Frank's Musings

It is as much in Putin’s interest as in Trump’s to keep up the illusion that serious negotiations about ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are underway, even if a conclusion satisfactory to Zelenskyy and his nation will never be attained. Even unproductive talks keep US troops out of combat at the mere cost of Ukrainian disappointment; and it preserves an ineffective US leader for Russia’s adversary.

Neither American nor Russian true long-term national interests are bring served by this stalemate; but it prevents domestic opposition respectively to both Trump and Putin from reaching critical mass. Russian and American citizens are both victims of their own acquiescence to autocratic rule. Each nation is led by an autocrat who symbiotically depends on the other’s real or supposed aggressiveness to justify his own rule.