Homeboy got played

I know this will probably offend many of you who insist on your geopolitical analysis to be high-minded, well-versed and intellectually challenging, but from where I come from in Brooklyn, N.Y., there is only one way to describe what happened last Friday when dictator-wannabe Trump fell all over himself welcoming KGB master-spy, criminal butcher and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to a U.S Air Force base in Alaska, seemingly for ceasefire talks concerning the Russia-Ukraine war.

Homeboy got played!

Now, for those of you who are not familiar with New York City street vernacular, “homeboy” is usually a term of endearment, meaning the man in question is someone we normally and unquestionably care about and embrace.

But no, no… NYET in this situation!

We call Donald Trump “homeboy” here only to mock him, to show that even though he was supposed to be representing all of the American people as president when he effusively clapped, shook hands with, and treated Putin like a long lost cousin last Friday, clearly he was not representing anyone but himself.

NOT when there are arrest warrants for Putin from the International Criminal Court in 125 countries for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

For if Trump were properly and ably representing all of the American people when he welcomed this tyrant, fugitive and indicted war criminal to our shores, he would have kept one absolute fact in mind, and treated Putin accordingly:

Putin illegally invaded Ukraine, NOT the other way around, in February, 2022, and Russia still illegally occupies and controls 20% of that independent nation’s territory by force to this day, and wants to occupy and control more, not giving anything up (in 2014, Russia also invaded, and illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, 23 years after that nation declared its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991).

Since 2022, according to a United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry Report of Sept. 2022, Russian troops have “raped, tortured and unlawfully confined” thousands of Ukrainian people, including children.

“There are examples of cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes," a UN official close to the commission said. "In the cases we have investigated, the age of victims of sexual and gendered-based violence ranged from 4 to 82 years."

In March of this year, Ukraine alleged at least 150,000 war crimes have been committed by Russian troops thus far.

Raping helpless children and the elderly. Killing innocent people. And this monster gets a red carpet welcome to our country from our president?!!! My GOD!

Those simple facts mean that Putin is the bully here, the war criminal, NOT Ukraine. And yet, Trump treats Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy like dog crap on the back of his shoe, NOT Putin, who Trump is definitely afraid and in awe of.

In fact, Trump once disrespectfully called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections;” blamed Joe Biden for the conflict; bragged that it would have never started if he were in office in 2022; and falsely accused the Ukrainian president of starting the war with Russia; earning Politifact’s infamous Pants on Fire moniker.

Boy, you’ve got to be lower than low to earn even one of those. Trump excels with at least four on the same subject.

But there’s no question Trump has mad respect for Putin. He knows that Vladdy is a better dictator than he’ll ever be, and Trump also knows that Putin has powers that the dictator-wannabe is only still dreaming of - like rigging elections (they both discussed how “corrupt” mail-in ballots are and doing away with voting machines); targeting political enemies with retribution; invading other nations in territorial conquest; grabbing total control of the government, the courts and the media; sending in the military to carry out his will on the homeland; making law without Congress; putting down political dissidents; and killing any opposition.

The word for “democracy” in Russia is "демократия" (pronounced "demokratia”), used only in political discussions. If Trump could legally outlaw it here in this country, he’d do so in a heartbeat.

No murderous world leader has ever gotten the kind of royal welcome here that Trump gave Putin last Friday, showing how much Trump aspires to be like Vladdy.

Which one can reasonably interpret to mean that Trump wants to be a murderous dictator too, I assume.

And don’t forget what turned out to be empty threats - that if Putin came and did not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, there would be “very severe consequences” from Trump.

Yeah, well Vladdy came and went, with no Ukrainian ceasefire deal reached, and nothing happened. Putin wants peace with Ukraine, like I want fried donkey meat for dinner. 

Pres. Zelenskyy says "If they do not have the will to implement a simple order to stop the attacks, it may take a great deal of effort to get Russia to implement something much more significant, namely peaceful coexistence with its neighbors for decades to come.”

In other words, if Putin can’t agree to stop the bullets, drones and long-range missiles flying from his side just so that the unnecessary loss of life ceases now while peace is being considered, then how can he be trusted to do likewise if a peace deal is actually reached?

And what the hell kind of “peace deal” could possibly have been reached between Russia and Ukraine last Friday if Ukraine wasn’t even invited to the table?

The Nordic-Baltic Eight countries, consisting of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden certainly don’t trust Vladdy. The regional block of nations issued the following statement after the joke of a Putin-Trump Summit fizzled out:

"Experience has shown that Putin cannot be trusted," their statement said. "Ultimately it is Russia's responsibility to end its blatant violations of international law. Russia's aggression and imperialist ambitions are the root causes of this war."

Boy, when peace lovers like Norway, Sweden and Denmark tell the rest of the world to lock their doors and draw the blinds if they see you coming, you really must be bad news!

So what does Trump, his Sec. of State Marco Rubio and other MAGA Administration officials have to say about all of this now?

“Never mind the ceasefire. What we really want is a peace accord. That would be better. And if Zelenskyy really wants peace, he has to make it happen by being ready to give up something to Russia!”

I thought there was a law against people playing with themselves on television? Trump and his folks know damn well that Putin only has one goal, and that’s grabbing as much of Ukraine back into the Russian fold as soon as possible, even if it costs much more than the  staggering total of over 1 million lives lost after over three years of fighting.

Shamefully, Trump is onboard with this.

From The Telegraph:

“Donald Trump supports Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine surrenders its most valuable region to Russia in order to end the war.

The Russian leader wants full control of Donetsk, the mineral-rich eastern oblast including parts that are currently held by Ukraine within the wider Donbas region. In return, Putin said he would freeze the front line and promised not to take any more territory.”

The term being used is "land swap. Here's what CNN says about that:

        The term “land swap” is the kind of phrase that conceals its true meaning. Ukraine would, under the Russian plan, essentially be engaging in bargaining for different parts of its own territory. Putin would get valuable strategic areas and offer, other less critical districts he’s already seized elsewhere inside Ukraine. It doesn’t seem much of a deal. Land swaps create epochal upheaval and seed future feuds — as the Middle East shows. In this case, they would mean telling thousands of Ukrainians they must leave home or become Russians. And Zelensky would have to explain to parents of fallen young Ukrainians why they died for territory to be given to Putin.

Trump also wants Zelenskyy to kiss Crimea goodbye forever, and forget about ever joining NATO.

Boy if Trump has Zelenskyy's back, it's only to hold it steady while Putin shoves a knife into it.

Ukraine has been valiantly defending itself against Russian invaders with a lot of heart, a lot of courage, and a lot of weaponry secured from the United States before Trump got reelected.

Trump has said he wants to stop that, but at times, when his hero, Vladdy, pisses him off, he tries to talk tough by threatening to allow Ukraine to purchase more.

Bottomline here is that Putin knows Trump like a cheap sheet of music. The fact that he came here smiling last week, refusing to agree to a ceasefire, and walked away before lunch getting most of what he wanted, plus getting the grand world leader treatment to go with it, without giving away anything, all while on American soil, proves he knows how to play King Wannabe.

Putin simply can NOT be trusted to honor any so-called “agreement” that he feels is not in Russia’s best interest.

Top European leaders, concerned about this conflict eventually affecting their countries, know this, can’t stand the foolishness they’re seeing and hearing, and are all standing strong behind Zelenskyy and Ukraine, urging Trump to do the same. Those leaders made an impressive display joining Zelenskyy at the White House Monday to show that they aren’t bluffing about their support for Ukraine, or their disdain for Putin. 

They also made clear that if a peace deal is made, there must be NATO-like Article 5 guarantees for Ukraine’s long-term security to ensure that Russia never invades it again. That initially meant that among other nations, US. boots would be on the ground to help protect Ukraine.

Those foreign leaders hadn't flown back home 24 hours before Trump was telling Fox News that he will NOT be sending American troops to help defend Ukraine. He did suggest that there are other ways to support a front line European military effort.

 MAGA folks are high-fiving on that one.

 I’m sure at least one of those foreign leaders cussed Trump out behind closed doors for giving Putin the red carpet treatment they didn’t get. It’s a shame those leaders had to stop running their own countries, just to fly all the way to Washington Monday, and remind Trump to his face that he should treat Pres. Zelenskyy, who is an elected head of state, with more respect. Hell, Trump is supposed to be the leader of the Free World, and it’s high time somebody reminded him to start acting like it!

I hope, in the name of human decency, they also said something about doing more to alleviate the shameful mass starvation and abject suffering taking place in Gaza by the Israelis government.

The world simply must do more to save those people!

As far as Putin is concerned, he and Trump can talk until kingdom come about future Ukrainian security, a bilateral and trilateral meeting for peace, yada, yada, yada, and as long as he can keep killing Ukrainians and grabbing their territory at will, Putin could care less what the rest of the world thinks.

 Add to that French President Emmanuel Macron telling NBC News that Putin really isn’t interested in ending the war. And Trump is starting to let slip that his pal Vladdy really isn’t interested in a deal either. In fact, Russia officials are already dragging their feet setting any subsequent meetings up, with one official Wednesday saying that there can be no security arrangements for Ukraine if a peace agreement is ever reached without Russia’s say-so. 

These people are talking out of all four sides of their mouths!

So where does that really leave us?

To Putin, this is about conquest for Mother Russia, and nothing gets in the way of that.

So the prospect of a meeting just between Zelenskyy and Putin will be very interesting indeed, if it ever happens. Of course, Trump says he’s setting Zelen…I mean…the meeting up (tee-hee-hee). Bets are being taken now that it never happens.

NBC News nailed the irony best:

“A man wanted for war crimes sitting across the table from the leader of the country he invaded?”

A Russian expert who knows how Putin thinks, and the probable chess game he’s playing here, tells CNN, “Trump is seen as an enabler of (the) Russian vision of the settlement and for that the United States is supposed to work with Kyiv (Ukraine) to push them to be more flexible, to be more open to Russian demands.”

To Trump, this is all about trying to win a Nobel Peace Prize, and he’s hoping his dictator-mentor will help him get seriously considered.

And to us, it’s about watching from the sidelines, and knowing instinctively that this will not end well for anybody, especially the Ukrainians, who are bravely fighting for their freedom, and only ask the mightiest nation on the face of the planet to stand with them for something we’ve always taken for granted.

In my mind, it is very dangerous counting on Trump to assist anybody in gaining their freedom. That’s simply NOT in his bloodstream.

No, Trump’s involvement in this is strictly transactional, hoping to play both sides against the middle and coming out on top looking like a peacemaker for history’s sake. And don’t forget his side hustle - trying to get Zelenskyy to sign on the dotted line for certain precious mineral rights found only in Ukraine.

Can’t put it past the "America First"criminal king when it comes to making a buck off someone else’s desperation.

But Trump's already proven that he’s out of his league. There will be no Nobel Peace Prize for him out of all of this, according to Dr. Peter van den Dungen, Visiting Fellow, Norwegian Nobel Institute, 2000:

 "Trump’s MAGA programme is at the expense of other nations, causing anger and anxiety in Canada, Denmark, Greenland, Iceland and elsewhere. He is complicit in the destruction of the Palestinian nation and the continuing devastation of Ukraine. The fact that he has been nominated is of little consequence (Hitler was nominated too) and reflects poorly on the nominators." 

The closest Trump will ever get to even seeing one is if he flew to Chicago, dropped by Barack Obama’s house, apologized for all the nasty things he’s been saying about him, and then begs to get a glimpse of Obama’s NPP.

I’d pay good money to see an AI version of that laugher!

There’s no doubt about this one, folks. Homeboy Trump is being royally and undeniably played in front of the whole world by Putin. And it’s a comeuppance of his own making!

But hey, at least we’re not talking about Jeffrey Epstein, are we?