LOS ANGELES (OC).–President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet next Friday, August 15 in Alaska to sign an agreement to end the air war and freeze the war at the current battle lines. Putin has been reluctant to make any commitments for a ceasefire with his Ukrainian peace delegation meeting in Istanbul, largely because Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelenski has been so negative about compromising to end the war. Zelensky called Putin’s conditions for ending the war “blackmail,” refusing to cede any land to the Russian Federation. But the closer the conflict gets to a settlement, the more it’s obvious that Zelensky will be forced to trade land-for-peace if he wants the war over. European Union officials have backed Zelensky’s demand to see all of Putin forces leave Ukraine. EU officials know that’s not a realistic demand to end the war.
Saying the agreement would involve “some swapping of territories,” Trump gave sparse details of what would be involved in the agreement with Putin. Trump said his agreement with Putin would happen before any meetings with Zelensky, largely because there’s no love lost between the two leaders. There’s been some movement on the Ukrainian side because Zelensky gets signals from the EU that it’s not interested in subsidizing unending war with the Kremlin. So, this time around, Zelensky must accept that to end the war he’ll have to surrender territory to Putin. Trump today concluded an agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, something not thought possible only weeks ago. When Trump meets Putin next week, it’s not for discussions but to sign agreements. Putin would not travel to meet Trump without a major breakthrough in the war.
Putin has a lot to gain by ending the Ukraine War. No matter how much Zelensky complains about the conditions, he knows the war must end, sparing his country the loss of an entire generation of young patriots fighting for a cause that can’t be won. When it comes to Putin, ending the war would end the punitive economic sanctions, returning Russia in goodstanding to the G7 and G20. Trump has bigger plans for economic development for rare earth minerals in the Russian Federation. Putin has finally got the consequences to ending the Ukraine War, putting Russia back into the mainstream of global economic powers. EU officials would have to change their tune with Russia, start buying Russian oil and natural gas again, creating an economic boom not seen in years. Putin now understands how Russian stands to gain by following Trump’s lead.
All the past anti-Trump hysteria, blaming Trump for colluding with Kremlin to win the 2016 presidential election, has gone by the wayside. Democrats and the fake news can’t drag out the Russian hoax against Trump while he makes peace in Ukraine for Putin and Zelensky. Zelensky complained bitterly to the EU that he was excluded from any peace talks. Zelensky went to the EU for sympathy, only to get empty promises on getting Brussels to pay for the war. “President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelensky wants to see peace,” Trump said. “In all fairness to President Zelensky, he’s getting everything he needs to, assuming we get something done,” Trump said. “Nothing is easy,” Trump said. “But we’re gonna get some back. We’re going get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both,” Trump said showing he very much in control.
Kremlin officials admitted that Putin has made a series of phone calls to Chinese President Xi Jinping, India Prime Minister Narenda Modia, leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, all the inform them about the prospects for ending the war next week when he meets with Trump in Alaska. Trump stands to gain considerable prestige pulling off a peace deal in Ukraine, something he promise during the 2024 campaign. Instead of ending quickly, Trump found out how messy foreign relations can get. Trump never imagined that Zelensky would run to the EU complaining about getting Ukraine a bad deal. “It means that some sort of real peace agreement has been reached for the first time,” said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Mosco-based analyst. Democrats and the fake news are skeptical of everything Trump puts his hands on.
Liberal U.S. think tanks like tine Institute for the Study of War would like to return to the Biden proxy war policy in Ukraine. “Putin continues to believe that time is on Russia’s side and that Russian can outlast Ukraine and the West,” said former Gen. Jack Keane’s group. Keane has been wrong about the entire war, saying the Zelensky was beating back the Russian advance. Over three years later, Zelensky has lost some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory. No matter how much cash-and-arms Zelensky got, he continues to lose ground to Russia’s superior army. So if you listen to Keane, the U.S. would fund the Ukraine War indefinitely and get nowhere. So what if Putin looks out for his interests. Trump recognized the fact that Zelensky can’t win the conflict and needs to cut his losses and begin the long, costly rebuild of his country.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
