larry johnson tells you how the empire and its once obedient european vassals are laboring under lots of self inflicted illusions;

When Donald Trump made his promise to bring peace to Ukraine in 24 hours, he obviously was thinking in terms of how time is counted on the planet Venus… on Venus, one Earth day is equivalent to 243 days. That’s his only hope of delivering on that promise. Trump may be a master at negotiating a deal to build a hotel, but he has no clue how to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

The process is stalled — not because of Russian intransigence — but because Europe and Ukraine’s Zelensky are throwing up roadblocks. The Black Sea deal, for example, hinges on Europe lifting economic sanctions on grain and fertilizer exports from Russia and reconnecting one of Russia’s key banks to SWIFT. Europe said, “Hell no!”

Trump also expressed anger over President Putin saying he won’t talk to Zelensky. Even though Trump himself called Zelensky a dictator, Donald insists that Putin must talk to the green goblin. President Trump apparently does not realize that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted a decree on October 4, 2022, based on a decision by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of September 30, 2022, prohibiting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even if Putin decided to engage Zelensky tomorrow, it is illegal under Ukrainian law to do so. For starters, Trump needs to order Zelensky to withdraw that order........more........