Towards the end of last month (blog entry 24/02/2025) I wrote that,
"The autocratic leanings of US President Trump has now reached the stage of wishing to overturn the democratic Constitution of the US.
Putin and his 'siloviki' are practically jumping for joy, but with one cautious eye on the re-awakening of the European giant." (blog entry 24/2/2025)
Earlier, I wtote that,
"Is Tump's embrace of Putin about 'peace' or 'about crude' economics." (blog entry: 19/02/2025)
We now learn from Reuters that, under the guise of trying to breathe life into a 30-day ceasefire in Putin's war with Ukraine, US president Donald Trump is suggesting that,
"The Trump administration is seeking new terms for U.S. access to critical minerals and energy assets in Ukraine, widening its economic demands on Kyiv as it pushes for a peace deal with Russia, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing two Ukrainian officials." (Reuters: 21 March 2025) (my emphasis)
Let us remind ourselves that in 2016,
“The Miss Universe Pageant will be broadcast live from MOSCOW, RUSSIA on November 9th,” ....
And maybe not just the countries, Trump said: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant,” he tweeted later that day. “[I]f so, will he become my new best friend?” (Michael Crowley: Politico: 15/05/2016) (my emphasis)
Still mindfull of US president Trump's wish for Putin to become his new "best friend" all those years ago, Putin is now enticing US president Trump's mediocre "property development" background with the lure of greater "property development" riches than Ukraine can ever afford.
As reported in The Moscow Times,
"Russia and the U.S. have been discussing resuming their economic cooperation, with Moscow touting potential joint projects in metals, rare earth mining and Arctic development." (Moscow Times: 6 March 2025) (my emphasis)
Underscoring this lure of Trump by Putin, Maximilian Hess comments that,
Proposals like Putin’s rare earths offer are “all for show,” said Maximilian Hess, founder of Enmetena Advisory and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute." (ibid The Moscow Times)
Yet it would seem that this "lure" of Putin to 'bathe' US president Trump in "potential joint projects in metals, rare earth mining and Arctic development" was in the forefront of Trump's mind during that recent call he had with Putin about a 'ceasefire' in his war with Ukraine. (cf: Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller and Vladimir Isachenkov: AP News: 18 March 2025)
"President Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to an "immediate ceasefire on all energy and infrastructure" in Ukraine when the two spoke Tuesday in a lengthy phone call, but Russia has not agreed to a full 30-day ceasefire like Ukraine has.
…
A Russian readout of the call from the Kremlin said a key condition for working toward a resolution to the conflict "should be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv." The White House readout did not contain that information, or Mr. Trump's response." (CBS News: 18 March 2025) (my emphasis)
As Zelensky has, on numerous ocassions, re-iterated,
"Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is trying to drag out talks on a Ukraine ceasefire because it wants diplomacy to break down and the war to continue" (BBC News: 13 March 2025) (my emphasis)
This is evidenced by the continous and near 'frantic' bombardment by Putin of Ukraine's civilian population and its infrastructure, notwithstanding his 'ostensible' partial ceasefire proposals.
The Telegraph reports that:-
- Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up its own gas pipeline in order to pin the blame on Kyiv and undermine the proposed energy ceasefire.
- Ukraine’s air defences shot down 114 out of 214 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack on Friday, the air force said.
- Petr Pavel, the Czech President, was in Ukraine’s Odesa as Russia pounded the city with several waves of drones in an overnight attack, Ukrainian officials said this morning. (The Telegraph: 21 March 2025) (my emphasis) (cf. also: BBC News)
No doubt this 'frenzy' of bombings by Putin's army against Ukraine stems from, in part, the awakened giant of Great Britain, the EU, and those countries willing to defend Ukraine.
As reported by Deborah Haynes (right),
Sir Keir Starmer was talking on Thursday as he visited a UK base to meet a group of senior military officers from more than 30 nations tasked with turning a political desire to support Kyiv into an actionable plan to help protect the country from land, sea and air in the event of a ceasefire."(Sky News: 20 March 2025) (my emphasis)
Both Putin and Trump now find themselves confronted by Starmer's "coalition of the willing", a "coalition of the willing" drawing up an actionable plan to help protect the country from land, sea and air in the event of a ceasefire.
The re-armament of Great Britain and the EU has now become Putin's greatest nightmare.
UPDATE: 23 March 2025: 05:26 GMT
It would seem that Sir Keith Starmer's plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has 'ruffled the feathers' of Steve Witkoff, US president Trump's "main channel of communication between the Trump administration and the Russian presidency" (Wikipedia)
"Witkoff, who runs a real estate development and investment firm, is a longtime friend and golf partner of Trump. (right: Trump and Witkoff)
Witkoff first met Trump in the 1980s, when he worked for a real estate law firm that handled a deal for Trump, himself a real estate developer, according to testimony Witkoff gave in the president’s civil fraud trial in 2023." (AP: 13 March 2025) (my emphasis)
Like Trump, this same Witkoff,
As James Landale further reports,
"In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he "liked" the Russian president.
"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy," he said. "He's super smart."
…
Witkoff made several assertions that are either not true or disputed:
- He said Ukrainian troops in Kursk were surrounded, something denied by Ukraine's government and uncorroborated by any open-source data
- He said the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine had held "referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule". There were referendums only in some of the occupied parts of Ukraine at different times and the methodology and results were widely discredited and disputed
- He said the four partially occupied oblasts were Russian-speaking. There are many Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine but this has never indicated support for Russia." (ibid James Landale)
Is it therefore any wonder that Witkoff,
" ... gave details of how Trump wanted to co-operate with Russia after relations had been normalised. "Who doesn't want to have a world where Russia and the US are doing collaboratively good things together, thinking about how to integrate their energy polices in the Arctic, share sea lines maybe, send LNG gas into Europe together, maybe collaborate on AI together?" (ibid James Landale)
The re-armament of Great Britain and the EU has not only become Putin's greatest nightmare but, it would seem, also that of Trump and Witkoff.
The "coalition of the willing" drawing up an actionable plan to help protect Ukraine from land, sea and air in the event of a ceasefire has ruffled feathers in the White House.
(to be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment