Trump's charisma has very little effect on Putin

Gaslighting in the Oval Office on February 28 left the ball in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s court.  

The conversation in Jeddah on March 11 passed the ball to Putin.  

On March 18, Trump stepped onto the field hoping to blow the final whistle but ended up getting hit in the face with the ball by Putin.  

And it wasn’t a football — it was a basketball.

Now, despite all the unpleasant feelings, the ball needs to be put back into play. Extra time is needed — but not by football rules, rather by hockey rules (after all, they agreed to play hockey). And in the NHL, overtime can last a very long time — until one team concedes the decisive goal.

And how can the ball be put back into play? By once again halting intelligence sharing and arms supplies while demanding a stop to mobilization?  

No one will agree to halt mobilization, and completely stopping the flow of weapons is impossible — there’s too little leverage over countries like France.  

Pressure on Ukraine is, of course, an option, but then even in Yemen, it will be clear whose side Donnie is playing for.

The only option left is to increase pressure on Russia (as promised), but that would mean postponing the hockey match.

Or create the illusion that it wasn’t really a priority anyway and redirect all fury toward the Houthis, Mexican migrants, or Colombian drug cartels.  

Honestly, Donald Trump’s peace initiatives have been underwhelming so far. His charisma seems to have little effect on Putin.

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About the author. Denys Popovych, journalist, military observer

The editorial staff do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.