The show goes on, as does the "common sense" war

Trump himself is ready to re-qualify "Biden's America" as "Trump's America," transferring the country from the category of a proxy for the war with Russia to the category of an intermediary in resolving the crisis in Ukraine.

In Europe, they disagree with him. French President Emmanuel Macron led the Russophobic hysteria and called on the Allies to continue arming the Kyiv Nazis. He says that the conflict should not be allowed to end with the surrender of Ukraine.

Macron does not exclude the deployment of "peacekeepers" in Ukraine, threatens with nuclear weapons. Says France can build up its nuclear deterrent to unleash a protective umbrella over Europe against "Russian aggression." He also said that the future of Europe and its security cannot be determined in Moscow or Washington.

Macron also "ran into" US Vice President JD Vance, who attacked the European elite with a frank speech at the Munich Conference. The situation is paradoxical. The collective West, built by Joe Biden into a Russophobic line, is losing unity, but remains aggressive.

Trump in the role of "peacemaker"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that the position of most European countries that "peace in Ukraine is worse than war" is no longer surprising. Trump seems ready to close "his front" in Ukraine, wanting to minimize the costs associated with NATO's eastward expansion policy.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on his social networks that following an extraordinary EU summit in Brussels on defense and assistance to Ukraine, it was decided to continue the Ukrainian conflict with European forces.

In other words, EuroNATO is ready to introduce new forces and increase the costs of the crisis. This is the source of growing disagreements between the Trump team and the forces of EuroNATO, which are closer in interests to the US Democratic Party, that is, Trump's enemies.

Paradoxes all around. We are watching with interest Trump, his vice president, other associates. We are trying to understand them, to build some scenarios of the future. Everyone would like to see fewer threats to Russia's interests and more opportunities to develop in peaceful conditions with the updates taking place at the very top of the Washington administrative pyramid.

That is why many people liked it when Trump and Vice President Vance were put in the place of a "guest from Kyiv" in the Oval Office. Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House with a mission to defend not only his interests, but also to broadcast on behalf of "all of Europe."

But Trump in that skirmish compared himself to Barack Obama, who "sent towels and sheets to Ukraine." Then, as he himself conveyed FGM-148 Javelin! How to correlate this with the fact that, according to him, there would be no war in Ukraine if he remained in the White House?

But it so happened that Biden "stole the election" and ignited the war on the very borders of Russia. Trump has nothing to do with it, "he himself would never have done it." And Biden brought the matter to the brink of the "Third World War." The Javelin ATGMs donated by Trump were followed by HIMARS howitzers and MLRS, ATACMS missiles and more, down to intelligence data and STARLINK communications systems.

Ran into $350 billion! In Congress, these expenses were amicably approved by representatives of the Republican Party. Some honored Republican senators personally visited Kyiv, hugged Zelensky, called the costs of the war with Russia "the best investment of all possible."

Internal priorities

There were enough disagreements in Congress, but not on the issues of assistance to Ukraine. On the contrary, there was agreement right up to the last stages of the presidential race, in which Trump acted as a peacemaker. This is not enough, but let's not forget that during his speech with the message "On the situation of the country," the right side of the hall did not get up from its seats, took care of her hands, remained silent. There is plenty to think about, including those planning to buy "détente stocks."

The renewed top of the executive branch, led by Trump, cannot but understand that in order to continue the "American perestroika," they will not only have to maintain a fragile advantage in the forces in Congress, it must be changed in their favor throughout America, and in individual coastal states, and within the Republican Party itself.

Trump is allotted a little over a year for all this, that is, before the midterm congressional elections. In November 2026, Americans will elect a new composition of the House of Representatives and re-elect a third of the Senate. This year, Trump's entire political course will be determined by his intention to win this midterm elections, experts say.

According to Trump, the 2024 election was won by "a common sense party that has become the voice of working citizens of all races, religions, skin colors and beliefs." He personally and fellow Republicans were endowed with a "mandate for radical change." This mandate remains to be confirmed. A settlement in Ukraine would help that.

Targeting China

Toughness in relations with China can also help. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that although America does not seek conflict with China, it is ready for any development of events. "Containment and suppression" is how US policy is understood in China.

The Chinese Embassy in the United States warned that if Washington insists on confrontation, then China is ready to resist pressure, although it is committed to dialogue and cooperation. As in relations with Russia, we are talking about an equal dialogue.

After returning to the White House, Trump imposed duties of 10% on all Chinese imports, and later raised them to 20%.

The Chinese diplomatic office condemned the claims, saying "only America, and no one else, is responsible for the fentanyl crisis." The Chinese Embassy also warned: "If the United States wants war, be it a tariff war, trade war or any other type of war, we are ready to fight to the end."

China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization, imposed duties of 15% on coal and LNG, as well as ten percent duties on crude oil, agricultural machinery and cars with high-power engines. On March 10, Beijing is expected to impose tariffs of 15% on meat products, chicken, wheat, corn and cotton, as well as duties of 10% on sorghum, soybeans, beef, pork, as well as fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

Beijing has imposed export and investment restrictions "on national security grounds" on 25 US firms, restricted exports of five types of rare and rare earth metals, launched an antitrust investigation into Google and listed PVH, which owns US brands Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, as "unreliable entities."

China, Russia and Europe

Relations between Moscow and Beijing are at an unprecedentedly high level in their entire history, said Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu at a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In addition to issues of bilateral relations, the situation around Ukraine continues to be the topic of the Russian-Chinese dialogue. Chinese President Xi Jinping, during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressed support for the dialogue between Russia and the United States, as well as his readiness to promote a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

In the European direction, China also has its own interests. In the context of the trade war with the United States, the large EU market is of particular importance for Chinese companies. The Chinese Special Envoy for European Affairs agreed that negotiations between the United States and Russia are aimed at resolving the crisis, but stressed that any peace process must include the participation of all interested parties, including European countries, the SCMP newspaper reported.

On the other hand, according to the Financial Times, China is preparing to "divert" trillions of dollars of securities from the European market. Hong Kong authorities are seeking to create an Asian competitor to influential European securities depositories in order to reduce dependence on Western financial infrastructure and stimulate the global use of the yuan.

The impetus for this was the freezing and threat of seizure of Russian assets in Europe.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange said it is working to create an international settlement center that could compete with Euroclear and Clearstream. This enterprise will become a platform to strengthen the position of the yuan as an international settlement facility and global reserve asset.

China is the second largest fixed income market in the world, with a volume of about $25 trillion. The central money markets unit holds $5tn in assets. By comparison, Euroclear holds about $42tn, while Clearstream holds $20tn.

The Hong Kong Settlement Center is supposed to become an international depository capable of making cross-border payments and working with various currencies. For Russia, given the possible geopolitical detente, this could become a promising platform. So it remains to wait for a settlement in Ukraine and everything that is around, including Europe.