Trump and gang really were a humiliation and a disgrace to america in this meeting. Like my god it felt like a bunch of elementary school bullies attacking the kid with a disability. What a shameful time to be an american.
@freemo I think from a geopolitical point of view this is more of a sign to US's adversaries that they aren't fooling around with the International Liberal Rules Based Order kinda thing, instead opting for a Might makes Right approach. I think this is a much required paradigm shift in a world in which the EU is essentially toothless (and dead in the water), befriending RU a bit is better than having a RU/CN alliance that would be impossible to deal with for the US in the long term.
Russia cant even win against Ukraine, they havent even tested the whole of the EU. The smart move would be to stand against such an evil power that can barely win a war against a tiny little country.
Also my how far we have come since the heros that stood up against hitler, clearly the more powerful entity at the time. Now we (or at least you) are ready to kiss the invaders feet because they appear to have more teeth.
@freemo
I think Trump was a bit too eager giving things away for Russia to enter the negotiation table. I guess The Art of the Deal is giving everything your enemy wants away. Since Trump's campaign pledge was to get this conflict solved within 100 days (something that is coming up really soon) it is not hard to see the tempo of things the past couple of weeks.
The problem is A) Putin almost won. Ukraine isn't going to join the EU or NATO (unless they cede conflicted territory to Russia for starters). Most of the intended oblasts are now in Russia control. Ukraine military is in some places on the brink of collapse. Despite best of intentions even European nations are unable to support Ukraine with weapons due to their own stocks being in a critical condition (see Germany's announcement earlier today). And B) USA starting or messing with wars oversees isn't cool any more (I think I protested almost every war the USA got involved in the past 25 years, so no fan). The time for the neo-cons or warmongering (yuk) is mostly over, and the impression I have is that the yanks lately to are also are sick of it. Team America World Police should be a funny movie, not foreign policy.
I think Zelensky had a number of choices this week: Keep fighting and risk losing more, or cut his losses and find a peaceful solution. And he decided to cut his losses and kiss the ring of the guy with the biggest gun.
@dick