How do you know a former KGB agent is "tapping you along?” That’s easy. Just pay attention and don’t pretend they aren’t.
It took barely 48 hours for the Kremlin to answer Donald Trump’s recent threat to dial up sanctions unless Russia accepts his deal to stop the war in Ukraine. First came a dose of Dirty Harry-style "make my day,” as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed two U.S. peace proposals. Then came a tease, in the form of another miniceasefire offer, to muddy the waters.
Trump had given his warning right after a Vatican sitdown with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It also followed a week in which Russia had intensified air strikes on Ukraine’s cities, as well as its ground offensive in the east — despite being granted the majority of its demands as the U.S. all but begged the Kremlin for a deal to stop the war. Even Trump wondered out loud if the Russians aren’t "tapping me along.”
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