It’s not the proliferation of spin doctors that has me feeling dizzy . . . though goodness knows, there are more than enough of them to go around. But no . . . instead, it’s the frequency and speed of the 180-degree turns in what passes for U.S. foreign policy these days.

I never would have imagined that someone carrying as much bulk as Donald Trump could be capable of completing even a single pirouette, much less a constant succession of them. But when it comes to his frantic attempt to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine before the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize is announced in December, he just keeps twirling on those little toes with an agility that would make Mikhail Baryshnikov turn green with envy.

In all fairness, he is dealing with the most evil spin-master of them all: Vladimir Putin. And that requires more than just agility and flexibility; it also requires an understanding of the adversary, which is something that Trump never has had, and likely never will have. Perhaps it’s because they’re so alike in so many ways, and Trump lacks the introspection to understand himself, much less anyone else.

Add to that the well-known Kremlin tactic of making ambiguous statements, and the next day claiming that the entire world had misheard or misinterpreted what had clearly been said, and it’s no wonder we’re all feeling a bit light-headed.

One would think — or at least hope — that a Trump-Putin summit on Friday, August 15th, followed by a multi-lateral White House meeting on Monday the 18th that included Trump, Ukrainian President Zelensky, five other European heads of state, and the leaders of the EC and NATO, would have yielded some concrete results.

But no, it was not to be. Perhaps it’s the recent rainy weather, but the concrete simply refuses to harden. While everyone seems to have been in agreement that post-war security guarantees for Ukraine are of primary importance, Trump can’t make up his mind as to the extent of U.S. involvement in any such guarantees. One day he’s in, the next day he has reservations.

And then there was his 40-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin from the Oval Office while the European contingent waited in the meeting room. Trump later posted on Truth Social that his discussion with Putin had covered the possibility of a bilateral (Putin-Zelensky) face-to-face, and/or a trilateral (Putin-Zelensky-Trump) meeting, and that “This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.” [RFE/RL, August 18, 2025.]

And he was pushing for the first such meeting to be held as quickly as possible, preferably within a few days.

The following morning, that idea was blown out of the water by Russian foreign affairs adviser Yury Ushakov, whose statement to the press made it quite clear that Putin’s attendance at such a meeting was not engraved in stone, and that they had merely “discussed that it would be worthwhile to explore the possibility of raising the level of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides — that is, those representatives participating in the mentioned direct negotiations. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agreed to maintain close contact with each other on the Ukrainian issue and other pressing topics on the international and bilateral agenda.” [Lidia Kelly, Reuters, August 18, 2025.]

“Other pressing topics”?? With half of Europe’s leadership waiting in the next room to tackle one urgent issue — Ukraine — Donnie and Vlad were discussing . . . what? Increased trade? Easing of sanctions? The price of vodka and caviar?

But what about the f*cking war??!!!

Well, on Tuesday the 19th, Trump finally admitted that this conflict has turned out to be “a tough one” to resolve, and that it was possible that Putin has zero interest in ending the war in the foreseeable future. His comment:

“We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks. It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal.” [Laura Gozzi, BBC News, August 20, 2025.]

Welcome to reality, genius.

So now, after a frantic week of hastily-arranged meetings, overseas flights and multiple phone conferences, we’re back to a “couple of weeks.” Which means we’re essentially back to square one. Only now, Putin has not merely bought himself more time — during which, not incidentally, he has continued to bomb the hell out of Ukraine — but has also emerged, bright and shiny, from the political purgatory he brought on himself when he invaded Ukraine.

Yes, Vladimir Putin is back . . . large and in charge. And Trump doesn’t know which way to turn.

I could offer a suggestion, but it wouldn’t be nice.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/21/25