Well, at least my worst fears were not realized: Volodymyr Zelensky left Mar-a-Lago visibly unscathed, and on a somewhat hopeful note.

According to Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Shevchenko, speaking to BBC News, Zelensky indicated that his latest 20-point proposal has been 90% guaranteed . . . though he didn’t say which 10% remained at issue. Presumably, that would involve Russia’s territorial claims on the Donbas and Zaporizhzhia regions, and the possibility of establishing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) or special economic zone along the Ukraine-Russia border.

University of Southern California Professor Robert English told the BBC that he felt the parties were trying hard to be optimistic in the face of the major sticking points not yet agreed to, but that there remained a good deal of work to be done.

And speaking alongside Zelensky on CNN, Donald Trump — well, he was just being Trump. He said they had made “a lot of progress,” and “had discussions on just about every subject,” including in his pre-meeting phone call with Vladimir Putin. He then added — taking on his real identity as a hotelier — that they had had a nice lunch, and hoped Zelensky had enjoyed the food.

To which the Ukrainian President — in Florida for the sole purpose of saving what is left of his country and not for the food — sidestepped that little non sequitur, instead reiterating that Ukraine is ready for peace. And he wisely remembered to thank Trump again for all of his efforts . . . but stopped short of genuflecting.

So there we are, without sufficient details on which to base a forecast, or even a guess, as to what we might expect from all of this year-end effort. There is, of course, still the post-meeting call to be held between Trump and Putin, which I doubt will hold many surprises in view of Putin’s immovable demands and his refusal even to agree on a ceasefire during negotiations.

And as we await the results of that upcoming talk, I can’t help visualizing that conversation taking place between a Russian Dr. Strangelove, with his finger on the nuclear button, and an American version of an innkeeper named Thenardier (from Les Miserables), “relieving” his guests of whatever he could get his grubby little hands on.

Such is the world we now inhabit. But how on earth did we allow it to get to this point?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/28/25