It seems impossible that the Russians could negotiate with Avakov (should he become President), as "de-nazifying" Ukraine is one of their basic goals. The far-right Avakov became the Interior Minister after his thugs put the Maidan Revolution over the top, which meant that the Neo-Nazis were put in charge of Ukraine’s police stations as Ukraine (with half native Russian speakers) banned Russian in government transactions. The result: sacking and burning of police stations leading to the Donbass revolt.
Then Zelensky came along and kept Avakov as Interior Minister:
1. Neither Zelenskii nor anyone else in Ukraine has any authority whatsoever. Zelenskii cannot so much as change the brand of toilet paper in the presidential john without getting permission from some American. Do you think the driver asks the hood ornament on a car where they should go today?
2. We've been hearing rumors of the impending replacement of Zelenskii for a long time now.
We wish. If Zelensky were our puppet then we wouldn't need to remove him. The people we're dealing here are one step down the morality ladder from mobsters. We're dealing with celebrities. Whereas mobsters understand the concept of quid pro quo, celebrities believe they're fully entitled to what you give them. In return they will only give you the middle finger when you fail to satisfy their ever escalating demands.
I'm sorry that you are so ignorant that you do not know the very clear guidelines that the Duma and Putin have promulgated about what will trigger a nuclear response from Russia.
You have been inattentively reading the Russian nuclear doctrine. There is no threat to statehood yet, so Russia will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.
Replacing one nationalist thief with another nationalist thief will not change anything. The Nazis killed Russians and will continue to kill. The Ukrainian elites have been stealing budget money, and they will continue to steal. Peace can come only after a radical change of the political regime in Kiev. Peace will come only if Kiev starts thinking about the well-being of its people and stops obeying Western masters.
Russia put the security issues on the table several times and they were rebuffed by NATO, the US, and the EU. That is why Russia had no choice to enforce the Minsk agreements beside the SMO.
To say Avakov "has connections to" the ultranationalists is an understatement, lets say. Anyway the door to negotiations has closed, the article is quite correct.
Maybe I am naive, but I view Zelensky as a mere vocal puppet regarding the war effort. NATO, in my view, is determining the "macro" decisions of the war along with overall strategic planning and weapon-type deployment. His stubbornness regarding negotiations is simply in alignment with NATO leaderships' fecklessness and disjointed agenda that fails to deal with Russia in an objective manner. Ukraine, itself, is gradually becoming a weakened state, fiscally, economically and structurally. Resistance is held in check only by martial law and borrowed money, of which, a great deal is disappearing through the corrupt elites . Zelensky''s forced departure now, would only further the narrative of a declining Ukraine and add to NATO's problems. With a void of U.S. leadership due to the lame-duck status and feebleness of Biden, NATO has little to no direction or ambition to become effective. The election of Trump will begin the process of ending this war. The other NATO leaders will breathe a sigh of relief because the decisions will no longer be on their shoulders.
You are aware of Z´s main role in that TV-series? Which basically outlined his rise to power.
Absurd coincidence...
A friend of mine working in what used to be the Ukrainian/Russian entertainment industry had warned me after Z´s election victory. He said "We now have a comedian as president". I laughed. He said, "now you are laughing. Wait and see." Already in 2014 he went into hiding as conscriptors were looking for soldiers for their terror war in Donbas. Thinking back it´s all beyond me...hope my pal is still alive.
Z like Netanyahu is a 'wayward client' who isn't following orders, but trying to play off various constituencies (mainly in the US, NATO and at home) against each other, in the perceived interests of himself and his network.
It's a sort of Mob Rule, half tolerated by his Western patrons for want of anything less bad.
...And basically just a continuation of the client-based dynamic of patronage that made Ukraine the most corrupt and poorest country in Europe after the breakdown of the USSR.
Yeltsin's Russia was like that for a decade, but then Putin arrived as a strict boss of bosses.
Ukraine in a sense - as Putin might say - needed a Putin, but got only a crazy see-saw of competing corrupt cliques alternating between Eastern and Western patrons.
And 35 years of such chaos, severely complicated by the ravages of war, will not be dispelled easily, even after the conflict largely freezes, over the next year or so.
"It is hard to be sure, but it is possible that NATO's political leaders are not in full control of NATO command elements"
Indeed, I certainly believe this to be true. Also, lets not forget that NATO uses the militaries of participating countries, creating many a loophole for doing things that one country does not object to, but others do.
Thank you for writing these articles. They’re very insightful and helpful to someone like me who is trying to make sense of a conflict which is so complex and difficult to follow and understand. I very much appreciate your work.
The issue of who will sign the peace deal is a hard problem, simply because there is now much history of reneged accords between the US and Russia, as well as between Ukraine and Russia.
Add to this the clearly expressed hope of western commentators for outcomes producing regime change and regionalization in Russia, which feeds Russian skepticism about potential peace accord.
Consequently a negotiated peace is very unlikely, there is no trust, so it would at best be a truce of exhaustion for both sides to replenish their forces. As Russia is nowhere near exhausted by all appearances, the war seems sure to continue. Indeed, now that Ukraine has invaded Russia proper, the most logical goal for Russia is the elimination of Ukraine, the invader of the motherland.
On that basis, the political dance in Kiev is immaterial. Imho, the battlefield will decide, with the Kursk invasion simply furthering the likelihood of an extreme rather than negotiated settlement.
p.s. Klitschko whose boxing career focused on the German city of Hamburg bought a huge villa there. While his "compatriots" died in the thousands every week. This was a couple of months ago. Didn´t fare well of course. But then, people know who their politicians are. Most Ukrainians are aware of the corruption...and are used to it, alas.
Biden administration's press release in the WSJ, now blaming Zelensky and Zaluzhny for the Nord Stream industrial terror act. With an insultingly implausible cop-out about the US, which keeps Kiev on life support in every material category, being unable to stop it. Doubly insulting considering the article also implies the US lied the whole time about not knowing who did it.
So perhaps a rotation of the figure heads in Kiev back on the table. It's too late to have any effect however, since with unconditional support from the same US, the Banderite ultra-nationalists in Ukraine have by now eliminated all rival power centers.
It seems impossible that the Russians could negotiate with Avakov (should he become President), as "de-nazifying" Ukraine is one of their basic goals. The far-right Avakov became the Interior Minister after his thugs put the Maidan Revolution over the top, which meant that the Neo-Nazis were put in charge of Ukraine’s police stations as Ukraine (with half native Russian speakers) banned Russian in government transactions. The result: sacking and burning of police stations leading to the Donbass revolt.
Then Zelensky came along and kept Avakov as Interior Minister:
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/04/how-zelensky-made-peace-with-neo-nazis/
agreed
1. Neither Zelenskii nor anyone else in Ukraine has any authority whatsoever. Zelenskii cannot so much as change the brand of toilet paper in the presidential john without getting permission from some American. Do you think the driver asks the hood ornament on a car where they should go today?
2. We've been hearing rumors of the impending replacement of Zelenskii for a long time now.
NAILED IT
Ukraine is a CIA Colony. Poroshenko and Zelenskyy are CIA Puppets. They are installed at the CIA's discretion
We wish. If Zelensky were our puppet then we wouldn't need to remove him. The people we're dealing here are one step down the morality ladder from mobsters. We're dealing with celebrities. Whereas mobsters understand the concept of quid pro quo, celebrities believe they're fully entitled to what you give them. In return they will only give you the middle finger when you fail to satisfy their ever escalating demands.
WUT?
ANd you came to that conclusion HOW?
Do hood ornaments have office terms like the presidency of the Ukraine that ended on May 21?
Does it matter, as long as orders are carried out?
It won't matter at all if NATO forces Russia to defend itself with a nuclear first strike.
Nothing would delight NATO more.
What are they waiting for, then?
NATO or Russia?
NATO has to invade Russia to trigger the attack.
Is what you read here the totality of what you know about Ukrainian history since 2013?
You are the one predicting a Russian nuclear response.
I'm sorry that you are so ignorant that you do not know the very clear guidelines that the Duma and Putin have promulgated about what will trigger a nuclear response from Russia.
You have been inattentively reading the Russian nuclear doctrine. There is no threat to statehood yet, so Russia will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.
Because everyone in the Russian government always follows the law.
According to Ukrainian law that you cannot cite because it doesn't exist.
Being a dictator, he is the law, as he makes it up.
The translate function seems infatuated with cookies.
When did he declare martial law?
It must be the only country where declaring martial law can be done by a legislature, it being an executive act. Why would it need to be extended?
America has been placed under martial law several times and never revoked.
Replacing one nationalist thief with another nationalist thief will not change anything. The Nazis killed Russians and will continue to kill. The Ukrainian elites have been stealing budget money, and they will continue to steal. Peace can come only after a radical change of the political regime in Kiev. Peace will come only if Kiev starts thinking about the well-being of its people and stops obeying Western masters.
Long b4 Z, the plan was set in motion to screw Europe and overturn Russia. Ukraine is the pawn in this game.
Russia put the security issues on the table several times and they were rebuffed by NATO, the US, and the EU. That is why Russia had no choice to enforce the Minsk agreements beside the SMO.
People rarely note that the Russian invasion came a day after the 7-year 'implementation period' for Minsk II expired.
Putin himself noted this meant the bad-faith Minsk Process was formally over, and explicitly cited that fact as the trigger for invasion.
Is that the totality of what you know about the Maidan revolution?
??
Are you unable to compose text?
To say Avakov "has connections to" the ultranationalists is an understatement, lets say. Anyway the door to negotiations has closed, the article is quite correct.
Maybe I am naive, but I view Zelensky as a mere vocal puppet regarding the war effort. NATO, in my view, is determining the "macro" decisions of the war along with overall strategic planning and weapon-type deployment. His stubbornness regarding negotiations is simply in alignment with NATO leaderships' fecklessness and disjointed agenda that fails to deal with Russia in an objective manner. Ukraine, itself, is gradually becoming a weakened state, fiscally, economically and structurally. Resistance is held in check only by martial law and borrowed money, of which, a great deal is disappearing through the corrupt elites . Zelensky''s forced departure now, would only further the narrative of a declining Ukraine and add to NATO's problems. With a void of U.S. leadership due to the lame-duck status and feebleness of Biden, NATO has little to no direction or ambition to become effective. The election of Trump will begin the process of ending this war. The other NATO leaders will breathe a sigh of relief because the decisions will no longer be on their shoulders.
You are aware of Z´s main role in that TV-series? Which basically outlined his rise to power.
Absurd coincidence...
A friend of mine working in what used to be the Ukrainian/Russian entertainment industry had warned me after Z´s election victory. He said "We now have a comedian as president". I laughed. He said, "now you are laughing. Wait and see." Already in 2014 he went into hiding as conscriptors were looking for soldiers for their terror war in Donbas. Thinking back it´s all beyond me...hope my pal is still alive.
Ukraine is a CIA Colony. Poroshenko and Zelenskyy are CIA Puppets. They are installed at the CIA's discretion
That really is too simplistic.
Z like Netanyahu is a 'wayward client' who isn't following orders, but trying to play off various constituencies (mainly in the US, NATO and at home) against each other, in the perceived interests of himself and his network.
It's a sort of Mob Rule, half tolerated by his Western patrons for want of anything less bad.
...And basically just a continuation of the client-based dynamic of patronage that made Ukraine the most corrupt and poorest country in Europe after the breakdown of the USSR.
Yeltsin's Russia was like that for a decade, but then Putin arrived as a strict boss of bosses.
Ukraine in a sense - as Putin might say - needed a Putin, but got only a crazy see-saw of competing corrupt cliques alternating between Eastern and Western patrons.
And 35 years of such chaos, severely complicated by the ravages of war, will not be dispelled easily, even after the conflict largely freezes, over the next year or so.
>>>>>Z lis a 'wayward client' who isn't following orders<<<<<<
Such as ....?
Maybe Putin is waiting for Trump and peace. Trump stood up to NATO. Maybe he'll get us out of it.
Trump won't change anything, remember his first term as president. The president does not decide anything in the United States.
I do remember his first term as President and he demanded that NATO pay up!
How could this lead to peace?
Plus he beefed up Ukraine with all kinds of weapons. Trump won't change a thing, I agree with you Alexey.
Trump in no wise stood up to NATO.
Remember, twice he attacked Syria on the flmsiest of pretexts, and twice he tried to pull out, but cucked out both times.
"It is hard to be sure, but it is possible that NATO's political leaders are not in full control of NATO command elements"
Indeed, I certainly believe this to be true. Also, lets not forget that NATO uses the militaries of participating countries, creating many a loophole for doing things that one country does not object to, but others do.
They're in full control of the cash and weapons they send. When you keep doing that, it signals approval more strongly than any words do.
Thank you for writing these articles. They’re very insightful and helpful to someone like me who is trying to make sense of a conflict which is so complex and difficult to follow and understand. I very much appreciate your work.
Thank you for your kind words.
The issue of who will sign the peace deal is a hard problem, simply because there is now much history of reneged accords between the US and Russia, as well as between Ukraine and Russia.
Add to this the clearly expressed hope of western commentators for outcomes producing regime change and regionalization in Russia, which feeds Russian skepticism about potential peace accord.
Consequently a negotiated peace is very unlikely, there is no trust, so it would at best be a truce of exhaustion for both sides to replenish their forces. As Russia is nowhere near exhausted by all appearances, the war seems sure to continue. Indeed, now that Ukraine has invaded Russia proper, the most logical goal for Russia is the elimination of Ukraine, the invader of the motherland.
On that basis, the political dance in Kiev is immaterial. Imho, the battlefield will decide, with the Kursk invasion simply furthering the likelihood of an extreme rather than negotiated settlement.
Ukrainian people support its strategy as 87 % want to join NATO. Its the RuZZian nazi regime which must be replaced.
p.s. Klitschko whose boxing career focused on the German city of Hamburg bought a huge villa there. While his "compatriots" died in the thousands every week. This was a couple of months ago. Didn´t fare well of course. But then, people know who their politicians are. Most Ukrainians are aware of the corruption...and are used to it, alas.
Biden administration's press release in the WSJ, now blaming Zelensky and Zaluzhny for the Nord Stream industrial terror act. With an insultingly implausible cop-out about the US, which keeps Kiev on life support in every material category, being unable to stop it. Doubly insulting considering the article also implies the US lied the whole time about not knowing who did it.
So perhaps a rotation of the figure heads in Kiev back on the table. It's too late to have any effect however, since with unconditional support from the same US, the Banderite ultra-nationalists in Ukraine have by now eliminated all rival power centers.
Russian soldiers finished off as they got ambushed by UAF.
NATO soldiers were killed when they came under Russian rocket fire in Kharkov.