25 Nov, 2025 15:22

A Ukraine peace plan: Where things stand – and why the West still isn’t on the same page

What began as a US-led blueprint to “end the war by Thanksgiving” has turned into a three-way tug-of-war between Washington, the EU and Kiev – while Moscow waits1/3

Over three and a half years into the conflict, US president Donald Trump is trying to sell the world on a grand bargain for Ukraine – a peace plan, based on discussions with all parties and originally laid out in 28 points.After a tense weekend of talks in Geneva, that plan has been cut down and rebranded as an “updated and refined peace framework,” but the core reality hasn’t changed:Washington, key EU capitals, Kiev and Moscow are all reading from different scripts.

While Trump’s envoys press Ukraine to sign before a Thanksgiving deadline, European governments have been pushing their own agenda, reflected in a maximalist counter-text and a push-back, Ukraine tries to keep key backers onside and save face amid revelations of rampant corruption – andRussia says it hasn’t officially seen a revised version, though it broadly prefers the American draft and has dismissed EU amendments.

What is Trump’s plan?

The US initiative was developed under Trump’s team with input from both the Russian and Ukrainian sides.According to reporting based on a leaked text, the original plan envisaged Kiev renouncing NATO membership, recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea and the Donbass republics, capping the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, and being banned from targeting Moscow and St. Petersburg. Thedraft also allegedly assumes the gradual reintegration of Russia into the global economy and its return to the G8, and sets a 100-day deadline for elections in Ukraine after a peace deal.==

On top of that, theUS version included provisions on frozen Russian state assets that would allocate a significant share of profits from their investment to American interests– something that has angered several EU governments, sidelined by the US initiative, who argue that Europe has borne the bulk of the economic blows from sanctions imposed by Brussels and lampooned as counter-productive in the US.

Trump publicly presented the plan as the only realistic way to end the conflict “quickly,” and hisenvoys have delivered a blunt messageto Kiev:accept the deal by November 27 or risk cuts to intelligence sharing and weapons deliveries, according to multiple outlets.

From Moscow’s perspective, President Vladimir Putin has said Russia has received a text and agreed in principle with a version developed at the US-Russia summit in Anchorage in August, although Washington then “paused” the process after Kiev rejected it.Putin has described the initial 28-point draft as “modernised,” noting that it could form the basis of a final settlement– if Ukraine finally agrees to talk peace seriously.

Geneva: Just a slimmer wish list?

The talks in Switzerland over the weekend brought together the Ukrainian delegation, led by Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak, Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a large US team, as well as security advisers from France, Germany and UK.

Washington and Kiev say they have agreed an “updated and refined peace framework,”considering Ukrainian concerns – security guarantees, infrastructure protection, economic recovery and sovereignty – supposedly addressed in the new draft.

Alexander Bevz, adviser to the head of Zelensky’s office, was eager to put Kiev at the center of the post-talks posturing, declaring that “the 28-point plan, as everyone saw it, no longer exists” – some points were removed, others reworded, and every Ukrainian comment received a response from the US side, he said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/628400-ukraine-us-peace-plan/

>>23906824

2/3

Axios, the Financial Times and other outlets, citing officials familiar with the process,have reported that the document has indeed been edited from 28 to 19 points, after Geneva, though that in fact means nothing.

The key issues – territorial concessions, Ukraine’s NATO status and some of the military restrictions –have reportedly been taken out of the main text and parked in separate “follow-up”documentsfor talks at presidential level.

But in that distribution of talks tracks is a tactic. Kiev’s European backers are attempting to stave off accelerating frontline losses with a quick move for a ceasefire, which would make their position in discussions around a long-lasting peace much more comfortable than it is at present. Moscow has, since 2022, only agreed to talks that seek to create a long-lasting peace, and discounted ceasefires, citing Kiev’s previous use of one to re-arm, re-group and launch a new offensive.

US vs EU: One conflict, several agendas

If the Geneva format was meant to show the Westspeaking with one voice, it has so far largely highlighted the opposite.

Germany, France and the UK scrambled over the weekend to draft their own “European”version of the plan, amid megafone diplomacy from the EU, stripping out or softening several of the most controversial provisions. Their counter-proposal keeps the door to eventual NATO membership for Ukraine formally open, instead of closing it outright, allows a larger Ukrainian army, andavoids banning strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg, removes the explicit carve-out that would have routed 50% of profits from frozen Russian assets== to the United States and calls for EU-style collective security guarantees and a bigger European role in supervising any agreement.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and her hawkish foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas have publicly called territorial concessions a red line,while other EU leaders warn that any deal must not “humiliate” NATO or reward aggression.

From Washington’s side, Rubio has been at pains to present the Trump plan as a document that can evolve –but after Geneva he also made clear he is not working off the European draft and hasn’t even fully seen it.Politico and other outlets have reported that US diplomats have told their EU counterparts that European concerns on security would be “taken into account,”but that the central axis of the negotiation remains Washington-Kiev-Moscow.

Moscow, for its part, has already signaled that it finds the European version “completely unconstructive”and prefers the conditions of the US proposal, which explicitly mention withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donbass and the renunciation of NATO membership. The Kremlin has otherwise refused to make public comments, citing its wish to avoid ‘megafone diplomacy.’

https://www.rt.com/russia/628400-ukraine-us-peace-plan/

>>23906833

3/3

Kiev’s show: Public defiance, private adjustments

For Vladimir Zelensky, the US initiative comes at a moment of acute vulnerability. Ukraine’s army is reportedly close to collapse on multiple fronts, press gangs are polluting an already toxic domestic political atmosphere, Western arms supplies are no longer guaranteed, and a shocking corruption and extortion racket involving his inner circle is alienating him from his western backers. Western and Ukrainian media have openly described Zelensky’s former business partner Timur Mindich, who somehow fled the country before agents could detain him, as his financier or “wallet,” and the case has raised fresh questions about how Western aid and state contracts are managed.

In public, Zelensky has insisted that Ukraine will not surrender territory and that Russia must pay for the damage it has caused– particularly via frozen assets. He has no other choice,given the armed far-right fighting brigades he will have to contendwith once the line of contact is officially recognized.

In a video message on his telegram channel that also addressed foreign parliaments and media last week, he warned that Ukraine faces a stark choice “between dignity and the loss of a key ally,” and repeatedly insisted that any plan that legitimizes Russian territorial gains is unacceptable.

Behind closed doors, however, his team clearly feels the pressure.

According to Bevz and other officials, Kiev has gone point-by-point through the US plan,carving out some of the harshest provisions and pushing them into separate talks tracks, employing its tactics to distribute and decentralise peace talks. Reuters, AP and European outlets all report that Ukraine has “significantly amended” the US text – while acknowledging that the toughest questions have only been postponed, not solved.

Trump, meanwhile, has complained publicly about what he calls “ZERO GRATITUDE” from Ukraine’s leadership, accusing both Kiev and Europe of not appreciating US efforts while still buying Russian energy.

IndeedZelensky has reportedly announced himself ready to do a Thanksgiving deal with Trump=, thoughwithout Russia’s involvement it looks very much like optics over any cause for genuine optimism.

Moscow’s view: Waiting by the river

On the Russian side, the signals are deliberately cautious.

VladimirPutin has previously said that the US plan – in its earlier iterations – could form the basis of a final settlement if Kiev agrees, but noted that Washington put the process on pause once Ukraine rejected earlier understandings reached at the summit in Alaska.

For now, the big question is whether the West can speak with one voice, given the divisions the US initiative has exposed,having launched talks about a peace process Moscow has been ready for since February 2022.

https://www.rt.com/russia/628400-ukraine-us-peace-plan/

(It’s obvious the EU has been running Ukraine since the beginning, he’s not that smart, to do it alone)

26 Nov, 2025 20:13

Two National Guard members shot near White House

The suspect is in custody, police have said

Two US National Guard members were shot just blocks from the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

Police said that the crime scene has been secured, and the suspect is in custody. According to CNN, the guardsmen exchanged gunfire with the suspected shooter before they were shot.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey initially wrote on X shortly after the incident that the victims were members of the state’s National Guard andhad died from their injuries. He later added that he was “receiving conflicting reports”about their condition.

President Donald Trump has condemned the shooting on Truth Social.

“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” he wrote.

Vice President J.D. Vance asked the public to pray for the victims.“I think it’s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they’re active-duty, reserve or National Guard, are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,”he said.

Trump deployed the National Guard in DC and other urban centers earlier this year as part of what he described as a crackdown on rampant crime in Democrat-run cities.Democrats condemned the move as an abuse of power and filed lawsuits, leading courts to temporarily block some of the deployments.

Last month, large-scale ‘No Kings’ marches were held across the US to protest Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his use of the National Guard.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price. God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People. I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!

7.36k

ReTruths

31.2k

Likes

https://www.rt.com/news/628493-washington-dc-shooting-us/

(I believe these NG were assigned because there have multiple threats on President Trump, and they won’t stop)

Libs of TikTok

@libsoftiktok

Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez (D) who let Lawrence Reed out before he lit a woman on fire despite prosecutors begging to keep him detained and 72 prior arrests, basically admits she’s a DEI hire and rules based on how people look

11:48 AM · Nov 23, 2025

·

746.7K

Views

https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1992636459271270784?s=20

MIT study finds AI can already replace 11.7% of U.S. workforce

PUBLISHED WED, NOV 26 2025

KEY POINTS

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a study that found that artificial intelligence can already replace 11.7% of the U.S. labor market.

• The study was conducted using a labor simulation tool called the Iceberg Index, which was created by MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

• For lawmakers preparing billion-dollar reskilling and training investments, the index offers a detailed map of where disruption is forming down to the zip code.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday released a study that found that artificial intelligence can already replace 11.7% of the U.S. labor market, or as much as $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, health care and professional services.

The study was conducted using a labor simulation tool called the Iceberg Index, which was created by MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The index simulates how 151 million U.S. workers interact across the country and how they are affected by AI and corresponding policy.

The Iceberg Index, which was announced earlier this year,offers a forward-looking view of how AI may reshape the labor market, not just in coastal tech hubs but across every state in the country. For lawmakers preparing billion-dollar reskilling and training investments, the index offers a detailed map of where disruption is forming down to the zip code.

“Basically, we are creating a digital twin for the U.S. labor market,” said Prasanna Balaprakash, ORNL director and co-leader of the research. ORNL is a Department of Energy research center in eastern Tennessee, home to the Frontier supercomputer, which powers many large-scale modeling efforts.

The index runs population-level experiments, revealing how AI reshapes tasks, skills and labor flows long before those changes show up in the real economy, Balaprakash said.

The index treats the 151 million workers as individual agents, each tagged with skills, tasks, occupation and location. It maps more than 32,000 skills across 923 occupations in 3,000 counties, then measures where current AI systems can already perform those skills.

What the researchers found is that the visible tip of the iceberg —the layoffs and role shifts in tech, computing and information technology — represents just 2.2% of total wage exposure, or about $211 billion. Beneath the surface lies the total exposure, the $1.2 trillion in wages, and that includes routine functions in human resources, logistics, finance, and office administration. Those are areas sometimes overlooked in automation forecasts.

The index is not a prediction engine about exactly when or where jobs will be lost,the researchers said. Instead, it’s meant to give a skills-centered snapshot of what today’s AI systems can already do, and give policymakers a structured way to explore what-if scenarios before they commit real money and legislation.

The researchers partnered with state governments to run proactive simulations. Tennessee, North Carolina and Utah helped validate the model using their own labor data and have begun building policy scenarios using the platform.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/mit-study-finds-ai-can-already-replace-11point7percent-of-us-workforce.html

Kyle Cheney

@kyledcheney

Rep. Eric Swalwell's lawsuit against Bil PULTE has been assigned to … Judge Boasberg.

https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1993728464084513197?s=20

"We're Going To Lose Our Dadgum Country"

Tim Burchett knows the scoop.

https://youtu.be/aR5NL9RjJwM

Georgia prosecutor drops election interference case against Trump, others 1/2

It marks the end of the two major election interference cases Trump faced.

The Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case against President Donald Trump and others has been dismissed after the prosecutor who took over the case requested that it be dropped.

"In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years," wrote Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, who took over the case after the original prosecutor was disqualified from the case.

Within minutes of Skandalakis' court filing, the judge overseeing the case granted the request and dismissed the case.

"This case is hereby dismissed in its entirety," wrote Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee, who earlier this month had scheduled a Dec. 1 "status/pretrial" hearing in the case.

Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

The charges, which were brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following Trump's Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed to win the state, allege that the defendants solicited state leaders throughout the country, harassed and misled a Georgia election worker, and pushed phony claims that the election was stolen, all in an effort for Trump to remain in power despite his election loss.

Trump and the other defendants surrendered to authorities at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, where Trump was released on a $200,000 bond after having his mug shot taken in a first for a former U.S. president.

Defendants Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall later took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

Willis was subsequently disqualified from the case following accusations of impropriety regarding her relationship with a fellow prosecutor, leaving a council of Georgia attorneys to assign an independent prosecutor to take over the case and determine its fate.

Skandalakis took over the case himself earlier this month after he said he was "unable" to find someone else to accept the job.

In a statement following the dismissal of the case, Trump attorney Steve Sadow said, "The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare."

A spokesperson for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was disbarred from practicing law in New York and the District of Columbia over his efforts related to the 2020 election, lauded the dismissal.

"The decision to dismiss all criminal charges against Mayor Rudy Giuliani is long overdue and represents a complete repudiation of the demonstrably false claims that partisan actors used to justify his improper disbarment," Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman said in a statement.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/georgia-prosecutor-drops-election-interference-case-trump/story?id=127898245

>>23907358

2/2

Defendant John Eastman, a former Trump attorney, told ABC News the lawsuit "should have never been brought."

"I’m delighted that the replacement prosecutor recognized that challenging illegality in an election is not a crime," Eastman said.

Wednesday's dismissal marks the end of the two major election interference cases Trump faced following the 2020 election.

Following an eight-month investigation by then-special counsel Jack Smith, Trump pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to charges of undertaking a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors," using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," trying to enlist the vice president to "alter the election results," and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged.

After Trump was reelected president last year, the case was dismissed without prejudice due to the Justice Department's long-standing policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.

In a 22-page filing explaining his decision to drop the Fulton County case, Skandalakis wrote that the allegations and case theory are "not a viable basis for prosecution," and noted the timing and logistical difficulties of continuing the case specifically against Trump.

He acknowledged the seriousness of the case, writing that the indictment, if proven, "would establish a conspiracy undertaken by multiple individual. … to overturn the results of the November 2020 Presidential Election," but said that trying a criminal case against Trump would not be feasible.

"There is no realistic prospect that a sitting President will be compelled to appear in Georgia to stand trial on the allegations in this indictment," he wrote. "And even if, by some extraordinary circumstance, [Trump] were to appear in Georgia on January 21, 2029 the day after his term concludes an immediate jury trial would be impossible."

Regarding the specifics of the case against Trump, Skandalakis wrote that "Overt acts such as arranging a phone call, issuing a public statement, tweeting to the public to watch the Georgia Senate subcommittee hearings, texting someone to attend those hearings, or answering a 63-minute phone call without providing the context of that conversation, just to name a few examples, are not acts I would consider sufficient to sustain a RICO case," referring to the racketeering charges that Trump faced.

Skandalakis wrote that he considered severing Trump from his co-defendants but concluded that such a move would be "futile and unproductive."

He also concluded that the case should have been pursued federally, not in a Fulton County courtroom.

"The criminal conduct alleged in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit's prosecution was conceived in Washington, D.C., not the State of Georgia. The federal government is the appropriate venue for this prosecution, not the State of Georgia," he wrote.

Skandalakis also outlined what he identified as flaws in the prosecution's case theory, including that the Republican electors charged lacked criminal intent and that the allegations against former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark "fall short of the far more rigorous standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt required to sustain a criminal conviction."

In concluding his explanation, Skandalakis acknowledged that his decision would receive pushback – but said he still had to make it.

"The role of a prosecutor is not to satisfy public opinion or achieve universal approval; such a goal is both unattainable and irrelevant to the proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion. My assessment of this case has been guided solely by the evidence, the law, and the principles of justice," he wrote.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/georgia-prosecutor-drops-election-interference-case-trump/story?id=127898245

Catherine Herridge

@C__Herridge

Straight to the Point Exclusive: FBI Director Kash Patel

00:39 Arrival FBI HQ: What needs to be fixed?

02:44 Is the Thomas Crooks’ investigation a closed case?

06:21 Democratic lawmakers alleged sedition: “Is there a lawful predicate to open up an inquiry and investigation?”

08:28 Clapper, Brennan and others: Is the FBI pursuing a broader conspiracy allegedly designed to undermine President Trump?

09:56 Burn bags discovered at FBI HQ: Patel “we know” who put the burn bags containing Trump records in a secure room.

12:35 A 2016 CIA intelligence referral about an alleged “Clinton plan” to tie candidate Trump to Russia.

13:10 Epstein Files Transparency Act: Meeting the 30 day deadline, commitment to limited redactions.

16:05 Cracking down on Fentanyl: China Deal.

How quickly will the US government know if China cheats?

19:00 Charlie Kirk assassination investigation.

21:30 January 6th pipe bomber case update: “There are new developments”

22:35 Venezuela, military strikes and the impact on illegal drug flow.

23:46 Use Government Jet: Director Patel required by law to use government DOJ aircraft for security and 24/7 communications.

24:39 FBI HQ: Patel said he hopes “by the end of next year, we'll have a large chunk of our workforce” at the Ronald Reagan Building.

TIMING NOTE: We did not ask FBI Director Patel about the dismissal of the James Comey indictment because the news broke two hours after our interview.

Full transparency matters.

@thelatmg

@latimesstudios_

10:26 PM · Nov 24, 2025

·2M Views

Too long to post go to the link

This is interesting the x posting does not let copying video

https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/1993159385187598588