline” corner that he’d backed himself into, we have finally gotten the answer.
Trump appears to have fairly cunningly outplayed Europe and put the ball into their court by challenging Europeans to put their money where their mouth is:
Translation: “I will put sanctions on Russia as soon as you guys do something I know is impossible to do.”
Trump has backed Europe into a zugzwang by conditioning his actions on Europe choosing between two equally fatal positions: if Europe completely cuts its “indirect” purchase of Russian “shadow” oil, as well as tariffs China to hell, it will crash Europe’s already crumbling economy. If Europe refuses to do this, then Trump will continue the status quo of the absolute bare minimum in supporting Ukraine while essentially giving Russia carte blanche to finish Ukraine off—which is equally as politically disastrous to Europe as the first option.
With this move, Trump has managed—for now at least—to extricate himself from the deadlock by out-maneuvering critics and neocons alike who are hereby prevented from pressing Trump on “enabling Russia”. Trump will now have a ready, plausible excuse for them: “Why should we make the effort of such sanctions when Europe refuses to meet us half way? It’s their war, after all.”
For all his recent failings, this one latest maneuver, we must admit, appears to be a strong one. However, the neocon deep state immediately sprang into action. Speaker Mike Johnson said that sanctions on Russia are “far overdue” and that there is a “big appetite for that in Congress”.
Ever-devious Lindsey Graham went a step farther in trying to force a sanctions package by kitchensinking it into a federal funding bill:
Everywhere you turn the global deep state clerisy is trying their damndest to raise the temperature on the conflict in portrayal of Russia as some threat from beyond looming over all of civilization.
The recent Polish UAV scare was debunked, as even Polish FM Sikorski admitted none of the drones had warheads:
[snip]
Polish citizens continued to debunk and even ridicule the preposterous ‘drone scare’:
[video in original]
Polish PM Donald Tusk was even forced to admit that a “wave of pro-Russian sentiment” is rippling through his country, but that it is orchestrated by “the Kremlin” as always. He believes the “role” of politicians is to impose an artificial and undemocratic “stop” to such a natural civic outpouring, rather than responding to what constituents want:
Gee, here I thought the role of politicians was to represent the people’s popular views, rather than quash them when they ‘inconveniently’ clash with the ‘guidance from above’ the politicians receive from their corporate donors and paymasters.
[snip]
When Keith Kellogg visited Ukraine recently, a kind of mythopoeic tale began to grow out of the observation that Russian attacks on Kiev seemed to ‘cease’ upon his arrival. Zelensky himself joked that Kellogg is more valuable than the Patriot system and offered a lifetime citizenship to Kellogg to protect Ukraine:
[snip]
Kellogg later heroically recounted how Ukrainians have a 3:1 advantage in morale over Russians.
[snip]
He says that he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Caine share the view that Ukraine is winning the war.
On this count, Arestovich recently disagreed, in his characteristic way:
[video in original, partial transcript of video follows:]
"...I have never seen such a "warm war". I haven't read anything anywhere about this. No matter how you look at it, you're always winning. They take Pokrovsk, we are winning. They take Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, god forbid. We are winning. They take the Dnieper and Zaporozhye, we're still winning. Maybe it's the case for someone that this is a defeat, but for us it is a complete victory."
**
**
After weeks, perhaps even months, of waiting to see what Trump’s strategy would be for escaping his own self-imposed Russian “deadline” corner that he’d backed himself into, we have finally gotten the answer.
Trump appears to have fairly cunningly outplayed Europe and put the ball into their court by challenging Europeans to put their money where their mouth is:
Translation: “I will put sanctions on Russia as soon as you guys do something I know is impossible to do.”
Trump has backed Europe into a zugzwang by conditioning his actions on Europe choosing between two equally fatal positions: if Europe completely cuts its “indirect” purchase of Russian “shadow” oil, as well as tariffs China to hell, it will crash Europe’s already crumbling economy. If Europe refuses to do this, then Trump will continue the status quo of the absolute bare minimum in supporting Ukraine while essentially giving Russia carte blanche to finish Ukraine off—which is equally as politically disastrous to Europe as the first option.
With this move, Trump has managed—for now at least—to extricate himself from the deadlock by out-maneuvering critics and neocons alike who are hereby prevented from pressing Trump on “enabling Russia”. Trump will now have a ready, plausible excuse for them: “Why should we make the effort of such sanctions when Europe refuses to meet us half way? It’s their war, after all.”
For all his recent failings, this one latest maneuver, we must admit, appears to be a strong one. However, the neocon deep state immediately sprang into action. Speaker Mike Johnson said that sanctions on Russia are “far overdue” and that there is a “big appetite for that in Congress”.
Ever-devious Lindsey Graham went a step farther in trying to force a sanctions package by kitchensinking it into a federal funding bill:
Everywhere you turn the global deep state clerisy is trying their damndest to raise the temperature on the conflict in portrayal of Russia as some threat from beyond looming over all of civilization.
The recent Polish UAV scare was debunked, as even Polish FM Sikorski admitted none of the drones had warheads:
The Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski confirmed that the UAVs that entered the country's airspace were not equipped with explosives.
It took them too much time to solve the "mystery" of the decoys used to discharge air defense in Ukraine.
[snip]
Polish citizens continued to debunk and even ridicule the preposterous ‘drone scare’:
[video in original]
Polish PM Donald Tusk was even forced to admit that a “wave of pro-Russian sentiment” is rippling through his country, but that it is orchestrated by “the Kremlin” as always. He believes the “role” of politicians is to impose an artificial and undemocratic “stop” to such a natural civic outpouring, rather than responding to what constituents want:
Gee, here I thought the role of politicians was to represent the people’s popular views, rather than quash them when they ‘inconveniently’ clash with the ‘guidance from above’ the politicians receive from their corporate donors and paymasters.
[snip]
When Keith Kellogg visited Ukraine recently, a kind of mythopoeic tale began to grow out of the observation that Russian attacks on Kiev seemed to ‘cease’ upon his arrival. Zelensky himself joked that Kellogg is more valuable than the Patriot system and offered a lifetime citizenship to Kellogg to protect Ukraine:
[snip]
Kellogg later heroically recounted how Ukrainians have a 3:1 advantage in morale over Russians.
[snip]
He says that he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Caine share the view that Ukraine is winning the war.
On this count, Arestovich recently disagreed, in his characteristic way:
[video in original, partial transcript of video follows:]
"...I have never seen such a "warm war". I haven't read anything anywhere about this. No matter how you look at it, you're always winning. They take Pokrovsk, we are winning. They take Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, god forbid. We are winning. They take the Dnieper and Zaporozhye, we're still winning. Maybe it's the case for someone that this is a defeat, but for us it is a complete victory."
**