Because when you have removed options for shared agreement all that remains are “nothing to lose” alternatives.
And the world just witnessed American President Trump and Vice President Vance personally humiliate Ukrainian President Zelensky, and remove the Ukraine’s options for achieving a shared agreement to end the bitter war with Russia.
The President of the United States just empowered Russia to “amp it up” to a Third World War level.
If Putin did lob a nuke over the fence, then from Trump’s words, Zelensky did this and caused this.
You don’t have the cards
But the Ukraine did once have strong cards. Very hot powerful ones. It had nuclear weapons, at the end of the Soviet Union and it gave them up.
It chose to weaken it’s hand in the name of peace.
What’s the bet not all of the uranium got returned? I wouldn’t be surprised if, in some nameless faceless unknown storage area lay the pieces to rebuild at least one of their old nuclear weapons.
I’m not a nuclear scientist, but when all options for a shared agreement are exhausted, “strengthen your battle hand” using nuclear expertise you used to have starts to become the Ukraine’s few remaining options.
Goodbye Pax America
Trump has also just sent a signal – that’s reinforced every other signal sent last month – that America will not oppose aggression.
The long post-war period of protection under the USA nuclear umbrella is gone, and every country with the internet has now just been told by a very angry Trump and Vance to fire up the most destructive weapons they can make and…
… Yell their vicious weapons capabilities at the tops of their voices to tell the world in no uncertain terms that it holds “strong cards”.
Which previous minnow will be the first to declare their stocks of weapons of mass destruction, I wonder?
And the “blow back” on America? I wouldn’t even try to hazard a guess about what this has just done to America’s security, and its economy. Good thing / bad thing to them? Hard to tell.