All that is happening is that Hamas has asked Israel to keep to their side of the bargain with the ceasefire and Trump intervened with a typical exaggerated and dumb remark that he knows nobody involved can take seriously.
You are being proven wrong on a lot of things. Congress is doing nothing to stop him. He is ready to drop support for Ukraine. I know you want to help people but Pink coloring the truth won't help in the long term. American democracy IS dying and if americans hope to save it they have to react.
Sorry just seen this. First, Trump didn't attack Gaza Strip which is what people were scared of when I wrote this post. I can make mistakes but I never sugar coat things.
It's the courts not Congress that are stopping Trump's executive orders. They have moved remarkably quickly for the courts. There are things Congress can do - and aren't doing yet.
However, he'll start to face major problems with Congress as soon as March 14th when he will face a government shutdown unless he can get Democrats on his side.
You may find my latest post on that helpful:
BLOG: Remote chance of a constitutional crisis
— certainty of legal cases
— US remains a democracy
— voters respond in special elections and mid terms
As for Ukraine I'm about to do a new post about that. Trump has energised Europe. He may be doing something called "creative destruction" from businesses. It's far too soon to know where it goes next. He needs to do something creative out of the chaos he's caused so far.
Trump might be using a business method called creative destruction - destroying to make space for creativity - too early to see the creative phase
Interesting interview on the BBC with Andrei Kozyrev, first foreign minister of Russia after breakup of the Soviet Union. It rather resembles what Boris Johnson said in his tweet, in rather more detail.
He thinks that Trump wants to do something very different to try to achieve peace as he promised. By destruction he means tearing down the preconceived ideas about how to deal with the situation. Then to find some creative way forward from that which hasn't happened yet.
He also thinks that Zelensky should negotiate with Trump over the minerals deal. He says Zelensky should come up with a counter-suggestion - because Trump recognizes him as the leader in that deal - he asked Zelensky to sign it nobody else. So it's Zelensky's opportunity to deal with Trump as a leader he recognizes.
Transcript (BBC)
Let's talk to Andrei Kozyrev who was the first foreign minister of Russia after the break up of the USSR. Russia's current foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was his deputy at the time.
Mr Kozyerev thankyou very much for joining us on BBC news today. I want to begin by asking you if you think that America understands what Russia's strategic objectives are at this time, not just towards Ukraine. Do you think America understands what those objectives are and in your view what does Vladmir Putin want to do at this point?
I think that the idea that Putin wants peace that's completely wrong or that Putin even wants to stop the war. Putin benefits from the war because it allows him to strengthen his dictatorship and intimidation in Russia itself and serves his long term interest in humiliating, in discrediting and undermining as much as possible the European countries, NATO countries and America so it's clear Zelensky is a great war president and by the Ukrainian Constitution he just cannot have elections right now and he won the election.
But Mr Trump is elected president of the United States fairly and clearly and I think he's desperate to do something very different.
He's from business. I was also in business for the last 25 years and there is a very useful notion of creative destruction.
So he starts with destruction. Destruction doesn't make much sense with me but it's okay.
It's probably a first step, destruction. But then there should be creation. And that's where there is no clarity from the administration.
Let's see what happens. It's probably a little early for this stage of creation.
Q. Andrei, just to pick up on that, Russia has done almost nothing at least from the point of view of Ukraine and yet it has received these concessions from the US. NATO membership for Ukraine is off the table. A return to pre 2014 borders for Ukraine is off the table. These talks are happening. There's as softening of the American position towards Russia. What incentive is there for president Putin to do anything when he seems to have got this much of a win for doing nothing?
A. It's a mistake in any negotiations, be it peace negotiations and diplomatic negotiations, to present gifts. But that's probably a reverse approach to the correct one.
The correct one would be to show Putin a big stick because that's the language that he understands, that he uses force.
So that stick should be not only shown but put in action one way or the other, like sanctions or even giving war weapons immediately to Ukraine.
Q. But if that stick isn't there that you are talking about, how happy will president Putin be with the last week?
A. Yes exactly. He answered to this approach of carrots. They tried to give him carrots to make him more agreeable. But he answers by asking for more and more. So sooner or later that should be realized in Washington.
Q. Beyond those sanctions you talked about Andrei, could the stick be like some sort of peace keeping force reassurance forces Britain and France have been talking about haven't they? We know that Vladimir Putin has been talking about any force like that in Ukraine would be unacceptable to him. President Trump says he's fine with that idea. So could that be a wait forward despite Vladimir Putin's objections?
A. Well "could", "would" that's true but it's absolutely premature and to my mind and to my mind it's just distration from the real agenda. I wonder what Europeans are seriously discussing a peace-keeping force.
A peace-keeping force means there is either peace, or a truce between the sides like Korea or whatever. But there is no peace or even ceasefire in sight right now.
So right now it's preliminary negotiations. Nobody really talks about that in a serious manner. So that's not something Europe should prepare.
And especially great countries like Great Britain and France, nuclear states.
The real issue now is to help Ukraine to fight and defend itself. It was on the table for the last three years and there is a lot of room to increase this pressure and there is a lot of room to increase the sanctions because they are very porous . They are not observed even if they are declared. And there is much more to be done or could be done.
So that is to my mind premature.
Q. So what do you think is president Putin's game plan here. Is it Oh yes we'll go to the table and have these talks and it is just a delaying tactic and all the time the war continues in Ukraine?
A. Yes. The war will continue in Ukraine whatever happens immediately. It might be much more bloody if Ukraine is not supplied more and more sophisticated weapons than before. That's the task for France and great Britain with all due respect - unsolicitated advice.
But one thing I see for Ukraine and I already told it to Ukrainian media. They could seize the opportunity for excavation of the resources, especially especially rare Earth metals. That's a good opportunity.
But if they don't like the proposal made by Americans, make your own proposal. As we just heard on the program, the new security advisor to Trump says "let's negotiate" and I would do that very much because Americans like the use.
They asked Zelensky to sign the agreement. That means full recognition that he is legitimate. It means that they should be there to complete the agreement, it's a good idea.
Andrei Kozyrev former minister of foreign affairs under Boris Yeltsin
Checking Boris Johnson's tweet - he also supports seizing the $300 billion Russian foreign reserves which are mostly held in Belgium. That's something Zelensky asked for recently too.
He makes some good points here:
TWEET STARTS
When are we Europeans going to stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?
Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.
Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945.
Of course Zelenskyy’s ratings are not 4%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.
Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action.
In particular the US can see $300bn of frozen Russian assets - mainly in Belgium. That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support.
Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash?
The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.
You are being proven wrong on a lot of things. Congress is doing nothing to stop him. He is ready to drop support for Ukraine. I know you want to help people but Pink coloring the truth won't help in the long term. American democracy IS dying and if americans hope to save it they have to react.
Sorry just seen this. First, Trump didn't attack Gaza Strip which is what people were scared of when I wrote this post. I can make mistakes but I never sugar coat things.
It's the courts not Congress that are stopping Trump's executive orders. They have moved remarkably quickly for the courts. There are things Congress can do - and aren't doing yet.
However, he'll start to face major problems with Congress as soon as March 14th when he will face a government shutdown unless he can get Democrats on his side.
You may find my latest post on that helpful:
BLOG: Remote chance of a constitutional crisis
— certainty of legal cases
— US remains a democracy
— voters respond in special elections and mid terms
— and legislators speak for constituents
https://robertinventor.substack.com/p/remote-chance-of-a-constitutional
As for Ukraine I'm about to do a new post about that. Trump has energised Europe. He may be doing something called "creative destruction" from businesses. It's far too soon to know where it goes next. He needs to do something creative out of the chaos he's caused so far.
Trump might be using a business method called creative destruction - destroying to make space for creativity - too early to see the creative phase
Interesting interview on the BBC with Andrei Kozyrev, first foreign minister of Russia after breakup of the Soviet Union. It rather resembles what Boris Johnson said in his tweet, in rather more detail.
He thinks that Trump wants to do something very different to try to achieve peace as he promised. By destruction he means tearing down the preconceived ideas about how to deal with the situation. Then to find some creative way forward from that which hasn't happened yet.
He also thinks that Zelensky should negotiate with Trump over the minerals deal. He says Zelensky should come up with a counter-suggestion - because Trump recognizes him as the leader in that deal - he asked Zelensky to sign it nobody else. So it's Zelensky's opportunity to deal with Trump as a leader he recognizes.
Transcript (BBC)
Let's talk to Andrei Kozyrev who was the first foreign minister of Russia after the break up of the USSR. Russia's current foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was his deputy at the time.
Mr Kozyerev thankyou very much for joining us on BBC news today. I want to begin by asking you if you think that America understands what Russia's strategic objectives are at this time, not just towards Ukraine. Do you think America understands what those objectives are and in your view what does Vladmir Putin want to do at this point?
I think that the idea that Putin wants peace that's completely wrong or that Putin even wants to stop the war. Putin benefits from the war because it allows him to strengthen his dictatorship and intimidation in Russia itself and serves his long term interest in humiliating, in discrediting and undermining as much as possible the European countries, NATO countries and America so it's clear Zelensky is a great war president and by the Ukrainian Constitution he just cannot have elections right now and he won the election.
But Mr Trump is elected president of the United States fairly and clearly and I think he's desperate to do something very different.
He's from business. I was also in business for the last 25 years and there is a very useful notion of creative destruction.
So he starts with destruction. Destruction doesn't make much sense with me but it's okay.
It's probably a first step, destruction. But then there should be creation. And that's where there is no clarity from the administration.
Let's see what happens. It's probably a little early for this stage of creation.
Q. Andrei, just to pick up on that, Russia has done almost nothing at least from the point of view of Ukraine and yet it has received these concessions from the US. NATO membership for Ukraine is off the table. A return to pre 2014 borders for Ukraine is off the table. These talks are happening. There's as softening of the American position towards Russia. What incentive is there for president Putin to do anything when he seems to have got this much of a win for doing nothing?
A. It's a mistake in any negotiations, be it peace negotiations and diplomatic negotiations, to present gifts. But that's probably a reverse approach to the correct one.
The correct one would be to show Putin a big stick because that's the language that he understands, that he uses force.
So that stick should be not only shown but put in action one way or the other, like sanctions or even giving war weapons immediately to Ukraine.
Q. But if that stick isn't there that you are talking about, how happy will president Putin be with the last week?
A. Yes exactly. He answered to this approach of carrots. They tried to give him carrots to make him more agreeable. But he answers by asking for more and more. So sooner or later that should be realized in Washington.
Q. Beyond those sanctions you talked about Andrei, could the stick be like some sort of peace keeping force reassurance forces Britain and France have been talking about haven't they? We know that Vladimir Putin has been talking about any force like that in Ukraine would be unacceptable to him. President Trump says he's fine with that idea. So could that be a wait forward despite Vladimir Putin's objections?
A. Well "could", "would" that's true but it's absolutely premature and to my mind and to my mind it's just distration from the real agenda. I wonder what Europeans are seriously discussing a peace-keeping force.
A peace-keeping force means there is either peace, or a truce between the sides like Korea or whatever. But there is no peace or even ceasefire in sight right now.
So right now it's preliminary negotiations. Nobody really talks about that in a serious manner. So that's not something Europe should prepare.
And especially great countries like Great Britain and France, nuclear states.
The real issue now is to help Ukraine to fight and defend itself. It was on the table for the last three years and there is a lot of room to increase this pressure and there is a lot of room to increase the sanctions because they are very porous . They are not observed even if they are declared. And there is much more to be done or could be done.
So that is to my mind premature.
Q. So what do you think is president Putin's game plan here. Is it Oh yes we'll go to the table and have these talks and it is just a delaying tactic and all the time the war continues in Ukraine?
A. Yes. The war will continue in Ukraine whatever happens immediately. It might be much more bloody if Ukraine is not supplied more and more sophisticated weapons than before. That's the task for France and great Britain with all due respect - unsolicitated advice.
But one thing I see for Ukraine and I already told it to Ukrainian media. They could seize the opportunity for excavation of the resources, especially especially rare Earth metals. That's a good opportunity.
But if they don't like the proposal made by Americans, make your own proposal. As we just heard on the program, the new security advisor to Trump says "let's negotiate" and I would do that very much because Americans like the use.
They asked Zelensky to sign the agreement. That means full recognition that he is legitimate. It means that they should be there to complete the agreement, it's a good idea.
Andrei Kozyrev former minister of foreign affairs under Boris Yeltsin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Kozyrev
Boris Johnson's take - Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action
The worst case here is just that the war in Ukraine continues and we don't get peace as early as we could.
See my:
BLOG: Negotiations are only just started over ending the Ukraine war
— we shouldn't read much into the discussions between US and Russia
— the path to peace starts in earnest when Trump talks to Zelensky
READ HERE:
https://robertinventor.substack.com/p/negotiations-are-only-just-started
Checking Boris Johnson's tweet - he also supports seizing the $300 billion Russian foreign reserves which are mostly held in Belgium. That's something Zelensky asked for recently too.
He makes some good points here:
TWEET STARTS
When are we Europeans going to stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?
Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.
Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945.
Of course Zelenskyy’s ratings are not 4%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.
Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action.
In particular the US can see $300bn of frozen Russian assets - mainly in Belgium. That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support.
Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash?
The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.
https://x.com/BorisJohnson/status/1892174821368201619