Putin says he is happy to talk to Trump

Vladimir Putin doesn't want Donald Trump to be pissed off with him. If Joe Biden had been pissed off with him he wouldn't have bothered get out of bed. But with Trump it's different. This is because Putin realises it's better to keep on the friendly side with Trump to stop shimhim going ahead with his threat to impose massively tough tariffs on Russia, including heavy penalties on any country that buys Russian oil and gas. This really could harm Russia's economny and screw over Putin's plan to carry on fighting Ukraine. Whatever Putin says about agreeing a ceasefire or whatever, what he really wants to do is continue bombing Ukraine until there is nothing left to bomb. A bit like what the Israelis are doing to Gaza, except, of course, Gaza is tiny and Ukraine is huge. But if Trump is genuinely angry with him, then Putin will be in a tricky position. So he has let it be known through his Kremlin spokesman that he would be happy to get a call from Trump. They haven't spoken for a bit. This is the first sign of Putin backing down, or at least taking a softer line. He wants Trump to carry on with his deal-making even if he really doesn't want any sort of deal with Zelensky. What he needs is for the negotiations in Saudi Arabia to carry on because it then looks as if Moscow is playing ball, even if it's all a scam. So, expect a call between Trump and Putin in the next few weeks so that a smiling Putin can tell the world that Trump is not pissed off with him after all but is his jolly good friend.