Subject: Re: Let’s See If This Pans Out for Putin
Which is what Orban has been doing (Hungary has escalated their Russian imports to beyond pre-invasion levels and is pocketing the profits), yet Trump seems to think it terrible that Ukraine might do something about it.

Oh, okay. This is the part where somebody needs to performatively say that Trump did something stupid or disagree with him in some way.

Right, then. Here you go: If the Ukrainians blew up some Russian pipeline and Orban is angry, then he can pound sand. (I said the same thing after the Ukrainians got rid of the Nordstream or whatever it was pipeline). Stop buying oil and gas from criminals.

Orban's economy isn't even a fly impacting the windshield that is the 55MPH car of the world's economic engine. India and China, however, are other stories.

Because obviously the negative incentive won't work if India thinks they'll be hit with that negative incentive no matter what they do, and if they think they can't trust Trump not to impose it anyway even if they do what he says they want.

And this is how high stakes diplomacy works. You lot go on and on about the symbolic stuff (like red carpets) but magically forget how the deals are made. You offer the carrot, then hint at the stick.