The War in Ukraine

[daftandbarmy]

Deep strikes on Russia are likley the only way to bring Putin to the peace table at this point.

Or ramp up the 'Partners in Peace' program and threaten to speed up the Stans' application for membership in NATO

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_50349.htm

 

[KevinB]

Or ramp up the 'Partners in Peace' program and threaten to speed up the Stans' application for membership in NATO

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_50349.htm

Do both. But some of the ‘Stan’s are terrible violators of Sanctions against Russian

 

[daftandbarmy]

Smells a bit of desperation...

 

[quadrapiper]

Do both. But some of the ‘Stan’s are terrible violators of Sanctions against Russian

How much of that is driven by straightforward greed, and how much would disappear if those nations didn't feel a need to appease Moscow?

 

[RangerRay]

The “peace talks” in Istanbul were a farce.

Weekend Update #133: The Istanbul Talks

How Did We Get Here, What Happened, What Did They Reveal. Also A Revealing Trump Interview

open.substack.com

A summary:

• Last weekend European leaders threatened Putin with super-duper new sanctions if the Russian leader did not agree immediately to a condition-free ceasefire. The Europeans also thought they had Trump’s support for this.
• Putin, having no intention of agreeing to the European demand, and feeling confident that Trump was on his side, rejected the demand and instead offered to have talks that week in Istanbul.
• Trump immediately piled in and supported Putin’s call for talks and made it sound (as always) like Zelensky was the real impediment to peace.
• Zelensky wrong-footed both Putin and Trump by agreeing personally to take part in such talks, and saying that Putin and Trump should join in.
• Putin and Trump had no intention of actually taking part in the talks and so panicked. Trump pretended like he might come (but he never would as he was hoovering up billions for the Trumps in the Middle East) while Putin simply refused in the end.
• The Ukrainians named a high-level delegation to the talk with some of the key figures in the government, including Zelensky’s chief adviser Yermak, and the Defense and Foreign Ministers.
• Putin named a delegation of flunkies who have no real power.
• At one point Trump seemed poised to send almost everyone but himself (Vance, Hegseth, Rubio, etc) but in the end it was just Rubio—who seems very much to have evolved into the “beard” Trump wears to try and seem respectable.
• The talks eventually happened on Friday, were very short and achieved little (more on that below).
• Trump admitted that the talks, which he had pushed Zelensky to attend, were unimportant and that all that mattered was what he would decide with Putin—and that he and Putin would talk Monday (tomorrow). This then became the official position of the USG, and was quickly endorsed by Rubio.

Trump wants whatever Russia wants, and Europe is too feckless to be effective.