Category: Russia
Trump says land ownership one of the main sticking points in Ukraine peace plan
President Trump on Sunday said land ownership is one of the main sticking points in the plan for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war. “In your mind, sir, what are the thorniest issues still unresolved after the —” a reporter asked Trump during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky….
Tolstoy’s Last Novel
Leo Tolstoy is the greatest writer in the Western world—greater, yes, than Shakespeare, Dante, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, and Proust. In evidence I would submit his two masterpiece novels War and Peace (1867) and Anna Karenina (1878), and 20 or so magnificent novellas and short stories, among them “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” “The Kreutzer Sonata,” “Father Sergius,” “Hadji Murad,” and “Master and Man.”
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Tulsi Gabbard warns: Powerful foreign allies eager to pull US into war with Russia
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the AmericaFest crowd in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday that key global allies are hoping to drag the United States into a war with Russia.
Gabbard explained that the “warmongers in the deep state” are blocking Russia and Ukraine from reaching a peace agreement, undermining President Donald Trump’s efforts.
‘We cannot allow this to happen.’
“Predictably, they use the same old tactics that they’ve always used. The deep state within the intelligence community weaponizes ‘intelligence’ to try to undermine progress,” she stated, motioning air quotes.
Gabbard said these deep-staters then leak that so-called “intelligence” to their friends in the “mainstream propaganda media” to propel a false narrative.
She went on to accuse the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of wanting to pull the U.S. into direct battle with Russia.
President Donald Trump. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“[Deep-staters] foment fear and hysteria as a way to justify the continuing of the war and their efforts to undermine President Trump’s efforts towards peace,” Gabbard said. “And do so in this case in order to try to pull the U.S. military into a direct conflict with Russia, which is ultimately what the EU and NATO want.”
“We cannot allow this to happen,” she declared.
During her AmFest speech, Gabbard also warned about the threat of Islamist ideology.
“There’s a threat to our freedom that is not often talked about enough. And it is the greatest near- and long-term threat to both our freedom and our security, and that is the threat of Islamist ideology,” she said.
Gabbard’s comments prompted cheers and applause from the audience.
President Donald Trump, DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
She argued that, at its core, Islam is a political ideology that seeks to implement a “global caliphate” that would destroy freedom through Sharia law.
“This is already underway in places like Houston. This is not something that may possibly happen; it is already happening here within our borders,” she continued. “Paterson, New Jersey, is proud to call themselves the first Muslim city.”
You can view Gabbard’s remarks about Islamist ideology beginning at the 6:50 mark in the below video:
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Gabbard added that Islamist ideology “is propagated by people who not only do not believe in freedom, their fundamental ideology is antithetical to the foundation that we find in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, which is that our Creator endowed upon us inalienable rights. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
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As Europe Steps Back, Asia Steps Up
The Trump administration has once again horrified European public opinion. The National Security Strategy was released with little fanfare in the United States but landed like a bomb across the Atlantic. Lines like, “Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize … cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” reveal both the impatience a faction in the Trump administration feels toward Europe and its inability to win the internal debate.
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A demilitarized zone in Ukraine? Zelensky appears open
Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} Defense &National Security Defense &National Security The Big Story A demilitarized zone in Ukraine? Zelensky appears open Ukraine included the establishment of a demilitarized zone in the Donbas region as part of its latest proposal to end its war with Russia. © Ukrainian Presidential Press…
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Another historic peace imminent? Ukraine signals support for altered version of Trump’s peace plan
President Donald Trump has in recent months brokered peaceful resolutions between numerous warring parties, including Israel and Hamas; Azerbaijan and Armenia; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Cambodia and Thailand; and India and Pakistan.
The major peace he campaigned on securing between Ukraine and Russia has, however, proven elusive.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government’s representative to the U.N. appeared to reject the fundamentals of the Trump administration’s 28-point plan for peace.
The plan would have: barred Ukraine from NATO, having an army exceeding 600,000 men, and acquiring nukes but provided Kyiv with a NATO-style security guarantee from the U.S.; recognized much of the occupied territory in eastern Ukraine as Russian; set the stage for an American-backed rebuilding of Ukraine; and granted full amnesty to all parties involved in the conflict.
‘Don’t believe it until you see it.’
While apparently averse to several of the 28 points, Kyiv has, however, since expressed support for an altered version of the peace plan, the details of which Trump and Zelenskyy — who has reportedly not authorized anyone but himself to discuss territorial matters — may soon iron out at the White House.
An official briefed on the negotiations told the Washington Post that Trump’s peace plan had been reduced from 28 points to 19 points by Monday. A European official briefed on the talks suggested that some of the provisions concerning European security didn’t make it to the new draft.
Ukrainian delegate Oleksandr Bevz noted, “Many of the controversial provisions were either softened or at least reshaped” to get Kyiv on board.
RELATED: Zelenskyy’s hold on power uncertain as criminal charges reach his inner circle
Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
After Ukraine’s delegation returned from Geneva, where they met over the weekend to discuss the American peace proposal with representatives of the Trump administration, Zelenskyy said in a statement on Monday evening that “now the list of necessary steps to end the war can become doable. As of now, after Geneva, there are fewer points — no longer 28 — and many of the right elements have been taken into account in this framework.”
“Our team has reported on the new draft of steps, and this is indeed the right approach,” continued Zelenskyy. “I will discuss the sensitive issues with President Trump.”
Echoing Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s national security secretary Rustem Umerov announced that the U.S. and Ukrainian delegations “reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva.”
Amid U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll’s meetings on Tuesday with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi, which a spokesman said were “going well,” a U.S. official told CNN that “the Ukrainians have agreed to the peace deal. There are some minor details to be sorted out, but they have agreed to a peace deal.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that “tremendous progress towards a peace deal” has been made, adding that “there are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio effectively said the same thing days earlier, adding, “I honestly believe we’ll get there.”
During a press conference with the Belarusian foreign minister on Tuesday, Russian foreign affairs minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Moscow “welcomed” the 28-point plan but will consider the “interim” plan produced by Washington, Kyiv, and the Europeans in the coming days.
Lavrov noted, however, that Russia expects the peace plan to adhere to the terms President Vladimir Putin discussed with Trump during their August summit in Anchorage.
“We are not hurrying. We’re not pushing our American counterparts. We have waited a long time since Anchorage,” said Lavrov. “We are only reminding them that we stick to those agreements.”
Lavrov added, “If the spirit and letter of Anchorage is erased in terms of the key understandings we have established then, of course, it will be a fundamentally different situation.”
Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Monday, “Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
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Rubio on Ukraine peace talks: ‘Probably the most productive and meaningful meetings so far’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that recent Russia-Ukraine war peace talks were “meaningful” and “productive.” “So, it is in my personal view that we’ve had probably the most productive and meaningful meetings so far in this entire process since we’ve been involved, from the beginning,” Rubio said in Geneva. “We have a very…
Ceremonial Puck Drop Turns Into Player Getting Bitten By Police Dog At Hockey Game
Of course, this happened in Russia
