Interesting Times

Putin's no show in Turkey is a smart move on his part in these interesting times. Can't trust in the old allies anymore with Trump on the political scene working hard to advance his contention for a Nobel Peace Prize from extreme long shot to a dark horse contender.

Trump's cutting deals with Hamas to get an American hostage, leaving Israel sidelined; Trump cutting deals with the Houthis to leave US shipping alone; Trump making the Arab Gulf States his 1st official state visit; Trump's lifting sanctions on Syria even taking a meeting w/ the new guy in charge who used to be on the US terrorist list... clearly Trump sees the Middle East as the road to Oslo -- and a good way to line his pockets for the trip -- if he can lay claim to be the one to calm tensions in a region that's always on the boil, at least for a long enough time for the folks in Norway to notice and... maybe. The fact this false pax will fall apart upon end of his term won't be a concern for Trump as long as he gets that prize.

Then there's Turkey. Before Trump, a safe place for someone like Putin whose got an ICC arrest warrant out on them because Turkey's not an ICC signatory member. But now Turkey could be looking for consideration in a way to stick a feather in Trump's cap by helping him out with Ukraine. All non ICC signatory countries can if they so chose arrest a person with an ICC arrest warrant and hand them over for trial. A change in Russian leadership could end the war fairly quickly... just like Trump said he would do. That'll get some notice in Norway that shares a border with Russia. Not like the new Russian leadership would hold it against Turkey for too long as everyone gets to move up the ladder in power that has been roadblocked by Putin. And Trump will toss them some bone, like returning all the seized oligarch assets. So yeah, Putin stayed home safe in Russia. Maybe Netanyahu better rethink any future trips to the US.

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anonymous Political May 15, 2025 at 11:19 pm 0 0