The bets have been placed

The other day, in Washington, Zelensky decided to fight with Trump without realizing two things:

1. Ukraine doesn’t particularly matter to Trump. To him, it’s like an old couch—if someone buys it, he can make some money, but if no buyer is found, he can just throw it in the trash. But Trump certainly wasn’t planning to discuss the fate of the couch with the bedbugs living in it. If the bedbugs themselves decided to take the couch to the dump, so be it. Trump will negotiate without factoring in Ukraine.

2. Europe needs Zelensky and Ukraine only as a means to stage a loud scandal, accusing Trump of betraying allies and dismantling NATO. This way, Europe will pass the ball to Trump’s opponents in the U.S., hoping they can organize an impeachment or at least, by 2026, begin the process of returning left-liberal elites to power and suppressing Trumpism.

I won’t discuss how realistic this is—Europe, in any case, is determined to fight. But to make the fight more effective, Europe will actually need a swift Ukrainian defeat in the next phase, preferably with Zelensky’s death—a dramatic final note convincingly showing the American voter what Trump has led the "free world" to by "following Putin’s lead."

In Washington, under the influence of Starmer and Macron, Zelensky made a crucial move that has practically forced future events into a narrow corridor—one that can only be escaped by a miracle.

The scandal that the Boss tried to avoid happened due to the initiative of a foolish clerk. The valuation of the Ukrainian "business" being sold collapsed overnight. The U.S. is washing its hands of the situation. 

Now, Trump's team is objectively interested in Russia securing a common border with the zone f.k.a. “Ukraine” as quickly as possible—while much can still be blamed on Biden. Besides, the arrogance of the clown in a green tracksuit, publicly arguing with the U.S. president, has not been forgotten and still annoys ordinary Americans. You can’t behave this way with America, especially when it is set on becoming "great again." If such behavior is let slide for Zelensky, then next time, some Macron might as well put his feet up on the Oval Office desk. 

The most amusing part is that Europe is also interested in Ukraine and Zelensky perishing as quickly and as terribly as possible—before the confrontation with Trump fades from memory and subsequent events overshadow the effect of Trump humiliating Zelensky. 

In this case, both sides plan to use Ukraine’s downfall to their advantage. Europe had been aiming for this effect from the very beginning, ever since Trump came to power and started pressuring the European elites. They need to sell their fight against Trump to the European voter not as a battle between postmodern left-liberals and a right-wing conservative traditionalist, but as Europe’s struggle for the "universal human values" that Trump trampled upon in the person of Ukraine and Zelensky.

Trump was forced to make a decision under the pressure of an irresistible force—Zelensky’s incompetence. But regardless of the reason behind the choice, the choice has been made by all, and it is a unified one—one that does not include Ukraine’s existence. The bets have been placed. No more bets.

All in all, it must be acknowledged: Zelensky is truly a brilliant politician. No one before him has ever managed, with a single move, to push Russia, the U.S., and Europe toward the same unintended outcome of the Ukrainian crisis.

Putin has proven himself a master of political maneuvering, so perhaps he might still manage to avoid the now almost inevitable occupation of all—or nearly all—of Ukraine (unless the Hungarians and Poles lend a hand). But Zelensky has done everything and more to ensure that Ukraine’s hypothetical salvation could now be attributed only to divine intervention. Only through divine will can a miracle worker perform a miracle—it is not man who creates it, but God through man.

After Zelensky’s last visit to Washington, saving Ukraine is beyond human capability. And would God want to perform a miracle to save the remnants of a Nazi state? I doubt it.