Everything that Trump does on an international level unpredictably moves within a triangle of narcissism, cynicism, and incompetence that could at any moment transform into the Bermuda Triangle. Or, with the strength of the United States behind him, it might actually produce a result. How long-lasting it will be, no one can predict, but Trump is interested in being able to proclaim a result, not in ensuring it is lasting. The sequence of recent meetings, first between Trump and Putin in Alaska, then with Zelensky and the "willing" Europeans in Washington, provides us with two clues. The first is that Trump, by framing the negotiations in a favorable direction to Putin's demands on certain key points, has effectively restricted Zelensky and the Europeans' room for maneuver. This, perhaps rather hastily, led many observers, and obviously the Russian media, to proclaim Putin's victory. The second, however, is that it is objectively difficult for Trump to ignore the position of the Europeans, and especially of Zelensky. Under these conditions, today it would be foolhardy to make predictions about the final outcome. At the present moment, the prospects of negotiations leading to an end to hostilities seem rather remote.

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