Day 1029
Spinning the Krebs cycle backwards
The big news yesterday was getting rid of three large plants and the fish before the move. We found a nice new meditative home for them.
Michael and Craig wrote a long whatever for the Just Security blog, titled Trump’s Endgame for the War in Ukraine1.
At the end of the day, a Trump-Putin dialogue outlining the endgame of Russia’s war in Ukraine won’t be as much about Ukraine as President Zelenskyy would have liked. It will be about Trump getting his second term off on what he perceives to be a strong start⎯settling the Ukraine war as promised, locking in cheap oil to offset the cost of his tariffs, securing foreign funding for our national security upgrades, and dampening the conflict in the Middle East.
This immediately reminded of the scene from the American sitcom Seinfeld.
Kramer: You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple.
Newman: The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine.
We are in the 11th year of a war in which Ukrainians chose to resist invasion in the name of freedom, a concept too many people in America and Europe confuse with “getting away with stuff.”
Eva has a big spread in Politico about the war that also made me queazy2.
Ultimately, analysts, said, the outcome of the war will likely depend on the decisions of the combatants’ primary backers: NATO and China.
Actually, no. The outcome will depend, first and foremost, on Ukrainians. And it’s not “Three years in,” according to the subtitle of Eva’s essay, but “For more than a decade.”
In other news, Donald’s incoming Ukraine envoy, Keith, will travel to Kyiv and several other European capitals in early January on “a fact-finding trip.”
Keith will join Lex, a shill for people who often don’t know what they’re talking about (especially when they’re talking about Ukraine). Lex plans a 3-hour chat with Z. Maybe he can interview Keith, as well.
Trump’s Endgame for the War in Ukraine (Just Security, December 17, 2024)
World War III is already underway. In Ukraine. Three years in, Russia’s invasion has drawn in dozens of countries (Politico, December 18, 2024)