The New Cold Shoulder

Violence ain't just about tanks crashing borders these days—it's more like yanking the plug on a country's spot in the global game, cutting off their lifeline.

Think back to isolated figures like Castro or Kim Jong-un getting squeezed, and then it hit hard with Putin's Russia.

Now, the newest twist is this slick tariff war, where Donald Trump talks up freedom but slams the door on whole economies with a stroke of his pen. That's government control cranked up, not the free world he sells.

On Friday, August 15, Trump will attempt to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war. You can bet another round of tariffs, sanctions, and squeezes is brewing, but this time aimed square at Ukraine.

Friday, August 15, in Alaska, where the Bering Strait’s icy waters whisper old Russian-American deals, Donald Trump will sit across from Vladimir Putin, the guy who’s been playing chess with tanks in Ukraine for years. They’ll be hashing out a “peace deal” to end the Ukraine war–carving up the map like it’s 1867 and Alaska’s up for grabs again. This summit is being sold as a breakthrough to stop a war that’s killed tens of thousands and jacked up Europe’s energy bills. But let’s cut the crap: Whether Volodymyr Zelensky sits at the table, or dials in via Zoom, this meeting is meant to “deplatform” Zelensky and Ukraine, ghosting them from a “new world order” with the same sneaky economic violence that Trump used to deplatform Brazil, Switzerland, and China.

Violence ain’t just tanks crashing borders anymore—it’s yanking a country’s plug from the global game, cutting their lifeline. Think Castro’s Cuba, Kim Jong-un’s North Korea, or Putin’s Russia getting squeezed. Now, Zelensky’s staring down the barrel of the same fate. The Alaska talks are pushing a ceasefire that freezes front lines, letting Russia keep about 20% of Ukraine—Crimea, Donbas, and that southern land bridge—while demanding Kyiv’s neutrality and no NATO membership.

Ukraine risks being sidelined—economically, militarily, diplomatically—from a world order redrawn. This is deplatforming, 21st-century style: not just bombs, but starving a nation of aid, trade, or relevance. Trump’s transactional “America-First” shtick and Putin’s revanchist land grab could see Ukraine hit with aid cuts, tariffs on its grain and steel, or even exclusion from Western banking systems like SWIFT. It’s the same playbook used on Russia, Cuba, or Belarus, but now it’s Zelensky facing the chop. If he resists this deal, he might get shadow-banned, left to stew in a “frozen conflict” like Donbas pre-2022. Worse, it could backfire, radicalizing Ukrainian nationalism and pushing Kyiv toward dodgy allies, just as sanctions made Putin cozy up to BRICS.

Zelensky, the comedian-turned-wartime icon, rallied the West with his “I need ammunition, not a ride” defiance. But now, with war fatigue hitting hard—Ukraine’s GDP down 30%, draft ages dropping, and corruption scandals rising—his 90% approval from 2022 is down to 60%. The Alaska summit could be Zelensky’s breaking point, especially if Trump pulls the plug on aid to force a deal. But it’s not just Zelensky at risk—Europe’s unity could crack if Eastern states like Poland balk at a deal that sells out Ukraine.

This isn’t new. Empires used to clash with swords; now it’s about who gets to play in the global sandbox. Tech makes old-school violence too pricey, so states switch to deplatforming—ghosting entire countries from trade networks. Europe’s got scars from Napoleon’s blockades that starved folks more than they hurt the enemy. Fast forward to July 18, 2025, and, designed to starve Putin’s war chest, the EU’s 18th sanction package on Russia’s energy and finance has barely dented Russia’s economy while doubling Europe’s gas prices, making winters tougher for grannies in Berlin.

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Remember when the US slapped an embargo on Castro's Cuba back in the '60s? It tanked their economy, halving GDP per head, but Fidel just dug in deeper, turning hardship into a rally cry. Same story with Kim Jong-un—sanctions shave off chunks of North Korea's growth yearly, yet the regime's like a cockroach, surviving on black markets and sheer stubbornness.

Over here in Europe, we've dabbled too, like our hits on Belarus for cracking down on protests, which spiked food prices across the board. In the end, what these cronies in Brussels and Washington are doing is punishing the little guy for their foul Bingo cards. Coercion like this twists social evolution, breeding more resentment than reform. Yeah, defenders say it's moral high ground, curbing nukes or whatever, but studies shout back: it often backfires, making autocrats stronger at home while we foot the bill abroad.

Sure, Russia’s economy is feeling the sting, with their GDP down a bit in Quarter 1 of this year. But really? We pay double for energy to slap Putin on the wrist with a 0.8% GDP slowdown? That’s classic, inefficient intervention chaos, leading to shortages and waste. We’re footing a bill to end a war which can’t be ended because Putin just pivots to shadow fleets and his BRICS buddies. Long-term? It's breeding a multipolar mess, where Europe's unity frays as Eastern states grumble about the costs.

Now, Trump is swinging tariffs like a golf club. Forget the “freedom” noise—it’s just taxes in disguise, propping up a debt-ridden America bloated by years of fake growth and Fed-printed cash. His Alaska deal, pushing “land swaps,” could slap tariffs on Ukrainian exports, inflating global prices and stunting Kyiv’s recovery. It’s the same deplatforming game Europe plays with Putin, posturing with little effect. Trump’s not a hero; he’s exporting America’s economic mess, and Zelensky’s in the crosshairs. Europe should dodge this tit-for-tat trap, or we’ll all lose in this shrinking economic pie.

Economically speaking, this whole deplatforming nonsense—whether it's sanctions or tariffs—has never actually worked out for anyone involved. Sanctions on Russia dragged European economic growth down to well under 1%. Talk about scoring an own goal. And Trump's tariffs? They're piling on to US inflation, rippling out globally through snarled supply chains and higher costs for everyone. These aren't clever strategies; they're just artificial barriers cooked up by politicians, redirecting money from efficient winners in the market to propped-up losers.

Excluding countries from global trade with the stroke of a pen only breeds deep-seated grudges, much like how the post-Russia-sanctions era has widened the East-West divide in Europe, fracturing old alliances and stoking resentment. What used to thrive under voluntary cooperation and free-flowing trade now shatters communities into bitter fragments. The deplatformed parties stew in their fury, societies splinter, and all that toxicity just shifts from one nation to another, eroding the global connections we've built over decades. In the end, it's a negative-sum game where nobody wins, and everyone pays the price.