Pirate's Cove

Politico thinks it has hit on a way to slam Trump

Trump is losing patience with Putin but unsure of his next move

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signaled that his patience with Vladimir Putin is running thin, warning the Russian leader that he is “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in serious peace talks about ending the war in Ukraine.

But Trump, frustrated that Putin has shrugged at his offer to reset relations with the U.S. following a peace settlement, still hasn’t decided to shift gears.

“Putin is getting dangerously close to burning the golden bridge that Trump has set out before him,” said an administration official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to share details about the president’s current thinking.

Trump has yet to make a decision on whether to impose additional sanctions on Moscow in response to Putin ramping up attacks on Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials.

Pro-Ukraine allies on Capitol Hill are treading carefully as they urge the White House to consider following up on his threats to Putin by backing their effort to enact new sanctions. And allies in Europe, facing the possibility that Trump could walk away from peace talks without punishing Russia, are scrambling to figure out how they could tackle taking the lead on support for Ukraine.

Let’s be honest: if Putin doesn’t want peace, if there’s no way to create peace between Ukraine and Russia – Russia wants part of Ukraine, and Ukraine doesn’t want to give up the land Russia has already taken – what is Trump going to do? Have sanctions worked so far? Because Russia is still fighting in Ukraine, in an apparent time based offensive, where they are simply waiting for Ukraine to run out of soldiers. Would new sanctions make a difference? How does that work when many EU nations depend on Russian natural gas? What is the next step?

And many of Trump’s broadsides criticizing Putin have been diluted with strong words for other parties. Trump wrote on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former President Joe Biden share some of the blame for the war that Putin initiated, now in its fourth year.

“This war is Joe Biden’s fault, and President Trump has been clear he wants to see a negotiated peace deal,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to POLITICO. “President Trump has also smartly kept all options on the table.”

Would Putin have gone into Ukraine if Biden hadn’t been so weak, especially after the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal?

As frustrated as Trump has gotten with Putin, the people said, he’s given Europeans a clear sense that he doesn’t like sanctions and had hoped he could get the Russian leader to engage without forcing his hand. European leaders hope that Trump is coming to understand that the light touch with the Kremlin isn’t going to work and adjust, they said.

So, when does the EU cut themselves off from Russian fossil fuels? How about all the fertilizer? And so many other products and services?

New US Senate bill could wreck Russia, but also damage the EU economy

A bill rapidly making its way through the United States Senate and gathering impressive bipartisan support threatens to wreak untold havoc on Russia’s economy in a bid to force Vladimir Putin into “good faith negotiations for a lasting peace in Ukraine”.

But the concerted push, jointly promoted by Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, also risks devastation for roughly half the European Union.

“Our legislation will isolate Russia – putting it on a trade island by imposing stiff tariffs on other countries that support these atrocities,” Graham and Blumenthal said last week as they announced the text had secured 81 signatures in the 100-seat Senate.

Besides a wide range of primary sanctions and duties against the Kremlin, including sweeping prohibitions on financial transactions with Russian entities, the bill also foresees secondary tariffs on countries that still do business with Moscow.

That’s because the EU still does a massive amount of business with Russia despite all their opposition to Russia, hence, they would get hurt economically. So, what does Trump do? Again, sanctions have not worked. Sending all that military gear to Ukraine created a holding action for Ukraine, and brought the world closer to WWIII. Should we be sending even more dangerous military gear? Putting soldiers in Ukraine? Doing things that even the EU hasn’t done, though they have threatened. What’s the play? Biden really had nowhere else to go. But, you know, the media has to find ways to slur Trump.