In my blog entry of 8 August 2025, I wrote that,
"And all thanks to Trump, the 'myopic' and 'failed' so-called 'deal maker (Michael Hiltzik: Los Angeles Times on Yahoo Finance: 18 May, 2022) sitting in the White House and being blackmailed by Putin, fondling his 'voluminous KGB folder of the 'kompromat' he collected about Trump during his former visits to Moscow. (cf "The Steele Dossier") (blog entry: 8 August 2025)
And now, nearly nine years since Trump first entered the White House in 2016, we had,
"... former FBI director Robert Mueller, who led a special counsel investigation until March 2019. Mueller concluded that Russian interference was "sweeping and systematic" and "violated U.S. criminal law", and he indicted twenty-six Russian citizens and three Russian organizations" (Wikipedia),
we now have, in the fallout of the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, Professor Michael Clarke (right) saying that,
"... a number of retired intelligence officers believe Putin has compromising material on Trump "far beyond hookers in Moscow hotel rooms".
"About something longer-lasting and deeper and more financial - I don't know if that's true or not."
Others say Trump was "very impressed" by Putin's nuclear weapon threats and "frightened" by his cunning.
"It gave Trump a clear sense that if you push me too hard, I will use nuclear weapons and Trump has never been ever to get over that," says Clarke." (Sky News: 21 August 2025) (my emphasis)
We now have John Varga reporting that,
"Donald Trump has made a veiled threat to Vladimir Putin, after the Kremlin threw his peace initiative into disarray with a new set of hardline demands. The US President has spearheaded diplomatic efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, risking much political capital along the way." (Daily Express on MSN: 22 August 2025) (my emphasis)
Furthermore,
"The US President castigated his predecessor Joe Biden for holding back Ukraine and preventing its forces from taking the war directly to Russia, hinting things could be about to change."
…
His post coincided with news that Ukraine has completed successful tests to its huge new missile the Flamingo and plans to ramp up production of the deadly weapon." (ibid John Varga)
This ''... hinting things could be about to change" by Trump seems to be yet another "empty diplomatic phrase" that he is so fond of bandying about, as was his 'sanctions threats' against Putin's Russia, and his 'secondary sanctions threats against India and China, none of which have ever materialized.
And then then un-thinkable happens.
"Russia launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine overnight, officials said Thursday, striking targets including an American-owned electronics plant and injecting further uncertainty into the U.S.-led efforts to end the 3-year-old war.
…
“The Russians knew exactly where they lobbed the missiles. We believe this was a deliberate attack against American property and investments in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote, adding: “Telling attack, right as the world awaits a clear answer from Russia on negotiations to end the war.”
…
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump is considering changes to the types of weapons the U.S. will provide to Kyiv." (AP: 22 August 2025) (my emphasis)
Reported by OneIndia,
"Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to the closed city of Sarov, home to the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (VNIIEF), raised alarms as it signaled a possible escalation in nuclear preparations.…
The visit followed a controversial post by U.S. President Donald Trump, who stated that Ukraine would have "no chance of winning" unless allowed to strike inside Russia, a comment that sparked tensions" (OneIndia: 23 August 2025) (my emphasis)
Bear in mind that,
"Ukraine is set to mass produce a new deadly missile after concluding successful tests, potentially turning the tables on Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader has shown little compunction in bombing Ukrainian cities and towns to smithereens using a lethal mix of drones and missiles." (John Varga: Daily Express on MSN: 22 August 2025)(my emphasis),
and that Putin has scared Trump that he WILL use nuclear weapons.
We should prepare ourselves for yet another 'walking back' of Trump's assertion that he is "considering changes to the types of weapons the U.S. will provide to Kyiv."
Furthermore, Putin's grandstanding as a 'nuclear power' is a signal to Zelensky as much as it is to Trump.
This 'nuclear bravado' of Putin and his Kremlin cohorts is a last gasp as :-
- his economy is now galloping towards a near full recession as more sanctions from the UK and the EU are piled upon him,
- the UK and the coalition of the willing in the EU are fast preparing for 'their' boots on the ground in Ukraine to monitor a ceasefire in Putin's war with Ukraine,
- and a new and deadly Ukraine missile, the "Flamingo", now points at Putin's military-industrial complex and the infrastructure of Russia.
That Trump will buckle under Putin's 'nuclear' threat is something of a forgone conclusion.
It is especially the 'nuclear arsenals' of the UK and France that Putin simply cannot ignore.
The UK and the countries of the willing in the EU, especially France, Germany, and Poland, should now call Putin's bluff, and they should simply ignore a trembling Trump in the White House.
Putin's WW3 threat is a nervous bluff to stave off his own imminent demise.
UPDATE: 25 August 2025: GMT07:07
"The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using U.S.-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv's ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow's invasion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing U.S. officials." (Reuters: 23 August 2025) (my emphasis)
What is disconcerting is that,
"The U.S. has quietly implemented a review process giving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (right) authority to bar Ukrainian long-range strikes inside Russia with American missiles, effectively blocking strikes for months, the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 23." (Volodymyr Ivanyshyn:Kyiv Independent on Yahoo News: 23 August 2025) (my emphasis)
Let us remind ourselves that,
"In 2015 or 2016 Hegseth had been promoted to the rank of major, and was assigned to the Army Individual Ready Reserve". (Wikipedia) (cf: Links in Wikipedia)
More significantly,
- Hegseth co-hosted Fox News Channel's All-American New Year (Wikipedia) (cf: Links in Wikipedia)
- In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he planned to nominate Hegseth to serve as the next Secretary of Defense. (Wikipedia) (cf: Links in Wikipedia)
- He appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 14, 2025.[23] During the hearing, Hegseth denied allegations of sexual assault, marital infidelity, and public drunkenness. (Wikipedia) (cf: Links in Wikipedia)
As Sky News also reported in January of this year (2025),
"Donald Trump's choice for US defence secretary has been accused of lacking the competence for the job, during a much-disrupted Senate confirmation hearing.
Senators are determining whether Pete Hegseth, a former combat veteran and TV news show host, is fit to lead the US military as Mr Trump's choice for defence secretary." (Sky News:14 January 2025) (my emphasis)
We now have an incompetent Hegseth having the authority to bar Ukraine from using US long-range missiles to strike at Putin's military industrial complex inside Russia, which is building the missiles and bombs Putin is continuously raining onto Ukraine's civilians.
And then we have Trump's puppet, vice-president JD Vance, exclaiming that,
"I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for
the first time in 3 1/2 years of this conflict. They've actually been
willing to be flexible on some of their core demands. They've talked
about what would be necessary to end the war," he said. "Of course, they haven't been completely there yet, or the war would be over. But we're engaging in this diplomatic process in good faith." (Hannah Demissie (right): ABC News on Yahoo News: 24 August 2025) (my emphasis)
Hegseth and JD Vance simply prove, as I wrote earlier, that,
"We should prepare ourselves for yet another 'walking back' of Trump's assertion that he is "considering changes to the types of weapons the U.S. will provide to Kyiv."
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