Muammar Gaddafi's death has now taken centre stage in the mind of Putin

Hardly had that small tick on Trump's ear from the attempted assasination on his life stopped bleeding, and he was promptly escorted to his waiting limousine than Putin, conjuring up in his mind the harrowing images of that fateful day when Muammar Gaddafi of Libya was pulled from a drainpipe in 2011 and promptly killed, pronouced from his mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, that,

"The Kremlin said on Sunday it did not believe the U.S. administration was responsible for Saturday’s assassination attempt on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, but that it had created an atmosphere that provoked the attack.

Trump was shot in the ear during a rally in Pennsylvania, in an attack now being investigated as an assassination attempt. The attacker was shot dead and law enforcement officials said they had not yet identified a motive."  (Alexander Marrow: Reuters: 14 July 2024) ) (my emphasis)

Recall that in 2017 Putin angrily stated that,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared anti-corruption protests that erupted throughout Russia over the weekend to Tunisia's 2011 Arab Spring and Ukraine’s 2014 Euromaidan revolution.
...
“This is a tool of the Arab Spring,” he added. “We know very well what this leads to. This was the reason for the coup d’etat in Ukraine, and it plunged the country into chaos.” (The Moscow Times: 30 March 2017) (my emphasis)

And whilst Putin was blaming Biden for the assasination attempt on Trump, Henry Foy reports that,

"Donald Trump will quickly demand peace talks between Russia and Ukraine if he wins November’s US presidential election and has developed “well-founded plans” for doing so, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán has claimed after private discussions with the Republican candidate.

That prospect means the EU should reopen direct diplomatic communication with Russia and start “high-level” negotiations with China to find a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister (Victor Orban) said in a private letter to EU leaders following consultations in Moscow and Beijing." (Financial Times: 16 July 2024) (my emphasis)

Parroting Victor Orban, Connor O’Brien, Joe Gould and Gavin Bade report that,

"Much of Europe was already panicked about a second Donald Trump presidency, worrying the U.S. would cut off aid to Ukraine if he wins in November. Then Trump picked J.D. Vance (right) as his running mate.

The 39-year-old Ohio senator is one of the most isolationist members of the Republican Party. He is vehemently opposed to using more funds to help Ukraine and has blasted what he sees as Europe’s over-dependence on the United States when it comes to military investment." (Politico: 15 July 2024) (my emphasis)

Victor Orban's call that, "..the EU should reopen direct diplomatic communication with Russia and China" to find a 'peaceful' solution to Russia's was with Ukraine comes against the backdrop, as reported by the Telegraph that,

"Ukraine’s navy said that Russia has withdrawn its last naval patrol ship from occupied Crimea, a major victory for Kyiv in its sustained military campaign against the Black Sea peninsula.

“The last patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is bolting from our Crimea just now. Remember this day,” Ukrainian navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk (left) said." (The Telegraph: 16 July 2024) (my emphasis) 

 And as reported by Kieron Monks (right),

"Ukraine is testing a new jet-powered drone designed to destroy enemy aircraft, according to Ukrainian military news outlets, the latest innovation to emerge from the country’s rapidly-developing homemade drone industry.

Videos published by Military Journal show the sleek black device named “Bullet” performing aerial manoeuvres at an undisclosed test site. The drone has a maximum speed of 450km/h, a range of 200km, and can carry an explosive warhead of up to 3kg, according to the outlet." (i News: 15 July 2024) (my emphasis)

Coupled with F16's now being flown against Putin's drones and aircraft bombing Ukraine's civilians, the "Bullet" is now also causing Putin sleepless nights.

It is no wonder that Orban and, more recently J. D. Vance, is suddenly calling for a Trumpian 'peace' knowing that Ukraine is, bit by bit, forcing Putin's army from Ukraine's teritory.

In light of the attempted assasination of Trump, the memory of the death of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya seems to have taken centre stage in the mind of Putin, causing him to have untold nightmares about his own demise.

 

 

 

(to be continued)