26 Apr, 2025 10:54

The Cold War never ended — but Washington’s priorities just did 1/2

The EU must now deal with Russia without the old American myths

Recent statements from senior American officials have raised eyebrows. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is beginning to better understand Russia’s position as Ukraine negotiations proceed. Simultaneously, Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth declared the era of the US serving as Europe’s sole security guarantor is over.

Is this a diplomatic victory for Russia? Not yet. There is still a long road ahead. But these signals from Washington should not be dismissed as mere tactical maneuvers. Rather, they suggestthe growing possibility of a strategic compromise– the very goal Russia sought with its European security initiatives in December 2021. Tragically, many lives have been lost to bring the international system to this point, a grim reminder that significant change in global affairs rarely comes peacefully.

For 80 years, the European security order has been biased against Russia. Even when the USSR or Russia formally participated, it was merely a mechanism for limiting Russian influence. The entire postwar ‘legitimacy’ of the international order, as the late Henry Kissinger observed, rested on containing Russia.

After 1945, Western countries prioritized Russia’s containment above even their own autonomy. To abandon this principle would acknowledge the collapse of the old order and the necessity of constructing a new one.

Today’s political upheavals in the US make this shift conceivable, although certainty remains distant. Washington’s erratic policy toward Ukraine is merely a symptom of deeper changes in Europe’s political architecture. It would be naive to believe that earlier American hostility toward Russian interests stemmed from ignorance. Americans have often been stereotyped as crude ‘nouveaux riches’,but the truth is that states act based on calculations of power and interest, not emotions or misunderstandings.

For all its peculiarities, America remains a sovereign power. And now, its relative decline forces a reassessment of priorities. Washington no longer has the luxury of fulfilling endless foreign obligations. Its voters – who ultimately foot the bill – demand that their leaders focus on domestic concerns. In such circumstances, the need to freeze the conflict with Russia becomes paramount.

Faced with a rising China and diminishing global influence, Washington sees little value in clinging to outdated commitments.Support for European satellites or the Kiev regime has become an unaffordable luxury. In reality, American ‘guarantees’ to Europe were always more myth than substance. Their primary purpose was psychological – to convince Russia that the West is invincible, thereby deterring challenges without having to justify the US military presence in Europe.

Even during the Cold War, after the mid-1950s, the USSR had no intention of attacking Western Europe.After 1991, all Russia sought from Europe was commerce and leisure. There was never any real need for an external ‘protector’ on the continent.

Moreover, American politicians prioritize their own people. No US government would sacrifice the lives of its citizens to fulfill formal pledges to foreign nations. Even during the past three years, the greatest danger of escalation between the US and Russia stemmed not from a hypothetical defense of Europe, but from direct security risks involving American interests…

https://www.rt.com/news/616350-it-would-be-naive-to-believe/

>>22961323

2/2

Western Europeans, of course, have long understood that US security guarantees are a convenient fiction. Even the most Russophobic regimes in the Baltics know this. But for decades, the EU states relied on this myth to justify hostile policies toward Russia while avoiding the burden of real defense expenditures. It became the ideological glue holding the European project together. Without it, they are at a loss:They have no alternative vision for a common order that isn’t based on enmity toward Russia.

The likely retreat of American leadership from Europe does not mean Russia should rush forward aggressively. On the contrary, it should proceed with cold-blooded calculation.War has never been the preferred tool of Russian foreign policy. Throughout history, Russia has favored diplomacy, even when progress was slow and interrupted by conflict. Patience has been its great strength.

Thus, Russia’s response to American disengagement will be measured and cautious. We are even prepared to assist our American colleagues in ‘explaining’ their evolving position to their allies. After all, a sudden epiphany regarding Russian interests requires careful handling.

In the emerging world, change will not be defined by grand declarations, but by the steady reassertion of sovereignty and the quiet death of the illusions that once governed international relations.

https://www.rt.com/news/616350-it-would-be-naive-to-believe/

Russia will worry if the next President does not abide by Russian agreements, hence Trump saying he will run for a third term.

27 Apr, 2025 15:58

Moscow ready to seek ‘balance of interests’ with Ukraine and US — Lavrov

It is wrong to say that Russia is not willing to make concessions, the country’s top diplomat stated

Russian Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov has rebuked CBS host in an interview on Sunday repeating that Moscow is ready to seek a “balance of interests” both with Ukraine and with the US.The network’s journalistMargaret Brennanhas said that she haven’t heard from the top diplomat that Moscow “is willing to make any concession on anything to date.”

“No, my brief answer is you are wrong,” Lavrov told Brennan.

“I have been emphasizing repeatedly, in relation to Ukraine, in relation to strategic relations with the United States, I have been emphasizing our readiness to seek balance of interests. If- if this is not what your station considers readiness for negotiations, then I don’t know how to be even less eloquent in trying to be brief in my answers,” he added.

Lavrov confirmed that Russia is continuing contacts with Washington regarding Ukraine and welcomed US President Donald Trump’s efforts to mediate.

“There are several signs that we are moving in the right direction,”Lavrov said. He emphasized that Russia demands guarantees that any ceasefire “would not be used again to beef up Ukrainian military” and that arms supplies to Ukraine should stop.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held lengthy talks on Friday with US special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin. Presidential adviser Yury Ushakov described the meeting as “constructive and very useful,” adding that the discussion touched on the idea of resuming direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.

Trump, commenting on the state of the negotiations, said Ukraine and Russia “should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to.”

In the interview, Lavrov reiterated Russia’s position on Crimea, stating,“Russia does not negotiate [over] its own territory,” and praised President Trump for acknowledging the peninsula’s status.

Crimea “will stay with Russia” in any peace deal, Trump told Time Magazine in an article published on Friday. He said that even Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky understands this. “It’s been with them [Russia] for a long time,” the US president stated, noting thatRussia had its submarines there “long before any period that we’re talking about” and that the majority of Crimeans speak Russian.

Russian officials have repeatedly said that Moscow is open to a negotiated solution, but have emphasized that any agreement must reflect the territorial realities on the ground and address the root causes of the conflict.

Zelensky insisted on Wednesday that Kiev would never officially recognize Crimea as Russian. Trump sharply rebuked that statement as “very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/616397-lavrov-ukraine-cbs-balance/

27 Apr, 2025 13:37

UFC president says it ‘never stopped’ working with Russian fighters

Athletes from the country have continued to compete despite global tensions, Dana White has confirmed

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization, never stopped working with Russian fighters despite international tensions, UFC president Dana White has said.

At the post-fight press conference following UFC on ESPN 66 in Kansas City, a reporter asked White about comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide, Kirill Dmitriev, that talks were ongoing to bring UFC events back to Russia.

While White did not explicitly confirm that negotiations were taking place, he emphasized that the UFC never ceased cooperation with Russian athletes.

“Yeah, listen, we never stopped. Our fighters still fought, and those things all happened during all that,”White replied.

White stressed that Russian athletes have always remained active in the UFC throughout periods of political tension and international sanctions. “We’re a global business,” he continued. “Bad shit happens all the time all around the world and, uh…yes we will run the business like we always have.”

Earlier in April, Kirill Dmitriev,Putin’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation,said efforts were underway to bring UFC tournaments back to Russia. Dmitriev, who is also CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has emerged as a key figure in recent Russia-US diplomatic engagements, particularly concerning the conflict in Ukraine.

His announcement regarding the UFC came after a meeting with Steve Witkoff, special envoy for US President Donald Trump, in St. Petersburg.

Since 2018, RDIF has partnered with UFC Russia to promote mixed martial arts in the country. Earlier this year, Dmitriev urged Russian fans to stay optimistic about the UFC’s return following Magomed Ankalaev’s victory at UFC 313, where he became the first Russian fighter to win the UFC light heavyweight title. White had previously indicated that a full UFC return to Russia could depend on improved diplomatic relations.

In 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from global competitions,but leading promotions such as UFC, Bellator, and One FC did not enforce the recommendation. Despite international sanctions imposed on Moscow after the escalation of Ukraine conflict, Russian fighters have continued to compete in major mixed martial arts (MMA) organizations.

https://www.rt.com/russia/616388-ufc-never-stopped-working-with-russia/

Sean Davis: “So Much Of The Fight We’re Having Isn’t With The Left But In Our Own Establishment”

13:50

https://rumble.com/embed/v6qcd21/?pub=4

Sunday Talks – Nat Sec Advisor Mike Waltz Discusses Geopolitical Issues with Maria Bartiromo

April 27, 2025 | Sundance |

I am trying to avoid my own confirmation bias, which is difficult in this case, because when Congressman Mike Waltz was announced as NSA to President-elect Donald Trump,immediately I thought he would be the first to exit the national security team; his ideology just doesn’t mesh right.

Following the fiasco with Signal and his Jeffrey Goldberg foul up, itlooked like Waltz was pushed out of the immediate circle of influence and instead told to focus on restructuring the National Security Council. His proximity still exists, but his immediate role appears -at least outwardly- to have shifted; he seems less influential as a direct emissary for President Trump to foreign intelligence peers and leaders.

I have this horribly annoying affliction to noticing small details and taking notes, and all indications point in that direction. When you start to notice this shift, what becomes evident is within the verbiage used as a proximity person begins describing events as if they were an observer, not a direct participant. [The “we” is lost.] Listen to how Mike Waltz describes current geopolitical events, he sounds like a pundit not a participant.

If my suspicion is accurate, President Trump has a National Security Advisor in name only.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/04/27/sunday-talks-nat-sec-advisor-mike-waltz-discusses-geopolitical-issues-with-maria-bartiromo/

10:26

https://youtu.be/9OQ8aSEOZtc

>>22961408

After listening to the video, Sundance seems right, now Waltz is a spokesman, not a leader of the NSA. He’s pretty good at this job, the last one, not so much.

ABOVE THE LAW?: DHS has warning for 'activist judges'

'The Big Weekend Show' breaks down liberal judges, current and former, being arrested for allegedly hiding illegal migrants from authorities and DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin's response.

13:37

https://youtu.be/kPMMd4ZbRjs

‘I don't know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi’: Secretary Bessent. Bessent call bullshit on Martha Raddtiz fake poll numbers

9:30

https://youtu.be/9hTD-yQ8mzw

27 Apr, 2025 17:59

Trump made no overtures to Russia over Europe’s largest nuclear plant – Lavrov

Several outlets have reported the US president would like to get the Russian-run Zaporozhye NPP under Washington’s control

The US has made no offer to Russia regarding the future of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told CBS. The diplomat’s remarks followed media reports about Washington’s alleged plans vis-a-vis the installation.

The energy facility, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been under Russian control since March 2022. Later that year, Zaporozhye Region’s residents voted to join Russia in a referendum, which Ukraine dismissed as a sham.

When asked during an interview with CBS on Sunday whether US President Donald Trump had approached Moscow over the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, Lavrov said that “we never received such an offer.” He added that “if we do, we would explain that the power station… is run by the Russian Federation state corporation called Rosatom.”

“It is in very good hands,” the diplomat added, noting that the facility is “being monitored by IAEA personnel permanently stationed at the site.”

“If not for the Ukrainian regular attempts to attack the power plant, and to create a nuclear disaster for Europe and for Ukraine as well, the safety requirements are fully implemented,Lavrov asserted.

When further pressed on the issue, the minister reiterated that“I don’t think any change [to the facility’s status] is conceivable.”

“We cannot speculate on something which is really not being mentioned during the negotiations,” he concluded.

On Tuesday, Axios,citing unnamed sourceswith direct knowledge of the discussions, reported that American officials had presented Kiev’s representatives with President Trump’s “final offer” to end the Ukraine conflict during talks in Paris last week.

According to the outlet, the proposal includes designating the area around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant as neutral territory under US administration.

Last Sunday, the Wall Street Journal carried a similar report, citing anonymous sources.

In March, Trump claimed that Vladimir Zelensky had proposed that the US assume ownership of his country’s nuclear power plants. The Ukrainian leader, however, refuted this assertion, stating that he and Trump had only discussed potential US investments in the Zaporozhye NPP.

https://www.rt.com/russia/616399-lavrov-trump-no-offer-zaporozhye-nuclear-plant/

Zelensky Publicly Rejected Trump’s Peace Plan, Preferring Push For Maximalist Total Victory Scenario 1/2

(Cut off Ukraine Now, money, arms, assets, anything we are giving them, cut them off!)

Even as talks progress and President Donald Trump says there is hope for a deal, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made clear he rejects President Donald Trump’s proposal to recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea as a price of peace, saying the Ukrainian constitution calls for nothing less than absolute victory.

This week, President Donald Trump said in interview with Time Magazine that one of the ultimate outcomes of the war will be that “Crimea will stay with Russia”, and later that a deal was close, with Ukraine and Russia needing now to meet in person in negotiations for the first time to “finish it off”.

Yet the rhetoric coming from Kyiv in recent days is far from complimentary about President Trump’s proposals. An American blueprint for peace in Ukraine was put before combatants this week and quickly rejected as politically impossible by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who cited the national constitution as making anything but total victory impossible.

The United States “offered its vision”, Zelensky said before leaving South Africa, stating Ukraine had made counter-proposals in return.Per Ukrainian state media, these included further calls for major Western military — as Ukraine has persistently asked for over the course of months— support including the deployment of “contingents” of foreign armed forces to the country for peacekeeping.

Also raised was Ukraine’s ultimate ask for peace: security guarantees in case of future Russian aggression, which it likens to NATO’s article five mutual defence clause.

“This document is on Trump’s desk”, and “we are awaiting a response,” Zelensky said, saying of the requests: “We want strong players among the security guarantors, those who have power.

“Those who are not afraid of Russia and who have influence on Russia. Certainly, economic, certainly, historical. Of course, there should be the United States of America, of course, there should be Europe because we are in Europe”.

While the United States has baulked at the prospect of setting up a nuclear trigger in Ukraine,perhaps the greater stumbling block to achieving a workable peace agreement is President Zelensky’s insistence that he would do nothing in contradiction of the letter of the Ukrainian constitution.(which he rewrote)

While this is doubtless Zelensky’s sworn duty as President, given the constitution states the nation’s borders are “indivisible and inviolable”, this essentially locks him and Ukraine into pushing for a maximalist total victory, with every square yard of the nation’s United Nations-recognised territory liberated.Three years of brutal fighting and hundreds of thousands of lives have yet to achieve this goal.

President Zelensky said of this position that he would accept only a total defeat of the Russian invasion, a peace on unobtainable terms: “Anything that contradicts our values or our Constitution cannot be included in any agreements”.

He said, further on Friday: “Our position is unchanged: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide which territories are Ukrainian. The Constitution of Ukraine states that all temporarily occupied territories are temporarily occupied.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/04/26/zelensky-publicly-rejected-trumps-peace-plan-preferring-push-for-maximalist-total-victory-scenario/

>>22961824

2/2

“They all belong to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian people. Ukraine will not legally recognize any temporarily occupied territories. I think this is an absolutely fair position. It is legal not only from the point of view of the Constitution of Ukraine, but also from the point of view of international law”.

Of course, in the case of the Ukrainian government really wanting peace the constitution could be amended. But until that time comes, plenty more constitutionalist obstructions can be found, such as any changes to the document needing to be ratified by a national referendum, and elections being impossible under wartime conditions and martial law, which is also Zelensky’s rationale for not having had to face re-election yet.

This week, President Trump said in interview with Time Magazine that one of the ultimate outcomes of the war will be that “Crimea will stay with Russia”. Time related through the transcript of President Trump’s remarks:

…will they be able to get it back? They’ve had their Russians. They’ve had their submarines there for long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea… Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time. It’s been with them long before Trump came along. Again, this is Obama’s war.

In other public remarks, President Trump had said: “Well, it depends what territory… we’ll do the best we can, working with Ukraine… but they lost a lot of territory. When you say Crimea, that was handed over during a president named Barack Hussein Obama. That had nothing to do with me.”

This has prompted a flurry of responses given many European states have likewise pushed for a total-victory outcome too, at least in public. Meanwhile President Trump continues to push both sides to set aside their priors and hasten to peace for the sake of thousands of lives.

The U.S. President has dinged Russia for continuing major strikes against Ukraine, and Ukraine for finding excuses not to come to the bargaining table.

One of the steps on the U.S.-designed path to peace is Ukraine signing up to President Trump’s minerals deal, a device to help the American taxpayer recuperate its considerable costs in underwriting Ukrainian defence while also giving Kyiv the reassurance that America has a long-term financial interest in the stability of the country. President Trump expressed his anger on Fridaythat this deal still hadn’t been ratified by Kyiv.

As reported, he wrote while crossing the Atlantic to attend the funeral of the Pope in Rome:“Ukraine, headed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not signed the final papers on the very important Rare Earths Deal with the United States. It is at least three weeks late. Hopefully, it will be signed IMMEDIATELY”.

As reported, he wrote while crossing the Atlantic to attend the funeral of the Pope in Rome:“Ukraine, headed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not signed the final papers on the very important Rare Earths Deal with the United States. It is at least three weeks late. Hopefully, it will be signed IMMEDIATELY”.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/04/26/zelensky-publicly-rejected-trumps-peace-plan-preferring-push-for-maximalist-total-victory-scenario/

David Sacks: Congress Must Act to Eliminate Corruption from the BudgetApril 27, 2025

Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, David Sacks, has called for Congress to act on corruption exposed by Elon Musk’s work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and eliminate it from the budget.

He made his call Sunday in an All-In podcast, asserting there is no time to waste and Congress must not destroy or impede DOGE’s progress: “What we really need is for Congress to now embrace all of the corruption that Elon Musk has found and eliminate it from the budget, because at the end of the day, in order to capture the savings here, we do need those appropriations eliminated from the budget.”

The White House AI and crypto czar made clear backsliding by Congress must not be allowed.

“My biggest concern is not something that DOGE is going to do or not it is up to –quite frankly – these old bulls in Congress, the people who control the appropriations process, are they going to basically backslide and just and just put the spending back in…”

DOGE began work on January 20, 2025, when it was established by an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The order reorganized the United States Digital Service and renamed it the United States DOGE Service.

One of its first major successes was discovering some $1.9 billion was “misplaced” by the previous Biden administration, as Breitbart News reported.

Musk has since said the organization will look into the reasons so many members of Congress suddenly become rich, accumulating generational wealth over their years in government service.

So far, DOGE has tallied up an estimated savings for U.S. taxpayers of $140 billion.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/04/27/david-sacks-congress-must-act-to-eliminate-corruption-from-the-budget/

https://x.com/joshdcaplan/status/1916271107176382466

1:21