There Will Be No Ukraine Peace Deal
One wonders how much longer Putin and Lavrov will take it or even if they comprehend the situation.
For four years Putin and Lavrov have demonstrated enormous interest in ending the conflict by resolving the basic cause.
The West has never bothered to understand that the basis of the conflict is Washington’s hegemonic foreign policy and NATO and US missile bases on Russia’s borders in Poland and Romania. The Kremlin has been reluctant to see this and provocations, such as the conflict in Ukraine created by US Zionist Neoconservatives, as a declaration of war on Russia.
The Kremlin mistakenly has relied on the West coming to its senses and realizing that profits from economic interaction are preferable to war, especially nuclear war. This reliance on common sense by the Kremlin has proven to be wrong. Putin made a very bad bet.
John Helmer has pointed out that no Western government wants an end to the conflict because of the large rake-off in commissions from weapons sales.
Gilbert Doctorow and myself have pointed out that the war under Putin’s direction has widened far beyond Putin’s uninforced “red lines” and now consists of drone attacks deep inside Russia. These attacks are causing GPS disruptions, airline delays, internet inaccessibility and delays in payments processing, as well as some Russian civilian deaths.
Russians are tiring of it, and they are tiring of Putin’s endless toleration of it. Increasing numbers of ordinary people and elites want the conflict finished with the destruction of Ukraine. Conventional weapons suffice. Nuclear means are not needed.
By never enforcing Russia’s declared “red lines,” Putin created a picture of Russia unwilling and unable to fight for its sovereignty.
The West has noticed this, and Trump, having again abandoned the peace role and returned as bully has ordered the President of Russia to agree to a cease fire in place without addressing the root cause of the conflict.
If Putin agrees, Russia will have lost her sovereignty. Whether this simple fact has occurred to Putin and Lavrov I do not know. Alexander Dugin, Russia’s famous philosopher has tried to tell them. https://alexanderdugin.substack.com/p/sovereignty-and-war?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2827487&post_id=176929263&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=dx5km&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
The White House has declared that Trump’s meeting with Putin is off for now. Trump has again rolled out the “punishments.” The US Treasury has imposed additional sanctions on the Russian’s oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft. The US Treasury’s excuse is: “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
“Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine” means Putin’s unwillingness to accept orders from bully Trump.
Trump’s sanctions have no adverse effect on Russia. Following Trump’s oil sanctions, the oil price spiked. Given the inelastic demand for oil, the higher oil price will offset any decline in the amount sold. Trump’s foolish oil sanctions do dispossess Americans and Europeans who invested in the two Russian oil companies and now have huge gains that they cannot access because their accounts have been frozen by the buffoon’s previous sanctions. American investors’ accounts in Russian oil companies are valued at zero despite the high value of the stocks. The American investors are pressured by their account providers to write off their Russian holdings. In other words Trump’s “sanctions on Russia” dispossesses Americans and Europeans.
The only effect of the White House Buffoon’s Russian sanctions has been to ruin European and American investors.
Not content with Russia, China, and Iran as America’s chosen enemies, Trump creates more enemies for America with his preposterous order to India not to buy Russian oil.
How is Trump going to enforce his order? Is the buffoon going to start bombing India? Is there not one ounce of intelligence anywhere in the Trump regime?
Here is what Trump has done. It is the worst possible. He has driven up the price of oil which will affect Western economies adversely including his own, and bring more revenues to Russia. He has finally destroyed Russian illusions about a reconciliation with the West. Putin is being pressured to give up his groundless hopes and win the war.
The war, of course is now much wider than Ukraine.