Zelenski Tries To Make Nice With Trump
As a consequence of Friday's Oval Office Shouting Match President Trump has halted military aid to Ukraine.
Just hours later the (former) President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenski agreed to submit to Trump's wishes:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa - 15:37 UTC · Mar 4, 2025 ·I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace.
None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.
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Zelenski acknowledges Trump's primacy in their relation.
Zelenski then introduces a 'new' idea into the 'ceasefire' talks:
We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same. Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.
This is an attempt to delay further steps.
It is also a revamp of the 'truce in the sky' idea President Macron had introduced into the discussion during the last weekend:
In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, he proposed a four-week truce "in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure". It would not cover ground fighting along the front line in the east.
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In a separate interview, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said: "Such a truce on air, sea and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce. And that's when real peace negotiations could start."
Britain however had immediately rejected the motion.
Macron's idea was not new at all. There have been several agreements between Russia and Ukraine to stop large range attacks against each others infrastructure. It was Ukraine which had blocked or violated (archived) these agreements each and every time.
As FT reported in late October:
Ukraine and Russia are in preliminary discussions about halting strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter.Kyiv was seeking to resume Qatar-mediated negotiations that came close to agreement in August before being derailed by Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk, said the people, who included senior Ukrainian officials.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month that a deal to protect energy facilities could signal a Russian willingness to engage in broader peace talks.
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Both Kyiv and Moscow have previously accepted that stopping attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and Russia’s oil refining capacity was in their mutual interest.
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Ukraine nevertheless plans to keep striking targets, including oil refineries, to pressure Russia into the talks, according to the senior Ukrainian official.
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Four Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times that Kyiv and Moscow had come to a “tacit agreement” last autumn to not strike each other’s energy facilities.As a result, Russia that winter refrained from the type of large-scale attacks it had conducted on Ukraine’s power infrastructure in 2022-23, according to two Ukrainian officials and a person in Washington with knowledge of the situation.
That agreement was meant to pave the way towards a formal deal, the people said.
However, Kyiv restarted drone attacks on Russia’s oil facilities in February and March this year, as it sought to increase pressure on Moscow after its failed 2023 counteroffensive.
Ukraine did not honor the 'truce' agreement that was in place during the 2023/24 winter. It blew up the August 2024 agreement mediated by Qatar by attacking Russia's Kursk region. The negotiations in October went nowhere as Ukraine insisted to continue its (already failing) Kursk campaign.
At the beginning of this year Ukraine stopped all gas transit from Russia to Slovakia and Austria. Russia countered by striking Ukrainian gas production facilities which it had previously left unharmed (machine translation):
Ukraine lost 40% of its gas production after Russian missile strikes. This is reported by Reuters with reference to sources.Because of this, Kiev plans to import up to 800 million cubic meters of gas from Europe in February and March.
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After a full-scale invasion in 2022 Russia has already launched numerous missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's electricity sector, but in recent weeks it has stepped up attacks on gas fields.
As Ukraine has already broken several 'truce' agreements about attacks on infrastructure it is doubtful that Russia will agree to another one.
While Zelenski, with his tweet is trying to make nice with Trump he fails to issue an apology for his behavior in the Oval Office. To him this was only 'regrettable':
Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.
Zelenski agrees to the 'mineral deal' but inserts language that implies the agreement is a step towards 'security guarantees' which Trump had rejected explicitly:
Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.
The White House is likely to reject Zelenski's attempt to make nice with Trump. It will want to 'cook' him a bit longer.
If only to demonstrate to Europeans and other recalcitrant figures that any resistance to Trump is futile.
Posted by b on March 4, 2025 at 17:51 UTC | Permalink
next page »Zelensky, in claiming to agree to work "under" Trump, inserts a slew of ideas attempting to place himself on equal footing. he should shut up and resign.
Posted by: annie | Mar 4 2025 18:02 utc | 2
Too little too late. Trump wanted out; Z gave him the excuse.
From what I understand, the latest tranche of weapons was turned back en route.
I read yesterday that Israel"s new weapons won't start delivery until next year.
My fear is the returning weapons will go to Israel to continue the slaughter.
Posted by: Mary | Mar 4 2025 18:03 utc | 3
There appears to be a red line in failed attempts to end the conflict in the past: GREAT BRITAIN was involved. Boris Johnson in April 2022, the UK supplying and likely steering "Ukrainian sea drones" that devastated the Russian navy in Sevastopol, British string pullers and special forces supporting or even orchestrating the Kursk invasion. Probably more that haven't seen the daylight yet. Not to forget the media campaign, with British sources spreading fake rumors about Russia's losses, Putin's health, Russia running out of weapons. And the Skripal saga before the war.
And yet, for some reason UK prime minister Starmer is propped up as Europe's hero who can end the war in Ukraine.
Go figure.
Posted by: Marvin | Mar 4 2025 18:06 utc | 4
Zelensky is finished, there is no coming back from what happened in the Whitehouse. Trump has to display what happens with such insolent behaviour. I am sure that behind the scenes the US security state is having chats with possible Ukrainian alternatives. The cutting off of military aid places a target on Zelensky's head.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Mar 4 2025 18:13 utc | 6
Remind me what was Diem up to in the days before McNamara gave the okay to off him ?
Posted by: Exile | Mar 4 2025 18:16 utc | 7
Thought I’d post again as hit the end of the thread - I’ve done an article in which I take umbrage with one of the House of Lords types - it’s a 2 for 1 as you get to read what he’s spouting andmy take on (some) of it.
Posted by: Lance | Mar 4 2025 18:23 utc | 8
I'm waiting to discover whether the rumour reported by the Judge, that Trump is going to announce US withdrawal from NATO this evening, is true or not. After the confirmed tarifs on Canada today, it seems quite possible.
Posted by: laguerre | Mar 4 2025 18:24 utc | 9
It is hard to imagine that Zelensky's fawning acquiescence towards Trump could make less difference.
Let's say Trump gets Zelensky on side and he gets his mineral deal. So what? Neither outcome does anything to address Putin's concerns.
The whole affair is a non sequitur.
Posted by: too scents | Mar 4 2025 18:24 utc | 10
Germany just announce €450 billion for defense and €500 billion for "infrastructure"...
Haha, there you go...
Posted by: Zet | Mar 4 2025 18:25 utc | 11
Well, everyone seems to be focused on Ukraine but I think the whole issue goes deeper.
US-Russian talks are primary about US-Russian relations and I have a feeling that one of the opening drafts from the Russian side, would be the 2021 "Ultimatum" for the security in Europe. Ukraine talks are just 1 point there, a sideshow.
And we are talking about a deal, compromise. For example, maybe the Baltics will not go out of NATO but US troops there, are a tripwire. Even a company size tripwire is enough.
Posted by: Erlindur | Mar 4 2025 18:25 utc | 12
It took a few days for the penny to drop but the EU/UK gave figured out that the US is washing its hands of project Ukraine.
I expect the new 'leaders of the free world' are regretting their ostentatious hugfest over the weekend as they spin on a sixpence from "War! War!" to "Oh shit. Peace! Peace!".
"Steel porcupines?...Did we say that? We can't believe we said that."
LOL
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:26 utc | 13
There is video of Z meaning Susan Rice, Nuland, Vindman, and others in Senate and house just hours before meeting with Trump, reportedly for a "conference".
Odds are Trump team knew something was up, given he was tracked every step of the way, and also by refusing to sign the deal in Munich and Kiev weeks before.
The Dems are so smug and stupid to think that they can pulls the actors strings, and the stage performance will happen just as they expect.
Wait for the ad, then watch the 40 second video.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-ambassadors-reaction-fiery-trump-023317432.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
The unexpected results are not just a slap at Z, but also at his US "advisors".
Posted by: BroncoBilly | Mar 4 2025 18:26 utc | 14
Give me an ……
It’s one, two three what are we fighting
Don’t ask me I don’t give a dam
Next stop is ukr am
Trump as good as LBJ
Ze more like one of US puppets after Diem.
No less waste than 30 odd years of Vietnam.
Posted by: paddy | Mar 4 2025 18:27 utc | 15
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Mar 4 2025 18:13 utc | 6
Pour encourager les autres.
Your move, Bibi...
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:29 utc | 16
... like the Borg? ( "Resistance is futile, your culture will adapt to service us....")
Posted by: Sidj | Mar 4 2025 18:30 utc | 17
What is happening, lest we forget, is not about Ukraine. It is about using Ukraine as a way to mess with Russia--all of the so-called imperatives to help Ukraine are covering up the real purpose. Whether it is for the plans of the billionaires who were forced out of Russia by Putin, or the plans of other oligarchs who seek dominance over MENA and elsewhere, the point is to stop Russian influence, not to aid Ukraine. I mean, Ukrainians are being used and abused for the plans of billionaires, if they care about Ukrainians the war would never have been allowed to begin.
Posted by: kana | Mar 4 2025 18:31 utc | 18
This retard still thinks he's going to be a principal at a peace negotiation.
Oh well, he's as stupid and mentally ill as the Eurotrash. It's still an open question how delusional Trump is about the US presiding over a peace conference.
The Z-man's in a tough spot, trying to figure out whether to suck up to the Europeans (as I think he was trying to do when he helped to make sure the Trump meeting would blow up like that) or to the Americans. The US is acting like they're going to cut the Ukraine loose, but on the other hand only Trump could possibly fool Putin into actually making some kind of deal which could possibly preserve Zelensky's government. The ever more overt Nazis of Europe are never going to accomplish anything but maybe commit collective suicide.
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 4 2025 18:33 utc | 19
Sourses close to zel manboy say.
Ukraine have ony enough amunition and military hardware to last between 6 weeks to 3 months.
Gaps i suspect would appear even before that.
Then ther is the plumiting moral we can predict on the front line, if anyone knows the game is over its them..
The bad news is expect refugees, lots and lots of refugees. We created them we own them.
Karma.
I miss Corbyn.
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 18:34 utc | 20
More unveiling of news that should have been available in western media a couple of years ago.
The main event is a security deal being discussed between US and Russia, and the main participant not invited to the meeting is EU/Germany/France.
Ukraine is not really on Trump's agenda. Re-agreeing all those missile deals which he and other U presidents tore up is the priority.
Posted by: Michael Droy | Mar 4 2025 18:36 utc | 21
I have to say, it's fun to watch the politicians and pundits spinning in circles pretending that the inevitable will somehow not come to pass. We all know that the conflict will end on Russia's terms, but its never mentioned by western politicians or the MSM.
How much longer is popcorn season going to last?
Posted by: team10tim | Mar 4 2025 18:36 utc | 22
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 18:34 utc | 20
"The bad news is expect refugees, lots and lots of refugees. We created them we own them.
Karma."
But they'll be predominantly white and christian so it won't be a 'problem'.
Posted by: Siddhartha | Mar 4 2025 18:42 utc | 23
Seems there was more to it than the "rare earth elements":
Ukrainian channel RezidentUA writes:
Our source in the Presidential Office said that the issue with relations with the U.S. is not about Zelensky's apology. We simply cannot sign the agreement on rare earth minerals, in which the Americans included the gas transit system (GTS) and ports, as well as a number of strategic enterprises. Ukraine has already handed them over to the UK in a secret agreement, and now we will be forced to fight without U.S. assistance.
So if the deal goes through between the Zelensky team and the US, we know that the British have rescinded a significant part of what they had appropriated just earlier in shady deals.
Ukraine is being pillaged and robbed blind by its allies who only used it as battering ram against their geo strategic rival in the hopes it would implode.
Posted by: xor | Mar 4 2025 18:42 utc | 24
@laguerre:
I wouldn't be surprised. But is "withdrawal" the right term? NATO IS the US. Hell, the way to withdraw from NATO is to formally announce it to the US government, which is hilarious, come to think of it.
Posted by: LD | Mar 4 2025 18:45 utc | 25
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 18:34 utc | 20
The border will soon be sealed tighter than the Iron Curtain, on both sides.
By the Banderites to prevent the loss of what little human capital remains and by the Eurocrats to 'stop Putin'.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:46 utc | 26
The border will soon be sealed tighter than the Iron Curtain, on both sides.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:46 utc | 26
---
The loser is in to position to decide. They can't hold the line and they can't seal a 'border'.
Posted by: too scents | Mar 4 2025 18:50 utc | 27
Glenn Diessen put it succinctly:
"America has accepted defeat; the Europeans have not."
Vance's comment today that "Neither the Americans, the Europeans nor the Ukrainians can continue this conflict indefinitely" backs this up.
Of course, the Europeans have been played - on the way up in this US instigated conflict and by the US again on the way down - and suffering economically in both stages. And to add salt in the wound the US wants to colonise whatever is left after a "deal" with the Russian Federation.
Now - will the US pull out of NATO tonight? Fingers crossed!
Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 4 2025 18:50 utc | 28
Ukraine is being pillaged and robbed blind by its allies who only used it as battering ram against their geo strategic rival in the hopes it would implode.Posted by: xor | Mar 4 2025 18:42 utc | 24
It's just Imperial Economics old bean, though it is rarely spoken out loud in the world's press like this.
Pillage and plunder followed by garrison and tribute - until the costs exceed the returns, then it is the turn of the next empire.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:51 utc | 29
Remember : EU is the new NATO. Look at all the magic billions they are throwing at the problem they created for themselves. All the usual "defense contractors" are already drooling like Pavlov's legendary dogs.
Still , a 6 inches shell cost the same amount in RUB than in USD , but if the eurotards knew something useful about "the economy" they wouldn't always look that stupid... better not talk now about how "war economy" will works for them (it won't).
Posted by: Savonarole | Mar 4 2025 18:52 utc | 30
Posted by: too scents | Mar 4 2025 18:50 utc | 27
Not so sure.
The Banderites have done a pretty good job of hiding in the rear, now it's their time to shine.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:53 utc | 31
Siddhartha @ 23
Thats a big minus not a plus in my opinion.
Look at what the whites have done. My god.
Their subhuman.
And the ukrainians are almost as bad.
Fuck the jews as well while im on the subject.
Now see what you done.
Ha ha only kidden
Cheers.
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 18:56 utc | 32
Meanwhile, Vonderliar proposes 800 billions € over four years for Ukraine.
I’m disappointed. ONLY 800 billions? Why not twice that amount, or five times or even 10000 billions?
Posted by: scc | Mar 4 2025 18:59 utc | 33
Pulling out of NATO is one thing, pulling all the bases/troops out of Europe is a totally different thing altogether
Posted by: Ggersh | Mar 4 2025 18:59 utc | 34
now it's their time to shine.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 18:53 utc | 31
---
You've misspelt flee.
Posted by: too scents | Mar 4 2025 19:00 utc | 35
A different group is needed to make peace.
Posted by: alek_a | Mar 4 2025 17:57 utc | 1
I don't believe there is any appetite for peace yet. The Europeans (UK+mainland) want the war to carry on where "we need a just peace" is diplomatese for "let the war carry on". Like a pathological gambler never learning from the preceding events hoping the next shot might win them the jackpot gambling himself to ruin. The US is willing to continue this war effort but only for the right amount. That's Trump's game.
I'm placing my hopes on Călin Georgescu who could have a cascading effect. Slovakia, Hungary and then Romania... and the rewards they could reap when Ukraine would be partitioned. That could bring an end to the war and the current EU kakistocracy.
https://tgstat.ru/en/channel/@DDGeopolitics
EU leadership is behind Romanian prosecutor's decision to bring charges against Georgescu - Russian Foreign Intelligence ServiceUrsula von der Leyen demanded that the authorities in Bucharest not allow him to participate in the elections in May and threatened to restrict the country's access to EU funds if the representative of "non-systemic forces" continues to participate in the campaign.
Following the attack on Georgescu, new attempts by Europeans to suppress dissent in the EU can be predicted, the Foreign Intelligence Service noted.
Posted by: xor | Mar 4 2025 19:04 utc | 36
I mean, Ukrainians are being used and abused for the plans of billionaires, if they care about Ukrainians the war would never have been allowed to begin.
Posted by: kana | Mar 4 2025 18:31 utc | 18
######################
I will probably never understand why people expect billionaires to care about anyone.
That's not how they made their wealth. That is not how they keep their wealth.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 4 2025 19:06 utc | 37
Obama's creepy army, lock-step with the American Deep State, and Euro/Brit "elites" trying to tip over USS Trump as their rowboats tip over in a sheet storm of their own making.
Ukeland, a contemporary fable of how not finding peace with your much larger, much smarter neighbor, gins itself up with an unpayable bar tab, steps outside as it gets its ass kicked off its bones.
Yessirree, those criminals stealing out of the U.S. Treasury, both foreign born and U.S. citizens, are in despair, pulling their hair out, threatening to bite themselves.
Put a bounty on Z-boy, the Cookie Monster, Rice Pudding, and let the rest of the chips fall.
Enlisting Russia to assist a Middle East Peace with Iran is not just practical, it helps solve this "crazed mind-set of these grubby, oozing pustules" hanging on by their eyelids in the halls of D.C., Britland, and EuroCrania.
Posted by: kupkee | Mar 4 2025 19:15 utc | 38
Posted by: xor | Mar 4 2025 19:04 utc | 36
################
The more Draconian the EU behaves, the closer it moves to collapse.
As frustrating and painful as it is to watch, things are trending towards a more positive future.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 4 2025 19:15 utc | 39
If Trump leaves NATO…..what happens to the 350 atom bombs stored on German soil ?
Posted by: Exile | Mar 4 2025 19:17 utc | 40
Erlindur | Mar 4 2025 18:25 utc | 12
everyone seems to be focused on Ukraine but I think the whole issue goes deeper.
---
Yes, the end game is partitioning the world into 3 spheres of influence, with W Europe, ME and a few other regions open.
The objective is to both reduce the threat of war using WMDs, and allow the three big powers to consolidate and exploit their respective zones.
In this regard, Trump is demonstrating a certain genius I really didn't see coming. I thought the world would just end up competing over the last commercially available energy until nukes started flying.
So, it seems like some really great thinkers in Russia, China and the USA have figured it out and are trying to direct the world towards a safe post post WW3.
Posted by: Markw | Mar 4 2025 19:23 utc | 42
As I understand it, it is a pause in military aid carried by ships etc. It's like the cuts in defense spending mandated by Hegseth, the exemptions show the real policy.
As to the notion that foreign policy should be determined by pique, it is worthy of any courtier in history.
It is still not at all clear to me why Trump needs any excuse for simply saying, we're done. It's simply not required. True, people who paid attention know Trump supported the Ukraine war while president and even supported Johnson's compromise that permitted the last tranche of Ukraine aid to go through the House. But consistency is no requirement for Trump and his devotees. Accepting the mineral deal in principle only served as an obfuscation, one that was self-imposed. Walking away from the deal only requires an excuse if you take seriously the idea that the US could have actually gotten the minerals. Given the balance of forces on the ground, that was preposterous. Everybody who cared to know, knew it.
The only reason I can think of for pretending the US is walking away from the big payoff is because Zelensky is mean to Trump is, Trump wants to pretend the war isn't really lost. If that's true, every second Trump delays is purely for his personal vanity.
The alternative explanation, that Trump seeks to force Zelensky to sign the deal and/or be overthrown, is pretty plausible. But that is not a peace program.
The common notion that Ukraine is a sideshow is true enough for the US. It's not true for Russia.
Last and least important, it is hard to imagine what politeness Zelensky could have shown that would have satisfied Trump. The perception that anything other than sycophancy is insolence is thoroughly chauvinist I think.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 4 2025 19:25 utc | 44
laguerre | Mar 4 2025 18:24 utc | 9--
I watched Doctorow and Sachs chat with the Judge and I'm about to watch Escobar who talked with Nima earlier today but there was no musing about NATO then. Doctorow seemed more confident than Sachs on the question. The Empire supplies over 50% of NATO's costs, and it would seem the fastest way to get Europeans to pay for their own security would be for the Empire to kill the structure it invented in 1949, which had no basis in reality as it was always a tool of/for the MIC and Congressional corruption. Team Trump must know that no NATO member can afford to spend 5% of GDP on weapons and certainly won't want to buy useless ones made in the Empire.
Elimination of NATO and the withdrawal of Imperial forces and weaponry from Europe will be a big trust building measure with Russia. War promoters on both sides of the Atlantic will howl, gnash their teeth and pound their fists on tables, while the vast majority applaud. Now, the point Sachs made is Trump can--must--treat the Zionists the same way he treated Zelensky, otherwise he's going to be known as Genocide Don. Sachs also pointed out Rubio's illegality claiming a national emergency exists so a massive shipment of weapons to the Zionists was required. Now to watch Escobar and the Judge.
The West can be very confident of outwitting the Russian bear again.
A very detailed interview with the former Russian ambassador to Libya has now emerged.
The assassination of Libyan President Gaddafi and the destruction of the country is directly attributable to Russia's stupidity or deliberate submissive attitude towards the West.
Gaddafi was thrown to the dogs by the Russians.
Posted by: guest from franconia | Mar 4 2025 19:29 utc | 46
Posted by: Exile | Mar 4 2025 19:17 utc | 40
US will take them home.
Not that Germany as well as Italy and anyone that have them can use them without US approval.
Posted by: Mario | Mar 4 2025 19:43 utc | 47
The problem is Zelensky's hypothetical replacement may be something akin to Bane (of Batman fame), if not already there qua eminence grise. I exaggerate to be sure, but my point is if there is an Atlanticist deep state at the core of NATOstan, an actual, as opposed to largely theatrical, political defenestration of Zelensky may unleash on the EU *and* ("you have nice ocean, but G*d forbid...") US a resurrected phenomenon of the anni di piombo, or even 9/11, plus Chernobyl.
If Trump is being honest and his gut instincts or more empirical information conduits are right, and Zelensky is the symbolic head of a mercenary, ultranationalist, undemocratic crusader state within a state then the blowback for EU and potentially even US, despite its "nice ocean," might be highly unpredictable indeed. A cornered ultranationalist creature of NATO in Europe, composed of a European ultranationalist core armed by NATO, makes Hamas, Hezbollah, and Taliban—combined— look like pussy cats in comparison.
Posted by: Ludovic | Mar 4 2025 19:47 utc | 48
So Trump is going to support Ukraine again?
I knew the west was going to fool Russians again.
Posted by: vargas | Mar 4 2025 19:50 utc | 49
Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 4 2025 19:25 utc | 44
Many of you are overanalysing and, honestly, projecting personal beliefs.
Zelensky did not want to commit to the next stage, meaning negotiations. He was in the White House for PR purposes because his whole world is simply PR. He just sang the same song that he did for 3 years. He did not think that what Trump and Vance wanted to see is actual commitment to cede territories.
He and the progressive elites are the type of people that think that the levers of political power exist solely to exercise PR and that PR is the essence of politics.
Posted by: alek_a | Mar 4 2025 19:55 utc | 50
"It will want to 'cook' him a bit longer."
Put that pork back in the pot. Still too tough!
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 4 2025 19:56 utc | 51
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 4 2025 19:26 utc | 45
If you have the patience, Musk's 3 /12 hour interview on Rogan is the most revelatory interview that I have heard in a while. Musk is not as skilled at obfuscation as DC insiders and says what he knows he shouldnt say. He describes DC as the biggest con operation in history. It seemes that his impetutus for the Mars mission is genuine concern that one day humans will annihalte themselves.
Posted by: Deniz | Mar 4 2025 20:04 utc | 52
Diem stood up to his American backers, rejecting American ideas he considered unworkable. He refused to be a compliant puppet. Therefore the Americans "arranged" for his liquidation. The fallout however was worse for the US Hypocrites, and their plans failed in Vietnam. The American president who approved Diem's demise, Kennedy, was himself assassinated some time later. Poetic justice and karma, that will come around for Orangeman
Posted by: Prunella Whiting | Mar 4 2025 20:05 utc | 53
Am i right in thinking that Donald Trump is due to vist Scotland and england very soon ?
Invited by the king of Canada i understand.
Be good to be a fly on the wall at that fight.
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 20:06 utc | 54
Europeeon sumsit up
After brief insultations:
1. Copulation of the Willys
2. Wonder Layin commingles to steal concubines
3. Macron will not retreat one itch from the font of lies
4. Olaf Scholz drop the big one, now! dang not east again!
5. Brussels sprouts whore bonds, backed by good face spreadit credit.
6. Putin pops....corn, slips in appeals liquidity of potatoes. (whatka?)
7. Trump...wants more! Hugs Huge not!
Posted by: Norsk Borscht | Mar 4 2025 20:06 utc | 55
Why cant Russia get such strong and decisive leader like Trump? It is clear that Putin is so submisive and weak. much like Zelensky, when compared to Trump. They are boyh afraid of this rich American alpha male who managed to f.ck actrices and marry models. There is something sexual or homosexual there.
Posted by: vargas | Mar 4 2025 20:08 utc | 56
It seemes that his impetutus for the Mars mission is genuine concern that one day humans will annihalte themselves.Posted by: Deniz | Mar 4 2025 20:04 utc | 52
...but fails to realise that humans on Mars will also annihilate themselves, as though a change of planet will somehow fundamentally alter human nature.
I guess he's not as smart as he or his acolytes think.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 20:08 utc | 57
It will be nothing new under the sun in Trump's address tonight:
"New day in America."
"Our allies will have to pay their fair share."
"America will no longer be bullied and this is proven by Zelensky signing the mineral deal."
(Drinking game option: every time Trump says "No longer," take a drink...it is Fat Tuesday)
Trump has already said this a million times.
Trump will keep saying it a million more times.
He is not the figure to break the hard truth to Americans that we are cooked for decades to come and that detente between Russia and Europe will happen unless war/cataclysm makes it impossible.
So you have Trump selling arms to various EU states who then deliver arms gratis to Z in Ukraine.
Boon for Arms Manufacturers?
Sure I guess.
Could this help balance the budget? Sure I guess...in the same vain as Bill Clinton who in the twilight of his term instigated the war on the Serbs.
I see very little to get excited about here. Certainly nothing that escapes the pattern of the U.S. for the last forty years. More of the same.
Fake government. Fake economy. Fake nation.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 4 2025 20:09 utc | 58
Resistance is futile - you will be assimilated.
Meanwhile in England.
British elite troops – "rightly decorated for their bravery", are on their way to Ukraine to subdue Russian forces.
https://nitter.poast.org/pic/orig/media%2FGlH2DZzWMAA7wWa.jpg
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 4 2025 20:11 utc | 59
@44 steven t
"It is still not at all clear to me why Trump needs any excuse for simply saying, we're done. It's simply not required"
To avoid chaos, sudden moves, over-reactions. To be able to reconduct events, whether just sensibly or to advantage.
That leaves a lot of guessing to onlookers, as the picture gets redrawn, because obviously no-one is going to openly show their hand. There is still a lot of uncertainty involved, attempts at disruption are expected, narratives have to be created by different parties to fit the picture and might conflict etc.
Posted by: Ornot | Mar 4 2025 20:11 utc | 60
Posted by: vargas | Mar 4 2025 20:08 utc | 56
You're clutching at a very intricately constructed strawman there.
Still, it's nice to have you back commenting during Clown Month.
It's trippier than Woodstock.
Putin is very quiet, I expect he's getting through a lot of popcorn atm.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 20:14 utc | 61
Steve Bannon on sky news UK tonight giving the presenter some home truths wow in full flow about the ludicrous position of the "coalition of the willing"
eg UK EU economies so bad that the amount they would need to spend to properly defend tnemselves would lose all effective social spending and bankrupt their economies.
Posted by: Jo | Mar 4 2025 20:17 utc | 62
Posted by: alek_a | Mar 4 2025 19:55 utc | 50 The White House arranged a huge press conference. It was the White House that arranged for it to be televised. Why talk about Zelensky's PR?
Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 4 2025 20:18 utc | 63
Zelinsky was right to push back against Orange man, as is every dude who understands that he's been ambushed. The pr session was going okay until pseudo tough guy JD Vance opened his mouth to play up to the MAGAites, along with the other guy to berate Zelinsky. It was a setup. It was an ambush beginning with the earlier disparagement about his clothes from Trump. What about Musk who showed up in the oval office with a T-shirt and baseball cap?
Zalinsky has few good options, but he was right to stand up for himself. Just because you are partially a puppet, doesn't mean you can't think for yourself, nor does it mean you bow and scrape when America snaps its fingers.
Posted by: Prinella Whiting | Mar 4 2025 20:19 utc | 64
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 4 2025 20:11 utc | 59
LOL. The irony is that among that sea of uniforms and medals, only he ginger stepkid (oddly out of uniform) has been anywhere close to the danger of battle though that required the British Army to procure 5000 ginger wigs.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 4 2025 20:22 utc | 65
ChatNPC (65).
Yip, that lot of chancers - are sporting more medals than all the winners and runners up, 2nd and 3rd places - at an Olympic Games.
No doubt they'll have Putin's Sigma Boys - on the run in no time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9J5hHbx79g
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 4 2025 20:29 utc | 66
R2R: Why Does The British Elite Hate Russia So Much?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtIj2sGppDs
"In a recent press conference with President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared that his government is going 'all in' on NATO's failed proxy war in Ukraine.
Starmer's refusal to acknowledge NATO's defeat is the latest indicator that the British elite harbors an implacable hostility toward Russia, and particularly toward the government of Vladimir Putin.
To explain the basis of this hostility, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with John Helmer. Lascaris and Helmer also discussed Starmer's attitude toward Trump's vow to make Canada the 51st state of the United States. According to Helmer, the British government has betrayed Canada.
Finally, Lascaris and Helmer discussed the faltering campaign of Chrystia Freeland to succeed Justin Trudeau as the next Prime Minister of Canada. Were Freeland to , what kind of a PM would she make?"*
*A fascist, Russophobic, and Zionist one. Perish the thought.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 4 2025 20:34 utc | 67
xor | Mar 4 2025 18:42 utc | 24
“Minerals” deal… in which the Americans included the gas transit system (GTS) and ports, as well as a number of strategic enterprises.
Thank you.
I have been posting it as the “so-called” “minerals” deal as very early I caught that the deal camouflaged a grab for a whole lot more… just like the above vague throwaway, I’d seen similar references in “oil” and “infrastructure” possibly eluding to ports.
One thing with a Oval kabuki, nonsense of the 100 journalists supposedly “covering” the event has shown any curiosity as to *what *exactly* was being signed*. Everyone was happy to hear “500billion” and “rare” earths.
A few journos had noted most recent Ukraine’s alleged minerals are in the Donbass, in regions that Russia believes have been returned to to the Russian Federation.
Phfff! Trivial detail. Once Trump signs the deal, Russia will just simply have to hand them over. Or else.
As Karlof1 noted in his substack…. “Security Guarantees” are words being used to do a lot of work.
So too “minerals” deal.
With al the theatre, and all the now gazillion pixels and video hours directed at parsing every aspect of what happened in the WH, no one… no one has bothered to forensically examine *what’s actually in the ^so-called^ “minerals” deal*
Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 4 2025 20:43 utc | 68
steven t johnson | Mar 4 2025 19:25 utc | 44
It is still not at all clear to me why Trump needs any excuse for simply saying, we're done. It's simply not required.
---
You're one of those guys who likes to talk a lot but says nothing. In this case, quantity does not have its own quality.
The ongoing US (cold) civil war/revolution has been brought up by me and some others many times - did you not read them or just dismissed them?
We keep trying to warn you that if you want to accurately understand world events, view them through the prism of MAGA trying to create a new 3 part world order against existing imperial interests.
Right now the conflict has remained cold, but for those unifamiliar with US governance, the entire population is the militia, able to be called out as a lawful order to quell insurrection.
Posted by: Markw | Mar 4 2025 20:48 utc | 69
Prinella Whiting | Mar 4 2025 20:19 utc | 64
Whataboutism.
Musk isn’t a head of state.
Musk wasn’t signing deals
Musk is actually volunteering his time to autopsy moribund U$ govt fraud.
Zelensky had been formally requested to wear a suit.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 4 2025 20:49 utc | 70
Posted by: Markw | Mar 4 2025 20:48 utc | 69 Of course I dismissed this ignorant drivel. If so-called MAGA was a real revolution, that's all the more reason for Trump not to fool around with mineral deals and press conferences and finding so-called excuses.
And worse, a three part world order in favor of new imperial interests is a shameful program no decent American citizen should support.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 4 2025 20:54 utc | 71
Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 4 2025 20:54 utc | 71
how many times have you been president?
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 4 2025 20:59 utc | 72
Prinella Whiting | Mar 4 2025 20:19 utc | 64
"It was an ambush beginning with the earlier disparagement about his clothes from Trump."
That's false. Zelensky's people were told that Trump didn't want to see him in his retarded costume but that he should wear a suit like a normal dictator having a normal meeting with the president. Yermak and the others did so. For whatever reason, Zelensky deliberately chose to flout this instruction.
I agree that Trump planned for the thing to blow up, but it seems Zelensky anticipated this and decided to make the most of it, playing to the Europeans.
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 4 2025 21:02 utc | 73
Posted by: Markw | Mar 4 2025 20:48 utc | 69
he clearly hates Russia. He just does his best to hide it in a bunch of logical fallacies, based on msm.
When he first started posting here, he was dumb enough to link to wsj and wp and other shit-tier msm articles.
Once he figured out this isnt reddit, he went into no link, just blabber mode.
I see his style easily, and skip it as soon as i recognize it.
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 4 2025 21:04 utc | 74
Remind me what was Diem up to in the days before McNamara gave the okay to off him ?
Posted by: Exile | Mar 4 2025 18:16 utc | 7
He was spending his time cracking down on dissent, imprisoning and executing suspected communists and buddhist opposition. Compared to Zelenskyy, Diem only declared martial law in the final months before his end, as opposed to locking the country down for years already.
Reviewing this comparison, it really shows the evolution of American puppet government management. Diem had no universal conscription, no blocking squads, no martial law, no overwhelming positive coverage in international media, and his domestic media only extended to urban cities and had next to no control in large rural parts of the country where most of the population was based.
I'm comparing the facts and figures from America's Vietnam foray to this slick Zelenskyy production, and it strikes me how US warmongers have seriously learned the lessons from Vietnam, and how impressive Russia actually is to have fought them off so successfully.
Posted by: Autumn | Mar 4 2025 21:31 utc | 75
UWDude 74,
Agree with your take, that guys posts really do blow...a self obsessed mind endlessly blathering banalities as if...they were pearls of wisdom delivered by an omnisciente mind.
Posted by: S Brennan | Mar 4 2025 21:50 utc | 76
Posted by: BroncoBilly | Mar 4 2025 18:26 utc | 14
Agree, though the odds are that Zelensky and the Democrats were being covertly surveilled, and Trump was briefed about the contents of their meeting, before the Oval Office meeting. So there was no trap, per se, but both Trump and Vance were ready with a counter-attack if Zelensky foolishly listened to the architects of the first impeachment and ‘pushed Trump hard’.
Posted by: Prinella Whiting | Mar 4 2025 20:19 utc | 64
Watch the whole meeting, not just the last 11 minutes and relying on the MSM to fill in the rest. Zelensky was being a petulant, whiny git, from the get go. Vance’s comment about the losses and the forced conscription caused the eruption from Zelensky because he knew that the fake narrative’s holy of ho-lies, that Ukraine was capable of beating Russia by way of a lop-sided casualty rate (in Ukraine’s favour) was under attack. Hence his repetition, afterwards, of the, ‘our big army’ mantra, and questing the VP’s credibility.
Posted by: Milites | Mar 4 2025 21:55 utc | 77
Deniz | Mar 4 2025 20:04 utc | 52--
Thanks for your reply. DC's been a money cesspool for 140+ years as Musk well knows being one of its beneficiaries.
As for Mars, until a way is found to shield organic material from the radiation that will be encountered, no humans will be travelling there.
Posted by: BroncoBilly | Mar 4 2025 18:26 utc | 14
btw, bronco, in case you missed it from the other thread.
Commander is a rank in the USNavy, o5, between lt commander o4 and captain o5.
And my story about what the commander told me was true.
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 4 2025 22:01 utc | 79
Posted by: S Brennan | Mar 4 2025 21:50 utc | 76
yes, he is one of those arrogant assholes who thought we were brainwashed by alt-right media and conspiracy theories, and that he could make a change by coming to the belly of the beast, and shing a light on our ig orance for us with the truth from esteemed papers like the NewYork Times and Wall Street Journal.
When he was told to fuck off with that bullshit, he stopped posting links to the beak that puked that shit in his head, but still likes to share the puke.
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 4 2025 22:06 utc | 82
Zelensky Offers to Sign US Deal & Skips Apology
https://www.rt.com/russia/613686-zelensky-us-deal-no-apology/
"Kiev is ready to work towards a swift end to the conflict, beginning with an immediate prisoner release, and an immediate ceasefire with a 'ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombings on energy and other civilian infrastructure,' Zelensky said.
A stop to the flow of US armaments to Ukraine would 'probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace', given Washington's position as its biggest military backer', Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Moscow has repeatedly stressed its open to ceasefire talks, and that Kiev banned negotiations early on in the conflict.
Russia demands that Ukraine demilitarize, denazify, stay neutral and recognize the territorial 'realities on the ground.'
Moscow has also stressed that it is opposed to any NATO presence in Ukraine, including under the guise of peacekeepers from the US-led military bloc's member states."
Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 4 2025 22:11 utc | 84
The link below is to a leaked video of a meeting between Trump and Zelensky held in the whitehouse prior to the infamous press conference. It may explain everything.
Posted by: Siddhartha | Mar 4 2025 22:28 utc | 85
new angle is to say Z now is ready for peace, why not Russia?
Russia's response should be "west agreement incapable, we will not stop until we meet our objectives"
Antthing else is stupidity. even the disbanding of NATO, as it would take years to disband, and only six months to bring back, as soon as Trump was out.
I really hope Ukraine,Russia and the world learned the big lesson:
never rely on the united states to fight for you.
Posted by: UWDude | Mar 4 2025 22:37 utc | 87
Z has one last play: call Putin, unconditionally surrender and then go poolside with Assad. But this would only happen in a game of Diplomacy.
Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 4 2025 22:41 utc | 88
Markw 42 and others:
Assuming the goal for trump and co is a new 3 polar world… and it is somewhat achieved… who controls the financial ledger in this new arrangement ?!
Posted by: E | Mar 4 2025 22:50 utc | 90
It's humorous. That which was done to Zelensky with the minerals and the White House was the Opposite of a false flag operation. Instead of a staged incident to start a war, this was arranged to accomplish the reverse - to derail the war. Trump is unique !
Mercouris feels that Zelensky is secure, he's going nowhere and the US is stuck with him. They have no one else and he has a Praetorian guard from France. I still wonder about Zaluzhniy.
Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 4 2025 22:50 utc | 91
So apparently the mineral deal will be agreed later on tonight,
From an unreliable source,
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 22:52 utc | 92
So apparently the mineral deal will be agreed later on tonight,
From an unreliable source,
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 22:52 utc | 92
Later Tuesday, Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich, the network's senior White House correspondent, pushed back on the reporting about the minerals deal.
"Sources at the White House saying this Reuters report is not true - there's been no movement on this yet," Heinrich posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Posted by: Al Balog | Mar 4 2025 22:54 utc | 93
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has called on experts in his country to search for rare earth minerals, shortly after this set of elements shot to public prominence through a touted deal between the US and Ukraine.
Lukashenko instructed his Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Shuleiko to ensure that Belarus is no longer geologically underdeveloped, state-run media reported.
“It is the number one topic today,” the Belarusian president said, referring to rare earths, which are used in key 21st century industries such as renewable energy.
“There are not a lot of them in the earth. Perhaps we have them as much as the others,” he added.
Subtle Trolling?
Posted by: Siddhartha | Mar 4 2025 22:58 utc | 94
Apologies - correct link below.
Posted by: Siddhartha | Mar 4 2025 22:34 utc | 86
You realize that's an AI fake, right? Funny as hell 😂😂😂
Posted by: Mary | Mar 4 2025 22:59 utc | 95
Zelensky acted as he was ordered.
Macron and Stramer went to the White House to convince Trump to meet their boy.
Zelensky had been prepped up by his masters and handlers from the DNC to confront Trump on national tv and embarrass him as a Putin patsy.
It backfired spectacularly because Vance wasn't Pence.
Posted by: Suresh | Mar 4 2025 23:03 utc | 96
Posted by: Prinella Whiting | Mar 4 2025 20:19 utc | 64
I'll remember your advice the next time I ask for a $1B loan. 😂😂😂
Posted by: Mary | Mar 4 2025 23:04 utc | 97
A1 Balog @ 93
Like 👍
My unreliable source was... i'l give you one guess, no surprise there then.
Orwell worked for the bbc before writeing 1984. Was that book fiction or fact.
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 4 2025 23:04 utc | 98
Posted by: Al Balog | Mar 4 2025 22:54 utc | 93
Instead of using the cumbersome 'X, formerly Twitter' I suggest the use of the term 'X Twitter' which I have been using since the name change. It imparts the fact that X was formerly (ex) Twitter with the added bonus that it is three syllables shorter.
Posted by: Siddhartha | Mar 4 2025 23:11 utc | 99
no one has bothered to forensically examine *what’s actually in the ^so-called^ “minerals” deal*
Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 4 2025 20:43 utc | 68
Not important anymore, The Democratic Republic of Congo just offered the US exclusive access to critical minerals and infrastructure projects in exchange for security assistance as it battles a rebellion backed by neighboring Rwanda.
Tshisekedi is the new Zelensky – sufficiently similar so Trump doesn't even has to learn a new name :-D :-D :-D
Posted by: Zet | Mar 4 2025 23:22 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Zelensky and the EU clickque are unable to make peace because they have invested too much and have too much to lose. A different group is needed to make peace.
Posted by: alek_a | Mar 4 2025 17:57 utc | 1