Peace negotiations — without Ukraine?

Why would Russia and the United States of America begin peace negotiations over Ukraine without Ukraine and the members of the EU being present?  Well, probably to counter the reason that the Biden Administration, the EU and Ukraine had peace negations without Russia being present. Whether countries in the world like it or not, Russia is large country, manufactures things to sell into the world and has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons on the planet, even surpassing the United States.  Not that Russia needs to detonate 5580 nuclear weapons to destroy the planet making it uninhabitable.  Destroying the planet can be accomplished with far less nuclear weapons, like the 50 that North Korea has or the 600 that China has.

So, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in one of the royal families palaces, Al Diriyah in the Albasateen complex, mediated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while the Russia/Ukraine peace talks began without traditional handshakes, after 4.5 hours, the Kyiv Post states they were “good talks.”  The Russian delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Sergy Lavrov and Presidential aid Yuri Ushakov.  The American delegation was headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.  Even Russian presidential aid Yuri Ushalov stated that the talks “went well” and stated that the talks were “a serious conversation on all issues.”  Concerning whether Moscow’s and Washington’s positions had converged, Ushalov stated “It is hard to say that they are getting closer.  We discussed and outlined our principled positions and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course.”  Concerning a meeting of Presidents Trump and Putin, Ushakov stated, “We are ready for this, but it is still difficult to talk about a specific date for the meeting of the two leaders.”

U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz stated, “We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory, and there’s going to be discussion of security guarantees.  Those are fundamental basics that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion.”

Let’s go back and discuss how we got to where we are.  The conflict in Ukraine is a result of the things that happened after the fall of the Soviet Union, where Russia transitioned from a communist country to a federal democratic state.  After the Berlin wall came down on November 9, 1989, February 9, 1990, Secretary of State James Baker, under George H.W. Bush, told Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev that “if we [U.S.] maintain a presence in a Germany that is a part of NATO, there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO 1 inch to the east.”  President Bill Clinton even told President Putin that Russia had a shot at being welcomed into NATO, but later told Putin it wasn’t going to happen.  What an opportunity missed.  Since that time, NATO has added 14 countries east of Germany. This has led Russia to feel betrayed.  So, what is the problem with NATO membership of these 14 countries?  Once they join NATO, military bases are installed with missiles, all pointed at Russia, and that’s not to mention the 46 U.S. funded biolabs in Ukraine that the Pentagon stated it operated, which had previously been dismissed as Russian propaganda.  Before this, Russia thought there were only 26 such bioweapons laboratories.

Then we come to the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine.  Putin was suspicious that the funding of the revolution came from western sources through pro-democracy NGOs.  Does that sound familiar?  Like the CIA front USAID? 

Dialing forward to 2014, the duly elected President of Ukraine was looking to join the EU for trade reasons.  Upon hearing of this, Putin told Ukraine, if they joined the EU, there would be severe tariffs put in place for Ukraine’s trading with Russia.  Trying to appease their neighbor and seek that which was best for his country, the President of Ukraine declined the EU membership.  This apparently put in motion the overthrow of his government with Biden and the CIA in Kyiv while it was occurring, and the installation of a pro-western government selected by Victoria Nuland, “a month before the overthrow.”  The actual “secret call” was recorded and put on the internet.  I guess she should have used a secure phone.

Then we come to Joe Biden’s presidency.  In the first month President Zelensky requested NATO membership.  In the second month Biden called Putin “a killer with no soul,” causing diplomats to be called home from both countries.  Then Putin spent a year trying to talk with Biden about Ukraine’s NATO membership, but Biden would not talk to Putin because Biden considered discussions about Ukraine’s NATO membership as “non-starters.”  So, Putin amassed soldiers on Ukraine’s border.  In response Vice President Harris traveled to the Munich Security Counsel and threatened Putin with an even bigger NATO footprint on his doorstep if he didn’t withdraw the troops.  Five days later, Putin invaded. After a year of the war, thousands of people dead, and billions being spent, Biden stated Ukraine is “not ready” for NATO membership. 

Now we have Zelensky stating he can’t find the money that the U.S. has sent to him.  The U.S. has sent Ukraine at least $175 billion, but Zelensky says he only has 76 billion.  President Trump says it is more like $350 billion.  Zelensky also suspended elections in Ukraine.  President Trump called Zelensky a dictator and when Putin offered peace July 2023, December 25, 2023, January 6 of 2024 and June 14, 2024, it was rejected by U.S. CIA and Zelensky.  Now Zelensky is stating American troops must be deployed to Ukraine.  With 700,000 already dead, that’s probably not a good idea.

Is it any wonder why President Trump wants to speak to Putin without all the other voices around?