The Emperor Kneels

Europe’s Two Words to Trump: Fuck You

What a freaking idiot.

That was my gut reaction to the Trump administration’s decision to entertain the Kremlin’s wishlist—one that demanded lifting key sanctions as a precondition for a ceasefire covering the Black Sea and critical energy infrastructure.

It’s classic Kremlin tactics: delay the ceasefire, or make it dead on arrival, while maneuvering the EU and the Trump administration into a collision course. And the incompetent clowns managing this mess fell for it—lock, stock, and barrel.

There was absolutely no need to release that statement. They could’ve kept the talks going with Moscow indefinitely—and completely avoided this humiliation:

WH

Why is this incompetence of the highest order?

1. Because Russia is setting a precondition for agreeing to a ceasefire:

   → Rosselkhozbank, a major Russian agricultural bank, must be reconnected to SWIFT, the global financial messaging system.

2. But here’s the catch:

   → The European Union (EU) has sanctions in place that ban Russian banks from SWIFT, including Rosselkhozbank.

   → Those sanctions don’t expire until July 31—and they can’t be lifted without EU approval.

3. So how does Team Trump plan to solve this problem?

   → Lifting those sanctions requires unanimous agreement from all 27 EU member states.

   → And the Baltic states are never going to vote for it.

You can dance around the desk all you want, but the Baltic nations know what’s coming. They’re next in line to be thrown under the bus by Trump and his band of genius dealmakers.

What Putin has done here is brilliant in its cynicism:

He’s killed the ceasefire deal before it begins—and set the U.S. and Europe on a direct collision course. If Trump goes public with this nonsense agreement he’s cooked up with Putin, he’ll be forced to double down. There will be threats. There will be tantrums. And his team of geniuses will start strong-arming anyone who resists. We all remember what happened in the ten days after the Oval Office bust-up between Trump, Vance, and Zelensky.

So yes, Putin got exactly what he came for: confirmation that Donald Trump is 120% desperate for a deal—and that desperation means he can now squeeze Trump for anything and everything he wants.

What should Europe do now?

Two words: Fuck you.

That’s it. There’s no saving Donald Trump from here. He’s desperate—and worse, he’s making that desperation obvious. The whole charade of preserving the US-Europe alliance and defeating Putin’s war machine is over. Europe must now take full control of this war.

• Let Trump pause intelligence sharing.

• Let him stop sending weapons.

• Let Elon Musk yank Starlink offline.

Prepare for each of those contingencies—because the U.S. under Trump is no longer a reliable partner. But there’s one immediate, low-hanging fruit Europe can and must seize:

Reverse the artillery shell imbalance—fast.

Right now, Ukraine is likely firing one shell for every two Russia fires. That ratio fluctuates, but it’s roughly where things stand today. Ukraine compensates with drones, but it’s not enough. If this artillery gap is closed—and reversed—Russia’s ability to gain ground collapses. Given the state of the battlefield, Russian troops are already stretched thin and exhausted. Pushing forward under a barrage of Ukrainian shells would mean catastrophic casualties.

All this talk of “long-term security commitments” and billions pledged for 2026, 2027, and 2028? Completely meaningless. At this pace, there won’t be a Ukraine left to defend in 2026.

So forget the future. Act now.

Europe needs to find ten billion dollars—today—and buy up every artillery shell available anywhere on the planet.. Then tell incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz to pump every euro he can into Rheinmetall. The company is already ramping up, but it can go even harder and faster.

Forget intelligence sharing—just flood the battlefield. That’s what Russia has done for years: saturate the front with shells and grind forward.

Ukraine has the howitzers. Their domestic production is holding. So is France’s. The bottleneck is not launchers—it’s shells. Buy them. Build them. Invoke defense production laws across Europe.

Every single day must produce more shells than the one before it.

It’s doable.

And right now, it’s the only way out.