With the news that the USA and Russia are negotiating over Ukraine in Saudi Arabia without the participation of either the Europeans or the Ukrainians can we hope the killing will soon stop. I believe this is the most important part of the proceedings. No doubt there will have to be a meeting between the US and Russian Presidents before this happens but we may only be weeks away from stopping the bloodshed.
Naturally there have been hissy fits from both the Ukrainians and the Europeans. Zelensky has said he will not recognise any deal to which he is not party. He does tend to gloss over the fact that technically he is no longer President even if he occupies that seat. The Europeans were fuming that they had been excluded, so much so that Micron convened a meeting of European countries in Paris. This meeting happened alongside the negotiations continuing in Saudi Arabia.
Now as we are all aware, what normally happens is that there are discussions between representatives of the various sides and when they reach some kind of agreement the big guns meet and do the deal, shake hands and pat each other on the back for a job well done. The embryonic Napoleon in the Elysee Palace forgot all about this and started with the meeting of the big guns. As could have been predicted it all fell apart like some great shambles.
Our very own Keith started the ball rolling with his idiotic decision that he would put UK troops on the ground as a peacekeeping force, suitably backed by the clown Ed Davey and with, as usual, the complete silence of Olukemi Khazi. She hasn’t even tweeted about it. One is left to assume that Keith has so been ordered by his WEF handlers and the Nigerian anchor baby has been told to stay schtumm. There is significant debate about whether Parliament should be consulted before this could happen. The anchor baby hasn’t even acknowledged that a summit was taking place. She really is utterly useless and then some.
The most likely reason for having only the US and Russia in the initial discussions is that these two countries have to rebuild their diplomatic relations before much else can happen. Under Creepy Joe’s benevolent rule there was almost no contact for 3 and a half years. Setting the framework is going to take a few days. In the meantime the press are still asking their usual “gotcha” questions and seem rather miffed that they are not privy to the details of negotiations. Emerging from a negotiating session and then blurting out all that was discussed is a certain way to return to square one. Why can’t the reptiles get that into their thick skulls.
A few morsels have been handed out by the negotiators in Saudi, such as the US potentially withdrawing troops from the Baltic states, but the real eye opener was the finale of the meeting in Paris. It broke up in disarray with no agreement on anything, not even that they should meet again. Keith’s proposal for troops on the ground was met with disdain, as their PM stormed out of the summit the Erics said no chance we are not putting German soldiers into Ukraine (memories of the 1940’s perhaps) and even Poland has said no. With Giorgia Meloni demurely keeping quiet that would leave the frogs and possibly some Scandinavians to accompany us to keep whatever peace is negotiated. In other words, it is an idea that did not even pass go in Monopoly terms. I am still puzzled why Ursula von der Lying was there, she is after all just the boss of a trading bloc.
Keith has been left with egg on his face and the potential meeting with the Donald in DC must now look very ominous to him. Seeing as one of Russia’s key demands is to keep Ukraine out of NATO, there was never much chance of them agreeing to have NATO troops on the ground to keep the peace. If there are to be peacekeepers, they will have to come from outside NATO. One expects the Donald to read him the riot act and put him in his place. A former British General said on Farage’s show that if you want to put 20,000 troops on the ground, you need at least 60,00 to cover the rotations. Has our army even got 60,000 soldiers and if we do they are not all frontline troops.
As Europeans we are now reduced to watching the US and Russians decide what the future holds and we are unlikely to figure highly in any solution. Equally Ukraine will not have much say, The Russians do not recognise Zelensky as a legitimate President and elections for a new one to rule the rump of Ukraine will be high on Putin’s list of demands. In anticipation of this, Zelensky is in Turkey today. He won’t be looking for military help or money, he will be after a bolthole he can escape to assuming he manages to leave Kiev in one piece. The Sultan, as usual, is trying to play the big “I am”. I do hope he gets cut down to size.
The dangerous idea of a European Army is now looking slightly less dangerous. If the Europeans cannot make a joint decision on Ukraine what hope is there of ever managing to make joint decision on anything. As the two former colonial powers the UK and France have their own areas of influence where they might like some concerted action but this proves it would never happen. Imagine if this had been in place in 1982 when we re-took the Falklands. Spain would have vetoed it point blank. I think the best we can hope for in Europe is that we continue to live in peace with each other and don’t rock the boat or start another war.
A quick look at Zelensky’s outbursts over recent times will reinforce the title of this article. I think he has been unhinged for quite a while and while I don’t really want to support Peter Hitchens and his anti-drug crusade, Zelensky must have been sniffing industrial quantities of Columbia’s favourite export.
Even back in 2021 he was making threats. On the 16 April he was demanding NATO membership or he would be seeking nuclear weapons. In 2024 on 18 October he made the same demand with the same threat. Now we head into 2025 when even he knows the writing is on the wall.
On the 15th January he demands the use of around $250 billion of frozen Russian assets so he can buy a few more rifles and drones, I factored in the percentages for the main “big guys” involved. After DJT took office and started hunting around for corruption, Zelensky says he only received 76 of the reputed $177 billion given to Ukraine. On 4th February he is back on the familiar NATO and nuclear weapons kick. On the 5th February Moscow replied that this was madness.
On the 14th February JD Vance makes his infamous speech at the Munich Security Conference. He basically ripped Europe and woke ideology a new one, the European leaders still find it painful to sit down. On the 16th February Micron calls his summit for European leaders. Only it wasn’t really quite what it was billed. Only 8 (Micron expected 10) out of 27 EU leaders plus von der Lying and the boss of NATO Mark Rutte attended. So 10 people altogether and they couldn’t even agree on the time of day.
How on earth can the EU and NATO expect to be taken seriously when they are such amateurs. I expect the USA will withdraw from NATO leaving it high and dry. It has not had much to do since the fall of communism and this should be either its death knell or the search for a new purpose.
As a footnote the special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired General Keith Kellogg, has been sidelined at the request of the Russians. He reputedly made promises contrary to DJT’s instructions. This is in marked contrast to the Donald’s first term when he was shafted at every turn by the swamp. Kellogg is travelling to Kiev the evening of the 18th February, maybe to explain to Zelensky that he ought to take steps, large ones.
One other reason for Kellogg’s fall from grace may be that his daughter, Megan Mobbs, runs a US taxpayer funded NGO supporting Ukraine. It is a really really big club but we ain’t in it.
The Americans and Russians are going to negotiate a solution and possibly neither Ukraine nor the Europeans are going to even be consulted. If they don’t like the solution they can lump it. This may not be the most diplomatic way of doing it but it will probably be the quickest. Zelensky will probably be out on his ear, he may be allowed to contest the presidential election but will he stand a chance, I have no idea. I also look forward to the audit of where the money to Ukraine actually ended up. The big guy forgot to pardon himself so he may do time yet, his other non specific pardons have been ruled illegal (Ed. Apparently that is not correct) so our learned friends will be rubbing their hands in glee.
© well_chuffed 2025
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