Posting on X, Farage says the "spat in the White House" on Friday was "regrettable" and "will make Putin feel like the winner".
The MP adds this was “not the end of the story” though and that a peace deal “with the right security guarantees” for Ukraine is “essential”.
I really hate saying that Farage is right about anything - but on this he’s right. Yes, Trump’s foolishness in throwing away the deal was music to Putin’s ears. Obviously a lasting peace requires security guarantees for Ukraine - which is why the Russians won’t accept them.
Trump’s blindness to Russia’s weakness and Ukraine’s needs is sabotaging the only hope of peace.
So it looks very much like Trump was attempting to sell out Ukraine with the Russians on hand to see that it was done. A genuine peace was never on the table.
I had duty last night, so I'll be spending today catching up on the coverage of that fiasco.
This morning I saw the ending for the first time, where Trump turns to one of the camera crews saying (from memory -- I'm calling Trump "Il Asino", "The Dunce", as parody for Mussolini's title of "Il Duce" ("The Leader" which Hitler borrowed by being "Der Führer"):
Il Asino:(to camera crew): Do we have enough? Good. That should make for great television.
That makes it even more obvious that, exactly like the MAGA psychophants* all of whose public performances were intended for Trump as their "audience of one", Trump was playing to his own "audience of one", Putin.
Like everything he's ever done in public, he was putting on a show. Any actual negotiation or diplomatic goals are nonexistent or at least of miniscule importance compared to his getting his video clip.
Welcome, America, to your new membership in the Axis of Evil.
* FOOTNOTE:
Psychophant --
Malcolm Nance (AKA "Senior Chief") uses that term to refer to Trump's MAGA "psychotic sycophants."
In all this mess it is important to make clear that Europe understands Ukraine's critical role in European security and that America is abdicating the mantle of leadership it has occupied since the end of WWII. On Friday after the Oval Office mugging the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said, "The free world needs a new leader." Unfortunately, that is very true.
This is informational. I did watch the entire Oval Office mugging on YouTube, it's nearly an hour but I was captivated. But you shouldn't have to watch the video to get a good idea of what actually happened, and this is the most accurate and brief summary I've found so far. It occurs in the first few paragraphs:
So now we're looking at the end of NATO and a US:Russia alliance. Unbelievable only a few months ago.
Did the US actually vote for this? Is this what they wanted when they voted? Did they think they'd be losing Europe and Canada as friends and allies? Are they happy with this?
Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif. Je suis Parisien. I am Mancunian. I am Brum. I am London. Olen Suomi Soy Barcelona. I am Ukraine.
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved." - Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.
Which has me wondering how that will proceed. Does the NATO treaty include provisions to suspend or expel a rogue member? Would the USA joining the Axis of Evil invalidate the treaty and require the remaining members to renegotiate from scratch.
I know that the USA no longer believes in following any laws anymore, nor conducting itself in anything resembling lawfulness, but that doesn't mean that nobody else does too.
Did the US actually vote for this?
No, we didn't. But our votes no longer count anymore.
i think i saw the leader of Denmark say to the NATO members at that meeting after the Trump/Vance shitshow that Ukraine should become a NATO member, perhaps replacing the USA. And i read somewhere that they immediately raised 350 billion in aid to Ukraine.
so Yay!
"I'm the Grim Reaper now, Mitch. Step aside." Death to #TzarVladimirtheCondemned! "Enjoy every sandwich!"-Warren Zevon on his last DaveLetterman show
Hey Phat, is this what you and your friends voted for?
Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif. Je suis Parisien. I am Mancunian. I am Brum. I am London. Olen Suomi Soy Barcelona. I am Ukraine.
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved." - Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.
Did the US actually vote for this? Is this what they wanted when they voted? Did they think they'd be losing Europe and Canada as friends and allies? Are they happy with this?
For those of us who did not vote for Trump, I think "pretty bad" sums up our view of the future shortly after the election.
For those who did vote for Trump, it's not a simple answer. I have friends who are Trump supporters, but we carefully avoid politics. Are they okay with the U.S. doffing its mantle of leader of the free world? With a Europe dominated by Russia? With alienating our allies and cozying up to a totalitarian regime that has no respect for human rights? With a recession brought on by high tariffs? With chaotic layoffs of government workers with no apparent plan for how those agencies will continue their important work while seriously undermanned?
It would not be correct to say they are okay with it or not okay with it because they are not looking at the real world but at a fantasy world that Trump has spun for them. They believe Trump is forced to do all these things because the Biden administration made a mess of everything, both nationally and internationally, that never would have happened under Trump. They believe Trump that European leaders were remiss in not playing a greater role in their own security, and that we have to have improved relations with Russia. They believe Trump when he says the government is bloated.
My own view is that a large segment of the American electorate has been beguiled by Trump claims of how effectively he would deal with issues, but that's because some of Trump's claims have some serious legs. The government *is* bloated, but there are right and wrong ways to downsize, and I think all of us Trump skeptics were certain he would choose the wrong way.
Trump also said the economy was bad when it wasn't, but the claim resonated with a great many people who didn't feel they were doing very well. If you look at salary growth instead of economic growth you can understand why they felt that way.
But why would the fact that Trump's claims of a bloated government and of a bad economy resonated cause people to also believe Trump won the 2020 election, or that if Trump had been president Putin would never have dared invade Ukraine?
To more directly answer your question, nearly half the voters do not want this, and the other half have two significant problems: vulnerability to snake oil salesmen, and an inability to connect the dots to see if claims actually match reality.
Hey Phat, is this what you and your friends voted for?
Percy once jokingly said that I claimed to be some sort of prescient messenger, a claim that I occasionally embrace. Though I threw away my vote to Kamala (to appease my sister) my hope was with the majority of the conservatives, many of whom are church folk. Now, after a mere two months under the Trump Administration, I predict that both the Western Church and the Conservative parties in Israel will be partially judged and partially taught a lesson by virtue of their actions. There is a very good chance that Trump is an antichrist figure, sent to cause chaos and disorder on the planet. I will double down on my prediction that the American economy will collapse due to the extreme inflation and devaluation of our currency.
I have no regret that Kamala did not win in that she was unequipped to handle global affairs without continuing to encourage global support for the US and its dollar. This does not mean that Trump is any better...he will prove to be a bull(shitter) in a China shop.
His supporters love him at this point, and the wool will be over their eyes for some years... When it all does fall apart, they will blame anything except him and his administrative actions. As to your question, yes...many of my conservative friends see nothing wrong with Trump's policies.
When both religious and non-religious people reach the same conclusions then you know religion isn't the reason.--Percy God alone is God *but* God is not alone~Ellis Potter We see Monsters where Science shows us Windmills.~Phat, remixed
Critics would of course say that "God" is a product of human imagination...but then again God may well declare that all of creation is a product of His imagination! It is all in the perspective of the observer.~Phat
Now, after a mere two months under the Trump Administration, I predict that both the Western Church and the Conservative parties in Israel will be partially judged and partially taught a lesson by virtue of their actions.
They will be. But it will be too little and far too late.
The plain and obvious fact is that you and your church friends are not actually Christians. You are anti-Christian, though you have not recognized this.
Matt 7.1: Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Socially conservative Christians routinely violate this teaching. They are very judgemental. As Christians, they are supposed to judging themselves, not judging other people. They are supposed to be concerned about their own moral behavior rather than about that of other people.
I left Christianity because it was so obvious that Christianity had become a society of pious hypocrites.
Fundamentalism - the anti-American, anti-Christian branch of American Christianity
Best Response to the Oval Office Mugging I've Seen
John Oliver on Sunday night's show responding to Donald Trump saying, "This is gonna be great television, I will say that."
In case it hasn't already been mentioned, Trump has announced a "pause" in the supply of U.S. materiel to Ukraine.
--Percy
AbE: It's been noted that the above video doesn't render in the states. I'm out of the country right now and will attempt to find a working domestic link once I'm back.
I read several articles recently that stress that an American majority does not favor the war in Ukraine as much as their representatives in Congress. This is the time to mention that that's not the way it works. Representatives and Senators in Congress are not there to poll their constituents and then vote according to their wishes, especially since it will always be the wishes of the most vocal element.
This is not a pure democracy. We're a representative democracy. We elect our representatives to educate themselves on the issue and vote according to their best judgments, then bring their rationale back to the people without exposing any secure information. They are not just a conduit between their constituents and the voting button on their chair.
Even if the Ukraine war is unpopular with a majority of the American people, it is still essential for European security and for upholding the ideals of supporting democracy throughout the world. It is up to our elected representatives to make that clear to the American people and not just mechanically do what the people want at the moment. That's how Brexit happened, for just one recent example.
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