Zelensky, the Europeans, and a couple of Trump advisors are obstacles that must be abandoned so that Trump and Putin can negotiate a good old-fashioned man-to-man peace agreement. From Martin Jay at strategic-culture.su:
Is the honeymoon period between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin over, following now what appears to be two months of talks of how to get a peace deal in Ukraine still dragging on without any light at the end of the tunnel?
While it is true that a peace deal in Ukraine is hampered by a lack of sincerity by the Ukrainian caretaker President Zelensky and even more smoke and mirrors by the Europeans who are now basically adversaries of the Trump-Putin initiative [READ They prefer war], it is in fact the Trump camp itself which is the heart of the problem.
Speed is one issue. Trump wants to flip a switch to lighten up the Christmas tree. He thinks a peace deal should be absurdly simple and is now vexed by some corners of U.S. media which remind the American people how preposterous the “24 hour” peace deal pledge was, leading up to taking office in January of this year. He’s also driven to getting a fast deal signed off by the deadline of nominations for the Nobel Peace prize approaching this year – a prize which he obsesses over given that Obama won one for practically doing nothing.
A speedy deal could have been a possibility if his chief negotiators were chosen more wisely.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff who recently met with Putin for four hours, believes he knows what the key is to getting a fast deal. He told Donald Trump that Ukraine should give Russia what it demands — total control of four eastern Ukrainian regions it annexed in 2022, some of which are still under Ukrainian control, according to Reuters reports. His comments have shocked many Republicans who have been complaining to Marco Rubio about his pro-Russia “stance” while General Keith Kellogg, who met with Zelensky recently caused a media storm by doing a ‘foot in mouth’. Kellogg, not a man overburdened with the stress of being highly intelligent, said that Ukraine could be divided up rather like Berlin was after the end of WWII – a comment he had to swiftly retract on social media later on. It is hardly a secret that Russia’s position on western troops in Ukraine is clear and such an idea is folly at best.
