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Posted on 05/15/2025 11:05:17 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday the only way a breakthrough will happen in the efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine would be through direct talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Moscow sent a second-tier team to talks in Turkey.
Rubio, who spoke to reporters in Antalya, said he would travel to Istanbul for meetings on Friday with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and a Ukrainian delegation, but said he did not have high expectations for the talks.
"I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here until the president (Trump) and President Putin interact directly on this topic," Rubio said, echoing earlier comments from Trump.
The top U.S. diplomat described the current state of the talks to end the war as a "logjam," and said Trump was the only person who can break it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had traveled to Turkey after Putin proposed talks there, before the Russian president decided against traveling to the talks himself.
Putin instead dispatched a second-tier team of aides and deputy ministers to Istanbul.
Rubio said the level of the officials sent by Russia was not indicative of a breakthrough, but said Trump was willing to stick with talks as long as it takes to achieve peace.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
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I think this is a mistake. Honestly, if we have to have some involvement, I would prefer an arms transfer to Russia so that Putin can take all of Ukraine as quickly as possible. But, really, it's just best if we walk away. Let Europe sort this out.
There's that talking point again.
Nuts, I was hoping for a discussion of who mounts Zelensky on a post.
How about the “JV team”? Is that better?
I guess The EU had better start writing checks for their proxy war.
Insanity, and evil.
Putin’s war.
.
Rubio calls war in Ukraine a 'proxy war' between US and Russia that needs to end
🎥 Rules for reporters on how to photograph Zelensky in Istanbul. The main rule is not to show that he is a bunker dwarf.
-FRWL pic.twitter.com/aBOxT8slzh— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) May 15, 2025
Why don’t you just go over there and propose marriage to Putin and get a room together already? Yeah we should start supplying arms to Russia so they can defeat Ukraine where do you even get such a mixed up view of the world?
I have been intrigued by comments by Kirill Dmetriev about his conversations with Wittkof. He is clearly continuing the plan to permit US involvement in oil projects in the Kara Sea, which Wittkof had requested among their discussions of financial normalization.
While the Kara Sea had been Exxon in the past, it is Chevron cutting huge numbers of employees nowadays and who desperately needs a break, which this would provide. Oil companies tend to need oil they can sell and Chevron’s is getting scarce.
>> I would prefer an arms transfer to Russia so that Putin can
>> take all of Ukraine as quickly as possible.
In a word, no. Not going to happen no mater who is President. Our policy even in the time of Manifest Destiny was to counteract Russia (back then, the Russian Empire) expansionist drive when it became evident they were going to expand across Asia and into parts of China.
This is why us and Great Britain de facto supported Japan during the Russo-Japanese war in 1905.
If the Bolshevik Revolution never happened, if Russia never became Soviet and remained the Tsarist Russian empire, we would still eventually have clashed over their Asian expansionism and edging into Bosphorus/Turkey (prior to WWI)
We will not allow a hegemon do dominate the Eurasian continent, whether it be Germany, Russia, China or even the EU and definitely not help them achieve that goal.
While we should probably listened more closely to George Kennan post Cold War warnings and treated with much more caution with regard to NATO expansion - that ship has sailed.
And if Russia wants its former empire back, it will have to pay the blood and iron price and perhaps break itself in the process.
That does not mean that we should wade into direct confrontation with them, but does not mean we should give them a free hand either.
Time to eject green Tshirt goon.
Then peace is possible. As long as Z grifter is present, no peace.
Z grifter will not accept the reality that Russia now occupies Russian speaking eastern territories. That reality will never change.
.
Russia did not send a “a second-tier team”, they sent a what is very much a top tier team - arguable a higher level team than the Russian Diplomatic delegation.
It's just not a diplomatic team.
Russia sent Putin's top personal aide and Russia's Defense Minister.
One can assume that protracted negotiations are not at the top of the Russian agenda.
The team Russia sent is the type that issues ultimatums, not the type that negotiates terms which kind of gives a hint of where the situations stands at this point.
Putin is stalling; wants to get off his big spring killing offensive.
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