Comrades, I am sure Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump had a good snicker over the optics presented. “Subtle”, like a brick through a window. Good stuff.
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The EU/NATO folks most certainly smiled like the lady in the ‘fireworks’ picture. However, the CIA/5-Eyes watched the remainder of the performance, not amused.
After speaking with President Trump about the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy provides the following statement via Twitter:
[Volodymyr Zelensky via Twitter] – “We had a long and substantive conversation with POTUS. We started with one-on-one talks before inviting European leaders to join us. This call lasted for more than an hour and a half, including about an hour of our bilateral conversation with President Trump.
Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace. President Trump informed about his meeting with the Russian leader and the main points of their discussion. It is important that America’s strength has an impact on the development of the situation.
We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia. Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.
On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war. I am grateful for the invitation.
It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America. We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security. We continue to coordinate our positions with all partners. I thank everyone who is helping. [link]
Fox News host Bret Baier was given exclusive access to President Trump during the much-anticipated summit in Alaska.
Baier interviewed President Trump on Air Force One going to Anchorage and during the day’s events. In this interview, Baier asked President Trump what his expectations were going in. Trump noted it is not his place to negotiate the terms of a ceasefire on behalf of Ukraine, however, he is willing to be an intermediary in a focused effort to stop the conflict.
Stopping the killing is President Trump’s main priority, and peace is the elusive prize. In the background, as previously noted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the administration accepts the conflict in Ukraine is essentially a proxy war between the former Biden administration officials, NATO warmongers, international banking interests and Russia.
In a moment of genuine sunlight upon the backstory, President Trump notes he told President Putin, “There’s no way we are going to make a deal … impossible … because I have wise guys who created a phony deal, the Trump-Russia collusion hoax; and until those things are settled up, a reset in the relationship with Russia is impossible.” WATCH:
This framework essentially validates what a small group of deep weeds walkers, including myself, have suspected. From the perspective of Trump and his big picture objectives, the recent Russiagate releases and declassifications are not so much to get accountability upon the perpetrators, but rather to make the backstory so well known, that a strategic reset with Russia is no longer impeded by manufactured domestic issues inside the USA.
The value in Russiagate declassification and information releases, is more about laying the groundwork for a reset – and stopping the political opposition therein. That’s the Big Picture value to President Trump.
That is quite a big and significantly magnanimous position to take by President Trump.
Hopefully, the MAGA base will eventually come around to this understanding, because right now they are intensely expecting criminal accountability. That’s not President Trump’s goal; he’s thinking much bigger and more consequential than holding the irrelevant gnats accountable.
Apparently, Hillary Clinton can see that. It’s such a big altruistic position, her tribe appears genuinely stunned. Hopefully, the base of MAGA will also accept this strategic purpose.
A hostile U.S. media is chomping at the bit to begin belittling Vladimir Putin, creating division and making themselves the center of the geopolitical universe. President Trump is not going to like the assembly of global media and narrative engineers who have converged on Anchorage, Alaska for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
President Trump and President Putin are scheduled to hold a joint press conference tonight at the conclusion of their summit. The entire world is watching. The best guess is approximately a 7:00pm ET start time. Livestream Links Below:
UPDATE: Video Added
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The body language, the facial expressions, the tone of their interactions, all of it frames the visual of two men of consequence meeting to discuss consequential things.
Having spent a considerable amount of time in the geopolitical orbit of both leaders, this meeting puts a very significant smile on my face. When respectful serious men cut through the nonsense of propaganda, containing ulterior motives created by others, good things happen. This is a very good start.
President Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska. Both leaders then get into President Trump’s vehicle. WATCH:
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet today in Anchorage, Alaska for a peace summit to discuss parameters for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The entire world is watching closely.
Anchorage, Alaska is four hours behind the Eastern time zone. The venue is Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage. Use this discussion thread for anything related to the day’s events, specific as they relate to the summit.
President Trump will depart the White House early morning ET. Trump is expected in Anchorage mid-afternoon Eastern time, Friday. The initial meeting with Putin is expected to take place at 3:30 pm ET (11:30 am local) with just the two leaders and translators.
Following the meeting, President Trump and President Putin will hold a lunch with members of delegations from both countries. The two leaders then plan to hold a joint press conference following their meeting. RSBN Livestream Below:
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bessent notes the backseat demands from EU leaders with their position on the Trump negotiation strategy has worn thin amid their hypocrisy. “It’s time to put up or shut up,” Bessent says, when talking about how the EU is still facilitating the economic purchases of Russian energy products, while simultaneously demanding Trump do this and that. WATCH:
I am cautiously optimistic for a positive outcome from this summit.
DETAILS ON THE SUMMIT BELOW
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appears on Fox News morning show to preview one of the most important geopolitical meetings in the last decade.
President Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a private session together, then later in the day tomorrow appear for a joint press conference. WATCH:
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We will host a designated open thread for live discussion of the Trump-Russia summit in Alaska tomorrow.
Today the leaders from Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Poland, Finland, the E.U. and NATO will be holding a conference call with President Trump and Vice President Vance to give instructions in advance of the Trump-Putin summit.
None of the European leaders were invited to the Alaska summit, yet all of the European leaders want to tell President Trump what to do at the summit with President Vladimir Putin. Because, of course they do…
EUROPE – […] The Europeans recognize that they can only do so much to influence a president who often veers off-script and likes nothing more than to declare a deal.
But on Ukraine recently they have met with some success, for example, by persuading Trump to allow them to transfer U.S. weapons to Ukraine and purchase replacements for themselves.
And in recent days, especially after a meeting with Vice President JD Vance in Britain over the weekend, they have found the U.S. administration receptive to some of their red lines.
I think many of us really like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He’s not generally a man who pretends things amid the EU coalition. Orban says things clearly, just like Trump.
When Orban notes he will not sign a joint EU statement on the Trump/Putin summit because it “sets conditions for a meeting to which leaders of the EU were not invited,” he certainly hits the proverbial nail.
The hubris amid the EU collective is quite remarkable.