On, Tuesday, February 18, 2025, negotiations begin in a room in the palace of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Trump, with the ultimatum he submitted to Ukraine and which Zelensky rejected, proves that Ukraine is turning into a colony without sovereignty. The 8 conditions of the text – ultimatum – agreement that the US demanded from Ukraine are shocking. The Americans have Ukraine for garbage… it really is shocking.
Why did the US start negotiations with Russia?
The Russian perspective
The Russians see that Trump is putting pressure on and bending everyone around the world, whether it is China, Canada or Denmark, an ally or an adversary – it does not matter. So far, only two countries have received his attention without aggressive rhetoric and hostile actions: India and Russia.
The European perspective
The Europeans assess it from a different perspective, unable to accept how it is in principle possible for the United States to talk on equal terms with Russia? Because the Russians are the losers of the Cold War, they should shut up and listen.
In Europe they believe that if the West is going to talk about something with Russia, then the West must appear as a united front, in order to impose on the Russians the terms of capitulation based on Western values. The answer to these questions is generally the same, but for different audiences.
The answer for the Russian public
If we compare the result that Russia has achieved in three years with the one with which it started, then for an independent outside observer – like Trump – this result is colossal. No country in the world has been subjected to so much economic and moral-psychological pressure in such a short period of time as Russia.
A record number of sanctions in history were imposed against it, they wanted to break it up by non-military methods, and as for the military, the entire NATO bloc waged a proxy war against it on the territory of Ukraine and in the hands of the Ukrainians. And Russia has endured these three years.
It is making steady progress on the front lines, and its economy is growing faster than that of those who planned to “bring” it to its knees with sanctions. Of course, in a conflict with such a country one can climb the ladder of escalation even higher, but the end of this path is obvious: nuclear war and guaranteed mutual military destruction. This means that it is necessary to start direct negotiations with Russia.
The answer for the American public
The costs for the United States of the struggle to maintain the “victory in the Cold War” have long exceeded the benefits of this “victory”. The Cold War was a long-term confrontation between the United States and the then Russia (USSR), which was focused on Europe.
They are trying to reproduce this situation now in order to maintain the US concentration in the Old World, only the line of military contact no longer runs along Berlin, but along the Dnieper. But for 21st-century America, there are things far more important than maintaining the Cold War framework: China, India, Indonesia.
And it is time to start working with Russia, a powerful country that has demonstrated an astonishing capacity for survival, not as a country that lost the 20th-century Cold War, but as a country that won a 21st-century proxy war, outside the framework of Europe.
The answer (the most unpleasant) for the European public
Europeans were offended by the fact that the Americans decided to talk to Russia on an equal footing without Europe. Objectively, Europeans are not equal to Americans, only Obama and Biden tried to camouflage this fact, and Trump bluntly… cuts off diplomacy and politeness in treating satellites as unnecessary entities.
Europe’s strategic mistake is that it entrusted sovereignty and issues of its development strategy to the Americans, Europe abandoned its national interests and hid behind the constant refrain that everything is “Russian propaganda.”
Europeans demanded that there be as much America as possible in Europe. So why are Europeans outraged now that the Americans do not respect them? In the eyes of Americans, Russia deserves much more respect, if only because it defends itself and controls its own destiny and does not depend on anyone.
Europe is hiding behind the military protection of the United States
And Europe has become accustomed to considering itself the moral leader of humanity, under the military protection of the United States.
The US vice president said it clearly and directly – Europe – at the Munich Conference: you are not a moral leader, you have no right to lecture others on morality, and now you will defend yourself alone. Europeans cannot help but cry in despair and bitterness at these words. That is exactly what the president of the conference, Christoph Heusgen, did, crying in front of the world.
Ukraine was defeated, it is a given and is turning into a colony without sovereignty
The main conclusion is that de facto the conflict is over: Russia won, and Ukraine will not only never see NATO again – it will have to slavishly accept the situation agreed upon by the superpowers. The main round of talks is scheduled for Tuesday, February 18, and the American delegation will meet with Volodymyr Zelensky on February 19, 2025. Meanwhile, the terms of the alleged agreement on the transfer of rights to Ukraine’s mineral resources to the United States, which Zelensky refused to sign, have been leaked online. Well, in short.
