Is it mere coincidence that :-
- Trump halts military aid to Ukraine, as reported by Kevin Liptak, Samantha Waldenberg and Oren Liebermann . "President Donald Trump is ordering a pause on shipments of US military aid to Ukraine after his heated Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, a White House official told CNN Monday. (CNN: 3 March 2025) (my emphasis)
- Trump halts 'intelligence' aid to Ukraine. As the BBC reported, "US officials have confirmed that President Trump has suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine on top of the pause in military assistance
"We have taken a step back, and are pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship," National Security Adviser Mike Waltz says" (BBC News: 5 March 2025) (my emphasis) - Putin then rains bombs on Ukraine,
- Trump sudddenly follows on by ".. [issueing] a surprising threat to Moscow on Friday, saying “based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine,” he is considering placing large-scale banking sanctions and tariffs on Russia until it agrees to a ceasefire and final peace settlement."(Daria Tarasova-Markina and Christian Edwards: CNN on MSN: 8 March 2025) (my emphasis)
- Trump then, once again, shifts the blame onto Zelensky for Putin's continuing near 'manic' bombing of Ukraine by stating that, "We're doing very well with Russia .... I think he's [Putin] doing what anybody else would do [i.e. raining bombs on Ukraine]. I think he wants to get it stopped and settled, and he's hitting them harder than he's been hitting them." (Ian Aikman and Tom Bateman: BBC News: 8 March 2025) (my emphasis)
- Trump continues, "He added that he believes Putin wants to end the war but he cannot say the same of Ukraine.
"I want to know they [Ukraine] want to settle and I don't know they want to settle," Trump said, when asked why he had cut off aid to Kyiv." (ibid Ian Aikman and Tom Bateman)
CNN: 7 March 2025: YouTube
When looking at:-
- the timing of Trump's 'announcements',
- Putin's 'manic' bombing of Ukraine's civilians, and Trump's shifting of the blame of Putin's bombings onto Zelensky (cf. he's [Putin] doing what anybody else would do [i.e. raining bombs on Ukraine]. I think he wants to get it stopped and settled, and he's hitting them harder than he's been hitting them." (ibid Ian Aikman and Tom Bateman) )
- Trump using Putin's bombings of Ukraine's civilians to repeat his 'cracked record' mantra of simply wanting 'peace'. As Ian Aikman and Tom Bateman report, Trump stated that "The US is "doing very well with Russia", and "it may be easier dealing with" Moscow than Kyiv, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday." ( BBC News: 8 March 2025) (my emphasis)
one could almost conclude that Trump's pronouncements has the fingerprints of Putin all over it.
UPDATE : 8 March 2025: 14:59 GMT
"Because I think he [Trump] knew that the so-called 'threat' about placing large scale banking sanctions and tarrifs on Russia] this morning was totally hollow, as did Vladimir Putin.. He did it simply to show some kind of balance given the things he had said about Zelensky and the Ukrainians .... " (CNN : 7 March 2025: YouTube)
Which rather says it all!
(to be continued)
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