Sept. 29—President Donald Trump has indeed changed his strategy on ending NATO’s bloody and losing war against Russia in Ukraine, but not in the way the NATO propaganda machine claims after a Trump tweet last week seemed to imply that he thought Ukraine would "win." After months of trying to force Ukraine and its NATO puppet dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate in good faith with the Russians—efforts repeatedly undermined by NATO countries such as Great Britain, France, and Germany—sources close to the White House say the President has delivered a clear message: it's your war, not ours, and he will give nothing in weapons and support for this war that Europe does not pay for.
In speaking with Zelenskyy last week on the sidelines of the UN session, Trump also made it clear that he will still determine exactly what weapons the Europeans can buy for the madman in Kyiv, again refusing his request for long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles that could strike Moscow.
Rejection of Kagan’s Escalation Strategy
In so doing, Trump also rejected the policy advice of neo-con godfather Robert Kagan, husband of the Queen of the Ukraine and creator of the Maidan coup in 2014, former State Department official Victoria Nuland. Writing in the latest issue of The Atlantic, Kagan argued that now was the time for the U.S. to offer direct military and airpower support for Kyiv. Kagan, demonstrating his descent into even more desperate lunacy, believes that a war-weakened Russia could be dealt a decisive blow that would trap its forces inside Ukraine with no means of retreat—if the 12-mile-long Kerch Bridge were blown to smithereens by the U.S. and NATO. This, despite the fact, as strategic blogger Simplicus writes, that such an attack would surely trigger a Russian response that would rapidly escalate to a general thermonuclear war. Kagan, an influential and dangerous fool, claims that it is worth the risk because Russian ambitions to conquer Europe would be permanently ended—ambitions that do not exist, but which infect NATO's geopolitical thinking.
Peace Talks and the Alaska Summit Plan
White House sources say that Trump has also made his thinking clear to the European backers of the little dictator Zelenskyy, who asked whether the President was still committed to finding a peace deal in the crisis. He told them he was and expressed his opinion that moves in that direction would soon be coming from Trump's actual partner in seeking peace, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Trump has backed off on pressing Zelenskyy to seek discussions with Putin," said a source, "as he now believes that productive discussions are impossible as long as the Europeans jack up Zelenskyy. Instead, the President awaits Putin's response to the basic plan drawn up at the Alaska summit last month, in which the Russian president will lay out a concrete proposal for a ceasefire and ending the war on compromising terms."
The President tweeted after meeting Zelenskyy that he thought Ukraine could get most of its pre-February 2022 borders, if they are patient. He laid out the case that Russia was susceptible to increased economic pressure—not from sanctions, which cannot be enforced—but from Europe refusing to buy energy products from Russia and reducing trade with Russia's primary economic ally, China. He said this knowing that Europe is never going to do that; and note, he talked about 'pre-war borders'—which do not include Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Terms for Ending the War
"Trump knows what will end the war," the source continued. "Agreeing that NATO does not move any further eastward, and that Ukraine does not become a member; withdrawal of NATO missile systems from close to the Russian border; no NATO troops to be stationed in Ukraine for any purpose; and a pullback of Russian troops in former Ukrainian oblasts. The reversal of Ukrainian legislation that bars use of the Russian language and restricts Russian culture. They say they agree to these things, the war stops, and the borders can be adjusted for a more favorable outcome for Ukraine, with prospects for a massive redevelopment program. Zelenskyy will not propose such terms, so they are going to have to come from the Russians and the United States."
"With anti-Russian hysteria surrounding the alleged Russian drone attacks and overflights in neighboring countries, there is a cry for the stationing of U.S. troops in these countries—more troops in Poland and troops in places such as Romania and Estonia," said the source. "Trump is not going to do this, although he will listen to the proposals. Trump has worked out a counter to this Kagan-like tripwire scheme in the coming new Defense Strategy crafted by the anti-neo-con chief of defense policy, Eldridge Colby, which has the U.S. pulling back from Europe and concentrating on its own backyard in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. can't do both, effectively."
Lukashenko Endorses Russian Peace Proposal
Meanwhile, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko says that he discussed with Putin on Sept. 26 a new Russian peace plan for Ukraine that was "a very good proposal" which he claimed was broadly backed by the United States. He claimed that its outline had been presented to Trump in Alaska and was greeted favorably.
"President Putin and I discussed it, but I won't talk about it. The president himself will say," said Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin.
"It's a good proposal for Ukraine, proposals that were heard by Donald Trump in Alaska, among other places, and taken to Washington for consideration and discussion. A very good proposal," Lukashenko told Russian TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.
"If the Ukrainians don't accept these proposals, it will be like it was at the beginning of the special military operation," he added, using Moscow's term for the invasion of Ukraine. "It will be even worse; they will lose Ukraine."
"To avoid losing all of Ukraine, (Zelenskyy) must not just negotiate, but agree to favorable terms—terms that, by and large, have been approved by the Americans," Lukashenko said. He proposed building a nuclear power station in eastern Belarus that could provide electricity to Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine.
The Belarus president also suggested that he, Putin, and Zelenskyy, as leaders of three Slavic states, should sit down and come to an agreement.
"An interesting proposal," said the White House source. "Let's see what Putin proposes and then go from there."