Dystopic Putin – Playing for time by Playing the Western Allies
Published 8 days ago • 4 min read
August 23, 2025
Dystopic Newsletter
Putin – Playing for time by Playing the Western Allies
Putin observing B-2 Bomber flyover escorted by F-35 Lightning fighters at Putin -Trump Summit, August 15, 2025 (source: US DoD and Department of State)
Book Update:
The 5-Star reviews keep coming in - How The Hell Did We Get Here? is answering readers questions about securing peace in our chaotic world. Find out more HERE
Now back to tis week's Dystopic ...
After all the pomp and circumstance, beginning August 15th with the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska, we are no closer to peace in Ukraine.
In fact, Russia made it a point to strike a US-owned factory in Ukraine as a thank you, 3 days later. A Russian missile hit an electronics factory owned by the U.S. company Flex Ltd. during a large-scale attack on Thursday. The civilian electronics factory is located in Mukachevo, Zakarpattia Oblast, far from the battlefront. The brazen act characteristically angered President Trump.
Flex Ltd., an American civilian electronics company, hit by two Russian missiles in Mukachevo, Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, on Thursday. (Source Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration)
“We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work.”
Labrov's comments were in response to meetings Monday (08/18/2025) between Trump, Ukraine President Zelenskyy, and a larger group of European leaders including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Monday Meetings were a brilliant stroke of diplomacy and sent a clear message to Russia of the unity of the Western Allies, to be sure. Given Putin’s goal of breaking up NATO and the Western alliance, the image of unity likely infuriated the Russian President. Yet, Putin carries on his methodical campaign of carnage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald J. Trump meet at the White House, Aug. 18, 2025. (source US DoD)
Beyond a show of unity, Monday’s meetings allowed Europe, the US, and Ukraine to hash out the basic structure of a security guarantees for post-war Ukraine. The framework included:
The UK and France leading a voluntary security force in Ukraine, in a so-called “coalition of the willing”
President Trump signaled that the US would provide air support, intelligence/ reconnaissance, and make available weapons for Ukraine
At this point, the war is grinding on with no visible change, with 5000 dead or wounded daily on the front and Russia continually targeting civilians in their strikes.
Putin is playing for time, using faux overtures for peace rather than accepting an immediate ceasefire. Engaging in peace talks is a clever ploy. Putin calculates that it will take months to negotiate a peace treaty. While those talks progress, Putin hopes to:
Provide additional time for Russia’s summer offensive to capture more land and potentially break through Ukraine's defenses, creating an even stronger bargaining position for Russia.
Demand land swaps that include 100% of the Dombas region with its "Fortress Belt" of industrial cities, which protects against deeper Russian incursions. Russia has not been able to pierce the “Fortress Belt” - A trade like this would mirror the October 1938 ceding of the Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia, to Hitler after the Munich Agreement. Heralded by British Prime Minister Chamberlin as “Peace in our Time” it is now regarded as one of the worst cases of appeasement in human history. Ukraine cannot give up its “Fortress Belt” – and Putin knows this
Ukraine's Donbas Fortress Belt
Putin is playing a ruse!
There was an old joke during the Cold War about negotiating with Russia. As the old Russian negotiator would say:
“What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is negotiable.”
I maintain the same opinion I have expressed in my book, How The Hell Did We Get Here?, and in previous Dystopic newsletters:
The West cannot fall into a trap of a false peace, giving Russia time to rearm and regroup (a repeat of October 1938 “Great Appeasement”)
Russia will not truly come to the table without coming to the brink of economic collapse and further war deaths, creating a backlash in Russian society much like what happened during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s
The US and the West must move quickly to implement crippling sanctions on Russia and any Russian trade partner, including China. Confiscate the $300M in frozen accounts in the West to fund the war effort
Provide Ukraine with more weapons and the freedom to use them to strike deep within Russia
That is my opinion, backed up by facts. … Let’s see how this plays out.
In late-breaking news Friday (08/22/2025), the Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump issued a two-week deadline to move forward with the peace process or face unspecified retaliation. This warning is eerily similar to the two-week warning Trump provided Iran to capitulate in the 12-Day Israel-Iran War. Trump only waited a few days and then executed an attack by a B-2 bomber air armada and a salvo of submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons infrastructure.
While the President will not bomb Russia as he did Iran, I hope, like the Iranian situation, he loses patience by the end of the weekend and just places his maximum economic sanctions in place. NOW - NOT LATER.
That’s a wrap for this week …
Up next - an in depth series of newsletters exploring the Golden Dome Missile Defense program and the technology behind it. The US and possibly some of our Allies are about to commit to $500 billion on this program over 10 years - as a US tax taxpayer or an ally, it would be good to understand what we are getting into.
Dystopic- The Technology Behind Today's News
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