I want to share with you an email I received today from someone who fancies their self as an astute analyst. This person falls far short of astute in my opinion, but the thinking revealed in the email does reflect the views held by many Americans with respect to what happened today in Washington when Trump met with Zelensky and his European pimps.

Is Trump Making a Bad Bet by Counting on Europe to Keep Ukraine Afloat?

by Larry C. Johnson 

Let me emphasize that what you are about to read is mostly shallow and steeped in propaganda, but I think it captures the widely shared false beliefs and sentiments about Russia and Ukraine that fuels the narrative in the Washington, DC world of policy and punditry. So we begin:

While there is every reason to believe they have a very long way to go to get a real deal singed, and Putin may never agree to end the war, what Trump pulled off is historic and quite extraordinary. Trump 1 saw these same leaders ridicule Trump and laugh at him. Today they came to the White House to meet with Trump as their leader. Never in history has there been a meeting like this at the White House. Never has there been such a showing of support and coordination on such a critical topic. 

Putin was a huge loser today. Zelenskyy and Trump were like best buddies, and the whole group was united. Putin has failed totally to drive a wedge between Trump and Europe. He has failed to take the extra land he thought he could before any negotiation. In 2022 he controlled approximately 46,000 sq miles. Today has about 44,600, just 19%  of Ukraine after losing enormous numbers of men, whether it is the 1 million the whole world believes or 700,000, it is a giant cost to have gained zero, at a huge financial and economic cost, while at the same time destroying the economy, which the entire world including the Russian Finance minister says is now headed to recession. 

The focus on military production has caused the civilian sector to have declining production-down 1.9% last quarter, increasing bankruptcies and continuing high inflation and very high loan rates. He is now faced with the prospect of a untied front that will impose oil sanctions and enforce them with India, and will  put China in a tough spot. 

As I indicated in my introduction, the author of the email is a person living in a delusional world. For starters, when Trump assembled the European leaders in attendance in the East Room, along with Zelensky and the reps of NATO and the EU, he allowed each to speak. Merz of Germany, Macron of France, Starmer of the UK, NATO Secretary General Rutte, and the EU’s von der Leyen all emphasized the need for a ceasefire. Trump rebuffed all of them. He knows as a result of his meeting with Putin on Friday that is a non-negotiable item for the Russians. While the Europeans were polite and showed deference of a sort to Trump, they were still pushing hard for a ceasefire and bone-crunching sanctions on Russia and its partners.

The neocons and their acolytes continue to rely on false assumptions about Putin, about Russia’s military goals and, as I explained in yesterday’s post, about the Russian economy. Putin and Russia are not measuring success in terms of the amount of territory captured from Ukraine. Russia’s goal from the outset remains the same: demilitarize and de-nazify. Notwithstanding the wishful thinking in the West that Putin will abandon these objectives to secure a fraudulent peace with the West, Putin is not going to accept any deal that fails to achieve these objectives. Were he to do so, I believe he would be removed from office. Many in the West fail to appreciate that there is significant opinion in Russia that Putin has been too soft and too accommodating of the US and NATO. 

What the person who wrote the nonsense that I quoted above fails to grasp is that the US, not Russia, is becoming more isolated in the world. The economic damage inflicted by Trump’s tariff scheme will only start being felt in September and October, but it already has caused political damage to US foreign relaitons by alienating countries, such as India and Brazil.

Can Europe shoulder the burden of keeping Ukraine afloat as Trump appears very committed to stop sending the folks in Ukraine free weapons and plenty of cash? Just take a look at the debt-to-GDP status of eight of the NATO countries:

1. Greece: 152.5%
   2. Italy: 137.9%
   3. France: 114.1%
   4. Belgium: 106.8%
   5. Spain: 103.5%
   6. UK: 100%
   7. Portugal: Approximately 99%
   8. Finland: Near 89%

Seven of these eight countries are experiencing virtually no GDP growth in 2025 (i.e., 0.3% to 0.6%) Portugal fares only a little better… it is projected to have a 1.5% rate of growth for 2025. Although Germany does not have as serious a debt problem as the others, it too is barely growing, with a projected rate of 0.3% for 2025. Where are these countries going to find the cash to buy expensive weapons from the United States in order to supply them to Ukraine? Take out more loans?

https://sonar21.com/is-trump-making-a-bad-bet-by-counting-on-europe-to-keep-ukraine-afloat/

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.