Posted on 02/19/2025 12:18:18 PM PST by marcusmaximus
After three years of American efforts to isolate Russia, U.S. policy took a significant shift toward Moscow in recent days. Russian officials have cheered the change, but even they appeared to be caught off guard by the speed of developments.
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On Wednesday, Putin confirmed the meeting could indeed happen that fast but cautioned that preparation was needed.
“We are in such a situation that it is not enough for the meeting to be just about having tea or coffee, sitting down and chatting about the future,” Putin said on Wednesday. “We need to make sure that our teams prepare issues that are extremely important for both the U.S. and Russia.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sounded a similar note of cautious optimism. “There is a lot of work ahead, the first major step has been taken,” he said. “It is still early to draw conclusions from what happened. The momentum is very good and the approach is constructive.”
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Russian media outlets, meanwhile, have been trumpeting what they described as a severing of the U.S. support for Ukraine. A headline over the story about Tuesday’s talks in Russia’s Kommersant newspaper read, “Ukraine out of the picture.”
Vladimir Solovyov, a pro-Kremlin talk show host, wrote on his Telegram channel that the contacts between Russia and the U.S. mean that Ukraine has lost. “The game is over. The casino is closing. It’s time to pay off debts or shoot yourself. There are no other options here,” he wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
George Orwell saw it right 60 years ago when he wrote “1984” — in which the future world was divided into 3 superpowers: Oceania — the USA and its allies, Eurasia (Russia and its sphere), and East Asia (China and its sphere). Back then, the USA was the only superpower, and Russia and China were still emerging 3rd world countries. But since then, Russia and China have also become superpowers — and thus the world that Orwell foresaw, has come to be — with India and Indonesia moving into that tier in the foreseeable future.
Ukraine is not the equal of Russia — as Zelenskyy likes to believe they are. Ukraine’s population is one-tenth of Russia’s, and Russia’s land mass is the largest in the world — rich with natural resources. They are richer than any of the other Western European countries combined — yet are shunned because they represented the Eastern European tradition and culture — which is actually the more vibrant and viable part of Europe now. Russia should not be considered an outcast but is the quintessential European culture.
China, India, Indonesia — compose the other big five population-wise. Until recently, China was on a fast-track to surpass even the US, and along with Russia, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, compose the emerging core of BRICS. What is needed at this time is a recalibration of the alignment of the powers that are in recognition of these new realities that haven’t been adjusted for the last 50 years.
It’s a new world. That’s what the talks need to recognize.
1984 was written in the late 1940s, so it was a bit more than 60 years ago. 1965 was 60 years ago! Pretty soon 1970 will have been 60 years ago. Time flies, because we’re all having so much fun.
Russians are the most maudlin people on earth (and not without reason).
Since 1917, the only thing they have been "optimistic" about ... is dying.
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