What Trump wants of Putin is approbation. What Putin wants of Trump is Europe. What he has is 11 time zones and gas and oil he must sell at a discount to fund his war in Ukraine. If Trump can help deliver Ukraine to him while subverting the Cold War alliances that cemented America’s postwar imperial position, Europe, a continent without an army, will be Putin’s to dominate. That will make Russia the power it wants to be. If this sounds familiar, it is: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, the three great autocracies that divide up the world in Orwell’s 1984. China will be the great trans-Pacific power, Russia the great bulk of the Eurasian land mass with its long-prized window on the Atlantic, and the U.S. left with the Western Hemisphere and perhaps Africa to squabble over. The key to all this is Trump’s fatuity and Europe’s division— a congeries of nation-states in a world where regional empires were the emerging order of the day. It would be one of history’s great ironies if a bankrupt casino owner and wrestling fan with no conception of it were to shape its course.
The publisher of the first paper I worked for -- a trade journal -- was famous for pulling people aside at meetings and whispering in their ear, giving everyone in the room the idea, as you suggest here, that something important was being discussed. Once, one of these "ear whisperers" was asked what exactly did David Q whisper in his ear. "He agreed with me that the weather in Chicago was beautful for that time of year." Earthshattering indeed!
The problem with Trump, Putin, and their loyalists is that they’re just dull. They’re so busy withdrawing from any person, place, or idea with a contrary point of view that political power is all they have left. In every other respect, they died a long time ago. Of course, they talk about Nothing. To update the old movie line – I’d rather spend the rest of my life in confinement with a life insurance salesman than talk to virtually any Republican – or anyone in Putin’s inner circle. My apology to life insurance salesmen.
From reader Robert Zalller:
What Trump wants of Putin is approbation. What Putin wants of Trump is Europe. What he has is 11 time zones and gas and oil he must sell at a discount to fund his war in Ukraine. If Trump can help deliver Ukraine to him while subverting the Cold War alliances that cemented America’s postwar imperial position, Europe, a continent without an army, will be Putin’s to dominate. That will make Russia the power it wants to be. If this sounds familiar, it is: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, the three great autocracies that divide up the world in Orwell’s 1984. China will be the great trans-Pacific power, Russia the great bulk of the Eurasian land mass with its long-prized window on the Atlantic, and the U.S. left with the Western Hemisphere and perhaps Africa to squabble over. The key to all this is Trump’s fatuity and Europe’s division— a congeries of nation-states in a world where regional empires were the emerging order of the day. It would be one of history’s great ironies if a bankrupt casino owner and wrestling fan with no conception of it were to shape its course.
One of your best!
The publisher of the first paper I worked for -- a trade journal -- was famous for pulling people aside at meetings and whispering in their ear, giving everyone in the room the idea, as you suggest here, that something important was being discussed. Once, one of these "ear whisperers" was asked what exactly did David Q whisper in his ear. "He agreed with me that the weather in Chicago was beautful for that time of year." Earthshattering indeed!
The problem with Trump, Putin, and their loyalists is that they’re just dull. They’re so busy withdrawing from any person, place, or idea with a contrary point of view that political power is all they have left. In every other respect, they died a long time ago. Of course, they talk about Nothing. To update the old movie line – I’d rather spend the rest of my life in confinement with a life insurance salesman than talk to virtually any Republican – or anyone in Putin’s inner circle. My apology to life insurance salesmen.