... How the sausage is made..

[ironglow]

The new administration, adhering to their promise of transparency, shows us "how the sausage is made".  Here, we get a in place view of how
  diplomacy is carried out.

  A rare opportunity, I cannot recall a time when the public has been allowed to witness just how diplomatic give and take works..

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9gy9wr7Ucw

[Bob Riebe]

In this Pres. Trump shows how naive he can be, and his Vice Pres. does not help.
Trump wants to stop the war but , I believe, has zero insight of how nasty a war truly is for those directly involved in it.

He is treating this like a business deal which it is not. For him to want some one to say thank-you is childish, at best.
Zelensky is not much  better than Putin, but Trump is giving The Ukraine weapons, but is naive on what having his country destroyed is like to those who are being destroyed.

It IS good this is being shown , for all sides.

[ironglow]

In this Pres. Trump shows how naive he can be, and his Vice Pres. does not help.
Trump wants to stop the war but , I believe, has zero insight of how nasty a war truly is for those directly involved in it.

He is treating this like a business deal which it is not. For him to want some one to say thank-you is childish, at best.
Zelensky is not much  better than Putin, but Trump is giving The Ukraine weapons, but is naive on what having his country destroyed is like to those who are being destroyed.

It IS good this is being shown , for all sides.

  I don't see it that way.  First...there must be a ceasefire, stop the killing..then work toward a lasting peace.

  ..Never thouight I would hear anyone claimk Trump to be naive, and never thought I would hear anyone say Trump doesn't know how to make a deal.

  The dealing is not over yet, and he wrote the book on making deals.

[wtxbadger]

First I don't care who the foreign leader is, you don't go to another country where they have given you over 350 billion in aid, negotiated a deal that actually directly involves that country in ending a war by giving pause to an aggressor nation and then in a public venue insult the country that is helping you and demand even more is ludicrous and beyond the pale.

That discussion should have been handled in the backroom prior to the intended signing of the agreement. Trying to bully and cajole the President of our country by publicly throwing a tantrum doesn't cut it. Trump is solely focused on ending the conflict before it escalates even more with other European countries inserting themselves into it and the USA getting involved in WW3.

I don't give a darn about emotional reactions, if you're the leader then no matter the situation those emotions have to be set aside and dealing with the problem takes precedence. That's why you are there to begin with, to give/provide leadership and set aside personal emotions.

And yes, I fully expect the leader of a country we have helped to that extreme to express their appreciation. That is not childish or unreasonable.

Of course that's just my opinion and others will disagree and that's just fine. Figure we all have a right to our own thoughts and opinions.

[ironglow]

  Personally I believe Pres Trump handled a difficult situation very well.  Keep in mind, the negotiations are not over.

  While I do not play cards, least of all poker, I can see some elements of such a gaming present...and at this point it is plain
  that the game has just started.

  I see it this way;

  Thinking strategically, the President Zelenskyy holds no aces..  As President Trump said, while the warriors of the Ukraine are very good
  fighters..logistics are against trhem.  Russia can slowly grind out a painful victory over several years. 

  However, though they won't admit it, each leader is looking for a graceful an dnon-consequential way out of this  conundrum.

  ..And here is President Trump's advantage , both Putin and Zelenskyy must go home and tell their people that they have not accomplished a cease
   fire and not stopped the killing of their people.

  Both Russians and Ukranians will want answers. Once the pressure builds..they will be back to talk.

[Bob Riebe]

Even after the meeting Zelensky would not apologize for his attitude, to me, what we have two people with a similare personality Pres. Trump and Pres. Zelensky.
Neither man wants to give in to the other man's side, but in this case Zelensky has the most to lose and should have said - I am sorry for my attitude in the meeting, now we can work it out.

The first thing Zelensly should have said in the meeting was thanking the U.S. for all their help.

This whole war started in 2014, when Russia did not follow the treaty, but the parts of The Ukraine this is about, the people there wanted to be part of Russia and the former Ukraine leader would not agree so a gurilla war started in the Donbas.

[magooch]

Putin and Russia are going to be trouble as long as they exist.  Even after Putin is gone, there will be another dick tater to take his place.  But just the same, Putin needs to be taken out.  Where's a good assassin when the world needs one?  However, there's always China, North Korea, Iran, and on and on.

[Mule 11]

Putin is a nationalist and will not bend to the NWO or globalist crap that includes gay is ok crap which is another method of control. This subject has been beat to death and I’m tired of beating a somewhat dead horse. I am not a Putin lover nor a Putin hater as I can look a lot closer to home for my own sources of anger and am much more concerned with Americas problems then Europeans problems.
    Russia is a line in the sand against world control and our line has been wavering for a while now… My Opinion and quite sure some other’s  also.