Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the defenders of Ukraine and all of modern civilization!
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow
- The three wars of Trump
▶ CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow. Whom he met there is currently unknown. There are neither official reports nor media leaks with sources revealing anything “on conditions of anonymity.”
However, it is easy to speculate on what Ratcliffe might discuss in Moscow with his counterparts.
His main topic certainly cannot be the Russian-Ukrainian war. Simply because it is not the main topic for Trump.
Trump’s main focus is his war with Iran. More precisely, the dead-end in the endless labyrinth he got himself into with this war. The Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb straits are blocked. Oil prices are rising again. Gasoline and diesel fuel prices are increasing in the US, followed by rising electricity prices and everything else. In just over two months, there will be congressional, gubernatorial, and local elections in several states in the US. And if Trump cannot change the situation with the prices, a heavy defeat awaits him and the Republicans in the elections. Trump’s rating has dropped to a historically low 33% for second-term presidents.
Therefore, Trump may ask Putin for help in negotiating with Iran. Not about abandoning nuclear weapons development, but about opening the straits.
The second topic could be (hypothetically) information from US intelligence about planned Russian provocations against European countries or (again hypothetically) about the possibility Putin is considering of striking one or more European countries. In this case, Ratcliffe might try to warn his counterparts about the consequences.
Could Ratcliffe also discuss the Russian-Ukrainian war? He might, although it needs to be reiterated that this topic is not a priority for Trump. Could he negotiate anything if he talks about the war? Unlikely. Because Putin is not planning to end the war.
Could Ratcliffe negotiate anything at all in Moscow?
Unlikely.
Because the 47th president and his policies have put the US in a position of weakness and pleading.
In such a situation, Putin absolutely does not need to negotiate with the US. On the contrary, he needs the US to weaken further, for their positions to worsen, for Trump to weaken and be in the position of one asking for something without getting anything in return.
▶ The 47th president is currently engaged in three wars – hot, trade, and political. In all these wars, his positions are far from strong and victorious. On the contrary, in all three wars, he appears to be suffering or accepting defeat.
● His hot war with Iran is the biggest strategic failure of the US in many years. When a country starts a war and not only fails to achieve any of its set goals but instead weakens its positions and strengthens the adversary’s; meanwhile depleting critical ammunition resources, ceases fire itself, and seeks agreements with the adversary practically on their terms – this can only be called a complete strategic failure.
The economic “D-day” in the war with Iran announced by Trump and his Treasury Secretary Besandt, which involves threatening to impose sanctions against companies from countries trading with Iran, is sacrilege against the memory of about five thousand Americans, Britons, Canadians who died in the first hours of D-day on June 6, 1944, landing from the sea on the beaches of Normandy. But that real, genuine D-day led the US and allies to victory in World War II. The promise to impose sanctions against Chinese companies trading with Iran, sanctions that are unlikely ever to be implemented, is… there is nothing to comment on here.
Trump could have sent Ratcliffe to Moscow to ask Putin to help influence Iran. But does Putin need this? Iran and Russia are allies. In their relations with the US, they (like China) have a completely shared interest – the weakening of the US, their global influence, and trust in them. Therefore, the longer Iran can dictate its terms, the longer the 47th president will remain in a distant deadlock of an endless maze, and the more this will suit both Putin and Xi.
If Trump and the Republicans lose the congressional elections, this will suit Putin perfectly. Because Trump will become a lame duck, with whom no one will reckon, to whom no one will pay attention. In the US, there will be a struggle between Congress and the president. The president and his ministers will be under investigation by the House committees. And Putin may consider that this will allow him to simply ignore the US until the next president comes to power. After all, Trump has a reverence for Putin. Unrequited love.
● The 47th president announced a trade war with Canada on Sunday, imposing 50% tariffs on imports of a wide range of Canadian goods. Canada accepted the challenge, responding on Tuesday with mirror tariffs. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on an even larger number of goods imported from Canada. Canada announced it would once again respond in kind.
Can Trump win this trade war? That’s out of the question. For several reasons. Legal challenges to his tariffs are sure to be filed, and he has no chance of winning in court because these tariffs are illegal. The President cannot arbitrarily impose customs duties on imports from a country just because he dislikes that country or even because the US has a trade deficit with that country. Only Congress can establish customs duties. Because these are taxes paid by Americans. The courts will inevitably deem Trump’s tariffs illegal, as happened with his previous tariffs.
Court cases take a long time. Therefore, it will take at least about a year to await court decisions.
But most likely, Trump will have to back down in the trade war he started, just as he had to return to initial positions in the trade war he declared against China in 2025. The trade war with Canada will lead to nothing but disruptions in the supply of many goods, especially in the states bordering Canada, but not only there. This war will hit the American automotive industry but not just it. This war will lead to rising prices, which means rising inflation and dissatisfaction among Americans. And all this, let’s not forget, is happening just over two months before the Congressional elections.
With this trade war, his insulting tweets towards Canada, his statement that he will rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, the 47th president resembles a bully from the 4th or 5th grade engaging in bullying.
When Trump sees that nothing is working out for him once again, and on the contrary, everything is only getting worse, he will most likely retreat and cancel the tariffs. “TACO – Trump always chickens out” – Trump always backs down – this phrase and the acronym behind it, introduced by Wall Street bankers right when Trump declared the previous trade war in April 2025, aptly characterize the 47th president.
● The third war Trump is waging is a political war with the Democratic Party, a war to retain power as a result of the Congressional elections and to avoid multiple investigations.
The 47th received a slight assist from the Supreme Court, whose Republican majority (6-3) ruled on Monday that the president’s March executive order on mail-in voting regulation can be enforced, and the 23 states contesting the president’s order can separately challenge postal service decisions if they believe their rights and interests are violated.
By this decree, Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to create a nationwide voter database, for which all states must submit their lists of registered voters with proof of their American citizenship. And only in states that have submitted lists is mail voting possible, and the postal service will send envelopes with ballots only to those whose names are in the Department of Homeland Security’s database.
The Supreme Court decision brings chaos to the electoral process. The fact is, this Trump decree has been suspended by another court decision in a separate lawsuit. This suspension has not yet been reviewed by the Supreme Court. And it is unknown if it will be reviewed.
The Postal Service last Friday sent states instructions stemming from the president’s decree. This instruction will undoubtedly be separately challenged in courts.
However, the Supreme Court decision creates a chaotic situation that Trump needs to try to limit people’s participation in the elections and attempt to disrupt the confirmation of their results if he loses the election.
All polls indicate that Trump and the Republicans are moving towards a loss in the elections.
Therefore, the fall in the United States will be heated. Very challenging.
There are 879 days left until the end of the story entitled “Fear: Trump in the White House” © (the title of Bob Woodward’s book, published in 2018).
Thank you to everyone who read this. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Take care of each other, help one another. Health to all.
Ultimately, what happens in the world depends on us. Whether we fight against evil, do good, remain mere spectators, wait passively and believe that someone somewhere will resolve things for us, or fight against evil and do everything possible for good to prevail.
We must not allow evil to triumph. The victory of evil would mean the end of the world as we know it. We cannot allow this. Especially now.
Ukrainian friends, I embrace and love you all. Take care of each other, I urge you.
Ukraine is and will always be.
And evil will be defeated and punished. And this is certain.
