Trump Steps Up?

You get the idea that Trump waits for polling to speak on important issues. To me, I get a different vibe from this Trump compared to the first one, and I don’t feel that I have any handle on him this time around. Presumably the polling has told Trump that Americans really, really don’t want war with Russia. First, Trump’s statement:

Trump ‘vehemently disagrees’ with use of US missiles by Ukraine in Russia
Yahoo - The Telegraph ^ | December 12, 2024 | Joe Barnes

Donald Trump has said he “vehemently” disagrees with the decision to permit Ukraine to strike targets within Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles.

The president-elect said the policy switch by Joe Biden’s administration had escalated the war between Russia and Ukraine, and “made things worse”.

“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia,” Mr Trump told Time in an interview to mark being named the magazine’s person of the year for a second time.

“Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done.”

Mr Biden, the outgoing president, took the decision last month on the use of Atacms rockets within Russia by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv had begged Washington for months for permission for such long-range strikes but was repeatedly rebuffed because of fears over escalation.

…

However, he pledged not to “abandon” Ukraine in his planned negotiations with Putin amid fears he could force Kyiv into a sub-optimal peace deal.

“You can’t reach an agreement if you abandon, in my opinion,” the president-elect said.

He added: “You know, this is a war that’s been — this is a tragedy. This is death that’s far greater than anyone knows. When the real numbers come out, you’re going to see numbers that you’re not going to believe.”

What seems clear is that Trump is attempting to thread a needle. These current statements are an obvious contradiction of his past statements that he would consider an enormous escalation against Russia if Putin failed to do as Trump demanded of him in negotiations. But the current statements will certainly not please the Kiev regime and are very unlikely to impress Putin any more than previous Trumpian rhetoric did—Putin should be grateful that Trump now says one form of the US war on Russia shouldn’t have been taken? Again, this all looks like an (understandable) attempt to thread a needle—on the one hand, a reachout to Putin, on the other hand a defensive stance against renewed Russia Hoax smears at home. Perhaps Trump is beginning to understand the Russian position and the difficulty—even weakness—of his own position when it comes to peace:

[Sergei] Naryshkin [head of Russia’s SRV] dismissed Zelenskiy as lacking both "legitimacy" and "the ability to negotiate." While the Kremlin has been signalling all summer that it wants to end the war as Russia’s economy starts to come under real pressure, it is not clear with whom [Russia] is willing to talk.

Nevertheless, no matter how we parse this, it’s progress of a sort. Any repudiation of the past bankrupt Anglo-Zionist policies—even a partial repudiation—is a welcome step in the right direction. Perhaps this is also a first step toward confronting Ruling Class efforts to sabotage Trump 2.0.

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

People don’t understand how sinister the Democratic Party has become. They plan to break the backs of the American people under high oil prices just to make @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance’s first year more difficult. These are not normal people - seriously.

Last edited11:19 AM · Dec 12, 2024

But this breaking news confirms something I was speculating about:

-- GEROMAN -- time will tell - -- @GeromanAT

that new leadership in Syria is sitting in Ankara. Russia is also still holding bases in the SDF held area (NW Syria)

Quote

dana @dana916

Russia is close to reaching an agreement with the new leadership of Syria to maintain two bases in the country - Bloomberg, citing two unnamed sources. FRWL

11:08 AM · Dec 12, 2024

Specifically, the reports run like this:

Nebula @ShiftFalse 

They are losing Lattakia. But keeping Hemiem base and a port Tartus

11:38 AM · Dec 12, 2024

Obviously this is a big switch from Erdogan’s initial statements that foreign bases had no place in “Syria”. We’ll have to see how this works out. My guess is that Erdogan has realized he’s entering an indefinite period of confrontation with the Anglo-Zionists and may be at a disadvantage. Thus he may now be looking for a counter balance. Russia fulfills that role admirably, while Erdogan figures out his next steps. Of course, Russia is probably already looking for either alternatives or additional basing opportunities in the Mediterranean—perhaps Egypt or Algeria. Or Iran.