George Rebane

Well, maybe it’s just 300 which is still good in any league.

Let’s start with his Ukraine peace plan. The best that can be said about his initial ’29 point plan’ is that its adoption would be a disaster for the west.  Trump still does not understand Putin, his goals and constraints.  As I’ve pointed out before, Putin will not accede to any progress toward peace until he has a significant recent victory in the field – which today he has none.  Trump’s plan that clumsily excluded Zelinsky could have readily been drafted by Putin.  It gives him everything he has already taken and more (the three strategic Ukrainian cities critical to further Russian advances).  In Trump’s peace it is OK to leave Ukraine with a castrated military and no firm security guarantees.

The only realistic solution for a peace that does not inspire Putin to undertake further invasions into Europe (e.g. Finland, the Baltics, Poland) would be to allow minimal territorial gains (e.g. only Crimea), a capable rearmed Ukrainian military with usable long range missiles, and European boots on the ground in Ukraine conducting regular military exercises.  To prevent his falling out of a window, Putin must show some gains after four years of war and over a million casualties.  Recognized integration of Crimea and the removal of selected sanctions should allow him to survive this war.  In the meantime Zelensky should get the missiles and permission to use them against Russian population centers starting with Moscow.  Given Putin’s massive missile and drone response last night in light of ongoing peace overtures, the ready use of counter-force is the ONLY thing the asshole has ever understood and respected.

The jury is still out on Trump’s dealings with Xi Jinping, but the optics don’t look good.  The Donald seems not to understand that China is successfully running its ‘hundred year marathon’ to become the world’s dominant hegemon.  Trump continues to embarrass those of us who understand communism with blather about having a “friendship” with the Chinese dictator.  There are no friendships with totalitarian thugs whose well-published goals are to conquer the world.  Publicly calling Xi, Kim, and Putin friends only furthers their disrespect for Trump whom they have successfully played for a fool for the duration of his political life.  Such disrespect motivates their further adventures, e.g. with Taiwan.

Where our president has made progress is in our display and use of force.  He did good with bombing the crap out of the Iranian and Houthi ragheads, and supporting Israel to do more of the same.  Finally, we come Maduro in Venezuela.

Venezuela was and has the opportunity to again be perhaps the richest country in Latin America.  Our president is on the right track in massing forces on Maduro’s doorstep.  And it would warm the cockles of me heart if he actually started inland strikes against the drug cartels and Maduro’s military installations.  When/if that happens, I believe Maduro would be on the next plane to somewhere in Africa.  He will have no welcome in the remaining thuggeries of the western hemisphere – i.e. Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, … .  And when Venezuela then normalizes and begins to benefit from its massive fossil fuel reserves, we will see a domino effect in which the other communist and Marxist regimes of the Americas will follow suit to start mimicking their neighbors who are successfully turning toward free market capitalism under liberal governance.