David Craig, on February 26th, 2025Thursday-Friday blog
As President Donald Trump tries to stop the slaughter in Ukraine, he has been lambasted as everything from a Neville Chamberlain to a Putin puppet to a friend of dictators to the world’s worst negotiator for supposedly making concessions to Russia before negotiations even started.
Trump’s critics, who all appear to consider themselves experts on international negotiations, seem to me to have forgotten that, before Trump’s current attempts to end the Ukraine war, Europe and the ever so progressive ever so liberal Biden administration had three years to end the war and did pretty much nothing. In fact, there are many who believe that a peace with Russia could have been negotiated two and a half years ago, but that Boris Johnson was sent as the West’s bag-carrier to persuade Zelensky that Ukraine should fight on rather than negotiate. Moreover, I don’t remember all the supposed ‘experts’ criticising European leaders and the Biden administration for their failure to end the Ukraine war for the last three years of bloodshed.
Here are just a few titles of Times Radio podcasts about Trump’s attempts to end the war:
- Trump HQ in chaos as it divides over Ukraine policy
- Trump is destroying Western unity as he �cosies� up to Putin
- Trump’s problems mount as he turns his back on allies
- Trump�s �bonkers� demand for billions in Ukraine�s rare earth minerals explained
- Trump�s �strategic stupidity� towards Putin has China making dangerous plans
- Putin will take war to Europe after plunging US in turmoil
- UK must prepare for war footing as world edges closer to WWIII
- Trump�s �short-sighted� Ukraine plan thrusts US leadership into chaos
There are plenty more like this, but I imagine you get the picture.
All these Trump-loathing ‘experts’ interviewed by Times Radio may be right. Perhaps Trump is a cowardly appeaser. Perhaps Putin has some ‘kompromat’ on him. Perhaps Trump is the world’s worst negotiator.
But there is possibly another explanation for America’s proposals to end the war. Perhaps the Trump administration are playing the 21st century’s version of ‘The Great Game’.
‘The Great Game’
‘The Great Game’ was a rivalry between the 19th-century British and Russian empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. But, I believe the expression can also be used more generally to describe the major powers jostling with each other for control of countries and resources. In the 20th century, ‘The Great Game’ was primarily the worldwide conflict between the West and the Soviet Union. This spread throughout the MIddle East, Asia, Africa and South America as the West’s and Soviet Union’s proxies fought local wars.
In the 21st century, ‘The Great Game’ will be played mainly between the USA and an increasingly hungry and belligerent China. The Chinese are not just a threat to American power, they are also colonising many other countries such as Australia and New Zealand and large parts of Africa. Moreover, China is a threat to Russia’s resource-rich, underpopulated Far East. What the Trump administrataion may have realised is that Russia may not be our real enemy, that China is the real enemy and that, as Russians may have more in common with the USA than with the Chinese, now is the time to loosen Russia’s ties with (subordination to?) China and recruit Russia into the anti-Chinese camp.
If I am right, then morally the results aren’t going to be pretty. Putin will keep 20% of Ukrainian territory and maybe have most of the sanctions on Russia lifted. So a murderous dictator will emerge as a winner. But after WWll, America was more than delighted to grab as many Nazi scientists as it could to help build rockets and its space programme. Realpolitik is not something for sensitive pearl-clutchers.
Of course, I ain’t no geopolitical genius like all the experts endlessly mouthing off in our media. So I may be completely wrong. But I suspect this is what is really happening and that all the Trump-haters are too blinded by their loathing of Trump to understand that ending the Ukraine was is not just a local issue for the Americans, but is part of a new 21st century ‘Great Game’ – the struggle for global dominance between the USA and China.
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Maybe the whole club of rome depopulation agenda is just not compatible with a Christian trump make america great again. It does seem the only people who want a war with russia are the same groups who championed covid vax and open borders. The EU and the UK need a war to rescue their green lunacy communist fantasies and allow marshal law to be imposed. War is inflationary and both the UK and Europe need it badly to rescue them from themselves and protect the failed establishment who have caused so much damage. I think Trump just sees this and Putin is similarly aligned against these forces of evil. China will do a deal with trump and play the long game like Japan.
Paul makes a valid point. The western economies are in a mess and they need inflation. They bailed out the banks because they could not be allowed to fail. They can�t do it again. They closed down the economy over a fake pandemic to pump in money without creating inflation and now they are looking for the next scam. And a war is always good for bankers.
Zelensky will become irrelevant if there is peace, but perhaps he now has enough wealth to retire and enjoy it.
You mention that Russia is resource rich and that could be an important factor especially for China. Lack of resources is a problem for the UK just to survive with a reasonable standard of living and Starmer needs to recognise this.
With the exception of accusing Zelensky of starting the war (probably said to humour Putin), I agree with everything Trump has done so far.
I don�t know what game he�s playing, Great or otherwise but he�s recognised Putin has to be allowed out of this war without losing face. He�s forced Europe to think again and stand up to its obligations rather than relying on the US to sort it out for them – as it is Biden and the EU have done nothing to resolve the issue over the last 3 years.
Yesterday�s Gaza video was IMO a stroke of reverse psychology genius which will hopefully kick Gaza�s Arab neighbours into thinking how they can rebuild Gaza. Subtle it wasn�t – 30 foot gold statue of Trump is hilarious but the message is loud and clear �Do something about it or I will!�. The left are, of course, out of their prams but that�s nothing new and it�s not targeted at them anyway,