"VIC: Endless Summer" (opens in separate window)

snakes

friday, september 12th, 2025

Donald Trump has staked much of his political brand on being the consummate dealmaker. He is not a theorist, nor a philosopher-king, nor a bureaucrat buried in details. His appeal rests in his posture as the man who cuts through nonsense, breaks impasses, and brings adversaries to the table. In the past, Trump’s instincts on foreign affairs have proven unconventional but effective: cooling tensions with North Korea, brokering normalization between Israel and Arab states, restraining NATO adventurism, and articulating—against Washington orthodoxy—that endless wars in the Middle East were bleeding America dry. He relishes the image of the peacemaker, a strongman who negotiates with other strongmen, and he has claimed to have “solved” or de-escalated multiple wars.

[FULL TITLE: "Snakes: Why Ukraine and the EU Don't Want Peace, and Why America Should Just Walk Away."]

But the ongoing war in Ukraine is not a normal conflict. It is not Iraq or Afghanistan, where American forces could draw down once political costs outweighed gains. It is not Israel and the Arab states, where transactional deals could bring stability because the combatants wanted respite. It is not North Korea, where containment and face-saving gestures sufficed to stall the nuclear question. Ukraine is something different: it is a grinding, existential war that the key players—the Ukrainian government under Volodymyr Zelensky, and the European Union as Ukraine’s political sponsor—have no intention of ending. Their political survival depends on perpetual war. Trump’s latest peace crusade for Ukraine is therefore doomed to fail. Worse than that, it risks being weaponized against him, allowing the EU and Ukraine to present him as naïve or compromised.

The reality, however uncomfortable, is that Ukraine and the EU do not want peace, cannot accept peace, and would see any genuine peace deal as a betrayal of their own narratives. Zelensky is a war-time president, increasingly ruling as a dictator. The EU has staked its legitimacy on the idea that Russia represents an existential external threat. Peace would shatter both Zelensky’s grip on power and the EU’s carefully crafted illusion. Meanwhile, Russia is winning—not necessarily in terms of flashy territorial gains, but in the slow, deliberate destruction of Ukraine’s military capacity. Under such conditions, Russia has no incentive to compromise.

Trump is right to want peace. He is right to want to extract the United States from Europe’s war. He is right to want to pivot toward cooperation with Russia in countering China. But he is wrong to believe that Ukraine or the EU are sincere partners in any peace process. His best course is not to shuttle between Kyiv, Brussels, and Moscow seeking a deal that cannot exist, but to expose the bad faith of the other parties. He must demonstrate that Ukraine and the EU are prolonging the conflict for their own cynical purposes—and then withdraw American support altogether.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency has been recast by the war. Once a comedian promising reform, he has become the indispensable “Churchill of Kyiv,” elevated in Western imagination to mythic status. But this transformation has come at the cost of democracy in Ukraine. Elections have been suspended indefinitely. Opposition parties have been banned. Media outlets have been consolidated under state control. Zelensky’s government rules under martial law, and his legitimacy is inseparable from the ongoing war effort.

For Zelensky, peace is not simply a policy choice. It is political suicide. The Ukrainian nationalist right—particularly the far-right paramilitary and neo-Nazi factions integrated into Ukraine’s security apparatus—view any compromise with Russia as treason. These groups were powerful enough to play a decisive role in the 2014 Maidan upheaval, and they have not disappeared. Zelensky knows that signing a genuine peace with Russia would risk his position, perhaps even his life. His alliance with these forces is not optional. It is existential.

The Western press prefers to dismiss or minimize the influence of Ukraine’s far-right, but their presence is undeniable. Units like the Azov Battalion have been not only tolerated but celebrated, despite their open embrace of neo-Nazi symbology. Their integration into the Ukrainian armed forces was not a marginal event; it was a central feature of Ukraine’s military mobilization. These groups act as enforcers of political orthodoxy in wartime Ukraine. Zelensky cannot cross them. And they will not accept peace.

Thus, when Trump imagines Zelensky negotiating in good faith for an end to the war, he is imagining a different Ukraine, one that does not exist. The Ukraine that exists today is a state locked into war not only by geopolitical realities, but by its own internal political architecture. The guns cannot fall silent, because silence would mean reckoning—with corruption, with authoritarianism, with neo-Nazi allies, with broken promises—that Zelensky’s government cannot survive.

If Zelensky’s survival depends on war, so too does the EU’s fragile legitimacy. From the start, Europe’s leaders have pitched the war in Ukraine not as a local conflict, but as an existential struggle for the continent. The slogan has been consistent: “If we do not stop Russia in Ukraine, they will march on Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, even London.” The Russian army, we are told, seeks the conquest of all Europe.

This narrative is absurd. Russia has shown neither the logistical capacity nor the political intent to launch a march on the British Channel. Its military strategy has been narrowly focused on Ukraine, a country it views—rightly or wrongly—as a historic and strategic buffer. The Kremlin has not prepared the economic, military, or political apparatus for continent-wide conquest. Yet for the EU, this exaggerated fear of Russian expansionism serves a purpose: it justifies the immense costs of war.

Europe is in crisis. The migrant influx has strained public services and provoked populist backlash. Energy prices have soared. Fertility rates continue to collapse. Trust in EU institutions is waning. Populist movements are gaining momentum across the continent. Against this backdrop, the Ukraine war provides the EU with a unifying narrative, an external enemy against whom internal divisions can be suppressed. So long as the Russian threat is inflated, Brussels can postpone its confrontation with populism and domestic dysfunction.

Peace would break this illusion. Peace would force Europe to confront its own failures, its own crises, its own citizens demanding accountability. That is why EU elites are not interested in peace. They need the war. It is their political lifeline.

Against this backdrop, Russia’s position is paradoxically the most straightforward. Russia is winning the war—not in the sense of dramatic blitzkrieg advances, but in the slow destruction of Ukraine’s military capacity. Russia’s objective is not merely to seize territory, but to grind down Ukraine’s armed forces until they are incapable of functioning as a meaningful military threat.

The signs are clear. Ukraine is conscripting men up to age 60. Reports of press gangs dragging men from the streets into uniform abound. Defensive lines are reported to be undermanned, with gaps emerging as casualties mount. The Ukrainian army, once sustained by Western training and matériel, now finds itself hollowed out, increasingly reliant on raw recruits and dwindling reserves.

Russia, meanwhile, has mobilized its economy for long-term war. Its industrial capacity is now oriented toward sustained production of artillery, drones, and missiles. Its manpower reserves remain deeper than Ukraine’s. Its population, though not unscathed, is not suffering the same demographic collapse as Ukraine’s war-aged males.

For Russia, there is no incentive to accept a ceasefire of the Minsk variety, in which Ukraine would be given time to rearm and regroup under Western sponsorship. Moscow learned that lesson. It will not repeat it. Russia can afford to continue on its present trajectory, eroding Ukraine’s capacity until eventual collapse. Diplomacy offers Russia little that military victory cannot achieve.

And from the American perspective, the question of who governs the Donbas or other eastern portions of Ukraine is simply not a core national interest. Whether those territories fall under Kyiv’s authority or Moscow’s orbit does not change the safety, prosperity, or freedom of Americans. These are issues of local ethnic, linguistic, and historical dispute—profound to Ukrainians and Russians, but peripheral to U.S. strategic priorities. The insistence that America must decide the fate of the Donbas is a dangerous illusion, one that risks drawing the United States into endless war over land that has no bearing on our security.

This is the reality Trump must grasp. His instincts push him toward peacemaking. He believes his personal charisma and outsider status allow him to break deadlocks. But in Ukraine, there is no deal to be made, because the other parties are not seeking one.

Zelensky cannot make peace without risking overthrow by the far-right forces he has empowered. The EU cannot make peace without collapsing its own narrative of existential Russian threat. And Russia does not need peace on Western terms, because it is achieving its objectives through war.

Trump’s well-intentioned crusade for peace risks becoming a fool’s errand. Worse, it could be exploited against him: Kyiv and Brussels could posture as the reasonable ones, rejecting Trump’s overtures as naïve or dangerous, while continuing to prolong the war.

What Trump should do is not chase after peace, but reveal the insincerity of the supposed peace camp. He should expose Zelensky’s reliance on neo-Nazi allies, his suppression of democracy, his dependence on endless war. He should expose the EU’s fearmongering, its cynical inflation of the Russian threat to mask domestic failures. He should point out that Russia is winning on the battlefield, and that calls for ceasefire are little more than stalling tactics to buy Ukraine more time.

Then, he should walk away. No weapons, no intelligence, no aid. America must not subsidize Europe’s illusions or Ukraine’s authoritarian drift. Trump should tell the Europeans: if you believe Russia is coming for the Channel, then defend yourselves. Build your own armies, pay your own costs, bear your own burdens. America will not underwrite your fantasies.

Finally, Trump should reopen dialogue with Moscow—not out of naïve trust, but out of cold realism. The United States and Russia share one overriding interest: the containment of China. Beijing is the true rising power, the true long-term threat to American primacy. A U.S.-Russia rapprochement would be a geopolitical masterstroke, one that Europe’s war fever currently prevents.

Trump’s peace crusade in Ukraine is a noble impulse but a misguided one. It is a fool’s errand, because Ukraine and the EU do not want peace and cannot accept it. Zelensky’s dictatorship depends on war. The EU’s legitimacy depends on war. Russia is winning the war and does not need peace.

The best course for Trump is not to mediate, but to expose. Expose Zelensky’s alliance with neo-Nazi factions. Expose the EU’s fearmongering. Expose the reality of Russia’s battlefield advantage. Then leave. Leave Europe to its illusions, and leave Ukraine to its fate. Withdraw American aid, intelligence, and weapons. Pivot instead to Moscow, exploring shared interests and building a framework for cooperation against China.

Only then will Trump truly serve American interests—not by playing peacemaker in a war that cannot end, but by extricating America from Europe’s folly and positioning the United States for the real struggle of the 21st century.

© 8.19.2025 by j.b., "The Ramparts".

A Day In The Life.

Up at 8:30a on Friday, another beautiful, sunny sky, more humid, breezy, warm 68°F, and forecast to hit 86° and get much more humid. I made coffee, fired-up the Ol' Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop (w/ new SSD HD technology), to let the 32 million lines of code load, had a couple smokes in the garage -- patio is still wet from last night's rain -- and checked the day's list of errands. Just two, but nothing 'mission critical'. I scanned the news and weather, and tuned into the "CP Show LIVE", from 9-12.

I worked on some lingering projects at the condo, did a little garden cleanup, but am leaving all the spent Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) standing, as the local American Goldfinches are feeding on the seed pods. At 4p, I hit the LR couch for a short nap, got up just before the 6p evening news, and watched the next 2hrs of Fox CATV offerings, until History's "Ancient Aliens" came on, and bagged it at 12 midnight.

I love the smell of deportyations in the morning.

A weird thing happened when I ordered food at 6p, from the local Isaac's, thru Door Dash: they delivered to the wrong address (Unit #134 instead of #109) here in the condo complex, and almost 90mins later, the owner knocked on my door with the huge bag of a now cold Reuben Sandwich, Potato Fries (2) the wonderful Onion Rings (3) and the room temp Dbl-Decker Club Sandwich. I thanked her, gave her one of my amazing Sweet Italian Large Leaf Basil (Ocimum basilicum) pots, as a 'thank you'.

Up at 7:15a on Saturday, a dark, heavily-overcast, very muggy and a warm 76° already, forecast to hit 84° w/ severe t-storms -- heavy downpours & damaging winds -- in the afternoon. I made the first of several carafes of Kona Coffee, fired-up the desktop to get the news and weather forecast for next week, did some paperwork and filing, and had smokes on the back patio while feeding the birds w/ potato bread chunks. Around 2p, a ***Severe Thunderstorm Watch*** was posted for the York/ Lancaster/Harrisburg areas.

Around 4p, after I'd finished two of three batches of 24 Chicken Enchiladas, and had sat down in my Office-Sunroom for a brief rest, my Ol' (26yr old) Office Chair finally bit the dust: Just as I stood-up, the chair broke from the base, went over sideways onto the Oriental Rug and 1" thick wool anti-skid pad, I wasn't hurt, but was surprised. Luckily, I had several Director's Chairs in the LR, so I dragged the mega-heavy Office chair into the LR and moved one of the DCs into the Office-Sunroom. I still don't know exactly when the new Office chair will be in stock and delivered. I did call the Raymour & Flannigan sales rep, and left a message with the store's office, about a 'loaner chair', as he'd offered on August 28th, when I bought the new chair. Heh.

I decided to do the last batch of Enchiladas tomorrow, as I was tired of the prep work and kitchen heat, skipped a nap, and finished the last of the Kona coffee. The t-storm warning was lifted, and the rain started around 10. After dinner, I watched some news, and switched to Discovery's "Expedition X Files" and "History's Greatest Mysteries", until 1a. Lights out.

Awake at 5a, I rolled over and went back to sleep until 7:15, on Sunday. It was a heavily-clouded, 59° gray morning. I made coffee, fired-up the desktop, and scanned the weather and news headlines. I also checked for the morning's F-1 GP Race at Monza (Italy) start time. Good race. By 12noon, I'd gotten ready for the day, started the first of 2 loads of laundry, baked another tray of 8 Chicken Enchiladas, gave 2 container of 8 each, to condo friends and neighbors, kept one for myself, and gotten the garbage bag and recycle bin ready to go to the curb, for morning pick-up.

The afternoon went quickly, what with laundry, baking 3 batches of 24 Chicken Enchiladas, and doing condo chores, so I settled-in around 6p for some news. With the FNC chatterbox show on, I had to switch to NEWSMAX to get any semblance of a news product; just pitiful what the FOX network's programs are on weekends. Just dogshit. Anyway, I watched various shows until 11:30, and unplugged. The weekends are truly "NBC" Nights.

Sleeping-in until 9:30a on Monday -- maybe the best REM sleep I've had in a long time -- I made coffee, tuned into the ongoing "CP Show LIVE" and scanned the news and weather. Busy morning in the news. It was a very cool 58°, very low humidity, cobalt blue sky, forecast to get into the mid-70s and the week ahead was looking real nice, too. Fall might be here, a wee bit early, and we'll take it.

After Poached Eggs & Bacon in Buttered Grits for breakfast, I left at 1p, on my usual Monday errand trip down south of York, in moderate traffic, and made fairly good time with 4 errands. Back by 3p, I unloaded, had some of the morning's coffee and did some small chores. By 4, I was ready for a nap, and snoozed until 6. Up to have the last of the morning's 2nd carafe of coffee, I watched the news, and switched to MotorTrend's "Iron Resurrection" until 1a, and pulled the plug.

Up at 8:30a on Tuesday, a beautiful, clear blue sky, cool and delightful 54°, I made coffee, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE", and did some paperwork. By 12 noon, I was ready for lunch, and had the last of the Enchiladas and deviled eggs, with Chrystal Hot Sauce. Mmmmmmmm...

I skipped breakfast, had a light lunch, and did a couple nearby errands, around 1p. Back around 2, I relaxed on the back patio on such a beautiful day, swept out the garage, had a midday snack and took a 2hr snooze. I had the entire condo opened-up for the day, and the breeze was good. By 6, I had the evening news on, watched 2 more FNC shows, and switched to History's "The unXplained" until 12 midnight. Lights out.

Never Forgive, Never Forget!

Up at 8a on Wednesday, a heavily-overcast, cool 61° morning, I made coffee, turned on the heat for 15-20mins, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE" from 9-12, and planned the day for us, when Sherry arrives at 1p. We had 2 nice hours together, until I found the news on Fox News that Charlie Kirk had just been assassinated, at a college speaking event, in Utah. In seeing the film once, I knew from the high-powered rifle crack that it was a sniper, 200+ yds in front, on a higher building. It was a 'kill shot', as he bled out very quickly, since the L/S aorta was hit, and possibly the spine. RIP, Charlie. We were saddened as we followed the news, reactions and tributes all afternoon, until she left around 5:30.

RIP, Charlie Kirk.

I made dinner, watched the evening news and switched to History's "American Pickers" until 9, then to Discovery's "Expedition X" until 12 midnight, and back to FNC's news until 2a. Lights out on a sad day.

Up at 5:45a on Thursday, an overcast, warm, humid, 65°, still morning, forecast to hit 83°. I made coffee, fired-up the HP desktop to get the news and weather, and planned the day. It's 9-11-25, 24 years after the horrible day of 9-11-01, a day and memory which will be with -- and all of us who were 'there', as it happened -- forever.

It's taken me 20+yrs to almost get over all my the rage and hate toward muslims(SPIT!), but not the anger. I still loathe and despise all of them, and believe that NONE should be allowed in the US. NONE. And, after reviewing all data/info so far on the Charlie Kirk assassination, I'm leaning toward a professional (tranny) sniper hit: one shot, one kill, transgender message written on shell casing and other rounds in the magazine, shooter quickly disappeared into the ether. Prove me wrong.

I lounged around all morning, drinking coffee, skipping breakfast, and dwelling on news and FR's website articles. I had planned to visit Bob's Discount Furniture to see their office chair offerings, especially this one, but their York showroom doesn't have a floor model, and I don't buy an important item like that, sight unseen, or unable to "try it out". I'll keep looking around. Meh.

After a late lunch, I watched a UT police presser on the Kirk Assassination, spent some time on the back patio enjoying the weather, took a short walk around the condo complex, and grabbed a 2hr nap on the LR couch. I watched the 6p evening news, had dinner, and switched to MotorTrend's "Roadworthy Rescues" until a 9:45p FBI presser on the Kirk shooting. History Channel had an unending slew of 9-11 documentaries on all day, and I watched a coupe until 11:30p. When I felt my anger building again, I unplugged.

Tomorrow starts a ne week, here in the "Journal", nd I've got another clear week. Sherr's busy as a one-armed paperhanger, but maybe we can get a day together; we'll talk over the weekend.

The 9/11 Lesson We Erased: Islam’s March Through America.

An anniversary is coming soon. One of the lessons from that day was “never forget.”

We have forgotten.

This story begins at least 35 years ago

In 1998 the founder of CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations) said

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant, the Quran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”

The fruits of that labor culminated in 9-11, but it continues on. What happens when you forget? What happens when you don’t teach history? What happens when you don’t teach respect for your country?

This

They flat out tell you their goals:

Islamic Leader: “As a Muslim who immigrated to America, why am I here? I am in this country for Allah! It is my duty to spread Islam, wage Jihad (holy war), never submit to infidels, and fight Jihad until the entire world converts to Islam.” Our happiness is “no war = peace.” For Muslims, happiness is “fighting (Jihad) to make the world Muslim = war.” In other words, for Muslims, “peace = happiness” does not hold true. This stark difference in values is probably why Muslims are often seen as a nuisance around the world, right?

 

And for gratitude and allegiance, Somalis are perhaps the worst

Ihan Omar has made clear where her allegiance is.

The Somali President is her President.

And then there’s the sweet Palestinian “American” who calls Jews “motherf**kers”

She’s big on that word, once using it in regard to the President

We’re not as far along the Taqiyya timeline as is the UK.

Today in the UK one cannot criticize Islam. Flying the UK flag is a crime. 30 people are arrested every day for memes and jokes posted on social media. Pro-UK protests are harassed by the police while Muslims are free to conduct mass prayers anywhere as if there were no mosques. They can occupy Trafalgar Square.

This is the new UK Home Secretary

Keir Starmer appointed her. He may as well declare England an Islamic caliphate now.

But we are getting there. Dearborn MI is enacting Sharia law.

Efforts are underway to build a Muslim city in Texas.

On the advent of the 9-11 anniversary, what does Mayor Adams of NYC do? He celebrates the birthday of Muhammed.

Mayor Eric Adams appeared on the steps of City Hall on Thursday for an event billed by his campaign as a rally where Muslim leaders would endorse him for reelection.

But several of the Muslim clerics in attendance told the Daily News afterward they had no idea the event would be focused on endorsing the mayor. Rather, they said they thought it would be a nonpolitical occasion to commemorate the 1,500th birthday of Muhammad, the prophet Muslims see as the father of their religion.

Some of the clerics even said they don’t, in fact, support Adams’ reelection.

We also have any number of useful idiots

This is Taqiyya in action:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Monday that its Philadelphia chapter will partner with local schools to make them more “inclusive.”

In an Instagram post, the Muslim advocacy group said it was working with Philadelphia schools this year to ensure that students feel “seen, safe and supported” by “building more inclusive schools” through an educator’s guide, training sessions and workshops.

Among the educational resources on CAIR’s website is a guide titled “Remembering and Reflecting: Teaching September 11, 2001 in Diverse Classrooms.”

The guide features tips on teaching lesson plans, such as avoiding certain terms like “jihadists” and discussing bigotry against Muslims.

“Avoid using language that validates the claims of the 9/11 attackers by associating their acts of mass murder with Islam and Muslims. For example, avoid using inaccurate and inflammatory terms such as ‘Islamic terrorists,’ ‘jihadists,’ or ‘radical Islamic terrorists,’” the guide states.

“When discussing the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — the invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq War, Guantánamo Bay, etc. — also include discussion of the bigotry and hate crimes that impacted Sikh Americans, Muslim Americans, Arab Americans and other minorities in the days, months and years after the attack.”

See? it’s all our fault.

Now New York City is poised to make a radical left-wing Muslim the mayor of America’s largest city.

We have forgotten.

© 9.07.2025 by DRJOHN, "Flopping Aces".

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