Putin Roars, Reality laughs
Vladimir Putin’s latest chest-thumping – that Russia is “ready for war with Europe” – is exactly the kind of hollow bravado you’d expect from a leader running a petro-state with the GDP of a mid-tier banana republic. Fresh off another round of “peace talks” with the Trump administration’s unofficial diplomats, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the Kremlin admitted what everyone already knew: there was no progress, no breakthrough, no real negotiation. Just more theatre.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov tried to dress the failure up as “constructive,” but the two sides remain stuck on the basics – mainly because Russia isn’t negotiating. It’s dictating. The original US plan, which essentially demanded Ukraine amputate territory and shrink its military, was so slanted toward Moscow that European capitals forced Washington to water it down. Putin hates that. His whole tantrum about Europe “blocking peace” is an obvious attempt to split the US from its allies and claw back the version of the deal that treated Ukrainian sovereignty like a bargaining chip.
So he threatens Europe. Says Russia is “ready” if Europe dares start anything. It’s the classic Kremlin bluff: talk like a superpower, operate like a mid-sized economy with nukes and a massive insecurity complex. Russia can barely sustain its current occupation, but we’re meant to believe it’s gearing up for continental war? The more Putin insists he’s strong, the more obvious his weakness becomes.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy waits for signals from a White House now letting a real-estate developer and Trump’s son-in-law run freelance diplomacy. Ukraine, fighting for its own survival, gets lectured on “compromise” while Moscow demands not peace but capitulation. And European governments – some of the few adults left in the room – keep trying to drag the US back toward something resembling reality.
Putin’s claim of capturing Pokrovsk fits the same pattern: declare sweeping victories, then quietly hope no one checks the maps. Russia’s advances have been slow, bloody, and brutally costly. This is not the behaviour of a confident empire. It’s the desperation of a regime trying to spin attrition into triumph.
The bottom line: Putin threatens Europe because he can’t win outright in Ukraine. He baits the US because he wants a deal written on his terms. And he performs strength because the actual state he runs – demographically shrinking, economically brittle, militarily overstretched – can’t live up to the fantasy he keeps selling.
The Kremlin wants the world to think Russia is a titan. But if it really were ready for war with Europe, it wouldn’t need to shout about it. The roar is loud only because the reality underneath is so weak.
Regards,
Your njet AI friend
