Like Ukraine, Donald Trump has now also become a millstone around Putin's neck.

 As a frenzied Putin and his 'siloviki' continue to bombard the people of Ukraine with Iranian drones and North Korean missiles, the US Congress has finally released the $61 billion critical aid for Ukraine that Putin's Republican mouthpieces in the US Congress, especially Republican Congress woman Marjorie Taylor-Green (left),  have for months desperately tried to prevent from happening.

Indeed, Putin's 'media mouthpieces' have been effusive in praising Congresswoman Green for her stand against Ukraine and for Putin.

Russia Media Monitor : 22 April 2024 : YouTube

This 'knee jerk' reaction of Putin's propaganda mouthpieces to the passing of the  US Congressional Bill for immediate aid to Ukraine comes at a time when Putin and his 'siloviki' have no other political or military strategy except to continuously rain bombs on the civilians of Ukraine.

But it is not only aid to Ukraine that worries Putin. This Congressional Bill also includes a warning shot directed at Xi Jinping's China, as well as authorising the seizure of $5.1 billion in Russian assets, a prelude to the 'potential' seizure of hundreds of $ billions of Russian assets in the EU, the US, and the UK, and in other countries around the world. 

MSNBC : 22 April 2024 :

And following close on the heels of Zelensky receiving $61 billion in military aid from the US, Pippa Crerar (right) reports that,

"Rishi Sunak (left) has promised the UK’s largest ever military support package for Ukraine as he warned that Vladimir Putin would “not stop at the Polish border” if Russia won the war.
...
The UK plans to give vital equipment to Kyiv including 400 vehicles, more than 1,600 missiles, 4m rounds of ammunition, 60 boats, as well as an additional £500m in military funding, taking the total to £3bn this financial year." (The Guardian : 22 April 2024) (my emphasis)

As was to be expected, Putin's 'glove puppet, Dmitry Medvedev (right), shaking his puny fists at the military aid flowing into Ukraine,

"...  said the approval of new aid to Ukraine was "Russophobic" and would exacerbate "the number of victims of this war."

He also said on Telegram: "I cannot with all sincerity not wish the United States to plunge into a new civil war as quickly as possible." (Rebecca Robinson : Express : 21 April 2024) (my emphasis)

Further adding to the 'apoplectic' rage of Putin and his 'siloviki' as critical US and UK military aid to Ukraine is stepped up, Max Parry reports that,

"Vladimir Putin has been left reeling after jaw-dropping footage was released of a Russian ship being blown to pieces off the coast of Ukraine.

The footage, which was shared by the DPSU on X and Telegram, depicts a Russian ship patrolling the waters off the coast of the war-torn country, the organisation claimed." (Express : 18 April 2024) (my emphasis)

Even more disconcerting for Putin, Alessandra Scotto di Santolo (left) reports that,

"In a significant development for NATO and the European security landscape, Poland has announced its willingness to host nuclear weapons on its territory. 

President Andrzej Duda of Poland made the declaration in an interview published Monday in the Fakt tabloid, indicating that Poland is ready to host nuclear weapons from other NATO members. This move is viewed as a direct response to Russia's relocation of nuclear weapons to Belarus." (Express : 23 April 2024) (my emphasis)

 France 24 : 22 April 2024 : YouTube

Let us also not forget that Putin's fervent hope of a possible Trump win in the upcoming 2024 US Presidential elections has been dashed against the wall of the US legal system.

In the first of yet many other criminal trials to come, Donald Trump faces a daunting and legal uphill struggle to prove his innocence from the charge that he,

"...  tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial. " (Liam Buckler : Daily Mirror : 23 April 2024) (my emphasis)

Unlike 2016, when Putin could throw all his weight behind getting Trump elected to the White House, this is no longer the case.

Putin may have a Marjorie Taylor-Smith, amongst a small group of extreme right-wing Republicans in the US Congress fully supporting him, but this is not 2016.

Like Ukraine, Donald Trump has now also become a millstone around Purin's neck.

 

 

(to be continued)

 

Is Putin tottering on the edge of the abyss of a "Black Swan" event?

 As was to be expected, German Chancellor Sholtz's visit to China, besides including a vast German business delegation, also included a joint 'peace' plan with Chinese president Xi Jinping to resolve Putin's war with Ukraine.

So what does this 'peace' plan envisage.

The Chinese Daily sets it out as follows :-

"Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday proposed four principles to prevent the Ukraine crisis from spiraling out of control and to restore peace at an early date.
...

• "First, we should prioritize the upholding of peace and stability and refrain from seeking selfish gains.
  
• Second, we should cool down the situation and not add fuel to the fire. 
• Third, we need to create conditions for the restoration of peace and refrain from further exacerbating tensions. 
• Fourth, we should reduce the negative impact on the world economy and refrain from undermining the stability of global industrial and supply chains," Xi said." (China Daily : 16 April 2024) (my emphasis)

To whom does "refrain from seeking selfish gains." really refer?

Does it refer to Putin's illegal annexation of Crimea and the Donbas in 2014, and his currently invaded territory of Ukraine? 

Or does it refer to Ukraine's President Zelensky's demand that Putin's forces be removed forthwith from ALL illegally occupied Ukrainian territory, INCLUDING Crimea. 

To whom does the "not add fuel to the fire" refer? 

Putin's relentless and indiscriminate bombing of Ukraine?

OR to the support being given to Ukraine by the US, the EU, Britain, and other western countries?

To whom does, "refrain from further exacerbating tensions."? Putin or Ukraine or Ukraine's allies?

The fourth Xi Jinping principle is really about the critical state of the economies of BOTH Germany and China, rather than about "peace in Ukraine".

Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Microsoft Start: 16 April 2024: CGTN News Video

 DW News : 16 Aprril 2024 : YouTube

 Which brings into sharp focus, as reported by  Michelle Shen and Melanie Zanona (left),

"House Speaker Mike Johnson (right) said Sunday he will move forward with a vote on additional Israel aid but did not go into specifics about his plans as he walks a knife’s edge with conservatives over the potential inclusion of Ukraine funding.
...
 “Congress should be clear: no action by Iran or Israel merits a vote on the Ukraine omnibus the Senate seeks,” GOP Rep. Warren Davidson wrote on social media.

The pressure campaign from Johnson’s right flank comes amid bipartisan calls — including from GOP Leader Mitch McConnell — to take up the Senate-passed foreign package that includes money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, arguing that is the fastest way to get aid to Israel." (CNN : 14 Apil 2024) (my emphasis)

As Putin continues to accellerate his continued indiscriminate and ruthless bombing of the Ukrainian people and Ukraine's critical infrastructure, Zelensky is urging immediate help from western allies citing the recent immediate and successful  military assistance given to Israel to defend itself against the missiles and Shaheed drones that Iran unleashed against Israel.  

 As reported by AFP on News 24,

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged allies on Monday to show the same "unity" toward Ukraine as Israel, which said it repelled an Iranian attack over the weekend with Western support.

Ukraine has in recent months grown increasingly frustrated at delays in Western aid, including air defences it says are urgently needed to repel deadly Russian attacks.

In a post on Telegram, Zelensky thanked allies who had responded to Ukraine's call for more air defences but said: "The intensity of Russian attacks requires greater unity." (AFP on News 24 : 16 April 2024) (my emphasis) 

(cf also: "Czech politicians say Ukraine should get same support as Israel after Iran strike" : Aneta Zachová : Euroactiv : 16 April 2024)

Metro : 16 April 2024

What lends even more urgency to Zelensky's call for immediate military aid is the fact that, as reported by Euronews,

"The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said attacks against Europe’s largest nuclear power plant have put the world “dangerously close to a nuclear accident”.

Without attributing blame, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since 7 April." (Euronews :  16 April 2024) (my emphasis)

Chancellor Scholtz, having emboldened Xi Jinping regarding his sights on Taiwan, and having yet again drawn back from giving Ukraine the necessary critical missiles to defend itself against Putin's frantic and dangerous assault on Ukraine, is singing from the same 'pro Putin' hymn sheet as the many Republican members of Congress who are  currently witholding critical US support for Ukraine.

And Putin is now dangerously tottering on the precipice of falling into a "Black Swan Event" whose effects very few will be able to escape from.

UPDATE 1: 17 April 2024

Finally it is becoming glaringly and abundantly clear, as Barbara Moens, Jacopo Barigazzi and Nicholas Vinocur (left) report,

"Two conflicts will compete for the attention of EU leaders meeting for a summit this week. There is one — Ukraine — where they can make a difference, and another — Iran-Israel — where they can’t.

It seems paradoxical, then, that the Middle East — a theater of war where the U.S. is infinitely more influential than Europe — will probably consume more attention than Ukraine — an EU candidate country that is desperately pleading for more European assistance as the tide turns against it, and Russian forces pummel Kharkiv, its second city." (Politico : 17 April 2024) (my emphasis)

This should come as no surprise. 

As I wrote in the first entry of my blog on Tuesday 10 June 2014,

• "Angela Merkel, the scientist Chancellor of Germany, is coldly and dispassionately upholding the ghost of the Treaty of Rapallo, wringing her hands in anguish while Putin tramples over the rights of the Ukrainian people. Is it any wonder that Gerhard Schroeder, the Chancellor of Germany when that export deal was struck in 1992, fondly embraced Putin at his recent 70th birthday party bash?

• But what about the other members of the EU? Cyprus is like a cat on a hot tin roof, not knowing what it will do if all that stolen Russian money wings its way out of her banks.

• Can the young Matteo Renzi face up to the howling of Italian businessmen not to jeopardize their sucking on the teats of the corrupt Russian cow?" (blog entry 10 June 2014)

Is there anything new under the sun?

 

(to be continued)