Confused about Trumps motives in Ukraine? Someone invite Steve Bannon to Moscow by Martin Jay!
(2025-03-04 at 04:37:33 )

Confused about Trumps motives in Ukraine? Someone invite Steve Bannon to Moscow by Martin Jay!

Prior to the United States election Trump did say that one of his strategies to stopping the war was to increase the arms sale to Ukraine.

Donald Trumps unique negotiating skills are still the centre of concern by those who believe a quick ceasefire and lasting peace deal is possible in Ukraine. I speculated back in October of last year that he would probably get a quick ceasefire but a longer, more durable and credible peace deal would be much harder and might not come at all. In recent days Zelensky became the centre of attention when Trump ridiculed and threatened him in a social media post, which followed him refusing the deal put to him by Trump over minerals. And then within minutes, it seemed like Zelensky had changed his mind and accepted the terms put to him by Trump.

At the same time, many analysts - and we would imagine the Russian foreign ministry clique - are confused about more frivolous comments by Trump about what the terms of a peace deal would look like. Immediately, Moscow was warmed by the early signals by Trump that NATO could never take Ukraine as a member and no new deals would be struck over territory. But then later on, Trump said to journalists that some sort of United States contingent of troops would be required on the ground to protect the mineral operations and went further to add that other EU countries could send theirs too.

Does Trump even listen to other nations who he negotiates with? Is he completely insensitive to the needs of others? Or is it simply that he cannot control what he says and often does not mean it, or even understand its implications. There seems now to be a pause to the process as Russia has to underline that the idea of NATO troops in Ukraine could never be acceptable, under any circumstances.

But to add further confusion to the talks, experts are now claiming that Ukraine has no rare minerals to talk of. So, what the hell is going in? Is Trump being conned by Zelenskys people or is he playing a game with both Russia and Ukraine? Is there something else he wants?

Put yourself in the position of Putin. He has watched all this in recent days and must be dumbfounded by the statements by Trump. Does the new United States president really want a sold peace deal which stops the bloodshed or is there a ruse here which is being played out for other objectives?

And just while Putin is trying to understand how the Donald thinks and operates, he has to accept that, for the moment, United States arms sales to Ukraine have not been halted.

Is Trump trying to play an ace with Putin by negotiating from what he perceives to be a position of strength? In the months leading up to the United States election Trump did say that one of his strategies to stopping the war in Ukraine was to increase the arms sale to Ukraine and military assistance.

He actually admitted that he would threaten this while also telling Zelensky that he would get no more. Perhaps it was not wise to reveal the master stroke of a such a plan, but you have to wonder what is really going on in Ukraine now when, just in the last few days, its parliament just backed a bill which keeps martial law there and Zelensky in power as a president. Was this all part of Trumps meddling? Is Trump going to look for many deals to strike there as part of a long winded drawn out peace process? This seems to be more likely.

Of course, with Trump you always have to factor in that he does not take any advice from his advisers and he is surrounded by yes men who are too afraid to tell him what he has just proposed is plain idiotic.

Steve Bannon, a former strategist who used to work for Trump, and can not be called a "yes man" thinks offering a security guarantee for the minerals is very dangerous and that Trump should "walk the f-ck away" from Ukraine.

But Trump is getting more and more involved and just said that USAID can continue if Zelensky signs the mineral deal. So, it would seem that the gross corruption under the Biden administration is now being replicated by Trump. We will keep you as our puppet president and you will let us have the profits and the best deals.

We can only hope that Putin shows patience and continued wisdom and stays focused on his objectives. When Trumps people will tell him western troops there is off bounds, he will shrug his shoulders and forget about this comment, exactly in the same way he passed aside Arab leaders rejecting his Gaza Strip real estate idea.

What could have taken weeks is probably going to take months. Trump will continue to milk the cows as much as he can while teasing Putin that he is genuine and wants peace. But there will come a certain point where this game will have to end as Putin also has cards to play.

He can, after all, simply continue to take ground and remain cool which is really a ticking time bomb for Trump who needs peace in Ukraine to make the deals.

We are still in the early "throw as much bullshit it the air and see how folks react" stage of Trumps so-called negotiating.

It will be a while yet before the adults take over and we can see more clearly if there is a deal to be had.

Pity he had not dumped all the straight talkers. Steven Bannon in the Oval office might have made a difference during these confusing times. The man who practically invented Trumpism is now reduced to doing third rate YouTube interviews explaining to the whole world how Donalds brain works. Can anyone remember why Trump fired him?

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