Trump's unpredictability is his strongest card

Being unpredictable as the leader of the United States of America isn't necessarily a bad thing in terms of America's biggest adversaries. Keep them - ie Russia, China, Iran and North Korea - on their toes, not knowing from one day to another what Donald Trump might decide to do. But it must be intensely annoying for America's allies who, above all, want to know they can trust the US to give its backing in a security crisis. In the latest case, the US has suddenly announced it is suspending some key arms to Ukraine to make sure it has enough weaponry in its own stocks. Zelensky has been pleading for weeks that the arms from the West have to keep on being delivered or else his country's towns and cities will suffer. But the truth is, Europe as well as the US, has the same problem. So much has been handed over to Kyiv in the last three yers to help the Ukrainian military defend against Russian invasion forces that stocks everywhere will be running short. The war in Ukraine needs to come to an end to allow Europe and the US to restock. It will be in Putin's interest of course for the war to carry on. He will be pleased by the announcement from the Pentagon that deliveries of Patriot missiles, vital for air defence over Ukranian cities, is being suspended. But Trump being the unpredictable president he is, may have something up his sleeve to surprise Putin. One can only hope so.