patrick.net

Who are the real losers of today’s Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky?

First, the whole thing is a scam. Many people do not know that 95 to 98 percent of the foreign assistance money for Ukraine never left the United States. The money went to Pentagon contractors and the military-industrial complex—the same people who always profit from wars.

To deceive the American people, Jake Sullivan, then National Security Advisor, repeatedly came to the White House to explain that the money was actually going to Pentagon contractors to replenish America’s stockpile. In other words, they were sending old planes, old tanks, old weapons, and ammunition to Ukraine while replenishing what the U.S. no longer needed—as if they required a war to justify restocking.

To create the illusion that most of the money was going to Ukraine, they set aside a few billion dollars for humanitarian aid, but the bulk of the funds were for weapons—manufacturing them, shipping them, training Ukrainians to use them, and paying intelligence personnel to share information. Even the so-called humanitarian assistance was largely used to sustain soldiers so they could continue fighting.

Every war is a scam.

When President Trump says “Obama sent you blankets, and I sent you Javelins,” it all benefits the same military-industrial complex because Ukraine does not manufacture these weapons—they are made in the U.S., and the money stays here.

The real winners? Defense contractors and lobbyists.
The real losers? Ukraine, Europe, and possibly even the American people.

Ukraine’s Fate Without U.S. Support

Without continued U.S. assistance, Ukraine may not sustain the war for long. European nations may feel compelled to intervene, fearing Putin won’t stop at Ukraine.
So far, the U.S. has spent nearly $120 billion on Ukraine assistance, yet virtually all of it remained in the U.S. Europe has contributed even more, yet the situation remains unchanged.

Trump often claims Ukraine aid has exceeded $350 billion—false. Even if the total reached $1 trillion, $950 billion of it would still be spent within the U.S. Without further funding, Russia will easily defeat Ukraine.

The Military-Industrial Complex Stands to Lose Billions

If the war ends, defense contractors will lose the billions they’ve made on the blood of Ukrainian soldiers. A Russian victory could also embolden Moscow to go beyond Ukraine, putting Europe at risk.
But is Trump the winner?
I don’t know.

Are the American people winners?
I don’t know.

If Ukraine aid ceases, funds will still flow to the same Pentagon contractors—under a different justification. Trump says he wants to rebuild the military, fund the Iron Dome, and strengthen defense systems. The money still goes to the same players.

And if that’s not enough, a new war or terror attack could conveniently emerge, triggering another war on terror. Who gets the money? The same contractors.
The Real Threat Isn’t Zelenskyy or Putin—It’s the Pentagon Contractors

The most dangerous people aren’t in Kyiv or Moscow. They’re here in the U.S.—running defense companies, securing contracts, and ensuring wars never truly end.

For Trump, lengthy Oval Office meetings with cameras rolling may offer transparency, but too much exposure can backfire. Holding multiple press events daily may fatigue the public, leading to disinterest over time.

The biggest lesson from today’s meeting?
The war economy is alive and well—and no matter who wins, the military-industrial complex always gets paid.

https://x.com/simonateba/status/1895620207214817780

OkDOGEisAmountingToSomething says

the U.S. has spent nearly $120 billion on Ukraine assistance

The best source I've found is the USA has made "available" $183 billion to Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And in addition to the $183 billion, the USA has provided $20 billion in loans to Ukraine.

The website is run by the USA inspector general overseeing Ukraine financial aid.

https://www.ukraineoversight.gov/Funding/

Would have to read the above website to see how it accounts for the $183 billion.

I agree as the USA could show as an expense "surplus or old inventory from the Pentagon" transferred to the Ukraine military. So I don't know how much of the $183 billion is "Pentagon surplus".

Yeah, Lockheed Martin stock went from around $330 in December 2021 (leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine) to $619 in October 2024.

It dropped right after the November 2024 election.

.

AD says

I agree as the USA could show as an expense "surplus or old inventory from the Pentagon" transferred to the Ukraine military. So I don't know how much of the $183 billion is "Pentagon surplus".

I think through "Foreign Military Sales or Transfers" (in this case it was a transfer and not sale unlike selling F-16's to Saudi Arabia) the Ukrainian Navy received four US Coast Guard "Island Class" patrol boats, which were already slated or planned to be decommissioned.

So my best guess is the USA accounted for each patrol boat at least as a $10 million "expense" when it transferred a "depreciated / used or surplus patrol boat" to the Ukraine Navy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_patrol_vessel_Starobilsk#Transfer_to_the_Ukrainian_Naval_Forces

,

OkDOGEisAmountingToSomething says

Oh, be serious. He would do it for free.

The real loser(s) from this war:

Trump announced he will send more weapons to Ukraine.

that’s how he will go back in time and end the war in 24 hours as promised.

Fortwaye says

Trump announced he will send more weapons to Ukraine.

that’s how he will go back in time and end the war in 24 hours as promised.

After suspending them. And now it's being doled out in proportion to Ukraine's openness to talking to Russia and making a deal. This is correct and wise.

The correct answer was always Crimea and eastern portions to Russia, Middle part rump Ukraine as a barrier between East and West, Far West Ukraine added to Poland, Moldavia, etc.

AmericanKulakMaximumTrumper says

Fortwaye says

Trump announced he will send more weapons to Ukraine.

that’s how he will go back in time and end the war in 24 hours as promised.

After suspending them. And now it's being doled out in proportion to Ukraine's openness to talking to Russia and making a deal. This is correct and wise.

he isn’t ending anything. he knows how to end the war, he’s the original javelin man for Ukraine.

i just don’t believe him anymore after he broke many promises. i knew sales guys like him, they’d promise with no intention of keeping them. if it worked out great, if not they’d move on. he has same style.

with guys like that, it’s transactional. no pay till they fulfill.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/lying-liars-thursday-july-10-2025

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a startling story headlined, “Russia Makes Record Attack on Ukraine as Trump Castigates Putin.” More records! The sub-headline blandly explained, “The number of Russian drones and missiles in the barrage set a single-night record and underscored Ukraine’s need for weapons.”



... Russia has a standing cease-fire offer; it publicly released the terms in June, 2024. The Ukrainians still say “nyet,” because it would let the Russians remain in the four easternmost territories currently under Russian control. Instead, Ukraine —in no position to make demands— demands that Russia evacuate the four regions and hand back the Crimean peninsula, which became part of the Russian Federation after a local referendum eleven years ago.

For at least the last two years, corporate media has consistently declared the war was a “stalemate,” insisting the Russians were suffering horrifyingly large losses in men and material with little or nothing to show for it. Meanwhile, we just marked sustained, record-breaking levels of daily aerial attacks (missiles and large drones). USA Today, for example, recently reported drone strikes increased over 500% in June and July versus earlier this year. The BBC reckoned a 10x increase.

Obviously, Russia loses no soldiers or tanks in missile attacks. So much for a stalemate.

Things could be a lot worse. According to the Times, Russia is carefully targeting military and logistical sites in Western Ukraine, such as places where U.S. war aid is staged when it arrives. The Times admitted that, during the strikes, “injuries but no deaths were reported.” This is consistent with Russia’s approach during the entire war, to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. ...

Still, flouting logic, reason, and common sense, Ukraine sticks to its maximalist demands before agreeing to any ceasefire. They want not only the return of the aforementioned Russian-occupied territories, but also other “absurd” conditions like Putin agreeing to submit to war crimes tribunals, NATO membership, and Russian reparations...

Alas, Ukraine’s biggest problem is its own best friends, who refuse to tell it the painful truth. Instead, the Europeans keep encouraging Zelensky to fight! to the last Ukrainian.

I often suspect that a primary goal of keeping the war going is to kill the maximum possible number on both sides, just out of ethnic hatred for Slavs by a lot of people in the US State Department, and some people within Ukraine, like Zelensky and Kolomoisky.

i am thinking goal is to fund MIC. if each rocket is 4-8 million. that’s a lot of incentive. it’s no secret half the DC wants wars because it takes from taxpayers and gives to their military industry.

experience taught me it’s always money at the end.

https://www.kunstler.com/p/flux-rules

There is parallel matter of Ukraine to consider. Mr. Trump is yugely frustrated by his inability to put a quick end to it, to make that golden deal with Russia. The Ukraine War is the globalists desperate final project, its last stand. By saying which, let’s assume that the Globalists are “a thing,” a combo of the UK’s remaining potent assets (MI6 and the City of London financial octopus), the megalomaniacal EU bureaucratic leadership (von der Leyen & Co.), and the WEF-Davos gang. Ukraine was their instrument to break up Russia. The project has failed. Yet the war goes on. Mr. Trump says he was not even informed about Ukraine’s recent long-range drone attack deep into Russia, to take out its strategic bombers. Wasn’t informed? WTF???

Was it because the CIA has gone rogue over in Ukraine? Running the war their way — and not even Mr. Ratcliffe has a handle on all that? Consequently, Mr. Trump is yugely embarrassed in his many skull sessions with Mr. Putin. And thus, Mr. Putin seeks to bring about an end to this enormous pain-in-the-ass situation by simply winning the war. Which he is doing. His terms have been simple, plain, and straightforward from the get-go: a disarmed, neutralized Ukraine that must surrender the Donbas provinces, end-of-story, and don’t even mention Crimea because there’s nuthin to talk about there. And, of course, regime change in Kiev. . . eighty-six on Nazis, thank you.

In the natural course of things, the incompetent drug-addict Zelenskyy should have been overthrown by his own people months ago and it is only the rogue US intel community that continues to prop him up. As political dramaturgy, Mr. Trump must pretend to oppose Russia’s winning of the Ukraine War — we don’t let Russia win wars! — though it is the logical best solution to the problem. So, he is forking over the last $100-million, probably just to pay government salaries, pensions, and social services in Kiev for a month or so. But Russia will win and the UK-EU-WEF will be the big loser, and then Britain, France, and Germany can get on with the job of committing suicide, as they’ve dedicated themselves to do.

https://larrycjohnson.substack.com/p/by-the-numbers-western-propaganda

Over the past week, the Western media has frantically pushed the narrative that Russia is suffering massive losses. Marco Rubio’s remarks in Kuala Lumpur a couple of days ago is a typical example...

Talk about lazy reporters. There is plenty of data out there if you simply do basic analysis. For example, start with social media. In the age of ubiquitous smart-phones and social media platforms, it is impossible to hide death notices — aka obituaries — and pictures of funerals and graveyards. There are hundred of images of Ukrainian funerals and of graveyards with a literal sea of Ukrainian flags fluttering over a vast expanse of freshly dug graves. Not so in Russia. There are a few, but nothing to match the quantity displayed on Ukrainian channels. Here is one example from the cemetery in Khmelnitsky...

Again, there are a few videos of some cemeteries in Russia, but nothing to match the scale of what we can see in Ukraine.

Western intelligence analysts have access to satellite imagery and the capability to look at cemeteries in both Russia and Ukraine and compare where the most new graves are being dug. I swear I wrote an article on this with those images, but I can’t find it. But I did make an interesting discovery while searching for it… Western satellites and media companies are doing nothing to make that comparison.

The following graph helps explain why. ...



In my previous article, I discussed the reason for the disparity in combat deaths… It is the fact that Russia enjoys an overwhelming advantage in firepower. Let’s look at just two weapon systems:

Artillery shells: Russia enjoys a lopsided advantage thanks to ramped-up domestic production (3-4.5 million shells annually) and massive imports (e.g., 9+ million from North Korea since 2023), while Ukraine is dependent entirely on Western aid (1.3-2 million annually). NATO’s Secretary General has conceded in public that Russia produces more artillery shells in three months than the US and the rest of NATO can produce in a year. Production numbers are relevant because Russia’s firing rate (10,000-15,000 shells/day) outpaces Ukraine’s (2,000-7,000/day), leading to a 5-10:1 disparity in some sectors in 2024. In 2025, that disparity has grown to a 23:1 disadvantage for Ukraine. In other words, Ukrainians hit by artillery shells are will have more casualties than Russians simply because the Russians are firing more shells.

Drones: Russia holds several key advantages in the use of drones for combat in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, primarily stemming from its larger industrial base, foreign partnerships (e.g., with Iran for Shahed-type drones and China for components), and focus on mass production and deployment. ...

Whatever casualties Ukraine is inflicting on Russian forces, it pales in comparison to what Ukraine is losing because of the overwhelming advantage in fires that Russia has. I guess Marco Rubio did not get that briefing.

i think Biden was losing war, so they decided to try to let Trump handle it different. He’s not ending it, because war is lost. All Trump doing is prolonging it.

Ukraine IS FUCKED. As is the reputation of Ukey Nazi Fluffers on PatNet.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/poly-something-wednesday-july-16

That’s it, Trump said, and announced that, if V. Putin does not concede to a ceasefire within 50 days, then Russia will receive dreaded 100% tariffs.

And, Trump said, we’ll sell all the weapons we could spare to NATO, to forward on the annoying green-sweatshirted gnome, who’d just extended his long-expired presidency again by signing another new martial law order in Kyiv (a rare but exciting new form of democracy without elections). ...

Actually, global necons experienced a rush of adrenaline followed by a sensation best described as rapturous ecstasy. They could hardly speak from the joy of the moment. Finally! Haha, Russia, they crowed, dancing awkwardly with each other, high-fiving, pointing and laughing. Putin, you’re in for it now!

But we who remain skeptical about Project Ukraine experienced bemusement. 100% tariffs? On what? Russia’s already been sanctioned to Siberia and back. They can’t even use SWIFT. U.S. firms can’t legally do business with them. The supposed “tariff” would apply to what, exactly? Schrödinger’s shipment?

Once upon a time, the people of the United States were promised by the Trump administration that there would be a complete audit of the funds going to the Ukraine. Remember that ????

Like there was going to be a paper trail of funds that led back to the VIPs in the government both in Congress and the prior administration.

People actually believed that rampant corruption would ferreted out and the perpetrators brought to justice.

.... so naive

Fortwaye says

with guys like that, it’s transactional. no pay till they fulfill.

Good. I want a wise statesman, not an ideologue.

Misc says

Once upon a time, the people of the United States were promised by the Trump administration that there would be a complete audit of the funds going to the Ukraine. Remember that ????

I would also like to see an audit of the Pentagon with people held accountable.

Misc says

the people of the United States were promised by the Trump administration

And an audit of Fort Knox, correct?

Nothing quite says "Safe and Effective" use of government funds like having multiple raids on your Anti-corruption Bureau.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-s-anti-corruption-bureau-raided-in-russian-infiltration-probe/ar-AA1IZxec

https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-artificial-demon

@Cernovich

The Russiagate hoax wasn't limited to Trump. It was also used to create
animosity towards Russia, which would allow the deep state wage war
with Russia. Sad to say, it worked. Ukrainian lives lost. Trillions of U.S.
dollars laundered to deep state "contractors."
5:48 PM • Jul 31. 2025

By now, it must be kind of obvious that Mr. Putin of Russia was staged-up into a demon for the convenience of Hillary Clinton — resulting in a decade of deformed US foreign relations that has dragged us to the edge of a third world war. Nice work, Democratic Party!

I will proffer a harsh truth to you: the best outcome in Ukraine would be for Russia to win the war as expeditiously as possible, neutralize and disarm the place, change-out its illegitimate government, and let it revert to being the frontier backwater it was for eight decades previous, when it was not a problem for the other nations of the region.

Mr. Putin has put up with our country’s psychotic nonsense with remarkable patience. The idea that he seeks to conquer western Europe was a preposterous confection of the neocon crazies in our State Department and Intel “community.”

The long game for the neocon crazies has been to use NATO as the instrument to break up Russia and gain control of its resources. This was after Secretary of State James Baker told Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, in discussions over German reunification, that “not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.” Starting in 1999 with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, sixteen additional nations were induced to join NATO, encroaching on Russia’s borders, with new military bases and missiles. It was a stupid game.

And it failed. Ukraine was the final gambit. The US destabilized it on purpose in 2014, installed a series of governments we could control, made it a ward of US taxpayers, sprinkled it with bio-weapons labs and money laundries, and gave Mr. Zelenskyy the go-ahead to start shelling the Donbas provinces adjacent to Russia. After years of that, Mr. Putin moved to stop it in 2022. The development of drone weapons, along with US-based satellite targeting tech, has prolonged the war. But, of course, the Russians, too, have modernized their own weapons arsenal to match that. The current state of things is a slow Russian grind to defeat a Ukraine that has run out of available fighting men and is apparently short of all weapons besides its drones.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump promised to end the Ukraine war in a New York minute. That proved more difficult and complicated than he realized. He said lately in so many words that he has “lost patience” with Mr. Putin for failing to join a ceasefire as a prelude to peace talks. Accordingly, Mr. Trump set a fifty-day deadline and then shortened it to twelve-days, running out on August 8-9 (accounting for time zones). Failure to comply will cause Russia to suffer a new round of sanctions. Mr. Putin has shrugged off that threat, saying that time has proven Russia to be sanction-proofed.

Some kind of game is afoot in all this. Neither Trump nor Putin could possibly want to turn this fiasco in Ukraine into a greater war that will destroy what’s left of Western Civilization. You might find this startling, but for all our efforts to anathemize Russia, it is still a part of Western Civ. After its soviet experiment failed, Russia wanted above all to reintegrate economically with Europe, but the neocons here and the globalists of Europe would not allow that. They became determined instead to wreck Russia — a vicious ethos likely to have emanated from the UK, with its lingering imperial delusions. (For Germany, it has brought only economic suicide.) ...

The major news organs, who were accomplices in RussiaGate, won’t publish or broadcast any of the recent discoveries about exactly how the hoax evolved into a body of delusion that took over the brains of half of the country and led to a string of additional vicious hoaxes including the Covid-19 operation, the stolen election of 2020, and the J-6 prosecutions. Maybe nothing can be done about the perfidious New York Times or Washington Post because the First Amendment allows lies to be printed within the limits of the libel laws. But the TV networks have additional obligations to the public interest under the broadcast regulations and they can lose their licenses. Perhaps they should and will.

Looks like WSJ is cutting their Neocon losses in Ukraine:

Ukraine’s military has slipped back into a more rigid, top-down mode of fighting with roots in the Soviet era, creating mounting frustration about unnecessary casualties while hurting civilian morale and army recruitment. Without overhauls, the Soviet-style habits could undermine Ukraine’s ability to sustain its defense against Russia, which shows no sign of relenting in its quest to conquer the country.

Ukrainian officers and infantrymen complain of a centralized command culture that often punishes initiative and wastes men’s lives. Generals order repetitive frontal assaults that have little hope of success, and deny requests from beleaguered units to carry out tactical retreats and save their men. Casualties accumulate on operations with little strategic value.

https://x.com/yarotrof/status/1955490948198154381

MolotovCocktail says

Casualties accumulate on operations with little strategic value.

Maybe the real strategy was to have as many Slavs kill each other as possible, just out of hatred for Slavs.

Armistice lines being discussed:









All four are pretty close to this one I posted ~2yrs ago:



Which means:



Or, to be more blunt:

MolotovCocktail says

Armistice lines being discussed:

This is not enough of a buffer as Russia would have to extend that new buffer from Lugansk all the way north to Kharkiv and the Belarus border.

Unless they plan on taking that next by claiming Ukraine is still a threat to Russia ? So its an incremental land grab ?

I know people from western Poland and they don't consider themselves culturally as Polish.

.

Be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

I should check Polymarket, but my bet is on Donbas and Crimea, maybe parts of Zaporizhiya and Kherson closer to the Sea of Azov, making it a Russian lake.

But that's it. No Kharkiv or Dnipro or Poltava or anything west of the Dneipr.

@RWSGFY

I was trying to read an article in French about the war, and see that the French spell Putin as "Poutine", which is funny for two reasons:

1. poutine means French fries and gravy in Quebec
2. Putin looks like it could mean "small whore" in French, because pute is whore

I don't like to personally insult anyone, but that was too funny not to point out.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/sledge-hammer-thursday-august-14

The Times explained that Trump broke the meeting story last Friday in a call to Zelensky. The former funnyman freaked out when Trump announced two things: (1) he planned to meet with President Putin, which breaks the rule of ostracizing the Russian president. And (2), Trump advised the little leader that he might have to consider letting the Russians keep some of the formerly Ukrainian territory.

Those two facts, the story said, led to all the mania and mayhem on the European continent over the last few days, culminating in the gang call yesterday between Trump, Vance, and over a dozen European officials.

They don’t seem to realize how childish and ineffectual the call made them look.

First of all, if they have great ideas for settling the war in Ukraine, why pitch them to Trump? They have phones, don’t they? And they are much closer to Moscow. Why not pitch their ideas directly to Putin? A big call to “Daddy” to whine about their classmate Russia makes them seem more like bullied fifth graders rather than heads of state.

Seriously, behold this picture the Times included in the story, showing the Europeans sitting at a table that looks like it was decorated for the first day of kindergarten:




I wish I were making that up. It’s not AI. And if you still think I’m exaggerating, check out how the Times described one of the most recent meetings:

On Saturday, senior European and Ukrainian officials met outside
London with top American officials, including Vice President JD
Vance, to try to dissuade the United States from cutting a peace
deal with Russia behind their backs.

Trying to “dissuade” us from cutting a deal with Russia behind their backs? It’s just like fifth-grade mean girls. You can’t talk to Rebecca about Rob unless we all do! ...

“I was at the G7 meeting in Canada, with President Trump,” Bessent said, chuckling. “And the Europeans kept talking about Senator Graham’s bill to do the secondary tariffs, and I looked at all the leaders around the table, and I asked, ‘is everyone at this table willing to put a 200% secondary tariff on China?’ And you know what? Everybody suddenly wanted to see what kind of shoes they were wearing.”

Bessent continued. “President Trump is meeting with President Putin, and the Europeans are in the wings carping about how he should do it, and what he should do, but the Europeans need to join us in these sanctions. They need to be willing to put on these secondary sanctions, too.”

Haha! Boomerang! Checkmate! The Europeans have been crying in their room-temperature beer (ugh) for months demanding that America slap the “bone-crushing sanctions” on all the countries —like China— that buy Russian energy products. Well, how about them? Will they walk the talk, or are they just pasty blowhards demanding that America go fight that guy?

Bessent answered his own question: They are just pasty blowhards demanding that America go fight that guy. It’s nuanced! And complicated! And nuanced! We just got our nails done! ...

Since the whiny Europeans won’t agree to join in them, then Trump needn’t threaten “bone-crushing” sanctions at tomorrow’s meeting. It’s over. Trump can do whatever he wants.

https://www.kunstler.com/p/carefully-and-gracefully

Mr. Trump must appear strong with Russia because his appointees are commencing to go medieval on the folks who called him “Putin’s Puppet” nine years ago — and subjected him to a series of epic torments including the subversion of his whole first term in office, nonstop obloquy from the media, impeachment (X 2), home invasion, and a grotesque set of malicious, nitwit prosecutions that have either failed completely (Fani Willis, Jack Smith) or will be subject to humiliating reversals in the higher courts. Not to mention two attempted assassinations.

AD says

I know people from western Poland and they don't consider themselves culturally as Polish.

May have to do with the fact western Poland was part of Germany before the Soviets moved the Polish border about 120 kilometers into Germany.

Minsk Protocol 2014

2025

Doesn't de-Nazify Ukraine, tho.

https://www.kunstler.com/p/an-offer-he-cant-refuse

Ukraine needs help formulating terms that are not preposterous. Russia’s terms have been clear and precise for years, most particularly: no NATO for Ukraine. What part of that is hard to understand? The EU wants missile bases on Russia’s border. It wants to draw Ukraine into its sphere of influence. Ukraine has been in Russia’s sphere of influence since. . . forever.

The US helped start this conflict in 2014, when Mr. Obama was in charge. It was always a cynical operation, in concert with the cynics of the EU. To put it as plainly as possible, Mr. Trump has called it off, recognizing the foolish futility of the scheme. But the EU players persist maniacally, even though they don’t have the money or the armaments to keep it up, and are otherwise jointly committing slow suicide of their own societies.

Anyway, Ukraine is exhausted. Ukraine has lost. Sheer intransigence could keep it going a while longer, but then Russia will sweep west with more pointless bloodshed. The argument is over. Territorial realities must be faced. Agreements must be made.

For the moment, Mr. Zelenskyy is the one who must be brought to agreement. His position as leader of Ukraine is, shall we say, squishy. His term as elected president of Ukraine ended in May 2024, and he only continues to occupy his position under martial law, self-declared. The Russians recognize his leadership as a contingency, because there is nobody else just now. ...

He can pretend to parlay in Washington, and then direct his return flight to some country other than Ukraine and seek asylum there, leaving his position vacant and inviting chaos in Kiev. Or. . . he can just play it straight and face the territorial realities.

Namely, that 1) Russia occupies most of the eastern frontier provinces at issue and intends to keep them, since they are inhabited by speakers of Russian who, remember, Mr. Z outlawed some years ago, and who were subject to relentless artillery and missile attacks prior to February, 2022, which prompted Russia’s Special Military Operation. . . that 2) Crimea belongs to Russia. . . that 3) Ukraine will not join NATO. . . that 4) Ukraine will hold new elections ASAP. . . and that 5) Ukraine will substantially disarm. . . . Surely, I left some lesser details out, but that’s most of the meat on the table. ...

Perhaps Mr. Trump will ask the Eurolanders to wait in the nearby Roosevelt Room while he confabs one-to-one with Mr. Z and makes various offers that Mr. Z can’t refuse. Then, they can all convene together in the Oval for coffee and donuts and review the results of that confab.

If ever a situation for the mass humiliation of European heads-of-state had been conceived previously, this will be the topper played out on CNN in real time. You have to wonder if any of them will survive another month in office after that psychological beat-down. And then let’s stand by to see whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s airplane flies back to Kiev or takes an unexpected detour to, say, Abu Dhabi.