#Russia-Ukraine war analysis

[manmishra]

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine following a heated confrontation with President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. What does this mean for U.S.-Ukraine relations and the ongoing war with Russia? Read our in-depth analysis to find out! #Trump #UkraineAid #Zelenskyy #Russia

[short-wooloo]

I believe that the big war with russia is closer than people realize

Why? Patterns of History

Let me ask you: Do you know why hitler launched his Invasion of the ussr in June of 1941?

Well aside from his genocidal beliefs and plans of lebensram, hitler believed it was his last chance to do it

Germany was burning through its oil supply (oil which largely came from the soviets) with no end to the war with Britain in sight while the red army was expanding and modernizing, hitler was terrified that if he waited any longer he would not be able to invade and conquer, and coupled with delusional overconfidence, he pushed forward

What we have is a remarkably and horrifyingly similar situation

Putin-a delusional dictator who dreams of conquest and domination-has blundered his country into a long costly war under the premise it would be quick and cheap, it's costing him a steep price (500,000 russian soldiers killed, maimed, or injured) of a resource he has limited supply of (russia already had a demographics problem before the Invasion of Ukraine), and the nations he wants to conquer/get back under russia's thumb are rearming and reinvesting in their militaries

If putin wants to reconquer the former soviet republics/soviet bloc/Warsaw pact, he's running out of time to do so, so why not do it sooner while his chances are better/he still has a decently sized army/those he wishes to conquer are still rearming?

He also currently has his own Neville Chamberlain in the white house who is destroying the us economy with stupid tariffs, is flakey about the US's NATO commitments, and just generally is putin's bitch

So with that in mind, the best time for putin's grand conquest of eastern Europe will be in the next 3 years, probably January 2028 (maybe late 2027 at the earliest), under the belief that he can conquer his way through the rest of Ukraine, link up with his forces in Transnistria, maybe take Moldova too, take the Baltics and parts of Poland to connect his kaliningrad enclave, and beat the rest of Europe up enough to force a "peace" agreement before the 2028 US elections

And if you think putin wouldn't do that, that it's too crazy and he's too sensible...

People were saying the same about him invading Ukraine in 2021

And people also said similar things about hitler

[workersolidarity]

[Photo Source]

🇷🇺🇺🇦 OPINION: The Russian Federation at the beginning of the Special Military Operation were likely losing more tanks and armored vehicles than it was producing at the time.

But today, the Russians are producing considerably more tanks and armored vehicles than they are losing in battle.

Meanwhile, Ukraine cannot replace or even quickly repair its own tanks and armored vehicles to which they are dependent on the West for, that were hammered during the Ukrainian "Greatest Counteroffensive."

So what we are seeing today is that Russian Forces are shifting to an offensive footing at a time they are producing record numbers of tanks, drones and armored vehicles.

Unlike Ukrainian Forces, the Russians can easily replace their destroyed vehicles and continue on an offensive footing indefinitely.

This is a recipe for disaster for the Ukrainians who are not going to be getting enough replacements for their armored vehicles to ever go on the offensive again. At least not during this stage of the conflict.

And this doesn't even take into account the inability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to replace its competent, experienced and well-trained soldiers lost by the tens of thousands in the offensive, with any kind of high quality conscripts.

Short of NATO directly intervening in the war, there is no other way this ends than an eventual collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

And at this point, it is likely far too late for a negotiated end to the conflict, as the Russians have already hinted at, without a change in leadership in Ukraine, and maybe even in the United States as well.

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[connorthemaoist]

It should be made clear that the war in Ukraine is in the nature of an inter-imperialist war, between Russia, on the one hand, and the US imperialists and its NATO allies on the other hand, with Ukraine being used as proxy and base of the latter to undermine and strangle Russia’s economic interests and hegemony. Of all the wars during the past decades, the war in Ukraine is the closest that the US has waged directly against Russia. With the involvement of the US and its principal NATO allies, the war has the potential of igniting a broader global war and sparking the use of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction. -Communist Party of the Philippines, Wage Revolutionary Wars to Fight Imperialist Wars, 2023

[xtruss]

Analysis: The China-Russia Axis Takes Shape

The bond has been decades in the making, but Russia’s war in Ukraine has tightened their embrace.

— September 11, 2023 | By Bonny Lin | Foreign Policy

Alex Nabaum Illustration For Foreign Policy

In July, nearly a dozen Chinese and Russian warships conducted 20 combat exercises in the Sea of Japan before beginning a 2,300-nautical-mile joint patrol, including into the waters near Alaska. These two operations, according to the Chinese defense ministry, “reflect the level of the strategic mutual trust” between the two countries and their militaries.

The increasingly close relationship between China and Russia has been decades in the making, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tightened their embrace. Both countries made a clear strategic choice to prioritize relations with each other, given what they perceive as a common threat from the U.S.-led West. The deepening of bilateral ties is accompanied by a joint push for global realignment as the two countries use non-Western multilateral institutions—such as the BRICS forum and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)—to expand their influence in the developing world. Although neither Beijing nor Moscow currently has plans to establish a formal military alliance, major shocks, such as a Sino-U.S. conflict over Taiwan, could yet bring it about.

The cover of Foreign Policy's fall 2023 print magazine shows a jack made up of joined hands lifting up the world. Cover text reads: The Alliances That Matter Now: Multilateralism is at a dead end, but powerful blocs are getting things done."

China and Russia’s push for better relations began after the end of the Cold War. Moscow became frustrated with its loss of influence and status, and Beijing saw itself as the victim of Western sanctions after its forceful crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. In the 1990s and 2000s, the two countries upgraded relations, settled their disputed borders, and deepened their arms sales. Russia became the dominant supplier of advanced weapons to China.

When Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, China was already Russia’s largest trading partner, and the two countries regularly engaged in military exercises. They advocated for each other in international forums; in parallel, they founded the SCO and BRICS grouping to deepen cooperation with neighbors and major developing countries.

When the two countries upgraded their relations again in 2019, the strategic drivers for much closer relations were already present. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 damaged its relations with the West and led to a first set of economic sanctions. Similarly, Washington identified Beijing as its most important long-term challenge, redirected military resources to the Pacific, and launched a trade war against Chinese companies. Moscow and Beijing were deeply suspicious of what they saw as Western support for the color revolutions in various countries and worried that they might be targets as well. Just as China refused to condemn Russian military actions in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine, Russia fully backed Chinese positions on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang. The Kremlin also demonstrated tacit support for Chinese territorial claims against its neighbors in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

Since launching its war in Ukraine, Russia has become China’s fastest-growing trading partner. Visiting Moscow in March, Xi declared that deepening ties to Russia was a “strategic choice” that China had made. Even the mutiny in June by Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin that took his mercenary army almost to the gates of Moscow did not change China’s overall position toward Russia, though Beijing has embraced tactical adjustments to “de-risk” its dependency on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Building on their strong relationship, Xi and Putin released a joint statement in February 2022 announcing a “No Limits” strategic partnership between the two countries. The statement expressed a litany of grievances against the United States, while Chinese state media hailed a “new era” of international relations not defined by Washington. Coming only a few weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, enhanced relations were likely calculated by Moscow to strengthen its overall geopolitical position before the attack.

It’s not clear how much prior detailed knowledge Xi had about Putin’s plans to launch a full-scale war, but their relationship endured the test. If anything, the Western response to Russia’s war reinforced China’s worst fears, further pushing it to align with Russia. Beijing viewed Russian security concerns about NATO expansion as legitimate and expected the West to address them as it sought a way to prevent or stop the war. Instead, the United States, the European Union, and their partners armed Ukraine and tried to paralyze Russia with unprecedented sanctions. Naturally, this has amplified concerns in Beijing that Washington and its allies could be similarly unaccommodating toward Chinese designs on Taiwan.

Against the background of increased mutual threat perceptions, both sides are boosting ties with like-minded countries. On one side, this includes a reenergized, expanded NATO and its growing linkages to the Indo-Pacific, as well as an invigoration of Washington’s bilateral, trilateral, and minilateral arrangements in Asia. Developed Western democracies—with the G-7 in the lead—are also exploring how their experience deterring and sanctioning Russia could be leveraged against China in potential future contingencies.

On the other side, Xi envisions the China-Russia partnership as the foundation for shaping “the global landscape and the future of humanity.” Both countries recognize that while the leading democracies are relatively united, many countries in the global south remain reluctant to align with either the West or China and Russia. In Xi and Putin’s view, winning support in the global south is key to pushing back against what they consider U.S. hegemony.

Alex Nabaum Illustration For Foreign Policy

In the global multilateral institutions, China and Russia are coordinating with each other to block the United States from advancing agendas that do not align with their interests. The U.N. Security Council is often paralyzed by their veto powers, while other institutions have turned into battlegrounds for seeking influence. Beijing and Moscow view the G-20, where their joint weight is relatively greater, as a key forum for cooperation.

But the most promising venues are BRICS and the SCO, established to exclude the developed West and anchor joint Chinese-Russian efforts to reshape the international system. Both are set up for expansion—in terms of scope, membership, and other partnerships. They are the primary means for China and Russia to create a web of influence that increasingly ties strategically important countries to both powers.

The BRICS grouping—initially made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—is at the heart of Moscow and Beijing’s efforts to build a bloc of economically powerful countries to resist what they call Western “Unilateralism.” In late August, another six states, including Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, were invited to join the group. With their growing economic power, the BRICS countries are pushing for cooperation on a range of issues, including ways to reduce the dominance of the U.S. dollar and stabilize global supply chains against Western calls for “Decoupling” and “De-risking.” Dozens of other countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS.

The SCO, in contrast, is a Eurasian grouping of Russia, China, and their friends. With the exception of India, all are members of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The accession of Iran in July and Belarus’s membership application put the SCO on course to bring China’s and Russia’s closest and strongest military partners under one umbrella. If the SCO substantially deepens security cooperation, it could grow into a counterweight against U.S.-led Coalitions.

Both BRICS and the SCO, however, operate by consensus, and it will take time to transform both groups into cohesive, powerful geopolitical actors that can function like the G-7 or NATO. The presence of India in both groups will make it difficult for China and Russia to turn either into a staunchly anti-Western outfit. The diversity of members—which include democracies and autocracies with vastly different cultures—means that China and Russia will have to work hard to ensure significant influence over each organization and its individual members.

What’s next? Continued Sino-Russian convergence is the most likely course. But that is not set in stone—and progress can be accelerated, slowed, or reversed. Absent external shocks, Beijing and Moscow may not need to significantly upgrade their relationship from its current trajectory. Xi and Putin share similar views of a hostile West and recognize the strategic advantages of closer alignment. But they remain wary of each other, with neither wanting to be responsible for or subordinate to the other.

Major changes or shocks, however, could drive them closer at a faster pace. Should Russia suffer a devastating military setback in Ukraine that risks the collapse of Putin’s regime, China might reconsider the question of substantial military aid. If China, in turn, finds itself in a major Taiwan crisis or conflict against the United States, Beijing could lean more on Moscow. During a conflict over Taiwan, Russia could also engage in opportunistic aggression elsewhere that would tie China and Russia together in the eyes of the international community, even if Moscow’s actions were not coordinated with Beijing.

A change in the trajectory toward ever closer Chinese-Russian ties may also be possible, though it is far less likely. Some Chinese experts worry that Russia will always prioritize its own interests over any consideration of bilateral ties. If, for instance, former U.S. President Donald Trump wins another term, he could decrease U.S. support for Ukraine and offer Putin improved relations. This, in turn, could dim the Kremlin’s willingness to support China against the United States. It’s not clear if this worry is shared by top Chinese or Russian leaders, but mutual distrust and skepticism of the other remain in both countries.

— This article appears in the Fall 2023 issue of Foreign Policy. | Bonny Lin, the Director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

[disillusioned-diaries]

As Free as the United States is, our Foreign Interactions Suck (Specifically, US involvement in Ukraine Russia War)

If Ukraine joins NATO before the war with Russia is resolved, WW3 between the US, NATO countries, and Russia appears to be inevitable.

In the scenario in which this happens, I am leaving this country (the United States) for a country that is neutral and/or against the shit the United States pulls on the rest of the world.

I will not serve as collateral damage for whatever insanity our corrupt and demented leaders try and put us through

I want to have nothing to do with this shit.

I'm an American and I literally hate the fact that we are being emotionally and financially coerced by Ukraine to give them more and more of our hard-earned money to continue a war that does not benefit the American people, and a fight that neither Ukraine nor the United States HAS NO EXIT PLAN for.

I am starting to side with Russia in a certain way.

The United States is trying to impose their will on Russia by 1. Trying to turn a country that borders Russia into a NATO country, and 2. Portraying Russia as an unjustified aggressor.

Honestly, I hate the tragedy of war, but it just seems to be an inevitable part of life, in that, for example, if you see that your country is getting pushed around by the United States, a global superpower, you are of course going to want to push back.

The strength a country shows, and the respect they receive for that acknowledgement of their strength is the key to peace.

The United States does not respect the strength and political autonomy of Russia and many other countries.

As much as I appreciate the freedoms and opportunities I have in the United States, I am not proud of the foreign interactions the US has had with other countries.

The United States is always trying to convince foreign countries that our way of life is going to "elevate" their society, notably, in 2014 when Obama tried to convince Uganda that they shouldn't pass an anti-homosexuality bill (1).

I'm sorry, but does our society look like its thriving with gay and bisexual men representing over half of all AIDS and HIV victims(2) ?

We also have about about forty to fifty percent divorce rate amongst the general population(3), and sixty seven percent of black children being born into single parent homes(4), so tell me United States, who claims to be so anti-racist and accepting, why are you trying to ruin black-African societies?

I am in no way saying that African, or any foreign countries are perfect, or lacking problems of their own, but their problems are exactly that, their own!

Why does the western world feel the need to try and "fix" other's problems!

Especially with the inflation that the people of the United States are experiencing, apparently now is the time to devote our time, money and resources into other countries problems with governments that are, at the very least not free of political corruption.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/obama-issues-warning-uganda-anti-gay-legislation

2. https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/fact-sheets/hiv/HIV-gay-bisexual-men.html

3. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/divorce/divorce-statistics/

4. https://afro.com/census-bureau-higher-percentage-black-children-live-single-mothers/

*Bonus Content*

On a sort of related note, here is a savage video of the Uganda president unashamedly declaring his opinion about homosexuals. This man appears to be more honest than most US politicians.

[whyrubuyingclothesatthesoupstore]

The thing about living in russia is that it's so hard to avoid the fascism and bigotry

There's a pro-war symbol drawn on all the buses and trams. Every other taxist has propagandist bullshit on the radio. And because I can't not use taxis or public transport, because I need to be at a hospital on the other side of town by 8 am, it looks like I'm okay with it.

I used to go to singing classes as a kid. The first song they got us to perform was about how Awesome it is to live in russia and of course we sang it without thinking because we were kids.

A couple months ago I made a presentation about Ukraine for geography class and got into a fight with a classmate over whether Ukraine should exist at all, with the teacher chiming in to talk about "the clown Zelensky" and how Crimea is totally ours.

In elementary/middle school we had something called смотр строя и песни where we'd march like soldiers and sing war songs and not question it at all

But I guess there's still hope, because every so often I'll see a bus vandalized with a "NO TO WAR" sticker, or find a russian song making fun of putin, or have some of my classmates stay silent as I talk about Ukrainian history. Maybe when other people see that line I drew crossing over the pro-war sign on a bus, or hear me talk about Ukraine in class, and also think that maybe there's still hope.

[quillsword]

Zelenskyy Isn't President of the US

I’d have thought that much was obvious but evidently, not. For those of you who seem perpetually confused, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the duly elected president of Ukraine. I know, it’s hard to keep track sometimes but the US president is Donald Trump. Please make a note of it. Sheesh! Sure, I’m being snarky as all get out but this has gotten to the point of absurdity. Honestly, I’m not sure why…

[narrative-theory]

Richard Wolff on the failure of the Ukraine conflict

Richard Wolff The Ukraine Conflict Is a Costly Failure

Richard Wolff on the failure of the Ukraine conflict.

[roomselfcontain2]

Big one bedroom house for rent visit website with led lights spacious sitting room dinning with extra kitchen store 2 toilets located at rumuekini new layout in Portharcourt city riversstate Nigeria

[warlikeparakeet2]

Russia Regains Momentum - Russian Invasion of Ukraine DOCUMENTARY

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸🇮🇱🇷🇺🇺🇦🇺🇸 FOR THE RECORD:

I do not support blaming anyone around you and I for global problems, wars and events based on their ethnicity, gender identity, religious or tribal identity, or even for their political beliefs, however vigorously I may disagree with them.

You cannot blame the working classes of Capitalist, Imperialist countries for the actions of their ruling elites. You can try to change their opinions, open their minds, de-propagandize and de-brainwash them, but it is never right to use violence or oppression to change their minds.

For one it doesn't work. Secondly, it's just wrong. Americans for instance are so brainwashed and given such radically altered perceptions of history, it can be extremely difficult to convince them that everything they've been taught is all lies, even when presented with evidence, and even when they already distrust their leaders.

We have to understand something essential to the world we live in today.

The ruling elite benefit from the divisions of the American Working Class and the Working Classes globally.

Just as empires in civilizations past once ruled through divide and conquer, the Financial, Political, Tech and Media Empires of today rule through dividing and conquering the Working Classes worldwide.

When we give in to our anger at horrific geopolitical events and take it out on our neighbors and acquaintances, we are indirectly feeding the strength of the forces benefiting from our division and capitalizing on the suffering from these events and conflicts.

So whatever you see here or in the news, remember it isn't your Jewish, or Palestinian, or Russian, or Ukrainian, or trans, or black neighbor that's bombing, killing, and impoverishing the people you see suffering in front of you, online and on tv, in your towns and in your streets: it is your Ruling Political and Capitalist Elites that are committing these horrific attrocities everywhere across the world, and is them that deserve you ire, your sense of injustice, and the focus of your desire to make a difference.

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[apas-95]

i largely agree with your politics but tbqh the way you present your ideas is not really radical, frankly it's worryingly eschatological/messianic. which sucks cuz otherwise you seen like a pretty rational individual

I don't think 'making claims about the future' is inherently messianic or eschatological, though I understand this is often a sticking point regarding Marxism - if we understand dialectical and historical materialism to be genuine scientific knowledge on human society, which we should, then the ability to predict future events with confidence is simply part and parcel of its existence as scientific knowledge.

The claim 'the tendency of the rate of profit to fall drives capital inevitably, through various ways, into cyclical crises of various scales, with the largest-scale examples consisting of global economic crises and world wars, the approach to which can be recognised and quantified prior' should be seen as no more messianic than 'the release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere causes runaway heating which, while increasing the general planetary average temperature, alao leads to localised extreme weather events and rising sea levels, which can be recognised and quantified prior'.

Fundamentally, while a lot of people are willing to accept Marxism as providing *empirical* understanding of human society; that is, as a means to understand and decompose present and historical social issues; it is a lot harder for people to accept Marxism as providing genuinely scientific understanding of human society capable of predictive power. The reasons behind this are, generally, due to the nature of enlightenment philosophy and the bourgeois conception of science, wherein bourgeois social 'sciences' are incomplete, piecemeal, and reflexive (since, as Marxism demonstrates, a geneuine scientific analysis of human society, beginning from the political-economic basis of society, is harmful to bourgeois society).

When I say 'revolution in the imperial core is not going to occur today, but is an essential inevitability in the near future' I am saying, essentially, nothing more than the well-proven principle that 'revolution will occur where the chain of imperialism is weakest'. The condition for revolution in the imperial core is widespread revolution in the periphery states, the condition for widespread revolution in the periphery states is worldwide economic crisis and war, and the condition for worldwide economic crisis and war is the decline of imperial profits and the collapse of imperialist alliances. There is a fairly clear chain of events here, each of which has not only turned out in the past (the first world war being predictable before it ever occured) but is currently turning out in the present (look back even on my own blog towards discussions of inter-imperialist war and note that Marxists had predicted a ground war in Europe by 2025 well prior to the actual commencement of the Russia-NATO proxy war in Ukraine, as well as the inevitability of an economic crash circa 2020).

As proletarians, there is, also, largely nothing that can be done to influence these events without the existence of large proletarian political organs capable of leading the proletariat in conscious political action - the existence of which is contingent on historical circumstances. The imperial core does not have serious proletarian organs with a mass basis, and will not have those organs until conditions exist to facilitate them - said conditions being the collapse of imperialist profits and the worsening of domestic repression in core states. This does not mean that the eventual emergence and victory of those organs will not require constant, arduous work from communists to build up and maintain, to whatevee degree is possible, a communist movement until fhat time arrives - but it means that, for instance: Marx in the 1800s was never going to lead a socialist state, leaving that work to a future Lenin.

Almost assuredly, no existing party in the USA will carry out revolution - but the leaders of the revolutionary movement that will emerge under the pressures of war against Russia, China, the EU imperialist bloc; and of climate crisis and economic collapse; will likely be the ones gaining experience in political work at this time. Marxism speaks of classes, not individuals - it is not, really, messianic to say 'the bourgeoisie will go to war when faced with economic crisis, and the proletariat will resist when faced with war', nor is it, I reason, very eschatological to say 'the world is going to get much, much worse in the near future, however, there is a possible way to escape the horrors of war that does not end in nuclear annihilation'.

However, if it's what you'd prefer, I could call myself God-queen of violent benevolence, and emanate a vision of revolutionary salvation - whichever works.

[xtruss]

Three Ways How 'Terrorist, Corrupt, Thug And Expired Zelensky’ Can Be Ousted As Chief Obstacle To Peace In Ukraine

— Sputnik International | Friday March 28, 2025

Sputnik International, © AP Photo

Volodymyr Zelensky, with his addiction to Western backing and reliance on homegrown neo-Nazi groups, has emerged as probably the biggest obstacle on the road to peace in Ukraine.

However, there are three ways to diminish his influence, Dr. Marco Marsili, a researcher at Cà Foscari University of Venice and former election observer for the OSCE/ODIHR, tells Sputnik.

While Ukraine’s constitution prohibits holding elections during martial law – which Zelensky imposed to remain in the office – Western powers could “push for a conditional ceasefire linked to lifting martial law.” This would result in Zelensky facing “domestic and international demands to hold elections.”

As the US and Russia improve their bilateral relations, Washington “could pressure Zelensky to cede authority to a transitional body.”

Last but not least, there’s the matter of “internal fractures,” as “Ukraine’s military setbacks and resource shortages have eroded public confidence.” Thus, a negotiated ceasefire, “might empower opposition figures or civil society groups to demand leadership changes, particularly if Western guarantees (e.g., postwar security) are conditional on governance reforms.”

There are several reasons why Ukraine should be put under international administration:

With Zelensky’s presidential term having expired in May 2024 and elections in Ukraine postponed indefinitely under martial law, he and his cronies are simply devoid of legitimacy.

The failed Minsk Agreements and the Gomel Talks of 2022 showcase the inability or unwillingness of the current Ukrainian leadership to “adhere to peace frameworks without external oversight.”

Thus, it seems increasingly likely that only a “capable government” elected in Ukraine under international supervision “could sign ‘legitimate’ peace treaties recognized globally.”

“In conclusion, Zelensky’s removal is less about coercion and more about creating conditions where his continued rule becomes untenable — whether through constitutional deadlines, Western realpolitik, or war fatigue,” Dr. Marcili explains.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

I think I might have reblogged a link to this tweet earlier, but I want to make sure people who don't click links read it too. This is a spot on analysis of the situation as it exists today. The only thing he leaves out was that, about two years ago, Ukraine was in a position where it could have negotiated with Russia for more favorable terms than it's going to get now, but Biden and Europe egged Zelensky on to fight Russia to total victory and Zelensky let himself be played because he wants to LARP as the big victorious war leader. Now we have to deal with reality as it exists, not as we think it should in the alt history fiction novel the media and Eurocuck pols read before they say anything about Ukraine. And that's exactly what Trump is doing.