The Grand Bargain: Can Russia and the US rewrite history?
There’s an irony of fate as the old rivals again look for common ground
21 Feb, 2025 20:32
For years, Russian-American relations seemed to be in an irreversible coma. Diplomacy was dead, overtaken by hostility, sanctions, and a growing risk of military confrontation. Many insisted that nothing could break this trajectory — Moscow and the Washington were locked into an unchangeable course of conflict.
Yet today, the pace of change is astonishing.
This turn of events brings to mind an iconic scene from Terminator 2, in which Sarah Connor carves “No fate” into a wooden table. Her son, John, expands on the thought: “There is no fate except the one we make for ourselves.” The message is clear — our future is shaped by choices, not by destiny.
For years, analysts and politicians in both Russia and the West insisted that the US-Russia standoff was inevitable.
But the events unfolding now suggest otherwise.
If there is no fate but what we make, then the choices before Moscow and Washington today are of historic significance.
Of course, skepticism remains. Critics will argue that any agreement with Washington is a trap — that the US will make grand promises only to renege on them later, as it has in the past. That once Russia lets its guard down, the West will revert to its old habits of betrayal and broken deals.
This is not an unfounded concern. History has taught Russia to be cautious.But diplomacy is not about guarantees — it is about opportunities.There is no such thing as an ironclad agreement in geopolitics. Every deal can be broken, every promise can be reversed. The real question is whether Russia is prepared to seize the moment when a rare opportunity presents itself.
And this moment may be precisely that.
Even if Trump’s envoys — Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff — are skilled negotiators, it is difficult to imagine that they possess a superior grasp of diplomacy than figures like Sergey Lavrov or Yury Ushakov. Russia has experienced diplomats who have spent decades navigating the complexities of global power politics. If the US team believes it can outmaneuver Moscow, it is sorely mistaken.
A Moment of Historic Opportunity
Opportunities in diplomacy are rare. It is easy to let them slip away; far harder to seize them.
There is no fate — only the choices we make.
https://www.rt.com/news/613131-grand-bargain-russia-us-rewrite-history/