The Braggart and the Tsar: Autopsy of a Foretold Shipwreck The image is cruel, but it suams it all up: a 200,000-ton battleship stuck in New York Bay, vainly trying to salute Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, inaccessible to warships. This is exactly what happened in Anchorage. Donald Trump arrived with his own mental geography—that of « deals » and gold lettering—only to crash against the bloody topography of « Total War » imposed by Vladimir Putin. The American commercial approach carried little weight against the Kremlin’s ideological nihilism, which prioritizes permanent conflict over stability. The collision between these two worlds could only be fatal. On one side, the promoter’s hubris described by Laure Mandeville, believing History can be bought like a golf course. On the other, the logic of annihilation dissected by Françoise Thom, where peace is merely a ruse of war. Why did the « Sheriff » not see it coming? Because he was too busy admiring his own reflection in the icy waters of Alaska, while the Tsar was loading his gun. The result of this negotiation without diplomats pits a Donald Trump, more narcissistic than ever and treating geopolitics like a simple real estate transaction, against a Vladimir Putin exploiting this vanity to serve his « Total War » strategy. A deceptive staging that testifies to the collapse of Western influence. An analysis that takes stock of a fool’s bargain where territorial concessions achieved only one thing: strengthening the Russian war machine. 2025 was the year of theater and illusions. 2026 will be the year of the reckoning. Behind the facade of smiles, the scenery is crashing down on us.