Trump knows the proxy war in Ukraine is lost. The Ukrainians had their civil war, and the whole time one side was receiving weapons from NATO and the other side was receiving weapons from Russia. In the end they were unable to come to a unifying agreement, despite multiple peace talks.
Finally, Russia invaded directly and the Ukrainian side receiving their support disappeared from the news. Since Russia invaded we’ve been given this narrative that Putin wants territory, but it’s that side in Ukraine’s civil war that is leading its people to join Russia. They felt that was the better deal and would rather have security than reunify with the other half.
Ukraine is only shrinking because the NATO-backed side started the civil war. These are the consequences of refusing to allow the democratic process to play out. The NATO-backed side lost an election and then initiated a coup in 2014, kickstarting the destruction of their country. Fuck around, find out.
Europe is having energy problems. Germany especially is seeing its manufacturing capacity decline due to high energy costs. Before Russia intervened directly and the US forced Europe to enact sanctions, they were receiving gas from Russia at a discount and they were paying in Euros. Now they buy expensive LNG from Norway and the USA. They’ve replaced cheap energy with expensive energy.
If NATO hadn’t backed the coup to kick off the Ukraine war, Germany’s car manufacturing would be growing into the EV market instead of shrinking and hobbled. Old allies can’t catch a break.
New NATO countries are finding out that the US can’t afford vassal states like it used to. The Trump administration expects each country to pay for NATO military expenditures. Military budgets are increasing, and countries are trading financial sense to be allies with a declining American empire.
Meanwhile Russia is part of BRICS, an economic bloc that includes more than half the world’s population. And what is Trump’s response? Trump wants to go to war against the biggest economic bloc in world history. Trying to fight half the world in an economic war sounds like a losing strategy if I’ve ever heard one.