Michael Weiss

to lower the draft age to 18 and bring more younger people to the – I mean you've got 40-something-year-olds, in some cases geriatrics, who are now in trenches in Donbass fighting on the Ukrainian side. So they have a problem with manpower. But ultimately, look, I think the Russians understand that this is going to be a process. Sure.

And so what they're trying to do is set the sort of players correctly such that they can get the maximum concessions from the American side. They don't really believe in negotiating with Ukrainians at all. Remember, Ukraine has no agency. It practically does not exist as a sovereign entity unto itself. For them, this is really a war with the United States and NATO.

And so what they're trying to do is set the sort of players correctly such that they can get the maximum concessions from the American side. They don't really believe in negotiating with Ukrainians at all. Remember, Ukraine has no agency. It practically does not exist as a sovereign entity unto itself. For them, this is really a war with the United States and NATO.

And so what they're trying to do is set the sort of players correctly such that they can get the maximum concessions from the American side. They don't really believe in negotiating with Ukrainians at all. Remember, Ukraine has no agency. It practically does not exist as a sovereign entity unto itself. For them, this is really a war with the United States and NATO.

So they want to talk only to Washington. And who do they want to talk to? So I think it was interesting. There was some misreporting that, you know, Kellogg, the special envoy to Ukraine, was was not going to Munich at all. When Trump did his Truth Social post about this, you know, sort of the preliminaries of this discussion, he did not mention Kellogg. Witkoff

So they want to talk only to Washington. And who do they want to talk to? So I think it was interesting. There was some misreporting that, you know, Kellogg, the special envoy to Ukraine, was was not going to Munich at all. When Trump did his Truth Social post about this, you know, sort of the preliminaries of this discussion, he did not mention Kellogg. Witkoff

So they want to talk only to Washington. And who do they want to talk to? So I think it was interesting. There was some misreporting that, you know, Kellogg, the special envoy to Ukraine, was was not going to Munich at all. When Trump did his Truth Social post about this, you know, sort of the preliminaries of this discussion, he did not mention Kellogg. Witkoff

His buddy, a fellow billionaire, the guy who got the American school teacher released by the Russian side, that's all purposive. The Russians see Witkoff as their man, not because he's necessarily pro-Russian, but he doesn't understand anything about this part of the world. He's completely green, whereas Kellogg lives, breathes, and speaks Ukraine-Russia 24-7. That's his portfolio.

His buddy, a fellow billionaire, the guy who got the American school teacher released by the Russian side, that's all purposive. The Russians see Witkoff as their man, not because he's necessarily pro-Russian, but he doesn't understand anything about this part of the world. He's completely green, whereas Kellogg lives, breathes, and speaks Ukraine-Russia 24-7. That's his portfolio.

His buddy, a fellow billionaire, the guy who got the American school teacher released by the Russian side, that's all purposive. The Russians see Witkoff as their man, not because he's necessarily pro-Russian, but he doesn't understand anything about this part of the world. He's completely green, whereas Kellogg lives, breathes, and speaks Ukraine-Russia 24-7. That's his portfolio.

To the Russian mind, I mean, Witkoff is just another oligarch boyar who is surrounded by the czar on the American side.

To the Russian mind, I mean, Witkoff is just another oligarch boyar who is surrounded by the czar on the American side.

To the Russian mind, I mean, Witkoff is just another oligarch boyar who is surrounded by the czar on the American side.

Yeah, I mean, it's a political system that is governed by cronyism and backscratching. And so, yeah. But Witkoff, they think, especially with the sweetener of this unexpected exchange of, you know, on our side, we had a crypto grifting criminal that we gave to the Russians and they had a school teacher hostage. They think that they've now incentivized Trump to to play nice.

Yeah, I mean, it's a political system that is governed by cronyism and backscratching. And so, yeah. But Witkoff, they think, especially with the sweetener of this unexpected exchange of, you know, on our side, we had a crypto grifting criminal that we gave to the Russians and they had a school teacher hostage. They think that they've now incentivized Trump to to play nice.

Yeah, I mean, it's a political system that is governed by cronyism and backscratching. And so, yeah. But Witkoff, they think, especially with the sweetener of this unexpected exchange of, you know, on our side, we had a crypto grifting criminal that we gave to the Russians and they had a school teacher hostage. They think that they've now incentivized Trump to to play nice.

And by all accounts, he is, you know, again, he trusts Putin, arguably more so than he does his own ministers and his own intelligence.

And by all accounts, he is, you know, again, he trusts Putin, arguably more so than he does his own ministers and his own intelligence.

And by all accounts, he is, you know, again, he trusts Putin, arguably more so than he does his own ministers and his own intelligence.

Right. And expecting Europe to essentially shoulder. By the way, I mean, Europe does spend almost as much as we do on Ukraine. And if you measure it in both military and humanitarian assistance, I think you could even come up with a figure that's greater than what the U.S. is doing. So this is nonsense. Look, I'm an advocate for every NATO member to meet the 3% threshold for defense spending.