Who's Unhappy: Putin or Trump?

Plus, Dmitri Trenin's latest

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was reported by TASS today as saying:

Russia "will keep pushing" the US regarding the return of diplomatic properties: "There is clearly a lack of meaningful response from the American side on this matter. We will keep pushing." [My Emphasis]

So, the most basic, fundamental step Team Trump could take to rebuild trust with Russia—return the diplomatic properties stolen from Russia—has yet to be done, with the bolded text saying that zero has happened on that issue. So, Trump’s hundreds of pre-election boasts that he’d end the war in his first 24 hours were not only empty, but he’s made no effort to try and soften relations as he said he would. And there are many more points of evidence I could compile to show it’s Putin who’s disappointed with Trump for his lack of action—let’s call it procrastination. Meanwhile, Putin and Russia’s position hasn’t changed one iota since June of 2024—13 months now—and from what emerges from Trump’s mouth, he still doesn’t comprehend Russia’s unshakable position.

There’s nothing Trump can do to alter the basic historical fact that the Outlaw US Empire engaged in a Preplanned Aggressive War against Russian speaking Ukrainians and is thus responsible for all the crimes committed during that war since it was the one who committed the #1 Most Heinous Crime of waging Aggressive War, which was the judgement of the Nuremburg Tribunals—a judgment the USA agreed to and ratified. This isn’t a new point I’m raising as I’ve written several articles about the legal issues of Ukraine over the last year. And of course, Ukraine isn’t the first Act of Aggressive War the Outlaw US Empire has committed since WW2—there are many when we include all the coups it’s sponsored which are also aggressive acts of war and the assassinations of foreign leaders and other public figures, like its own Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcom X to name just two of too many. And of course, we have Team Trump continuing the Empire’s support for the Zionist Genocide in Palestine and another Act of Aggressive War carried out against Iran.

So, is Trump really disappointed with Putin or is he disappointed in his own performance given his narcissism? But he must be proud of his escalation of the Class War on his fellow citizens and his own support base—the poor MAGA whites. The just passed “Big Beautiful Bill” is one of the most regressive acts against poor people ever passed by Congress. Top that with the crazy level of tariffs, and some of the more dire warnings about Trump’s agenda become credible. My wife works in the public health sector of our county government and has seen the massive budget cuts that are in the pipeline that will affect the poor most of all along with rural governments nationally. And yes, Trump is very proud of his accomplishment as he showed when he signed that legislation. And the monies that went to financing all those programs are being sent to the top 10% via tax cuts, military funding and other corruption. The Parasites are sucking what blood remains in the Host at a faster pace than ever before.

Dmitri Trenin

Yesterday, Dmitri Trenin, Director of the Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy at the Higher School of Economics, wrote an op/ed for Kommersant, “The War Will Be Long,” which was picked-up translated and altered by RT for publication today. My practice is to provide the translation of the original because of RT’s past and present manipulations that I’ve denounced every time I encounter one. IMO, Trenin makes clear that Putin knows the Outlaw US Empire’s plans, which is the basic reason why Putin doesn’t yield anything to Trump. Here’s Trenin:

The war will be long

Dmitri Trenin on the intermediate results of the "special diplomatic operation"

The verbal shuffling of the current American president is Donald Trump's signature style. They need to be monitored but not overestimated: neither in a more favorable or less favorable direction for us. It should also be understood that Trump is not the "king" of America and that the "Trump revolution" that was talked about at the beginning of the year seems to have been replaced by the evolution of Trump himself towards rapprochement with the American establishment.

From this position, it makes sense to look at the intermediate results of our "special diplomatic operation"–-six telephone conversations between the presidents, talks between foreign ministers and foreign policy aides of the heads of state, as well as communication at other high levels.

The positive part includes, first of all, the restoration of dialogue between Russia and the United States, interrupted by the Joe Biden administration.

It is also important that this dialogue is not limited to discussing the war in Ukraine. Potential opportunities for cooperation in a number of areas are outlined, from geopolitics to transport and sports. So far, this is not very relevant, but it may be useful in the future. After all, the resumed dialogue, most likely, will not be interrupted under Trump, although its intensity and tone will change.

Dialogue with the United States led to the resumption of negotiations with the Ukrainian side in Istanbul. The negotiations themselves have no political sense now, and prisoner of war exchanges took place without them. It is important, however, that the fact of direct contact with Kiev reinforced the key thesis of our diplomacy about Russia's readiness for a political solution to the conflict.

These acquisitions are, of course, technical and tactical in nature.

From the very beginning, it was obvious that it would not be possible to agree with Trump on Ukraine on terms that would meet Russia's security requirements.

And of course, no one would negotiate with Trump at the expense of Russia's security. It would also be naïve to assume that Trump will completely "surrender" Ukraine, unite with the Kremlin against the European Union and go to a "new Yalta" in the form of a renewed Big Three, already consisting of the United States, Russia and China.

So, the page has been turned. What's next? Trump is likely to sign the new sanctions bill, but at the same time he will leave himself the opportunity to apply it at his own discretion. The new measures will add instability to world trade, but will not have an impact on Russian policy. Trump will transfer the remnants of weapons from the "Biden packages" to Ukraine and, possibly, will be forced to add something "on his own", but in the future, the bulk of military assistance to Kyiv will come from Europe or through Europe (Berlin and others will purchase American systems and transfer them to the Ukrainians). The United States will continue to transfer intelligence to Ukraine that is critical for strikes, especially deep into Russian territory.

The war will not end in 2025. It will not end after the end of hostilities in Ukraine.

We need to realize that the current conflict is not about Ukraine as such.

This is a proxy (so far) war of the West against Russia. And this confrontation itself is part of an ongoing world war, in which the West is fighting to maintain world hegemony. This will be a long war, and the United States, with or without Trump, will remain our adversary. At stake for us in this struggle is not the status of Ukraine, but the existence of Russia. [My Emphasis]

As you see, the conclusion is emphasized, and IMO is 100% correct. The Collective Western Empire is at war not just with Russia but with the entire Global Majority, although there are certain distinctions that can be made regarding the amount of involvement each member of the Collective Western Empire as some nations are already very unwilling members while the few vassals outside the West are reconsidering their position finally via their national interests. The new pending sanctions bill in Congress is supposed to apply 500% tariffs onto the goods of any nation trading with Russia, which ironically includes the Empire as it must have Russian enriched uranium fuel for its nuclear reactors amongst other critical materials. I previously wrote about that bill and the havoc it would cause on the USA, which as with all previous sanctions end up being own goals with negligible effect on Russia. What that bill would do is further isolate the USA from international trade and drive domestic inflation to new heights. Even now as Russia continues to make gains on the battlefield, we see the next round set of aggravations along the Arc of Instability already forming with Moldova, Armenia, and possibly Azerbaijan. Escalation also threatens in the Baltic Sea, and I still anticipate NATO attacks on Russia’s Arctic energy infrastructure.

The cui bono question must be asked about EU/NATO trying to instigate a war with Russia. IMO, Russia can be ruled out as there’s nothing in Europe it would want. The greater mass of Europeans don’t want war and several NATO members have said no to war with Russia. NATO lacks the military power to win a war against Russia. All it could do is to perform the same “service” provided by the Arc of Instability to distract Russia from repopulating and developing its nation. Such an act would also destabilize BRICS and especially China’s efforts and thus limit the Global Majority’s development possibilities. The result as many analysts are beginning to admit is another global war is underway, albeit in a hybrid mode. So, again, who does this war serve. I have only one answer: the ancien regime that’s now located in North America with a branch office in London.

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