Trump's conversation with Putin – what it means for Ukraine
Everything that happened at the talks in Istanbul over the past month boiled down to one game: the Ukrainians, together with the Europeans and some Republicans, were pushing Trump to recognize an obvious fact: Putin is leading him by the nose and it's time to impose tougher sanctions.
The Russians have been playing the game "Trump, don't impose sanctions" (the minimum program is to make it through the summer vacation and postpone this issue until the fall). Yesterday's conversation showed that Putin is winning this game so far .
The lion's share of the conversation was about Iran and Russia's possible assistance in a nuclear deal with Iran. And this is despite the fact that the Ayatollah de facto sent Trump away, saying that Iran would not give up uranium enrichment. Moreover, Russia no longer has that much influence on Tehran, and Putin's options are limited, to put it mildly.
It is important to note that Putin also had a telephone conversation with the new pope. The Kremlin is well aware of the new pope's role in influencing US domestic policy. So far, it was a get-to-know-you call. But the Kremlin is starting to think about how to play on this field. We are hardly playing here yet .
And now for the most important thing. Putin, in fact, announced through Trump that there will be strikes on Ukraine in the coming days. But we have experienced this more than once, and there is nothing new here, especially since the Russians are not even talking about nuclear weapons. The main question is whether there will be an Oreshnik. If not, it will confirm the hypothesis that Oreshnik is still a single product.
But the main thing is different: by the fall, Trump will be trapped.
Putin led him by the nose on peace in Ukraine, and now the same will happen with Iran. The election campaign starts in the fall, and Trump will have two options: either the Republicans deliberately go to lose the majority in Congress, or Trump will impose sanctions on Russia.
Of course, everything Trump does causes anger. But let me remind you that we cannot survive without American weapons, which Europeans will buy for us. Therefore, we cannot be offended by him now. Unfortunately, this is how real politics works .
