Peace or Utter Collapse? Zelensky Holds Ukraine’s Fate in his Hands
w/ Mike Vlahos & James Carden
The big Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, followed by the extraordinary convocation of European leaders, along with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Trump’s team on Monday at the White House, signaled that something is finally happening. The War in Ukraine may be finally coming to an end.
Of course the fighting on the battlefield hasn’t stopped and all parties appear to acknowledge that an immediate ceasefire is not in the cards, at least not until some sort of framework with terms can be sealed. There is also a broad recognition that there will have to be some territorial concessions by Ukraine, which is losing on the battlefield, and some sort of security guarantees for Ukraine after the war short of NATO membership.
But as they say the devil is in the details. The mainstream press was as always skeptical of Trump’s approach but assessed that in a “master class in diplomacy” (I’ll call it butt kissing) Europe had largely gotten what it had wanted — that Trump was listening, and the so-called adults in the room had been heard.
Others saw things a bit differently. They surmised that Putin would never go for the “Article 5” like guarantees that Trump and the Europeans had been banging on about in front of the press, and certainly Western peacekeepers in Ukraine was a no go. They guessed that Trump was being deliberately vague. Moreover, word on Wednesday was that Putin may never accept a “bilateral” meeting with Zelensky, despite Trump’s assurances that it would happen.
In short there was little substance to come out of the meeting, just a lot of solid if not good vibes. While there is nothing wrong with a positive momentum, the lack of detail could cause a whole lot of crossed wires and given the mistrust and hostilities built up over the years, it wouldn’t be too difficult to see this going south if given certain triggers.
Two of the best analysts on the Ukraine war joined us this week to sort this all out. James Carden is a writer and publisher of the Realist Review. Mike Vlahos is a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy and a weekly contributor on the John Batchelor Show.
More from Carden:
Sixty-Three Years, Nothing Has Changed
Presidents Trump and Putin Must Seize the Moment in Alaska
More from Vlahos:
Accepting the Truth About Ukrainian Casualties is the Only Real Path to Peace
War is a crapshoot! This particular one is a useless, foolish gamble by the US with NATO support. Russia warned the West that moving NATO Eastward was an existential threat to Russia's national security. Did the West listen? Of course not, Russian warnings were simply ignored. After the US funded and planned the 2014 Maidan illegal coup in Kiev, Russia acted. It's distrust in the West was completely vindicated and it simply would not let this blatant move against the Russian State stand without pushback. So the redemption of Crimea after an internationally monitored referendum approved by the Crimean people was manifested without violence (hear that America?). That was just the beginning, even tough Russia did not agree to do the same for Donbass and other Eastern Oblasts at the time, the violence visited upon them by Kiev forced Russia to do whatever it could to stop the murder and mayhem and thus today's war. Unnecessary when you realize that the impetus for it as an American intervention in Russia's sphere of influence which was a discretionary intrusion and gross provocation to Russia. So once again the grotesquely ignorant US Department of State used other nation's poor soldiers to wreak disaster against Russia. One of these days the US will make a very big mistake and push too far, then we will all be nuclear dust!!!