Posted originally on CTH on July 11, 2025 | Sundance

Everyone can see the play by President Trump. Essentially, the “coalition of the willing” (U.K, Germany, France) are not willing to go to war against Russia without the United States in front of them.  Giving the coalition the weapons puts the consequences of their use on the heads of NATO allies.

Despite the majority of Washington DC, specifically the Senate thirsting, pleading and demanding an expanded NATO war, President Trump does not want to go to war against Russia. However, simultaneously Trump has to try and steer the war machine controlled by DC, the Senate, USIC and NATO.

The INERTIA for expanded war is evident.  President Trump is now trying to split the baby regarding Russia, by sending patriot missiles and weapons to NATO as opposed to sending them directly to Ukraine.

In February Marco Rubio earnestly and honestly said, “The Ukraine conflict is a proxy war for the United States against Russia.”  President Trump has concurred with that statement and through his prior comments he attempted to extricate the U.S. from this dynamic.

The shipment of missiles to NATO instead of Ukraine is simply a way of trying to stop direct support, yet Trump is forced by the inertia toward war to maintain a footing of expanded conflict with Russia.

To be very clear, Russian President Vladimir Putin is clear-eyed on this situation with NATO, and he has been all along.

Putin has said repeatedly that NATO was/is in direct conflict against Russia despite Ukraine not being a NATO member.  This conflict with NATO well precedes Putin’s decision to conduct a ‘special military operation’ within Ukraine.

Now, we see through Trump’s approach the dropping of pretenses.  Putin was correct.  With NATO directly providing the war weapons to Ukraine there is no pretense, no doubt. NATO countries are funding an offensive war against Russia using a non NATO proxy state, Ukraine.

As I have said, this western triggering has always been the inertia for war, and that war is now likely to expand as a result of NATO and even, unfortunately, President Trump’s approach.

The only thing that works in his/our favor is the cowardice of the U.K, France and Germany to fight Russia without the USA.

President Trump may try and distance himself and by extension the USA from this consequence of expanded conflict. But the consequence exists regardless of the obfuscation.  We are parsing terms.

The US is going to fund expansion of the conflict directly with arms to Ukraine or indirectly by sending arms to NATO to give to Ukraine. The destination and intent of the weapons is the same regardless of the procedural process.

I came to Russia this time to understand the nature of how western inertia to war can exist, despite the people of the west demanding the opposite. I wanted to see for myself exactly what Russia was preparing for, and exactly how the people of Russia were reacting to that preparation.

Russia is well prepared, both physically and psychologically to go to war against any adversary.  Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating is between 70 to 80%, and despite what you might have heard in western propaganda media, the economy inside Russia is doing very well.  In addition to the two-year service requirement (18-20 years old), all men aged 25 to 35 have been refresher trained in preparation.

The psyche of the Russian military is ready to get rid of the Nazis.  Also, the sentiment of Europeans’ dislike of Ukrainian Nazis is easy to spot, albeit not well known outside the region.  Despite decades of Brussels and USA provocation and political manipulation (perhaps because of it), there’s not a lot of pro-NATO support for the west here.

I am not a big fan of Russia; nor do I agree with the way the government constructs societal life within it. There are a lot of negatives to daily life in Russia. However, I do have a complete understanding of the govt positions and reasons for them.

Western media have pretended that Ukraine was not a U.S/NATO proxy war against Russia. Now, those pretenses are dropped.  Conversely, Vladimir Putin never pretended.

Putin always accepted that Ukraine was, and long has been, a NATO proxy state for conflict against Russia; which is exactly the reason he ‘invaded‘ Ukraine in the first place.

President Trump may be trying to split the baby amid the retention of pretense, but it’s a pretense Russian President Vladimir Putin never held, he could not afford to.

Thus, the inertia of war and people asking “how did this happen?”

If I am accurate in his exit strategy, President Trump hopes to extricate himself from the Russia-Ukraine problem by putting the conflict directly into the lap of NATO, more specifically into the lap of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; the so called “coalition of the willing.”

President Trump is giving the weapons to NATO, again Starmer, Macron and Merz, for transfer to their buddy in Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  President Trump then stands back and draws distance from the consequence of what they do with them.  However, this is also a massive provocation because NATO is now essentially operating on behalf of a non-NATO state, Ukraine, against another non-NATO power, Russia.

President Trump cannot remove the fact that the USA is the lead in all things NATO.  As soon as France, Germany and the U.K start bombing Russia albeit from the geography of Ukraine, the conflict will expand.

NATO -thanks to President Trump- would then be baiting Vladimir Putin to attack France, Germany or the UK in retaliation, which would trigger Article 5; subsequently the USA is drawn into the conflict by agreement, and voilà a full expanded war between NATO and Russia commences.

But why?

If neither Russia or Ukraine are NATO members, why is NATO involved at all?

Good question.  Perhaps President Trump will answer that question on Monday.

President Trump told NBC News, “I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday.”

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Live your very best life, but prepare for war.

Like a fat kid playing dodgeball, I’m out of here tomorrow (hopefully), and will hold an AMA on the topic of all things Russia next week.