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Yes, you right wingers, it is RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!
Vladimir Putin
May we take your order?
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke this week for several hours. They both had a lovely time. In terms of practical achievements, Putin agreed to a moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure. As for Trump’s call for a ceasefire? Putin has not agreed to that, as Ukraine has. He hasn’t signaled that he’d agree to any meaningful concession, and understandably so, because he knows he can lead the current United States president along for a while. On a ceasefire alone, the Kremlin’s readout of the call insisted that it would have to involve ceasing Ukrainian conscription “and the rearmament of the Ukrainian armed forces.” For a broader deal, a “key condition” of Putin’s is “a complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv.” (Trump, meanwhile, says aid wasn’t discussed at all.) In short, Russia will agree to a “peace” if the U.S. (and, presumably, European powers) leave Ukraine disarmed, unprotected, and at Russia’s mercy. And that, of course, is before taking into account Russia’s “absolute need to eliminate the root causes of the crisis and ensure Russia’s legitimate interests in the field of security”—in other words, to roll back NATO. What’s happening here is that Putin is making the bet that he can get Trump to agree to absolutely everything in exchange for economic opportunities in Russia, while continuing the assault on Ukraine in the meantime. The only hope is that Trump, for the first time ever, starts to get irritated at Putin for taking advantage of him.
