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These two things can be (are) true: 1. Trump and Vance were rude. 2. Zelensky f*cked up.

But he wasn't. The discussion took place in the Oval Office. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut when provoked and smile or give an accepting nod of the head if he couldn't find some diplomatic words to utter, unless he really didn't want the deal that was nearing completion. People are...

What good is competing with their own funding sources?

Musk isn't a foreign visitor. Not a very effective leader if he can't see when his ego ought be set aside, and do so. It doesn't matter who started it, and my advice implicitly assumes that Trump and his people are likely to be the first to breach civility. It means everything. How many...

Security guarantees aren't worth anything either.

When you go to the WH as an approximate supplicant, wear a suit and hold your own temper in check no matter what happens. In the choice between pig-wrestling with a notoriously volatile and obnoxious person or taking the high road, so many people keep choosing the former.

Of course Russia will re-arm, having written down so much equipment and ammunition. And what will everyone else do? Nothing, or contribute toward making a future bite of Ukraine too unpleasant for Russia to contemplate? NATO and the west have been slowly winning, with setbacks along the way...

Total war would probably work, but it's a fantasy. Hard (and pointless) to criticize the initiatives of people who claim to be seeking peace if there are no realistic - politically viable and physically practical - alternatives to which they can be compared.

Russian will and means are near exhaustion but Ukraine's isn't?

I know there's a difference. Given the current situation, what is reasonable? If there's no serious likelihood Russia thinks its position is weak enough to take what you think is reasonable, what would you advocate doing to make Russia take your conditions seriously?

So what are the acceptable terms of peace? Unconditional surrender by Russia is out. Ukraine hasn't the resources, or the ability to manage large formations effectively. No-one else has the will to intervene and defeat Russia in a way that could force unconditional surrender. Status quo ante...

That isn't actually "new" for the US.

I can look at almost any political situation and see how the seeds were sown by what people did before the "revolution". The longer political establishments succeed in fending off a correction back to the centre, the harder the correction is when it comes. Do you suppose Democrats are partly...

We still do. The crocodilians are still among us.

You've taken "with us or against us" to new heights of stupidity.

We've covered this ground in the context of Canadian elections, and the same general principles apply in the US. People have multitudes of reasons for casting votes "for" one thing, including the desire to cast votes "against" another. In politics there is nothing resembling the "completeness"...

Sometimes immigration is for sale.

He's not different enough to justify inflicting more damage, and he's time-limited. Less than four years and he's out; less than two years and both legislative bodies of Congress are likely to flip.

It's foolish to overreact to everything Trump does. It's beyond foolish to not work intelligently, rather than emotionally, to mitigate damage. Wrestle with the pig if you wish. Just don't drag the rest of us into the mire.

If cutting deals with nations that serve their own interests first is the idea we're wrestling with, France is one of the worst offenders.