Originally Posted by Omegstrat6
Exactly the question posed at the start of this thread Al.
Over the course of his current tenure, it has become increasingly apparent that Trump is not only narcissistic but is also at heart a grifter who seems bereft of any moral compass. His primary concern seems to be seeking means to enrich himself and he tweets a constant stream of lies and exaggerations about his achievements to cover up the fact that, regardless of his Big Beautiful Tariffs or his success in dealing with illegal immigration, the vast majority of Americans can see no real improvements in their own lives. Indeed, many of the country's more vulnerable are now worse off. This realization is clearly now dawning on a growing number as his present approval ratings have dropped to 38%.
The question is whether it is this nature of America's Toddler-in-Chief that has led to him endorsing the 28 point plan -which is overwhelming in favour of Russia-or whether there is actually something in all the whispers and conspiracy theories and that Putin has some hold over him.
As for Starmer and other European leaders, as an editorial in the Independent pointed out, there are some senior figures who would like to tell Trump to just f u ck o ff but they believe that Europe alone is not powerful enough to have the leverage needed against Putin and no-one trusts the present POTUS to support them if the worst came to the worst. Given this, they have to indulge in a bit of realpolitik because they know that Trump both responds well to flattery and has consistently shown that he can change his mind much depending on who last has his ear. It's also very much like dealing with a toddler, ordinarily you ignore them but this means both parents agreeing to do the same. In this case, however, if the West ignores his tantrums then Putin only has to show him some attention and he will happily toddle towards him instead.
I guess the initial hope is that the West can dissuade Trump from sticking to his Thanksgiving deadline (and history has shown that Trump's deadlines are rarely that), flatter him that his plan is a good starting point for peace and then use this to alter aspects of the plan to try and create a more just solution. The very obvious problem is that this is little short of stalling and in the meantime Putin will continue to bomb Ukraine regardless of any further Russian losses simply because no-one is going to stop him. This last -as liquidator pointed out -is a rather damning indictment of our current Western leadership.
Good post as always Omeg and agree! Hope your well besides.
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