Donald Trump once campaigned on ending the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. He promised to stop the proxy war with Rus­sia, leveraging his self-proclaimed dealmaking skills. Yet, halfway into July, what we see is a new escalation dressed as diplomacy. In a cho­reographed appearance with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump gave Moscow a “50-day window” to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping 100% tariffs on Russian goods. In the same breath, he confirmed shipments of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine—financed not by Washington, but by Europe.

For all the transactional logic Trump likes to project, this move is anything but straightforward. It is a curious blend of carrot and stick, peace and provocation.

Trump’s message is clear: he wants Russia to halt the war on his terms. Yet his “peace offer” is laden with conditions Moscow has long rejected. Russia insists any ceasefire must address root issues—NA­TO’s expansion, Kyiv’s rearmament, and the status of Crimea and the Donbas. A pause simply to rearm Ukraine is a nonstarter. Ceasefires imposed without resolving underlying disputes tend only to postpone the inevitable. The Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 were hailed in the West as a pathway to peace but quietly treated by Ukraine and its allies as a window to retrain forces and fortify defenses. To Moscow, an­other Western-backed ceasefire looks like the same tactic repackaged.

Wig ban only lasts a day in Senegal theatre........

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