SEEN ELSEWHERE is focusing today on the marathon ‘ceasefire’ talks that have been taking place in Saudi Arabia between Russia and the US over the last two weeks and on the flurry of mixed messages coming out. An agreement remains elusive; not surprising, perhaps, since Russia is winning the war.
The Trump administration has though successfully pushed Russia and Ukraine to reach separate agreements with the United States on a truce that will ensure safe passage on the Black Sea, along with a ban on either country conducting strikes on energy facilities, reported by The Daily Wire here. Both countries have allowed the US to enforce the deals, but the EU seems, extraordinarily, less than keen on it.
The entertaining and acerbic Alex Christoforou discusses Ukraine’s new victory strategy, the EU rejection of a Black Sea deal, and a Signal chat scandal involving US officials. It covers Zelensky’s comments on Putin, EU-US tensions, and potential Nord Stream pipeline discussions.
Here also to throw some light on this roller coaster of competing interests in the talks is Lena Petrova, who has been working overtime on her World Affairs Channel. First, I take you back to her analysis of Putin’s original response to the ceasefire offer over two weeks ago. It is a reminder of where the process started and what the players said at that point, helping us understand where things went next.
This Duran ‘dive deep’ discussion also from the start of the talks two weeks ago goes into what Putin means by the root causes of the problem in Ukraine, which they say are not to be dismissed out of hand, not least the powerful and influential Azov battalion which Putin sees as a serious threat to peace. They are what he refers to as ’the Nazis’.
Petrova reports on the EU’s ‘war fund’ as it gets on track to ‘militarise’ and what she sees as their attempt to extract ten trillion euros from citizens’ savings to fund it.
She asks some hard questions for those who have ‘unused savings’ in the EU, as the EU seems to want to control those savings to fund a massive rearmament. It is clear that the EU want an army at their disposal. That army, she asks, will it be aimed at Russia? Or, she asks rhetorically, against its own citizens?
In a more recent report she asked whether Zelensky was trying to sabotage the ceasefire talks. We’ve heard much about Putin’s attacks on Ukraine since the talks began, but less on Zelensky’s strike on Russia’s key natural gas facility, and whether that violated the limited ceasefire.
In another report the Duran discuss Putin’s speech to the Russian equivalent of the CBI, why he thinks sanctions will not end and how the Russian economy must respond to that and find ways to do business with the world. Russia is not going to accept a ‘Minsk 3’ type treaty and Putin shows no desire to rebuild Russia’s previous relationships with Europe. The world has changed. The question remains, he asks, if EU is going to build its military, is it expecting to use cheap Russian energy to do it? Putin doesn’t think the Russians will want to do that, which means there might be (again) an energy price shock in Europe when winter comes, as gas reserves are very low.
Here is Zero Hedge’s take on that same address by Putin to Russian business leaders.
The view from Kiev, unsurprisingly, is rather different. A couple of days ago, The Kyiv Independent sat down with Marty Latz, the author of The Real Trump Deal: An Eye-Opening Look at How He Really Negotiates and expert negotiator who has spent decades examining the techniques Trump has used to make deals.
Finally on the talks, here are the Duran‘s most recent report, from a couple of days ago, on the crumbling ‘Coalition of the Willing’.
And from yesterday, and their response to Putin talking about his terms for peace. They say it looks as though Putin is looking at a military solution to finish off the Ukrainian army, particularly the Azov divisions, before finally handing over the remnains of Ukraine to UN “trusteeship” while elections are held. Putin does not regard Zelensky as a legitimately elected leader to sign a peace treaty and more.
Marine Le Pen is a politician who rarely gets good press over here, so it is not often you get to hear an excellent translation of her speeches. Yet, her rhetoric often soars, and her passion for France is unequalled. Enjoy her words from a speech in Madrid some weeks ago. I wish we had a leader such as her with so much passion for the UK.
Over here the dismay of previously loyal Reform UK supporters grows since Farage’s defenestration of Rupert Lowe. Candid with Lubna send a short wake up message to the Reform UK factions. Islamists are rejoicing at the fallout and what they see as Reform UK’s downfall, she claims. You need to unite, she says. (Strong language warning.)
Meanwhile, Mahyar Tousi of Tousi TV reports on mass resignations continuing at Reform UK as it emerges (he says) that CCHQ staffers have taken over Reform UK HQ.
This comes on top of the selection of former Tory councillors at the expense of vetted and rejected former Reform activists. These staffers are the same people, he says, who destroyed the Conservatives.
Dan Wootton had more on this story yesterday on his Outspoken channel. In an exclusive report he claims that ‘Reform UK’s extreme vetting will reject Ant Middleton’ while Suella Braverman will be ‘put off by Rupert Lowe treatment’. Senior party officials have told Wootton there are growing fears that ‘the paranoia over screening of candidates & members’ is causing top talent to walk out the door.
My final story for you today is brought to you by Geoff Buys Cars. The public really do need to know this happened. The horror of state overreach cannot be over emphasised enough.
