Trump Moves On Ukraine, Euros Panic

Isn’t this a great time to be alive in America! We finally have a president who cares for this country, who puts our interests first, and who is willing to tell the truth as he sees it, not as our “allies” or adversaries want to hear it.

This week, of course, it was Ukraine. As I have said before in this space, we have finally reached what Churchill called the “end of the beginning.” Now the real negotiations begin.

Of course the Europeans were upset that Trump didn’t include Zelensky in the opening round of exploratory talks with the Russians in Saudi Arabia. So what did the Z-man do? He flew to Turkey hoping to enlist the Islamist Erdogan to make his case to the Europeans.

Trump’s demands are not complicated. First, he notes that the United States has given Ukraine $350 billion in assistance, and that Zelensky himself has acknowledged that half of it has gone “missing.”

Missing? Really? I saw it last week while skiing at Courcheval. So many BMW 700-series sedans and Mercedes G-wagons with Ukrainian license plates, whole families enjoying the slopes – on our dime.

You and I are currently paying the salaries of Ukrainian civil servants, as well as their pensions, and we don’t have a lot to show for it. The Euros have provided the Ukes with $200 billion in loans, which they expect to get paid back. Trump found that unfair.

So he sent Treasury Secretary Scott Beeson to Kyiv to make an offer: you pay us back with access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, uranium, and iron. The Z-man flat out refused. Big mistake.

Now Trump is calling for the Ukrainians to hold presidential elections, which were initially scheduled for May 2024 — until the Z-man canceled them. After all, we are supposed to be supporting “democracy,” right? Isn’t that what we’ve been told this is about? The Z-man is now REALLY worried.

So Zelensky’s next step was to trot off to Munich and propose creating a pan-European army to defend Ukraine and presumably the rest of the continent from Russian aggression. President Macron of France (aka “Little Cookie”), has been calling for the same for several years, as have earlier French presidents.

Some have even offered to place Europe under a French nuclear umbrella. That was a proposal dragged out of the dustbin of history this week by Friedrich Merz, the CDU party leader who is currently leading in the polls to become Germany’s next chancellor in elections to be held on Sunday.

My advice to Mr. Merz: be careful what you wish for. A French nuclear umbrella, or even a British-French one, would be a very leaky umbrella. Do you really think the French are going to sacrifice Paris or Lyons to defend Kyiv? I sure don’t.

Deterrence is a fragile thing. For it to work, it must be credible. A Franco-British nuclear umbrella over Ukraine and Europe is not.

President Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Keith Kellogg, was also at the Munich security conference (along with Sec/Def Pete Hegseth and JD Vance, whose speech I wrote about in this space last week). He suggested that the US was hoping “to force” Putin into actions he was “uncomfortable with,” including disrupting Russia’s alliances with Iran, North Korea, and China.

Given that Russia formalized a 20-year military and security treaty with Iran in January, and that China also has such a deal, such a development would be a huge win for President Trump and for Americans.

There was also talk in the media this week about “Track 2″ diplomacy in Geneva, off-the-record discussions between Americans and Russians close to their respective administrations.

Parallel diplomacy – half-blessed, but off-the-record – has been going on for years. If you have purchased my latest book, The Iran House, you will find an amusing account of my own involvement in Track 2 talks at an Italian seaside resort with Iranian officials in Chapter 8, “Becoming a Target.”

As usual, the President encapsulated his thoughts on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations in a tweet. Legacy media commentators see “chaos” in Trump’s approach. I see absolutely brilliance.

I discuss these issues on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday on 104.9 FM or 550 AM in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app. If you miss us live, you can listen to the podcast here.

Yours in freedom.

©2025 Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

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