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Russia, Ukraine Agree On Prisoner Swap But No Progress On Ceasefire

Russian and Ukrainian officials held a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday and agreed to move forward on another prisoner swap, but did not appear to make any progress toward a ceasefire or lasting peace deal as the two sides remain very far apart. Russia and Ukraine agreed to return the bodies of more than 12,000 soldiers, and up to 1,200 POWs from each side could also be exchanged. Each side released 1,000 POWs following the first round of talks in mid-May. During the talks on Monday, which lasted about an hour, Russia presented its terms for a peace deal, which include Ukrainian troops withdrawing from territory in the four oblasts Moscow annexed in 2022.

Six Years Of Dashed Hopes For Peace And Reconciliation In Ukraine

Six years ago, on May 20, 2019, Ukraine inaugurated a new president who had defeated by a large margin the incumbent Petro Poroshenko, elected in May 2014. That election occurred barely three months following the coup that ousted Ukraine’s elected and constitutional president, Viktor Yanukovych, and its national legislature. Poroshenko is one of the richest men in Ukraine. His five-year presidential term firmly placed Ukraine on the global map as a hostile, ‘anti-Russia’ at the service of the Western powers. Following the 2019 election campaign, the candidate who became president, Volodomyr Zelensky, continued the radical, ethnic nationalism of his predecessor, Poroshenko, even though Zelensky’s election campaign had deceptively suggested that he would end the bloody civil war being waged by Kiev against the people of Donbass since 2014.

Playing With Fire

In 2020 Russia published, for the first time, an unclassified version of its nuclear doctrine. The document, called “Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence,” noted that Russia “reserves the right to use nuclear weapons” when Moscow is acting “in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and/or its allies, as well as in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy.” The document also stated that Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons in case of an “attack by [an] adversary against critical governmental or military sites of the Russian Federation, disruption of which would undermine nuclear forces response actions.”

War In Our Time

Friedrich Merz has been in office as Germany’s new chancellor a matter of weeks, and already he has the German capital aflutter with worry about the increasing danger of a third world war. More to the point, while Germans are fearful of such a prospect, the Russians are warning of it. In a series of recent remarks, notably on German television, Merz has stopped just short of stating that he intends to authorize supplies of German-made ballistic missiles to Ukraine and to do so without imposing restrictions on the Kiev regime’s use of them to attack Russian territory. This is a tripwire for Moscow, as Merz cannot possibly fail to see.

A Week Long Drone Fight Which Russia Is Winning

Over the last seven days the Ukrainian military has launched over one thousand drones against targets in Russia. Most of these were shot down by Russian air defenses. There are no reports of any serious damage. The biggest effect the week long drone attacks achieved was to shut down air traffic in Moscow for several hours. After waiting a few days the Russian military responded in kind. Over the last three days a record number of drones and missiles were launched against military installations and production facilities in Ukraine (archived): Russia stepped up missile-and-drone assaults on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other regions, killing at least 12 people overnight into Sunday after President Trump last week declined to impose further sanctions on Moscow over its refusal to halt its invasion.

Rooting Out The Root Causes In Ukraine

After a two-hour telephone call between the presidents of Russia and the United States on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said: I would like to emphasize once again that the conversation was very constructive, and I rate it highly. The question, of course, is for the Russian and Ukrainian sides to show maximum desire for peace and find compromises that would suit all parties. At the same time,I would like to note that Russia’s position is generally clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis. It should be no mystery to Western leaders, media and the public what those root causes are, as Moscow has been repeating them ad nauseam beginning 30 years ago and especially in the run up to Russia’s 2022 intervention in Ukraine’s then eight-year old civil war.

Trump’s Far-Fetched Attempt To Divide Russia And China Is Clearly Failing

US President Donald Trump claimed he would “un-unite” Russia and China. However, this divide-and-conquer strategy — which prominent US officials like Henry Kissinger have advocated since the 1970s — is clearly failing. In a meeting in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of their nations’ shared victory in World War Two, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that “China-Russia relations have reached the highest level in history”. In a lengthy statement, Beijing and Moscow vowed to “jointly resist any attempts to interfere with and disrupt the traditional friendship and deep mutual trust between China and Russia”.

Diplomatic Chess, Ukraine The Pawn

As was universally expected, little came out of Istanbul this week, where Ukrainian and Russian delegations met with the ostensible purpose of exploring a negotiated settlement of the proxy war the U.S. provoked three years ago. It is an odd state of affairs when even the people doing the talking did not anticipate anything useful to emerge from their talking. After less than two hours of negotiation, the two sides agreed only to future talks on subsidiary questions: a prisoner exchange and a 30–day ceasefire — a ceasefire Kiev and its Western backers refused for years but are now desperate to implement.

Pentagon Strategy Increases Risk Of Nuclear War With China

China and Russia released a joint declaration on the need for global strategic stability, which included an explicit condemnation of the US's nuclear counterforce strategy. Historian Peter Kuznik and filmmaker Regis Tremblay join us to discuss the risks of nuclear war in the current moment and the historical implications of the Russia-China alliance. Our understanding of China — and U.S.-China relations — has become a defining feature of all global politics. The China Report is a new show produced in collaboration with Pivot to Peace where every week, we will be helping you through all the propaganda with an independent view of the country we are taught to hate, but know so little about.

Terrorism We Are Witnessing Today Comes From Imperialism

The “terrorism we are witnessing today comes from imperialism, and we are fighting it,” Burkina Faso’s charismatic president, 37-year-old Capt. Ibrahim Traoré told Vladimir Putin on May 10. The Russian president in turn assured him, “We are united by a common goal of fighting terrorism and extremism. We will continue to help the Republic in… suppressing the radical (Jihadist) groups that are still active in certain parts of Burkina Faso.” The leaders met in Moscow a day after attending the Victory Day Parade on May 9, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union in 1945.

Who Defeated The Nazis? A Colloquy

On June 6, 2019 President Trump commemorated the 75th Anniversary of Operation Overlord, popularly known as D-Day, when approximately 160,000 U.S., British, Canadian and Free French soldiers landed in and around the beaches of Normandy, France. Speaking at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, where the remains of 9,388 American fighting men, most of whom perished on D-Day, are interned, Trump promoted the mythology of American omniscience that was born on the beaches of Normandy. … For Americans, D-Day stands out among all others when it comes to celebrating the Second World War.

They Left The West To Fight For Russia

Across the scorched fields and ruined factories of Donbass, a new kind of soldier moves among Russian units—not born under the tricolor, but under the flags of the very nations arming Ukraine. They come from America, Britain, France, and beyond. Men once proud of their military service now walk away from NATO’s wars and into the ranks of Russia’s armed forces—or into the humanitarian trenches of liberated towns. Why? Because they’ve seen through the lie. Some fight on the front lines, side by side with Russians defending cities like Chasov Yar. Others deliver aid, rebuild homes, and film what the West will never show its citizens: that this war isn’t about democracy or borders, but about global power, corruption, and forgotten people.

United States Minerals Deal Resets Ukraine’s Geopolitics

Moscow and Kiev have been vying with each other to curry favour with the new U.S. administration. Just as Russian diplomacy appeared to be outstripping Kiev, things changed dramatically on April 30 with the signing of the so-called minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine in Washington. Weeks of tense bargaining preceded the conclusion of the agreement, which at one point disrupted U.S. aid for Ukraine. But the latter showed extraordinary grit, tenacity and tact to hang on and, eventually, extracted out of the Trump administration what President Vladimir Zelensky called a “truly equal” deal. This must be the finest hour of Ukrainian nationalism and underscores that the country is far from a write-off on the geopolitical chessboard.

Russia Rejects Trump’s Freeze Of The War In Ukraine

Despite U.S. pressure for a fast deal Russia does not expect any quick resolution of the conflict. It just announced a new unilateral ceasefire from May 8 to May 10, i.e. around the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II on May 9. It is another public sign that Russia is willing to adhere to a ceasefire agreement IF the conditions are right. Trump still tries to behave like a neutral mediator in a conflict between Kiev and Moscow. He wants to impose a peace deal that projects his personal 'greatness'. But the U.S. has been and continues to be the main party of the war with Russia while Ukraine is the mere proxy force that does the bleeding.

Losing And Learning Nothing

How odd to look back now — now, as Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine ends in ignominious defeat—and think of that cornucopia of propaganda spilling out of what I called during the early months Washington’s “bubble of pretend.” Take a few minutes to remember with me. There was the “Ghost of Kyiv,” an heroic MiG–29 pilot credited with downing six, count ’em, six Russian fighters in a single night, Feb. 24, 2022, two days after the Russian intervention began. The Ghost turned out to be a fantasy confected out of a popular video game. So crude, the early Ukrainian propaganda, so rank.
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