In which our Henry offers von Clausewitz while the grave Sexon offers meek, supine, abject surrender ...

 

After yesterday's history from the Lynch mob - essentially, think about Bismarck and you'll feel ever so much better about Adolf - the pond was keen to learn more from our Henry today, but first the obligatory reference to county, the land in which the pond currently dwells, with a tribute to a truly great Dick ...

Hmm, badly lit, and no Jeff in that rogues gallery outside Treasury - there has to be some standards left in the state - but with ceremony done, the pond could move on to survey the reptile offerings for the day ...

Over on the extreme far right, our Henry was top of the reptile world ma ...

The pond has no idea why the likes of Jimbo thinks it's a good idea to feed the hive mind and the Murdochian paywall, but was pleased to see that the grave Sexton had made a comeback ...

There was a Killer kontribution too, but the pond has to have some token placeholder for its travel day tomorrow ...

So it was on with our Henry, showing the Lynch mob what for ...

Trump has abandoned America’s principles, For all of America’s faults no one could imagine a president accusing the victim of being the aggressor and forcing it to pay for the war while letting the perpetrator off scot-free.

Not quite sounding like the Lynch mob, but there was an opening visual flourish, an offering of cantaloupe, melon and mango ... US President Donald Trump

That clown make-up is a huge selling point and a wondrous distraction.

Now to teach that bloody Lynch mob a dinkum history lesson ...

In the mid-1920s, France’s wartime prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, was asked who future generations would blame for the outbreak of the First World War. “That I don’t know,” he replied; “However, this much is certain: no one, but no one, will ever say it was Belgium that invaded Germany.”
He plainly had not met Donald Trump. Nor could Clemenceau imagine that a century later the same excuse Germany gave for its attack on Belgium – that the small state posed an existential threat to its far larger neighbour – would be used by an American president to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And even less could he imagine that an American president would demand that the small state, which had been the victim of aggression, bear the costs of the war, while letting the aggressor get off scot-free.
But disregard for good sense is hardly the only disturbing aspect of Trump’s policy towards Ukraine. Rather, the striking feature of that policy, whose broader geopolitical implications have been acutely analysed on these pages by Paul Kelly, is that it marks a fundamental break from principles that have long been at the heart of America’s international relations.

Praise for "Ned"!

Better still,  a cheap snap from the archives, Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau at the Peace Conference in Versailles.

On with the history, and to hell with the Lynch mob ...

Thus, it was in 1932, after Japan had attacked Manchuria, that secretary of state Henry Stimson formulated the doctrine that the United States would not recognise “any situation, treaty or agreement” that involved annexation secured by a war of aggression.
Basing itself on that doctrine, the US refused to recognise the Soviet Union’s annexation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 1941 – a refusal reaffirmed by every subsequent American administration.
The Ford administration therefore ensured that the Helsinki Final Act’s declaration of principles on territorial integrity, signed on August 1, 1975, included the provision that “no occupation or acquisition of territory in violation of international law will be recognised as legal”.
Nor did the US resile from the Stimson doctrine during and after the dissolution of the USSR. Rather, so as to smooth the formation of the Soviet Union’s successor states, the administration of George H. Bush strongly endorsed a two-stage process.
In the first stage, the newly created states’ borders would reproduce the administrative boundaries set in the Soviet era. After that, there could be negotiated agreements that varied those borders; but unless those variations were by mutual consent, the US, applying the Stimson doctrine, would neither recognise them as legitimate nor in any way support the aggressor state.
That approach too had longstanding roots. In effect, the US had first advocated the principle of setting the frontiers of new states according to previous administrative demarcations in 1824, when the countries of Latin America were freeing themselves from the Spanish empire. Formalised on US initiative in the Lima Treaty of 1848, and entering international law as the doctrine of “uti possidetis”, the International Court of Justice described it in 1986 as a “general principle” that applies to “the obtaining of independence, wherever it occurs”.

At this point the reptiles interrupted our Henry, just as he was in full stride, with an AV distraction.

Sky News contributor Kristin Tate claims US President Donald Trump has “no strategic benefit” in targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Her remarks come after The US President accused Mr Zelenskyy of being a "dictator". “I think Trump clearly understands that Putin’s no angel but there’s probably no strategic benefit right now for Trump to call Putin a dictator,” Ms Tate said. “Trump has been a guy who has negotiated billion-dollar deals … he’s one of the world’s greatest negotiators and let’s not forget at the same time, Zelenskyy is not really the poster boy for democracy.”

This Kristin - a better name surely than Karen - sounded entirely at odds with our Henry, but the pond realised it was Sky Noise down under, and the reptiles just love the unbalanced as a way of being fair and balanced ...

The upside? She wasn't blonde ... 

... but she was full Trumpian ... (sorry, the pond doesn't link to Sky) ...

Just getting started? They won't stop until they've wrecked the joint and fucked the country and Kristin will be cheering them on ...

Suddenly, the pond realised the cunningness of the reptile ploy ...throw up a barking mad "libertarian" of the US kind, a devotee of the Cantaloupe Caligula, and suddenly our Henry would appear relatively normal, as he wandered back in time seeking lessons and solace...

By simplifying the task of defining international borders, said the ICJ, it “prevents the independence and stability of new states being endangered by fratricidal struggles provoked by the challenging of frontiers following the withdrawal of the administering power”.
Far from disputing that principle or contesting its consequences, it was unambiguously approved by both Boris Yeltsin and – at least initially – by Vladimir Putin. As a result, in the Minsk Agreement of December 8, 1991 and the Declaration on Territorial Integrity and Inviolability of Borders of April 15, 1994, Russia recognised that Ukraine’s legitimate borders – like those of the other successor and continuation states, including Russia itself – were those in place at the time of the dissolution of the USSR.
That was specifically reaffirmed in the 1997 and 2003 bilateral treaties between Russia and Ukraine, with Article 2 of the 2003 Treaty, which was signed by Putin, incorporating maps that explicitly show Donbas and Crimea as falling within Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
As things turned out, Putin’s recognition of Ukraine’s sovereignty over those territories was as duplicitous as the treaties Stalin signed with Lithuania, on September 18, 1926, Latvia on February 8, 1932 and Estonia on May 4, 1932, guaranteeing “the inviolability of existing frontiers” and solemnly “undertaking to refrain from any act directed against the integrity of the territory or independence of the other party”.
Nor is it a coincidence that the language Putin used in justifying the assault on Ukraine mirrored that Stalin used when the USSR, so as to “reunite unjustly separated blood brothers”, relied on the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to invade its near neighbours.
Given those circumstances, the US could reasonably be expected to recognise the importance of ensuring any ceasefire agreement came with robust security guarantees – guarantees that, in the short term, are solely within its power to offer. That is all the more the case as Russia has also advanced entirely illegitimate territorial claims, which could readily escalate, against Georgia, Moldova and Estonia.

Sheesh, our Henry is sounding like he stepped out of the pages of The Bulwark and suddenly landed in the hive mind, armed with a snap of an heroic freedom fighter, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Picture: Getty Images

Yep, over at The Bulwark, there was Mark Hertling, scribbling Trump’s Ukraine Deal Could Give Russia Everything It Wants, A frozen conflict in Ukraine is tantamount to a Russian victory.

Hertling ended with a flourish worthy of the bucket repair man:

...perhaps the most dangerous consequence of bad negotiations or an insufficient Western response in Ukraine is the message it would send to Moscow. If we do not counter Russia’s desire for territorial expansion, Putin will be emboldened to pursue further actions against neighboring states: hybrid warfare in the Baltic region, renewed pressure on Georgia and Moldova, or even direct military threats against NATO’s eastern front.
The choices made by NATO, the United States, and Ukraine will have lasting consequences far beyond the current war. Insufficient support for Ukraine risks not only a frozen conflict that cements Russian territorial gains, but also the erosion of NATO’s credibility and European security cohesion. It could embolden Russia to undertake further aggression in Europe, testing the limits of NATO’s collective defense commitments. Any deal that allows Russia once again to avoid defeat would be a betrayal of the Ukrainians, a win for the Russians, and a blunder by the United States.

Has our Henry considered leaving the hive mind and becoming a Bulwark correspondent? 

Sure, he slags off the deviant, decadent Europeans, but he's also a devotee of von Clausewitz ...

Trump, however, shows no sign of recognising those realities; and to make things worse, instead of helping Ukraine rebuild its shattered economy, which is essential to its ongoing security, he is forcing it to finance investments that will, it seems, be owned by the US.
There is, in the long history of US foreign relations, simply no precedent for those financial demands, which punish the war-crippled victim, not the perpetrator.
It is true that in the aftermath of World War II, the US sought partial repayment by its allies of the assistance it had provided under Lend-Lease; but even in 1946 and 1947, new US loans and grants outweighed Lend-Lease repayments by a factor of five – and once the Marshall Plan got under way, the net flow of US aid was even greater.
Of course, none of that is intended to let the Europeans off the hook. As I have repeatedly argued, their failure to enforce the agreements they made with Russia to end its invasion of Georgia and then to stabilise the situation in Ukraine played a key role in inciting Putin’s aggression. It is, moreover, the Europeans’ refusal to bolster their defence capabilities that has forced Ukraine to depend so heavily on American military assistance.
However, those serious errors neither excuse nor justify the US abandoning principles that – even if they have often been imperfectly implemented – have helped make the world a safer place, including for Americans.
Putin, Trump claims, wants peace. But as the great military theorist Carl von Clausewitz observed two centuries ago: “An invader is always a lover of peace: he would like to make his entry into our state unopposed.” If invaders are to be deterred, he concluded, there is one option and one option only: “We must be willing to meet their attack with decisive force”. With Trump determined to ignore that warning, the agreement he forges may prove to be a peace that ends all peace.

Take that supine sellout Lynch mob, defaming the University of Melbourne's reputation ...

Now all Heil along with the immortal Rowe ...

It wouldn't be a genuine pond outing, without someone from the hive mind acting as a lickspittle, craven, supine, fawning dogsbody, and so the grave Sexton returned from nowhere to join in the Heiling ...

Only US and Russia can end the bloodshed in Ukraine, The EU has complained about being sidelined by the discussions between the US and Russia over some kind of settlement to end the conflict in Ukraine. But this is the inevitable result of the EU’s role in the conflict over the past three years.

It was only a three minute read, so the reptiles said, short enough to keep the nausea under control as the reptiles opened with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

Clearly the grave Sexton hadn't read our Henry's history lesson, or if he had, couldn't understand a word of it and was determined to join the Putinesque leopard eating his face party ...

The European Union has complained about being sidelined by the discussions between the US and Russia over some kind of settlement to end the conflict in Ukraine. In many ways, however, this is the inevitable result of the EU’s role in the conflict over the past three years.
During that period the EU has provided military equipment and financial assistance to Ukraine, although not nearly on the scale of that supplied by the US, but it has never made any effort to suggest how the conflict might ultimately be resolved. In fact, under the leadership of France and, to a lesser extent, Germany, it has encouraged Ukraine to reject any suggestion of negotiations that might lead to a settlement of the conflict.

Ah, so peaceful Vlad the sociopath just wanted a deal, and the perfidious French and stolid Germans had ruined everything, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz before a summit of European leaders about Ukraine in Paris on February 17. Picture: AFP

There's always got to be at least one mug punter eager to buy the snake oil, and the grave Sexton put up his hand ... 

Sock it to us with some Vlad the sociopath talking points, notions that would be at home on Russian state TV ...

It is easy – and correct at one level – to say the only just solution to the conflict is for Russia to withdraw from the territory it unilaterally invaded. But this is to ignore the reality that the Russians cannot be dislodged from some of these areas of Ukraine and they may well occupy even more territory if the war continues.
Moreover, the EU encouraged the eastwards expansion of NATO that commenced in the 1990s and supported the overthrow of the elected Ukrainian government in 2014. Neither of these occurrences constitutes a valid excuse for the invasion but there is certainly a question as to whether that invasion would have taken place in the absence of these events, particularly the accession of an anti-Russian administration in Kyiv in 2014.
It has been said that any settlement that left some of the – traditionally pro-Russian – territory in eastern Ukraine in Russian hands would amount to a concession that Russia exercises a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Historically, however, all great powers have exercised spheres of influence in and around their borders. Since the Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed in 1823 by the US, it has designated both North and South America to be US spheres of influence where foreign interference or hostile governments would not be tolerated. And there is no doubt China exercises a similar role in the Asian region. Russia is not as great a power as the US or China but its size and resources mean it is bound to have some influence over its neighbours.

Coming next week, reasons to take over Canada ...

The crazy never ends, at least if you can believe The Telegraph (barking mad UK brand, not the monumentally stupid local brand) ...

Meanwhile, the reptiles had slipped in an AV distraction designed to bolster the grave Sexton ...

Donald Trump says it will be up to Europe to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event a peace deal can be reached with Russia. "I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much," Mr Trump said. "We're going to have Europe do that because … we're talking about Europe is their next door neighbour, but we're making sure everything goes well."

What does our Henry make of being forced to keep company with this member of the Putinesque leopard face eating party?

All this suggest the only real possibility of ending the war lies in direct discussions between the US and Russia. 

Why, he's the answer to this age's urgent need for a Neville Chamberlain. 

And just like Neville he's got a great billy goat butt ...

It is true that Ukraine is a sovereign state and would have to consent to any terms of settlement but the enormous financial support the US continues to provide to Ukraine would be a powerful factor in its consideration of any terms, given the withdrawal of that support would significantly, perhaps fatally, damage Ukraine’s ability to continue its resistance to Russian advances.

So simple for the Ukrainians.

Roll over and let the grave Sexton and Vlad the sociopath stick it up you, until they're sure you're completely done ...

The two sticking points in any negotiations are obviously how much of Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russia would continue to remain under Russian control, and whether there should be any prospect of Ukraine becoming a member of NATO at some point in the future. On the second question, there seems to be a sharp division between the US and the EU, given the American opposition to Ukraine obtaining the formal status as a NATO member. The same division appears to exist between the US and the British, who have, however, tried to make themselves relevant to any settlement process by offering to place peacekeeping troops on the ground in Ukraine.
One matter that should not be a sticking point is the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. It is true that Crimea was at that time technically Ukrainian territory but this was really an accident of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. It was unrealistic to imagine Crimea would not at some point return to Russia of which it had long been part.

Crimea, sold to the property developer, the new Riviera of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov ... but no, the pond isn't going to feature that bizarre video featuring bearded dancing girls and fatted golden statues ...

There's only so much nausea the pond can take in one day, and the grave Sexton has pretty much done the pond in ...

Almost as an afterthought, the reptiles flung in a snap of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The pond was surprised. What's he got to offer the grave Sexton, busy offering everything he could, including the kitchen sink, to Vlad the Impaler?

If you're going to be a complete sell-out, why show the slightest interest in those you're selling down the river?

There are many in the West who insist that Russian aggression should not be rewarded and cite the 1938 Munich Agreement as evidence that resistance is the only useful course. In what is almost a century since that agreement, Munich has often been invoked, even in relation to Vietnam in the 1960s, but seldom with any real utility, perhaps not surprisingly in view of its highly unusual circumstances.
There have been few parallels in history to Hitler’s Germany, and the current Russian regime, whatever its deficiencies, could hardly be placed in the same category. The conflict in Ukraine will only be ended by some fresh thinking and not by outdated historical analogies.

Credit where credit is due ..

Michael Sexton is the author of Dissenting Opinions.

Dissenting? Is that what they're calling lickspittle running dogs and Putin lackeys these days? 

Why he's about as dissenting as Vladimir Solovyov or Olga Skabeyeva ... but the reptiles did achieve their aim, making our Henry sound like the voice of calm reason and historical insight, as if for a nanosecond, our Henry had managed to step outside the hive mind, while the grave Sexton resolutely stayed within it.

And so to end with the infallible Pope of the day, and everything still seems to revolve around the Tesla dude, with the mutton Dutton celebrating Doge ...

In which the Lynch mob embarks on a weird strategy to defend the Cantaloupe Caligula, followed by a few 'toons ...

 

Just to keep the local flavour from the pond's deep south tour going ... this one was decidedly weird ...

It wasn't just the pose or the gesture with the fingers - perhaps a response to his third term - it was the way that the pose meant that his hand was full of white-ish looking pigeon poo (discreetly hidden by the framing).

Speaking of poo, the pond should now offer up its daily serve of reptile poo ...

So much omitted at the top of the digital edition in the pursuit of the lizard Oz agenda, and over on the extreme far right, it was pretty much the same story ...

The pond can never come at petulant Peta, bigot and hate-monger from hell, and it's especially hard while in holyday mode ...

The dour sourpuss does however provide a solution to the question raised in relation to another matter ...

...Asio’s director general, Mike Burgess, was provided with an overview of the case by Queensland senator Gerard Rennick during Tuesday night’s hearing. Rennick accused the Daily Telegraph team of “stirring trouble” and trying to “bait” staff into making a prejudiced statement.
“In that case, if those facts are correct, then that is just mind-blowingly stupid, is it not, and inappropriate that you would do something to generate a headline,” Burgess told the hearing.
“[It’s] entirely unhelpful and think about the poor person on the receiving end of that.”
Greens senator David Shoebridge then questioned why Burgess was not more critical of the alleged sting operation and suggested it deserved more attention from the domestic spy agency, which has repeatedly warned of social division.
“The concerns that many people have is this was not a moment of stupidity, this was a planned, resourced and approved sting operations to try and sow division on the streets of Sydney,” Shoebridge told the hearing.
“It didn’t appear to be stupid, it appeared to be venal, planned, nasty and divisive … That is more troubling than something mind-blowingly stupid.”

Surely, as with petulant Peta, it can be both ... mind-blowingly stupid, while also being venal, planned, nasty and divisive ...

Speaking of nasty - and the pond isn't talking about Uncle Leon calling the Cantaloupe Caligula a fucking moron (archive, with unfortunate bot addition) - WaPo seems to still be dying in billionaire darkness ...

It was sad to see the rag go down ... per the Graudian 

Washington Post opinion editor departs as Bezos pushes to promote ‘personal liberties and free markets’, Opinion editor leaves as Amazon executive and newspaper owner says ‘viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others’

It was in the Beast as Legendary Washington Post Editor Slams Bezos for ‘Betraying’ Paper (archive) with MAGA Makeover, Former executive editor Marty Baron told the Daily Beast there was “no doubt in my mind” that Bezos was prioritizing his business interests over The Washington Post.

Over at The Bulwark, Jonathan V. Last saw a chance to plug their offerings in The Washington Post and Autocracy’s Asymmetric Advantage, Liberalism is afraid to take its own side.

Poor old MSNBC ...

While MSNBC holds to the honor system and tries to be fair to Republicans, Fox News paid $787 million dollars so that it could knowingly lie about Democrats.

Of late MSNBC hasn't tried to be fair to its demographic, or its black hosts ...

As for the billionaire?

...It is precisely the fact that Bezos understands that Trump cares nothing for “personal liberties and free markets” that leads him to disfigure the newspaper he owns.

Liberalism has no answer for oligarchs who care only about wealth, because the liberal order does not either punish or reward them without due process according to the transparent rule of law. Illiberalism, on the other hand, offers plenty of punishment and reward.

Liberal society must be willing to take its own side and elites like Bezos must be willing to accept discomfort.

If not? Well, we know where the road leads. We are already a good ways down it

Across the aisle, William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Joe Perticone were moaning It IS Happening Here

Trump’s autocratic project isn’t some threat on the horizon. It’s our current moment.

WaPo did try to look like it was business as usual ... with standard click bait stories about failing Tesla and rampant hypocrisy and resistance and measles ...

But when you read the likes of Philip Bump, rabbiting on in his usual way in What political scientists see as worrisome, Republicans see as welcome, Many Trump supporters welcome a strongman government, with 55 percent viewing it positively (archive), all that's visible are painful ironies ...

So Bump ends ...

Ten years ago, the idea that Americans might welcome such leadership would probably have inspired skepticism. The idea that such a system of government might soon be considered possible would have been considered wildly alarmist.

Today it very much does not. A system of government in which the legislature is unwilling to hold the chief executive in check as he seizes power constitutionally allocated to them? A chief executive eagerly undercutting democratic norms as he centralizes authority in the White House? Sounds more familiar than fantastic.

And to a lot of Republicans, it seems, it sounds pretty good.

The pond could only offer a few editorial hints and revisions ...

Ten years ago, the idea that American journalists and commentary writers might welcome the diktats of their billionaire owner would probably have inspired skepticism. The idea that such a system of diktats might soon be considered possible would have been considered wildly alarmist.

Today it very much does not. A system of newspaper ownership diktats in which the journalists are unwilling to hold the billionaire owner in check as he seizes power usually allocated to them under the notional heading of a free and fair press? A billionaire owner eagerly undercutting democratic norms as he centralizes authority to himself? Sounds more familiar than fantastic.

And to a lot of journalists, eager to make a crust and keep the job market wolf from the door, it seems, it sounds pretty good ...

Or, if you will, what the actual fuck ...

So Hearst, so the Murdochians, so Bezos, same as it ever was ...

All that sounded like the perfect segue into a local offering, this one from the man determined to ruin the reputation of the University of Melbourne.

All American presidents betray their friends, The US-led world order is on the verge of collapse. Again. And Donald Trump is next in line to disappoint his friends – he’s just less bothered than his predecessors about admitting it.

It was an alleged five minute read from the Lynch mob, and in it he did a Henry and roamed through history, with the point being to downplay the thought that these might be exceptional times.

So start with a snap of completely normal sociopaths, US President Donald Trump speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017.

Then to the nub of the argument ...

A little more than a month into his second term and already we have reached a new peak of Trump derangement syndrome. His creeping betrayal of Ukraine and embrace of Russian leader Vladimir Putin has stunned Europe. The US-led world order is on the verge of collapse. Again.

According to the sublimely silly Lynch mob, the only way out of TDS is to propose that the United States has always been led by fuckers and fucking morons determined to fuck the world ...

In truth, that order has always been chimerical and American perfidy often balances its altruism. Donald Trump is next in line to disappoint his friends – he is just less bothered than his predecessors about admitting it.

In order to save the reputation of the United States under a mango Mussolini, you must destroy the village and the country ...

US president Woodrow Wilson watched for nearly three years as Europeans bled themselves white in World War I. It was only German U-boat attacks on Americans and their ships that tipped him into war on the Allied side.

Wilson’s plan to make the world safe for democracy after German defeat – in his Fourteen Points and League of Nations – was rejected by the US Senate.

American isolationism was a stain on world politics for the next two decades. Communism and fascism marched across Europe and Asia.

That's fine by the pond, but deeply weird, a kind of narcissistic donning of the cilice that's worthy of Mel Gibson ...

Cue a snap of all that was wrong with America ... Representatives at the Paris Conference in 1919 (L-R), David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, George Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson.

On and on the Lynch mob rambled, pissing inside the tent in order to avoid pissing on - to use Uncle Leon's words - that fucking moron ...

It took a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, not the invasion of Poland in 1939, to bring the US into World War II.

Franklin Roosevelt maintained US neutrality – as France was conquered and Britain stood alone – for the war’s first two years. Poland’s fate was to be handed to the Soviet Union – the state that had dismembered it in a deal with Nazi Germany, beginning World War II – for the next half century.

The Western allies became practised at respecting Russia’s buffer zone. Trump may not know this history but he it gives cover in Ukraine.

We remember the Allied victory in 1945 as ushering in 80 years of US global engagement – which, it is claimed, Trump is busily ending. Perhaps. But those years also were replete with American infidelities and desertions. Trump is inextricably part of that less lauded American tradition. The US, of course, rebuilt Germany and Japan. No nation in history has done more to generate global prosperity and freedom than the US. It sponsored European reconstruction and offered security against Soviet communism.

What's the real point of this exercise? Why it's a way for the Lynch mob to not have to join an apology tour ...

No needy for sorry in the world of the Lynch mob.

It's as if posing as a rampant leftist raging about the guilt of America is a low road to extreme far right populism ...

But it also did little to roll back that ideology in Eastern Europe – what we now think of as Russia’s “near abroad”, where Ukraine uncomfortably sits.

Harry Truman is blamed for losing China in 1949. He also acquiesced to the Soviet colonisation of Prague, Warsaw and East Berlin. We can hear echoes of Truman’s realpolitik in Trump’s selling out of Kyiv. In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower left Britain, France and Israel twisting in the Egyptian wind. His refusal to back their seizure of the Suez Canal doomed the intervention. A few years later, the clever Harvard men surrounding John F. Kennedy got him into Vietnam. Australia and South Korea followed him there.

At this point the reptiles introduced an obvious candidate for denigration, Dwight Eisenhower.

The message: everyone did it, so it's fine for the Cantaloupe Clown to do it too ...

After 58,000 American soldiers died in South Vietnam’s defence, the Nixon administration abandoned the south to its zealous neighbour. Trump’s abandonment of Ukraine will be comparatively much easier. The pattern extends into the post-Cold War era. Bill Clinton had no interest in rebuilding Afghanistan after Soviet withdrawal – made possible by Ronald Reagan’s covert support of the Mujaheddin. The Taliban filled the vacuum. Indeed, George W. Bush, the last great military interventionist, is roundly condemned for his use of force to liberate Muslims. I wrote a book defending his war on terror and was quickly transported to Australia.

The men after W. have been studious avoiders of hard power.

Barack Obama, the supposedly anti-Trump president, forsook foreigners just as easily as his successor. Omer Aziz, a scholar of the Syrian civil war, described Obama’s failure to intervene in these terms: “The Syrian uprising (in 2011) was ignited by children who spray-painted anti-Assad slogans on their school’s wall. They were arrested and tortured the next day. Their fellow citizens, who had lost their innocence long ago, took to the streets to demand their dignity. They chanted, ‘One, one, one, the Syrian people are one.’ They threw flowers on (US) ambassador (Robert) Ford’s car when he went to their rally. They thought the Americans were with them. But the US was nowhere to be found.”

Trump 1.0 honed his desertion of ally strategy on the Kurds, one of the most pro-American people on Earth. Joe Biden’s bolting from Afghnistan in 2021 was an error of judgment almost as catastrophic as his choice of vice-president. Trump 2.0 now risks in his appeasement of Russia being seen like Biden in Afghanistan: handing an ally to an enemy.

Then came another candidate designed to make the mango Mussolini look good, Richard Nixon.

See how easy it is to distract from current criminality by evoking past criminals? 

Why, done expertly, it can make the barking mad JD seem perfectly normal ... just another Spiro on the loose ... or perhaps a sight from which nobody need quail ...

We are nostalgic for a “rules-based” world order that the US often lacked the resolve to sustain. From Saigon to Damascus and Kabul to Kyiv, the US has a long and depressing record of walking away from allies.

Consider, also, despite the outrage directed towards US Vice-President JD Vance in Munich this month, that falling out with Europeans is an occupational hazard for most American presidents. Trump’s rift with the EU over Ukraine is not as deep as that between George W. Bush and Paris and Berlin over the Iraq war.

Trans-Atlantic relations were in a worse way in 2003 than they are today. It was then because the US was determined to remove a dictator and an “old Europe” (what US secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld called the negationists) that wanted him kept in place. And if you think Trump buddying up to Putin is unseemly, consider how deliberately after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 that the US offered its perpetrators “most favoured” trading status. Resisting Chinese and Russian autocracy does not guarantee you American support. Taiwan, watch out.

The odd mild awareness of what's going down at the moment ...

Trump certainly has it arse-backwards when it comes to blaming Ukraine for starting the war. His swallowing of Putin’s propaganda is emetic – like FDR blaming Winston Churchill rather than Adolf Hitler for World War II...

... is only a weird way to sustain the apologetics ...

 But Trump’s apparent treachery is hardly unique.

See the animal cunning in "apparent".

Think about Satan and you can see how it works. After all, Satan's "apparent treachery is hardly unique'. Think of bloody womyn and that bloody apple ..

Cue a final snap of another failed loon, Joe Biden on a surprise visit in Kabul, Afghanistan, 2014.

Cue another splendid line ...

As one Melbourne-based Russian historian put it to me sardonically: Trump can never be right simply because he is Trump. Fail in stopping the war, and he is a loudmouth who promised and never delivered. Succeed in stopping the war, and he kowtowed to Putin. His critics are anti-war, but only when it suits them. Once the violence is about to stop, they suddenly want it to continue.

... unless of course, the Cantaloupe Clown can never be right simply because he's a fucking moron.

By this point, some might be wondering about the Lynch mob's strategy, but of course here comes the course corrective and a gigantic billy goat butt ... the real point revealed, the redemption of the mango Mussolini confirmed, at least in the mind of the Lynch mob ...

The world is a better place for America’s engagement in it. There are in foreign fields many thousands of US war graves attesting to the sacrifice. America does not owe them to Europe.

What Trump’s transactional retreat from Ukraine reveals is how dependent on his nation we have become. The US is not a welfare state for its work-shy allies. Trump does not exist to perpetuate a global welfarism. The democracies craving US support need to be better, bolder defenders of democracy and Western values. That is the best insurance against the inconstancies of American power.

And so the defaming of Melbourne University continues apace, its welfarism for wayward academics providing dismal reptile fodder ...

Timothy J. Lynch is professor of American politics at the University of Melbourne.

Uh huh ...off to Bond University with him ... or perhaps he could head off to a bar to discuss welfarism with drunks ...

And now the pond, having a backlog of locally relevant cartoons, turned to John Hanscombe in The Echnida

The pond signed up to this newsletter because it was a good way to get a regular supply of infallible Pope cartoons ...

You could also catch up on stories that had run rife through the Nine rags, but had gone completely MIA with the lizard Oz ...

Irrespective of whether you think there was any wrongdoing, regardless of whether there were even questions to answer, it was fascinating to watch. Not that his famously expressionless face gave too much away.
Peter Dutton had the tables turned on him yesterday, which must have come as a bit of a shock after dominating the political narrative for so long.
He'd called a press conference to talk about energy prices and the cost of living and getting Australia back on track. But the media weren't interested. They wanted to know about his 2009 bank share trades and his multimillion-dollar property investment history, two different stories from two rival news organisations landing like bombs in the short space of two days.

They'd also wanted to know about climate science, but that's covered by a 'toon ...

Put it another way ... I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat and snicker...

Or was that a flicker?

The flicker of annoyance across Dutton's brow when answering the torrent of questions suggested he'd tasted his own medicine and it was bitter.
Nothing irritates a politician more than having their heavily crafted talking points derailed by questions alluding to character. And here was Dutton, enduring the same frustration suffered by Anthony Albanese for most of his term - discomfort dished out by the man now copping it.
It was hard not to chuckle at the schadenfreude.

And you could chuckle at the immortal Rowe ...

Talk about bedding and bathtubs ... on the commentary flowed ...

Dutton tried to dismiss the bank share trading story as baseless dirt dug up by Labor and shopped around but only taken up by one journalist. But here was a room full of other journalists asking questions about it. After being on the offensive for so long, the combative Opposition Leader looked ill at ease playing a defensive game.

Having accused Albanese of being out of touch with ordinary Australians for so long - often justifiably - trying to convince the electorate that he's any different becomes much harder now Dutton's own impressive investment history is out there, flapping in the media breeze.

No log cabin story - neither Albanese growing up in public housing nor Dutton working as a butcher boy in his teens - cuts it when you're worth millions.

Well yes ...

... indoody do ..

Dutton might have had an easy ride up until now but as the election looms, the prospect he might actually become PM means he'll face closer scrutiny and tougher questions from the media.

Oh there'll be scrutiny, or grief ...

It's amazing how easy it is to catch up by way of 'toons ...

There's that controversy done and dusted, and now time for a few last words ...

As Bill, a regular Echidna commentator, put it a few days ago, once the campaign starts it will be the parliamentary press gallery applying the blowtorch, not reporters who normally cover police rounds in the regional capitals sent to cover the Opposition Leader's appearances.
This will be Dutton's first tilt at the top job after a political career memorable for its missteps rather than any crowning achievements. Serial dog whistling. Foreign au pairs. Multimillion-dollar contracts with companies headquartered in beach shacks. Chainsaws taken to health spending years before Elon Musk got his first hair plugs. The attempted coup against Malcolm Turnbull that gave us Scott Morrison.
Dirt will fly - that's a given. How Dutton responds to it will give the electorate a handy measure of the man.

The pond has already measured the man, if only because the man has provided ample opportunities for measurement, and the resulting coat is ill-fitting and not suited to purpose... unless you happen to think nuking the country is a solution to anything except more billions down the AUKUS sub gurgler ...

And now, having done a little domestic duty, the pond can join in a farewell ... another blow to a fading ABC ... (over a million on legal fees?! Ita as vengeful loon?!)

It's always in the detail ...

In which "Ned" and Cameron try to be "clear" in dealing with the results of the Faux Noise follies ...

 

Choices, choices ... deep in the deep south, and back in black,

Should the pond have opened by celebrating ...

Sheesh, the hanging premier who should have been hung - instead they hung his name on a bridge - and Albie together, and even the statues wear black ...

There was even a cartoon related to the experience ...

... or should the pond have opened with a traditional Nazi swine joke, currently doing the rounds?

Go Tesla sales ...

Whatever, the pond's herpetology studies are going to be intermittent and interrupted during its sojourn in the deep south.

This weekend the pond will be heading off into a world free of the lizard Oz ...and so a couple of placeholders will likely replace the regular daily observations.

Meanwhile, the pond will press on as best it can ... though looking at today's offerings, it's possible to wonder about the point of it all.

The pond has been following the reptiles for decades now, and the lizard Oz has been in a downward slide, a regressive arc, with the last few years the worst of the worst ...

Talk about this day's wraparound, placing the rag somewhere between New Idea and the Women's Weekly ...

That's the visual excitement for the day, what's over on the extreme far right?

Unfortunately the pond could take only so much civic lessons from the reptiles with a straight face ...

Sayeth Dame Slap at the end of her piece...

Our freedom, safety and prosperity as a nation depend on people uniting around a core set of non-negotiable values – freedom of speech, separation of church and state, representative government, the rule of law, equality of all people, regardless of race and gender.
Diversity enriches us only when migrants respect that unique binding social contract. There are many cultural practices that should never be tolerated.

Ah yes, good old hatred, intolerance, bigotry, fear and loathing ...but at least the pond has an excuse for refusing to tolerate the reptiles and their cultural practices ...

Please, just wrap up the hectoring and the lecturing ...

This poor excuse for a civics test relies on empty buzz words – protests, fairness, diversity.
Civics lessons should take students on what British historian Robert Tombs described as a rollicking ride about Western civilisation. “The West,” Tombs said, “ravaged continents, burnt heretics, invented the gas chamber and the atom bomb, and almost destroyed itself in two world wars.”
But Western civilisation, when seen as a grand narrative, is also how we learned to end slavery, to defeat totalitarianism, to be ashamed of war and genocide and persecution. It is a story of innovation, one of unsettling change and impassioned debate.
It is, Tombs said, “an action-packed adventure story, not a philosophical treatise”.
That is how civics should be taught at school.
And by the time students reach year 12 they should understand that, as Rufus Black, former master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne writes in The Importance of a Liberal and Sciences Education: “The triumph of freedom and reason is not a law of physics, it is just an idea that has captured our minds for a tiny period of human history. There is no certainty it will continue to do so unless we choose to argue for its values and ensure that we pass it on as it was passed on to us, hard won from authoritarian rule of many forms.”
That safe room for Jewish students at Macquarie University is proof of our collective failure. Parents, teachers, curriculum writers, politicians, academics, vice-chancellors can all play a part in making sure this is the lowest point of our educational failures. Not just for the sake of Jewish students. For the sake of all of us. 

And yet for the sake of the USA, Dame Slap donned a MAGA cap and wore it with pride ... a

And then ...

There you go, the result of a civics lesson from Dame Slap ...the triumph of freedumb and reason ...

Moving along, the pond was disappointed by the absence of the bromancer ... s

Surely he was the man to silence Bill Kristol, moaning in The Bulwark ...At the U.N., the U.S. Joins the Jackals

Sorry Bill, didn't you mean, per Colbert, the Axis of Weevils, and what a splendid axis it was ...

Belarus. Burkina Faso. Burundi. The Central African Republic. Equatorial Guinea. Eritrea. Haiti. Hungary. Iran. Israel. Mali. The Marshall Islands. Nicaragua. Niger. North Korea. Russia. Sudan. And the United States of America.
This is the roll of dishonor in which the government of the United States took its place yesterday. These were the 18 nations that, on the third anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, voted in the United Nations General Assembly against a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression and war crimes and calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops.

There was a great fuss and hullabaloo ...

Instead of the bromancer, the reptiles assigned "Ned" to deal with the matter ...

Donald Trump’s strategic blunders threaten US authority, Trump accused Zelensky of talking the US into a war that couldn’t be won. He blamed him for starting the war. These claims are not just untrue. That’s being polite. They are lies and big lies. Most are straight Kremlin propaganda.

Poor "Ned" and the reptiles insisted on showing Faux Noise's heroes at the get go, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, in one of those uncredited collages that these days assault the eyeballs ...

"Ned" did his best to cope ...

The world should not be surprised. Donald Trump is being faithful to his words.
He hasn’t ended the Ukraine war in 24 hours but his commitment to end the war is beyond dispute and in the process Trump has launched the greatest strategic revolution in Europe for more than 70 years.
If Trump’s plan were merely to shock Europe into accepting its national responsibilities, increasing its defence budgets and accept­ing more of its security needs vis-a-vis the US, then such goals would make sense and be fully justified, within and outside Europe.
But Trump’s statements mock any claims this is the limit of his ambitions. His signals are unmistakeable – Trump likes Vladimir Putin as a fellow strongman and transactional rival while he loathes Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, an elected democratic leader who stayed in Kyiv rather than abandon his country and heroically has led its defence.
Trump blames Zelensky and Ukraine for the war. Last week Trump said: “You should never have started it. You could have made a deal.” He branded Zelensky “a dictator without elections”. He warned Zelensky needed to move fast “or he is not going to have a country left”. He wants Ukraine to hold elections but says Zelensky won’t because his ratings are down to 4 per cent.

The reptiles interrupted with a snap, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference.

But what of the dreams and delusions of the 'leet reptiles these past few years? Perhaps best left to a 'toon ...

"Ned" pressed on ... and luckily he could only manage a five minute Everest climb this day ...

Trump accused Zelensky of talking the US into “spending $350bn to go into a war that couldn’t be won”. Incredibly, he blamed Zelensky for involving the US in the conflict.
These claims are not just untrue and the numbers false. That’s being polite. They are lies and big lies. Most are straight Kremlin propaganda. But some of Trump’s claims are so fantastic not even the Kremlin has thought them up.
Trump’s purpose is obvious – to discredit Zelensky, to deny his legitimacy, to weaken Ukraine, to drive Zelensky to acquiesce before a deal negotiated by Trump and Putin.
The facts tell a different story – Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, his goal being the subjugation of Ukraine, the elimination of its national sovereignty and the quest to restore imperial Russian greatness.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on who advised Putin on war, reportedly said: “Ivan the Terrible. Peter the Great. And Catherine the Great.”
Trump brands Zelensky the dictator when Putin is the dictator of 25 years. Trump brands Ukraine the villain when it is the victim. By exaggerating the war dead – Trump claims millions have died – his purpose is not to condemn Putin but to ruin Zelensky. But Trump’s hostility towards Zelensky transcends the personal – his attitude towards Ukraine is the deep insight into Trump’s transforming world views as US President.
Trump has no sense of a democracy under attack – something US democratic allies might reflect upon. What future instance of a democracy under attack won’t he accept? Trump won’t even accept the truth of the war – an act of aggression by Russia – because his mind is geared to great power legitimacy and sphere of influence entitlement.
Indeed, there is little evidence Trump believes in collective security, the essence of the US alliance system since World War II.

Oh come on "Ned" ... get with the team, get with the agenda ...

Insight, vision, Hannity, on our way to a piece of this and a piece of that ...pay attention "Ned"!

Trump’s core message, recently conveyed by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, is that the US has no role as a security guarantor for Ukraine in any peace settlement and this would become the responsibility of European and non-European forces in a “non-NATO mission”.
Trump’s view, also conveyed by Hegseth, is that the US is shifting its global priorities away from Europe and NATO to the American continental homeland and the Indo-Pacific region.
Herein lies the ultimate meaning of the MAGA movement – reducing US global responsibility by prioritising its hi-tech, domestic tax cutting, economic reindustrial­isation and cultural revisionism.

Then came another snap, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are pictured before a meeting in Helsinki, July, 2018.

Would this low comedy cop a mention?

Oh it was sweet ...

France’s Macron Brutally Fact Checks Trump to His Face
French President Emmanuel Macron issued a fact check on President Donald Trump while sitting next to him in the Oval Office on Monday—a moment that appeared to leave the U.S. leader rolling his eyes.
Trump claimed Europe was “loaning” money to Ukraine and would force the country to pony up once a peace deal is reached with Russia, suggesting U.S. allies in Europe had less to lose because they would eventually “get their money back.”
Macron was having none of it. He touched Trump’s arm to quiet him and then set the record straight: money given to Ukraine to ward off a Russian invasion was theirs to keep. If any money is returned, he said, it would come from frozen Russian assets.
The French leader added that Europeans had footed the majority of Ukraine’s wartime economic support—not the U.S.
“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid,” Macron said to Trump. “We paid 60 percent of the total effort, and it was through, like the U.S., loans, guarantee, grants, and we provided real money, to be clear.”
Trump smirked as he was called out in real time and shook his hand to suggest the 60 percent figure was not precise. He then appeared to mouth “OK” and smirked as his French counterpart continued his fact-check.

.. but probably not "Ned's" thing, what with him wanting to end in a hope against hope ...

This US retreat is the conclusion being drawn by European leaders. But whether they possess the unity and the political willpower to revive their nations and implement the vast increases in defence and security resources now demanded of them is another question entirely.
Putin would welcome all these signals. His first goal is to take Ukraine via a settlement that leaves Ukraine permanently weakened with inadequate guarantees. His related goals are to drive a wedge between Europe and the US, fatally weaken NATO and boost Russia’s negotiating power vis-a-vis Europe.
Such goals look far more achievable today than a few months ago.
In his analysis of the outlook published last weekend in The Times, Max Hastings said Trump was driving “the post-1945 security architecture of the West to the brink of a precipice”. Therefore, it seems wise to assume “that Trump and his acolytes mean what they say: that he regards Ukraine as being rightfully a Russian vassal state” and “the defence of Europe is no longer an American priority”.
In his article Hastings quoted Australia’s greatest journalist, Chester Wilmot, from his 1952 classic The Struggle for Europe, an extended analysis of America’s naivety in misunderstanding the nature of Russian power at the conclusion of the war.
Trump calling Putin a “genius” summons up all the deluded history and highlights our current fear – let’s say what so many are thinking – that we have in Trump an American president who is strategically naive and historically ignorant but is also convinced that he is a genius.

So how does "Ned" cope with it all? 

Why he pulls a Henry and heads off into the past. The grim reality heralded by Faux Noise was too much for him ...

Go on "Ned", amble back into the dim, distant past, hug a warm blanket for comfort ...

When the US President lies about the biggest war in Europe since 1945 it is time to learn from the 1930s and 40s. Pull out your William Shirer and your Wilmot, the journalists who were there and understood that when leaders tell big lies they have a purpose – it is to fabricate the historical record to justify the historical departure on which they are embarking. Of course, the war needs to end. But why has Trump given Putin so much even before the negotiations? What deal is this the art of?

The reptiles slipped into the archive for an inexpensive snap to help soothe "Ned's" nerves ... Australian war correspondent Chester Wilmot

It was what "Ned" needed to give him hope. Somehow, in some way, that which News Corp and Faux Noise had wrought might yet be put back together, in classic Humpty Dumpty style ...

Many uncertainties lie ahead. Might Trump pull back? Will he grasp the danger of over-reacting? Will his apologists who promote the dictum “take him seriously but not literally” be proven right? Let’s hope for progress on each count.
But don’t be fooled. Trump’s core beliefs throw into question the notion he will pursue intensified strategic deterrence against China. Trump asks to be judged by the wars he ends and the wars he avoids. Obviously, he sees China and Xi Jinping as more formidable than Putin, but he comes with the same beliefs – that Xi is a strongman with whom he can deal and transact.
The problem is doing deals that end up favouring Putin and Xi. The only law they understand is the law of brute force. If Trump sells out Ukraine the take-out from Beijing is that he’ll be more likely to sell out Taiwan. What else would they think? The worse mistake Australia could make is to think Trump’s strategic retreat from Europe is the prelude to a strategic step-up in Asia. It isn’t.
On the contrary, the big lesson so far is Trump’s view that strategic guarantees and potential adventurism must be reduced or avoided because they hurt the American homeland. He penalises Europe on trade while demanding it do more on defence. He seeks to reduce America’s strategic commitments while demanding that its trade partners do more to assist the US trade deficit. In just a few weeks he has alienated many nations and given China with fresh opportunities.
Hastings concluded his article with a salutary warning: don’t give up on America: “For the here and now, Europe must strive to save Ukraine from Trump as much as from Putin. But for the future, the American genius – and I use the word advisedly – remains the best hope for the light and leading of the West through the balance of the century.” Trump is both a transforming but a flawed president – and US power will survive beyond him.

US power will survive? It's just a kind of Kafka transformation, and we'll soon learn to love cockroaches?

Good luck with that one "Ned" ...feel free to join the valiant opposition, striving at this very minute to defeat the Vandals and the Visigoths ...

And so to a bonus from Cameron Stewart, if only to prove that Cam is a second eleven player up against the bromancer ...

Is Vladimir Putin serious about Ukraine peace plan?, The outlines of a potential peace deal in Ukraine are fast taking shape, but is Vladimir Putin playing with Donald Trump?

D'oh, why must dunces always frame things as questions? What's the point of that stupid strategy? Why must the pond join in? Have years of reptile studies produced mental decline in the pond?

Never mind, it was only a three minute read, and it began with a snap of the usual suspect ... Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Picture: AFP

Cam stayed in questioning, puzzled mode ...

The outlines of a potential peace deal in Ukraine are fast taking shape, but the great mystery remains – is Vladimir Putin really interested in peace, or is he playing with Donald Trump?
Trump is scattering all precedents aside in his headlong rush to strike a deal with the Russian dictator to end the war, offending everyone from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to Europe and the UN.
The US President’s appeasement of Putin so far has unnerved the Western world, with the latest insult being the US decision to vote with Russia against a General Assembly resolution calling out Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The US vote, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, was a craven sellout to Putin, but that’s how Trump has chosen to play this game. Yet if Trump succeeds in flattering Putin to the negotiating table and striking a fair ceasefire deal, Trump will be forgiven for his wildly unconventional approach.
But the great mystery is what Putin is willing to concede in any potential deal. While everyone else has talked, Putin has remained silent.

Sky Noise offered a solution:

Sky News host Danica De Giorgio says US President Donald Trump “simply” wants the war to be over in Ukraine. “I do not think he has sold out Ukraine just yet, though I do not like his dialogue about it,” Ms De Giorgio said. “I think Donald Trump simply wants this war to be over.”

The pond had never heard of Danica - such is the burden and loss at not watching Sky Noise - but is always eager to learn ...

She's an MC, and therefore in a tremendous position to understand the inner thinking of the Cantaloupe Clown?

Does he want to hand Ukraine over to Vlad the sociopath? No, he wants the war to be over, he's the John Lennon of our times ...

Have faith ... she's a member of the Jury, which means she can grok a reality TV show man ...

Sorry, the pond didn't mean to wander off into the Sky Noise wilderness, back to Cam ...

Trump made the massive claim, in his press conference with French leader Emmanuel Macron in Washington, that Putin had told him he would agree with the stationing of European troops in Ukraine as part of a peace deal. If true, then this is a significant development given that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told US officials in Saudi Arabia last week that the Kremlin would not accept European troops stationed in Ukraine.
This is an essential plank in any ceasefire deal because Ukraine would never accept any deal in which European troops did not play a part in its future security.
France and Britain are reported to be developing plans for a 30,000-strong force of mostly European troops to be stationed in Ukraine but not along the actual frontline, which is likely to become a demilitarised zone.
But Trump speaking on behalf of Putin should not instil anyone with confidence that this is Moscow’s true position until we hear from the Russian leader himself.
The other big question hanging over this peace process is whether Trump is willing to give security guarantees to any European military force in Ukraine, short of deploying US troops.
Macron implored Trump at the White House that Europe needed “solidarity” from the US to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in any peace deal.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who will also visit Trump in Washington this week, has also said a “US backstop” to security guarantees is needed to remove any temptation by Putin to reinvade Ukraine in the future.

The reptiles then slipped in a "report" ... The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that takes a neutral position on the conflict as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to broker an end to the war. Nyima Pratten reports.

Poor "Ned", there's lies, damned lies and then there's Sky Noise misrepresentations ...

Remember this one Mr Pratten?

Gone, disappeared down a Sky Noise black hole ...

Meanwhile, Cam stayed uncertain, in a kind of Scientology grey zone ... "unclear" ...

A Clear is defined by the Church of Scientology as a person who no longer has a "reactive mind", and is therefore free from negative effects purported to be produced by the "reactive mind". A Clear is said to be "at cause over" (that is, in control of) their "mental energy" (their thoughts), and able to think clearly even when faced with the very situations that in earlier times caused them difficulty. The next level of spiritual development is that of an Operating Thetan. A person who has not reached a state of Clear is called a preclear. (wiki)

The pond is always eager to help, and to get Cameron clear ...

What this means in reality is unclear. It could range from US military support for the European mission to a straight pledge to give military assistance if that force was attacked by Russia in years to come.
Trump has given no hint about how he feels on this issue. He does not want any deal that could suck America into a new war so it seems unlikely that he would provide any guarantee of automatic US military support for Kyiv.
These negotiations are now moving fast, with Trump claiming a deal might be made within weeks.

Oh yes, that's clear enough ...

And so to the wrap-up, with denialism and hope still inextricably mixed together in the reptile stew ...

 Zelensky is likely to visit Washington in the near future to try to patch over the tensions between the two leaders caused by Trump’s outburst last week that the Ukraine leader was a “dictator without elections”.
But the growing speculation about a peace deal will remain precisely that until the one key player – Putin – shows his hand.
“I really believe that he wants to make a deal,” Trump said of Putin. “I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.”
We will soon see whether Trump is right, or whether Putin is leading Trump and the West into an embarrassing dead end.

Sure, Cameron soon it will all be perfectly "clear" ... though voting with Russia and North Korea seems clear enough and might even be a clue ...

Here, have an immortal Rowe to help you understand ...

Still unclear, Cameron? It's all in the detail ...or perhaps in the teddy bear ...