President Trump gave Putin two weeks to end the war in Ukraine.
Then another two.
Then two more.
Then he forgot he ever gave them — and turned back to Iran.

What’s the paradox?

The paradox is that both scenarios start the same but end in opposite directions.
The formula is familiar: “last warning,” “a window for diplomacy,” “no impunity.”
But in one case, missiles fly. In the other — only calendar delays that change nothing.

Why?

Because Iran is a stranger on the global stage.
It holds no assets in Washington, owns no real estate in Miami, has no friends among Western investors or think tanks. Iran feeds no one.
You can punish it — without losses.
It is cruelty without consequence.
No donor screams, no asset shakes.
Iran is geopolitically disposable.

But Russia?
Russia is a bastard too — but a familiar one.

And no, not because it has the “second-largest army” or a nuclear arsenal.
The issue is not fear.
It’s function.

Russia is a structurally embedded villain. It is needed.
Not because it is strong, but because it is convenient.

Putin is not just a dictator.
He’s a global character actor, whose role is to represent threat.
Fear of Russia is an essential building block of Western foreign policy:
It justifies sanctions,
expands NATO,
inflates defense budgets,
and underwrites treaties.
It is fear that sells.

So the U.S. isn’t in a rush to remove him.
Because if the villain disappears — so does the market of fear.
And who will the West “protect” us from then?

Putin is the bad guy everyone finds useful.
You can scold him in speeches — it’s costless.
But eliminate him? That would ruin the plot.
He gets “two more weeks.” Then again. And again.
Meanwhile, his missiles fly toward Kyiv — and no one fires back.

Iran gets hit — because it’s safe to hit.

Moscow doesn’t — not because it’s dangerous.
But because it’s dangerous to lose it.

If the Kremlin falls, so does the entire narrative in which America plays the savior restraining evil.
The Cold War gave us the Soviet threat.
Post-Cold War gave us the Putin archetype.
Remove him — and what remains? Multilateral confusion.

That’s why the war in Ukraine isn’t a war for freedom.

It’s a war for interest.
A war where the U.S. defends not principles — but the architecture of its global leverage.

And that’s why the response is not symmetrical.

Let’s be clear:

• Iran breaks the rules — because it exists outside the system.
• Russia breaks the rules — because it strengthens the system.

Iran is a loose cannon.
Russia is stage noise — creating the atmosphere for political performance.

So long as that useful bastard sits in the Kremlin,
the system can sell fear,
sell protection,
sell the very idea of threat.

And Ukraine?

Ukraine is not the point.
It’s a bargaining chip in a much larger poker game over who gets to monopolize fear.

And principles?

Principles are the first thing sold before any major deal is signed.