Trump and Putin: the logic of a huckster versus the logic of a racketeer
Trump is trying to persuade Putin to end the war in his commercial logic.
It's not profitable to fight, Trump says. Look, my friend Volodya, we will impose new sanctions, tighten the screws here, close sources here, cut off opportunities here and there – and it will be very bad! You will not make money! You will not become richer yourself, you will not make the country richer!
For Trump, the logic of this proposal is obvious. This is his life principle – more money, more happiness!
Peace is more profitable than war. Let's make money, my friend Volodya! Why do you need these troubles?
The world is a big real estate office! We'll leave you what you've bitten off, but then let's go earn it!
Or don't you want to? Then let the Europeans deal with you! We will sell weapons to them and Ukraine, and you will not be able to trade with us!
It is a perfectly clear and transparent logic. But it is completely inapplicable to the present circumstances.
Russia launched a full-scale war at a time when it was completely contrary to its interests. Interests in politics, trade, and economy.
This war was profitable only if it was a successful blitzkrieg according to the Crimean scheme. Any other course and outcome would force Putin and his entourage to completely change the structure of the economy, to put it on a military footing. And I am sure that this option was calculated.
Putin does not care about profit. He doesn't need to make money. He does not care how his subjects live or whether they will live at all.
Where Trump lives with dreams of profit growth, of America's economic dominance, of power through profit, Putin lives with dreams of power through strength. In his view, money is needed not to make life better for the elite and the people, but to enable the state to fight more successfully.
He has trade not to end the war, but to have money for the war.
The logic of a huckster does not work against the logic of a racketeer.
I have a question: what can be agreed upon in this case?
Russia has put its economy on a war footing. The economy is working. It is enough for both guns and oil. Russia does not care about human losses – it is traditionally insensitive to them.
War for her is a normal state.
Russia is as comfortable in war as in old slippers.
She is uncomfortable in friendship. Wreaking havoc, killing, burning, and destroying is a return to the source, not a painful transformation. We don't have to pretend to be nice – yes, we are! You don't like it? Whatever.
"If you like it, if you don't like it, be patient, my beauty".
Russian peacekeeping means killing everyone you can. And if you can't kill them, maim them. And then there will be peace .
The question is not how long the Russians will be able to continue fighting, but how many years we will be able to resist this stupid brute force. All these Russian tales about the war with the Swedes, Pechenegs, and Polovtsians are just talk. 21 years of the Great Northern War is absurd today. But 500 shaheds in a night is quite.
Will they have enough resources? Enough.
Are they ready to eat rutabagas but fight? Ready.
Moreover, you won't have to eat rutabagas. Today's Russia is quite capable of providing itself with food even in isolation.
And missiles.
And drones.
The armor is worse, but they will think of something. They learn quickly, they invent.
There is time. The resource is there. People are there.
So what are you talking about, you bastard, with the blatants? What money? What money? On the knife!
Sooner or later, Trump will realize that the benefit song doesn't work. He will not escalate – why should he? But stepping aside is the best option. America generally does not care about the interests of Europe and Ukraine. The United States has its own interests, in its own hemisphere and on its own soil.
Didn't work out? Well, okay. It's your fault. Clean it up yourself.
All this talk about the ideals of freedom and democracy is a stale commodity. Not for sale.
I would not count on US mediation, but would build a strategy based on their withdrawal from both the war and the peace process.
Europe, on the other hand, has nowhere to go. They are neighbors. And we have nowhere to go – our neighbors will not go anywhere.
There is nothing worse and more dangerous than false hope. And the sooner we realize that there is no way out of today's conflict on a white American horse, the better.
I did not say that there is no way out at all, but money and profit will definitely not buy peace. The enemy has different values. Blood is more pleasant to him than gold, and killing is more understandable to him than trading.
