Sunday Strategic Services: ‘The Flank Is in the Mind’
May 12—At 2 a.m. Sunday morning, May 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin, after three days of non-stop meetings and ceremonies commemorating the Victory against Fascism in Europe, held a press conference and proposed resuming full negotiations with Ukraine to end what is effectively a NATO-imposed war on the country. Putin suggested that talks restart in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Thursday, May 15.
Putin’s Proposal Catches European Leaders Off Guard
Just hours before Putin’s statement, European leaders meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv had demanded a 30-day ceasefire beginning Monday morning. These same leaders, gathered in direct opposition to the 30 heads of state assembled in Moscow for the Great Victory celebrations, were caught off guard—both literally and figuratively—by Putin’s early-morning announcement.
"Russia is ready for talks without any preliminary conditions," Putin stated. "There are combat actions and war going on now, and we propose to resume negotiations that were not interrupted by us. Well, what’s wrong about it?"
As Putin and others know, Ukraine itself halted the negotiations that had taken place in Istanbul in April 2022. Then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv on April 9 that year, demanding that Ukraine abandon the peace treaty already agreed upon with Russia—and Ukraine complied. To this day, a decree passed in Ukraine’s parliament in late 2022 forbids any Ukrainian president from negotiating with Russia while Putin remains in power.
"Ukraine is still legally prohibited from negotiating with the Russian side," Russian Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated in March.
Zelenskyy’s Challenge and Trump’s Reaction
Despite this legal barrier, Zelenskyy responded to Putin’s proposal later on Sunday, dramatically challenging him to a Western-style "High Noon" showdown, daring him to "meet him in Istanbul" this Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump, unconcerned with formalities, had clear advice for Ukraine:
"President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY. At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!"
While many had speculated about Trump’s position on the war, this statement leaves little doubt: "Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY."
Pope Leo XIV’s Surprise Appearance and Historical Connections
The second significant event on Sunday was the appearance of newly elected Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square before more than 100,000 people, where he unexpectedly led the open-air assembly in singing the Easter antiphon "Regina Caeli."
Leo XIV—the first member of the Augustinian order elected to the papacy, the first English-speaking pope since Pope Adrian IV in the 12th century, and the first pope from the United States—also clarified his choice of name.
"In his first meeting with Cardinals on Saturday, the new Pontiff said that he chose his papal name to continue down the path of Pope Leo XIII, who addressed ‘the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution,’" CNN reported.
In 1888, Pope Leo XIII met with Archbishop Patrick John Ryan of Philadelphia, who presented him with a copy of the United States Constitution, personally gifted by President Grover Cleveland. At the time, Philadelphia remained a stronghold of the American System of Physical Economy, represented in the works of Lincoln advisor Henry Charles Carey and his father, Revolutionary War-era thinker Mathew Carey, an opponent of British East India Company economist Adam Smith.
"The harmony of interest" between capital, labor, and agriculture is said to have been central to their discussions, reportedly leading to the drafting of Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum.
"One hundred years ago, Rerum Novarum treated the remedying of the evil, then being run by a 'devouring usury,' which, ‘although often condemned by the church, but practiced, nevertheless, under another form by avaricious and grasping men, has increased the evil’ effected by the handing over of workers, ‘each alone and defenseless, to the inhumanity of employers, and the unbridled greed of competitors,’" wrote Lyndon LaRouche, quoting Leo XIII in the preface of his book The Science of Christian Economy.
Pope Leo XIV also addressed ongoing conflicts in Southwest Asia, India-Pakistan, and Ukraine.
A Higher Strategy for Peace
These two events—Putin’s unexpected challenge to Western narratives and Pope Leo XIV’s revival of economic justice—can be seen as two "flanks" working toward a higher strategy of victory for humanity.
War must become obsolete, but that cannot happen unless its root causes are eliminated. For that to occur, the world requires "A Beautiful Vision for Humanity in Times of Great Turbulence!" Such is the purpose and mission of the upcoming May 24-25 conference of the Schiller Institute.