There were quite a lot of what Donald Trump might describe as "bad things" taking place in Washington over the past week, to include the worsening of relations with China shortly after what appeared to be an agreement had been reached over tariffs; the arrival at an apparent impasse in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program; and friction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over possible initiatives relating to the genocide that is continuing in Gaza.

The pointless break with China, tweeted by Trump as follows: "The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!" will have potentially major consequences for the US economy. However, perhaps the most lethal cross-talking of the past week relates to Russia and Ukraine, where the demands by President Donald Trump to initiate a ceasefire have been met by a Russian reiteration of its redline national security imperatives to include no Ukrainian entry into NATO, acceptance that Crimea is part of Russia, and either autonomy or incorporation into Russia of the Russian ethnic oblasts in the eastern part of Ukraine.

This has led to a considerable cooling in the bilateral relationship between Moscow and Washington and it also suggests that Trump's apparent desire to disengage from Ukraine has now taken on a Neoconnish tone with the United States presuming that it must be the accepted hegemon which by rights should be calling the shots on what might come next. And Trump is not above issuing ill-advised new personal threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin whom he described as "absolutely crazy," as well as a warning that even stronger Treasury Department sanctions targeting Russia are being considered. He angrily tweeted "What Vladimir Putin does not realize is that, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!" Trump's son Donald Jr also threw into the mix a bit of Memorial Day context that well illustrates the vacuousness of the foreign policy thinking in the White House. Trump Jr, who apparently is being considered by some a possible candidate to succeed his father, tweeted on Trump Sr's inane observation with his own take on the situation: "As we drove past the rows of white grave markers [at Arlington Cemetery], in the gravity of the moment…I also thought of…all the sacrifices we'd have to make—giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals."

I don't recall that either Trump ever put himself in harm's way by serving in the US military. So much for sacrifices. Unfortunately, the clueless President Trump is also being backed up by some Europeans who, for reasons that are largely incomprehensible, seem to want to go to war with Russia. Germany has recently decided share their military technology to help Ukraine develop and build long range missiles that some believe might have to be initially operated and targeted by German military personnel, which Putin has said will be considered an act of war on the part of Berlin. He has suggested that he would respond to any attack on or near Moscow using those missiles fired from Ukraine with a counter-strike on the German capital. Some observers are warning that World War 3 could be a result of that kind of tit-for-tat.