Posted on 01/15/2025 9:36:15 AM PST by Kazan
Five days separate us from the historic January 20th, when Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States – but as of now, considerable progress has already taken place in one of the key foreign policy issues facing the new administration: the peace process to end the war in the Ukraine, and a new security architecture that will defuse tensions between the nuclear superpowers US and Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held his annual press conference in Moscow, and although he had criticism toward the UDS on a range of subjects, he did bring warm words of praise towards new President Trump.
He especially commended Trump’s analysis pointing at NATO’s plan to include Ukraine as one of the root causes of the conflict.
Lavrov reiterated that peace talks have to include ‘broader arrangements for security in Europe’.
Associated Press reported:
“Trump said Russia had it ‘written in stone’ that Ukraine’s membership in NATO should never be allowed, but the Biden administration had sought to expand the military alliance to Russia’s doorstep. Trump added that, ‘I could understand their feelings about that’.”
Trump’s comments lift the seriousness of discussion, moving away from the tired old trope of denouncing Russia’s action as ‘an unprovoked act of aggression’.
“’NATO did exactly what it had promised not to do, and Trump said that’, Lavrov said. ‘It marked the first such candid acknowledgement not only from a U.S. but any Western leader that NATO had lied when they signed numerous documents. They were used as a cover while NATO has expanded to our borders in violation of the agreements’.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky keeps insisting for an invitation for Kiev to join NATO, but at this point it’s become clear it’s a no-no.
Trump is determined to end the madness in Ukraine, and has declaring earlier this month that ‘Putin wants to meet’, adding that the meeting is being set up.
Minister Lavrov reminded that President Vladimir Putin is open for talks with Trump, and Moscow wants to hear Trump’s view on Ukraine when he takes office.
“Lavrov also praised comments by Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who said Sunday it’s unrealistic to expect that Ukraine could drive Russian forces ‘from every inch of Ukrainian soil’.
‘The very fact that people have increasingly started to mention the realities on the ground deserves welcome’, Lavrov said during his annual news conference in Moscow.”
Lavrov acknowledged Joe Biden’s plans to sabotage as much as he can the incoming administration, ‘slamming the door’ before Trump arrives.
One vital aspect of the Russian position is that the peace talks ‘must address Russia’s security concerns and reflect a broad European security environment’.
“’Threats on the western flank, on our western borders, must be eliminated as one of the main reasons (of the conflict)’, he said. ‘They can probably be eliminated only in the context of some broader agreements’.”
Look for them to start impeachment inquiry in 3...2...
I think the outcome will be Russia keeps Crimea and the Donbas, less so south of Kherson and parts of Zaporizhia, and pays Ukraine reparations thru a tax on resumed gas and oil sales to Europe.
Trump effect again.
Amazing what an election will do. The good news Trump is not a war monger. Russia is paranoid and they’ve been at war with other europeans more than us. They could see us as a fair arbiter as they don’t have too much choice now.
I would love for the war to end. I think that the NATO thing is a bit of a red herring, though. There are already six NATO members that actually border Russia. Will Russia invade them next?
One of our FResident deep-state bot-Zeeper @$$h*le propagandists two years ago would respond to any peace overture or suggestion of meeting with Putin by calling the proposer a “Putin Puffer.”
Now they’ve had to pivot to say: “Putin Fears Trump.”
They are scum.
At first I thought, “Annual?”
Then I tried to recall the last time the potato had a news conference.
I think that Putin is eager to talk to Trump about bringing the conflict to an end. In 2014, Putin bragged that he could take Kiev in two weeks:
https://time.com/3259699/putin-boast-kiev-2-weeks/
Things haven’t gone exactly as Putin expected. I would think that he is hoping for a graceful way out, and would be more than willing to talk to Trump about an end to the war.
It seems everyone in the West completely ignores what this actually means in reality.
Russia should surrender the Norks who are there. Offer them freedom to go to South Korea as ‘slaves’. Contaminate them with culture. Fat Boy will want them back.
The reason why Russia put the hammer down on the Ukraine trying to join NATO is that it's on the Eurasian step and offers the flat, easiest route to attack the interior of Russia all the way to Moscow. It would be like America allowing a hostile foreign power control of New Orleans when the Mississippi River grants access to all of America's interior.
Separate from Ukraine, the US and Russia need a treaty concerning NATO. That treaty should include the status of the Baltics...and the Caucasus.
And we need to restore the Nuke treaties that were in place and functional 10 years ago.
Detente with Russia is of the utmost import in the slate of US diplomacy.
I don’t think Rubio has it in him.
Four events have shattered the leftist neocon designs for NATO enlargement eastward, to Ukraine, Georgia, and onward. The first is straightforward. Ukraine has been mauled and deeply wounded on the battlefield, with tragic and appalling losses. Russia is winning the war of attrition, an outcome that was foreordained from the start but which the neocons and government controlled corporate media continue to obscure with hopium and propaganda.
The second is the collapsing support in Europe for the U.S. neocon strategy. Hungary has long opposed the neocons and will continue to do so. Slovakia has elected an anti-neocon government. Poland no longer speaks with Ukraine. E.U. leaders—including Macron, Meloni, Sanchez, Scholz, Sunak, and others have disapproval ratings far higher than approvals and are playing acrobat trying to cobble governments out of shrinking leftist and green parties.
The third is the drastic decline in U.S. financial support for Ukraine which will accelerate under President Trump. The base of the Republican Party, several GOP Presidential candidates, and a growing number of GOP members of Congress, oppose more spending on Ukraine. In the stop-gap bill to keep the government running, Republicans stripped away new financial support for Ukraine. The Biden White House has called for new and profligate aid legislation, but this will be an uphill fight.
The fourth, and most urgent from Ukraine's point of view, is the likelihood of a massive Russian offensive. Russia has mobilized for war and has ground down the Ukrainian Army's equipment and troops. Ukrainian casualties are in the hundreds of thousands, and Ukraine has burned through its artillery, air defenses, tanks, and others heavy weapons. Russia is likely to follow with a massive, boot-stomp to the face offensive.
No one but those laundering money in Ukraine should be unhappy that the "liberal world order" and neocon foreign policy is dying.
Globalist must die if it is to replaced by an American First foreign policy.
The world in general will also be a more peaceful place.
Lavrov is a well respected master diplomat, the US has nothing of his caliber…..
Outcome? Vlad keeps his ethnic Russian provinces and no NATO for Ukies.
….exactly what Vlad stated three years ago.
Putin only has one set of conditions he will agree to - his.
Any deal that accomplishes that will be a good one and approved of by 95% of Americans.
Until Tulsi Gabbard is in place, we know nothing.
It is her output that will decide congressional spending bills and Trump’s decisions.
It’s Putin wants to invade Europe all the way to Wales (mind reading) vs “these satellite photos do not show any attrocities”.
Pics or it didn’t happen. Vs telepathy.
For what it’s worth, the iconic Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had envisioned a collapse of the USSR and the restoration of a “Greater Russia” that would include the former Soviet republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.