The backfire to the on camera Trump/Vance ambush of Zelensky is beginning updated. 3/3/2025

Update: 3/4/2025 Zelensky signals he will return to the negotiating table.  In the meantime, Trump trumped the lie in his state of the union address 3/4/2025 that Europe had provided less suppor than the US has done. https://www.factcheck.org/2025/03/trump-exaggerates-on-u-s-and-european-aid-to-ukraine-loans/

 Update: 3/1/2025 https://www.foxnews.com/world/world-leaders-back-zelenskyy-following-trump-vance-oval-office-spat     Vance's ambush of Zelensky backfires on the US. World leaders line up behind Zelensky. There is at chance Europe will now back Zelensky, enabling him to continue fighting in spite of the US pressuring him to accept a bad deal with Russia. This may signal an irreparable break with Europe as an ally, leaving the US allied with Russia, Iran, and North Korea, among others. 

Zelensky met with European leaders following the  Oval Office blowup, and they are crafting an alternative peace plan. It would still require some participation by the US.  Given Trump's determination to ally with Russia, that may not get very far. The next step after that is a work in process with Europe forming a "coalition of the willing"..https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-britain-zelenskyy-europe-starmer-trump-russia-b980170ead74a1a7914c565f14ee6cc9

3/5/2025  Germany restructures debt laws  to increase spending on military and aid to Ukraine. German parties agree historic debt overhaul to revamp military and economy | Reuters

Right now, it looks like Europe is buying some time, calling for a one month truce.https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-britain-propose-partial-one-month-ukraine-truce-macron-tells-le-figaro-2025-03-02/

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/is-putin-blackmailing-us-and-west-with.html  Is Putin using nuclear threats to blackmail the US to capitulate and appease.?  It sounds like it.

  After Trump-Zelensky blowup, Europe may be more willing to seize frozen Russian assets while EU official says ‘the free world needs a new leader Does Europe have any bargaining chips with Russia? Not yet on the table, Europe holds $330 billion in frozen Russian assets, which are kept for rebuilding Ukraine. While Europe is reluctant to use such frozen assets of another nation's sovereign fund, it could be a bargaining chip as part of a guarantee of Ukraine's security. It could be used if Russia attacked NATO allies.. If released, the money could be used for Ukraine's purchase of weapons on the open market. That could be appealing to Germany, which is already a major manufacturer of weapons for Ukraine and would cut out US manufacturers that are benefitting now.

Trump's error is assuming Ukraine has no other alternatives, so he had them over the barrel. With the elections in Germany resulting in a coalition of a centrist government and a coalition of the left and right of center, the path is cleared for Europe to give security guarantees and defend Ukraine's sovereignty independent of the US. France has already done so.

If Trump persists, he will be left with no deal, no peace in our times, and the fall out of disgust of his alliance with Russia, even the failure of capitulation and to

appeasement, and the end of 70 years of transatlantic alliance.

Trump will find himself allied with Russia, Iran,China, North Korea and a bunch of others. We used to call some of them the "axis of evil". This is not isolationism. It is entaglements of the worst kind

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpv4n0dg3v3o

https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/trump-ukraine-deal-russia-minerals-putin-zelensky

Update: 2/28/2025   I just witnessed a s...t show on a presser with Zelensky and Trump with JD Vance on the attack. The upshot of Trump/Vance "Be grateful, Zelensky, we are taking your mineral rights with no guarantee of your security, and you have no choice but to agree with us." That Zelensky sat through the most disgusting show of an Oval Office presser in the history of the US was a remarkable show of self-restraint. He made no reference to the past bad blood between Trump and him. However, it was dredged up by Vance and Trump's personal attack.., bringing up dirt stretching back to Hunter Biden and impeachment resorting extortion attempt, was just plain ugly and made uglier with the parting words, "If you don't say you are grateful, " your country is finished," and we will have WWIII. This is on TV live. You do not negotiate like that. But it exposed the bully that Trump is and how much of a satellite nation of Russia that the US has become. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkXWNiTQbV0     The threat of WWIII was an echo of the Kremlin line.