Posted on 01/09/2022 10:43:54 PM PST by RomanSoldier19
GENEVA (Reuters) - With diplomats publicly pessimistic, the United States and Russia are set to begin fragile negotiations in Geneva on Monday that Washington hopes can avert the danger of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine without conceding to the Kremlin's expansive security demands.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said over the weekend it was entirely possible the diplomacy could end after a single meeting, and even U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken played down expectations for the high-stakes talks.
"I don't think we're going to see any breakthroughs in the coming week," Blinken said in a CNN interview on Sunday.
Talks begin on Monday in Geneva before moving to Brussels and Vienna, with U.S.-Russia relations at their most tense since the Cold War ended three decades ago
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...


Interesting that the talks begin on Monday’ in Geneva before moving to Brussels and Vienna’.....
NATO Expansion:
The member states of NATO are:
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.
In the order of joining NATO:
1949 – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States.
1952 – Greece, Turkey
1955 – Germany
1982 – Spain
1999 – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland
2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia
2009 – Albania, Croatia
2017 – Montenegro
2020 – North Macedonia
NATO partner countries are:
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyz Republic, Malta, The Republic of Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty,....
..... which allows only for the invitation of “other European States”, and by subsequent agreements..... Countries wishing to join have to meet certain requirements and complete a multi-step process involving political dialogue and military integration......
The accession process is overseen by the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s governing body.
Not a single American life should be shed fighting any wars for people like those currently in office - and their extended cabals.
Gonna be interesting watching this play out.
Prospects are not the only thing considered “dim” with these talks...
Last month, Russia presented a sweeping set of demands that include a ban on further NATO expansion and an end to the alliance's activity in central and eastern European countries that joined it after 1997
If all of eastern Europe is in NATO, Putin is left with no countries to bully/invade.
Putin will kick Biden and Blinken around more than ever.
Well none of the them are ready for another war....surely not over Ukraine. But you push the bear across his red line he’ll most assuredly act in his time and place....the question will be when and where and it likely will not be Ukraine.
I have my own thoughts on where that would happen and why which I’ll save for another time.
It should be clear by now that our government and the military industrial complex won't send us to war to win anyway. They'll drag it out long enough for the military industrial complex to make their profits, then get out when Americans have had enough.
We saw this in both Vietnam and Afghanistan.
To anyone who served in these wars and is offended by what I just posted I'm sorry, but you tell me what happened.
I have a feeling Putin has this wrapped up. Waiting for the next shoe to drop. It will NOT be in Ukraine but someplace else. Putin is playing Three dimensional Chess Biden is playing tiddly winks. WE ARE NOT GOING TO WIN THIS ONE. When done—Russia will get bigger and NATO humbled, with it the EU. North Korea, China, Iran and Russia are cooking up something bad for us and Mr. Biden. Whats it all about? Control of the world’s energy supply—and land. Who should watch out? Turkey, Ukraine, Belerus, Poland, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Moldavia. That’s my prediction
I have a feeling Putin has this wrapped up. Waiting for the next shoe to drop. It will NOT be in Ukraine but someplace else. Putin is playing Three dimensional Chess Biden is playing tiddly winks. WE ARE NOT GOING TO WIN THIS ONE. When done—Russia will get bigger and NATO humbled, with it the EU. North Korea, China, Iran and Russia are cooking up something bad for us and Mr. Biden. Whats it all about? Control of the world’s energy supply—and land. Who should watch out? Turkey, Ukraine, Belerus, Poland, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Moldavia. That’s my prediction
A lot of people here will root for undoing Reagan’s victory of the Cold War because the partisanship has gotten so intense they want the free world to lose because Biden happens to be in the office.
That’s new. It didn’t use to be so bad.
The sad fact is that our own government is a greater enemy to freedom than Russia. We have become an authoritarian, corporatist oligarchy.
How can anyone believe Putin takes Biden and Blinken seriously?
Send Maxine and AOC and Sheila Jackson Lee over to negotiate. Same thing.
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