As of this moment the trajectory in the Russo-Ukraine War is towards peace – mostly because both nations have failed in their desires. Ukraine wanted to get the Russians all the way out, the Russians wanted to get all the way in – as it turns out, neither are capable of achieving these goals and so a peace of exhaustion is on the horizon. Will Trump be able to broker it? I hope so. We’ll see how sticky both sides get on this…but at the back of the mind for both Putin and Zelenskyy is the fear of sudden and total collapse. That is, their respective armies just fall apart and thus allow the other side to impose it’s will – this is a greater fear for Ukraine than for Russia but it is a distinct possibility for both. Getting out now allows both men to have at least some reserve military power to retain control.

We did learn, once again, the power of a well-knit defense. There is a mental attitude out there that the tank and airplane of WWII cancelled the cannon and trench of WWI – nope, never happened. Blitzkrieg only works when it enters a void – against a tight defense it becomes just a Somme with tanks. First Battle El Alamein, Kursk, Caen and Seelow Heights proved again and again that even a vastly outnumbered defense if well situated and competently commanded can hold off the enemy for a long while and only retreat, if necessary, after extracting a usurious blood price. The use of drones has just added to defensive depth and flexibility – and I do hope our military is paying attention and trying to figure out the best way forward given what we’ve learned.

We also learned, again, that Russia is a quantité négligeable on the world stage. Twice now Russia has appeared to loom up all-powerful: 1815 and 1945. But in both instances Russia only triumphed (over Napoleon and Hitler) because others drained the enemy who also made a whole series of stupid mistakes. Someone on X noted that Russia is a mud-pie with a crown and there is a great deal of truth to this. The Winter Palace is magnificent…but the Russian army invaded Ukraine without properly maintained vehicles and so bogged down within days of the start. Think about that: you’re a Russian officer in command of Motor Rifle Brigade and you know that next week you and your men are heading into Ukraine…and you didn’t even make sure your vehicle tires were in good shape! Think of the level of lazy incompetence this required! And then you remember Russia’s Second Army in World War One…just blindly sent into East Prussia and wiped out by a smaller German force with nobody on the Russian side even knowing that a battle was going on until it was all over. A century on. Multiple total changes in Russian government…and the tip of the spear still gets broken because the Russian organism can’t plan or prepare.

I don’t know what makes the Russians what they are but they are brutally incompetent. Unfortunately, they are also just strong enough to prevent a Ukrainian victory so we’ll have to cut a deal with them…and then try to woo them away from China because grand strategy requires at least a neutral Russia if we ever tangle with China. Foreign policy: its just a lousy thing.

Trump wants to be the Peace President – part of this is simply humanity but the other part of it is that he knows America needs a period of peace and prosperity. We need to rebuild our manufacturing, rebuild our shipbuilding capacity, rebuild our agriculture, rebuild our labor force…we need to grow out of debt and finally start paying it off. We need to revive a general sense of American exceptionalism and patriotism. Of course, we also need God – but Trump knows he can’t make us go to God…but he also knows that the most successful people in a revived America will be those who believe in God. It is time to wind all this Endless War up…this Endless War which started in August of 1914 must finally be brought to a conclusion. End Ukraine. Gaza. Yemen. Sudan…these and a score of other simmering conflicts have to end. Even if doing so requires us to knock some heads together (Trump having a B-2 Bomber fly over Putin was the clearest message possible that intransigence isn’t a good idea: basically, our attack on Iran just showed the world that you only have your most valuable strategic assets as long as we allow you to).

What will the Ruling Class do with peace? Don’t give the least damn. Christopher Steele was out on X – with locked replies, of course – condemning Trump’s meeting with Putin…and it just disgusted me that he’s living well instead of in a van down by the river. The world is out of kilter – made so by people like Steele who never would have risen above dustman level in any sane society. Stupid liars have run things into the ground for too long…and that is also why Trump wants peace: it’ll make the stupid liars unemployed…or at least finally get a real job.