Sunday Thoughts

Something I noticed after recording the show is that there was absolutely zero Ukraine news, not even at the bottom of Memeorandum, where you see old links. The talks with Russia halted last week with a general agreement on a Black Sea ceasefire, but that was rejected out of hand by Ukraine. They also rejected the idea of a minerals deal. By the end of the week, Zelensky was telling European media that he is done with the United States and is partnering with Europe.

None of this made it into America media, as best I can tell. Maybe in the deep dark recesses of government media there was mention of this. Reportedly the Trump administration remains committed to a peace deal, but maybe not willing to do much about it. The Europeans are opposed to any peace deal and Ukraine cannot make peace for internal political reasons. The Russians would prefer a deal over a military solution, but they know it is unrealistic.

That leaves the Trump admin alone in wanting peace. That may be why the media is suddenly uninterested in Ukraine. If Trump is the only peacemaker, then it makes all his opponents look terrible, so best not to mention it. Trump may be happy to see the Ukrainians side with the Europeans as that frees him of this tar baby. Let the girl bosses of the EU figure out how they can bring this war to an end without talking to the Russians.

On the other hand, maybe there are big things happening behind the scenes. One of the weird things about Trump 2.0 is he has been very good at not talking. In his first term he was an open book, largely controlled by the media. This time he is keeping his cards close to his vest. He is also ignoring media created controversies like the Signal leak story. The original Trump would still be talking about that, but this Trump blew it off with a few banal statements.

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• Peace Be With You (Link)
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