NATO’s Counterproposal Undermines Peace Talks
Aug. 10—With President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin now on a track to force an end to NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine, NATO's 3-clown leadership—France, the United Kingdom and Germany—joined with the children's television clown who they have made Ukraine's dictator, Volodymyr Zelenskyy to come up with an unworkable counterproposal to what has been discussed by the U.S. and Russia, and will be the main subject of the Aug. 15 Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
The proposal, worked out in outline by Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin in a meeting in Moscow this week has the Russians supporting a ceasefire, and exchanging some territory that they currently occupy for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from one oblast—Donetsk—while maintaining control of Luhansk, and the Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Apparently, the Russians would give back all or most two other oblasts—Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are under partial Russian occupation. All four oblasts were annexed into the Russian Federation, as the mostly Russian speaking populations voted to do so in referenda.
Zelenskyy’s Rejection and Exclusion from Summit
Zelenskyy immediately rejected the idea that Ukraine would cede any territory to Russia, totally ignoring what is the reality of battlefield, in which Russia effectively controls them. In a televised address Aug. 8, Zelenskyy demanded that he be directly part of any negotiation between the United States and Russia, which was emphatically rejected by both superpowers.
Trump has expressed his desire to meet with both Putin and Zelenskyy together, at some later point, to finalize any deal, but he has not invited the Ukrainian dictator to the Aug. 15 Alaska summit.
European Leaders Push NATO Membership as a Red Line
The European clown leaders have been briefed by Trump and Witkoff on the progress towards a deal, but sources close to the White House emphasize that the President does not see them as having any veto power over what is decided.
It was in response to those briefings, which emphasized that there was going to be some kind of "land for peace deal" and there could be no NATO membership for Ukraine, that the Europeans came up with their own proposal, which pivots on the right of Ukraine to join NATO and to determine the size and character of its military. Only NATO membership, say the Europeans, can guarantee against further Russian aggression, a point which Zelenskyy agrees with.
"This is an effort to sabotage the peace deal," said a source close to the White House and the negotiations. "This is not just provocative to the Russians, it is totally tone deaf. Putin has repeatedly claimed that he only sought to stop Ukrainian assaults of Russian speaking populations and the block NATO's expansion into Ukraine—a further violation of the iron-clad assurances given Russia at the time of German unification, that NATO would not move one inch eastward. It has done so repeatedly over the last three decades, but Russia will not tolerate a NATO membership for Ukraine. This is a deal breaker."
Summit Agenda and Russian Precautions Against Sabotage
The Alaska summit, which will also discuss broader cooperation between the two nuclear superpowers for peaceful development and security initiatives, will go forward around the agenda that has been already decided. If Europe wants to play a role, then they will have to find a way to do so around the agenda that will emerge.
"NATO has made a total mess of this, and cost Russia and Ukraine more than a million lives. NATO lost this war for Ukraine," said the source. "That is the reality of the battlefield. President Trump and President Putin want to move forward past this confrontation, and away from confrontation generally. Ukraine needs to recover and prosper, which it can. It's peace that its people want, not NATO membership. If Zelenskyy can't be made to go along with this, then Ukraine will have to find leaders who will. Trump will not play games on these matters."
The Russians have anticipated efforts to sabotage peace and the summit. On his Telegram channel, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Putin's special envoy, warned that there would be efforts such efforts. “A number of countries that are interested in continuing the conflict, will make enormous efforts (involving provocations and disinformation) to disrupt the upcoming meeting between President Putin and President Trump,” he wrote, according to TASS.