LOS ANGELES.–European Union [EU] officials led by 47-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron and 69-year-old German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they would apply new economic sanctions to the Kremlin for failure to show good faith in peace talks with Ukraine. EU officials insist that because Putin did not meet 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskin in Istanbul for face-to-face talks, it demonstrated 72-year-old Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s lack of good faith in securing an unconditional ceasefire. Yet Putin did what any head-of-state would do to reach an agreement, send a delegation to Istanbul to show his good faith in the peace process. To resolve something as complex as a war, Putin did the responsible thing sending a special group led by Vladimir Medinsky to get a handle of what Ukraine wants to settle the over three-year-old conflict.
Macron and Merz know that Trump has led the way toward ending the Ukraine War, working with Putin to determine his minimum requirements for ending the conflict. Zelensky has rejected every peace plan offered by a variety of respected countries over the last three years, insisting they all favored Russia. Well, each peace plan asked Zelensky to trade territory for peace something he refused to do. Now that things got down to brass tacks, Zelensky threw a roadblock into the peace process by demanding that Putin remove all his troops from Ukraine. So, with proposals like that, it’s no wonder Zelensky has stymied the peace process, leaving it stuck in limbo. With the EU threatening new economic sanctions on Moscow, they could put peace out of reach for the foreseeable future. Trump had a workable formula that would have worked for Putin.
EU officials were quick to say there was no breakthrough after Trump’s call with Putin. Well, what did the EU expect to happen? Trump had an open, cordial dialogue with Putin, better than any EU official at this point. But instead of congratulating Trump on making progress, Macron and Merz know that Trump has led the way toward ending the Ukraine War, working with Putin to determine his minimum requirements to end the conflict. Zelensky has rejected every peace plan offered by a variety of respected countries over the last three years, insisting they all favored Russia. Well, each peace plan asked Zelensky to trade territory for peace something he refused to do. Now that things got down to brass tacks, Zelensky threw a roadblock into the peace process by demanding that Putin remove all his troops from Ukraine. So, with proposals like that, it’s no wonder Zelensky has stymied the peace process, leaving it stuck in limbo.
EU official were quick to say there was no breakthrough after Trump’s call with Putin. Well, what did the EU expect to happen? Trump has an open, cordial dialogue with Putin, better than any EU official at this point. But instead of congratulating Trump on making progress, they say he hasn’t had a breakthrough, whatever that would look like to the EU. Slapping Putin with more sanctions will only result in delaying the end to the Ukraine War. Putin now views the EU as Russia’s enemy, watching his formerly close relations with Germany crumble into a pile of rubble. Former German Chancellor had a close working relationship with Putin, spending $12 billion on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring affordable Russian natural gas to Germany for the foreseeable future. Ukrainian agents in the early days of the war sabotaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, though Kiev denies the charges.
Zelensky has been encouraging the EU to hit the Kremlin with new economic sanctions thinking it would buy him more leverage in peace talks. Putin has had enough of Zelensky and if it weren’t for Trump he would end any further peace talks. Macron and Merz can’t figure out what role, if any, they want the EU to play in the future of the Ukraine War. Brussels has not agreed to take over funding the proxy war where Trump has backed off. Trump refuses to fund the war because he doesn’t believe it will get Ukraine anywhere other than more infrastructure damage and carnage. Trump has encouraged Zelensky in the strongest possible terms to settle the conflict with Russia by cutting his losses and starting to rebuild his battered country. Zelensky, meanwhile, continues to push the EU into sabotaging peace efforts to put the blame squarely on Putin.
Germany should be doing its best to play peacemaker, not warmonger in the current conflict with Russia. Merz understands the damage Germany caused Russia in WW II, causing some 28 million deaths, a staggering number far eclipsing the Holocaust. “Europe and America are very united on this. We will closely support Ukraine on its path toward a ceasefire,” Merz wrote on X. But when it comes to Trump, Merz gets his wires crossed thinking that Trump would sign on to new economic sanctions. “Europe will increase pressure on Moscow through sanctions. This is what we agreed upon with @POTUS after his conversation with Putin. Merz acts like Trump has signed on to sanctions, when Trump may have said the EU is free to do as it likes but not expect the U.S. to join in. Working out a deal with Putin won’t be easy especially if the EU slaps Putin with more sanctions.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
