By Michael Woyton
The meeting Monday between the president of the United States and the president of Ukraine was very different from the one in March in which Volodymyr Zelensky was berated for not being grateful to the U.S. and for not wearing a suit.
This time Zelensky brought backup in the form of supportive European leaders. And he wore a suit.
“Despite optimistic words by Trump and some more lukewarm assessments from his European partners, by Monday evening there were no concrete commitments to security guarantees or steps towards a peace deal,” BBC News reported.
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The takeaways, according to the BBC, included the possibility of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, European leaders pushing back on the felon-in-chief’s dismissal of the need for a ceasefire and the vague possibility the U.S. would help guarantee Ukraine’s security.
Lastly, “the Ukrainian president went to considerable lengths to charm his American hosts — including a flurry of six ‘thank yous’ within the first few minutes of the meeting,” BBC News said, adding the European leaders “dialled up the flattery with Trump” and heaped praise on him for bringing them all together.
Ya gotta know your audience; the adjudicated rapist/serial liar loves to be praised.
A different take on the meeting was penned for the New York Times by Opinion columnist M. Gessen, in which they pointed out that calling it a negotiation of “a possible land swap and security guarantees” wasn’t really accurate.
How could there be a land swap, Gessen wondered, when Putin is demanding more territory than his not-so-mighty military has been able to seize in the three-and-a-half years since he invaded Ukraine?
And regarding any “security guarantees,” Gessen explained that it seems unlikely that Putin would agree to protecting a country he has repeatedly called “a historical mistake” and said “there is no such thing as a Ukrainian nation or a Ukrainian language.”
There is much more in Gessen’s article, including comparisons to World War II, Yalta and Sudentenland.
The article can be read for free through this link.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics has gone against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that “all young children get vaccinated against COVID-19,” Reuters reported Tuesday.
The CDC said in May that COVID vaccines were now optional for healthy children.
Read more about the AAP’s rationale here.
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Have you noticed a jump in prices at the grocery store?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week a “whopping 38.9% increase in wholesale dry and fresh vegetable prices from June to July, the biggest since March 2022,” NBC News reported.
What’s being blamed so far? The immigration crackdown and tariffs.
Read the NBC News article for more information here.
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When was the last time you were asked for your license plate when you went to vote?
Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.
Lead art: Screen grab from CNN.
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