The scarlet thread of Maidan continues to bind Trump and Putin together even more tightly.

Josh Rogin (left) reports that,

"The Trump administration has approved the first ever U.S. commercial sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, in a clear break from the de facto U.S. ban on arms sales that dates back to the Obama administration.....

“We have crossed the Rubicon, this is lethal weapons and I predict more will be coming,” said one senior congressional official. It’s likely no mere coincidence that Canada also approved lethal defense sales to Ukraine this week, which would happen only if the Canadian government knew the United States was on board, the official said." (The Washington Post : 20 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

This decision to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons by the Trump Administration and Canada comes as Alessandra Prentice (right) reports that,

"On Monday [18 December, 2017], the Russian foreign ministry [read Putin] said it was recalling officers serving at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) in Ukraine, accusing the Ukrainian side of obstructing their work and limiting access to the front line.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak and security chief Olekshandr Turchynov (left) said the decision, coupled with a recent surge in fighting in the eastern Donbass region, suggested Russia had switched to a more offensive strategy.

“We cannot rule out that they withdrew their officers in order to start stepping up not only military provocations but also military operations,” Turchynov said. “We will strengthen our positions at the front.” (Reuters : 20 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

This recent surge in attacks against Ukrainian forces by Putin's Russian soldiers and rebel proxies is causing alarm amongst members of the EU (cf: Fox News,  Eyewitness News, Yahoo News)  as well as in the OSCE.

Even Kurt Volker (left), whom Rex Tillerson appointed as the United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, had to admit that,

“Russia withdrew its officers from JCCC - a ceasefire implementation tool - right before a massive escalation in ceasefire violations. Ukraine just suffered some of the worst fighting since February, 2017. Decision for peace lies with Russia,” Volker tweeted on Tuesday. " (ibid Alessandra Prentice) (my emphasis)

Meanwhile, as Putin is ramping up his war with Ukraine, Trump's lieutenants in the US Congress and Senate are ramping up their war against Special Prosecutor Mueller, as well as against the FBI, in the hope that they can end the investigations by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Congressional Intelligence Committee, and the Mueller investigation, into the collussion between Trump and his 'siloviki', and Putin and his  Kremlin 'siloviki', that led to Trump now occupying the White House.

As reported by Rachel Maddow (MSNBC: 20 December, 2017),

Rachel Maddow further reports (20 December, 2017) that central to Trump's lieutenants attack on the Robert Mueller investigation into the Trump-Putin collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections is their attempt to discredit the Christopher Steele dossier, the dossier that exposes the indelible link between Trump and Putin, and that Putin is holding over the head of Trump as blackmail.

Now it may, indeed, be pure 'coincidence' that

• Putin is ramping up his war with Ukraine and, simultaneously,
• Trump's lieutenants are ramping up their war against Special Council Robert Mueller and, in particular, against the Christopher Steele dossier.

It may also be pure 'coincidence' that, as reported by Kevin Liptak,


".... Donald Trump spoke by phone on Sunday [December 17, 2017] from a cabin at Camp David to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the press release describing their call featured something unusual: an exclamation point.
...
The theatric punctuation seemed designed to underscore the cheery tenor of the conversation, during which Putin thanked Trump for the CIA's help in thwarting a terror plot on St. Petersburg, Russia. " (CNN:  December 19, 2017) (my emphasis)

It may also be pure 'coincidence' that Putin described the Maidan revolution of 2014 as a 'coup' against the then Ukrainian president, Victor Yanukovich, just as some Fox News commentators and Republican Congressmen are now describing Special Prosecutor Mueller's investigation into the Trump-Putin collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections as a 'coup' against US president Donald Trump.

The scarlet thread of Maidan continues to bind Trump and Putin together even more tightly.

 

(to be continued)