Having been thoroughly snubbed by Trump in favor of actual peace efforts, Kiev and Brussels may be hatching a new plan
The US and Russia are sitting down for some grand strategy global chess. Serious moves are being made.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio even said after this week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that both countries were exploring ways to cooperate geopolitically and economically. And, oh yeah, wrap up this fiasco in Ukraine. And the EU states? They’re sitting there, arms crossed and red-faced because nobody asked them to play.
Well, technically, they are represented – through Washington. That’s been the role they’ve insisted on adopting all along, and now the backup dancer thinks they’re actually the headliner. If they wanted a say, they could’ve taken the lead on peace talks anytime over the last two years. Instead, every time a leader even hinted at engaging with Russia, he was browbeaten and marginalized by those who kept insisting that Ukraine was winning, and Russia’s economy was collapsing. They seemed so totally hammered from drinking their own bathwater that you have to wonder if they soak exclusively in Moët & Chandon.
Not only weren’t they sticking it to Russia like they figured, but their strategy was backfiring onto their own people. When their cheap Russian gas lifeline, Nord Stream, went kaboom, they just shrugged. Then they sanctioned the rest of their Russian energy supply to oblivion – only to end up secretly importing it at a markup through middlemen.
It wasn’t until Trump administration officials came over to Europe recently for some conferences and told European leaders what disconnected morons they all were from the interests of their own citizens on everything from free speech to migration, that the EU started telling Washington off.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck even clapped back at Washington. Not, you know, when their pipeline got obliterated. But on a podcast. After some mere words were said that he didn’t like. Meanwhile, the Munich Security Conference’s chief organizer had a full-blown public meltdown on the global stage, like a kid at a school play when he spotted mommy frowning in the audience.
So yeah, no wonder Russia and the US didn’t invite them to the grown-up table.
Enter European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the unelected “Queen” (according to Politico) of the EU bureaucracy, to insists that Europe has brought the most to “the table” for Ukraine and deserves a seat at peace talks. Yeah, a seat at the table with the twisty animal balloons and party hats. Did they even pay for those?
Probably not. Because nowadays, they’re proudly funding Ukraine with Russian assets being held in their possession like it’s their own money. A shining moment there for free market capitalism. Like buying someone a gift with cash stolen from someone else’s wallet, then bragging about how generous you are.
And now Queen Ursula says that the EU wants to partner with Trump for a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine. Dear, you’ve been dumped – so why are you still talking like you’re planning a wedding? Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the EU missed its chance to make a serious push for peace. Now that it’s already being led by Russia and the US in bilateral talks, they’re acting like the kid who runs to the top of the escalator and pretends to be pulling all the people to the top by the handrail.
They saw Lavrov and Rubio meeting in Saudi Arabia without them and immediately threw together their own “counter-meeting” on February 17. And – get this – they didn’t even have Zelensky there to represent Ukraine. Which is exactly what they’ve been screaming at Trump and Russia about. Most of the EU wasn’t even there either, though – just six EU leaders, two Brussels bureaucrats, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Because nothing says peace like the guy who fronts for the transatlantic weapons lobby.
And the Baltics and Nordics are supposed to just crib the notes off Poland and Denmark after the meeting, apparently. Until the next meeting, to which they’ve apparently been invited. Because you know what this whole mess needs? More echo chamber meetings! And host, French President Emmanuel Macron, says that Canada is invited, too. Because nothing says “European security” quite like inviting the country that’s geographically closer to polar bears than to Paris.
At this point, these EU leaders are like non-playable characters (NPCs) in a video game. Like Pokémon shopkeepers who just keep repeating the same lines, over and over again, no matter how many times you interact with them. Some EU leaders – like Scholz and French PM François Bayrou – are even starting to already sound annoyed that nothing is actually happening.
They can’t even nail down consensus on sending “peacekeeping” troops to Ukraine. Gee, I wonder why. It’s not like foreign involvement in Ukraine is what triggered this whole thing in the first place, or anything. Not exactly a blueprint for peace there, geniuses.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also invited to participate, and he’s ready to deploy, guys. Kind of like a dude who just watched a YouTube video tutorial on football and wants to take the field in the NFL. He just says that he needs Uncle Sam to hold his hand. He says he’ll discuss American troops “backstopping” British soldiers when he visits Trump in Washington. Trump, for his part, says he has no idea what Starmer even wants to see him about. Maybe he figures that he’s just bringing over some Big Macs and Diet Cokes?
So what’s the EU really up to at the kiddie table? Well, for starters, some are already floating the idea of lifting EU deficit spending limits just to buy more weapons, which is a weird flex when peace is allegedly on the horizon. French Minister for Europe Jean-Noël Barrot also says they’re “increasing the pressure” on Russia with yet another round of sanctions. Because those have worked so well so far.
Even Macron says that he hopes that Trump can ramp up “pressure” on Russia by being unpredictable. Because nothing says solid foreign policy like relying on Trump to be a loose cannon.
With all this talk of “pressuring” Russia, could they be up to something even bigger between their sippy cup refills?
Could France, the EU, and Ukraine be plotting a new battlefront in Africa against Russian interests and any Moscow-Washington peace plan for Ukraine? France has been getting kicked out of its former African colonies one by one – while Russia moves in as a preferred partner. Now, suddenly, Ukrainian intelligence is asking France for help in toppling pro-Russian African regimes, according to Intelligence Online. You know, in the same resource-rich regions that Paris once controlled.
Dialing up a proxy war in Africa could serve the EU in getting leverage against Russia in Ukraine – especially since Trump has already told Zelensky that if there’s spoils to be had in Ukraine, they’ll be going to the US, leaving the EU with crumbs.
Which brings us to Zelensky’s trips to Turkey and the UAE this week – two countries that have spent years arming proxy wars in Africa, even on opposing sides like in Libya, but have recently started working together. Last year, Turkish drones were even fitted with UAE-made bombs, for example.
The UAE is already on record denouncing Paris’ loss of footprint in the Sahel. Meanwhile, Turkey has been arming anti-French, pro-Russian governments in Africa while simultaneously eyeing Niger’s uranium deposits for its Russian-built nuclear plant. So it seems that Ankara’s interests are prone to being rather “flexible.”
Could Zelensky convince Turkey and the UAE to collude with the EU and Kiev in Africa against Russia as a pressure valve to impact any peace deal in Ukraine? Would the Eurotots want to start flinging spitballs at both Moscow and Washington covertly from the kiddie table? And if so, how long before they get caught? Probably mid-throw, with pudding on their faces, crying that it was Russia’s fault.
