Connexion
From the preparation of the Summit in Alaska, to the end of the Summit in the White House.
Yes, I am excited. Had a tough day yesterday and was out most of the day, with good results from my labors. But administrative red tape takes its toll, and this morning I feel like the Beer I had for Breakfast was not Bad, so I’ll have one more for Dessert. (Just joking).
Let’s step back for a moment to this morning’s Daily Chronicles and quote two sentences:
There is no common EU stance that can be teased out, and the best assessment of the near future is that they will attempt to nickel and dime the principle of a peace agreement to shreds. I cannot see a common decision among the EU twats.
—
-Nothing changes in reality. NATO is strengthened via buying weapons from the US. Either the SMO war grinds on until objectives are achieved militarily, or it temporarily ceases, as a Peace Agreement will not hold. The objective of a larger or a perpetual war by the EU twats has not changed.
And one more quote by FM Lavrov:
In addition, the Foreign Minister added that without respect for Russia’s security and fully recognizing the rights of Russians in Ukraine, there can be no talk of any long-term agreements. … If Kiev abandons the principles of neutrality and non-entry into NATO, then the statements underlying the recognition of Ukraine’s independence disappear.
Mr Lavrov’s interview is now translated and on the Russian MFA’s website. Let me add one more quote:
When these delegates in Washington insisted that efforts must commence with formulating security guarantees for Ukraine – and simultaneously for Europe (as emphasised by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer among others) – not once did they mention Russia’s security. Yet the OSCE document I referenced (universally drafted and adopted by consensus) mandates security arrangements acceptable to all.
The patronising disregard for international law, for pledges often made deceitfully and formalised on paper, remains evident in these officials’ approach to the Ukrainian crisis. Without respect for Russia’s security interests, without full recognition of the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine, no lasting agreements are possible – for these are precisely the issues requiring urgent resolution in the context of the crisis settlement.
So I am excited because the ‘Global Southies’ and more, sussed out the rock bottom of what we are looking at, literally overnight. This is not a peace agreement. Perhaps a peace agreement in name only, given that we are now accustomed to hear peace, and think war.
The reality is that Mr Trump and Mr Putin’s understanding of a ‘peace agreement’ at the end of the Alaska Summit, is already being nickeled and dimed to shreds.
We have a visibly subjugated Europe; a vassal that will speak The Circus Master’s Voice as if they are the Master himself.
Let us not be naive. The new geopolitical design for Europe is not only policy preference but demands subservience in total. As long as Ukraine is an unresolved conflict, and as long as Europe can balance (with Master) to keep Ukraine unresolved, Europe will pay for Ukraine’s defense and funnel dollars into the US military-industrial complex. The issue is not peace, it is war and money.
To split Europe away from affordable Russian energy is but one of the aspects of this. It binds Europe, and stops any meaningful integration on any level. In a manner of speaking, this disallows the emergence of any kind of European cohesion and while Europe can be held in bondage, the US can maintain a hegemonic stance and relevance, even with only Europe as vassal.
What we have seen across the two summits is a cynical and manipulative use of US national interests while flying a peace flag. The US demands loyalty but will pay back with transactional gifts only. They will support the current European hatred of Russia (here is your gift) while pretending to Russia that they come in peace. It is now shattered, and we see it. If Russia perceives even superficial warmth from America, it may think before committing resources to join a direct challenge to US primacy. Nothing to do with Ukraine and nothing to do with the masses of dead soldiers lying in the fields that Trump is so sorry for. The US is simply dangling the illusion of a normalized relationship between itself and Russia. What the concept of the puppet Ukraine did for them during these past years, they have now recruited Europe to add spice to their objective to literally own the world. That is not a joke any longer but is hard realpolitik. If Witkoff and the meetings that took place between Russia and the US over months could not shift the needle toward normality in relationships one iota (Russian property taken by the US, normalized flight schedules, visa provision etc.), what makes us think that it will happen this time should Trump go and visit Russia?
There is a desperation in this tactical sleight of hand. All of the European Leaders are out this morning making comments, just the same as before the Alaska Summit. The UK will suddenly ‘HELP’ Ukraine with elections once the conflict ends, to ‘strengthen DEMOCRATIC values’. (Of course they want to pick the compliant winner).
Brian Berletic says:
Even amid the theater, the recurring theme is to a) freeze the war b) deploy Western troops to Ukraine to ensure it stays frozen and c) re-arm Ukraine with billions in US weapons;
What of this has not happened? I posted this morning Trump’s sneaky comment: Trump said that France, Germany and the UK want to deploy their own forces in Ukraine, and that this would not create problems with Russia. Don’t believe me? Here is the clip: https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/157857
Angelo Giuliano says:
In the emerging multipolar world order, Europe is not envisioned as an autonomous pole of power. Instead, it must function as a compliant satellite within America’s exclusive sphere of influence—weakened, perpetually controllable, and stripped of sovereign agency. Energy dependence, military outsourcing, and economic fragmentation are tools to enforce this subjugation. Europe will be denied the capacity for strategic independence or collective strength. To guarantee compliance, the U.S. will intensify its covert engineering of European political leadership. Weak, compromised figures—pre-selected for their susceptibility to blackmail (financial scandals, moral indiscretions) or ideological malleability—will be elevated to key positions. These handpicked proxies will dutifully enforce American directives, sabotaging initiatives that might foster European autonomy or bridge-building with Moscow. The goal is a continent governed by elites whose survival depends on obedience to Washington, not the aspirations of their own citizens. … In Trump’s calculus, Europe’s strength is America’s vulnerability. Its weakness is his advantage. Vassalage, not partnership, is the design.
The stakes transcend Ukraine or energy prices or security guarantees.
We are in a systemic battle for the architecture of 21st-century power. I believe Lavrov’s major interview (which is not out in English yet) will give some form to this.
3️⃣ “If Ukraine rejects neutrality and NATO non-membership, then the provisions that were the basis for recognizing Ukraine’s independence disappear” — Russian FM pic.twitter.com/SU9de4wRHi
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) August 19, 2025
What does this all mean? It means we have taken a step forward in definition of the new activities by the empire and their attacking stance. We’ve also, in understanding this, taken a step forward in definition of how BRICS and SCO etc., will be defending. We need to take a very good look at the talks between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping early in September. West Asia is under massive attack now, for hegemonic ownership of the region. Peace is War. For a period Russia will be relatively free from meddling, and then it will start all over again. Either Russia will be left being sweet-talked for a period and the attacks will move to China (and of course Latin America), or Russia will be hit with more punitive action. It is an interesting time, but a very dangerous time.
Finally, a sharp-eyed commentator found this video from John Helmer and Nima. The second half of it is not critical, but John did some good work in lining up the detail of exactly how, and what of the understandings from Alaska has been walked back on in the first half of the video. It is worth watching for that detail.
Trump’s upcoming meeting with Zelensky to turn the tables on NATO
On Monday, August 18, Zelensky is coming to the White House. He has been prepped by his main anti-Russia sponsors, Merz, Starmer and Macron (along with von der Leyen and Finland’s president) in hope of using his popularity with Congressional Cold Warriors to deter Trump from accepting the reality of NATO’s attack on Russia using Ukraine as the arena willing to force the population to a fight to the last Ukrainian (excepting the neo-Nazi Azov battalion that prefers to let farm boys do the fighting).
Here’s what Trump can do to quite simply de-tooth the NATO contingent.
He is absolutely correct in insisting on meeting alone with Zelensky first. He can simply ask Zelensky to explain to him just what happened when Boris Johnson came to Kiev to talk him out of signing the Minsk agreement with Russia that would have avoided the ensuing war with Russia.
What did Johnson tell Zelensky that led him to agree? Did Johnson say what the aim of rejecting the agreement would be – and proceeding to prepare an attack on Russia on the eve of February 2022?
Was the stated aim indeed to weaken Russia? What did he believe would be the result? Would the Russian economy collapse from actually fighting in Ukraine? Did he believe that Russia’s population would oppose its soldiers dying in war, and replace Putin with a NATO- and oligarch-friendly regime?
Having established that Russia was indeed responding to a NATO attack – not the aggressor itself – Trump can then hold a mini meeting with Zelensky in front of reporters. He can explain what Zelensky has explained. (I assume that Zelensky will have no option other than to confirm what Putin and Lavroff explained to Trump in Alaska.)
He can ask Zelensky whether he is surprised at his army’s collapse and casualties. If Zelensky continues to claim that Ukraine is winning against Russian troops, Trump can ask his cabinet members whether that is the CIA and NSA’s understanding of reality.
Trump will conclude that instead of following the European plan to keep attacking Russia, he wants to go to the root causes and cure not only the fighting in Ukraine but the entire Cold War antagonism toward Russia.
He can speak of U.S. investment opportunities. On Friday while he was in Alaska, Exxon was negotiating an oil deal with Russian officials. Russia can offer to buy U.S. equipment and materials to help rebuild the former eastern provinces of Ukraine that its nationalists attacked, and which now must be rebuilt. That is, if Brussels releases the $300 billion plus interest that it has illegally confiscated.
NOW, having set the stage with a realistic sense of context and proportion, he can go into the closed meeting with the Euro-thugs. They presumably will have been waiting somewhere in the White House and heard what Zelensky and Trump have agreed on, but may perhaps have been kept busy and isolated.
Trump can NOW ask them for their story – and confront them with what he has been told by Zelensky, which either will confirm what Trump was told by the Russian contingent in Alaska, or try to brazen it out.
Either way, Trump has them trapped, taking a pro-war stance in contrast to trump’s Nobel-prize hopes to depict himself as the Prince of Peace and the resulting prosperity from saving America from the cost of further NATO spending. Henceforth Europe will be on its own. If it insists on fighting, it can buy arms from the United States. But Trump will say that there is no military cause for armament, given Russia’s lack of interest in pursuing trade and investment with Western Europe as it turns eastward.
He can let von der Leyen or others hang themselves with their recommendations, and say that this is what divides his Republican policy from that of Biden, and from Obama before him who sponsored the regime change in the Maidan coup of 2025.
Trump can point to the criminal proceedings against Obama and also Biden officials in the FBI and CIA who organized the Russiagate scandal.
This strategy seems obvious to me. Will it be obvious to Trump?
Michael von der Schulenburg: Alaska Meeting Was a “Game Changer”
Excellent discussion and correct preliminary conclusion. “Trust-building” was leitmotif, to halt the runaway train to nuclear war. Reality between the two who count are now materially different. Europeans stand alone, and will cast off by Empire. “The Peace” is gonna be imposed on the crazed Europeans, and others fueling Forever Wars. Russia is recognized as peer power that must be negotiated with, sans diktat or derision, as they hold the cards.
Joint news conference by the President of Russia and the President of the United States
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a joint news conference following Russia-US talks.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin:
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,
We held our talks in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere, and they have proved substantive and productive.
I would like to once again thank my US counterpart for the proposal to come to Alaska. It is quite logical to meet here since our countries, albeit separated by oceans, are, in fact, close neighbours. When we stepped out of our planes and greeted each other, I said, “Good afternoon, dear neighbour. I am glad to see you alive and in good health.” I believe it sounds very friendly and neighbourly. Our countries are separated only by the Bering Strait — essentially, there are two islands, one Russian and one American, separated by a mere four kilometres. We are close neighbours, that’s a fact.
It is also important to note that our shared history and many positive events are largely related to Alaska. There is still an enormous cultural legacy preserved since the age of Russian America, with Russian Orthodox churches and more than 700 place-names of Russian origin.
During World War II, Alaska served as the starting point for the legendary air route that delivered lend-lease supplies, including military aircraft and other equipment. It was a dangerous and challenging route over enormous ice-covered territories. Nevertheless, the pilots and experts of both countries did everything they could to bring victory together. They risked and sacrificed their lives for our common victory.
I have just visited the Russian city of Magadan. A monument honouring Russian and American pilots stands there, adorned with the Russian and American flags. I know that here, too, there is a similar monument, and at a war cemetery a few kilometres away from here, there are graves of Soviet pilots who lost their lives in that heroic mission. We appreciate the efforts of US officials and citizens to preserve their memory. This is a dignified and noble undertaking.
We will always remember other examples from history when our countries stood together against common enemies in the spirit of combat camaraderie and alliance, rendering each other help and support. I am certain that this legacy will help us restore and develop mutually beneficial and equal ties at this new stage, even in the most challenging conditions.
As you know, Russian-American summit talks have not been held for over four years. That is a long time. This period has proved exceptionally difficult for bilateral relations, and, let’s face it, they have deteriorated to their lowest point since the Cold War. And this does not benefit either our countries or the world in general.
Obviously, sooner or later we had to remedy the situation, to move from confrontation to dialogue, and in this regard, an in-person meeting between the two heads of state was really overdue – of course, with serious and thorough preparations, and this work has been done.
President Trump and I have established very good direct contacts. We have had frank conversations on the phone multiple times. As you know, the US President’s Special Envoy, Mr Witkoff, has visited us in Russia several times. Our aides and heads of foreign ministries have maintained regular contacts.
As you are well aware, the situation around Ukraine is one of the key issues. We acknowledge the commitment of the US administration and President Trump personally to help resolve the Ukrainian conflict, and the President’s willingness to understand the root causes and its origins.
I have repeatedly said that the developments in Ukraine present fundamental threats to Russia’s national security. Moreover, we have always considered the Ukrainian people – and I have said this many times – a brotherly people, no matter how strange it may sound in today’s circumstances. We share the same roots, and the current situation is tragic and deeply painful to us. Therefore, our country is sincerely interested in ending this.
Yet, we are convinced that, for the conflict resolution in Ukraine to be long-term and lasting, all the root causes of the crisis, which have been repeatedly explained, must be eliminated; all of Russia’s legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair security balance must be restored in Europe and the rest of the world.
I agree with President Trump. He said today that Ukraine’s security must be ensured by all means. Of course, we are ready to work on this.
Hopefully, the understanding we have reached will bring us closer to this goal and open up the road to peace in Ukraine.
We hope that Kiev and the European capitals will take the current developments constructively and will neither try to put up obstacles nor attempt to disrupt the emerging progress with provocative acts or behind-the-scenes plots.
By the way, under the new US administration, our bilateral trade has been on the rise. So far, it is a symbolic figure but still, the trade is 20 percent higher. What I am saying is that we have many interesting areas for cooperation.
It is obvious that the Russian-US business and investment partnership holds tremendous potential. Russia and the United States have much to offer each other in trade, energy, digital and high technologies, and space development.
Cooperation in the Arctic and the resumption of region-to-region contacts, including between the Russian Far East and the West Coast of the USA, also appear relevant.
Overall, it is crucial and necessary that our countries turn the page and get back to cooperation.
Symbolically, as I have already said, there is an international date line nearby, on the border between Russia and the United States, where you can literally step from one day into another. I hope that we can do the same in political affairs.
I would like to thank Mr Trump for our joint work and for the friendly and trust-based conversation. The main thing is that there was a commitment on both sides to produce a result. We see that the US President has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve, that he sincerely cares about his country’s prosperity while showing awareness of Russia’s national interests.
I hope that today’s agreements will become a reference point, not only for resolving the Ukrainian problem but also for resuming the pragmatic business relations between Russia and the United States.
To conclude, I would like to add the following. I remember that in 2022, during my last contacts with the former US administration, I tried to convince my former US counterpart that we should not bring the situation to a point fraught with serious repercussions in the form of hostilities, and I said directly at the time that it would be a big mistake.
Today, we hear President Trump saying: “If I had been president, there would have been no war.” I believe it would have been so. I confirm this because President Trump and I have established a generally very good, businesslike and trustworthy contact. And I have every reason to believe that, as we move along this path, we can reach – and the sooner the better – the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
Thank you for the attention.
President of the United States of America Donald Trump: Thank you very much, Mr President. That was very profound, and I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting.
There were many-many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we have not quite gotten there, but we have made some headway. So, there is no deal until there is a deal.
I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I will, of course, call up President Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting. It is ultimately up to them. They are going to have to agree with [what] Marco [Rubio] and Steve [Witkoff] and some of the great people from the Trump administration who have come here, Scott [Bessent] and John Ratcliffe. Thank you very much. But we have some of our really great leaders. They have been doing a phenomenal job.
We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think, you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We have become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time. We look forward to that, we look forward to dealing, we are going to try to get this over with.
We really made some great progress today. I have always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he has probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He has seen it all. But we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country in terms of the business and all of the things that we would like to have dealt with. But we will have a good chance when this is over.
So just to put it very quickly, I am going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We did not get here but we have a very good chance of getting there.
I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team, whose faces, who I know, in many cases, otherwise, other than that, whose faces I get to see all the time in the newspapers. You are almost as famous as the boss, but especially this one right over here.
But we had some good meetings over the years, right? Good, productive meetings over the years, and we hope to have that in the future. But let’s do the most productive one right now. We are going to stop, really, five, six, seven thousand, thousands of people a week from being killed, and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do.
So again, Mr President, I would like to thank you very much, and we will speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.
Vladimir Putin: Next time in Moscow.
Donald Trump: Oh, that is an interesting one. I do not know. I will get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening. Thank you very much, Vladimir. And thank you all. Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you so much.
Of course it’s all about Alaska. Here’s what’s in play. But it’s the shadowplay that’s even more exciting.
By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture Foundation.
Of course it’s all about Alaska. Here’s what’s in play. But it’s the shadowplay that’s even more exciting.
Across the world, for those who grew up in the Cold War Swingin’ Sixties, the temptation is irresistible to cast Donald Trump as Goldfinger (but who would play Oddjob? Hegseth?)
Goldfinger, after all, is a powerful, ruthless gambler. His 21st century motto would be “Obliterate & Plunder”. In fact, sequentially, an orgy of obliteratin’ and plunderin’ if the occasions present themselves. Everything subjected to the search for the Golden Deal. My way. The only way.
Yet now it’s possible that Goldfinger may have met its appropriate – collective – match.
This is what happened the last time a summit took place in Alaska, in this particular case US-China in a shabby hotel in Anchorage. That shook the geopolitical chessboard to the core. Trump-Putin might – but only under quite specific conditions.
There’s only one realistic, optimal endgame for Alaska: a joint declaration of intent, pointing to a follow-up, as in the next meeting to be held in Russian territory. A sort of starter for the long and winding road towards a real reset of US-Russia relations, including a possible settlement in the proxy war in Ukraine.
Essentially, they may agree to keep talking. Yet what really matters is what may be implied by the promise: Goldfinger refrains from imposing secondary sanctions on Russia’s partners.
That will constitute a tremendous BRICS victory (Iran excluded. Actually, two strategic allies of Russia would be excluded: Iran and the DPRK).
BRICS are actively building a coalition to stare down Goldfinger. The key players are Bear, Dragon, Toucan and Elephant – all four original founders of BRIC. Nightingale should be added later, as it is linked via geopolitical/geoeconomic strategic partnerships with Bear, Dragon and Elephant.
When it comes to the Alaska nitty gritty, the top Bear needs to consider all the ramifications of what is an imperative for the Russian General Staff and the vast intel apparatus in Moscow: unless Goldfinger minions stop weaponizing and providing precious intel to Ukraine is all its forms, the mythic “ceasefire” that Goldfinger and the pack of toothless chihuahuas in Europe desperately want will be just an intermission to allow Ukraine to rearm to the hilt.
That’s a tough call for the top Bear: he has to placate his domestic, radical critics who blast him for sitting down with the enemy, and at the same time he must deliver the goods to his under-siege BRICS allies.
BRICS counteract Goldfinger’s Plunder tactics
Bear, Dragon, Toucan and Elephant are involved in breathless telephone diplomacy to articulate their collective response to Goldfinger’s Tariff/Plunder drive.
Examples. Modi on Brazil: “A strong, people-centric partnership between Global South nations benefits everyone.”
Lula on India: “Brazil and India are, so far, the two most affected countries. We reaffirmed the importance of defending multilateralism and the need to address the challenges of the current situation.”
Xi to Lula: China backs Brazil to defend its national sovereignty; BRICS is “a key platform for building consensus in the Global South.”
Goldfinger’s Tariff Plunder works in several ways.
On India: because New Delhi refuses to open its vast agricultural market to tariff-free Made in USA imports (45% of India’s population directly depends on agriculture); and because India buys Russian oil at much-needed discount prices.
On Brazil: because the ultimate target is regime change and free reign to plunder Brazil’s natural wealth.
So far, Goldfinger’s Plunder antics have been stellar when it comes to engineering their own blowback: from allienating even allies – see abject European submission – to de facto burying multilateral trade, not to mention international law.
Example: just a few hours before the tariff “pause” on Made in China products was about to expire, Goldfinger signed an executive order extending the deadline for another 90 days. Translation: TACO, all over again. If the tariff “pause” went through, the economy of the $37 trillion-indebted “indispensable nation” would be in even more dire straits.
Then there’s Goldfinger’s possible Arctic gameplay, already examined here. There’s virtually no evidence Russia would allow the US to participate in the development of the Arctic-wide Northern Sea Route (NSR), or Arctic Silk Road in Chinese terminology.
The role of Russia’s Atomflot – 11 nuclear icebreakers, 9 of them in action, 2 being built, including Project 10510 Rossiya, a behemoth capable of navigating anywhere in the Arctic anytime – in parallel with Russia’s astonishing arsenal of new weapons systems, these are absolutely key variables on any serious discussion on any possible US-Russia partnership post-Alaska.
Arya – آریا: mural at Tehran’s Enghelab Square. Farsi text: “The end of this saga is of glory, thus recite the name of Iran, for it is the slayer of its enemies.” The Iranian warrior Rostam from Shahnameh fights the serpent (the US)
Goldfinger’s obsession to cage Nightingale
Now let’s look at Nightingale – an immensely complex case. Goldfinger has totally embarked on a multi-track maximum pressure/tension remix against Iran: forcing Hezbollah to disarm; forcing the collapse of Lebanon into factional war; legitimizing the “al-Qaeda R Us” dismemberment of Syria; forcing snapback UN-backed sanctions on Tehran.
Then came the Goldfinger-hailed “historic peace summit” with Azerbaijan’s Aliyev and Armenia’s Pashinyan.
Well, what Baku and Yerevan really signed under Goldfinger’s watchful eye is not a peace deal: it’s a mere memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Their Joint Declaration is extremely vague – and non-binding. What is promised is a “let’s keep talking” set up: “We acknowledged the need to continue further actions to achieve the signing and ultimate ratification of the [Peace] Agreement.”
It remains to be seen what happens with the much-ballyhooed 99-year American grip on the Zangezur corridor – trimphally named Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) – complete with grabbing 40% of its revenues (Armenia would get only 30%) and placing 1,000 American mercenaries to patrol Armenian territory, right south of Nightingale’s borders.
The big story is of course Goldfinger eager to snatch at least one connectivity corridor in southern Eurasia – in the strategic south Caucasus, using a gangster-minded MI6 asset (Aliyev) and a national traitor (meek Pashinyan), which will be discarded and/or sweetened in due time. Crucially, NATO membership was offered to both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Deep State’s game plan is total control: what really matters is the opening to establish a NATO corridor all the way to the Caspian.
There’s no way Nightingale will let that happen, not to mention Bear and Dragon: it would mean a direct NATO threat not only to the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), which unites three BRICS (Russia, Iran, India) and crosses the Caspian, but also the Chinese Silk Roads, whose corridors traverse Iran with possible branch outs to the Caucasus.
Nightingale has already made it quite clear it will not allow any kind of change of status for the Zangezur corridor. And it has the necessary missile arsenal to back it up. IRGC Deputy Commander Yadollah Javani: Iran “will not allow an American corridor on its border.”
Wherever it comes from, Goldinger or the Deep State, the pressure by the Empire of Chaos is relentless. There will be no respite in the Hybrid – and otherwise – Wars on BRICS, especially on the new Primakov triangle (“RIC” as in Russia, Iran, China).
Alaska in principle should be about a reset of all US-Russia security matters – geopolitical, commercial, military, with Ukraine being just a subset. That will be a major stretch. It’s hard to imagine Putin being able to impress on Trump, on the same table, the finer points of NATO/US ceaseless plots to undermine, harass and destabilize Russia.
The most probable outcome is that the proxy war – and the SMO – will keep rollin’ on, but with the Deep State making extra bundles of euros by selling tons of weapons for NATO to dispatch to Kiev. But even without the promise of a new, serious, US-Russia security architecture, BRICS may still stand a chance to snatch a victory out of Goldfinger’s latest photo op.
Alaska Breakdown Looming
It looks like Trump has just announced that the Alaska meeting will be hostile and he is rejecting all Russian demands. He has threatened to walk away in the first two minutes if Russia does not agree to a cease fire on Ukraine’s terms. His intention is to threaten Russia with more U.S. blustering that poses no real threat to Russia, but will (he hopes) solidify his support from the Donor Class, CIA and EU Russia-haters.
It is literally impossible for Trump to make any peace deal with Russia. First of all, he cannot control Europe, and Starmer, Macron and Merz have announced that they are going to fight Russia regardless of what Trump might want.
Second, Ukraine’s Azov battalion and related neo-Nazi nationalists insist that they will continue to fight – if not overtly, then by constant sabotage. Ditto the CIA alongside MI6.
And Trump’s neocon coterie is pressing the third rail: ny treaty settlement needs Congressional approval. Trump is no more in charge of Congress than the is of the CIA. It’s they that are running him.
So why is Putin attending, now that the original hints of reasonability by Trump has been summarily rejected, according to the Wednesday afternoon New York Times and WSJ reports of his statements? Trump has reverted to calling Russia the aggressor, as if it rather than Ukraine is bombing civilians. It is clear that he is incorrigible.
The last few days has seen Trump accelerate its military confrontation with Russia. The EU has announced a trillion-euro arms buildup against Russia’s threat to send 10 million troops to occupy it – as if countries still fought by armies occupying enemies instead of just bombing them.
The only way to salvage this meeting is not to talk about Ukraine at all, but about NATO/Russian relations and possible negotiation of a new atomic arms control treaty.
All that I can imagine Putin saying are two things. First of all, of course Russia wants Ukraine at the table to end the war. He hopes that by the end of the year his troops will establish a new Ukrainian government that will be able to sign the armistice, creating a New Ukraine with a new constitution. He’ll tell Trump that he is trying to end the war as quickly as possible.
Putin may bring up Armenia and Azerbaijan and ask the US to withdraw its intrusion, unless he wants a repeat of the Kennedy/Khruschev showdown with Russia putting atomic missiles in Cuba. The sphere-of-influence principle will come up – as it did in the Monroe Doctrine, which promised that the United States would not intervene in European affairs if European kingdoms stayed out of the Western Hemisphere.
Finally, Putin can say that in view of the fact that they can’t agree not to continue the US/NATO attack on Russia (and China and Iran and the entire rest of the world), at least they should agree that even in the absence of an arms treaty, they won’t bomb each other. The United States is free to sell all the arms and missiles it wants to Germany and other bellicose NATO countries. But once these arms are bought by Europe, Russia will treat any attack on its territory (including its extension into former Ukraine) as an attack by the country supplying the arms – and will feel free to bomb the hell out of it.
Putin can quip to Trump that this is the most peace-oriented thing that the United States can do: avoid a direct US/Russian exchange of bombs. “You can have Europe,” Putin can say. “It has nothing that we need or want.” Just leave us alone and stay out of our way, and you’ll have your US-Russia peace.”
It will be interesting to see how Trump depicts this as a great victory.
All eyes on Alaska. The Bear-Eagle face-off is part of an astonishing acceleration of history in the summer of 2025.
By Pepe Escobar at Sputnik.
Two weeks after Alaska, there’s the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) annual summit in Tianjin, China. India’s Narendra Modi and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian will join, among others, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at the same table. A BRICS/SCO table.
September 3, in Beijing, is the 80th anniversary of what is officially defined as the victory of “the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War”. Putin is the guest of honor. The rehearsal, with 22,000 participants, took place this past weekend in Tian’anmen Square.
On the same day, in Russia’s Vladivostok, it’s the start of the Eastern Economic Forum, which discusses everything about Russia’s drive to develop the Arctic and eastern Siberia – the equivalent of the Chinese “Go West” campaign started in the late 1990s. Key Eurasian players will be in the house. Putin addresses the plenary session on September 5.
Top BRICS leaders of China, Russia, Brazil and India, meanwhile, are actively involved in a flurry of phone calls coordinating a collective response to the tariff wars – part of the hybrid war by the Empire of Chaos against BRICS and the Global South.
How Trump is Aiming for a PR Win
Let’s see how Alaska is setting the stage for something much bigger.
The summit was announced following what Putin advisor Yuri Ushakov concisely defined as “a proposal from the American side which we think is quite acceptable.”
This sentence was as far as the Kremlin would comment – in contrast with the non-stop verbal onslaught emanating from Washington. That the Kremlin even considered the American offer means an implicit recognition of what Russia is achieving on the battlefield and in the geoeconomic sphere.
Timing. Why now? Especially after Trump had threatened buyers of Russian oil with tariffs? Essentially, because military intel in selected deep state silos have done the math and finally admitted that the long proxy war in Ukraine is lost.
Moreover, Trump personally wants to get over it so as to concentrate on the next chapters of the Forever Wars – including the one that really matters: against “existential threat” China.
From Moscow’s point of view, conditioned by the successful results of its calibrated war of attrition, the facts on the battlefield spell out the special military operation rollin’ on – and no ceasefire; at best a “humanitarian” pause of a few days. The Americans want a ceasefire of at least a few weeks.
Reconciling both sides’ optics will be a Sisyphean task. Still, Alaska is just the beginning: the next meeting is already in the works to take place in the Russian Federation, according to Ushakov.
Trump’s motives are easily identified: create the perception of the US extracting itself from the mess; some sort of truce; and back to doing business with Russia – especially in the Arctic.
In parallel, assuming any sort of deal, the deep state will never recognize the new Russian regions, even Donetsk and Lugansk; and will seek to re-weaponize Ukraine, “leading from behind”, for a NATO-led war replay further on down the road.
So the US-Russia abyss is mirrored by the domestic American abyss – and most of all the Trump-NATO/EU abyss. The toothless chihuahua European pack, trying to salvage its pitiful Kiev actor, is doing somersaults – complete with possible black swans – to derail the summit even before it happens.
There’s no way Trump can sell any sort of settlement to the rabid NATO/EU pack. But nothing would please him more than to transfer the war – in full – to them. With the benefit that the deep state in this case will not complain – because it will be reaping massive euro profits from the weapons sale racket. End result: a classic Trump PR win.
Exit Ukraine, Enter the Arctic
Ukraine, though, will not be the main theme in Alaska. The ever-perceptive Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov cut to the chase: what really matters is that “the first signs of common sense are appearing in Russia-US relations, which were absent for several years before.”
Ryabkov was quick to also highlight the dangers: the risk of nuclear conflict in the world “is not decreasing”; and Russia sees the risk that “after the expiration of the New START Treaty, nuclear arms control will be completely absent”.
Once again: Alaska is just the beginning of something much bigger – including, finally, a serious discussion about “indivisibility of security” (what Moscow wanted already in December 2021, rebuffed by the autopen administration).
And that brings us to the Arctic – and serious stuff that will certainly be debated in depth at the upcoming Vladivostok forum.
The Arctic holds at least 13% of global undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of undiscovered natural gas. Russia controls at least half of all these reserves. The Empire of Chaos badly wants to be part of the action.
Yet one thing is possible massive US investment in joint Arctic projects with Russia. Something entirely different is the US joining the Northern Sea Route (NSR) – which the Chinese call the Arctic Silk Road. The NSR reduces shipping time between Asia and Europe by up to 50%.
The Russian-Chinese rationale for the NSR – including the expansion of Russia’s unique nuclear icebreaker fleet – is exactly to bypass the Suez Canal and connectivity channels controlled by the US. The key question then is what would it take to swing Moscow to accept a Trump-Putin deal in the Arctic.
So on Ukraine, in principle, Russia has all the cards – as long as the special military operation goes on, now on overdrive. On hybrid war, the tariff chapter, the US ruling classes finally realized they have no cards – because blowback caused by secondary sanctions will badly damage the US. What’s left then is a commercial deal: the Arctic.
It’s quite intriguing that even the JPMorgan Center for Geopolitics admitted that the best solution for the Ukraine mess is a Georgia scenario: that would somewhat offset the optics of a total capitulation by the West. Only Ukraine would capitulate: no NATO, no EU, no money, no security guarantees.
Inestimable Prof. Michael Hudson has condensed how Alaska will proceed under two vectors: “Part I is whether the US will acknowledge that the trajectory of the current fighting is for a total Russian victory, on the terms that Putin has been explaining for two years: no NATO membership, no foreign arms supplies, Nuremberg-like trials of the Banderite leaders, and perhaps reparations by Ukraine and NATO for the rebuilding of formerly ‘Ukrainian’ Russia.”
Assuming Trump accepts it, and that’s a major “if”, then comes the real nitty gritty (remember Ryabkov), “starting with whether a new atomic missile and arms treaty will be put in place.”
Russia’s version of peace, writes Prof. Hudson, will flow along these lines: “We don’t want an atomic war with the United States. Let’s agree that if a German or other EU/NATO missile hits Russia, when we retaliate it will only be against Britain, Germany and France, not North America.”
Prof. Hudson is adamant that “America has only one thing to offer other countries: the (temporary) promise NOT to hurt them. There’s nothing positive to offer, given its de-industrialization and the world’s de-dollarization.”
As it stands, and also considering the multiple ramifications of the hybrid war against BRICS, Alaska carries the potential of offering Washington a way out of the debris of a massive strategic defeat.
Any analyst who tried to understand the special military operation from the beginning, in detail, could tell that Russia’s war involved something much bigger than Ukraine. It was always about the burial of the “rules-based international order”, in fact the whole old order architecture. That is happening as we speak in the black soil of Novorossiya. Strategic patience, in the end, does pay.
The discussion and the thinking continue: Note 1 is here
Putin started this year’s meetings with Trump by saying that the root of their problems is not Ukraine. Ukraine is only an arena in the fight by NATO (led by the US) against Russia, China, and their BRICS and Global South allies.
To solve the fighting in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO must end. That is what Putin demands.
But there seems to be zero chance of this developing. Even if Trump stops US support of NATO’s war in Ukraine, NATO’s roots in the EU bureaucracy (von der Lehen and KK), Britain under Starmer and MI6, Germany under Merz and the Bundeswehr trying to become the new Wehrmacht, and Macron’s France are acting on their own, almost instinctive hatred of Russia.
So there is little chance of agreement, certainly over Russia’s demand that the West recognize its imminent military victory and ability to create a postwar shrunken Ukraine.
NATO has just intruded into the Caucasus with Azerbaijan and Armenia, with US control of the Zangezur Corridor threatening Iran and also China’s Belt and Road trajectory.
And the US has withdrawn from the last vestiges of atomic arms control, while sending nuclear submarines nearer to Russia in at least a symbolically threatening move.
This reflects the Neocon demand for U.S. unipolar hegemony, preventing any country from having its own sovereignty to act independently of the United States.
So my guess is that at the upcoming meetings, the United States has only one tactic – and it is a tactic that Trump loves for his own psychological purposes:
America has only one thing to offer other countries: the (temporary) promise NOT to hurt them. There’s nothing positive to offer, given its de-industrialization and the world’s de-dollarization. (Has Germany ever begun to get back its gold reserves left on deposit with the New York Fed?)
Trump’s generals (the hardest-liner is now in Kiev) and EU/NATO are urging more and tougher sanctions against Russia, mainly to fall on the EU and BRICS countries.
It is a distortion of reality for the press to depict Russia as at war with Ukraine. It is at war with NATO; Ukraine is the battlefield for this war, the arena.
NATO uses the old police tactic of Good Cop (now ironically played by Trump for the dominant US side – that’s usually the lead cop), with the EU (Britain, Germany and France) being the bad cops, good type casting.
As a passive arena for NATO expansion, Ukraine has no right to be represented, except to augment the bad-cop contingent for “peace talks.”
The talks in Alaska will be in two parts. Part I is whether the U.S. will acknowledge that the trajectory of the current fighting is for a total Russian victory, on the terms that Putin has been explaining for two years: no NATO membership, no foreign arms supplies, Nuremberg-like trials of the Banderite leaders, and perhaps reparations by Ukraine and NATO for the rebuilding of formerly “Ukrainian” Russia.
Russia may give a sop to depict the $300 billion that the EU has confiscated to rebuilding what was Ukraine’s Russian-speaking East. That would be a concession that’s not really a sacrifice.
The real discussion will determine the aftermath, starting with whether a new atomic missile and arms treaty will be put in place.
If it cannot be enacted, Putin’s position logically will be as follows:
“We don’t want an atomic war with the United States. Let’s agree that if a German or other EU/NATO missile hits Russia, when we retaliate it will only be against Britain, Germany and France, not North America.”
The US will be told to keep its submarines away from Russian borders, and to stay out of the Black Sea altogether.
That’s the “peace” proposal. Peace in the Ukrainian arena will be (or will have been) established on the battlefield, now that the outcome is obvious.
A new Ukrainian government will be a Russian proxy, not Poroshenko or other NATO puppet oligarch.
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