Symbolic Victory

Russian media are going nuts over the upcoming meeting between Putin and Trump where Trump is going to endorse Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The only positive outcome for the side of the good (to which I hope we all here belong and if not let me know and I’ll boot you from here in a flash) that can still be hoped for is that Trump won’t hand over a 100% validation of Russia’s actions. Maybe he’ll stick at 99%.

If people are about to start arguing that Trump can’t hand over anything but a symbolic victory to Putin, I’d ask them to stop making fools out of themselves. Both the Crimea and the Donbass war only have a symbolic meaning to Russia. They are an enormous economic drain. Russia is raising the retirement age to beyond the life expectancy for males to pay for this shit. It’s all about the symbolic.

I’m not nearly as heartbroken about this as I was about the massive betrayal by Western liberals of Ukraine and of every progressive value defended by Ukrainians during the initial stages of the invasion. I knew Trump was going to do this the moment he won the election. I grieved it back then but it’s not like I ever expected anything else from him. There is even a bit of a relief in not having to wait for it anymore.

I promise not to rant about it in an unhinged way once the meeting starts happening. Although if anybody is justified in ranting, it’s me on this occasion.