Mickey Hamilton

Aug. 21—Prospects for expanding the New Land Grain Corridor (NLGC)—the crop production, logistics and transport belt across Russia, along the Trans-Siberian Railway—were presented in late July, during a visit to Russia’s Far East by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. On July 22, he visited the Trans-Baikal Grain Railway Terminal’s grain operation. He gave statistics on Russia’s progress in harvests and exports, saying that President Vladimir Putin “has instructed us to increase agricultural exports by 50% by 2030, compared to 2021.” He stressed that a major tool is “preferential lending” to farmers, along with assuring reliable fertilizer and other inputs. Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut also reported on achievements and goals. She made a point about wanting to increase Russian exports to China. “The key challenge remains reaching an agreement with our Chinese partners on tariff-free grain imports.”

The NLGC (NZSK in Russian), standing for the Moscow group of companies involved, foresees assembling the funding to expand the area of cropland involved in the infrastructure program, by several hundred thousand hectares. The focus is on the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. Major crops include wheat, oilseeds, barley, rye, oats, flax, and others.

The NLGC traces back some 14 years, with the stated support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and of the Chinese government. The purpose is to provide food security through economic cooperation—the grain cartels’ worst nightmare. At the time of the 2023 Belt and Road Summit in China, Russia agreed to supply 70 million tons of grain and oilseeds to China over the ensuing 12 years. Multiple deals were signed between Russia and China in Vladivostok at the September 2023 Eastern Economic Forum, for the new grain hub called the Grain Terminal Nizhneleninskoye-Tongjiang, with the railway bridge, located between Vladivostok in the Far East and Heilongjiang, China’s northeastern province.

The crop procurement system uses contracts with farmers, with advance payment to them, and pre-set, fair prices. The concept involves building crop storage and handling facilities along the railway. A big storage and handling hub is in Zabaikalsk, on the Russian side of the border with China, whose city is Manzhouli. Its silos and facilities can handle 8 million tons of crops. Plans for a westward complex in Tatarstan, near Kazan, were announced in 2024. Smaller hubs are planned on the border of Iran, Turkmenistan, and other locations.

The model for transport is called “Grain+,” a mode of container freight for inland grain transportation. The system takes into account the different rail track gauges between China and Russia. Russia and China have agreed on producing special rolling stock for the system.

The ambitious goal is to have in operation the land and logistics for 90 million tons of crops per year by 2035, with as much as 70 million tons of that available for neighboring and other friendly trade partners, including the Middle East as well as Central Asia. For the most part, grain will flow toward China, with return cargo in the reverse direction.

Aug. 21—On August 19, the east campus of the Microsoft corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington became a “Free Zone” after dozens of current and former Microsoft employees protested the company’s enabling of Israeli war crimes in Gaza and elsewhere. The large courtyard surrounded by several restaurants which is especially popular at lunchtime was renamed, “Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza,” where employees held signs reading “No Labor for Genocide,” and “Join the Worker Intifada.” The protest was organized by No Azure for Genocide, which has demanded that Microsoft divest from Israel.

While the company still denies any knowledge or involvement with mass surveillance or the targeting of civilians, in late 2021 Yossi Sariel, the commander of the notorious Unit 8200 of Israeli military intelligence, flew to Seattle to meet Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella. According to Israel’s [+972 Magazine](https://www.972mag.com/microsoft-8200-intelligence-surveillance-cloud-azure/), their discussion was on how to move vast amounts of Israeli secret intelligence into the nearly limitless storage capacity of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. At this meeting that took place at the Microsoft headquarters, Sariel won Nadella’s support for a plan that would grant Unit 8200 access to a segregated, secured, and customized area within Microsoft’s Azure system. With this storage capacity and help for AI, Unit 8200 built a powerful mass surveillance apparatus capable of collecting and storing recordings of millions of phone calls and text messages made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The intelligence stored in Microsoft’s Azure system has helped facilitate deadly airstrikes and has shaped military operations, including the targeted assassinations of alleged Hamas supporters.

These employees wrote on their website, “Microsoft has made the active choice to be part of the economy of apartheid since 1991 with its technologies embedded across the Israeli military, prison system, police, universities, and schools—including in illegally occupied settlements. That is a political choice. As it stands today, Microsoft technology powers Israel’s mass-surveillance weapon that collects and stores recordings of millions of mobile phone calls and texts made each day by Palestinians. That is a political choice. Every hour, the Microsoft-powered mass surveillance weapon is used to blackmail Palestinians, place them in detention, or even justify their killing after the fact. That is a political choice. Every day for the past 22 months, the Microsoft-powered mass surveillance weapon has been used to facilitate the bombardment and massacring of Palestinians in Gaza. That is a political choice.” 

Aug. 21—The American Soybean Association (ASA), the farmer group representing some 500,000 growers, sent a letter Aug. 19 directly to President Donald Trump from ASA President Caleb Ragland, a farmer in Kentucky, asking for the Trump Administration to talk to China to “reach a deal that includes the removal of China’s retaliatory duties and, if possible, significant purchase commitments” of U.S. soybeans. The U.S. farmers’ appeal is occasioned by the fact that China, in the context of U.S. trade and military belligerence, has simply placed no orders at all for the new soybean marketing period starting in September, after being the foremost importer of U.S. soybeans for decades. China bought 54% of U.S. soybean exports in the 2023-2024 trade year.

The ASA letter opens with the dire statement, “U.S. soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice.”

The significance of the farmers’ forthright appeal goes beyond even relieving the grim circumstances of the growers, whose productive capacity represents 28% of annual world soybean production, to the general point that the world needs President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping to confer on economic and security matters, and get on the track of mutually beneficial arrangements of all kinds, especially food.

ASA President Ragland’s letter states, "China has not purchased any U.S. soybeans for the months ahead as we quickly approach harvest. The further into the autumn we get without reaching an agreement with China on soybeans, the worse the impacts will be on U.S. soybean farmers.

“Soybean farmers are under extreme financial stress. Prices continue to drop and at the same time our farmers are paying significantly more for inputs and equipment. U.S. soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with our largest customer.”

The letter is accompanied by a 10-page white paper of charts and documentation. Titled, “Soybeans Without a Buyer: The Export Gap Hurting U.S. Farms.”

The farmers’ letter details the gist of the crisis: “Over the past five years, China has imported an average of 61% of the world’s soybean supplies—more than the rest of the world combined. Historically, the U.S. was the provider of choice for Chinese customers. However, due to ongoing tariff retaliation, our longstanding customers in China have and will continue to turn to our competitors in South America to meet their demand, a demand Brazil can meet due to significantly increased production since the previous trade war with China.”

The letter was also sent to all Cabinet secretaries and to the leaders of the relevant committees in Congress. 

Sources report that Xi has requested a one-on-one meeting with Trump that he intends to use to change the direction of China-U.S. relations. Xi is prepared to offer the U.S. major concessions and trade deals, including on the purchase of agricultural products like soybeans, and will work out a fair reduction in tariffs generally. The sources say that Xi will also propose major Chinese investment in the U.S., as well as joint collaboration on international projects, and would lower the barriers for American investment in China, including in infrastructure projects.

Xi also intends to explain to Trump that the BRICS alliance is not a threat to either the United States or the dollar, but represents a pathway towards a new just economic order, that threatens only the economic royalists who control the collapsing monetarist world order, and who are pushing for conflict between the United States and China and Russia. Xi will offer the United States China's help in transitioning to this new global system, which is based on cooperative economic development for the benefit of all, not only a handful of the wealthiest people. China would resume purchase of U.S. debt, the which it had all but suspended as the two nations vectored towards conflict.

The sources say that they expect that such a summit could take place within the next month, perhaps around the time of the September UN General Assembly meeting.

There has also been talk of a possible tripartite summit between Xi, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Sept. 3 commemoration of Victory in World War II over Japan, to be held in Beijing. Putin will be attending. Trump has not yet been invited, sources report, since Xi realizes that internal differences within the Administration might force him to decline. Xi, these sources report, places a high priority on a direct summit with Trump, ostensibly to settle the trade and tariff questions, but which will include broader discussions.

Aug. 20—Official reports from both India and China on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s Aug. 18-20 visit to New Delhi, India, concur that relations between the world’s two most populous nations are heading back to much-needed normalcy in this time of “global turbulence.” The leaders of the two nations are now set to meet on the sidelines of the Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.

“Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on his X account after meeting Aug. 19 with Wang Yi. “Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan, [Russia, at the BRICS summit] last year, India-China relations have made steady progress, guided by respect for each other’s interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.”

Before meeting Modi, Wang met with his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, and separately with Indian National Security chief Ajit Doval, in the larger-format meeting of the 24th Round of the Special Representatives’ Dialogue on the Boundary Question. Armed conflict in one area of their long border in 2020 had thrown bilateral relations into the freezer. It has taken careful military and diplomatic work over time to rebuild trust, such that in this 24th round, agreements were reached to both establish several working groups with more ambitious mandates to deal with border issues, and, importantly, to “take a political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship,” India’s External Affairs Ministry reported in a concluding document on Wang Yi’s visit.

In their talks, Jaishankar and Wang each raised particular knotty issues between the two countries (India, its concerns on terrorism and coordinating river management related to a huge dam China is constructing on a common river; China, the question of Taiwan), but dealt with them in the context of their “positive, constructive and forward-looking discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest.” The concluding document named some ten general “understandings and outcomes/practical steps” they agreed on to promote “people-centric and economic engagement” between their two peoples.

“As two major neighboring and developing countries, China and India share similar views and broad common interests,” and should trust and support each other, Wang Yi emphasized in the meeting with Doval, Xinhua reported.

Doval agreed that in the current turbulent international situation, “India and China face a series of common challenges, and it is necessary to enhance understanding, deepen trust, and strengthen cooperation, as this concerns the well-being of the people of both countries and the peace and development of the world,” according to Xinhua.

To Jaishankar, Wang proposed that by regarding each other as partners and opportunities rather than rivals or threats, they would set an example for other developing nations. “The revitalization of the two great Eastern civilizations should reinforce and complement one another, providing much-needed certainty and stability for Asia and the wider world.”

Jaishankar summarized the net result of the meetings: “Confident that our discussions today would contribute to building a stable, cooperative and forward-looking relationship between India and China.”

Aug. 20—Interviewed by Russia’s VGTRK station Aug. 19 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assured listeners that “the atmosphere was quite good” in the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska—and distinctly different from the White House meeting of the seven European “leaders” who went to Washington as a “support group” for Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Alaska “was a useful conversation. It showed without any doubt,” he said, “first, that the U.S. leader and his team are sincere in their commitment to achieving tangible results by bringing about something lasting, durable, and sustainable. This is what sets them apart from the Europeans who, at the time, shouted at every corner that they would not accept anything but a ceasefire, while continuing to supply weapons to Ukraine even after it is declared.”

Second, it showed that President Trump and his team understand that the Ukraine conflict “has its causes, which means that all the speculation alleging that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked,” as some Presidents and Prime Ministers of Europe say, “is just baby talk.”

President Trump and his team, particularly since the Alaska summit, “have adopted a far more substantive approach to resolving the Ukrainian crisis, recognizing the imperative to address its root causes,” Lavrov said. He cited two root causes. First, the five waves of NATO’s eastern expansion, despite such official commitments as the OSCE’s assertion that “security is indivisible, and no one may strengthen their own security at the expense of others”—which NATO violated. European leaders talked in Washington about Ukraine’s security—and [British PM Sir Keir] Starmer of Europe’s—but not one spoke of Russia’s security, Lavrov noted.

Another root cause: Zelenskyy’s Ukraine is the only country in the world to ban a language—Russian; his regime has stripped Russian-speakers of their rights and banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Yet these European leaders say that “this is the man who must be in charge of striking a deal with Russia as he deems fit,” said Lavrov.

Lavrov gave a history lesson, when asked about Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s proposal that Ukraine adopt the Finnish model of 1944 as a solution. Finland in 1944 ended its military’s participation alongside Hitler in its war against Russia, and established relations with the Soviet Union, giving up a small part of its territory in the process. Finland, Lavrov pointed out, “whose military units participated in many war crimes” while fighting alongside Nazi Germany, then signed a treaty with the Soviet Union that stated “eternal neutrality, and that neither the Soviet Union nor Finland would ever join structures directed against the other,” has now joined NATO, “the structure that considers Russia as an enemy.”

Russia was never out to seize territory—not Crimea, nor the Donbass, nor Novorossiya; “our goal was to protect the Russian people who lived on these lands for centuries,” Lavrov remarked. The “root cause” to be eradicated, he repeated, is the policy of “the West, led by the previous administration of J. Biden,” of using Ukraine “as an instrument of containment, suppression of Russia and inflicting, as they say, a ‘strategic defeat’ [on Russia].” 

Aug. 20—New details have emerged about the recent meeting between President Donald Trump and the European leadership of NATO, and the Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy that reveal that President has totally walked away NATO demands for a ceasefire that have sabotaged previous negotiations. Trump has properly identified that his goal is not merely to stop the fighting, but to create the basis for a permanent peace that removes the basis for future conflict.

The President, said a source close to the White House, "has told Europe that he wants to end a war that NATO deliberately provoked, and now has lost, against Russia. He sees no reason for conflict with the Russians except the paranoid and insane views of the British and French, and especially the Germans, that the Russians want to invade and take over Europe. He rejects this analysis, and says America is not going to engage in confrontation with Putin and Russians and instead seeks normal and peaceful relations with its fellow nuclear superpower. This has prompted the NATO leadership to say that Putin has brainwashed Trump. But what they say, and what they think no longer really matters. Trump has asserted that he, the President of the United States, is control of the agenda and his is an agenda for peace.

"This has caused Zelenskyy to do some thinking," said the source. "He has been propped up by the NATO war party and their allies in the U.S., including in the State Department. But if Trump is asserting control over this process, and wants a peace deal, does Zelenskyy's future best lie with Europe, or with Trump? Trump told him that he will protect him if he accepts the peace deal being negotiated. And he also told him that nothing will save him if he tries to sabotage it. Zelenskyy knows that the U.S. and Trump know that much of the money and aid sent Ukraine has "gone missing,' and has been stolen by the massively corrupt Ukrainian political machine which Zelenskyy nominally heads. Trump keeps reminding him that he really has no cards to play. There is reason to believe that the message is getting through."

In Saturday's meeting, Trump shot down the European demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine. It was prompted by a comment from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said: “I can’t imagine that the next meeting [between Putin and Zelenskyy] would take place without a ceasefire. So, let’s work on that, and let’s try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today depend on at least a ceasefire from the beginning.” Trump responded immediately: “In the six wars that I’ve settled, I haven’t had a ceasefire. We just got into negotiations. If we can do the ceasefire, great, and if we don’t do a ceasefire, because many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us—great points,” Trump said. He called instead for a full peace agreement.

Trump had begun the meeting by confidently saying he was “optimistic” that a deal could be made that would deter future aggression against Ukraine. He then added: “I actually think there won’t be [any future aggression by Russia]. I think that’s … largely overrated.” As far as security guarantees go, he said that “European nations are going to take a lot of the burden. We’re going to help them, and we’re going to make it [the deal] very secure. We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact. That means the war zone, the war lines.”

When media asked about such security guarantees for Ukraine, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Trump is talking to both Russia and Ukraine about this, and “has directed his team to come up with a framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to help ensure a lasting peace and end this war.”

Aug. 19—This year is not only the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, but also the anniversary of the creation of the Soviet nuclear agency, now called Rosatom. From the beginning, under the direction of Russian physicist Igor Kurchatov, the agency worked to utilize atomic power not only for the bomb, but also for producing electricity. The world’s first nuclear power plant putting electricity online was built in 1954 under Kurchatov’s directions in the city of Obninsk.

Igor Kurchatov had been appointed the scientific director of the Soviet nuclear program in 1943. He was instrumental in the development of the atomic bomb and then headed up the work on the hydrogen bomb. After seeing one of the tests of the hydrogen bomb in 1950, he came back to his colleagues, shaken, saying, “We can never use this bomb in a war.” At the end of December 1950, he told his colleagues, “Let’s begin next year not with weapons, but with a magnetic thermonuclear reactor: Let’s begin with that.”

In celebrating the Rosatom anniversary, various nuclear scientists told reporters what they would show Igor Kurchatov if he visited them now in 2025. Rosatom also issued key quotes from Kurchatov’s 1956 speech at the famous 20th Party Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, at which Khrushchev gave his well-known de-Stalinization speech. Kurchatov’s speech was published the next day in Pravda.

It was a decisive shift, as Kurchatov called for cooperation on developing thermonuclear energy with other countries, including specifically with the United States. Kurchatov said: “We, Soviet scientists, would like to work together with scientists from all countries of the world, including scientists from America, whose scientific and technical achievements we highly appreciate, to solve this most important scientific problem for mankind. For this to be possible, the only thing necessary is that the U.S. government accept the Soviet Union’s proposal to ban the use of atomic and hydrogen weapons, for which our party is tirelessly fighting.” Kurchatov’s speech in London that year revealed to the world the Soviet work on a new thermonuclear device called the “tokamak.” This unilateral revelation of “state secrets” led to the general declassification of the work on fusion in all nations.

Here are some other quotes from that London speech of Kurchatov’s, published today by Rosatom:

“It is advisable to build nuclear power plants first and foremost in areas with long-distance fuel imports. Therefore, in the current five-year period, it is planned to build two nuclear power plants in the Urals with a total capacity of 1 million kW. A nuclear power plant with a capacity of 400,000 kW will also be built near Moscow.”

“A controlled thermonuclear reaction should make it possible to obtain energy not from its reserves concentrated in the atomic nuclei of the rare elements uranium and thorium, but from the formation of helium from a substance widespread in nature—hydrogen. The solution of this most difficult and majestic task would forever relieve humanity of the concern for the energy reserves necessary for its existence on Earth. We now have the hydrogen bomb to create the conditions for a hydrogen-helium fusion reaction. But it must now be controlled to avoid an explosion.”

“We must find the nature of the forces that bind protons and neutrons, the basic structural elements of atomic nuclei. It is necessary to study the structure of protons and neutrons themselves. It is necessary to build gigantic accelerators for this purpose.”

There are also celebrations in all the “atomic cities” in Russia in honor of this anniversary. Rosatom’s “Territory of Culture of Rosatom” has organized Russian artists to travel in a song-marathon to all of these sites. 

Aug. 19—The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to launch a terrorist attack on the Crimean-Kerch Bridge, aimed at sabotaging talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict, said Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large in charge of overseeing the Kiev regime’s crimes, reported TASS on Aug. 18. “Against the backdrop of the emerging negotiation process, a new attempt [was made] by Ukraine and its allies to carry out a terrorist attack as a provocation to disrupt the talks and the search for a peaceful resolution,” Miroshnik wrote on his Telegram channel.

A Chevrolet Volt with a powerful improvised explosive device inside was traced and the bomb was defused.

RT reported Aug. 18: “According to the FSB, the rigged vehicle had crossed into Russia from Georgia. The Ukrainian plan was to deliver the Chevrolet to Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region via a car transporter truck and then ‘pass it on to another driver, who was supposed to ride in it to Russia’s Crimea via the Crimean Bridge and become an unwitting suicide bomber,’ the agency said.” Some 130kg of Finnish-made explosives had been packed into the Chevrolet Volt.

On Oct. 8, 2022, the Ukrainian intelligence service detonated a truck bomb on the Kerch Bridge, which exploded and damaged the roadway, causing sections to collapse into the sea, and also ignited fuel tanks on a passing train. Russian officials reported that the explosion killed three people. The Ukrainian Security Service has claimed responsibility for using underwater explosives to target the bridge.

Aug. 19—Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the development of Russia’s immense Far East “a national priority for the 21st century.” A statement by Putin, placed prominently at the front of the website of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will hold its conference September 3-6 in Vladivostok, identifies the development of the Far East as an assertion of Russia’s national and international intent:

“We have identified the development of the Far East as a national priority for the entire 21st century. The importance and correctness of this decision has been confirmed by life itself, by the challenges we have faced recently, and, most importantly, by the real trends that are gaining momentum in the global economy, where the key business ties, trade routes, and in general, the entire vector of development are increasingly reorienting toward the East and the Global South.

“In essence, today the Far East has, without exaggeration, become the most important factor in strengthening Russia’s position in the world, and our standard-bearer in the new global economic reality. And to a great extent, the future of our entire country depends on how the Far East develops.”

Russia’s Far East is immense: 2.7 million square miles (6.2 million sq km). The continental lower 48 U.S. states have 3.1 million square miles (8 million sq km). So, the Russian Far East is 86% the land area of the continental or contiguous United States. The population density of the Far East as a whole is minuscule: 0.42 persons per square mile (or 1.1 persons per sq km). The Russian government has spent an enormous sum to develop the Far East over the last two decades, in infrastructure, and also trying to keep Russians from moving to the western part of the country.

Building in the Far East at times requires special techniques for building on soil that is permanently frozen, or on soil that is permafrost, which can be frozen for two more years, and then thaws and turns into mud. The weather can be bitterly cold. This must be taken account of in all infrastructure programs, but especially in building railways. More than 290 projects are currently in the building phase in the Far East. The Russian government currently has over 200 billion rubles invested in roads, bridges and utility networks. It is also creating a nuclear-powered ice-breaker fleet for the North Sea Route, which stretches from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait. There are also private as well as mixed ventures, such as Russian building new ports at Utrenny (in the Tyumen Olbast) and Sabetta (in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), and upgrades for six existing ports. There is the construction of the New Land Grain Corridor to establish the world’s first specialized railway grain terminal in the Russian Far East. It is significantly financed by the Chinese, giving China a steady food supply, and Russia a market for agricultural produce. China is playing a significant role in the financing of Far East development projects.

Aug. 19—The press director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova released the following commentary Aug. 18 in connection with the statements of British officials on the Ukrainian conflict, as translated from the Russian original:

“Against the backdrop of the genuine desire demonstrated by the leadership of Russia and the United States in Anchorage for a comprehensive, fair and sustainable settlement of the conflict around Ukraine, including, among other things, the eradication of its root causes, statements continue to pour out of London that are not only dissonant with the efforts of Moscow and Washington, but are also clearly aimed at undermining them.

“Thus, in a joint statement on Aug, 17 following their latest online meeting, the ‘coalition of the willing’ chaired by British Prime Minister K. Starmer and French President E. Macron revived the obviously unviable idea of deploying a Western military contingent in Ukraine if an agreement on a ceasefire is reached. In turn, on August 15, British Defense Minister J. Healey directly stated that Albion was ready to send troops to Ukraine to support the ceasefire when it comes into force.

“The role of the British in fueling the conflict in Ukraine is well known. And before the start of the SVO, London did not hide the fact that they viewed this country exclusively as a geopolitical instrument aimed against Russia. For a number of years, Great Britain has been trying to demonstrate leadership on the issue of supporting the Ukrainian puppet regime and mobilizing foreign aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By encouraging their protégés in Kiev, the British are firmly holding them on a Euro-Atlantic and anti-Russian course, which is deadly for the people of Ukraine. London is obsessed with the desire to constantly raise the stakes in the conflict and is pushing its NATO partners to a dangerous brink, beyond which a new global conflict is not far away….

“These bellicose tirades, which de facto are a cynical incitement to continue military actions, only confirm that London is not interested in resolving the situation but is doing everything possible to prolong the bloodshed. With their policy, the British simply do not leave Kiev a chance to get out of the conflict through negotiations, and out of habit, arrogantly and self-confidently prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

“It is unlikely that the authorities of Great Britain, which has long since left the ‘first league’ of world politics, are capable of realizing the full burden of responsibility that they are arbitrarily taking upon themselves, as well as the potentially catastrophic consequences of the destructive policy they have chosen for international and regional security. In this regard, we call on London to abandon risky and ill-considered geopolitical gambits, and, at the very least, not to interfere with the painstaking work of Russian and American negotiators.” 

Aug. 19—U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ramped up his personal vendetta against Cuba with two special announcements, both dated Aug. 13, intended to crush Cuba’s struggling economy, starve the population and foment social unrest. One is directed against former Brazilian Health Ministry officials and former officials of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), accused of “complicity” in Cuba’s overseas medical mission program, or what Rubio calls a “labor export scheme,” “human trafficking,” etc.

The second one imposes visa restrictions on Cuban, African and Grenadian government officials also for being involved in the Cuban medical brigades program. The State Department doesn’t name specific African countries or Grenadian officials to be sanctioned. It has previously revoked the visas of Cuba’s government leadership, beginning with President Miguel Diaz-Canel, and threatened to revoke the visas of Caribbean nations that have invited Cuban doctors into their countries. Rubio’s threats to revoke the visas of Caribbean government leaders last March were met with an angry pushback.

Sources report that Rubio, whose family was driven out of Cuba by Castro, has a blind rage toward the Cuban regime. He has completely denied the world historical accomplishments of Cuban medicine, internationally in fighting disease, which accomplishments occurred despite a brutal, over 70-year sanctions policy. His political life is linked to the Gusano networks that control much of Florida, and who are as corrupt as the day is long. and intersect with British and American intelligence services.

The source of Rubio’s rage is the Cuban program that has deployed tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and technical experts to developing countries across the globe for decades to provide life-saving medical assistance. These highly-trained medical professionals have worked in several African countries to respond to cholera and ebola epidemics, to treat victims of natural disasters, as in Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, the more recent Covid epidemic and many other emergency situations. Currently they number about 26,000 doctors and nurses working in 55 countries.

Rubio claims this program, for which the Cuban government is paid in foreign currency, “enriches the corrupt Cuban regime” and “deprives the Cuban people of essential medical care”—a baldfaced lie. But his real goal is to deprive the Cuban government of the foreign currency it earns, and on which it depends, under conditions in which the six-decade U.S. embargo continues to prevent Cuba from having normal trade relations with other nations, financial transactions with banks, and imports of vitally-needed products such as syringes, pacemakers, construction and electrical equipment.

The targeting of former Brazilian officials is instructive. State sanctioned two former Brazilian Health Ministry officials, Mozart Julio Tabosa Sales and Roberto Kleiman, who worked with the “Mais Medicos” (More Doctors) program, founded in 2013 under then President Dilma Rousseff, which collaborated with the Cuban doctors deployed to Brazil. Also sanctioned were former officials of the Pan American Health Organization, for abetting “the Cuban regime’s labor export scheme in the Mais Medicos program.” Their visas and those of family members have been revoked. Now, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who will soon go on trial for coup plotting against President Lula da Silva, is demanding that sanctions also be applied to Dilma Rousseff for not only collaborating with Cuban doctors, but also for holding her present post as president of the New Development Bank, the BRICS bank. The Bolsonaristas think that attacking Rousseff would have a “broader impact” because of her role in the BRICS, an “axis of the multipolar world,” according to Brasil 247. 

Aug. 19—Over the first half of 2025, the U.S. agriculture trade deficit hit a record $28.6 billion, according to the Aug. 7 posting by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is a jump from the same time period last year, January-June 2024, which posted a $18.4 billion gap.

U.S. agriculture exports through June this year totaled $85.6 billion; imports totaled $114.1 billion. Tariffs or no tariffs, the profile of U.S. agriculture and food supply has been food import-dependency in recent years—except for grains and oilseeds—imposed by the transnational monopolies of the agro-financial-complex of Wall Street and the City of London.

For decades, the U.S. was manipulated into producing a surplus of exportable grains and oil seeds, as the export-source for the monopoly globalist cartels to dominate, while all other food types—from seafood to asparagus—were increasingly sourced abroad, again, by the same globalist cartels, raking it in from cheap labor. For example, 60% of U.S. fresh fruit consumption is imported, 40% of fresh vegetable consumption, and 85% of apple juice consumption.

For a long while, the export revenue from the huge volume of grains and oilseeds exported from the U.S. masked the volume of imports of the other agriculture commodities, until 2019, when the agriculture trade deficit showed up, the first time in 60 years. The deficit has been worsening since, regardless of whether a Biden or Trump administration.

The solution? Collaborative roll-back of wrongful international supply lines, with credit and resources for diversified, family farming, and mutual interest trade. Instead Washington’s tariffs and trade belligerence are causing havoc. An example: soybeans.

China, once the largest importer of U.S. soybeans, has currently held off from placing any orders at all from the U.S., as of the next soybean purchasing period, beginning in September (harvest time). Last week, President Trump posted an appeal on Truth Social, “I hope China will quickly quadruple its soybean orders. This is also a way of substantially reducing China’s Trade Deficit with the U.S.A.” China has drastically diverted its soybean purchases to South America. 

Aug. 19—The business program for Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum, Sept. 3-6 in Vladivostok, was posted Aug. 12, giving details of themes, sessions and special activities. The main theme is, “The Far East: Cooperation for Peace and Prosperity.”

There is special interest and significance this year to the Forum, which is marking its 10th anniversary, coming as it does after the Aug. 15 Summit between Presidents Putin and Trump, and following after the two major international events in China: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting Aug. 31-Sept. 1, and the Sept. 3 commemoration of the Victory over Japanese Aggression and Defeat of Fascism.

Overall, the EEF business program has some 90 sessions scheduled, divided into 7 thematic blocs. The agenda includes business dialogues with China, India, ASEAN, and Thailand and Myanmar.

There are many sessions regarding the Northern Sea Route, the Asia-Pacific sphere and related areas and corridors of trade and development. For example, two of the seven themes are: “The Far East: A Region for Living and Development,” and “Arteries of Growth: How Logistics Are Driving Economic Change.” The latter category includes sessions on, “The Role of the Far East in Ensuring Russia’s Transport Sovereignty”; and “The Northern Supply Route: Reliable, Rapid and Affordable”; and “500 Years Straight Ahead: From Discovery to the Cutting Edge on the Northern Sea Route.” A major consideration is how the “Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor” can be developed further. The Bering Strait is the gateway, and an inter-continental east-west land link would transform the globe.

Attendance in Vladivostok may be in the range of 6,000, representing 36 nations, according to a report in Sputnik earlier this month. This forecast is lower than the 7,100 people from 75 nations attending the EEF last year, attributable mostly to the impact of sanctions and other economic aggression. Nevertheless, whatever the numbers involved this year, the role of the meeting is powerful.

Russia’s Far East is described by Anton Kobyakov, the Executive Secretary of the EEF Organizing Committee and an Adviser to President Putin, as “not only Russia’s gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, but also an important center of economic growth. Unique preferential regimes, large-scale infrastructure projects and systemic business support measures are already making the region attractive for investment and innovation. The Eastern Economic Forum plays a special role in this process…. The Forum has become the main platform for building long-term partnerships with leading Asian countries….”

Hamas Agrees to Ceasefire Terms Amid Mediation Efforts

Aug. 19—Sources close to the White House say that President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is again working on pushing through a Gaza ceasefire and partial hostage release deal.

Yesterday, in a sudden turn in what has been months-long foot-dragging by Hamas—effectively playing into the hands of the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu—nitpicking over details in plans proffered by Witkoff through his fellow mediators Qatar and Egypt to secure a partial deal, Hamas agreed without reservation to a new proposal to release 10 living hostages and remains of dead hostages, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners by the Israelis. An immediate 60-day ceasefire would be put into place, and Israeli forces would withdraw from parts of Gaza, while negotiations on a final peace deal got underway in earnest.

A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nono, told Qatar's Al-Arabiya TV channel that the group has agreed to a ceasefire plan that includes U.S. guarantees to end the war. An Egyptian source confirmed to Reuters that the proposal outlines a path toward a comprehensive agreement and includes a 60-day ceasefire alongside the phased release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Trump’s Position and Witkoff’s Push for Agreement

These sources said that the mediators got the green light from Witkoff to go with the plan, as President Trump posted a comment that he believed the only way to free the hostages was to totally destroy Hamas—echoing statements from Bibi, who has declared his intention to do just that with a full IDF occupation of Gaza, starting with the annihilation of Gaza City, described by some as Hamas's "last stronghold" and an area thought to contain many remaining hostages.

Witkoff, who has also worked up a proposal for the release of all hostages at once and the total removal of all IDF forces from Gaza, is said to believe that with Trump's approval, he could force Bibi to sign on to this new deal, which is almost identical to a plan submitted by Witkoff months ago that Netanyahu signed on to but Hamas stupidly rejected. The sources say that Witkoff wants to immediately stop the killing, stop Bibi's occupation plan—which no one but he and his circle of fanatics support and which the leadership of the IDF says is a costly waste of time and lives—in its tracks, and allow an immediate focus on relieving the starvation and humanitarian crisis which the whole world now sees in pictures across the internet.

Humanitarian Provisions and Prisoner Exchange

The agreement signed off on by Hamas also stipulates that once the deal takes effect, large-scale humanitarian aid—including fuel, water, electricity, hospital and bakery rehabilitation, and debris removal equipment—will be delivered immediately, coordinated by the UN, the Red Crescent, and other international organizations.

Under the proposal, the Rafah crossing will reopen in both directions, and an agreement on the exchange of remains stipulates that for each deceased Israeli, 10 Palestinian bodies will be released. The source emphasized that the deal is carefully coordinated and follows arrangements outlined in the January 19 accord, representing a significant step toward alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Public Pressure Mounts as Israeli Response Pending

The mediators have submitted the signed-by-Hamas deal to the Israeli government, which has yet to comment. Nearly a million Israelis participated in a general strike Aug. 17, demanding a ceasefire and hostage release deal, and an end to one of the most savage wars in recent history. The strike was called by the hostage families, who say that Bibi plans on killing the remaining living hostages. It was denounced by Bibi as insignificant, even though it was one of the largest demos in Israeli history; he also called the demonstrators, including former hostages and hostage families, Hamas sympathizers.

Netanyahu, a bloodthirsty creature who would kill every Palestinian if he could get away with it, does not want to have any peace in Gaza except the peace of the graveyard. He has sabotaged negotiations, lying to both Witkoff and Trump, yet has so far been immune to Trump's public criticism. "Trump may have to jump through hoops to stop NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine," said a source. "But he could stop the war in Gaza with a few, choice sharp words demanding that Bibi sign on to the 60-day ceasefire and then negotiate in good faith. Trump is far more popular in Israel than Bibi. He could tell the Israelis to string Bibi up from a lamp post if he does not go along. And he could block all military aid to the IDF if this war is not stopped. But he has not done this yet.

"But as I am sure Steve [Witkoff, who has been heavily involved in negotiations with Russia] has told his boss, he needs Trump to get with the program," said the source. "Letting Bibi do whatever he wants in Gaza has already cost scores of thousands of lives."

It is expected that the Israeli government will respond to the negotiators' plan in the next couple of days.

Aug. 19—The NATO mis-leadership descended on Washington yesterday, with their puppet Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy in tow, intending to break the momentum for a peace deal established by last week's historic Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But when the dust settled following meetings in the White House with the President and his team, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump and his partner in peacemaking, Putin, were firmly in control of both the agenda and framework for the next discussions. Sources report that a deal ending NATO's bloody and losing war against Russia is now considered a likely outcome of the process.

Even prior to his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy was told by the President that he must face the reality of the battlefield: the war is lost, and while it can be prolonged, all that would result would be more Ukrainian and Russian deaths. He must also give up the hope of NATO membership for Ukraine. While Trump had been able to secure from Putin a return of some lands seized in the war, Crimea—which Russia annexed in 2014—was off the table.

Security Guarantees Without NATO Membership

In the private meeting with Trump that preceded the larger meeting with the European leaders, Trump explained that he and Putin had come up with "ironclad" guarantees for Ukraine's security that obviated the need for NATO membership, which the Russians would never accept. These included NATO members and the United States giving Ukraine the equivalent of Article 5 protection (NATO will defend any member who is attacked). In addition, Putin would put into Russian law a guarantee that it would respect Ukraine's sovereignty and never attack it, and would also offer similar assurances that it would not attack any European nation. The pledge of support from the U.S. alone, Trump said, was sufficient deterrent to any future Russian attack.

On the "land for peace" swaps, this was a matter for Ukraine and Russia to decide. Trump told Zelenskyy that he would need to work this out with Putin, that what was done in Alaska was to get an idea of what would play: Russia wanted Ukraine to withdraw from parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, and Russia would give back other eastern territory.

Trump told Zelenskyy that he had decided a ceasefire was not as important as an overall peace deal. If these things are agreed to, then there would also be a ceasefire—but likely with some conditions that would not allow forces to be resupplied or reinforced. This, Trump said, would be worked out between Zelenskyy and Putin.

Next Steps Toward a Final Agreement

Trump explained that he wanted Zelenskyy to meet with Putin as soon as possible. Once that meeting takes place, there then could be a trilateral meeting that he, Trump, would attend, where a final deal could be worked out.

It comes down to this, sources report that the President told Zelenskyy: Do you want to end this senseless, stupid war that has killed over a million people, that never should have started, and would not have happened had I been President in 2022? If you do, I am giving you that opportunity. Putin wants peace.

Zelenskyy reportedly responded in the affirmative—which meant that any European objections could be treated as so much hot air and bullshit. Sources report that the meeting with the European leaders was full of queries as to what Trump had promised Putin in Alaska and how the guarantees would work.

These sources report that Trump explained that you need to look at where this is going, that it is bigger than just ending this senseless war and its killing machine. Putin is indicating that Russia wants to work for peace; you need to give them a chance to do that. He reportedly said that it is crazy to believe that Russia wants to take over Europe. The war in Ukraine was about Ukraine and NATO, and not some test of whether they could take over Europe. Why would they want to do that?

With Zelenskyy saying that he was willing to work within the framework created by Trump at the summit, and that he looked forward to a meeting with Putin, there really wasn't too much the Europeans could object to.

"If Zelenskyy really believes that he must end the war, then NATO has some problems," said a source close to the White House. "His people want to end the fighting and death. His military says that no matter what weapons they are given, they do not have the manpower to continue fighting. So maybe he has finally come to realize that he must end the war. NATO has not let that happen, so maybe we are seeing him move away from those jerks, and closer to Trump. Zelenskyy is nothing if he is not an opportunist."

Following the meetings, Trump called Putin to brief him on what took place. He talked to him about a one-on-one meeting with Putin, something Putin has in the past been reluctant to have. Trump seemed to believe it would now take place.

In a Truth Social post following the meetings, Trump reported on the major outcomes of the day, which included “a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.” The Russian side has not yet been so definitive, as Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov reported that in the phone call, the two Presidents discussed “the idea that the possibility should be studied of raising the level of the representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides, that is, of those representatives who take part in the [direct] talks.”

Aug. 18—A shocked NATO leadership and their puppet Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy were told by President Donald Trump, following his historic Alaska summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that he had set in motion something bigger than ending NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine. Sources close to the White House report that the President told Zelenskyy and European leaders Aug. 16 that he sought peace not just in Europe, but everywhere—peace that would resolve differences between nations by discussion and negotiation rather than killing people on the battlefield or threatening the destruction of people and their nations.

Sources say the President made his remarks in response to Zelenskyy's comments, echoed by other leaders, that since the Russians failed to agree to an immediate ceasefire, the meeting had been a failure and the U.S. should impose new sanctions on Russia and all who trade with them to force them to agree to a ceasefire. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff explained that the Russians had agreed to make major concessions to make a total peace deal possible, and that this was a tremendous "win" for everyone. A ceasefire, they said, will come as part of a peace deal which can now be negotiated quickly. “I want to do more than end the fighting, I want to create the basis for a real peace,” Trump told his "allies," “and I think we have done that.”

Zelenskyy’s Resistance and NATO’s Red Lines

Zelenskyy, along with some European leaders, is headed for Washington—not merely for some meeting with Trump and Witkoff, but to continue the negotiation process of the summit, with Trump continuing his mediation. At this point, informed sources say that Zelenskyy and his NATO controllers intend to do what they can to sabotage or delay a peace deal. They issued a new statement following the call with Trump on Aug. 16 that says nothing should be done to impede Ukraine from joining NATO and the European Union. They did so knowing that Russia will never accept Ukrainian membership in NATO (they have no objection to their joining the EU).

Zelenskyy continues to assert that only NATO and its Article 5 pledge to attack any nation that attacks a member is the only viable security guarantee against a future Russian invasion. Trump and Witkoff have briefed NATO and Zelenskyy on the even more robust guarantees that are on the table, which would create the effect of Article 5 for Ukraine. More importantly, they were told of a new security architecture for Europe under discussion, where Russia would make it clear that it has no ambitions to attack Europe for any reason—something NATO cannot accept because it would render its mission meaningless.

Witkoff’s Media Appearances and Strategic Framing

Witkoff appeared on two Sunday talk shows—CNN’s State of the Union, hosted by Jake Tapper, and Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream—giving people a glimpse of this broader strategy and the "victory" won for the world at the summit.

In the Witkoff interviews, both TV hosts pushed the line that, “Trump was firm about wanting a ceasefire, and since the summit didn’t result in one being declared, the talks were a failure.” When Tapper asked for specific points of agreement, Witkoff responded: “We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing. We didn’t think that we were anywhere close to agreeing to Article 5 protection from the United States, legislative enshrinement within the Russian Federation not to go after any other territory when the peace deal is codified, legislative enshrinement in the Russian Federation not to go after any other European countries and violate their sovereignty. So we agreed to—and there was plenty more.”

Territorial Concessions and Donetsk Discussions

Tapper leaned into the idea that no ceasefire was agreed to, and that there might be a “land swap” of different districts in the region, to which Witkoff emphasized that the U.S. was at the summit as a mediator for Ukraine, and that any agreements about divisions of land would be up to them.

He also emphasized that: “Those five regions, the Russians have previously said that they wanted it at the administrative lines … the administrative lines and the actual legal boundary lines, as compared to the contact lines … the Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions.

“There is an important discussion to be had with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there. And that discussion is going to specifically be detailed Aug. 18, when President Zelenskyy arrives with his delegation and some of the other European leaders.” He indicated that Russia is ready to make other concessions but refused to divulge them in the interview.

Security Guarantees and Legislative Attestations

He clarified that the U.S. could offer “Article 5-like protection” for Ukraine, without Ukraine having to join NATO, which Russia has repeatedly emphasized is a red line. He said that this is “really big” to be able to offer these security deals, but didn’t elaborate on details.

In the interview with Shannon Bream, Witkoff commented that Trump is now pivoting towards a peace deal package, not just a ceasefire, and said that great progress was made during the summit towards that goal.

Witkoff also noted that Russia had agreed to certain legislative attestations that they wouldn’t advance the lines in Ukraine, and that they would not infringe on the borders of any European nation. He asserted that, in the phone call immediately after the summit between Trump and Zelenskyy, as well as other European leaders, it was universally recognized that Russia was willing to make major concessions, and that the summit was a “win.” As with all negotiations, further details need to be discussed.

Putin’s Position and Trump’s Broader Vision

Bream raised the issue of how ostensibly collegial and warm the reception was for Putin, and how Trump’s opposition and some of his supporters were supposedly concerned about such a “message” to the world.

Witkoff emphasized again that the Russians moved significantly forward as a result of meeting with Trump, that the peace process is moving forward, and that the resulting win is “epic.” He remarked that we should all be focused on the end result being a peace deal.

Putin, who had warned about possible European sabotage of the peace process, was asked in a recent press briefing whether he thought that Europe could play a positive mediating role with Ukraine. “I think that is impossible,” he said. “Europe, unlike President Trump and the United States, refuses to understand the issues at play here, refuses to accept NATO responsibility for what has happened. They are still involved in trying to destroy the Russian Federation, which is a fool’s errand, at which they will never succeed.”

“Trump will not back down on this, no matter what Zelenskyy and the Euro fools say,” said the source close to the White House. “The President got Putin to agree to give a security guarantee not only to Ukraine but to all of Europe. That’s really important and shows that Putin is thinking past this conflict to the future. He and Trump spent time in Alaska talking about future economic deals, talking about points of cooperation on many things, including space exploration. They both mentioned this in their statements in Anchorage. They talked about doing things now for the benefit of future generations. There is a joint vision here. NATO and Zelenskyy have no vision, and as Lincoln once said, when people have no vision, they perish. The President wants something better for everyone, a new deal for humanity and he intends to fight for this.”

This and other sources say Trump wants to bring Zelenskyy on board—kicking and screaming—and move quickly to what he has proposed as the next stage in the peace process: a meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy that he would broker, to hammer out the actual deal. We will know more about it in the days ahead.

Aug. 16—CBS provided the following transcript of the Aug. 15 press conference of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump after their summit in Anchorage, Alaska. Putin’s remarks are as rendered by and interpreter.

PUTIN: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, our negotiations have been held in a constructive atmosphere of mutual respect. We had very thorough negotiations that were quite useful. I would like to thank once again my American counterpart, for the proposal to travel out here to Alaska. It only makes sense that we’ve met here, because our countries, though separated by the oceans, are close neighbors. So, when we’ve met, when I came out of the plane and I said, ‘Good afternoon, dear neighbor. Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive.’ I think that is very neighborly. I think that’s some kind words that we can say to each other. We’re separated by the Strait of Bering, though, there are two islands only between the Russian Island and the U.S. Island. They’re only 4 kilometers apart. We are close neighbors, and it’s a fact.

It’s also important that Alaska has to do with our common heritage, common history between Russia and the U.S., and many positive events have to do with that territory. Still, there is tremendous cultural heritage, back from the Russian America, for example, Orthodox churches, and a lot of—more than 700 geographical names of Russian origin. During the Second World War, it was here in Alaska that was the origin of the legendary air bridge for the supply of military aircraft and other equipment under the Lend-Lease Program.

It was a dangerous and treacherous route over the vast emptiness of ice. However, the pilots of both countries did everything to bring closer the victory. They risked their lives, and they gave it all for the common victory. I was just in the city of Magadan in Russia. And there is a memorial there dedicated to the Russian, the U.S. pilots. And there are two flags, the U.S. flag and the Russian flag. And I know that here as well, there is such a memorial. There is a military burial place several kilometers away from here. The Soviet pilots are buried there who died during that dangerous mission. We’re thankful to the citizens and the government of the U.S. for carefully taking care of their memory. I think that’s very worthy and noble. We’ll always remember other historical examples when our countries defeated common enemies together in the spirit of battle camaraderie and allyship that supported each other and facilitated each other. I am sure that this heritage will help us rebuild and foster mutually beneficial and equal ties at this new stage, even during the hardest conditions.

It is known that there have been no summits between Russia and the U.S. for four years, and that’s a long time. This time was very hard for bilateral relations, and let’s be frank, they’ve fallen to the lowest point since the Cold War. I think that’s not benefiting our countries and the world as a whole. It is apparent that sooner or later, we have to amend the situation to move on from the confrontation to dialogue, and in this case, a personal meeting between the heads of state has been long overdue, naturally, under the condition of serious and painstaking work, and this work has been done.

In general, me and President Trump have very good direct contact. We’ve spoken multiple times. We spoke frankly on the phone. And the special envoy of the president, Mr. Witkoff, traveled out to Russia several times. Our advisers and heads of foreign ministries kept in touch all the time, and we know fully well that one of the central issues was the situation around Ukraine.

We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, and his e2ffort to get to the crux of the matter, to understand this history, is precious. As I’ve said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we’ve always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I’ve said it multiple times, a brotherly nation. How strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots, and everything that’s happening is a tragedy for us, and [a] terrible wound. Therefore, our country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it [the conflict].

At the same time, we’re convinced that in order to, to make the settlement lasting and long term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict, and we’ve said it multiple times, to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole, and agree with President Trump, as he has said today, that naturally, the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well. Naturally, we are prepared to work on that.

I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine. We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively and that they won’t throw a wrench in the works. They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.

Incidentally, when the new administration came to power, bilateral trade started to grow. It’s still very symbolic. Still, we have a growth of 20%. As I’ve said, we have a lot of dimensions for joint work. It is clear that the U.S. and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential. Russia and the U.S. can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high tech and in space exploration. We see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible, in our international context. For example, between the Far East of Russia and the West Coast of the U.S.

Overall, it’s very important for our countries to turn the page to go back to cooperation. It is symbolic that, not far away from here, the border between Russia and the U.S., there was a so-called International Date Line. I think you can step over, literally, from yesterday into tomorrow, and I hope that’s—will succeed in that, in the political sphere. I would like to thank President Trump for our joint work, for the well wishing and trustworthy tone of our conversation.

It’s important that both sides are result-oriented and we see that the President of the U.S. has a very clear idea of what he would like to achieve. He sincerely cares about the prosperity of his nation. Still, he understands that Russia has its own national interests.

I expect that today’s agreements will be the starting point, not only for the solution of the Ukrainian issue, but also will help us bring back business-like and pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S.

And in the end, I would like to add one more thing. I’d like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague, it should not—the situation should not be brought to the point of no return, when it would come to hostilities and accept it quite directly back then, that is a big mistake. Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the President back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that. I think that overall, me and President Trump have built a very good business-like and trustworthy contact and have every reason to believe that moving down this path, we can come and assume it better to the end of the conflict in Ukraine. Thank you. Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, Mr. President, that was very profound, and I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway. So there’s no deal until there’s a deal.

I will call up NATO in a little while, I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I’ll of course, call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting. It’s ultimately up to them. They’re going to have to agree with what Marco and Steve and some of the great people from the Trump administration who’ve come here, Scott and John Ratcliffe. Thank you very much. But we have some of our really great leaders. They’ve been doing a phenomenal job.

We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here. And I think, you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We’ve become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time, and we look forward to that. We look forward to dealing—we’re going to try and get this over with.

We really made some great progress today. I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he’s probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He’s seen—he’s seen it all. But we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country, in terms of the business, and all of the things that would like to have dealt with, but we’ll have a good chance when this is over.

So just to put it very quickly, I’m going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there. I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team, whose faces who I know, in many cases, otherwise, other than that, whose—whose faces I get to see all the time in the newspapers, you’re very—you’re almost as famous as the boss, but especially this one right over here.

But we had some good meetings over the years, right? Good, productive meetings over the years, and we hope to have that in the future. Let’s do the most productive one right now. We’re going to stop, really, 5, 6, 7,000, thousands of people a week from being killed, and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do. So again, Mr. President, I’d like to thank you very much, and we’ll speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.

PUTIN: [In English] Next time in Moscow!

TRUMP: Ooh, that’s an interesting one. I don’t know. I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening. Thank you very much, Vladimir, and thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. 

Aug. 16—Former MI6 Chief Richard Dearlove, one of the leading figures who orchestrated the “Russia, Russia, Russia” hoax which President Donald Trump rightly denounced as “very dangerous” for the United States, and the controller of Christopher Stelle, author of the discredited anti-Trump dossier, stated with great consternation on his “One Decision” podcast in the hours before the Alaska summit that he is “extremely worried” that some long-term peace deal might result. “I just don’t know what [Trump] is up to…. I just don’t get it…. An awful lot of people are worried.” He moaned that “we” thought we had something at the last NATO meeting with Trump, but now… Dearlove exclaimed that the Europeans are so upset they “are throwing the toys out of the pram!”

“Sir Russiagate” has no intention of surrendering, however. The British spymaster went on to outline key elements of a strategy to “save” NATO's war: He expects Germany to pick up the whole tab for financing Ukraine’s weapons, and their asset, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team to make sure that the United States sells the weapons for Germany to then ship to Ukraine.

The Europeans are going to have to rally behind Zelenskyy, he argued. If the Germans really step up to the plate, they have the financial clout to back Ukraine, he pronounced. Germany has “the wealth and means necessary” to sustain Ukraine, if the Americans will sell them the weapons—and it seems to him that the U.S. will. “There certainly are people working for Rubio, whom I know, who have a completely different view of a settlement, and they are not going to sell Ukraine down the river,” Dearlove confided.

He forecasted that the summit meeting will not produce anything but “optics”: Russia will keep bombing Kyiv; Trump will get angry—and then come to his senses and see that “coercion” is the only way to deal with Putin. That means secondary economic sanctions, and enough military “kit” to give Ukraine the basis to hold “a realistic stalemate” on the battlefield (but not recover large amounts of territory, Dearlove admits).

One source commented that Dearlove, who is known the enjoy certain substances, might want to reduce his consumption before offering analysis.

Aug. 16—A tunnel under the Bering Strait would be highly beneficial for both the United States and Russia and could transport up to 400 million tons of cargo per year, according to railway expert Scott Spencer. “I personally believe the Intercontinental railway is one of many things that I believe President Trump and President Putin can agree on. It would be mutually beneficial for their countries.” Spencer added that, according to calculations, “the capacity of the Bering Strait tunnel on the Intercontinental railway is over 400 million tons a year. It’s 3% of the global trade that exists right now.”

Referring to the tunnel as the “Panama Canal of the 21st century,” Spencer said: “This is one that’s mutually beneficial, not only for the United States and Russia, but also Canada and China."

In terms of Russian-U.S. cooperation, he compared it to the International Space Station. In fact, he said the cost of building a tunnel is comparable to the building of the ISS. “$100 billion is the cost that it took to build the International Space Station, plus to take several billions of dollars from our nations, both United States, Russia and the European nations, and Japan and others participate to keep it operating,” he noted. “So, we have the opportunity to build a much more lasting project.”

He added that over the 150- to 200-year lifespan of the tunnel, the initial investment of $100 billion would be repaid many times over by international trade, which would stimulate economic growth.

A well-known railway consultant, Spencer is an adviser to Inter-Continental Railway, an organization founded by tunnel expert George Koumal and Alaskan attorney Joseph R. Henri, both of whom recently passed away. The third co-founder is Victor Razbegin, who is one of the leading rail industry consultants in Russia. Spencer is also co-founder of AmeriStarRail (ASR), an advocacy for high-speed train service in America. 

Aug. 16—On Sept. 3, the same day that the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Pacific of World War II will be celebrated in Beijing, China, at which Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the guest of honor, the yearly Eastern Economic Forum will begin in Vladivostok, Russia. Putin is scheduled to deliver the keynote address to the Vladivostok international gathering Sept. 5, which typically focuses on development projects and prospects in the Arctic and eastern Siberia.

As journalist Pepe Escobar explained in a Sputnik article, “that brings us to the Arctic—and serious stuff that will certainly be debated in depth at the upcoming Vladivostok forum. The Arctic holds at least 13% of global undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of undiscovered natural gas. Russia controls at least half of all these reserves.”

Escobar takes note of the possibility of Russian-U.S. cooperation to develop those resources, along with the ones on the American side of the Bering Strait. “One thing is possible massive U.S. investment in joint Arctic projects with Russia. Something entirely different is the U.S. joining the Northern Sea Route (NSR)—which the Chinese call the Arctic Silk Road. The NSR reduces shipping time between Asia and Europe by up to 50%.” Escobar shares the conclusion that, “as it stands, and also considering the multiple ramifications of the hybrid war against BRICS, Alaska carries the potential of offering Washington a way out of the debris of a massive strategic defeat."

Aug. 16—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released declassified intelligence documents Aug. 13 demonstrating the treasonous role of former DNI James Clapper in concocting false intelligence assessments to “prove” that Russia had intervened in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. The release of two emails, dated Dec. 22, 2016, exchanged between Clapper and Mike Rogers, then head of the National Security Agency, reveal Clapper’s insistence that unverified intelligence on Russia’s alleged role in hacking the DNC/DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) be rammed through and incorporated into the 2017 intelligence community assessment to be presented to President Barack Obama.

This, despite Rogers’ argument that his team hadn’t had time “to fully access all the underlying intelligence or had an opportunity to review and weigh in … given the expedited nature of this activity,” and doesn’t feel “100% comfortable [with it] before we present it to the President.” To be clear, he continued, “I am not saying that we disagree substantively, but I do want to make sure that, when we are asked in the future whether we can absolutely stand behind the paper, that we don’t have any reason to hesitate because of the process.”

“We have one chance to get this right and it is critical that we do so,” Rogers warned, particularly if the final product is jointly authored by the CIA, FBI, ODNI and NSA. In the latter case, he stipulated, “I personally expect to see even the most sensitive evidence related to the conclusion.” He added, however, that if the final product is intended to be a CIA-only, or a CIA/FBI-authored product “then I will stand down on these concerns.”

Clapper dismissed Rogers’ concerns. In an e-mail reply to him the same day, which also included CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey, he underscored that it is essential that “we (CIA, NSA, FBI, ODNI) be on the same page and are all supportive of the report in the highest tradition of it’s ‘OUR story and we stick to it.’” He added that that very day, the CIA had already provided the “complete draft of the ad hoc fusion group”—the small group John Brennan had created to draft the 2017 intelligence community assessment—to the national intelligence community. “We will facilitate as much mutual transparency as possible as we complete the report,” Clapper responded, “but more time is not negotiable. We may have to compromise on our ‘normal’ modalities since we must do this on such a compressed schedule. This is one project that has to be a team sport.”

Former NSA Technical Director William Binney, who, along with a team of cyber security experts, conducted a forensic analysis of the alleged DNC/DCCC hack and concluded in 2017 that it was not a hack at all, conducted by the Russians or anyone else, but an inside job, with the materials transferred to a thumb drive.

Commenting on the declassified e-mail exchange, DNI Gabbard replied Aug. 13: “The leading figures in the Russia hoax have spent years deceiving the American public by presenting their manufactured and politicized assessments as credible intelligence. The email released today reinforces what we already exposed: the decision to compromise standards and violate protocols in the creation of the 2017 manufactured intelligence assessment was deliberate and came from the very top.”

Aug. 16—Two of Russia’s most prominent strategic analysts took to the pages of RT Aug. 14 to provide an overview of what is at issue for the Aug. 15 Alaska summit of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Dmitry Suslov (Valdai Club expert and member of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy) and Fyodor Lukyanov (also of the Valdai Club and editor in chief of Russia in Global Affairs) concurred that far more than territorial issues or even the Ukraine war is at stake, but rather that a fundamental shift in the global security order is afoot. Lukyanov’s article was headlined “A New Security Order Is On the Table in Alaska: Putin-Trump meeting recalls the stakes of German reunification.”

Lukyanov stressed that the Alaska summit could be a milestone “for the principles on which a broader settlement between the world’s leading powers might be reached…. What is troubling is that the public debate remains focused on territorial carve-ups—who gets what, and what is given in exchange. This misses the core issue. The acute phase of the Ukraine crisis was not triggered by a hunger for territorial expansion. It began when Moscow challenged the security order that emerged after the Cold War—an order built on the open-ended enlargement of NATO as the supposed guarantor of European stability.”

Lukyanov also emphasized that the Global Majority, led by the BRICS, were taking significant steps themselves towards a changed paradigm. “Donald Trump’s recent attempt to pressure the largest states of the so-called ‘global majority’—China, India, Brazil, and South Africa—to fall in line with Washington’s instructions,” did not produce the intended results. “The attempt has failed to produce the outcome the White House wanted…. But the bluntness of the American push this time forced them to stiffen their positions.” Lukyanov concluded: “The frequency of Putin’s meetings with BRICS leaders shows that Moscow understands this reality. Whether Washington does remains to be seen.”

Suslov also emphasized that Trump’s “effort to squeeze Moscow by pushing China and India to stop buying Russian oil has backfired badly…. It also encouraged a thaw between India and China, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi now set to attend the SCO summit in Tianjin.”

Suslov concluded that “BRICS, which Trump has openly vowed to weaken, has only grown more cohesive. The Alaska summit is Trump’s chance to escape the trap he built for himself—trying to pressure Moscow through Beijing and New Delhi—and to show results on Ukraine that he can sell as a diplomatic victory.”

One way this can be done is through Russian-American great project economic cooperation, with an open door to the BRICS. “Arctic economic cooperation, largely frozen since 2014, could be revived,” Suslov wrote. “Both sides stand to gain from joint development in the far north, and a deal here would be politically symbolic—proof that the two countries can work together despite the baggage of the last decade.”

Aug. 16—President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are back in their respective capitals after yesterday's historic summit at an Air Force base near Anchorage, Alaska, that opened the door for peaceful cooperation between the two nuclear superpowers and delivered a blow to the NATO-backed global war party that, through its war against Russia in Ukraine, placed the world on the edge of nuclear confrontation and war.

The NATO propaganda machine has been working overtime to say that nothing really happened in Alaska, that the war in Ukraine continues, claiming more than 10,000 lives a week, while lying that Trump's failure to check Putin puts all of Europe at risk. They were particularly upset that the two leaders chose to tell the salivating whores of media nothing officially about the content of the more than three hours of serious discussions, only to say that much was accomplished and a potential negotiated settlement was nearer. Trump would also express his hope that a meeting between Putin and NATO's Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with Trump there to facilitate the negotiations, would happen in the near future. This was later confirmed by the Russians, also without giving any specifics.

Media Silence and Strategic Ambiguity

When asked in an interview last night with Fox News' Sean Hannity about what may have been agreed to, the Fox host prefaced his question by saying that "I know you won't answer that, as you do not want to prejudice things," to which Trump reminded him that any agreement must ultimately be made with Zelenskyy. Putin, in his remarks, had expressed the hope that Europe and Ukraine would not attempt to sabotage the chances for peace.

But what was clear from that interview, and from the remarks made to the world—not merely the running dogs of the media—by the two leaders is that Russian-U.S. relations are now moving on a sound, new footing, which is a far more stable and potentially productive situation than has existed since the British and the NATO war party launched the operation that Trump calls "Russia, Russia, Russia" during his first administration. Trump explicitly stated that Russiagate was not merely a hoax and an attack on him, but an effort to sabotage relations with Russia and peace in the world generally.

Understanding the Roots of the Ukraine Conflict

Putin reported that he believes that President Trump and his key people, including his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff—who has done much of the heavy lifting to help place the Trump-Putin relationship back on track, including the work that prepared this summit—understand the actual reason for the Ukraine conflict: It is not about taking Ukrainian territory, but preventing the dangerous further expansion of NATO to Russia's borders and securing the safety of Russian-speaking populations in Ukraine from attacks by government-supported neo-Nazi formations, such as the Azov Brigade, who support the anti-Russian ideology of Stefan Bandera, who had supported Hitler in his fight to exterminate the Soviet Union.

Trump pointed out to Hannity that Putin told him he agreed with Trump's assessment that if he had won the 2020 election there would have been no war and slaughter in Ukraine. The President pointed out that Putin then repeated this assessment in his public remarks. Trump then told Hannity that the Russian President told him he believed that Trump had won the 2020 election, but that it had been stolen through massive fraud in mail-in ballots, and that there could be no fair elections as long as there were easily issued, fraudulent mail-in ballots—which Trump emphatically agreed with.

Outlines of a Peace Plan and Ceasefire Conditions

Sources report that the outlines of a peace plan for Ukraine were worked out in the discussion. It involves Ukraine agreeing that certain territories will remain under Russian control and Putin agreeing to give back some land won on the battlefield. In addition, there will be no NATO membership for Ukraine, and no stationing of foreign troops. These sources say that Ukraine would be free to join the European Union. Ukraine will be able to maintain a military and internal police but will only be armed with weapons needed to defend itself.

Trump and Putin discussed explicit security guarantees for Ukraine, but no decision was made. One idea discussed was that NATO could guarantee its security by making its Article 5 guarantee applicable to Ukraine, without Ukraine being a member. Article 5 states that NATO will defend any member that comes under attack.

The sources report that Putin expressed a willingness to accept a ceasefire immediately that would end the hostilities, provided that such a ceasefire would not allow for any resupply or redeployment of troops (except to withdraw them from the conflict), nor allow for the building of fortifications.

The sources report that Trump has told Zelenskyy in his report on the discussions that he expects him to make a deal. He said the same when asked by Hannity what advice he would give the Ukrainian dictator: "Make a deal and do it quickly." Sources say that Trump believes that no matter how many weapons are sold or given to Ukraine, it has lost the war on the battlefield. There is zero hope of a Ukrainian victory, so NATO's effort to prolong the war serves no purpose other than to kill more people. A source close to the White House said today that Trump does not support the idea of "killing more Russians," either to punish or weaken them, and that he wants the killing to stop.

Toward a New Era of Global Cooperation

While there was clearly progress made in Alaska towards ending NATO's war in Ukraine, that was not the most important result of the meeting. While stupid NATO media propagandists tried to spin things about antagonisms between Putin and Trump, the visuals spoke to something different. The two world leaders both respect and actually like each other.

"What is happening is that Russia and the United States, under the direction of Putin and Trump, are reestablishing the mutual respect needed to create new possibilities for cooperation, including on globally important economic projects and other development, including on scientific collaboration such as space exploration," said a diplomatic source today. "Trump gets this in a big way, and there was reportedly discussion how to move forward on some of this. The NATO war party sees Russia as an enemy forever, who still wants to take over Europe and the world. They are stuck in the Cold War or worse. The most important thing about this summit is that it reaffirmed that world leaders don't have to agree on everything not to be enemies, that they can build trust on cooperation. Trump may have many flaws but is channeling Reagan and even Kennedy and FDR on this. And I believe it also informs his relation to China and President Xi [Jinping]. I hear that Xi has requested a summit with Trump to discuss 'big deals,' and that it is in the works. That will come first, and then there is the possibility of a three-way summit, something that is long overdue and only Trump can pull off."

Sources also report that Trump has asked Putin for help in working out a deal with Iran to end its nuclear weapons program while allowing it to have a robust peaceful program. The Russian leader, who sources report helped to end the 12-day war last month, has agreed to help.

"We may be at the dawn of an exciting new era of cooperation between the superpowers," said the diplomatic source. "We are not out of the woods yet. The war party is not going to give up and surrender. But I think we can see a pathway out of those woods now."

But this and other sources expressed their hope that Trump's security remains extremely vigilant. The risk against the President is currently off the charts. "You take Trump out of this whole process and maybe nothing goes forward," said one security-related source. "The President is aware of the risk."

Aug. 15—As President Donald Trump prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska later this morning, a source close to the White House says the President's agenda has zero to do with the goals of NATO and its puppet Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"We all had to laugh when we heard European leaders and Zelenskyy declare that a video conference call with Trump had put the President on the same page with them," said the source. Zelenskyy in particular gushed that Trump would follow his script for ending the war in Ukraine, demanding a ceasefire before discussing any territorial concessions, and that he was now confident that Trump would not fall for any Putin "deceptions."

"It is really pretty funny," said the source. "Zelenskyy and his NATO backers still have not come to grips with what Trump knows—they have lost their provoked war with Russia, and their front lines, populated by scared teenagers and old men, cannot be sustained much longer. Trump intends to work out the outlines of a land-for-peace deal in which Ukraine will give up some territory and Putin will give them back some of what his troops have taken. But NATO membership is out of the question, while EU membership is not. You will hear both Trump and Putin talk about 'peace with honor.'"

Strategic Goals Beyond Ukraine

"What NATO fears and what Zelenskyy cannot understand," the source continues, "is that the only reason that Trump can get such a deal, the only reason that Putin does not simply smash through their lines and seek a better deal, is because he wants something more than peace in Ukraine. He wants better relations with the United States and a new strategic cooperation and even economic cooperation on big projects, including a possible Bering Strait tunnel and bridge. And that is Trump's agenda, also, at this summit."

"So, note what he said after the video call with his supposed allies," said the source. "They were friendly. He rated that as most important—that they were friendly! It was a good call because they did not bite my head off! Trump has learned that sometimes it is better to say little and listen. Zelenskyy is in his own universe."

Zelenskyy said after the call that he had warned Trump that Putin was bluffing about his intentions in Anchorage to have peace in Ukraine. “I told my colleagues, the American president, our colleague Putin does not want peace,” Zelenskyy said. “He wants to occupy us completely.”

Allegations and Leverage

"Trump has something on him [Zelenskyy] and he knows it," the source stated. "He has that he and his cronies in the security services and the neo-Nazi militias have stolen the American aid, in money and equipment, and sold it for a profit. Trump's people have made both NATO and the Ukrainians aware that they know this. If he makes trouble for Trump, if he tries to disrupt the summit, then he will get what he deserves. But if things go well, then he is going to be brought in quickly, with or without his NATO sponsors, to sign on the dotted line with Putin to get this war ended."

Trump stated yesterday that if things went well in Alaska, there could be a meeting "very soon and quick" with Zelenskyy and Putin to finalize a deal, and that he would be there, if they wanted him. Other sources report that a location for such a meeting and a follow-up summit with Trump and Putin are already under discussion. Those discussions are under the direction of Trumps Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who has met on his boss's behalf several time with Putin.

Broader Diplomatic Ambitions

Meanwhile, this and other sources said that the summit will set the stage for future discussion on arms control, trade, and other deals. And it is also likely that Trump will ask Putin for additional help in securing a deal with Iran that would end its nuclear weapons ambitions but allow it to have a robust peaceful nuclear program.

"The idea is to put Ukraine in the rearview mirror," said the source, "and move on to more important things. The summit could still go off the rails because there are some people with Trump who do not share his trust of Putin and view of Russia as a non-enemy. I know [Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco] Rubio is a hater, but he is not likely to stand against Trump. It was very important that Trump attributed the Ukraine War and his failure to have a better relationship with Russia to the people who ran the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax in his first administration. That and his attack on the revanchist, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, the evil 'mustache' who he said wants a nuclear war with Russia. These people are very dangerous to our country, he said."

Summit Safeguards and Final Outlook

"You should look at the release of the materials on the Russia, Russia hoax by [Director of National Intelligence Tulsi] Gabbard and Trump's attack on those networks for promoting a war with Russia as 'protection' for the summit, to limit the damage and sabotage they might try, along with their NATO, and in particular, British allies," said the source. "The world has the potential to be in a much better place later today."