Who is really calling the shots in the Ukraine peace deal? | World | News

On Thursday last week there he was standing outside the famous black door with the simple numerals 10 on display; then enter Zelensky stage right and……action. The ensuing embrace was a vulgar virtue signalling display of solidarity with Ukraine which provided a wholly undignified spectacle choreographed solely to provide “click bait.”

Oh, and lest we forget, to provide our hopeless PM with a much-prized photo op too. Two-Tier will seek kudos wherever he can find it at the moment, won’t he, Possums? Perhaps he thinks this is most readily available on the international stage, assuredly, of course, not being much more significant than Ukraine as a publicity draw card these days.

There was much speculation in the article of the extent to which Trump would be susceptible to European and UK leadership cajoling. Indeed, the strong inference over the past few days has been that Zelensky was attending a meeting at the White House along with his heavies who were actually controlling the agenda.

Any suggestion that this was true was as absurd as it was misleading. We had the two pipsqueaks, Macron and Starmer, along with the muppet who’s been German chancellor for all of five minutes in attendance too.

Yet happily a semblance of balance was evident with Italian PM Meloni and Mark Rutte from NATO kind of evening out the score. Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president, was also present to give the significance of the gathering some additional context.

There was much speculation in the lead up to yesterday’s Washington meeting that its agenda had been largely determined and promoted by the Europeans. An overall negative perception had been adopted by the mainstream media, including our own, which is perhaps more grounded in aversion to Trump than it is in the reality of things.

Trump had been so woeful in Alaska with Putin that Zelensky needed a clean-up crew as a backup. Let’s be honest and say that any other US president would have been lauded for his or her bravery in meeting with Putin, but Trump is depicted as the Russian leader’s poodle! Idiocy on any level if you believe that.

The general consensus was summed up by two former British ambassadors to Washington telling The Telegraph the scramble for the White House shows they know how important it is to unpick Putin’s spin.

Lord Darroch, ambassador during Mr Trump’s first term, said… “This rapidly assembled, highest-level European delegation accompanying Zelensky to Washington is a sign of profound concern about two aspects of the outcome of the Alaska summit.”

First, the news that President Trump now thinks a comprehensive peace deal should precede a ceasefire. And second, the suggestions that the way to peace could involve Ukraine surrendering still further territory in the Donbas.”

Sir Peter Westmacott was the British ambassador in Washington during Barack Obama’s tenure, stated: “It indicates to me that the more they look at what happened in Alaska, the more they realise that it went badly wrong, and that Trump has been rolled over.

“Putin has given nothing and gone home feeling very pleased with himself. So, whatever he has talked Trump into believing about Zelensky’s responsibility for the conflict, or Russia’s right to reconquer its former subjects in eastern Europe, is going to require some pretty robust pushback.

“The president really needs to have a better solution than just thanking Putin for agreeing that he won the election he lost in 2020 and giving up all his threats to sanction Russia simply because Putin says he doesn’t want a ceasefire.”

Such disdainful dismissiveness of Trump really highlights the problem in many ways. That Trump is entirely unconventional in his foreign policy agenda is a given, since Donald Trump is always going to be Donald Trump. He will never allow himself to be moulded into some establishment stooge that toes the generally accepted orthodoxy of traditional American foreign policy.

Mad Vlad is every bit deserving of being labelled a pariah, a brute, and any other similar description you can think of. However, bemoaning Russian aggression and the evils of Putin and his cronies doesn’t solve the problem.

Quite frankly the relentless sanctions onslaught, arming Ukraine, and generally doing everything possible to bring about his demise has thus far failed from a British and European perspective.

Putin’s forces are still inflicting heavy damage on Ukraine and her people, admittedly at an enormous cost that is also inevitably unsustainable. The cost to us ordinary taxpayers is likewise horrendous, and we have sweet bleep all to show for it.

Let’s cut to the chase. The Donald is the one setting the agenda; he is the one issuing the invitations to visit Washington and NOT the Europeans. Does he have an ego?

Sure, he does, and it’s about as big as you’ll ever find, but if you think for one second Trump will bend over and allow smoke to be blown up his bleep then you obviously haven’t been following the last nine or 10 years of the global geopolitical road show, in which Trump has figured very prominently, very closely.

Underestimate Trump at your peril would be a word of wisdom to pass on to Two-Tier. But then with such luminaries as Jonathan Powell, or even Morgan McSweeney for that matter, providing expert guidance in Lingo Trump sound common sense would get a huge swerve.

Regardless of personal feelings of outrage and revulsion at having to interface with Putin it is unavoidable, it is entirely necessary to get things done and stop the slaughter. There is simply no alternative.

This point in resolving the Ukraine war has been reached because of Trump, NOT in spite of him, and no amount of trying to paint the picture differently is going to change that.