Key Points – Following an intense Russian drone and missile barrage on Ukrainian cities over the weekend (May 24-25), President Trump, reportedly angered by the escalation after his recent peace-focused phone call with Vladimir Putin, publicly slammed the Russian leader as “crazy” and indicated openness to new sanctions.
-National security expert E.J. Kimball, commenting on Fox News, suggested that beyond sanctions, Trump could significantly pressure Russia by manipulating oil prices (potentially initiated during his recent Middle East trip) to hurt its revenue.
-This economic leverage, Kimball argues, combined with secondary sanctions, might be the key to forcing Putin into serious negotiations.
Trump Does Have a Way to End the War in Ukraine
Over the weekend, Russia launched one of its most intense attacks of the war, firing nearly 300 drones and dozens of missiles at Ukrainian cities.
The strikes hit hospitals, power stations, and civilian homes, killing at least a dozen people and injuring many more.
President Donald Trump was particularly angry about the strikes given his recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he believed marked the beginning of the final round of negotiations on the matter of bringing the war to an end.
Trump publicly slammed Putin, telling reporters at a New Jersey airport that he was “not happy” with Putin, that he believed the Russian leader had gone “crazy,” and that he was willing to consider new sanctions against Russia.
In response, Russian officials sought to downplay the conflict with Trump, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling Trump’s comments “emotional overload” and thanking the president for his work to bring about a new round of negotiations.
The comments may reveal Russia’s vulnerability at this stage of the war, however, and one expert has suggested that Trump’s decision to push back against Russia now may be enough to make Putin stop.
National Security Expert Proposes Trump’s Next Move
E.J. Kimball, a national security and foreign policy expert and the director of policy at the U.S. Israel Education Association, was asked for his thoughts on Trump’s response to Putin over the weekend during an interview on Fox News. Also asked for his thoughts on what it will take for Russia to agree to a ceasefire, Kimball argued that Trump might have more power than he realizes.
“Look, Vladimir Putin is going to push and he is going to escalate until someone pushes and escalates back,” Kimball said. “He is looking right now at the West. He is looking at President Trump, and he thinks he is weak and not going to step up and challenge him. And he is wrong,” Kimball said.
But more than just sanctions, Kimball argued that Trump can manipulate market conditions in such a way that it benefits the United States and seriously hurts the Russian economy – specifically with regard to oil and energy.
“I think we can expect President Trump to issue secondary sanctions on Russia in the coming days and weeks, but I think even bigger than that, Russia’s economy is dependent on oil and gas revenue. I think part of the president’s recent trip to the Middle East is to bring down the price of oil as we’ve seen in the past year,” Kimball also said.
The price of oil has dropped by $0.50 per gallon already, and the overall price needs to continue dropping to damage the Russian economy enough that they cannot continue to fund the war.
If Kimball is right, Trump’s next move could be among the final steps towards getting Putin to the negotiating table – and may finally signal to Russian leadership that their leverage has weakened.
Delaying a deal any further could also mean their leverage weakens even more – and the ultimate deal they sign becomes less desirable in its terms.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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Swamplaw Yankee
May 28, 2025 at 12:19 am
The headline is a focus on the POTUS and the re-start of the thousand year old attack on Ukraine by the orc muscovite peasants.
The one sentence demand that the MAGA Potus can state and that will stop the war within a week. Guaranteed,
The MAGA elite need to convince their leader to confront Putin over his human trafficking of Ukrainian children. How exactly can the USA make Putin respond so quickly, the Doodle Dandy may wonder?
The MAGA POTUS Trump must make a public demand that Putin immediately pre-pay a $10,000,000 gold bullion deposit for each and every human trafficked Ukrainian child as compensation and reparation for their vicious cultural genocide inside the Russian imperial state.
That is, as soon as Putin has fully transmitted gold bullion for the first 100,000 kidnapped children, his regime must consider the additional billions in gold bullion that the remaining Ukrainian kidnap victims will require from the orc russian empire.
The no waiver demand for this gold bullion payments by POTUS Trump will unbalance whatever gold reserves the Fascist russian state might have had in reserve. The no waiver demand from the USA for this gold bullion will alter Putin’s strategies immediately.
As soon as muscovite russian peasants realize that their free, no-cost, giveaway of kidnapped children from Putin is actually a very costly personal cash drain, the adoring, love and affection of the peasant russian for Putin will rapidly vanish. Paying for 11 years of what was FREE table top dancing will be a rude shock to the wallets of the women of Moscow.
The peasant russian deviant man who took advantage of human trafficked children for 11 years will face criminal charges if he does not pay up. There will little incentive to go into Ukraine to fight Putin’s war so as to harvest little Ukrainian girls and boys, as suddenly, there is no more free air freight of the human harvest to the very needy russian language and dance teachers.
That is the one sentence that the leader, the MAGA chief magistrate must state to the WEST, to Putin, to the russian empire! The sooner Trump makes this no-waiver demand, the better for the agony of the huge numbers of imprisoned Ukrainian children inside blatant Russian genocide!. -30-
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