"Putin is War Criminal": Trump's Team Drops the "Bribe the Kremlin Approach"
Bessent and Vance's fresh statements highlight that the U.S. is done with their original strategy
You don’t fail if you don’t try.
After several months of trying to appease the customer in order to get the deal and end the war in Ukraine, Trump’s team is done with the cordials.
In a span of just several weeks, POTUS said that “Russia may be tapping him along” while U.S. Secretary of State Rubio stated that there won’t be any more “upon request” meetings.
And now U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent turned up the heat, with Vance noting that Russia is asking for “too much” and “being unreasonable”, and Bessent calling Putin a war criminal.
P.S. Support my work, fellows, all that I do, I effectively do on my own, and it ain’t easy
Some are puzzled by the sudden change — I, however, am not.
A couple of my readers have noted that I have a good ability to understand Trump and his train of thought. Well, it’s rather simple. The man wants to end the war. He stated it loud and clear on many occasions, which, for some reason, appears not to be understood by the general public.
So, if your goal is that, you’ll unavoidably seek to establish some amicable contact with the hostile party, Russia. Yes, this means minimum criticism, weaseling yourself out of all contentious situations, etc.
“Do you expect me to call him names and then call him up and ask, 'How’s that deal we’re working on, Vladimir?” Trump said during one of his press conferences in February, adding, “It doesn’t work like that.”
And I’m sorry, but he’s right.
If you want to get a deal, that’s not how you behave. Yes, it’s unpleasant. Yes, it’s cynical. Yes, it doesn’t strike a chord with many, but that’s how the reality on the ground is, and it is something that the Conservative commentator and Trump’s confidant Bill O’Reilly, — who hates Putin, calls him “Bad Vlad” and put him on the cover of his new book “Confronting Evil”, — has likewise pointed out on multiple occasions.
A totally different story is what happens when you finally understand that the deal you seek is just not in the interest of the other party, which doesn’t respect you or your efforts.
Trump's NATO and Crimea Desperation
Russia doesn’t want peace, and U.S. President Donald Trump is finding it hard to accept it. Thanks for reading And Now for Something Slightly Different! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
That’s what is happening right now, with the Trump administration slowly but surely dropping all the Kremlin cordialities publicly, the key word being publicly because, believe it or not, but his foreign policy team, with the exception of the principle-free Steve Witkoff, is made up of people who are not Russia-friendly at all.
Rubio, Kellogg, the now-ousted Mike Waltz, and even Bessent have never been even a tad pro-Kremlin.Vance? Well, he is just an isolationist who got really put off by the Iraq experience that clearly impacted his views of America’s interventions as superfluous, which is why “he doesn’t care” in principle about what happens abroad.
And their words are coupled with actions that are happening right before your eyes. This applies to the sale of the F-16 training to Ukraine, the OPEC+ decision to accelerate oil production by reversing the 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of voluntary cuts (which is much-much more effective than Biden’s Potemkin sanctions and also something that Trump said he’d do back at the Davos Summit) and the general change of tone after Ukraine and the U.S. signed the minerals deal, which opens the door to more military aid and a new security strategy.
Russia's Worst Fear to Finally Come True
It is either the Holy Spirit of St. Peter’s Basilica or the incredible professionalism of Ukraine’s negotiating team. I’m not big on religion, so, above all, I want to say thank you to the my people, headed by Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, who travelled to the U.S. yesterday to sign the key part of the minerals deal.
Are they having an effect on Russia?
Yes, I believe they do. All that’s left is for Senator Lindsey Graham to finally introduce those “bone-crushing sanctions” and for Russia to keep asking “for too much” so that everyone in Washington, D.C., finally runs out of the remnants of patience.
P.S. Support my work, fellows, all that I do, I effectively do on my own, and it ain’t easy
I’ll believe Trump actually distrusts Putin when we see Putin openly weeping as he signs surrender papers in Geneva.
Trump is finding his Nobel Prize difficult to grasp. This is what is souring him on his own Putin “strategy”. He could have been at this same place if he’d opted to treat Putin as Putin deserved to be treated, like a war criminal.
Trump’s desire for the Nobel appears to be his sole motivation. Which reveals Trump as despicable. If this drives to US to improve its support of Ukraine, it will be counted as a win. With the caveat that Trump can flip from one pose to another at the drop of a prize.
Getting OPEC to pump more oil is an easy ask and with Trump favoring dictators, was an available option from Day One.
Still I do like the information you bring to the table! Very much appreciated!
Hi Lesia, you need to remember Russia is a key member of OPEC+. Smaller members of OPEC+ had been cheating on the last deal. The new deal allows the two biggest producers Saudi Arabia and Russia to significantly increase production helping them to offset lower prices.
The biggest losers of lower oil prices are US producers who rely on fracking. If the oil price drops significantly below $60 per barrel, then a lot of US producers will have to shut down and wait until prices go up again. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia can still make a profit (much smaller than they currently do but still a profit) at $30 per barrel.
There is nothing left the US or Europe can do that will make Ukraine get Crimea back. Trumps tariff wars have shown the US has no leverage left over China and very little over most other countries. Lindsey Grahams "bone crushing sanctions" are simply empty wind. The west is effectively out of air defence missiles and systems and cannot make new ones fast enough. Brittain has no self-propelled artillery left - they gave it all to Ukraine. The entire west cannot make shells in anything like the numbers Russia can.
When Serbia was being bombed by NATO over Kosovo the government faced a difficult choice; do they continue to let their people be killed by NATO bombs for the sake of "sovereignty" or do they pull out of Kosovo. They chose to protect their people and let Kosovo go.
The government of Ukraine has the same choice; do they continue to fight getting thousands of their people killed for the sake of "sovereignty" or do they accept reality that there is no way they can get Crimea back?