Trump says military action may wait until after midterms in a Bloomberg report

Conley Says Putin Is Testing NATO Unity. The Starlink star shield question has been dominating the last few days. A U.S. official was telling Bloomberg this evening that it was not President Trump who gave the order to slow that service down, but Ukraine maintains that it was, and that they weren't given information needed to help defend itself against Russian missile and drone strikes over the weekend. So how can we how are we going to get to the bottom of this? Do you expect that we ever will? I'm not sure we will. And I think this is where Elon Musk is pointing to the government. This is a the military version of Starlink star shield. Um, and that, uh, those decisions are made by the government and then the government is not being transparent. Uh, I think in part, you know, both sides probably have to, um, be able to slow that, uh, information down. But it seems to me this this was the government, the white House sending a clear signal to President Zelensky that they wanted no further attacks on Russian refineries, which, of course, that just ended today. Well, uh, and yeah, President Trump has made that very clear. And now Zelensky is talking about President Trump as being a lost partner. Uh, that's the kind of language that he was using in an interview with Piers Morgan just yesterday. Heather, do you see the partnership as truly lost and what happens to Ukraine if it is lost completely? Yeah, I think we've definitely entered a new chapter here in this week. And it's the combination of the president's decision to purchase, purchase Russian diesel, uh, the slowing down of Starlink and the, you know, not, uh, giving the Ukrainians information of incoming Russian missiles. Um, and I think the fact that President Zelensky now is in a desperate situation, he does not have the air defenses. Right. And we've just seen just the intensification of these Russian showerhead drones, these jet powered drones. And, you know, no leader would would just sit idly by as they're continuing to be attacked. I mean, Ukraine did stand down for a couple of days and the three day cease fire, and they got whacked for it. So at some point they have to step forward and do something quite different. And I think the domestic politics here play a role. We have seen strong resolve from 22 members of Congress. You're seeing this in polling people. This is unpopular to buy Russian diesel to support Vladimir Putin's continued attack on Ukraine. So I think all of these factors are part of Zelensky's calculation. He has to be careful, though, because, you know, no one can substitute for that exquisite U.S. intelligence. And the Ukrainians do need that support. But to your point, on air defenses, there is a question of how much the intelligence is worth if you don't have the capability to act on it. A missile is incoming. You're told that you don't have a patriot to deal with the threat. How dire could the situation become very quickly for Ukraine without patriots? I think we're already there. I think we're in a dire situation ahead of winter, and the Russians are just completely attacking, uh, every element of Ukraine's economy. The electric grid, uh, their. Their minds are steel mines. I'm though quite concerned. Just a shift a little bit to the Black Sea. We've now had over the last 48 hours Russian drone attacks, uh, near or in NATO territorial waters of Bulgaria and Romania. Um, now, this is the Russians trying to cripple the Ukrainian economy, getting grain out, getting products out. Uh, but, uh, there's going to be a North Atlantic Council meeting, I think, in another day or so. This is now starting to get pretty close to NATO territory, which which increases the concern. But if you're Vladimir Putin sitting in the Kremlin, are you making a calculation that now may not be the time to try to expand it into a NATO territory, because then you have the question of article five, and you could draw the U.S. back in at a time when the U.S. seems to be pulling away. Why would Putin make that calculation? He sees opportunity. He sees where, uh, you know, the white House is leaning in purchasing Russian diesel, stopping, uh, you know, intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians. He has a window of opportunity to maximize pressure on the Ukrainians. He thinks he can cripple the Ukrainians now. And this has always been about, uh, you know, that NATO, about the West, about breaking the cohesion of the alliance. So while, uh, the focus obviously has been Ukraine, uh, you know, I think Putin sees advantage in, in taking this moment and there's a lack of clarity on U.S. support for NATO. We have a major European, uh, force posture review ongoing. Uh, the president has either is enthusiastic about NATO or very unenthusiastic, and there's uncertainty there as well. So Putin is probing testing. Can you break that unity? He certainly wants to break Ukraine, uh, in the next few weeks. Um, he's the Putin is facing a challenging economy. He's mobilizing, uh, military forces. He's losing 50,000 forces a month. According to the Ukrainians last month. So his costs are getting higher as well. I want to ask you, finally, before you leave us, Heather, about what's happening in the Middle East, because simultaneously, we are seeing in the Strait of Hormuz, it seems, increase attacks against commercial shipping. We saw the sinking of a cargo ship just yesterday. We also are seeing escalating hostilities between the Houthis and the Saudis, uh, including successful attacks against the main airport in Riyadh, which has shuttered it for the time being. In both instances, President Trump has suggested he's not willing to take further, uh, serious kinetic action until after the midterms. What do you expect happens there between now and November 3rd? With that in mind? Speaking of advantage, the Who see massive advantage right now and they're targeting not only of major Saudi, uh, economic vital areas the airports, Saudi Aramco, uh, the attack on, uh, the, uh, Yemeni prime minister's residence. That was because they were targeting Saudi. uh, uh, military depot, uh, um, the trainers and things for that. So this is going to continue. Um, and the sophistication of which these houses are striking and this is not the hoodies of 2014. Um, they are demonstrating a sophistication. And the Saudis just don't have a great answer for it by not doing anything for the last few weeks. What a clear message. Uh, about what, uh, a US Saudi defense relationship means. Uh, and in this echoes across all of our allies. When in need, will the US be there? And the white House is not coming to the aid of Saudi Arabia. Um, and I think this is going to really continue to put enormous strain on our relationships in the Middle East, and we're continuing to watch the threat picture in Iran as well. We're seeing, uh, certain military, uh, mobility and changes. And I even though the president said he will not strike before the midterm elections, we're seeing certainly a lot of intelligence and military movements to suggest that some options are still on the table.