Putin has given Trump a big dilemma over Ukraine

Donald Trump is used to getting everything his own way. That's how he does business. If he wants a deal, he gets a deal. But Vladimir Putin is screwing him over. Everything coming out of the Kremlin right now, whether it's in Putin's words or in the doleful voice of Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, the focus is on slowing everything down. Slow, slow, no quick, no quick, slow. Lavrov says if there is to be a meeting between Putin and President Zelensky there has to be a long process, step by step, with officials doing all the groundwork and then building up to a potential formula for more meetings etc etc. Actually, this is how summits are normally planned to be fair. But we have Trump in the White House and he wants instant drama and instant decisions and instant ends of crises. Moscow, and certainly Lavrow, the old, old timer, doesn't like to do business that way. Nyet, nyet, nyet. So, all the excitement and enthusiasm generated by Trump's meeting with Putin Anchorage has now ground down to the minutiae of summit planning which means that if there is ever a session between Putin and Zelensky, it won't be for months and months. Even if both sides agree in principal there will be long arguments about where it should take place. I see Politico is claiming Trump administration sources are putting Budapest forward, and Switzerland has offered a venue, promising not to arrest Putin for war crimes. A nice touch, that. Putin says it should be Moscow, but Zelensky will never set foot in Moscow. So, that's a no, no. You see what I mean? This coud all take a long time. Meanwhile, the war and the killing and the destruction and the kidnaps of Ukrainian children will go on. Trump is going to get more and more frustrated and angry and then it will all burst into a right old mess. But Putin won't care because, basically, he just wants to carry on trying to subjugate Ukraine. All this Trump charm offensive is so much blather.