I don't know, I'm beginning to become a bit optimistic after Alaska. Anyway, Simplicius just came out with an article that I found interesting, this one:
The end of Europe as a serious political power.
simplicius76.substack.com
I'll quote the non paywalled portion below:
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August 19, 2025
The troupe arrived to “daddy’s” DC office for their official dressing down. If nothing else, we must marvel at the fact that the meeting produced some of the most
remarkable political optics, perhaps, in history:
[pics of the meeting in original]
Has there
ever been anything like this? The entire pantheon of the European ruling class reduced to sniveling children in their school principal’s office. No one can deny that Trump has succeeded in veritably ‘breaking Europe over his knee’. There is no coming back from this turning point moment, the optics simply cannot be redeemed.
But even snide ridicule aside, objectively speaking, we must point to how absolutely defeated and
low-energy the delegation looked. Just gander at the body language of ‘eminent statesmen’ like Emmanuel Macron and Alexander Stubb in this photo op meant to convey collegial solidarity and allied ‘authority’:
[1 minute video taken during a photo op of Trump with European leaders]
Hands in pockets, looks of mild confusion or disinterest, vacant eyes, and that bizarre ‘dead-space’ atmosphere like a “TV tuned to a dead station” (hat tip Mr. Gibson). It’s clear that no one wants to be there, and everyone knows the artificial charade looks and feels
forced. The real punchline comes at the 1:00 mark where it becomes eminently clear the entire hollow exercise is nothing more than an ego-stroke for the cunning Ringmaster himself, as he bids his abject pupils to cant their eyes at the carefully-situated artwork presiding over the gilded humiliation ritual.
Volumes could be written on the implications of such a low point in European influence. But we’ll suffice with concluding that it’s clear the matter of the Ukrainian conflict’s resolution is of such existential importance to the behind-the-scenes cabal which writes the Euro-puppets’ orders, that this cabal is willing to risk everything, including politically sacrificing its “compradors” posing as elected leaders.
It’s pointless to even granularize it, but there were many small moments of humiliation in the meeting: from Trump’s seeming non-recognition of Finland’s president—unable to find him despite his sitting directly across from him—to Trump humbling Ursula, who came armed with a prescripted spiel about Russians kidnapping Ukrainian children; Trump slapped her silent by pointing out they had convened to talk about something else entirely, i.e. your propaganda is irrelevant and unwanted here.
It should also be noted that Trump did not greet a single one of the European messengers personally as they arrived, having a chaperone escort them like children from the White House playground instead. It was in sharp contrast to the pomp and ceremony of the Putin visit. This, of course, is by design, with Trump effectively showing the craven European compradors their subordinate place as part of his slow restructuring of the world order; Trump respects only power—mealy and servile leaders repulse him and earn his boot-print on their foreheads.
So what did the meeting actually accomplish, other than raising Trump’s prestige and smothering inconvenient media narratives from the news cycle?
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The non paywalled part was so good, I decided to pay for a month just to see the rest. Quoting a bit more of it below:
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What we saw was another rehash of the same routine as in Alaska: talks are held, major “progress” announced, yet no concrete details or evidence is provided. In this case, the big achievement is said to be the agreement on a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, followed by a “trilat” as Trump calls it. The problem is, there is zero evidence the Russian side has agreed to any such thing.
Firstly, press outlets blared that Trump “phoned Putin” in the midst of his meeting with the Europeans—Trump himself promptly shot this down:
[1 minute fox video in original]
I post this example to again illustrate just how much disinfo noise is clogging the airwaves around this issue. And this contextualizes the remainder of the analysis, surrounding what Russia may or may not have agreed to. You see, just as easily as mainstream outlets lied about Trump’s call, they may be doing so about the now-circulating claims that Putin has “agreed to” meet with Zelensky.
The Russians have been playing things extremely close to their chests, even more than usual. It appears they have adopted a strategy of deliberate strategic ambiguity in order to give Trump the license he needs to play his game against the Europeans—and Ukraine—while the Russians sit back and watch. In this case, in confirming Trump’s attempt to get Putin and Zelensky to sit down together, Putin aide Ushakov in fact very subtly modified the language to state that Putin and Trump in fact discussed raising the level of “negotiators” and mentioned the possibility of Russia studying this proposal—as I wrote on X:
An interestingly evasive word-salad as non-answer in customary "Politburo-speak". He doesn't really confirm anything other than Trump and Putin discussed "raising the level of negotiators" between Russia and Ukraine (specifically omitting what level that would be). And in fact, he didn't even say raising the level itself was discussed but rather the possibility of "studying" this proposal. It seems Russia for now continues to play strategic ambiguity to give Trump the arm space he needs to "work" on the Europeans and Zelensky.
Russian journal Gazeta.ru confirmed—read the subtle change carefully:
"According to him, the leaders discussed the possibility of increasing the level of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. The Russian and US presidents supported the idea of direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, the presidential aide said."
As I again wrote on X:
Note, the Russian side supported the idea of "direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations." Not between Russian/Ukrainian presidents, but "delegations".
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Anyway, I'll now cut to Simplicius' conclusion:
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As a final underscoring point, the West finally appears to be making a profound realization—that Russia is a Great Power not to be underestimated or trifled with:
The time for flabby European compromise must come to an end. We can’t always rely on Uncle Sam to rescue us
www.telegraph.co.uk
This is edifyingly timely because it so sharply contrasts with the picture of the cowed and subservient European leadership we saw earlier, and now the chasm could not be wider between Russia’s power and influence and that of ‘little’ Europe.
I asked on X if a single European country could any longer even be deemed a ‘Great Power’, but of course that’s a rhetorically easy answer. The real question is, at this point, with how far things have come, can Europe as a whole even be considered a ‘Great Power’ anymore? Given how shrunken and impotent the entire European pantheon appeared before a single man—himself at the helm of a declining power—one could easily make the argument for ‘no’.
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off-guardian.org
