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Last week, President Joe Biden talked about the “new world order,” and how the U.S. needs to lead it. But on Tuesday, the U.S. was relegated to the sidelines as Ukraine and Russia negotiated for peace in Istanbul.
We are not surprised. The administration has failed at every diplomatic step leading up to Russia’s invasion last month and has only spoken of more weapons and more fighting since.
(Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” talked about regime change in Moscow, and indicated that the 82nd Airborne will be fighting in Ukraine. Even French President Emmanuel Macron had to urge Biden to stop the escalation.)
Negotiations
A top military official in Russia said Tuesday that Moscow will significantly decrease its “military activity” around Ukraine’s capital while peace negotiations are underway. The New York Times reported that “the first sign of progress” has emerged since the invasion started last month.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said the war in Ukraine needs to stop. Cavusoglu said the negotiations were the most productive since the start of the war.
The Times’s report said Russia – also for the first time – announced that it was ready to set up a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Armchair Quarterbacks
U.S. President Joe Biden raised doubts that Moscow will be sincere at the negotiations.
“We’ll see,” he told reporters. “I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.”
He said the U.S. will “continue to keep strong the sanctions and will continue to provide the Ukrainian military with the capacity to defend themselves. And we're going to continue to keep a close eye on what's going on."
The Associated Press reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed reservations about the peace talks. Blinken, who was in Morocco, said he had no new evidence that talks were progressing in a “constructive way.”
“There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does, and we’re focused on the latter,” Blinken said in Morocco. “And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization of Ukraine.”
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minster of foreign affairs, said last week that Kyiv’s position is clear: ceasefire, security guarantees, no compromises on territorial integrity. The Kremlin said Tuesday that its chief goal is to gain control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Tracking Trends is an understanding of where we are and how we got here to see where we are going. The corrupt Ukraine history and the United States 2014 coup of their democratically elected president, Victor Yanukovych has been completely obliterated from mainstream media coverage.
Ruble Recovers
Gerald, welcome to the Substack community! Consider checking out my work on here and Telegram, and also thanks for sharing about the study on the benefits of swearing on your YouTube 🤬🤣! - Silence DoGood, MBA