I was recently at “home” in Kyiv. I am still trying to gather my thoughts. Kyiv is a magical city. Soulful, Beautiful. But everyone in Ukraine is exhausted, and the Russian war is not letting up.

I was recently texting with an American friend of mine who lives in Poland. Both of us roll our eyes when we hear people say “But Putin wants to negotiate”. Putin is not interested in negotiating. And then there is that genius Trump.

This is what my friend shared with me. He is spot on.

You need to understand Putin’s intention: Revenge!

He wants to collapse the West to one degree or another (maybe NATO, maybe the EU) take back territories (not all, but certainly wants to have a veto) which he believes will make him Vladimir the Great, whose name will live for centuries. That is his singular goal. To be a great Russian Hero. Not money, not power. But history.

In my view, Trump sadly seems to want the same. At this stage, I am not yet sure, but as for Putin there is no doubt at all.

My friend went on to say: And see how fast all the big business fall in line with the King. Big tech taking the lead.

It’s every person for themselves. Nuclear proliferation will run. The PM of Poland is talking about the need for nukes.

Darker times are coming.

I am at “home” in Kyiv and with all the pain and trauma of the war, people here still laugh and live life. But of course nothing is normal.

I assume this Danish joke has Ukrainian fingerprints all over it, or at least, the inspiration comes from here. But what I don’t get is why does America need Greenland? Both Russia and America do not need Greenland to launch nuclear weapons at each other. And China is not going to try and annex Greenland, so what then is America on about?! The thing though that makes the least sense is this: Trump acts like Putin is his friend. Someone he can trust. So why then does America need Greenland in order to better protect itself from Russia? Something does not compute here.