As this podcast was recorded, European heads of state were holding an emergency summit in Paris having been blindsided by President Trump’s apparent willingness to enter negotiations with Putin about the future of Ukraine without President Zelensky.

The US has indicated that any military assistance it does give to Kyiv will be dependent on access to its mineral deposits, but Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ruled out the country’s NATO membership,

Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK is willing to commit troops to a peace keeping force if a settlement can be reached, but there’s a bigger picture at play here…the reshaping of the world in accordance with the dictates of MAGA.

Trump and his accomplices see a world in which major powers operate spheres of influence – so that the Americas belong to the US and Eastern Europe is Russia’s...the people of Taiwan must be feeling very twitchy right now.

As for Europe, the President has made it clear that we’ll have to make a far greater contribution to our defence – at the same time as hobbling our economy with tariffs. 

When it comes to freedom, is seems that America is no longer the Great Protector. Instead it’s the Great Protectionist. 

Adrian Goldberg gets a view from Byline Times reporter Zarina Zabrisky in Odesa.

Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.

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