While pursuing his return to the White House, then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump promised to secure peace between Russia and Ukraine
of returning to office.
It's been almost half a year since Trump was inaugurated for his second term, and he has thus far
failed to so much as even
lull Putin and Zelensky into a 30-day ceasefire.
As of this Monday morning, Trump is now
desperately leaning on China, as well as
arguably India and Turkey — which are Russia's largest trading partners — to talk Moscow into a "deal" with the
:
Not sure "what the actual fuck" is wrong with Trump, but his
— which he and his administration was forced to walk back due to domestic discontent — did more to destabilize and harm the US economy than anything else:
While in no way should anyone wish ill upon the Ukrainians or Russians who've been tragically afflicted by this war since it began in February 2022, the reality of the matter is that it is in China's
best interest for this conflict to continue: every American missile heading to Ukraine is one fewer munition for impeding unification between Mainland China and Taiwan. This is on top of the economic benefits (e.g. cheap[er] hydrocarbons, transshipment arbitrage) that China, India, Turkey and others have reaped as a result of Russia's isolation from the West.
There's
no real incentive here for Beijing to nudge Moscow into peace, though there is a chance Beijing, New Delhi and/or Ankara will talk Moscow into a
temporary ceasefire to avoid destabilizing markets, assuming that'd even be a "bad thing" from their perspective(s).
Fifty days from now, on the second day of this coming September, Trump will be forced to either
destabilize his own economy, or to once again showcase his, if not broader American
impotence.
Not sure exactly why Trump and his advisors are
setting themselves up for failure, but the only plausible explanation is that those who surround and advise Trump want him, if not the US to
fail, and/or possess no bearing on the reach and limits of American power.