It would seem fitting to try to pick through the press accounts of the Trump-Putin summit, except they are abjectly awful, chock-full of obvious bogosities and spin. Exhibit 1 of the horrorshow of mainstream reporting is the Wall Street Journal’s breathless exclusive claiming that the US is willing to provide security guarantees. To Russia, that is tantamount to having NATO in Ukraine and a non-starter.
The summit was an obvious win for Putin, since he got to demonstrate in his short mini-press conference statement in clips aired on national television that he does not have hooves and horns.
More substantively, it appears, at least for the moment, that the US side has dropped its demand for “ceasefire first, deal later” and has accepted the Russia position that a settlement has to precede a cessation of hostilities.
Trump-Putin Summit:
President Trump has posted his assessment of the day and of the way ahead on Truth Social. pic.twitter.com/KFgwlBiNmF— Ajay Bagga (@Ajay_Bagga) August 16, 2025
One does need to point out that the summit was truncated. It was set to run 7 hours, with an agenda for various sub-group meetings and a “working breakfast”. Instead, it ended at a bit over three hours, with Putin and Trump making short remarks. The normally press-loving Trump not taking questions was out of character.
There’s plenty of other nonsense which I do not think is helpful to reinforce by repeating it to then debunk or otherwise show considerable evidence against that. For those with sterner constitutions than mine, one good overview comes from Simplicius the Thinker in his latest post, Zelensky Drags Traveling Circus to Town for One Last Encore. You can also watch Alexander Mercoursis, staring from the top of his latest commentary, walk through the various media claims and why they are contradicted by other evidence or are otherwise sketchy.
If we want to guess where this might all be going, Trump is giving another good college try at cinching a peace pact. But as we have pointed out, Ukraine, even in its debilitated state, and the Europeans still have agency. And Trump has a tendency to be unduly influenced by whoever he spoke to last.
So what we have so far might be considered to be Peak Summit. How far can the Administration get on its efforts to create momentum? Many have speculated that the real plan is for Trump to finally pin the Project Ukraine tail on the Ukraine and European donkeys and have the US exit any meaningful role.
But even more important than the Europeans and Ukraine is that the neocons and the Blob also have agency. Admittedly there is a large cohort, as we and others have pointed out, that wants the US to disengage from our Ukraine misadventure to husband dwindling resources for Enemy #1, China. So the hawkish insiders are divided, and might not be able to form enough of a unified position to stymie the current Trump scheme….whatever it actually amounts to.
Putin has described how he has come to understandings with US presidents and had them come to naught. He gave a long-form example in the four-hour documentary series with Oliver Stone, explaining when he first encountered it with President Bush. Putin didn’t say what that agreement was about, but when his side followed up, they first got no response and then, 18 months later, received bafflegab excuses that amounted to a reversal.
He’s made the same point in other talks:
Putin spitting some hard facts
Real power in US rests with “dark suited men with dark ties” not with president
— Mac (@pattaazhy) June 7, 2025
Some, perhaps even many, of Russia-haters may recognize that their sanctions and secondary sanctions threats are empty. As we pointed out, the additional 25% tariffs against India for purchasing Russia energy, set to kick in shortly, have been hollowed out, with most goods excluded. The only sector meaningfully targeted is India’s diamond and gemstone industry. Modi’s family is in the diamond business and before becoming Prime Minister, he was chief minister of Gujarat, which is a diamond hub. So this sector is important to Modi personally and politically.
Even so, there seems to be perilous little in the way of public acknowledgement that the secondary sanctions on India were a monster own goal, not punitive enough (for the US’ own sake!) to change India’s behavior and serving merely to alienate India to the degree that it will severely damage US-India relations and drive India, which has leery of cooperating too much with rival China, closer to the Middle Kingdom.
We’ll know much more after the White House meeting with Zelensky and the Europeans on Monday. Politico’s European morning newsletter recaps the Administration efforts to bring Zelensky to heel versus the European full court press to get Trump to live up to the sweet nothings he told them before the Alaska session:
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: U.S. President Donald Trump piled pressure on his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of their crucial meeting in the White House. “President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said on Truth Social this morning …
Trump’s terms: Trump set out his conditions for peace, saying Ukraine would not be getting Crimea back and “NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!” …
Zelenskyy’s response: “Peace must be lasting,” Zelenskyy said in his own post after arriving in Washington this morning. “Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East—part of Donbas—and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack. Or when Ukraine was given so called ‘security guarantees’ in 1994, but they didn’t work.”…
DRIVING THE DAY: THE NEW PEACE POSSE
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE: … Fearing Trump could try to force Kyiv to sign up to a bad peace deal that would pave the way for yet more Russian aggression, European leaders are flying in to back him up in the Oval Office….
All aboard: According to diplomats who spoke to Playbook, the initiative was put together by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Alongside them are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni. Other leaders offered to join, but the guest list was deliberately kept short.
One potential stumbling block: Trump plans to face the White House press pool with Zelenskyy alone, before meeting together with the Europeans almost two hours later….
What does Zelenskyy’s backup crew want? “What we’re looking out for is the security of Europe not being compromised after all this is over,” said one European diplomat, granted anonymity to speak about the thinking behind the trip. “We’re making sure that we keep the pressure on Russia, ready to step up the sanctions the moment we feel that the Russian leader is stalling the negotiations. Strong security guarantees must come out of this, that’s the main thing.”…
Promises for peace: Meanwhile, allies hope they’ve gotten through about the need for deterrence against future Russian attacks. In an interview with Fox News, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said there was support for “much more robust security guarantees [and] EU admission” and even suggested “Article 5-like” protection was on the table for Ukraine, a reference to NATO’s mutual defense provisions.
However, even if the US hardliners have come to understand that going further with secondary sanctions gambit would increase US self-harm, they seem to have come up with a new ploy, that of designating Russia as a terrorist state. Lindsey Graham laid out this option in a Fox interview with Maria Bartiromo:
Bartiromo: Joining me now with reaction is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Senator, thank you so much for being here. Your reaction to what you heard from Marco Rubio.
Graham: I think Marco’s right that Donald Trump’s the only guy on the planet thatcan end this war. Putin fears Trump and he’s been a uh I think he’s been tough. Azerbaijan and Armenia has been going on for 30 years. He ended that war, Pakistan, India just by force of will. So, he’s the right guy.
The only reason Putin’s in Alaska, he didn’t come to see how Alaska was doing after he bought it. He came to Alaska because Trump threatened to put a 50% tariff on India for buying Russian oil and gas. What’s the weakness of Russia? Almost all of their income comes from oil and gas sales. If we went after the customers of Russia and said you had to pick between the American economy and buying cheap Russian oil or gas, they would pick the American economy.
So here’s what I would say about President Trump. He’s the only guy that can do this. And my advice to President Trump and Marco is if you got to convince Putin that if this war doesn’t end justly and honorably with Ukraine making concessions also, we’re going to destroy the Russian economy. We have the ability to do it.
To Europe, why don’t you put tariffs on India for buying Russian oil? To Europe, why don’t you threaten China with tariffs for being the largest purchaser of Russian oil? To Europe, you can do more. If Europe and the United States banded to Russia that if this war does not come to an end, we’re going to destroy your fossil fuel economy. This war would come to an end.
My bill to make Russia state sponsored terrorism is based on the fact that Russia has kidnapped Ukrainian children taken from Ukrainian families and sent to Russia. They should be a state sponsor of terrorism, Russia, until they return their children. So any peace deal must include the return of the kidnapped children uh by Russia to Ukraine. If you don’t do that, that’s not a just end of the war.
And if Putin doesn’t return these kids, he should be a state sponsor of terrorism designation under US law. And that makes Russia radioactive.
So there’s plenty of things we can do to end this war. Donald Trump’s the best guy to do it. I’m cautiously optimistic. We’ll get there if we’re tough.
Bartiromo: I I want to ask you about getting tough on these sanctions and what other economic levers the president has. But we’re looking right now at the letter that our first lady Melania Trump sent to Vladimir Putin saying, “Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart. Uh they dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.” She is referring to the children that have been taken as you just mentioned. Uh what do you want to see here? What happened here?
Graham: Russia went and took Ukrainian children and put them in camps. Yes. Yes. Uh 19,000 children according to international organizations have been taken from Ukrainian families by Putin through force of arms and sent to Russia. Some of them are being trained, 17 and 18 year old Ukrainian kids being indoctrinated in Russia to fight Ukraine. This is sick.
Our marvelous, wonderful first lady is appealing toPutin’s better nature. She cares about these kids. She has been great on this issue.
The problem is Putin could care less about children. He has sent 20,000 young Russians to their death just last month. He could care less about how many Russian soldiers die. He could care less about sanctions because he knows how toevade them. What he could not What he does care about is losing his customers.
So I just want to let everybody in the world to know. I think we have the ability to crush the Russian economy through putting tariffs on people who buy Russian oil and gas, buying cheap oil to prop up his war machine. And I intend to push that until I can’t push anymore. I intend to push the return of these children to I can’t push anymore.
If they do not return these children to Ukraine, the 19,000, then I’m going to push legislation to make Russia a state sponsor of terrorism under US law, which would make Russia radioactive. I want to end this war. I want to end the killing.
I’m not out to humiliate Putin, but I’m out to end this war in a way you won’t have a third invasion. How do youprevent the third invasion? If America gives security guarantees to Ukraine and continues to provide weapons by selling them to Europe for the benefit of Ukraine, there will be no third invasion. Donald Trump is the only president that can do that, and I think he will provide those security guarantees if we get a comprehensive peace deal. When it comes to land, I’m going to leave it up to Ukraine.
But here’s the reality. You’re not going to evict every Russian soldier from Ukraine. That’s the reality. There’s Russian control and there’s Russian ownership. Be very careful aboutrewarding Putin by giving him title to Ukrainian land through force of arms. That could uh jeopardize Taiwan. And if you’re not thinking about the effect a deal in Russia, Ukraine has on China,Taiwan, you’re making a big mistake. So,
I’ve got all the confidence in the world in President Trump to our European allies. Up your game. Quit complaining about what we’re not doing in America and do more yourself. Put tariffs on every country that buys Russian oil and gas cheaply to benefit Putin’s war machine. Do what Trump’s doing.
Bartiromo: So So are you committed then to putting those sanctions on China and on any European nation that continues buying refined oil and gas from Russia indirectly or directly?
Graham: Yep. Yes, ma’am. Uh, President Trump has, I have a bill that has 85 co-sponsors that allows President Trump to put tariffs from 0 to 500%. He determines the number on countries that prop up Putin’s war machine by buying his oil and gas. Now, that bill gives all the discretion to the president. He has imposed a 50% tariff on India, thesecond largest purchaser of Russian oil and gas that will go in effect in 21 days. That’s why Putin is in Alaska. that rattled him.
And when uh uh President Trump said, “I will sell weapons to Ukraine through Europe,” that rattled Putin. If we will take it to the next level and tell China, “You’re next,” then I think we can have an end to this war.
The second most important person on the planet to end this war is President Xi in China. If he went to Putin and said, “It’s time to end this war. I can’t help you anymore because you’re putting my country at threat,” this war would end.
So the way to end this war is to make Russia believe that if they don’t end it, we’re going to destroy their fossil fuel economy. Working with Europe, we can do that if we have the will.
Bartiromo: What’s your timeline? Do you have any clarity on when you would actually see a timeline of putting these punishing sanctions on the countries you’re talking about, including China and including Europe?
Graham: My my purpose for being on this show today is to let the world know I’m working with President Trump. I’m going to let him determine that. I trust his judgment. I can’t think of a better person to be in the room with Putin than President Trump. Call these media analysts who say this was a bust. That’s ridiculous. We have progress we didn’t have before. We have momentum for peace. We’ll see where it goes. So, I’ll leave it up to Trump.
Bartiromo: Senator, thank you very much. We will be watching your work.
Since I have studiously avoided listening to Lindsey Graham, it’s possible I may be getting the drift of his gist wrong. However, despite the ritual show of fealty to Trump at the top and close, remember that Graham conducts his own foreign policy, has met often with European leaders, and no doubt has gotten reports on the Trump pre-Alaska discussions with them and will get a detailed briefing on what transpires in the White House meetings on Monday. And with now 85 anti-Russia votes in the Senate behind him, he has a bludgeon. Trump has to consider that if things got really ugly, a good proportion could vote against him were there ever to be an impeachment trial in the Senate.
So consider:
First, Graham is acting like he has not gotten the memo that the secondary sanctions on India backfired. So if Graham is Not Happy with whatever comes out of the Monday White House session with Zelensky and UK/EU leaders, he may try putting that back on the burner.
Second, as far as I know, Graham threatening to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism as leverage with the Ukraine war is new, as is linking that scheme to issue of presumed-abducted-by-Russia Ukrainian children. Even more worrisome is that Melania Trump raised the “oh the children” matter after the Alaska summit, even though the Russian-held-children allegations were being addressed at the working group level in the continuing Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
Our incredible First Lady @MELANIATRUMP shared this powerful, deeply moving letter with President Putin. She speaks from the heart of every American in calling for a world where children, regardless of where they are born, can live in peace. pic.twitter.com/Soqrv1euAm
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 16, 2025
On its face, the First Lady’s letter is not at all about the Ukraine-children-in-Russia dispute. But DC outlets were quick to lard up the issue. So one is forced to wonder how the media-savvy Trump team did not know where that line of discussion would go, raising the further issue of how genuine Trump is with respect to wanting to move closer to Russia’s settlement demands. From The Hill:
First Lady Melania Trump penned a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which she raised concerns about the plight of children throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine….
More than 19,000 children were deported from Ukraine to Russia, adding that the actual number could be far higher, according to a Ukrainian government tracker….
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday, ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, that Moscow has been stonewalling talks on the return of Ukrainian children.
Ukraine’s leader said that while occasional transfers have taken place, with the assistance of other nations, Kyiv has not been able to strike a wide-ranging agreement with Russia on the matter.
Recall that many were sent by parents of Russian descent in Ukraine for safety; others were moved by Russia out of what were seen as hazardous areas. There has yet to be any evidence that a Ukraine parent has asked the Russian government to return a missing child and Russia has refused to do so. My recollection from the YouTube-sphere is that Russia asked Ukraine to provide a list of missing minors for Russia to investigate, and the number was vastly smaller than 19,000.
However, Russia will never be able to prove that the number of supposedly stolen children is less than 19,000, which seems likely to be the case. So Russia will be depicted as guilty regardless of the veracity of the charges.
Third, it’s simply nauseating to see a warmonger like Graham to profess concern about children yet full-throatedly back Israel’s genocide.
As far as the “state sponsor of terrorism” threat, it seems vanishingly unlikely ever to happen. We haven’t even put Iran in that category.1 Among other things, it would bar the US or US entities from buying Russian processed uranium, which the US needs and for which it has no substitute. Note also that despite Graham’s baying, that designation can only be made by the Secretary of State and is thus outside Congress’ purview. But so to are sanctions and tariffs, and yet here, Trump’s misguided action against India says that Graham and his uber hawk allies have been able to push Trump around.
One argument in Russia, which has saber-rattled about elevating the Special Military Operation to an anti-terrorist operation is that that designation would preclude any negotiations with the so-called Zelensky regime. The same issue would presumably hold with a US designation. Yes, Trump did effectively defy the US designation of North Korea by meeting Kim Jong Un in North Korea in 2019. But the existence of that stricture presumably would have greatly complicated coming to any formal agreement.
So there are many ways the neocons can sabotage either a peace initiative or a scheme to use the Alaska summit to engineer a US exit from Project Ukraine. And Lindsey Graham looks to be set to be out in front of them.
____
1 An overview from the European Parliamentary research service:
The US State Department currently lists four countries as state sponsors of terrorism, ‘for having consistently provided support for acts of international terrorism’. Syria has been on the list since 1979, Iran since 1984, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) since 2017 and Cuba (again) since 2021. Iraq, Sudan and Libya previously featured on the list. The designation has wide-ranging consequences in the area of sanctions and state immunity. Sanctions include restrictions on US foreign assistance, a ban on defence exports and sales, certain controls over exports of dual-use items, and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions. The designation has important economic repercussions for all countries that continue to engage with the designated state, as they may fall foul of US secondary sanctions. As the same time, the designation removes the immunity before federal and state courts in the US to which foreign states are normally entitled. Both houses of Congress have now introduced legislation that would see Russia added to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. If Russia were designated as a terrorist state, it would no longer be immune from suits brought in the US by US nationals, members of the US armed forces and US government employees in relation to Russia’s actions in Chechnya, Georgia, Libya, Syria, Sudan and Ukraine, some dating back decades. Successful plaintiffs could execute their judgments against frozen Russian assets. The designation of a state as a sponsor of terrorism has traditionally been reserved for states the US considers ‘pariah states’. In essence, the US has no formal diplomatic or commercial relations with any of the states it has designated as state sponsors of terrorism. Canada also has a ‘State Supporter of Terrorism’ mechanism under its State Immunity Act, with Iran and Syria listed as state supporters of terrorism since 2012.
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Thanks, Yves for this. The reporting on the Anchorage meeting and Zelensky’s big White House visit today is nearly impenetrable. Pro-Russia tweets have been grousing about Putin leaving Odessa behind in a rump Ukraine and frankly, there’s been zero clear reporting of what exactly were the territory compromises discussed, except that Crimea is not coming back. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Ukie sources were circulating stories that Putin only came over because of something that Wittkoff had misunderstood about a limited ceasefire. That seems a stretch. I have a bad feeling about this. The general incompetence, and really, stupidity, at all levels seem aligned to guarantee even worse conflict.
Bugs: We may live in the post-modern era in which all truth is relative and words have lost their meaning, but in the case of the Ukraine, this isn’t going to be a Peace by Committee. The U S of A and U.K. wanted a war by proxy, and being a bunch of candy-asses, the politest word that I will use, now have to deal with the destruction of their cat’s-paw and the messes of their own economies.
Any armistice, and an armistice is what is needed now, is going to be decided by the U.S. of A., Russian Federation, and Ukraine. The three of them are more than enough moving parts.
This group does not cohere: Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Alongside them are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.
The six dwarves. Rutte as Dopey. Ursula as Upward Failure. Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are both in serious political trouble. Meloni may seem secure (from the point of view of outsiders) but the Italians consistently poll as the least supportive in Europe of the Ukraine adventure and the genocide in Palestine — so Meloni has everything to lose and not much to gain by salvaging von der Leyen, Macron, or Starmer.
Thanks, DJG. Having that group along on Ze’s Big White House Visit is such a scream, so American high school movie, like the nerd who got beat up now has a cheering section for the rematch after the musical sequence of them helping him to get in shape.
Re: La Meloni, when I talk to my (pretty left, for the most part) Italian friends, the general view is “forse non è così male…”, and she’s got to live with the spectre of being forced out for a technocratic takeover; the blob could have Monte dei Paschi di Siena just collapse overnight, for example, so that probably limits her margins of maneuver. But the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot brought her along because they know Trump appreciates a cute blonde with an accent, who knows how to flatter him.
Postmodern indeed. Bullets and bombs are still real though.
Or Merz. I caught part of the big table meeting with the EU leaders and one of the things that stood out was Giorgia Meloni’s body language when Merz was talking — arms folded and, if she didn’t give him an eye roll, it looked about as close as one could get to an eye roll without actually giving one.
Starting around 12:30:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RxSZNbjR5w
I feel that Trump will go today full TACO and take away his claim that Zelensky should pursue a peace agreement without the “unconditional” ceasefire.
With regards to the next brilliant idea of the neocons it will, as usual, go nowhere to change the situation in Ukraine which will go on deteriorating (for Zelensky and the Ukrainian national socialists) until where the Russians deem necessary, whether this is a rump Ukraine or a regime change in the West bank of the Dnieper. Nothing substantial has changed with the summit as expected. If anything it is solidifying the positions.
And this hysteria will continue for the next two or twenty years as the US and the West continue to flail around, failing to — refusing to — grasp that the West is an increasingly irrelevant, backward minority of the global population that the rest of the world can ignore if it wants to.
It appears that Putin managed to impress the Russian position on Trump on Friday as it came out in Trump’s post on Truth Social. But the idea that any president, let alone Trump, can turn around the entire CW ruling elite is far fetched. When Yves says they “have agency” that’s an understatement. So yes, it’s likely TACO Monday.
I sincerely doubt that Trump had any meaningful knowledge of the history of the conflict and I believe impressing upon Trump the failure of past ceasefires (Minsk 1 and 2) was Russia’s primary motive for agreeing to the Trump-Putin summit. Trump’s demeanor during the press conference was interesting, and it almost seemed like “the wheels were turning” in his brain.
Whether Trump does another flip-flop after today’s meeting might depend on whether Vance can keep Trump on a path that avoids further escalation. And even if he does another flip-flip today, it might be followed by another flip-flop tomorrow.
I believe the most important changes are likely to occur in the “global south”.
Putin made a series of calls to BRICS leaders, conspicuously berfore China, Iran and North Korea, immediately after agreeing to fly to Alaska (at obvious personal risk after what happened to recent negotiating parties for Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran), prior to calling those leaders with whom Russia has mutual defense treaties or other defense arrangements.
It seems to me, having survived and not unleashed nuclear winter, there’s only diplomatic upside in the RoW for Putin and Russia now as the only really open question with regards to Ukraine is just how agreement incapable the US is and is now openly demonstrating itself to be.
How incredibly depressing that someone like Graham can change the world we live in so detrimentally.
The flex net of interlocking tentacles and self licking ice cream cones that is The Blob would invent Graham if he didn’t exist, in fact it did as McCain started to time out.
If you read Spaulding’s History of Legal Tender Paper Money, mostly taken form the Congressional Record, about the Union’s financing of the American Civil War you see the same cast of characters as the NeoCons in the Copper Heads of the time, always encouraging, enabling, suggesting, cajoling surrender as that promised them more money.
Plus ça change…
Archived video of McCain and Graham giving Azov Batallion a pep talk in 2016 and promising them whatever they need to fight the Russians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4e1A-LZEA
He’s just the spokesperson for many others like him in the Senate. Americans are very slow to recognize the temper of their “demoracy”.
Graham seems performative, a marionette with somebody pulling his strings.
Concerns about Ukraine that should be addressed:
Unclean hands due to Nuland, Obama and others in 2014 – acknowledge US role.
Corruption – where did all the free money go, given reported purchases of mansions, luxury cars…
US political family dealing in Burisma – Hunter Biden and the other grifting offspring from Kerry et al.
Bio labs – what was developed when, as many have reported on our labs there.
How many other murky deals hidden from American public?
Don’t get your hopes up as the lies are likely to continue.
My bill to make Russia state sponsored terrorism is based on the fact that Russia has kidnapped Ukrainian children taken from Ukrainian families and sent to Russia. They should be a state sponsor of terrorism, Russia, until they return their children. Thus Spake Graham.
What the mainstream Republicans / Trump opportunists (as opposed to hard-core RedMaga like Marjorie Taylor Greene) are looking for is two things that keep the pot bubbling and that keep the deluded deluded:
–The new P.O.W./M.I.A. scam from Vietnam Days. Look at how many buildings in the U S of A still fly that flag. So no matter how many missing kids are accounted for, the U S of A will always have M.I.A. kids to use as pretexts.
–We are also seeing the approach of Who Lost Ukraine? So much of U.S. politics was full of animus after WWII in the debate about Who Lost China? But it served the purposes of the nascent neocons / neoliberals. Now it will be Act IV with special scenes running in overtime. After all, in a well-governed state, one might instead have a serious investigation of war crimes by Biden, Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and Toria Nuland. Heck, given how far back the screwups in relations with Russia by U.S. elites go, I’m wondering what treasures lie in Hillary Clinton’s 30,000 missing work-product e-mail messages.
People like Graham justified secession by citing all the happy slaves that the Lincoln and his henchmen forcibly abducted…probably. (Well, they actually did, sort of…Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and all.)
Graham insists that his state NC is too small to be a republic, too big to be an insane asylum
But Russia will end up like HTS US going along with them taking what they will.
Graham is the senator for South Carolina. . . now it all fits ;)
Probably better to go back to Bill Clinton for the origins of the current shitshow.
I’d suggest Truman and the establishment of the CIA.
In 1993 Clinton was initially active in supporting the “Shock Therapy”, that allowed the rise of the oligarchy and Putin, who was then validated and anointed by Clinton in 1999 ‘sans’ election….
T’was already Blob policy before The Duopoly let Big Bill head the D ticket. This is the paper produced in the G. H. W. Bush Administration (ht: Polar Socialist in comments to yesterday’s links).
In foreign policy, since the Dulles brothers took it over under Truman, there’s been more continuity than change. Right back to the OSS when FDR was dying and Wallace was discretely pushed of FDR’s reelection ticket to install a pliable Truman.
I’m afraid my routine of watching the nightly network news to follow the daily propaganda line is going to face quite a challenge. If this article, and last night’s coverage of the coming Zelensky/EU “save Ukraine” brigade, are any indication, I may be too tempted to pull an Elvis Presley toward my TV.* The sight of those European leaders and Z all coming to “talk sense” to Trump, and the *completely* one-sided media narrative that they are right and moral to do so, had me yelling profanities at the screen last night. And Lindsey didn’t even figure in their coverage; his presence would increase my reaction exponentially. “Save the 19,000 children!”
(*Elvis was reported to have pulled out a gun and plugged his TV screen on occasion when it particularly angered him. I’d probably just throw a shoe or whatever was handy.)
Does Lindsay Graham really understands what he wants? For a start that would mean shutting down both country’s Embassies and severing all official contact between those governments – two nuclear armed governments. The US would seize what Russian assets that they can and Russia would do the same as there are more US assets still sitting in Russia. The US would have to stop all imports from Russia such as refined uranium, fertilizers and chemicals causing costs to go up in the US. The US would put Russian officials onto lists of people to kidnap and put on trial or some such. In some ways this is a nuclear option and would burn every single bridge left between the US and Russia. Don’t know if the next step would be for Washington to demand that every country in the world classify them as terrorists as well but would not be surprised if there was an attempt. A sort of George Bush ‘You are either with us or you are with the terrorists.’ With this all in mind, I now wonder if Lindsay Graham himself is suffering from Covid brain.
Unlike some other commenters, I question Graham’s real power. I think he’s “thrashing” here – first it was “bone-crushing” sanctions that were gonna bring Vlad to heel, but we all know that verbal threat never was backed up by anything other than legislation stuck in committee, and Modi gave Trump a big old dose of reality by refusing to obey.
Now he’s moved on to threatening terrorism.
Graham never admits defeat but I see a man who talks a lot but doesn’t get much done in terms of real work.
He seems to be comfortably installed in the Senate like a fixture, but I did hear that he drew a challenger for the next primaries. If that challenger is a firebrand like M T-G, he could be in trouble. More likely the challenger is yet another AIPAC stooge, though.
Graham got Trump to impose secondary sanctions on India. Even if they were watered down, they were still a big enough move to damage relations with India bigly. So you can’t say the man has no power.
And many contend that the reason Trump moved his deadline on secondary sanctions up from 50 to 12 days was to have the drop dead fall when Congress was in recess. And even then, he slipped out of that via the Alaska summit. So this to me looks like Trump is mighty afraid of Graham.
Graham’s Law:
Bad legislation drives away good law~
Kind of wish he’d walk the Planck and get his eternal reward elsewhere.
Does anyone have an idea of what would be possible if the Europeans decided to abandon the US joint security treaty? Do they really need such an unrealizable partner? After all the French have nukes and the EU has a defense industry for planes, tanks, etc. Perhaps they could find a way to to put all the Russia animus away and create some sort of pan European agreement to include Russia in a economic alliance? Seems peace is preferable to war.
The EU has been depending on US military support. It’s a very big expenditure that has allowed them to have bigger social safety nets than they would otherwise. Admittedly, they would need less if they were not all on board with the US in the “subjugate Russia” project, which they still have not abandoned.
There is absolutely no way they can meet the 5% of GDP for military (and actual military expenditures, not adding in things like bridge upgrades) that they think is necessary to keep the heat on Russia. and not have the incumbents turfed out.
And “Europe” does not have a defense industry. There is no EU military analogue to Airbus, a pan European consortium. Some countries produce weapons for their own militaries. So you have fragmented, sub-scale players.
The EU could not even ramp up shell production to assist Ukraine. Its weapons stocks are depleted.
France has way too few nukes to serve as a continental deterrent.
Yves, I think there is a scrambled line or two in your second paragraph.
Here’s my attempt at unscrambling:
…and actual military expenditures, not adding in things like bridge upgrades) that they think is necessary to keep the heat on Russia.
and not have the incumbents turfed out.
Yes, thanks. Cut and move that did not take…now fixed.
I disagree a bit.
For the context, decreasing military expenditures have been a global trend since 1990 with a few notable exceptions like Russia which rebounded after 1998 when NATO expended east-word.
The EU has been depending on US military support
I think it is “depend” in the sense “be controlled or determined by” not in the sense “be able to trust; rely on”, because the US military support didn’t really improved the EU safety situation. It is actually otherwise. The US aggressive stance against Russia and the military adventures in Middle East made it worse.
Moreover, the actions of countries like France which try to pursue a relatively independent defense policy and used to call for the common EU defense policy are not very liked by the US.
It’s a very big expenditure that has allowed them to have bigger social safety nets than they would otherwise.
Even though the military expenditures in EU decreased significantly, it doesn’t seem to have a significant impact on the social safety nets which got relatively smaller as well. So I don’t think this argument holds water. The question is also how much expenditure is really needed. For instance France used to spend slightly more on defense, but it was also military active in its former colonies. Is it necessary for the self-defense? Is it a defense or imperialism?
Of course with much bluster they are trying to cover up their impotence.
German Berliner Zeitung from the WE
EU rearmament continues even without the Ukraine war: “There is no turning back”
The EU is pushing ahead with its rearmament plans. But as arms companies grow, the question arises: Why does Europe play only a minor role on the geopolitical stage?
https://archive.is/z2b94
“(…)
The expansion of weapons factories in Europe has accelerated significantly since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022. According to a Financial Times (FT) analysis of radar satellite data, construction activity at 150 defense facilities owned by 37 companies has increased tenfold, now covering more than 7 million square meters. Companies such as Rheinmetall, MBDA, and Hensoldt have already completed significant expansions, including new factories and additional infrastructure.
(…)
Last June, the 27 EU member states approved the Defence Fund proposed by the European Commission – a €150 billion loan program to finance military equipment
(…)
At the end of July, the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee decided to file an action for annulment with the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
(…)
The planned “ReArm-EU” plan, which aims to mobilize a total of €800 billion, is not equally supported by all member states. Resistance is particularly strong in southern Europe.
(…)
The NATO target of 5 percent of GDP actually includes 3.5 percent for pure defense spending, while the remaining 1.5 percent is earmarked for “defense-related spending.”
(…)
For example, Italy’s multi-billion-euro “Ponte sullo stretto” infrastructure project, a bridge between Sicily and Calabria, could benefit from EU defense funds.
(…)”
or:
Germany finances US support for Ukraine
https://defence-network.com/deutschland-finanziert-us-paket-ukraine/
“(…)Germany, along with other allies, is ready to finance one of the first comprehensive support packages with a total value of up to 500 million US dollars under the PURL mechanism (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List)(…)”
0.5bn is embarrassingly little.
They are also trying to ramp up ammunition production from 70k to 1mn.
When will we hear the news that that´s not gonna happen?
Taurus production intended to increase 3 even 4 times?
https://www.hartpunkt.de/bundeswehr-will-zum-jahresende-weitere-taurus-marschflugkoerper-bestellen/
As usual these are all mere statements.
p.s. It will be interesting to witness what happens to German/EU arms companies once they fail to sell their products to other customers beyond their usual ones to expand markets beaten by suppliers from the US, India, China, Russia.
All the tools in the shop will not make furniture without some decent carpenters in there. Where will the European elites get the people to bulk up their army?
That’s what allowing all those global south immigrants in was for.
But those are not gonna go to war for Germania as foot soldiers either.
As the native peoples are concerned: It was one thing to march for freedom with NATO stickers cheerleading Ukrainians getting themselves killed for 2 years. It´s entirely different to get yourself killed. Fwiw this much has changed in 80 years – self-sacrifice for war is not sanctified any more by society. Even if it´s only for the sake of WMDs and maybe TV and so-called antiwar movies. Maybe all the Hollywood shit did have some benefit after all? People know what war is. If it comes down to the decision: Would I be willing to go to the front.
Those are not gonna go to war for Germania, but they will for the creation of Germanistan in its stead, and it seems that they would score an easy win against what’s left of “arians”. It’s just the question of time, and only those blinded by hate can not see it (hate towards Rooskies, Slavs, Putin, Stalin, et al).
re: conversation on war&peace Germany
fwiw
A short conversation from Germany between Erich Vad, former military policy advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Klaus von Dohnanyi, former mayor of Hamburg and high-ranking politician in the SPD. This is from a book Vad has published. Despite his elevated former position he was canceled for a few years after opposing the NATO course.
“The USA dominates Europe”
…about German history, their personal experiences with war and peace, as well as the urgently needed realignment of Germany’s security and defense policy.
https://archive.is/vZXLi
The only real virtue of the Washington Treaty for the Europeans has been the use of the US as a political counterweight to potential Soviet/Russian domination of the continent. However, since the earliest days there has been a fear that the US and the SU/Russia might do a deal over the heads of the Europeans on some issue that an affected them. Hence limited stationing of US forces in Europe in peacetime, although on mobilisation the vast majority of the forces would have been European. These forces have now shrunk to almost nothing, and the decades-long fear of a US President selling out now looks a it if might come to pass.
Militarily, the US is no longer a player in Europe. The European arms industry is very capable and produces most of what the continent needs, but its capacity like that of the US, has diminished radically over time. It is starting to expand again, but faces all sorts of practical and technical limitations, and can never be rebuilt to anything like what it was. That said, the industry has been consolidated progressively since the 1970s, and almost all major projects are now multinational or the result of standardisation (eg the Leopard tank.) Airbus has had a military component for some time (it makes the A400M transport) and also includes Eurocopter.
The French (or the British) by themselves can achieve the basic deterrent capacity known as the “Moscow Criterion,” which is the ability to get enough missiles through the Russian ABM screen to destroy Moscow. The issue is not practical but political: would the French be prepared to lose Paris to protect Tallinn? (Mind you I’ve never met anyone who thought that the US would risk Washington to protect Paris, so in a sense the argument is moot.)
Finally, you simply can’t put Russia into any kind of economic or other alliance in Europe: it’s too big, it’s too powerful it has too many enemies and it would destroy any organisation it joined. The way forward, if there is one, is actually the way backwards–ad hoc economic cooperation.
you simply can’t put Russia into any kind of economic or other alliance in Europe: it’s too big, it’s too powerful
And yet Europe seems more than happy to ally with big powerful USA. Russia says “where’s the love?”
Could it be that small not so powerful countries need an enemy to keep themselves relevant?. This is true of my country too of course, especially when egged on by all that Europeans paranoia about Russia. Somehow I don’t feel reassured by your suggestion that the UK and France can target Moscow.
Not trying to be snide, but there are a lot of people asking now whether the first Cold War had to happen much less the re-enactor Cold War 2.
Well, that’s the structural problem with NATO, of course, and as I explained the Europeans were prepared to trade some political independence for a counterweight to Soviet power. Sometimes–very often in fact–nations try to balance foreign powers against each other in this way. In turn, NATO, and the US presence in Europe (when there was one) was seen by some smaller European powers as a useful counter-balance to what would otherwise have been Franco-German domination of the EU. But economically (which was the question I was responding to) bringing Russia into any kind of formal economic alliance (which would mean dismantling the EU) would be a disaster. But it’s not necessary if Europe can recover a little bit of common sense and an idea of what’s in its best interests.
Can´t Graham just fall off a roof? Or out of a window? Or get hit by a car “accidentally”? Or eaten by a shark? The guy is insufferable and dishonest to the bone. CIA does know how to stage these things do they not…
“Incredible First Lady”?
“…powerful, deeply moving letter”???
Maybe Ms. Bondi is put there every day being gross and stupid as distracting rage bait.
Let’s see what happens in the next few hours. I was primed to say unkind things about Lindsay Graham, gave it a thought, and concluded why bother. Let him has his moment of thinking he matters. While Lindsay dreams his dreams, or is it says what his masters wish, the meetings in the White House are of greater immediate consequence. The middle and long term? Who knows?
The brief summit accomplished little, other than giving both players (Putin and Trump) some political maneuver space. It was clearly shorter than planned for. According to RU media reports, Putin deliberately skipped over four pages of his prepared speech at the press conference.
There are reports that RU had to pay cash USD to refuel its jets in Alaska, with Rubio sounding quite proud about this:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/08/18/putins-delegation-to-alaska-forced-to-pay-cash-for-jet-fuel-rubio-says-a90265
If true, this is petty and small-minded. Hardly the behavior of a self-confident nation eagerly embracing the future with generosity and hope
When Trump goes to Moscow, his staff had better carry a Mir card with them to pay for refueling Air Force One. But I’m sure that the Russians would accept Chinese Yuan. If he paid using US dollars, wouldn’t he be guilty of sanctions busting then?
thanks
I don´t believe Moscow Times a single word.
To my knowledge the Dutch state still owns 25%.
It was never read by Russians.
It was never published in Russian.
Today it´s not even printed there any more of course.
So what does it make “Moscovite”?
Anyhow.
When watching the original NBC interview with Rubio I frankly think he is inventing this.
What he actually says is:
“They (Russians) had to offer to pay in cash (…) because they can´t use our banking system”
TC 5:30
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/rubio-says-ceasefire-deal-not-off-table-ukraine-russia-trump-rcna225421
He did not say affirmingly they eventually had to pay anything.
And he glossed over this very very quickly and the NBC anchor didn´t even ask.
Ok, maybe I am dead wrong splitting hairs here.
But: this is the item Moscow Times chose to feature in an entire article?
This level of idiocy is just incredible.
Why not this instead: the interesting exchange of Q vs. A
watch TC 13:15 (confronting Rubio with when Rubio called Putin a professional liar in March of 2022.)
Fully agree with you re MT as a news source, but it’s useful to read as an insight into what some people actually believe. Yes, this level of idiocy is just incredible. That NBC interview with Rubio is brutal to watch; the NBC interviewer (I refuse to call her a journalist) was practically goading him into saying something controversial against RU/Putin, and Rubio (to his credit) didn’t take the bait.
I truly hope this report about RU paying cash for jet fuel turns out to be false, but nowadays it seems that anything goes.
Of course I wouldn´t be surprised if that indeed were true.
But from 3 years of nauseating jingoism and lies, lies, nothing but lies I have come to think in such contrived ways as I do. (“learning how to read the WaPo and the NYT that is”).
And yes, if you have the time and nerve it is wise to inquire what MT readers think.
I just frankly have given up on that since it makes no difference to how I work on this matter personally. (And living in Germany I cannot not take note of what is going on outside my apartment.)
It just would cost me a nervous breakdown every day to look into it as closely as you do 😉.
Following the Russian invasion, US officials, like John McCain and Little Lindsey, touted the Ukraine proxy war as a means of weakening Russia. Not only has this program failed but it has been the reverse in that it has weakened the US. The US does not know itself or it’s enemy. This strategic and moral confusion in foreign policy bred a combination of overconfidence and breathtaking ineptness that has secured not primacy but disaster for America and its allies and partners.
It’s almost like unconscious projection.
Re our senator Lindsey–local news is much diminished these days but if you scan some local news sites his name is rarely mentioned. To be sure he’s a Senator rather than a Congressman–in other words in a branch that once wasn’t even subject to direct popular election–but if “all politics are local” then Graham must be the exception because to this Carolinian at least he is off my radar screen.
In other words he’s a DC creature rather than a representative, and while we do still have MIC bases and industries it’s not like the old days when that and cotton mills were all we had. He’s a “representative” who represents himself. Would that we could get rid of him. Converting back to a two party state might help.
When Trump gave an upstate rally before the election and introduced Lindsey he was heartily booed. Trump though likes him for some reason. Presumably Graham is obsequious when it serves his purpose even as he trash talks a nation with 6000 nukes pointed in our direction. Once while out walking I was bitten by a passerby’s aggressive dog. It was very small.
FWIW, during the June 2nd meeting in Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation provided a list of 339 children allegedly deported or forcibly transferred from occupied Ukraine to Russia and demanded their return.
Maria Lvova-Belova, Children’s Rights Commissioner for the president of the Russian Federation (and under an arrest warrant by ICC), has stated several times that they (her office) is working hard to return these kids but many of them are orphans (often from orphanages* close to the line of contact), so there are difficulties in defining to whom they should be returned. Especially considering the abysmal child abuse situation in Ukraine even before the war.
Take that as you will.
* given the economy of Ukraine, sometimes single parents have been forced to put their children to an orphanage while the parent works abroad (i.e. seasonal berry picking).
Thanks for the actual numbers and more detail on who the kids (generally) are.
Just as a reminder: German police had discovered 161 of those children in Germany who were supposedly abducted, the report was totally ignored.
Only RT was reporting this though it was info by German authorities.
April 2024
Federal Criminal Police Office: Children allegedly abducted to Russia live with their parents in Germany
https://archive.is/MsvXn
fwiw Ian Proud:
Ukraine has consistently over-sold the number of children moved to Russia since war began
June 11 2025
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/06/11/ukraine-has-consistently-over-sold-the-number-of-children-moved-to-russia-since-war-began/
From the kremlin.ru site July 17:
As Russians have relatives in Ukraine (see: Syrsky, Alexander, commander-in-chief of AFU) and Ukrainians in Russia, moving children between the two is somewhat regular if complicated effort.
thanks!
In Syrsky´s case his Russian roots and academic training in RU are not necessarily to his benefit after all that he did in military terms and going to war…even though I said from day #1, I wouldn´t be surprised if a Zelensky would end up in a Russian safe-haven, same might be true for a Syrsky.
ICC should indict Scholz and Baerbock on the same abduction charges….
This was the most sensible coverage that I listened to yesterday moring, Saagar, Grim, and Mearsheimer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31nwnbNMmo
This was after listening to some unknown on NPR explaining that after this Summit “we now have proof that Trump is in Putin’s pocket”. It seems some of the Neocons, like Graham, are out in full force.
This is not the first time putting Russia on the state sponsor of terrorism list has come up. It definitely was a talking point in 2022. And now I’ve dug up one link – it was Graham who sponsored the bill! Hey – he hasn’t given up. Link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-resolution/623/text
Incredible to think that anyone gives any credence to the political ravings of a closeted gay man with serious sublimation issues.
Wow. Can I reel off all the famous movie stars who were “closeted” and therefore, by your estimation, hypocrites? Of course many of them were bisexual as gay expert (and Hollywood expert) Gore Vidal suggested everyone is to some extent. Or maybe they just liked their privacy or thought it was none of our business.
I have a low opinion of Graham and frankly pay almost no attention to him. Meanwhile the senator might be playing to the scoffers as Trump does with all his bluster. Sez Lindsey to the knee jerk ridicule: “made you look”
This comment should not have been approved. I trust you will find your happiness on the Internet elsewhere.
The bottom line is still that Russia controls 80% of Ukraine’s potential GDP, although only 20% of its landmass.
I stand by my prediction that Russia will establish a land bridge to Transnistria, consisting of the entirety of the Black Sea Coast, including Odesa.
Rump landlocked Ukraine will consist of mostly farmland, and be a welfare state for the EU.
Designating Russia a State Sponsor of Terror opens up legal avenues within the US for assassinations and the like. There is a parallel system of rules for “terrorist states” and organizations driven by presidential findings / directives dating back to Regan.
For those interested, here is an excellent interview by Glenn Diesen of Michael von der Schulenburg who is a German member of the EU Parliament. Schulenburg was previously a UN diplomat for 34 years in positions that included Assistant Secretary General of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. The title is “Putin-Trump meeting was a ‘game changer’.”
Schulenburg is erudite and absolutely excoriating of the current crop of EU leaders. He does a job much like Jeffrey Sach’s speech to the EU Parliament several months ago of blowing their war mongering delusions out of the water.
Quite refreshing: hXXps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjkVbKWrqh4
(of course, replace the ‘XX’ with ‘tt’ in the URL)
Trump seems to suck people down into muddy swamp of confusion and chaos and hype when he’s negotiating.
With endless urgent meetings and comments that contradict each other and offers of friendship and cooperation one day and smears and threats the next.
These tactics must have worked to give Trump his way and make him rich in the past.
People dealing with him must end up so worn down and bamboozled they can’t remember the way in or the way out and give in just to make it stop.
I hope this doesn’t happen to the Russians.
Mark Twain (or someone else) described that long time ago.
Never argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Oh, this is a great variant of “Never wrestle with a pig”…and I like the nature of the warning better.