Nice Country You Got Here...

     Perusing the news these days isn't so much news aggregation as it is an assault on basic human sensibility. I can't think of one day in the last 37 in which we haven't been traumatized by one atrocity, insanity or blatant criminal act.

     Donald Trump's Cosa Nostra style of "governance" is something that would make most Mafia dons blush. His attitude toward Ukraine is a prime case in point.

     He's essentially told Zelenskyy that he'll only put American boots on the ground if they sign over half their mineral rights without offering any guarantee that we'll live up to our end of the bargain. And, most alarmingly, Zelenskyy is said to be more than seriously entertaining this "offer" and is about to sign a mineral rights deal with a guy who was not long ago convicted on 34 counts of fraud and is infamous for breaking promises and contracts.

     Anyone who seriously thinks that Trump will militarily confront Russian forces in Ukraine just because he strong-armed Zelenskyy into a crooked mineral rights deal should get their head examined. Europe's major powers are wise to Trump. French President Macron told Trump at the White House that American military involvement would be crucial to Ukraine's stability. Trump wouldn't officially commit to it. British Prime Minister Starmer is planning on going to the White House soon in another doomed quest to get a promise of US military involvement.

     Meanwhile, this is how much Russia fears us.

     If Trump is naive enough to rely on Russia's forbearance (especially considering how Russian state TV openly mocks and jeers him and calls him, "our boy"), then he's more stupid than most give him credit for. Remember, this is the same tyrant who put a bounty on the heads of American troops and in Helsinki in 2018, Trump took Putin's side against that of his own intelligence agencies. You're damned right Putin would have no problem killing US troops in Ukraine and you're damned right Trump would let him and even lie about the circumstances.

     And when Trump says that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine either time if he was president, Vladimir Putin laughs into his elbow.

     And if that isn't enough, you have Elon Musk putting pressure on Ukraine to capitulate by threatening to cut off Ukraine's Starlink access, which they never should have signed up for, to begin with.

     What Trump is doing is a shakedown, a protection racket, minus the protection. The so-called negotiations in Saudi Arabia in which Ukraine was pointedly locked out, saw arrogant Russians, led by Lavrov, offering absolutely no concessions whatsoever. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio looked as if he was a hostage in a terrorist video with a K-Bar knife to his throat.

     I've said it before and I'll say it again: Trump is teeing us up for WW III and, unless something is done to stop that lunatic, the first shots will be fired in Ukraine. Ukraine's sovereignty and value to Europe cannot be overstated. It's the largest nation in Europe by far and provides an invaluable physical bulwark between Europe and Russia.

     Since the war started three years and two days ago, NATO has been slow-walking Ukraine's membership for this very reason that Russia's physical presence there would automatically trigger Article 5 and mandate all 33 NATO nations to send troops to Ukraine's defense. But Trump has chosen to make Article 5 conditional on whether or not Ukraine sells half its mineral rights to us. And if Ukraine gets NATO membership, it'll be at least most of NATO against a nuclear power.

     And Trump couldn't care less if that happens. Because that's what happens when you put a sociopath in the Oval Office.