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Why Trump’s Alleged Shift On Ukraine Isn’t One
Two days ago, while I was moving this website, President Donald Trump made some rather ridiculous comment (emphasis added):
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump – Sep 23, 2025, 18:55 utc
After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like “a paper tiger.” When the people living in Moscow, and all of the Great Cities, Towns, and Districts all throughout Russia, find out what is really going on with this War, the fact that it’s almost impossible for them to get Gasoline through the long lines that are being formed, and all of the other things that are taking place in their War Economy, where most of their money is being spent on fighting Ukraine, which has Great Spirit, and only getting better, Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that! Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act. In any event, I wish both Countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!
DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Some people claimed that this uttering showed that Trump had changed his mind over Ukraine.
It was far from that. Trump was in fact mocking the delusional assessments General Keith Kellogg and General Dan Caine had given him:
Special Presidential Envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently advised President Trump that Russia is losing its war on Ukraine — as Moscow has seen more than 1 million casualties while taking less than 1% of Ukrainian territory since November 2022.
…
“If Putin thinks Russia is winning, his definition of winning and my definition of winning are absolutely two different things,” Kellogg said. “If he was winning, he’d be in Kyiv. If he’s winning, he’d be west of the Dnipro River. If he was winning, he’d be on Odessa. If he was winning, he would have changed the government.
“Russia is, in fact, losing this war,” he added.
…
The two military experts gave their assessment in response to Trump’s then-prodding as to whether Putin’s grandstanding of supposed success in Ukraine was true, Kellogg said, giving a rare glimpse into private discussions at the White House.
…
“I responded quite forcefully, and I finally said, ‘Mr. President, don’t just listen to me. Your chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, is outside. He’s out in the hall, bring him in and ask him that question. He’s your senior, he’s your principal military adviser,’” Kellogg said.
“And he did, and Dan said the same thing. He went, ‘Nope, not winning.’”
When Trump repeated the implausible propaganda claims Kellogg had made it was pure sarcasm. Trump knows that “seeking a decisive Russian defeat is a virtually impossible goal that presents serious and unwarranted risks“.
He used the sarcasm to wash his hand over further action about Ukraine. It is also relieving him of pressure to continue talks with Russia.
It took two days for the New York Times to acknowledge this (archived):
But scratch the surface, and a deeper desire seemed buried in Mr. Trump’s reversal of position during the U.N. meetings in New York this week. Mr. Trump appears to want to wash his hands of the Ukraine conflict, after having no success bringing President Vladimir V. Putin to the negotiating table, and a dwindling chance of acting as mediator between the two warring parties.
Trump’s statement was not, as the NY Times claims, a “reversal of position”. At the essence he is saying that he will continue to sell weapons to Europe but that is all that he is going to do – at least openly. There will be no new U.S. aid for Ukraine and no U.S. forces riding to its rescue.
Behind the scene the U.S. will of course do its best to stay in control of the conflict. NATO, under full U.S. control, will continue to push the European dimwits towards a ever deeper involvement in the war. U.S. intelligence will continue to help Ukraine to target Russian troops and maybe even targets in Russia (machine translation):
US President Donald Trump has received information about a” planned offensive ” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which will require intelligence from the United States.
This is reported by the American business newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
At the same time, the publication notes that, despite the change in rhetoric regarding Russia, the American president still refuses to allow strikes with his country’s weapons deep into the territory of the Russian Federation.
Nothing is new in this policy. The U.S., under Trump, had always planned to drop the responsibility and burden of the war in Ukraine, which it had instigate, onto Europe. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had announced that plan on February 12 during a military summit in Bruxelles:
Hegseth also told Nato’s European members that they would need to provide the lion’s share of future aid for Kyiv, warning that Washington “will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship” with its allies.
“Safeguarding European security must be an imperative for European members of Nato,” Hegseth said. “Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine.”
Trump’s “reversal of position” isn’t one. His announcement is a continuation of his policy. In today’s Washington Post a ‘senior White House official’ confirms as much (archived):
President Donald Trump’s furious rhetoric toward Russia is “a negotiating tactic” intended to pressure the Kremlin, a senior White House official said Wednesday, a day after the president stunned global policymakers and delighted Ukrainian leaders by embracing Kyiv’s ambitions for a decisive defeat of Russia.
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Trump was not signaling a major shift in U.S. policy toward Kyiv during a day at the U.N. General Assembly in which he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the official said, ..
Russia seems to have understood Trump’s uttering better than Western journalists did. The former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev commented the events in New York in his usual manner:
And Trump? Once again he slipped into an alternative reality, reciting a fresh set of political incantations about “Russia’s weakness.”
After meeting with the clowns from Kiev and Paris, he posted a flamboyant message: final victory for Kiev, a return to old borders, Russia’s collapsing war economy, gas lines, and the image of a “paper tiger.”
In that reality everything is different: Kiev is winning, Russia is torn to pieces, and Bandera’s Ukraine is thriving on its own resources. In that same fantasy, Trump’s predecessors Obama and Biden still live happily ever after.
But Trump is not like them. No doubt—he’ll be back. He always comes back. In a few days he’ll probably propose that the green pianist sign a capitulation. Or maybe fly to Mars with his pardoned Musk. Or come up with something else “historic” to claim a Nobel Prize.
The key, after all, is to keep drastically changing your position on every major issue. That’s what makes for “successful” governance through social media.
And, as they say—thank you for your attention to this matter!”
“Even as they put on a great show of “liberating” foreign peoples, to “export” democracy to the four corners of the globe at gunpoint…they are in the process of enslaving the American people, and destroying the remnants of the Constitution.”…
March 19, 2003, “Shine, Perishing Republic: Kiss the good old USA good-bye, say hello to the American Empire,” by Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com
“A future of endless conflicts, perpetual war for perpetual peace, and color-coded terror unto infinity–that is what we have to look forward to….
Our old Republic, once the enemy of kings and contemptuous of empires, is now donning the imperial purple….[Its rulers speak] of “liberation” when they mean conquest;…say “freedom” to signify subjugation, can commit war crimes and still call for the prosecution of war criminals, can do the Devil’s work and still invoke almighty God….
But their revolution is not directed primarily against foreign tyrants: for even as they put on a great show of “liberating” foreign peoples, they are in the process of enslaving the American people, and destroying the remnants of the Constitution….
The America we loved is lost, perhaps forever. That is the meaning of this [2003 Iraq] war. The republic that bound its rulers with the chains of the Constitution and freed the rest of us to live in peace is no more….They invoke “Americanism” to implement the most anti-American agenda imaginable….They seek to “export” democracy to the four corners of the globe, at gunpoint….
The era of the American Republic is over, and age of Empire is begun.”…[US destruction of Iraq was the point of no return for the late Mr. Raimondo. “Proof” that US had brought “freedom” to Iraqis was said to be their purple fingers proving that they’d voted in “free” elections].
Posted by: susan mullen | Sep 26 2025 7:02 utc | 212
Any observation of territory taken by Russia demonstrates that it is doing extremely well with its SMO given such things can take many years and that they have been at war not only with Ukraine, but also a country that gets enormous support from the US and NATO even with illegal NATO soldiers and officer’s boots on the ground. It’s been attritional as well so a slow wearing down of Ukrainian forces that get caught every time the same way in encirclements and cauldrons. The taking of territory has been picking up for some time now and even Ukraine is seriously concerned about its rapid collapsing of frontlines. Russia of course also has to clean up the mess as it goes along so more on its table – no one ever mentions that. Exchange of bodies and prisoners also demonstrates that Ukraine has always been seriously on the losing end. I suggest you look at a map and compare frontlines with one year ago. Even if you just look at where one of the hardest nuts to crack Vuhledar is now.
Posted by: George | Sep 26 2025 6:22 utc | 211
Without words:
Russian Ministry of Defense: From January 1 to September 25, 2025, more than 4,714 square kilometers were liberated. Of these, the following areas were liberated:
▪️ in the Donetsk People’s Republic, over 3,308 square kilometers;
▪️ in the Luhansk People’s Republic, over 205 square kilometers;
▪️ in the Kharkiv region, an area of 542 square kilometers;
▪️ in the Zaporizhzhia region, over 261 square kilometers;
▪️ in the Sumy region, an area of 223 square kilometers;
▪️ in the Dnipropetrovsk region, more than 175 square kilometers and 205 settlements were
liberated and placed under the full control of the Russian armed forces.
✨For a long time, we would not have expected such a system from the Ministry of Defense. Overall, we note positive changes in the ministry’s press service (DIMK MO); they have begun to explain the situation instead of just publishing dry reports.
✨⭐️As for the successes on the front lines, despite the intensity of the fighting, there have been some. It should be remembered that the first phase of the war was marked by the withdrawal from Kyiv, Snake Island, Kherson, and the Kharkiv region. Just over a year ago, Zelenskyy launched his Kursk venture.
Now, however, it is clear that the Russian military’s main efforts this year are focused on the constitutional territories of our country (the Donetsk People’s Republics, Luhansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporizhzhia Region) and the extremely slow-moving plans to create a “buffer zone” near the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
https://t.me/dva_majors/80057
Posted by: Genesis | Sep 26 2025 9:07 utc | 220
Posted by: will moon | Sep 26 2025 10:05 utc | 227
The conquistadors destroyed the tzompantli, very large racks and towers of skulls.
“Some conquistadors wrote about the tzompantli and its towers, estimating that the rack alone contained 130,000 skulls… scholars began to wonder whether the tzompantli had ever existed.
Archaeologists at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) here can now say with certainty that it did. Beginning in 2015, they discovered and excavated the remains of the skull rack … The scale of the rack and tower suggests they held thousands of skulls, testimony to an industry of human sacrifice unlike any other in the world.”
Only one rack. There were others. Preceding racks deteriorated in the climate, and were built over by more racks. It is in the middle of Mexico City, so excavation is limited.
“The size and spacing of the holes allowed them to estimate the tzompantli’s size: an imposing rectangular structure, 35 meters long and 12 to 14 meters wide, slightly larger than a basketball court, and likely 4 to 5 meters high. From their knowledge of the eras of the Templo Mayor, archaeologists estimate that the particular phases of the tzompantli they found were likely built between 1486 and 1502, although human sacrifice had been practiced in Tenochtitlan since its founding in 1325.”
https://www.science.org/content/article/feeding-gods-hundreds-skulls-reveal-massive-scale-human-sacrifice-aztec-capital
The referenced website from George, no offence meant to him, was unadulterated woke shit. Pure fantasy, interspersed with pseudo science.
The interpretation of archaeology does have limits. Measuring the size of the skull racks and how they perished, not so much.
Dia de los Muertes, with it’s skull iconography, rumbles down the centuries.
Many more resources if needed. Or you can refer to the George website
You be the judge LOL
Posted by: jopalolive | Sep 26 2025 10:47 utc | 232
Turkish delights anyone?
So what is there left in this centuries attempts? Well it seems that since the shapeshifters believe they have taken Syria and are assured to claim all the Levant (in their dreams) they have decided to direct their greatest ‘European’ army the task.
Turkey is being directed to do what the banderists deluded khokols have been minced in their millions failed to deliver.
What will they be promised in return ? Actual membership of the EU finally? A fully Islamic nation being finally grafted into the holt Roman khazar fake empire?
Lol. Whatever.
The crazed overlord old slaver barons of history have nothing but that kitchen sink to throw as they panic. The end of their lifetimes avarice. Their dynasties doom. Shapeshifters caught and destroyed.
‘Sprinter Express
@SprinterExpres0
25m
Turkey’s defense minister has reaffirmed his support for Ukraine on the Crimea issue.
Defense Minister Guler said a peaceful resolution of the situation in Crimea was “inseparable from the pursuit of a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Guler noted that the Crimean Tatars are an “integral” part of Ukraine, making a significant contribution to maintaining peace and stability.
He stressed that Turkey has never recognized Russia’s annexation of the peninsula and firmly supports Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
Sep 25, 2025 · 1:31 PM UTC’
In return they are offered – Turkish delights
‘On Sep 25, 2025, during a White House meeting between Presidents Trump and Erdogan, the US and Turkey signed a memorandum for civil nuclear cooperation. It aims to boost energy security, share civilian nuclear tech, and support investments like small modular reactors, helping Turkey diversify from Russian sources. Sources: White House, Turkish Energy Ministry, various news outlets.
Sep 26, 2025 · 7:39 AM UTC’
Yup the ancient Turkish people are the next millions that will be set against the RF and Iran and natzios will also put their boots on the ground ‘officially’.
Officially because so many have already been killed and maimed they have to be recognised for their ‘sacrifice’ – and tha can’t happen unless they are there officially. The garrison towns canon fodder are thick as mince they get turned into but they insist on recognition! And it seems many families who have been raised for generations to walk straight into a military/naval ‘career’ are shunning it. Certainly here in the U.K. and it seems also in the USA.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Sep 26 2025 11:49 utc | 248
“The U.S., under Trump, had always planned to drop the responsibility and burden of the war in Ukraine, which it had instigate, onto Europe.”
‘Europe’ was part of the instigation, at certain levels, and still is. EU wants to take up the role US was playing, they can always blame US, UK, or Russia. EU as ‘victims’…sounds familiar…Russophobia ≈ antisemitism … denazification…’We are all jews now’.
Russia is not winning, because the cost is great …projections of worth are hypothetical, incomparable, and of little value to those who have been killed. In other words winning is only a hypothetical comparison to the opponent, where each in reality is causing the other losses, and there is no point in dressing that.
However Russia is managing to defend and protect what it considers necessary, and in strategic terms it is not losing. For it to be vanquished militarily is not realistic for any other country that wishes to continue to exist.
What the US president is doing is a form of incitement, it is not sarcasm. He is encouraging extension of conflict instead of pulling backing from a hostile party, a move that while in position of leverage could coerce acceptance of defeat and a truce. Instead he is handing control and responsibility to EU in a manner that is not designed to end the conflict.
A ‘nice’ endgame, only considering the above, is EU gets its army, Ukraine gets partitioned, EU and Russia celebrate the agreement, or simply their differences . The peoples of europe just get conned (again).
A ‘not nice’ endgame is a forever conflict, or direct conflict between NATO and Russia.
It could have been called a day without conflict breaking out, by ceding east of Ukraine. That that was not decided means they intend to wring all they are able to out of the conflict. Out of the european populations also.
Some see resources or geostrategy as aims in various conflicts, but I am starting to get the impression that even those are just being used as presentable ‘excuses’ that frame opposition, that they are spoils, that there are other levels of agenda at work which are designed to cause major disruption to the evolution of societies, culture, mankind even.
I just post and walk, because it is a difficult take.
Posted by: Ornot | Sep 26 2025 19:24 utc | 271
Kindly please educate yourself. The archaeological record, beyond any doubt. proves the point.
And I didn’t say that Aztecs were worse than the Spanish-what I did say-and you should,learn this fundamental truth-all humans are equally capable of violence, depravity, torture.
Believing anything different is quintessential ‘racism’ borne of ignorance (see my first sentence)
“[The Aztecs were] a culture obsessed with death: they believed that human sacrifice was the highest form of karmic healing. When the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan was consecrated in 1487 the Aztecs recorded that 84,000 people were slaughtered in four days. Self-sacrifice was common and individuals would pierce their ears, tongues and genitals to nourish the floors of temples with their blood. Unsurprisingly, there is evidence that Mexico was already suffering from a demographic crisis before the Spanish arrived.”” (1)
1.https://qz.com/374994/aztec-sacrifice-was-real-and-its-not-fetishistic-to-be-fascinated-by-it
Posted by: canuk | Sep 26 2025 16:28 utc | 261
I merely question the number of 80,000+. There are many assertions of the number, by different people over centuries. Most often cited is: from 10,000 to 80,400. One report says an old Aztec witness told the Spanish that 4,500 were sacrificed that day. In your link, a popular historian wrote an article in 2011 asserting 84,000 victims. There likely were a lot but 80,000+ is virtually impossible. This Wikipedia article is adequate to get the idea:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture
Do the math. 80,000/4 for 20,000 per day and 20,000/4 for 5,000 per priest per 24 hours. 5,000/1440 is one killed by each priest every 3.5 minutes. They had to position the victim, cut open their diaphragm with an obsidian knife, sever arteries, remove the heart, offer it to God, dispose of the corpse, and repeat, for 96 hours. Couldn’t happen.
In 1941, using multiple guns and gunners, and with thorough planning and the efficiency for which Germans are famous, the NAZIs killed 33,700 Jews at Babi Yar near Kiev in Ukraine. It took them two days. That is the greatest number of individual killings, in one location, over few days, that has, to my knowledge, been believably documented.
I don’t doubt that the Aztecs killed lots of people. Even the Mayans, living to the east and south of them, reportedly considered them violent. But the number you so often assert is not possible. It is an exaggeration, bolstering a belief in the barbarism of indigenous peoples.
Apologies for the long, off-topic post.
Posted by: Samu | Sep 27 2025 2:39 utc | 288
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