Hot-take: Ukraine’s delegation to Saudi Arabia ‘Peace’ talks

Hi there, I’m Decoding Trolls. I wanted to give you my quick take on the proposals Ukraine is going to bring to the so-called peace conference in Saudi Arabia next week.

Obviously, my heart and many hearts sink at the prospect of Ukraine surrendering either to russia or to America’s concern trolling about deaths in Ukraine — especially as credible reports have emerged from the battlefield in Kursk which suggest that russia’s targeting of Ukrainian forces in Kursk has suddenly improved exponentially. Suddenly improved at the same time that Druidy Don’s special envoy mentioned that what they are trying to do to Ukraine is what these people would do to a mule who was too stubborn — slap them until they moved.

When we see this intentionality on the side of the American regime under Druidy Don, and then we hear reports from the battlefield in Kursk that suddenly russia’s targeting of Ukrainian positions and the killing of Ukrainian soldiers has improved — we heard similar reports in Avdiivka last year under President Biden. Yet again, we see russia relying on America to help it out of the hole it has dug for itself by invading a country which will continue to resist.

The two proposals Ukraine says it will bring to the Saudi Arabia peace talks next week are: first, Ukraine will propose a ceasefire involving a moratorium on the use of long-range weaponry to hit parts of russia — last night, there was a hit on a russian oil refinery some 1,200 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. Second, a moratorium on attacks at sea, in the Black Sea.

The team going to Saudi Arabia is very experienced with these kinds of negotiations. I was a diplomat in eastern Ukraine between the years 2015 and 2022. I’ve seen this rodeo before. I’ve been on this rodeo before, I think is the proper phrase.

In the autumn of 2019 — which may be remembered or unnoticed by many people — Moscow, London, Paris, Berlin, and Washington were all ranged against Ukraine. They were colluding to pressure Ukraine into accepting what was named for the current president of Germany, the Steinmeier solution. Under the Steinmeier solution, Ukraine would agree to allow russia to hold elections in russia-occupied Luhansk — where I worked between 2015 and 2018 — and russia-occupied Donetsk, before russia gave Ukraine back control of its borders. Essentially, this was the international community colluding with Moscow to get Ukraine to accept the occupation, the brutal genocidal occupation and continued brainwashing of Ukrainians inside russia-occupied Luhansk and Donetsk, by allowing them to hold elections.

At the time, I and a colleague, a former British Army officer, were tasked with working out in rough general terms what it would mean to hold elections in russia-occupied Luhansk and Donetsk — elections which, under the OSCE framework, would need to be proper, free, and fair.

The first problem was to bring in the 1.5 million Ukrainians who had fled from russia-occupied Luhansk and Donetsk and allow them to vote. The second problem: we worked out it would have cost the international community around 1.5 billion euros and involved armoured vehicles and army squadrons at every polling place in Donetsk and Luhansk, which obviously the russians wouldn’t agree to. It was a non-starter.

There was a meeting to be held in December 2019 in Paris with Duncy Putler and the comedian President Zelenskyy, hosted by Emmanuel Macron — Jupiter is his call sign. At this meeting, President Zelenskyy — who was then perceived by many in the international community as not up to the job, just a mere comedian rather than a great artist, a great business person, and a true Ukrainian patriot — some papers emerged in the weeks before this meeting where the signature of Andrii Yermak, who is still the chief of staff in the president’s office, was on documents that suggested Ukraine was going to allow these elections under the Steinmeier solution in russia-occupied Ukraine.

There was an immediate explosive movement across Ukraine called the No to Capitulation movement. Many people who concern-troll about Ukraine or try to pressure President Zelenskyy or Ukrainians to surrender to russia just in the name of peace aren’t aware that President Zelenskyy doesn’t have the power to impose a peace on his people. He’s not an autocrat, even if he wanted to be. There’s no evidence he ever wanted to be.

This No to Capitulation movement — I went to many of the demonstrations across Ukraine — involved thousands of people saying: we will not accept the Steinmeier solution, we will not allow russia to hold elections in russia-occupied Ukraine.

Flash forward from 2019. It is now 2025. russia has killed over a million people — its own people and Ukrainians — in the full-scale invasion. I detect and pick up no sign that Ukrainians are desperate to get peace like they were given under Minsk I and II, like they were pressured into accepting under Minsk I and II.

Secondly, I do not actually detect any pressure, rightly, from the international community — except from Washington. What we see in Washington under Druidy Don and all these characters around him, including Paul Manafort, who himself — according to his daughters, his own daughters — sparked the murder of the 100 protesters on the Maidan in February 2014 as part of a plan.

At the time, Paul Manafort was working for the soon-to-be-impeached Ukrainian President Yanukovych. Manafort’s plan was to spark this violence and these deaths, which would in turn troll European leaders into trolling Ukrainian protesters into surrendering to continued rule by Yanukovych. The Heavenly Hundred were martyred and killed on the Maidan. A year later, we saw in leaked texts from Paul Manafort’s daughters that they believed it was their father who had advised Yanukovych to follow this strategy, which almost worked — because European leaders at the time were pressuring Ukraine into allowing Yanukovych to continue if the protesters would stand down. But Yanukovych got scared and he ran away. The whole master plan fell apart.

Flash forward to December 2019 in Paris. We have this great picture of Macron with President Zelenskyy, who’s looking extremely devilish and quite rightfully happy, because he said in no uncertain terms — he laughed when Putin at the press conference after this meeting suggested that Ukraine would allow russia to hold elections. Putin looks very embarrassed and very upset.

It’s the same team advising President Zelenskyy now on these so-called peace talks. This is not their first rodeo. They understand that Druidy Don has just surrendered — he has just capitulated himself and withheld sanctions against Mexico and Canada. It is still not impossible that America and Druidy Don will end up opening the floodgates of aid to Ukraine.

It’s equally not impossible that Druidy Don has ordered American military assets to communicate to russians the exact coordinates of Ukrainian positions so that russians can then devastate them. If that is the case, then I would expect someone — as happened under Druidy Don’s first impeachment, when Vindman, who was on the National Security Council, made a confidential complaint which led to Druidy Don’s first impeachment on the grounds of withholding $270 million worth of Javelin missile systems until the comedian, President Zelenskyy, announced an investigation into President Biden. That was the basis of the complaint, and it was held true in the impeachment trial in the House of Congress.

It is not impossible that if America is today aiding russia to kill Ukrainians, someone who has taken an oath to the Constitution and to defend the Constitution of America — someone in the chain of command involved in leaking information, if it has been leaked — will themselves make a complaint, and this will lead to a second impeachment trial of Druidy Don.

However, even if this eventuality does not happen, I do not expect the Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia next week to capitulate. I expect them …

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