"Energy sector took a hit as Brent futures fell 6.42% to $70.14 and WTI declined 6.64% to $66.95 on Thursday, with the sector losing about $150 billion in market value over 48 hours. Major oil companies suffered double-digit declines amid fears that Trump's tariffs could trigger a recession and crush demand. Clean energy stocks also fell sharply, with renewable ETFs dropping 8% and solar and wind firms losing billions. Following Trump's tariffs, OPEC and allies tripled a planned output hike for May. Oil prices might fall after an initial spike, flooding a saturated market as demand forecasts collapse....
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By Germán & Co, Karlstad, Sweden, 21 August 2025
Meloni, lo scudo dell’Europa...
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister, has become Europe’s unexpected Iron Lady—yet more complex than the original, tougher than Thatcher, and, in this moment, more unforgiving than history itself. Margaret Thatcher earned the title by defying Soviet pressure and domestic doubters. Meloni, with nothing but her authority and her will, has claimed it by defying Donald Trump. The scene was minor, almost trivial: a roll of the eyes, captured by the cameras in the White House on August 18, 2025. But that flicker of impatience, that involuntary gesture, revealed more than a thousand speeches. It was the look of a continent discovering that the United States is no longer its anchor, that its security cannot rest on the shoulders of a president who pauses at a NATO summit to call Vladimir Putin out of “respect.”
The eye-roll was not just sarcasm. It was prophecy. Behind those eyes lay fury at Trump’s conciliatory tone, disgust at his whispered boasts of a “deal” with Putin, and dread at his willingness to treat allies as props in a theatre designed for Moscow’s applause[1][2]. Later, she reportedly told aides that she felt disrespected, that Europe could not rely on “one man’s goodwill.” Her aides repeated the line in Rome: Europe, they insisted, must prepare for the worst. In her view, the United States should show “the same determination” on Ukraine as it does against Iran[3][4]. But her look said it all already: Europe had seen this movie before. The appeasement of the 1930s. The hesitations of Suez. The humiliations of Afghanistan. Now, once again, America’s reliability is in doubt.
So Meloni drew her line. Her demand is radical, almost reckless: a 24-hour commitment by allies to intervene militarily if Russia strikes again. Article 5 without NATO membership. A guarantee born not of Washington’s charity but of Europe’s necessity. She is not pleading. She is declaring. In that moment, she ceased to be merely Italy’s prime minister. She became the voice of a Europe that has tired of waiting, tired of illusions, tired of outsourcing its survival.
The eyes of Meloni rolled, but they also opened. They see the world as it is: Putin circling, Trump wavering, markets collapsing, allies divided. And in those eyes, Europe glimpsed itself—cornered, endangered, but not yet defeated.
Trump’s Broken Promise Trump, of course, had once promised to end the Ukraine war in twenty-four hours. He repeated the claim fifty-three times on the campaign trail[5]. At CPAC in March 2023 he declared: “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled… it will take me no longer than one day.”[6] By May of that year, he was telling CNN: “If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours… First, I’ll meet with Putin, I’ll meet with Zelensky… And within 24 hours that war will be settled.”[7]
Nearly two hundred days into his second term, Russia still controls roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory. Asked in April 2025 why his promise had not materialized, Trump told Time: “The war has been raging for three years. I just got here, and you say, what’s taken so long?”[8]
The answer was clear: reality had intruded. Rhetoric met geopolitics, and geopolitics won.
The Alaska Summit The most dramatic breakthrough came on August 15, 2025, when Trump met Putin for nearly three hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. This was Putin’s first visit to a Western country since the invasion of 2022—and the first Trump-Putin meeting as sitting presidents since 2019.
The optics were deliberately theatrical: red carpet ceremony, an F-22 flyover, and a podium emblazoned "ALASKA 2025" [9]. Putin arrived flanked by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, while Trump brought Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his billionaire envoy Steve Witkoff.
After three hours, there was no ceasefire, no peace plan. Trump insisted “many points were agreed to,” while Putin called it merely “a starting point”[10]. Yet the symbolism mattered: Putin had broken his diplomatic isolation. Analysts were unsparing: Brian Whitmore at the Atlantic Council called it “a tactical victory for Moscow”[11], while Steven Pifer at Brookings warned that Trump’s “greatest gift was time”[12].
The summit revealed much about Trump’s instincts: his love of spectacle, his desire for businesslike deals, his indifference to the diplomatic conventions that once defined Western unity. But it also revealed Europe’s growing alarm: the sense that the U.S. president was more eager to embrace Putin than to hold the line on Ukraine.
The White House Summit Three days later, on August 18, Trump staged an even larger tableau: Zelensky, alongside Europe’s leaders—Merz, Macron, Starmer, Meloni, and NATO’s Mark Rutte—all crowded into the East Room. It was the most ambitious multilateral gathering of Trump’s presidency.
And then, astonishingly, Trump paused the summit to place a 40-minute private call to Putin. He explained that calling Putin in front of the Europeans would have been “disrespectful”[13]. Macron overheard Trump whisper: “I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.”[14]
The breach was severe. Zelensky reportedly clashed with Trump, who privately called him a “dictator” over his refusal to consider territorial concessions[15]. Among those floated: gifting Crimea and four occupied regions to Russia in exchange for peace[16].
It was in this moment that Meloni pressed her 24-hour plan. While Trump indulged in psychology, she demanded guarantees. Her message was simple: Europe must be ready to fight.
Meloni’s Transformation To grasp the significance of this stance, one must recall Meloni’s path. Once the fiery leader of Italy’s post-fascist right, she had risen on nationalist rhetoric and skepticism of Brussels. But in the crucible of Ukraine, she has remade herself into something else: a hardline Atlanticist, even more militant than her centrist colleagues. For Merz, Ukraine is a German interest. For Macron, a test of European sovereignty. For Starmer, an obligation of Western unity. For Meloni, it is existential.
Her transformation reflects domestic pressures too. Italy’s economy remains fragile, its energy dependency acute, its public wary of prolonged conflict. Yet she has doubled down: insisting that without Ukraine, Europe itself is doomed. Her eye-roll at Trump was thus not mere theatre; it was the expression of a conviction forged in necessity. She knows her survival depends on being tougher than anyone else in the room. Tougher even than Thatcher.
Putin’s Inducements Here Putin revealed his real cunning. Through Trump’s special envoy Witkoff, he offered not only a “freeze” at current lines but also extraordinary inducements: rare earth contracts, billions in natural gas, a luxury Fabergé egg—and, most seductively, the promise of a Trump Kremlin Tower, a skyscraper in Moscow fueled by Russian gas[17][18].
Financial Times called it bait. The Kremlin called it “mutual opportunity.” It coincided with Trump’s weakest polling and a Supreme Court setback. The calculation was transparent: appeal to Trump the dealmaker, not Trump the statesman.
Meanwhile, Trump had already suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for 180 days, by executive order on February 10, 2025[19]. The path for such deals was legally cleared.
Intelligence veterans whisper of kompromat. Not salacious tapes, but financial entanglements, debts, networks of leverage built over decades. Trump himself, analysts note, often admits he is “impressed” and “scared” by Putin’s nuclear brinkmanship. Fear and admiration, the toxic blend that has shaped so many leaders’ missteps with Moscow, may well be at work again.
Markets in Turmoil Markets scan for signals. Within 48 hours, global energy lost $150 billion in value: Brent crude down 7%, ExxonMobil $22 billion, Chevron $18 billion, BP and Shell €25 billion combined[20]. Clean energy fared worse: ETFs down 8%, First Solar off $4 billion, Enphase $3 billion, Vestas and Ørsted together €6 billion[21]. Even tech collapsed: the “Magnificent Seven” erased $350 billion[22].
Public pensions were ravaged: U.S. teachers’, firefighters’, and police funds lost $9 billion; overall public systems $27 billion in two days[23]. The pension losses highlight a broader fragility: global capitalism is now tied to the fate of Ukraine. While Trump takes a call from Putin, teachers in Ohio lose their retirement savings. When Meloni rolls her eyes, markets tremble.
NATO and Alliances Trump demanded NATO states raise spending to 5% of GDP, nearly double current levels. Europeans balked but began planning. Starmer unveiled a “coalition of the willing” of sixteen nations to aid Ukraine regardless of Washington[24][25]. Macron warned NATO’s credibility itself was on trial[26]. Rutte privately admitted Trump’s choices “rearranged the chessboard”[27].
Germany’s Merz faced his own bind: between a public weary of war and an obligation to lead Europe’s strongest economy. Macron balanced between strategic autonomy and dependence on U.S. nuclear guarantees. Starmer pressed Britain’s military might, but without American lift capacity. And Meloni—Meloni declared: We must be ready in twenty-four hours.
Her stance is reckless, perhaps. But it is also clarifying. It strips away the illusions. No more promises of “peace in our time.” No more waiting for Washington. Europe must defend itself, or not at all.
Ukraine as Europe’s Wall At the core lies a question older than NATO: What is Ukraine? It is more than territory. It is Europe’s wall.
In Vienna 1683, the Polish King Jan Sobieski turned back the Ottomans at the gates[28]. Europe survived because the wall held. In Stalingrad 1942, the Soviet sacrifice broke Hitler’s eastern ambitions[29]. The wall was paid for in blood. In Berlin 1989, the wall collapsed, and with it the illusion that history had ended[30].
Now, in 2025, Ukraine is the wall once again. If it falls, the breach will not stop at Kharkiv or Kyiv. It will reach Warsaw, Berlin, and Rome. The stakes are civilizational.
Meloni sees it. That is why her eyes rolled—not in cynicism, but in recognition. Trump may think in deals. Putin in conquest. But she thinks in survival. Her 24-hour plan is reckless only if one believes time is still abundant. For her, for Europe, time has run out.
Conclusion: The Prophecy of the Eyes The eyes of Giorgia Meloni have become Europe’s prophecy. They saw the absurdity of Trump’s vanity, the seduction of Putin’s bait, the collapse of markets, the weakness of allies. And they saw the wall—Ukraine, battered, besieged, still standing.
The future hangs on that wall. Will it be Vienna again, the defense that saves a continent? Or Stalingrad, a sacrifice of millions? Or Berlin, a collapse that rewrites the map?
The sermon writes itself: if Ukraine holds, Europe holds. If Ukraine falls, Europe falls.
The wall is not abstract. It has a name. Its name is Ukraine. And for now, its eyes are Meloni’s.
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Endnotes Independent (UK), “Giorgia Meloni caught rolling her eyes at Trump during White House summit,” August 2025. Hot mic exchange reported in Le Monde and Politico Europe, August 19 2025. Kyiv Independent, “Meloni complains of being disrespected by Trump at White House,” August 2025. Kyiv Independent, “Meloni pushes 24-hour commitment mechanism for Ukraine,” July 2025. Washington Post, “Trump’s 24-hour promise: fact-checking the repetition,” 2024. CPAC speech transcript, March 4 2023, via C-SPAN. CNN Town Hall, May 10 2023. Time, Interview with Donald Trump, April 2025. New York Times, “Trump greets Putin in Alaska with red carpet and military pageantry,” August 16 2025. White House press transcript, Alaska Summit, August 15 2025. Brian Whitmore, Atlantic Council, “Alaska: Putin’s tactical victory,” August 2025. Steven Pifer, Brookings Institution commentary, August 17 2025. White House briefing, August 18 2025. Hot mic incident reported by Le Monde, August 18 2025. Politico, “Trump privately calls Zelensky ‘a dictator’ in tense White House exchange,” August 19 2025. Financial Times, “Crimea floated as bargaining chip in U.S.-Russia talks,” August 2025. Financial Times, “Trump Kremlin Tower: Moscow’s bait for Washington,” August 2025. Germán & Co. Energy Central, “TRUMP KREMLIN TOWER®,” April 25 2025. Federal Register, Executive Order 14099, February 10 2025. Bloomberg, “Energy sector loses $150 billion amid U.S.-Russia diplomatic turbulence,” August 19 2025. Reuters, “Clean energy ETFs plunge on geopolitical volatility,” August 20 2025. CNBC, “Tech sector sheds $350 billion as markets reel from White House summit,” August 19 2025. Wall Street Journal, “Pension funds lose $27 billion in two days of Ukraine war uncertainty,” August 21 2025. NATO Summit Brief, July 2025. BBC, “Starmer forms ‘coalition of the willing’ to aid Ukraine,” August 2025. Le Monde, “Macron warns NATO credibility is at stake,” August 2025. NRC Handelsblad, report on Rutte’s private remarks, August 2025. John Stoye, The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent (Yale University Press, 2000). Antony Beevor, Stalingrad (Penguin, 1999). Timothy Garton Ash, The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of ’89 (Random House, 1990).
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The Author Germán Toro Ghio is among the rare commentators able to traverse the frontiers between energy, politics, and culture. With an audience of more than a quarter of a million readers worldwide, he has become a reference point in the global energy debate. As an Expert in The Energy Collective and a contributor to Energy Central’s Power Perspectives™ series, he has distinguished himself by rendering legible the often opaque interplay of markets, geopolitics, and infrastructure. His career in the sector spans more than three decades, including leadership roles such as Corporate Vice-President of Communications for AES Dominicana, where he pioneered strategies for natural gas development and regional energy integration.
Yet Toro Ghio’s path extends far beyond kilowatts and contracts. Before entering the energy sector, he navigated the realms of literature, diplomacy, and cultural policy. He served as Executive Secretary of the Forum of Culture Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean; he co-authored Colombia en el Planeta with William Ospina and Beatriz Caballero of the La Candelaria Theater Group for the UNDP; he collaborated with the Nicaraguan poet-priest Ernesto Cardenal; and, with the encouragement of Octavio Paz, he revived Carlos Martínez Rivas’s La insurrección solitaria—restoring Central American poetry to its rightful place in the currents of twentieth-century literature.
As a writer, he has published works ranging from Nicaragua Year 5—a documentary testimony in images, catalogued by Lund University—to The Non Man’s Land and Other Tales. He has directed and overseen literary editions such as Joven arte dominicano, promoted by Casa de Teatro in Santo Domingo and distributed to universities across the world.
Chilean filmmaker and political scientist Juan Forch—an architect of Chile’s historic 1990 “NO” campaign, later dramatized in Pablo Larraín’s Oscar-nominated No—has written of Toro Ghio’s narratives that they “enrich our understanding of history beyond traditional battlefields and royal courts,” praising journeys that move effortlessly “from the discomfort of a Moscow hotel to the exhilaration of the Nicaraguan jungle.”
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