"The United States will no longer act as a mediator in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the State Department has confirmed, signalling a shift in Washington’s role in the ongoing conflict." (Evening Standard: 3 May 2025) (my emphasis)
Quadri further reported that, [Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the department, said],
“We will continue to help, but we will no longer fly around the world as mediators in meetings,” Ms Bruce told reporters. “Now it is up to the two sides, the time has come when they must present and develop concrete ideas on how to end this conflict. It will be up to them.” (ibid Sami Quadri)
The Sun : 3 May 2025: Youtube
"U.S. officials have finalized new economic sanctions against Russia, including banking and energy measures, to intensify pressure on Moscow to embrace U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end its war on Ukraine, according to three U.S. officials and a source familiar with the issue.
The targets include state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom and major entities involved in the natural resources and banking sectors, said an administration official, who like the other sources requested anonymity to discuss the issue." (Reuters : 2 May 2025) (my emphasis)
As also reported by Big News Network,
US Senator Lindsey Graham has claimed broad Senate support for a bill that would enact "bone-crushing" new sanctions on Russia and impose steep tariffs on countries purchasing its key exports." (Big News Network: 1 May 2025) (my emphasis)
Big News Network goes on to further report that US Senator Lindsey Graham stated that,
"The goal is to help the president... He talked about being frustrated," Graham told reporters, as cited by Bloomberg. In a post on Truth Social earlier this week, Trump suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not want to stop the war, is "just tapping me along" and may need to be "dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions." (ibid Big News Network)
Putin has been handed his "Divorce" papers by Trump, and Putin's immediate response has been to,
"President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published on Sunday that Russia had sufficient strength and resources to take the war in Ukraine to its logical conclusion, though he hoped that there would be no need to use nuclear weapons....
"We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires."" (Guy Faulconbridge (right) and Felix Light (left) : Reuters: 4 May 2025) (my emphasis)
Even Lavrov, that "dyed-in-the-wool" Soviet foreign minister, has now been forced to outline that BRICS is nothing more than the re-creation of the previous "Cold War" standoff between the West and the former USSR.
Implicit in his Soviet-style speech he outlined Putin's attempt at recreating the "old style Cold War", together with the threat of WW3 i.e. "nuclear war"
Underpinning this "bravado" of Putin and Lavrov lies the fact that,
"Russia is on course for a "painful economic squeeze" with energy bills set to soar 40% by 2028, stubbornly high inflation and real wages stagnating, a Ukrainian former central banker has said. (Jon King (left): Express: 4 May 2025) (my emphasis)
Furthermore,
"To make matters worse, Russia slashed its 2025 oil price forecast to $56/barrel — the lowest since COVID-19. Russia is burning through its future to sustain war. And of course, the people are footing the bill". Russian media reports also suggest a sharp rise in people defaulting on their mortgages and consumer loans in the first three months of the year." (ibid Jon King)
Will Putin now press the "nuclear" button?
UPDATE: 7 May 2025: 08:28 GMT
"Vladimir Putin has said the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine has not arisen and he hopes it won't." (Daily Express: 4 May 2025) (my emphasis)
They then go on to report that,
"Putin signed a revised version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine in November. It details the circumstances which would allow the Russian leader to use Moscow's atomic arsenal, the world’s largest. That version lowered the bar, giving him the option to use nuclear weapons in response to even a conventional attack backed by another nuclear power." (ibid Rebecca Robinson and Jon King)
In other words, even the UK and France, both nuclear powers, supplying Ukraine with defensive weaponry to be used in Putin's war with Ukraine now JUSTIFIES Putin using nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Furthermore, as RTE also reports,
"The Russians are calling for a ceasefire [for 8-10 May to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two] while striking Ukraine every single day. This is top-level cynicism: just this week alone, Russia has used over 1,180 attack drones, 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and 10 missiles of various types against Ukraine," Mr Zelensky said on the X social media platform." (RTE: 4 May 2025) (my emphasis)
Is it any wonder that Putin now threatens "nuclear war", and calls for a "ceasefire" so that his 'military parade' can, yet again, be a "puffing up of his chest" to show the world the ostensible might of the Russian armed forces, who now are desperately relying on North Korean soldiers to help in his FAILING war with Ukraine?
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