Many people don’t understand or are just in denial about the US-Russia talks that just took place in Saudi Arabia, and why they’re significant. This isn’t so much about the war in Ukraine, but about what things will look like after the war in Ukraine. We are witnessing the death of the New World Order founded by King Bush I in 1991, and the birth of another post-war world order.
This is comparable to the Yalta Conference in 1991 held by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin in 1945. The Tehran Conference was about winning World War II, and Yalta was about winning the peace. To understand Yalta, it is important to note who was invited and who was not invited. Of course Hitler was excluded, but it wasn’t because he was bad or even because he was an enemy. He was simply not a part of the new order.
Me using a vape while the Big Three watch in disappointment.
Hitler aside, Kai-shek was also not invited, despite being an ally and the conference explicitly discussed China and East Asia. This is often depicted in later western media as a betrayal, but that word implies trust and recognition that didn’t exist to begin with. China was an important place, but wasn’t considered a world player. This European attitude toward China would not change until Mao washed away MacArthur’s forces in Korea.
With that in mind, what can we say about the talks in Saudi Arabia? Like Yalta, this wasn’t just about the war. I would describe the last four years as the (hopefully) final escalation in the Great Game. This period was supposed to end with regime change in Russia, but instead, ended with regime change in the USA. Trump did more than win the election. He is cleaning out the unelected bureaucracy with the firing thousands of deep state officials, effectively undoing 16 years of gradual Democrat takeover. “Woke” DEI and transgender policies are explicitly targeted because they served as loyalty tests. Now the new regime has returned to the negotiating table with Russia.
Again, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this is the end of the world order. And like last time, it’s significant who’s left out. I suspect that’s why China is making disappointed noises.
Trump’s comments about Zelensky starting the war are correct. The last four years (even before 2022) were a failed attempt by Ukraine to get themselves a seat at the table. The EU lost their seat by failing to be a power broker, or even just an independent entity that anyone respects or takes seriously.
I think China might have had a seat at the table had they taken a more concrete pro-Russia stance. Instead, they tried to play both sides to their own benefit. If China had boldly and unequivocally taken Russia’s side, that would have had drastic consequences in the war and possibly ended it years ago. By trying to sit in both chairs at once, China might have been left without a chair at all.
Still, it is too early to see how successful this dialogue turns out to be, and if this is an “Only Trump can go to Russia” moment.
Ian Kummer
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Trump is moving at light speed while swinging a 30 lb. mace. And Russia has plenty of justification for being aggrieved by neocon-led assaults from prior US/EU governments. But Putin is rooting for Trump nonetheless, and it’s not just because he’s wielding a sledgehammer of reality; Putin has fought similar battles and knows how difficult that is. It’s time for the miscreants to be shown the door and adults to step up and begin the hard work of repairing decades of intentional destruction. That is a global fight and success will require a leap of faith and divine cooperation. So yes, Yalta is an apt comparison.
The Ukraine didn’t start the war, it was the Obama administration (1st), the Trump ‘deep state’ (probably without Trump’s knowledge) and Biden (tied for 1st).
Under Obama, US gave vast amounts of money and weapons to the minority Aryans in Western Ukraine who hate the Slavs in Eastern Ukraine (and the Crimea) and they took over the government in 2014 and promised to cancel Russia’s ‘eternal’ lease on the Crimea for the main Russian Naval bases, and give all those naval bases to NATO. So Russia took over the Crimea (bloodlessly, since the Ukrainian Army in Crimea had almost all Slavic officers), and made the Aryans promise not to harm the Slavs in the Donbass with the Minsk accords, guaranteed by Germany and France. As Germany and France said later, this was to trick Putin into not annexing the Donbass while they armed the Aryan Ukrainians and reorganised the Ukrainian army, taking their positions away from all Slavic officers and giving those positions to rabid Aryans. Then they strongly suggested the good Aryans proceed to exterminate all the backward Slavs.
During Trump’s first term, the US sent $billions in weapons to the Ukraine. Not clear at all if Trump knew this, but if he did, then he must have approved it.
After Biden’s election, in December 2021, Putin wrote Biden and Stoltenberg that Russia could never allow the Ukraine to join NATO. Both wrote back that Russia had absolutely no say in the matter, that the Ukraine would join NATO with NATO’s largest military base, nukes, and anti-ABMs that would make it impossible for Russia to retaliate against any NATO attack, forcing Russia’s surrender and compliance with all NATO demands.
Then, for some inexplicable reason, Putin ordered a totally unprovoked attack on the Ukraine, but the New York Times assure us that Russia are very close to total defeat, the Russian economy has been destroyed by the sanctions, and if Harris had been elected, Russia would now have a new, compliant President who would do everything NATO demanded, but the Id-10-t Trump is letting the impuissant Putin ride all over NATO, for reasons that escape the US neocons and neolibs and all the UK and EU leadership (except for Hungary and Slovakia).
America’s empire is dying more rapidly than ever, and I don’t think Putin is stupid enough to believe anything the US says. The next Democratic president will almost certainly reverse any deal that Trump makes, the same way Trump tore up his predecessors’ agreements with Iran and Ukraine. America is completely capricious and untrustworthy in its dotage.
Just like Nixon going to China sealed the fate of the Soviet Union, Russia and China solidly aligning would (will?) spell the final doom of the US.
I think Putin is smart enough to realize all this, but that doesn’t mean he won’t cynically use someone like Trump while he’s in office.