This agreement, if it even warrants the label, to me indicates Putin sees Trump as yet another name on the very long list of, "not agreement capabile" Americans.
I seriously doubt this agreement will provide sufficient world PR cover for the fact that Trump 100% backed Bibi's decision to break the Agreement with Palestine, ramping up yesterday to blow 400 innocent Gaza people to Kingdom Come.
So the facts are in; the honeymoon is over.
Trump is merely Obama 2.0, a man who promises peace and then swiftly aids and abets rampant slaughter. Seems like old times, with a Zionist spin.
Thanks for this Karl. The bi-lateral has moved through the second date and the conversation goes on. The key point at the mo is that there IS a conversation.
Wonder what S. Karaganov would make of it?
7 mins of S. Karaganov behaving himself at the BBC ...
Former Kremlin advisor says 'best possible outcome is Ukraine’s total capitulation' | BBC News
He has conducted the best, forensic and meticulous research of events on 'that day'.
Read his first working paper on this a good few years ago. Note that he had an accepted and peer reviewed article pulled from publication at the last minute in a top US Journal (academia is really gettin fu€ked up these days!) Sachs appalled etc. Published some elsewhere - but for those into detail - buy the book.
There is something so fundamentally wrong here that I am surprised some of the sharper commenters over at MoA haven't caught on to it or at least posted.
I've never heard of a "ceasefire process" where the two parties in dispute are not at the same table. Sure, there is shuttle diplomacy, but even that term, where a mediator shuttles between two different locales (because the 2 parties can't stand each other) does not fit this situtation.
What we have here is: 1) Party A talking to party C (the US), but the other party B refusing to sit down and negotiate contemporaneously. Then, 2) party B talks to party C separately, but without any link back to what was proposed in 1). Therefore, there is no real bargaining happening at all, just some weird sort of shadow boxing. It's as if both sides are boxing with a ghost.
You cannot have a unilateral ceasefire. Both parties at war must agree to some sort of set of terms. And even in the case of the Gaza ceasefire, which we all know was sort of a joke and took months and months to hammer out, involved proposals on paper, carefully written down and sent back and forth to both parties, there was actual bargaining between the two parties in dispute.
This animal is nothing of the sort ... it appears to be nothing more than Kabuki theater.
I wrote about that two weeks ago in the legal problems facing any Ukraine settlement. It’s been one of my main points for months. It’s good you also see that problem.
Given AIPAC's control of some 500 US Congress Senators, Representatives & President, might we also consider that Israel's Oligarch masters are calling the shots. Could Zionists with 2 Jewish Dual-Citizen Petro Poroshenko & Volodymyr Zelensky post violent Maidan Jewish Presidents, have in mind ancient Phoenician (Kingdom-of-Israel + city-states of Tyr, Sidon, Byblos & Beirut 4000 - 0 BC) Empire control of the Black & Mediterranean Sea shores? Could Zionists be longing for a return of Ashkenaz (3 branches of my family) & Khazarian Jewish Controlled empires centered in Ukraine? Could the genocide-sacrifice choice, orchestrated by Poroshenko & Zelensky, of one million mostly young Ukrainian men, have to do with Zionist plans for Ukraine resettlement with a complete war-exhausted financial dependency of a rump Ukraine? 'Exogenous' (Latin 'other-generated') Zionists have a very long brutal insatiable memory of their genocidal empires & insecure coveting of complete world control. Humanity won't be restored until we address this much longer historical context of fake 'money' (Greek 'mnemosis' = 'memory') amnesic Oligarch insecure pathological-psychosis. We will have to restore our memory for many 10s of 1000s of years of our once worldwide peaceful & abundant 'indigenous' (L. 'self-generating') heritage of ECONOMIC-DEMOCRACY. 'Political' (L 'poly' = 'many' + 'tics' = 'workings-of') Democracy is designed to be captured by itself. All humanity's worldwide indigenous ancestors cultivated distributed decentralized Economic ownership as the underlying foundation upon which politics were secondary. Most centralized corporate & institutional goods & services are inappropriately scaled & cruel. Recycling, Repair, Reduction, Reuse of goods & materials are stimulated with specialists at these economies-of-scale among every other facet of the true 'economy'. Start-up industry & commerce within these committed extended-family Multihome bodies are the most successful, innovative & lasting in the face of economic pressures. Https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/8-economic-democracy
70% of people today live in Multihome-Dwelling-Complexes (eg. Apartment, Townhouse & Village clustered housing) within an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 (50-150) persons as have all humanity's indigenous ancestors for many 10s of 1000s of years once in every nation on every continent. The Domestic Economy is equal to the Industrial & Commercial Economies combined & plays an integral role. Multihomes as units have annual earning & spending economies in the many millions of dollars. The voice of primarily women accounting-recognized, celebrated & empowered for their work at this intimate, inter-generational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale enable appropriate personal goods, services & real-'education'.
20% of Multihome-dwellers are extended-families living intentionally in proximity for social & economic collaboration, contributing 2 trillion $/ year of the most individually appropriate goods, services, sharing & caring/year.
APPROPRIATE-SCALE CULTURAL ECONOMY FOUNDATION All indigenous humanity kept intimate, intergenerational, female-male, inter-disciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale in the Multihome (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village). Multihomes should be the 1st Line of nutritional, preventative & restorative Medical intervention by specialists already amongst us treating people proactively & positively in harmony with nature. Https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/1-extending-our-welcome-participatory-multihome-cohousing
I originally considered the Z regime to be simply a puppet proxy of the USA/NATO but they do seem to have some agency of their own - or maybe are now following EU/UK orders? I don't really know. It is I suppose possible that with Harris's defeat the various Western parties tried to pre-empt any Trump peace plan in part by creating some sort of illusion of independence for Ukraine.
But really the point you make is valid - why is Ukraine not part of the talks? And the answer speaks for itself. Of course the Russians may be playing along with the fiction that the USA was not really leading this initiative as the goal of achieving lasting peace will be much more difficult if the USA's nose is rubbed in the dirt.
Overall though, the peace talks look unlikely to achieve anything until Ukraine and Europe are forced to accept terms by events on the ground. And a Korean style "peace" will IMO not be policed by the USA and the "ceasefire line" will be much further west. Indeed I think Ukraine will be fortunate to exist at the end of all this.
"How will Trump get Zelensky to agree to what Trump committed him to?"
It is obvious what the plan is. Zelensky will refuse to agree to any ceasefire, or if he agrees he will not abide by it. That will give President Trump the cover he needs with the US Congress to walk away from the Ukraine. What happens after that is of no interest to the US or the American people.
I rather doubt Trump will do that if he truly wants rejuvenated relations with Russia as the road to that goal means ending the Empire’s war against Ukraine and Russia.
I think it more likely he will rage, threaten, and demand the NATO membership put up cash immediately. He wants a mining deal with Russia and unless he stays in the game it won't happen.
This slaughter will drag on for another year or two, for this war will run until Russia meets its objectives.
We need to remember what Russia's core objective is -- It is to secure long-term peace on their borders. Yes, Russia can crush Zelensky militarily, but we all notice that Russia has been rather reluctant to do that -- because Russia recognizes that they cannot achieve their aim of long-term peace on the battlefield. Crushing the Ukraine militarily will only increase the hatred & Russophobia coming from the EuroScum.
Russia would like a world in which the US and the EuroScum do not treat them as an enemy. Under President Trump, the US is trying to move towards normal relations with Russia ... but the EuroScum are currently moving towards more belligerence.
Maybe Russia hopes that if the US abandons the Ukraine (just as it abandoned Afghanistan and Vietnam), the Euros might calm down rather than fight on alone.
I’m sure Russia has some amount of optimism, but it also has hard cold reality as a guide too, and if required will finish the SMO on its own terms. Then the next set of issues will arise and need to be dealt with.
The mineral sands that Trump desires exist in enormous reserves in Western Australia. However that mining operation is "captured" by Chinese government finance and thus the Chinese dominate the international market by controlling the export of refined product that is done in China, not in Australia.
I don't think US will walk away, since modulating support for Ukraine is one of the few points of leverage Washington has in exchange for what they are required to obtain from Russia, which is Russia similarly modulating support for Iran. Safe to expect conflicts to continue, albeit if we are lucky, they may continue in a marginally contained form. Luck is required due to unfortunate hubris of both Biden/Trump groups.
Maybe they ain't saying nothing but at least they be talking or ignoring each other or something, have to say better than before.
Sports interactions can change the emotional climate, though I ain't much for sports...
I prefer of course musical interaction, and there is no need to ask Americans to perform Tchaikovsky, which already defines winter as such by one Nutcracker , not Mr Oreshnik the other....
DJT Guest of Honour in May. This would blow the minds of the euro-peons. Trump sharing a tank ride with Putin.
Those US- Russia working-groups should include Larry Johnson & Col. Doug Macgregor.
Throw in Andrey Martyanov, Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern and Brian Berletic and Bob's your uncle. I guess it's rude of me not to include Karl. OK Karl you're in but it's shirt & tie stuff and polish your wellington boots.
Yeah that's my Crew and I'd back it against the US Russian experts with their degrees in Russian Studies from Harvard and the Talking-Head Generals on CNN-MSNBC-Crime Scene Investigation and Hollywood Casting Couches.
"...Russia has no trust in any Western actor at all...". Hope/strive/pray/hallucinate for the best, prepare for the worst; twas ever thus in serious strategising.
If there is ever a ceasefire prisoner exchange, I too hope the Ukies are given a choice and also personal safety guarantees once back in Ukraine if they do choose to go home to their families. Including for those wounded currently being treated in Russia now to be sent back to Ukraine.
The Outlaw US Empire is overmatched by China. The biggest giveaway for that is to look at the length of the US logistics train. The US either ceases being an Outlaw and rejoins Humanity or it will isolate itself as its internal contradictions eat away at its functionality.
From the article the following about sanctions. I think I had seen the 20K number before
"There is no record that the sanctions war was discussed between the presidents.
Earlier in the Moscow afternoon, in a speech [13] to the business lobby, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Putin had attacked the US and the European allies for the economic war. “Sanctions are neither temporary nor targeted measures; they constitute a mechanism of systemic, strategic pressure against our nation,” Putin said. “ Regardless of global developments or shifts in the international order, our competitors will perpetually seek to constrain Russia and diminish its economic and technological capacities…Here, the Ministry of Finance has tallied them. I state with confidence: 28,595 sanctions against individuals and legal entities. This exceeds – by a significant margin – all sanctions ever imposed on all other nations combined.”
If Putin raised this issue with either Witkoff or Trump, there is no sign in Moscow or Washington of their answer."
Proposed limited ceasefire and allusions to big business deals after peace. The third I cannot recall. Maybe it was immediate talkers in the middle east.
The conflict is between Russia and NATO led by the USA. Zelensky will be told what to do, as has been the case since biden told him to attack Russian speakers in the Donbass. He has no agency.
It may appear that way since this was started by Obama in 2014 with an attack on Ukraine, but the legalities since have shifted as I’ve been writing about, which is also how Putin and Russia approach the problem.
Of course, the legitimacy of Zelensky is an issue. But that is Trump's task which as we saw with the 'suspension of intelligence sharing' he can deal with. Elections will be held and Russia will ensure their guy, Mendu... something, the guy they exchanged for the Azov guys, wins those elections.
Some crumbs for the US masses, what a joke.
This agreement, if it even warrants the label, to me indicates Putin sees Trump as yet another name on the very long list of, "not agreement capabile" Americans.
I seriously doubt this agreement will provide sufficient world PR cover for the fact that Trump 100% backed Bibi's decision to break the Agreement with Palestine, ramping up yesterday to blow 400 innocent Gaza people to Kingdom Come.
So the facts are in; the honeymoon is over.
Trump is merely Obama 2.0, a man who promises peace and then swiftly aids and abets rampant slaughter. Seems like old times, with a Zionist spin.
Did you really expect Zionist Adelson-funded Donald J. Trump to be a "President of Peace"?
He talked a good game, many bought into it
That's the problem: that many people just stop at what Trump says, without questioning who's behind him.
Thanks for this Karl. The bi-lateral has moved through the second date and the conversation goes on. The key point at the mo is that there IS a conversation.
Wonder what S. Karaganov would make of it?
7 mins of S. Karaganov behaving himself at the BBC ...
Former Kremlin advisor says 'best possible outcome is Ukraine’s total capitulation' | BBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAaSaqZCBg8
note to Karaganov:
Glenn Diesen with Ivan Katchanovski: The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine - The Mass Killing that Changed the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPJcW48Vufs (70 mins
I hope to find time to watch that.
He has conducted the best, forensic and meticulous research of events on 'that day'.
Read his first working paper on this a good few years ago. Note that he had an accepted and peer reviewed article pulled from publication at the last minute in a top US Journal (academia is really gettin fu€ked up these days!) Sachs appalled etc. Published some elsewhere - but for those into detail - buy the book.
Here's two twitter threads where Katchanovski gives a nice summary of his research into the Maidan massacres:
https://x.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1714649220462874656
https://x.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1722874551111950513
There is something so fundamentally wrong here that I am surprised some of the sharper commenters over at MoA haven't caught on to it or at least posted.
I've never heard of a "ceasefire process" where the two parties in dispute are not at the same table. Sure, there is shuttle diplomacy, but even that term, where a mediator shuttles between two different locales (because the 2 parties can't stand each other) does not fit this situtation.
What we have here is: 1) Party A talking to party C (the US), but the other party B refusing to sit down and negotiate contemporaneously. Then, 2) party B talks to party C separately, but without any link back to what was proposed in 1). Therefore, there is no real bargaining happening at all, just some weird sort of shadow boxing. It's as if both sides are boxing with a ghost.
You cannot have a unilateral ceasefire. Both parties at war must agree to some sort of set of terms. And even in the case of the Gaza ceasefire, which we all know was sort of a joke and took months and months to hammer out, involved proposals on paper, carefully written down and sent back and forth to both parties, there was actual bargaining between the two parties in dispute.
This animal is nothing of the sort ... it appears to be nothing more than Kabuki theater.
I wrote about that two weeks ago in the legal problems facing any Ukraine settlement. It’s been one of my main points for months. It’s good you also see that problem.
Given AIPAC's control of some 500 US Congress Senators, Representatives & President, might we also consider that Israel's Oligarch masters are calling the shots. Could Zionists with 2 Jewish Dual-Citizen Petro Poroshenko & Volodymyr Zelensky post violent Maidan Jewish Presidents, have in mind ancient Phoenician (Kingdom-of-Israel + city-states of Tyr, Sidon, Byblos & Beirut 4000 - 0 BC) Empire control of the Black & Mediterranean Sea shores? Could Zionists be longing for a return of Ashkenaz (3 branches of my family) & Khazarian Jewish Controlled empires centered in Ukraine? Could the genocide-sacrifice choice, orchestrated by Poroshenko & Zelensky, of one million mostly young Ukrainian men, have to do with Zionist plans for Ukraine resettlement with a complete war-exhausted financial dependency of a rump Ukraine? 'Exogenous' (Latin 'other-generated') Zionists have a very long brutal insatiable memory of their genocidal empires & insecure coveting of complete world control. Humanity won't be restored until we address this much longer historical context of fake 'money' (Greek 'mnemosis' = 'memory') amnesic Oligarch insecure pathological-psychosis. We will have to restore our memory for many 10s of 1000s of years of our once worldwide peaceful & abundant 'indigenous' (L. 'self-generating') heritage of ECONOMIC-DEMOCRACY. 'Political' (L 'poly' = 'many' + 'tics' = 'workings-of') Democracy is designed to be captured by itself. All humanity's worldwide indigenous ancestors cultivated distributed decentralized Economic ownership as the underlying foundation upon which politics were secondary. Most centralized corporate & institutional goods & services are inappropriately scaled & cruel. Recycling, Repair, Reduction, Reuse of goods & materials are stimulated with specialists at these economies-of-scale among every other facet of the true 'economy'. Start-up industry & commerce within these committed extended-family Multihome bodies are the most successful, innovative & lasting in the face of economic pressures. Https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/8-economic-democracy
70% of people today live in Multihome-Dwelling-Complexes (eg. Apartment, Townhouse & Village clustered housing) within an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 (50-150) persons as have all humanity's indigenous ancestors for many 10s of 1000s of years once in every nation on every continent. The Domestic Economy is equal to the Industrial & Commercial Economies combined & plays an integral role. Multihomes as units have annual earning & spending economies in the many millions of dollars. The voice of primarily women accounting-recognized, celebrated & empowered for their work at this intimate, inter-generational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale enable appropriate personal goods, services & real-'education'.
20% of Multihome-dwellers are extended-families living intentionally in proximity for social & economic collaboration, contributing 2 trillion $/ year of the most individually appropriate goods, services, sharing & caring/year.
APPROPRIATE-SCALE CULTURAL ECONOMY FOUNDATION All indigenous humanity kept intimate, intergenerational, female-male, inter-disciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale in the Multihome (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village). Multihomes should be the 1st Line of nutritional, preventative & restorative Medical intervention by specialists already amongst us treating people proactively & positively in harmony with nature. Https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/1-extending-our-welcome-participatory-multihome-cohousing
The US Administration is running the Ukrainian shit-show and will choose their puppet accordingly.
With no weapons or starlink or MONEY then Trump could just sit back until a change of hearts & minds in The Coalition of the Unwilling.
I originally considered the Z regime to be simply a puppet proxy of the USA/NATO but they do seem to have some agency of their own - or maybe are now following EU/UK orders? I don't really know. It is I suppose possible that with Harris's defeat the various Western parties tried to pre-empt any Trump peace plan in part by creating some sort of illusion of independence for Ukraine.
But really the point you make is valid - why is Ukraine not part of the talks? And the answer speaks for itself. Of course the Russians may be playing along with the fiction that the USA was not really leading this initiative as the goal of achieving lasting peace will be much more difficult if the USA's nose is rubbed in the dirt.
Overall though, the peace talks look unlikely to achieve anything until Ukraine and Europe are forced to accept terms by events on the ground. And a Korean style "peace" will IMO not be policed by the USA and the "ceasefire line" will be much further west. Indeed I think Ukraine will be fortunate to exist at the end of all this.
"How will Trump get Zelensky to agree to what Trump committed him to?"
It is obvious what the plan is. Zelensky will refuse to agree to any ceasefire, or if he agrees he will not abide by it. That will give President Trump the cover he needs with the US Congress to walk away from the Ukraine. What happens after that is of no interest to the US or the American people.
I rather doubt Trump will do that if he truly wants rejuvenated relations with Russia as the road to that goal means ending the Empire’s war against Ukraine and Russia.
I doubt Trump will walk away.
I think it more likely he will rage, threaten, and demand the NATO membership put up cash immediately. He wants a mining deal with Russia and unless he stays in the game it won't happen.
This slaughter will drag on for another year or two, for this war will run until Russia meets its objectives.
We need to remember what Russia's core objective is -- It is to secure long-term peace on their borders. Yes, Russia can crush Zelensky militarily, but we all notice that Russia has been rather reluctant to do that -- because Russia recognizes that they cannot achieve their aim of long-term peace on the battlefield. Crushing the Ukraine militarily will only increase the hatred & Russophobia coming from the EuroScum.
Russia would like a world in which the US and the EuroScum do not treat them as an enemy. Under President Trump, the US is trying to move towards normal relations with Russia ... but the EuroScum are currently moving towards more belligerence.
Maybe Russia hopes that if the US abandons the Ukraine (just as it abandoned Afghanistan and Vietnam), the Euros might calm down rather than fight on alone.
I’m sure Russia has some amount of optimism, but it also has hard cold reality as a guide too, and if required will finish the SMO on its own terms. Then the next set of issues will arise and need to be dealt with.
The mineral sands that Trump desires exist in enormous reserves in Western Australia. However that mining operation is "captured" by Chinese government finance and thus the Chinese dominate the international market by controlling the export of refined product that is done in China, not in Australia.
I don't think US will walk away, since modulating support for Ukraine is one of the few points of leverage Washington has in exchange for what they are required to obtain from Russia, which is Russia similarly modulating support for Iran. Safe to expect conflicts to continue, albeit if we are lucky, they may continue in a marginally contained form. Luck is required due to unfortunate hubris of both Biden/Trump groups.
Z gets iced
Maybe they ain't saying nothing but at least they be talking or ignoring each other or something, have to say better than before.
Sports interactions can change the emotional climate, though I ain't much for sports...
I prefer of course musical interaction, and there is no need to ask Americans to perform Tchaikovsky, which already defines winter as such by one Nutcracker , not Mr Oreshnik the other....
DJT Guest of Honour in May. This would blow the minds of the euro-peons. Trump sharing a tank ride with Putin.
Those US- Russia working-groups should include Larry Johnson & Col. Doug Macgregor.
Throw in Andrey Martyanov, Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern and Brian Berletic and Bob's your uncle. I guess it's rude of me not to include Karl. OK Karl you're in but it's shirt & tie stuff and polish your wellington boots.
Yeah that's my Crew and I'd back it against the US Russian experts with their degrees in Russian Studies from Harvard and the Talking-Head Generals on CNN-MSNBC-Crime Scene Investigation and Hollywood Casting Couches.
I’m far more casual than Larry Johnson—Aloha shirt, slacks and sandals. I haven’t owned a suit since my Dress Green US Army formals in the 1980s.
Nuisances of language? Translation?
should be the complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kiev.
In negotiation terms "should" is a very weak assertion. The word "shall" is used when the side insists!
May not be that big a distinction but to US reads!
I note the US readout was rather brief!
Yeah, it was very short given the length of the chat.
"...Russia has no trust in any Western actor at all...". Hope/strive/pray/hallucinate for the best, prepare for the worst; twas ever thus in serious strategising.
If there is ever a ceasefire prisoner exchange, I too hope the Ukies are given a choice and also personal safety guarantees once back in Ukraine if they do choose to go home to their families. Including for those wounded currently being treated in Russia now to be sent back to Ukraine.
Guarantee lives and dignity of the soldiers of Ukraine.
Good, others, not so much, is what it means to me.
I was hoping that at least the US would drop Ukraine and pivot to China like it keeps saying.
I think China will end up in a stand-off. And that's better than an active war.
A new Iron Curtain seems to be inevitable, and this time the US will be on the wrong side.
The Outlaw US Empire is overmatched by China. The biggest giveaway for that is to look at the length of the US logistics train. The US either ceases being an Outlaw and rejoins Humanity or it will isolate itself as its internal contradictions eat away at its functionality.
Interestingly, the White House has been quite mum following the phone call between Trump and Putin, as John Helmer pointed out in his latest article, well worth a read: https://johnhelmer.net/putin-demonstrates-how-to-telephone-a-personality-cult/
From the article the following about sanctions. I think I had seen the 20K number before
"There is no record that the sanctions war was discussed between the presidents.
Earlier in the Moscow afternoon, in a speech [13] to the business lobby, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Putin had attacked the US and the European allies for the economic war. “Sanctions are neither temporary nor targeted measures; they constitute a mechanism of systemic, strategic pressure against our nation,” Putin said. “ Regardless of global developments or shifts in the international order, our competitors will perpetually seek to constrain Russia and diminish its economic and technological capacities…Here, the Ministry of Finance has tallied them. I state with confidence: 28,595 sanctions against individuals and legal entities. This exceeds – by a significant margin – all sanctions ever imposed on all other nations combined.”
If Putin raised this issue with either Witkoff or Trump, there is no sign in Moscow or Washington of their answer."
The translated transcript is just prior to this on the list.
A short White Readout was posted.
Only 3 points:
Proposed limited ceasefire and allusions to big business deals after peace. The third I cannot recall. Maybe it was immediate talkers in the middle east.
The conflict is between Russia and NATO led by the USA. Zelensky will be told what to do, as has been the case since biden told him to attack Russian speakers in the Donbass. He has no agency.
It may appear that way since this was started by Obama in 2014 with an attack on Ukraine, but the legalities since have shifted as I’ve been writing about, which is also how Putin and Russia approach the problem.
Of course, the legitimacy of Zelensky is an issue. But that is Trump's task which as we saw with the 'suspension of intelligence sharing' he can deal with. Elections will be held and Russia will ensure their guy, Mendu... something, the guy they exchanged for the Azov guys, wins those elections.
Trumpanzees win another fell for it again award