Just a question and maybe a bargining chip. Since the Budapest Memorandum failed, maybe someone should give Ukrain back a few nukes? How many did they give away for the protections they've not received? Seems only fair.
As a Canadian, I found it very threatening that Trump and Putin met in Alaska, where the US essentially borders both Canada and Russia. Putin thinks Ukraine should be part of Russia; Trump says Canada “was meant to be the 51st state.” Trump’s gestures toward being “tough” on Russia are now seemingly at an end. Did his pro-Russian sentiment (or perhaps the rumoured kompromat) get bolstered by a promise of mutual support in the plundering of Canada? (I know it sounds paranoid, but Russia made legal moves to extend its border closer to Canada’s *at the same time* that it invaded Crimea, and our third geopolitical neighbour, Greenland, is also on Trump’s list). Though I once believed it couldn’t happen, this authoritarian re-alignment is impossible to miss, and it appears that the most we can expect from our American cousins is hand-wringing and the oft-repeated (but increasingly ahistorical) “this is not who we are.”
Oh my. I’d ordinarily not respond to such rage-baiting horseshit, but you’ve suggested that deliberately starving children “rewards Hamas for rape.” That’s the equivalent of saying that every Christian child in the United States should be bombed and starved because the KKK represented themselves as Christians. Folks who believe military might makes right—and you seem to have placed yourself in that category—and those who believe that objecting to the starvation of civilians is wrong—ditto—lack perspective and any appreciation of nuance. Like the present US president, who suggested that the German people ought to feel shame at the Allies’ defeat of the Nazi regime, I think you need an education in history. How does your perspective on the relative strengths of the Canadian and US militaries make the annexation of another country just? Is my concern about the present US-Russia (Trump-Putin) imperialist alignment meaningless because you think former PM Trudeau is a sissy? You’re right that our military isn’t what it should be—that’s because we apparently mistakenly believed that the US would continue to be a force for good in the world. (BTW—a US invasion of Canada would be a disaster for the US: most of the US population—isolationist but eager to be the “good guys”—wouldn’t support it, international trade would get even uglier than the present administration has made it, and we’re no less committed to our identity and sovereignty than, say, Vietnam or Afghanistan: ask Putin how his 3-day plan to subjugate Ukraine has gone).
Well you have the mighty Canadian army to thwart any threats against your country. Under Trudeau, that epitome of masculinity, you spent about 1 percent on defense spending. Aren’t you down to one operable submarine now? At the end of WWII, where Canadians performed heroically, you had the 4th most powerful armed forces in the world. You are a joke now a joke, but a “moral superpower”. Cutting off aid to Israel (where will they get their kayaks?), rewarding Hamas for rape, kidnapping and murder by recognizing a Palestinian state, leading the fight on climate change when you are sitting an ocean of oil and natural gas, threatening to freeze assets of your own citizens for exercising free expression, et al. Just hide behind the US skirt like you have for the past 80 years and keep quiet
I don't remember his name, but a reporter in Odessa that Tim talks to was saying in one bit that Putin broke his own record by waiting a full 40 minutes before violating the most recent cease fire.
I am amazed how Mr. Edelman still discusses the Trump Kabuki theatre as if real diplomacy is even been contemplated.
What we saw was a deeply flawed and deeply compromised con man facing his worst fears, namely his master releasing damaging kompromat. It is not the threat of nuclear war (that has been there since 1950). It is the threat of complete annihilation of his fragile narcissistic ego, not of our country.
It wasn’t a “summit”, it was a chance for trump to vast in the shine of his greatest idol Putin! If that meant throwing Ukraine under the bus, well, it was worth it to trump!!!
Trump thought fawning over Putin would soften him up for tough negotiations, in which he might get a notable concession like a ceasefire. Which in turn might earn Trump a Nobel Piece Prize? Very unlikely even if Trump helped broker a ceasefire.
But Putin crushed Trump’s pipe dreams, w his psychotic obsession w “Greater Russia,” his nonsense that Ukraine is not really its own country by rights, and his voracious appetite for old Soviet dominions at any cost in blood and treasure. Trump let Putin upstage him, freeze him out of any concessions, and make him look small and insignificant on the world stage. Trump brought Putin back from international pariah status, as Bill’’s guest relates so well here, and the thanks Putin offered was a lesson in realpolitik that Trump seems too daft to comprehend. The deal for Trump was: You get nothing but a guy-in to your lies about the 2020 election, etc. I, Putin, get huge chunks of Ukraine, and eventually all of Ukraine.
Trump especially daft if he thinks Zelensky will sign on to this insanity. Perhaps only Europe can save Ukraine now. Trump won’t.
Great thanks to Bill and Eric for this excellent summary of events. The summit was everything Putin wanted it it be, and made sure it would be. He has forgotten none of his KGB training, alas. Masterfully stroking his opponent's ego. I do feel relieved the leaders from Europe- who will "have Zelensky's back"- will be there. They may not succeed in guiding Trump towards better decisions, but they'll do all anyone can, I know. As they really must, for their own sake and ours. No one wins if Putin succeeds in stealing huge chunks of Ukraine. Because as the Europeans know only too well, it will only fire his even more rapacious ambitions on the continent.
Just a question and maybe a bargining chip. Since the Budapest Memorandum failed, maybe someone should give Ukrain back a few nukes? How many did they give away for the protections they've not received? Seems only fair.
These guys are always right on point
Well, feeding the alligator is what Democrats have been doing with Republicans and especially Trump from the beginning.
As a Canadian, I found it very threatening that Trump and Putin met in Alaska, where the US essentially borders both Canada and Russia. Putin thinks Ukraine should be part of Russia; Trump says Canada “was meant to be the 51st state.” Trump’s gestures toward being “tough” on Russia are now seemingly at an end. Did his pro-Russian sentiment (or perhaps the rumoured kompromat) get bolstered by a promise of mutual support in the plundering of Canada? (I know it sounds paranoid, but Russia made legal moves to extend its border closer to Canada’s *at the same time* that it invaded Crimea, and our third geopolitical neighbour, Greenland, is also on Trump’s list). Though I once believed it couldn’t happen, this authoritarian re-alignment is impossible to miss, and it appears that the most we can expect from our American cousins is hand-wringing and the oft-repeated (but increasingly ahistorical) “this is not who we are.”
Oh my. I’d ordinarily not respond to such rage-baiting horseshit, but you’ve suggested that deliberately starving children “rewards Hamas for rape.” That’s the equivalent of saying that every Christian child in the United States should be bombed and starved because the KKK represented themselves as Christians. Folks who believe military might makes right—and you seem to have placed yourself in that category—and those who believe that objecting to the starvation of civilians is wrong—ditto—lack perspective and any appreciation of nuance. Like the present US president, who suggested that the German people ought to feel shame at the Allies’ defeat of the Nazi regime, I think you need an education in history. How does your perspective on the relative strengths of the Canadian and US militaries make the annexation of another country just? Is my concern about the present US-Russia (Trump-Putin) imperialist alignment meaningless because you think former PM Trudeau is a sissy? You’re right that our military isn’t what it should be—that’s because we apparently mistakenly believed that the US would continue to be a force for good in the world. (BTW—a US invasion of Canada would be a disaster for the US: most of the US population—isolationist but eager to be the “good guys”—wouldn’t support it, international trade would get even uglier than the present administration has made it, and we’re no less committed to our identity and sovereignty than, say, Vietnam or Afghanistan: ask Putin how his 3-day plan to subjugate Ukraine has gone).
Well you have the mighty Canadian army to thwart any threats against your country. Under Trudeau, that epitome of masculinity, you spent about 1 percent on defense spending. Aren’t you down to one operable submarine now? At the end of WWII, where Canadians performed heroically, you had the 4th most powerful armed forces in the world. You are a joke now a joke, but a “moral superpower”. Cutting off aid to Israel (where will they get their kayaks?), rewarding Hamas for rape, kidnapping and murder by recognizing a Palestinian state, leading the fight on climate change when you are sitting an ocean of oil and natural gas, threatening to freeze assets of your own citizens for exercising free expression, et al. Just hide behind the US skirt like you have for the past 80 years and keep quiet
Thanks Bill for this substantive interview with Eric Edelman.
Trump admin will declare victory but only disengaged people will believe that.
Such a huge debacle - Trump’s leash was not short enough.
The bottom line is Donald Trump is Putin's bitch.
I don't remember his name, but a reporter in Odessa that Tim talks to was saying in one bit that Putin broke his own record by waiting a full 40 minutes before violating the most recent cease fire.
You probably mean Caolan Robertson.
One good thing about Trump (I struggle to find a second one) is that he knows how to pronounce "nuclear".
That's just more proof that he's not a real Republican!
I am amazed how Mr. Edelman still discusses the Trump Kabuki theatre as if real diplomacy is even been contemplated.
What we saw was a deeply flawed and deeply compromised con man facing his worst fears, namely his master releasing damaging kompromat. It is not the threat of nuclear war (that has been there since 1950). It is the threat of complete annihilation of his fragile narcissistic ego, not of our country.
It wasn’t a “summit”, it was a chance for trump to vast in the shine of his greatest idol Putin! If that meant throwing Ukraine under the bus, well, it was worth it to trump!!!
Trump thought fawning over Putin would soften him up for tough negotiations, in which he might get a notable concession like a ceasefire. Which in turn might earn Trump a Nobel Piece Prize? Very unlikely even if Trump helped broker a ceasefire.
But Putin crushed Trump’s pipe dreams, w his psychotic obsession w “Greater Russia,” his nonsense that Ukraine is not really its own country by rights, and his voracious appetite for old Soviet dominions at any cost in blood and treasure. Trump let Putin upstage him, freeze him out of any concessions, and make him look small and insignificant on the world stage. Trump brought Putin back from international pariah status, as Bill’’s guest relates so well here, and the thanks Putin offered was a lesson in realpolitik that Trump seems too daft to comprehend. The deal for Trump was: You get nothing but a guy-in to your lies about the 2020 election, etc. I, Putin, get huge chunks of Ukraine, and eventually all of Ukraine.
Trump especially daft if he thinks Zelensky will sign on to this insanity. Perhaps only Europe can save Ukraine now. Trump won’t.
Great thanks to Bill and Eric for this excellent summary of events. The summit was everything Putin wanted it it be, and made sure it would be. He has forgotten none of his KGB training, alas. Masterfully stroking his opponent's ego. I do feel relieved the leaders from Europe- who will "have Zelensky's back"- will be there. They may not succeed in guiding Trump towards better decisions, but they'll do all anyone can, I know. As they really must, for their own sake and ours. No one wins if Putin succeeds in stealing huge chunks of Ukraine. Because as the Europeans know only too well, it will only fire his even more rapacious ambitions on the continent.
Thank you for this good presentation.
The first thing I thought of after Edelman spoke of Trump resurrecting Putin was when McCarthy went down to Mara Lago resurrect Trump.