War in Ukraine

trump carrying putin's water in direct conflict with what congress is proposing

US and Russia discussing restoration of Russian gas supplies to Europe, Reuters reports

Representatives of the United States and Russia held negotiations regarding US assistance in restoring the supply of Russian gas to Europe, Reuters informs.

The agency notes that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Europe has significantly reduced its gas imports from Russia, leading to huge economic losses for the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom. Meanwhile, the US has become one of the main suppliers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, replacing Russian supplies.

However, some European countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, continue to receive gas from Russia through the TurkStream pipeline.

Sources from Reuters claim that after a potential peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, more European buyers may return to Russian gas. According to them, US involvement in restoring gas supplies could help Moscow overcome political opposition in most European countries.

 

Fingers crossed.

 

personal sanctions against oil brokers..that's going to make a few people pucker up and reconsider their business associations

Key Player in Russian Oil Trading Hit by U.K. Sanctions

Britain said its “largest ever sanction package” will target dozens of tankers Russia uses to transport oil and five traders from Azerbaijan. They were Eyyub, his business partner Tahir Garayev and three associates.

It is the first time a Western country has sanctioned any of the main oil middlemen who came to Moscow’s aid after Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022. Russia found workarounds to previous rounds of sanctions that had mostly targeted smaller players, as well as tankers and the shell companies that conceal the people moving Moscow’s crude.

Whereas sanctioned firms can easily be replaced, there are a finite number of people and tankers able to distribute oil, said Moody’s sanctions analyst Hera Smith. She said the sanctions appear to be the most potent by Ukraine’s allies to date.

They could complicate Russia’s ability to transport and finance its oil exports, the economy’s lifeblood. The U.K. is home to international banks, insurers and law firms that service the energy sector, and lenders elsewhere in Europe tend to abide by its sanctions.

 

Ukrainians can’t win for losing. Even English-speaking blacks don’t want them in Poland …

 

Apparently Trump has had a revelation that it’s not easy to stop wars and Putin is playing him


https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-israel-gaza-russia-ukraine-war-f847b04a?mod=mhp

When President Trump spoke to a room of top donors at his Florida club last week, he described ending Russia’s war in Ukraine as a growing frustration that keeps him up at night, people in the room said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was particularly tough to negotiate with, and wanted “the whole thing,” Trump said, referring to Ukraine, according to an attendee. His comments came in response to a donor’s question about his biggest foreign-policy concerns.

In recent weeks, Trump has privately griped to advisers that Putin doesn’t want to end the war, and that both sides refuse to compromise. Trump has also asked advisers if they believe Putin has changed since Trump’s last time in office, and expressed surprise at some of Putin’s military moves, including bombing areas with children, according to people familiar with the remarks

 

Most predictable thing in the world. The President should publicly throw his hands up and say, “Despite my best efforts, Mr. Putin wants war. Who am I to deny him what he wants? I have directed the Secretaries of Defense and of the Treasury to fulfill Mr. Putin’s wishes. Perhaps a year from now when he has buried his millionth Russian, his economy is in ruins, and he still has no appreciable gains in Ukraine, he will be ready to talk.”

Is that going to happen? Well .. not yet, no.

 

To me this shows what a child he is “did Putin change?” and confused that Putin would bomb children. Did he not pay attention to Syria? He really thought Vlad was his friend and would do what Trump asked him to.

 

Need to remind Trump he’s been fooled and ask him in press conferences how it feels to be played like a fiddle.

Maybe that will anger or frustrate him enough to start back to providing Ukraine with military assistance. That’s what I’d like to see if that’s what Ukraine wants.

 

“Trump acknowledged that it was especially difficult to negotiate with Vladimir Putin.”

Translation: Trump not used to dealing with people he can’t bully into submission.

 

This is what a lot of folks do not understand about dealing with the Ukrainians. Their default position for ending the war is returning to pre-2104 borders. That is as unrealistic as the Russian demand for Ukraine to disband their armed forces but they are often unwilling to budge from it.

I honestly think Trump thought if he could get the Ukrainians to give up Crimea and the current oblasts that Russia has, Putin would be willing to take that deal and so he put a lot of pressure on Z5 and the Ukrainians to be willing to take it. When Putin refused, Trump was like "What the Hell, man?!?!" and now is like OK screw 'em, Ukraine keeps getting arms.