No. of Recommendations: 3
In an "ordinary" process, Putin would have been required to make some concessions just to be allowed to have a direct meeting with the POTUS. You don't get the privilege of having all the trappings of a head-of-state meeting with the Leader of the Free World, along with direct one-on-one access to POTUS, if you're still an international pariah.
Trump has never been one to realize when he's being taken advantage of, and this is no exception. He wanted the meeting, so he's giving Putin the meeting.
This is a misunderstanding of the situation.
Putin has the upper hand right now in the Ukraine. Why? Because as we've said ad infinitum here Zelensky doesn't have the dudes, the guns or the money to push Putin out.
That means Putin's BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) is to just prolong the war. Why? It's not *Russia's* towns being bombed. It's not *Russian* farmland not being planted because it's filled with land mines. It's not *Russian* apartment complexes being attacked with follow-on strikes meant to kill first responders (and demoralize the population). Putin can sit there and continue to bleed the Ukrainians white because he's got the dudes, the guns and the money to do it.
Set aside the "Trump caved into Putin" line because it's the lowest form of 1st order thinking: if you don't get Putin to the table you never have a chance to bargain with him to end the war.
Is prolonging the war in anyone's interest? You have to start somewhere.
For all the keyboard pounding going on in Europe with all the I STAND WITH UKRAINE slogans, flags and virtue signaling idiocy the west is more and more known for, what are Americans and europeans prepared to do about it?
Some suggestions:
1. Directly commit US and NATO forces to the fight.
Do you guys really want to go there? Want American "advisors" on the ground? Or maybe declare the Ukraine a "no fly zone". What happens the first time Putin sends a squadron of Su-35s over the border? Gonna order them shot down?
2. Slap massive tariffs on China and India.
This board is whining about the PPI being high. Welp, China and India and even the idiot europeans are bankrolling the war by buying Russian oil and oil derivatives, either directly or indirectly. India is buying massive amounts of it, some of which they refine and...sell to europe.
Want to end the bankrolling? Tell Xi and Modi they have a choice - they can do business with Putin or they can do business with us. You guys ready to take the economic hit for that? You want 10% inflation and supply shocks all over the economy?
Trump's trying to walk a tightrope here because he recognizes the alternatives to not talking largely suck. The last administration was content to feed Ukrainians into the meat grinder in perpetuum but they're running out of Ukraininas for that.
