Anne Applebaum: “Ukrainians discover none of this shocking, as a result of they’ve been listening to this type of language for 3 years. What they do discover shocking is the American president’s tolerance for what appears to them like open mockery. President Donald Trump says he desires a peace negotiation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ready for a peace negotiation. The Russian president turned it right into a farce, and can doubtless proceed with the farce, stringing out Trump for so long as attainable and agreeing to extra cellphone calls and conferences to be able to keep away from new sanctions, distract consideration from Russia’s ongoing struggle crimes, and make the U.S. seem weak.”
“I can’t right here provide a full rationalization for why Trump doesn’t perceive the sport that Putin is taking part in, one that’s apparent to utterly everybody else. I’ll word solely that Trump repeatedly misunderstands Putin, overrates his alleged friendship with Putin, and sometimes attributes to Putin motives which are actually his personal.”
