Let's see how the new Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, handled the Oval Office ambush on June 5, 2025. Merz had the advantage of seeing Trump's ambush of earlier visitors twice. How did Merz do? Nimble, wise, and no pushover. This is a report written as the press conference unfolds in real time.(a prelude to more private discussions). My takeaway from the presser: Trump may have met an immovable object besides Zelensky: Friedrich Merz, while Trump's bromance with Putin is back on again for today.(masTACO?). More: A possible ambush went awry; Merz places the blame on Trump for the war continuing, arguing that he had the power to halt it by pressuring Putin.
The agreement was clear: both wanted peace. How to get there was the profound rub. On sales of American natural gas to Germany, Trump seemed ok, but (the US has plenty of gas), he is tying it to tariff talks later between them.: Trump on German rearmament," guess it's a good thing Germany rearms.(up to a point: We'll be watching".(This could be a veiled warning to Germany; Trump may object to German missiles fired by Ukraine deep into Russia, which Merz just approved, as Trump holds onto his love of Putin)
When asked about support for Ukraine, Trump went off on diversions and deflections that were red meat for the local media and did not answer. It will be interesting to see how Merz deals with all of this as discussions continue. Merz is fluent in English and conducted this presser without a translator. Most press questions from the Trump chosen friendly press corps were about national issues, immigration,/deportation budget bill, Musk, showing to me that the domestic press does not have a clue about the context of this meeting or just lobbed softballs to give Trump a chance to comment on domestic issues and to avoid a profound conflict of Trump and Merz over Ukraine policy. The pertinent questions for Germany were asked by the German press attending, it appears.
Merz later attempted to press Trump on Ukraine and US support, urging the follow-up discussions to put Ukraine on their agenda, but once again, Trump went off on how well recruitment was going in the US army (wink,wink: Germans are also against DEI) . Trump then continued and went off like a sad third-party analyst. Tsk-tsking the conflict, pinning no blame on Putin as he talked about yesterday's phone call with Putin, again with his refusing to take a side in the conflict, confirming the war will go on, and the West should stop hitting Russia's interior. Stop it, he said. He then made a sorry analogy... both sides (Putin, Ukraine) hate each other so war will go on in spite of his efforts to bring peace.." Just like two kids fighting..they'll get tired of it. Get tired of it. Sadly, the war will go on". There was no recognition that Russia invaded Ukraine, trying to annex it to Russia, or that Ukraine was fighting as a nation for its very survival. Or that Putin's latest peace conditions were a complete surrender of Ukraine, no security, give up Russian-occupied territory to Russia, etc.. " It was as if," Trump said, "Let the two kids fight it out; they will get tired of it, and then they will discuss". Trump firmly believes that Russia has more guns and cannon fodder, so Russia will win anyway.. Trump obviously has not counted on the wild card: Germany.
Merz, after giving Trump plenty of say, then set the stage for the world to blame Trump for the continuing conflict when he responded:" The only way to get peace is to put pressure on Putin. Germany is backing Ukraine. and building up their strength to do so. However, the US has that ability to put pressure on Putin now." It looks like Merz pinned the blame on the lack of peace negotiations right on Trump for not putting pressure on Putin, saying the only way to bring about peace was to arm and support Ukraine, which could be done with more German help.
An ambush gone wrong? Trump once again talked about the body parts of those killed in the conflict as to why he wanted peace now, and Merz countered that the carnage was done with Russian weapons against Ukrainian civilians and that Ukrainians were not targeting civilians like the Russians were doing.. Merz must have gotten an inkling that the pictures Trump was about to show were of military killed in battle, as Trump referenced a video he wanted to show. (and then didn't) It looks like Merz knew Trump was going to key up pictures of body parts and headed it off.. Trump tried a similar ambush stunt on the visiting South African president that turned out to be a video of the Congo atrocities, not South African black on white farmers as it was purported to show.
Trump's TACO waffling with Putin and his "throwing up his hands and walking away" signals something else more than just passively benefiting, bro Putin. It also signals that third-party actions like Germany's have taken control of the situation from his hands. Both Putin and Trump made an epic miscalculation, assuming that Europe would never step up to the plate or not realizing that Ukrainians would be able to change the nature of modern warfare and manufacture their own drones to compensate for the lack of fighting manpower.
Continuing with an earlier posting 6/4/2025
While Spider Web was an ace up Zelensky's sleeve, the media in the US overlooked a long-term, more significant story: Germany's rearmining. Germany's rearmament is helped by a shift in German public opinion to the right, spurred on recently by fallout from the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky. Feb28. It resulted in the election of a new chancellor, May 6, who was committed to keeping Ukraine out of Russian hands. Friedrich Merz's conservative party had won the plurality of parliament Feb. 23, but assembling a coalition to reach a majority took some time. As soon as Merz was confirmed, he seized the Ukraine issue by the horns as a national security issue and vowed to increase Germany's conventional army dramatically. The Meaning of Germany's Dramatic Rearmament | TIME
Merz then gives Ukraine the ability to use their missiles deep inside Russia.Does Germany's new military deal with Ukraine signal a more muscular stance on Russia? | DW News
Since WW II, Germany had virtually disbanded its military because of their history and internal opposition to Germany living up to its 2% commitment to NATO. Public opinion shifted (enhancing a recent trend to the right) after the Oval Office ambush of Zelensky and a realization that the US was no longer their military umbrella to protect themselves from the threat Russia's control of Ukraine presented to their own national security, and a realization that all of Western Europe would be destabilized.
It was an ace up Zelensky's sleeve that neither Trump nor Putin had counted on. Germany is emerging as both an economic and a military powerhouse, not to be ignored or discounted by Trump. Putin has overplayed his own hand and inspired Germany to rearm. If Trump thought Zelensky had no more cards to play and should accept a virtual surrender to Trump's pal, Putin, he was so wrong. Ukraine still believes it can win and is not ready to agree to Russia's terms, which are a virtual surrender. Putin thinks his superior numbers of fighters will win and outlast Ukraine. Ukraine's use of drones that it manufactures itself is how Ukraine can compensate for the lack of manpower. The success of Operation Spider Web and the damage to Russia's bridge to Crimea suggest that even a short-term peace agreement will not be reached. Both sides still think they can win.
Germany will not be up to full speed and force for a couple of years, but already has the ability to be effective with missiles. Trump's approval of US military aid to Ukraine is still critical in the short term. If he disapproves, and Ukraine collapses to Russia, he will go down in history as the president who lost Ukraine (he had the ability to save Ukrane, and did nothing) which will make Biden's nasty withdrawal from Afghanistan look like some, including Lindsay Graham, see it as a"walk in the park". To walk away will be Trump's blunder that will forever follow him into history.
Another miscalculation by Trump is the impressive bipartisan support still in Congress for Ukraine that is veto-proof.. The Graham-Blumenthal bill to impose more sanctions on Russia may pass despite Trump's reluctance to cross his buddy in the Kremlin.. Trump's waffling is another TACO that the pro-Ukraine backers in Congress are hoping for.
https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/trump-and-putin-going-at-ukraine-again.html
https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/time-for-trump-to-put-money-where-his.html
https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/trumps-epic-miscalculation-on-ukraine.html
MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9q6w6NGN0
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