Not NATO But NATO-ish

     Even Putin knew that the "deal" he offered to Trump in Alaska yesterday stunk to high heaven. Or maybe Trump's Depends diaper needed to be changed.

     But the only "concession" that was offered by the Russians at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base was that Ukraine would be offered "NATO-like" security guarantees that are somewhat reminiscent of NATO but not quite the same thing. Of course, the witless Steve Witkoff, who against all rhyme and reason is allowed to meddle in our affairs with Russia, called it "game changing."

     Which, of course, is contingent on Putin rigging the game in his favor.

      Here's the thing- This NATO-ish security guarantee for Ukraine, which pointedly didn't include Ukraine, would include Russia. This would permit Russia to maintain a massive footprint in Europe's largest country and would also allow them to continue bombing civilian areas in Ukraine in the name of "security". It would essentially be giving a military uniform to the home invader in your house.

 

     Another important distinction would be that if this wasn't officially a NATO security operation, Putin wouldn't be running the risk of running afoul of Article 5, the very heart of the NATO pact that states that an attack on a NATO nation would be an attack on all. As insane as he is, even Putin doesn't want to go up against all 32 NATO nations. This is why he's bitterly opposed to Ukraine joining NATO.

     But as any foreign policy expert can tell you, any security deal that includes Russia isn't a guarantee at all. And as long as NATO is slow-walking Ukraine's membership because of Russia's nuclear arsenal, Putin would still be allowed to get away with virtually anything.

     Trump yipped and yapped ahead of the meeting, threatening that unless Putin agreed to a cease fire, there would be unspecified "severe repercussion". Putin, of course, didn't agree to any such thing then Trump slunk off to play golf at his club.

     In the end, as those of us with some brains predicted, the "summit" in Anchorage was all about pageantry and spectacle, optics for optics' sake. But, as with Trump's sad military parade on June 14th, even the optics weren't up to snuff. Putin didn't even stay for the planned lunch and instead smirked his way back to Moscow. Trump sought refuge at his golf course and pouted that the press was being mean to him for pointing out the screamingly obvious fact that, once again, he failed to achieve anything worthwhle during a meeting with Putin.