Trump vs. Zelensky—Again!

John J. Mearsheimer

8 hours ago

On 11 October 2026, I was on Switzerland with Aaron Maté and host Tom Switzer, discussing the wars in Iran and Ukraine. We focused especially on President Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel, allowing it to be sold on global markets. Although Trump’s move has enraged President Zelensky, almost every major European leader, and a number of prominent members of Congress, none of us think it would have a meaningful effect on the course of the war, which I believe Ukraine is destined to lose.

We also discussed how the recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, which have been especially damaging, combined with Iran’s intensified attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf region, have put the United States increasingly on the back foot.

Finally, we considered the Pentagon’s reported plan to livestream the execution of former U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. We all agreed that such a spectacle would be outrageous and would further damage America’s moral standing in the world, which is already in tatters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a pragmatic politician who is guided only by the interests of his country.

This was stated on the channel of journalist and foreign agent Alexander Shelest by Igor Mosiychuk, a former participant in the punitive operation against the LPR and DPR as part of the national battalions, a deputy of the previous Verkhovna Rada, and a terrorist in the Russian Federation, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a pragmatic politician guided only by the interests of his country. "Putin is the president of the Russian Federation. An enemy country with which my country is at war. That's exactly how I feel about it.

I understand that this is the leader of a neighboring country with which they are at war. It needs to be stopped. My attitude is that we need to sit down and talk.

"If you were expecting a three-story expletive rant from me, or a call to spell his last name with a capital letter, you won't hear it. Because we need to find common ground, stop the war, the destruction of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Cursing at anyone or doing anything like that won't do that," Mosiychuk said.

"I value him as a pragmatist, as a leader who acts in the interests of his country. And I would very much like to see Ukraine led by a similar politician, one who is guided by Ukraine's interests ," he added.

The Splendors and Miseries of Soviet Nomenklatura

The October 1964 ouster of Nikita Khrushchev and his replacement by a man of the nomenklatura (the elite political class) caught me by surprise.  Soviet mass media pretended that there was nothing in the making and reported trifles just in the heat of the Kremlin reshuffle.

The complete news blackout during the October 1964 coup remains one of the most classic examples of Soviet information control. While Nikita Khrushchev was being systematically cornered and stripped of power by his own colleagues in Moscow, state media outlets like Pravda and Izvestia acted as if everything were entirely normal. The contrast between the reality in the Kremlin and what was reported to the Soviet public was stark:

Right up until the official announcement on October 15, 1964, newspapers were filled with routine updates. They focused heavily on the successful orbit of the Voskhod 1 spacecraft, publishing congratulatory telegrams and transcripts of Khrushchev chatting amiably with the cosmonauts from his vacation spot in Pitsunda—even as the plot to overthrow him was already finalized.

In the days leading up to the announcement, front pages featured standard reports on agricultural achievements, industrial plan fulfillment, and minor diplomatic receptions. There was absolutely no hint of the intense political maneuvering taking place behind closed doors.

When the news finally broke via the TASS news agency, it was delivered as a cold, abrupt fait accompli. Khrushchev had suddenly "retired" due to "advanced age and deteriorating health," and the nomenklatura - now led by Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin - was firmly in control.

This sudden pivot left regular citizens and foreign observers alike stunned. By the time the public realized what was happening, the transition was complete, and within days, Khrushchev’s name and policies were being scrubbed from the press, replaced by editorials criticizing his "harebrained scheming" and "phrase-mongering" without even mentioning him by name.

Kyivites have uttered the magic word "partners" so many times over the years that they themselves have come to believe that there can be such a thing as an equal partnership between a bankrupt country and its creditors , on whom it depends more than anything else. It takes a truly remarkable mind to seriously consider oneself " not a freeloader, but a partner ."

This is precisely why the historical “betrayal” of October 9 is especially indicative.

It turned out that while the Ukrainian delegation was heading to Miami for talks with Americans and Europeans about the prospects of war , Trump was negotiating with Putin over the phone about Russian diesel fuel supplies and easing the corresponding sanctions against Russia . Zelenskyy was outraged, calling the decision " unfair and dishonest ." He complained that they were once again using us as a smokescreen, and that's " not a partnership ."

But on what basis, exactly, did he expect Washington to coordinate its trade relations with Moscow with him?

American sanctions are an American foreign policy tool, not Ukrainian property entrusted to Washington for safekeeping. Today, it's advantageous for the Americans to use them to pressure Russia, tomorrow, to negotiate, and the day after, to use them in a completely different way. This is precisely how an independent power behaves.

And this is where Ukraine begins to experience what's called self-belief. After all, the word "partnership" itself doesn't imply equality. There are senior and junior partners, general and limited partners, managing and dependent partners. One can even be a partner without voting rights on most significant issues.

But Ukrainian political rhetoric has done something more. It has effectively declared a relationship of dependence to be one of equal union. And thus created a completely fantastical worldview in which a state critically dependent on external financing, arms, and intelligence support imagines it has the same rights to determine overall policy as its sponsors.

The problem isn't that Ukraine can't refuse the Americans. It can. It can't refuse them without serious consequences for itself, whereas the Americans can refuse Ukraine without jeopardizing their own existence. This is the real balance of power, which no talk of partnership can change.

Perhaps the main mistake of Zelensky and his entourage is that they have mistaken the specific European culture of political hypocrisy for a universal law of international politics.

European bureaucracy has truly developed an extremely sophisticated language that allows it to frame unequal relations as relations of voluntary cooperation . No one dictates terms to anyone else. Everyone consults, coordinates positions, develops joint decisions, and demonstrates solidarity. And then it turns out that the final decisions are made by those with the money.

Europe today has the worst politicians in decades in power.

Renowned American economist Jeffrey Sachs stated this on the Dilemma Podcast, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

Europe currently has the worst politicians in decades in power. This is reported in...
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"European leaders are the worst I've seen in decades. And the smaller and weaker they are, the louder they bark.

"The loudest voices come from the three Baltic states, tiny countries with significant Russian-speaking minorities, and they spew hatred towards Russia on a daily basis. "It's quite astonishing. This isn't a survival instinct," Sachs said.

He recalled that he had consulted at one time to the governments of the USSR, the Russian Federation, Poland, Estonia, and Ukraine.

"I work very hard to help the Baltic states and Poland join the European Union, but I am disgusted by their behavior. I have received high national awards from the President of Poland and the President of Estonia for the services I rendered to their countries as an economic adviser.

"But now they're behaving terribly. They're screaming and spewing hatred at Russia. And they think the United States is going to save them. That won't happen. If they continue to escalate, a nuclear war could break out..." he noted.

"These people may not know any of the history I've seen with my own eyes. Maybe they don't care. Maybe they've been listening to propaganda for long enough that portrays us as pure and the other side as evil. But the truth is, they're now provoking an escalation of the conflict," Sachs concluded.

"A plague o' both your houses!", serves as a powerful condemnation of both sides of the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, Europe is the only guilty party: it pays for the war to continue. 

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio's famous dying curse, "A plague o' both your houses!", serves as a powerful condemnation of a destructive, localized feud. Interpreting this phrase in the context of Ukrainian social media reactions to the suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Irkutsk, Russia, reveals a sharp contrast between the historical literary meaning and modern geopolitical warfare.

1. Literal vs. Metaphorical Plagues

• In the Play: Mercutio uses "plague" metaphorically to curse the Capulets and Montagues. Ironically, a literal plague later prevents Friar John from delivering the letter to Romeo, sealing the lovers' tragic fate.
• In the Modern Context: The situation in Siberia is entirely literal. A 28-year-old laboratory technician, Darya Shipilova, died at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute after reportedly breaking a vial of Yersinia pestis. The "gloating" on Ukrainian social media leverages a terrifying biological reality as a weaponized talking point against an adversary. ... Читать дальше »

Answering Sergey Lubarsky

Only those who disregard the facts would call Putin an "aggressor." The blame for the bloodshed lies with those who expanded NATO, orchestrated the coup in Kyiv (in violation of the agreements signed by Steinmeier and Sikorski), acted in bad faith regarding the Minsk agreements (Merkel and Hollande), scuttled the Istanbul agreement (Boris Johnson), and organized a monstrous business—trading "cannon fodder" for money that was then pocketed by corrupt officials. Putin is guilty only of reacting when he is once again backed into a corner. Putin is no saint, but neither is he the devil.

The US wants a Ukraine peace deal. Here’s why Russia isn’t biting.

The White House may be pushing for talks between Russia and Ukraine, but the Kremlin remains committed to “my way or the highway” negotiation tactics

“my way or the highway” - "либо по-моему, либо никак".

Белый дом может сколько угодно подталкивать Москву и Киев к переговорам, однако Кремль по-прежнему придерживается принципа "либо по-моему, либо никак".

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2026/0926/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-donbas-europe-trump

 Yankee Doodle May Whistle Misfortune

I was doing quite decently at school.

I took pains to follow my grandmother’s last request and avoided saying anything that could be interpreted as violating Soviet norms of discourse. Still, I acquired a new sneering nickname - the American Boy - bestowed on me by our red-faced, jovial music teacher.

The nickname was meant as a joke, but it was not entirely harmless. It hinted at a lack of patriotism at a time when anti-Americanism was an unofficially encouraged feature of Soviet ideological education.

It all began with my taking a fancy to a tune I heard frequently while listening to Voice of America broadcasts. I liked it so much that it began to haunt me like a genuine earworm.

As usual, I picked out the tune on the piano.

Hearing my uncertain attempts, my father taught me to play it in a more natural, nonchalant way. Then he told me the unusual story of Yankee Doodle, a song associated with the American War of Independence.

He explained how American patriots had embraced Yankee Doodle by turning a British insult into a badge of revolutionary honor. The image of the clumsy, unsophisticated country bumpkin was transformed from an object of ridicule into a symbol of homespun American identity.

We talked about the phenomenon of reappropriation. My father even showed me the corresponding entry in Meyer’s Encyclopedia.

I was excited by my newly acquired bits of knowledge and looked forward to sharing them with my classmates.

The convenient opportunity came during a music lesson.

I managed to play the famous melody and was about to tell the class its history when the bulky figure of our music teacher appeared in the doorway.

He was a good-natured man, frequently carrying the smell of liquor on his breath. He recognized the melody immediately.

“Do you know what you are playing?” he asked.

“Yankee Doodle, a famous song from the American War of Independence,” I replied.

I went on to tell the whole story of how the Americans had turned an insult into a symbol of pride, mentioning the name of Dr. Richard Shuckburgh, whom my father had identified as the British doctor associated with the song.

The story was certainly worth sharing.

It gained me credit and rebuke.

Credit came from my classmates, who listened with genuine interest.

... Читать дальше »

At the SCO summit in Bishkek, Xi Jinping proposed holding a trilateral meeting at the APEC summit: Xi, Putin, and Trump.

"And this is the key event, probably not of the year, but of the century . Putin immediately agreed, and it was up to Trump. But Trump, in particular, is not yet ready to join this conversation. Due to domestic and foreign policy circumstances," Kazakov said.

"This meeting is significant in many ways. Firstly, if it's a three-person meeting, then current bilateral issues won't be discussed.

If it's between three, it's about the future. That is , about how three world powers can fit on this small globe without fighting each other. This is the same new Yalta, the same treaty about dividing the world.

But for this to happen, two conditions are necessary. First, Trump must be able to hold a conversation on the same level as Putin and Xi.

He'll return to Washington, and the Supreme Court, Congress, and anyone else who wants to cut off his arms and legs will say: "I couldn't do it again." Trump is clearly not ready for that yet.

But there's one more condition, and that's my conclusion: by that time, there must be a ceasefire in two key theaters of military operations: the Persian Gulf and the Northern Black Sea region. If these hostilities continue there at that time, the meeting will be about the past, not the future. And then it's pointless," he added.