Mercifully short 37 minute video from Alex & Alexander:
1 Like
Thanks @Rich. To respond to the headline: I should bloody well hope so.
At Meaning in History, Mark Wauck reviews the Duran clip as follows:
I’ve been maintaining that Russia will probably present demands that will amount to Ukraine’s unconditional surrender—before even agreeing to actual negotiations. The Duran guys begin by discussing the spate of articles—often sourced to high level Zhou regime officials—that demonstrate the increasing urgency with which the Neocons are attempting to find some exit from Ukraine. They focus on the NBC article, which openly admits that US officials are concerned that Ukraine is simply running out of soldiers and that if Ukraine can’t find some way to enter negotiations with Russia the Ukrainian military could collapse in 2-3 months.Of course, what that means is that Western claims of a “stalemate” is no more than a talking point. There is no stalemate, and nobody knows that better than the Russians. Mercouris quotes Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, in a response to a direct question that was clearly intended to send a message to the Neocons: Nope, no stalemate, and the goals of the Special Military Operation will all be achieved. In other words, thanks, but we know a stalemate when we see one. Nice try.
Notably, the Western chatter now no longer talks of a “frozen conflict”—remember when that was the talking point? Instead the talk now is openly of a negotiated peace, and the sooner the better. Thus the increasingly open moves that appear aimed at isolating and removing the recalcitrant Zelensky.
Mercouris notes that the Russians have obviously been thinking endgame strategy. Just two days ago Putin, in public remarks, sketched out what look very much like Russia’s preconditions for any negotiations:
Putin talked about Ukraine’s borders being artificial—creations of the Soviet era that lack a basis in real ethnic and geographic conditions; about how cities in the south and east of Ukraine actually being Russian cities (Odessa and Kharkov were probably very much on Putin’s mind); he indicated that NATO membership for Ukraine was simply a non-starter; finally, he once again maintained that Ukraine remains a ‘fraternal country’, and broadly hinted that the maximum legitimate extent of “core” Ukraine—the central area starting around Kiev and west—is a part of the “Russian world.” That would leave a rump area in Galicia, around Lwiw, as a kind Banderistan.
Of course, Russia’s preference is to negotiate only with the US, rather than dignifying what Putin now refers to as the Kiev regime—not even dignifying the idea of a separate Ukraine. The Neocons are desperate to avoid such a humiliating eventuality and, in Mercouris’ words, want Ukraine to “carry the water for them.” The difficulty for US diplomacy—such as it is—is that Russia probably has all sorts of ways to ramp up geopolitical pressure on the US. The Palestine situation and the US inability to exercise any control over Netanyahu is just one such way to exert pressure. The economic and energy situations are others. In the meantime, Russia is content to continue to a complete military victory.