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  • 3 months ago
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00:00The latest news Friday morning is that President Trump says that Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky
00:05will not be at the meeting Friday with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
00:11That's not great.
00:13The fact of the matter is, is that Ukraine has to be part of any and all negotiations
00:19for a ceasefire, let alone a peace deal.
00:22Putin just wants what he wants.
00:24He's apparently told Trump envoy Steve Witkoff that he's finally willing to negotiate that
00:29he's not demanding just victory be handed to him on a platter, but it took the threat
00:35of secondary sanctions to get him to bend even that far.
00:39Secondary sanctions were supposed to kick in last Friday, then Putin gave Witkoff a hint
00:44that maybe he'd bend, and Trump, who very much wants peace in Ukraine as he wants peace
00:50everywhere, agreed to meet with Putin.
00:53But let's be clear, Trump should be clear, Putin is coming to him.
00:57Putin is the one who needs to make concessions.
01:01It seems like Putin is still demanding territory he hasn't been able to conquer in three years
01:07of war, hasn't been able to conquer in war since 2014.
01:11It seems like he's demanding, for example, all of Donetsk, whereas the fortress belt in
01:16Donetsk has held Russia back ever since 2014.
01:19It would be insane for Ukraine to bend.
01:23Yes, I suppose if America cut off all weapons, Ukraine would have trouble, but they can still
01:30get arms from the Europeans.
01:31They are getting arms from the Europeans now.
01:33They get more support from Europe.
01:35The longer this goes on, the more independent arms can get to Ukraine to stop the Russians.
01:41Putin has lost a million casualties, 250,000 dead.
01:45He pretends he can fight on, but the fact of the matter is he can't.
01:49Certainly not if secondary sanctions start kicking in, and if he can no longer make oil money.
01:53If he can't sell to India, can't sell to China, he's in big trouble.
01:57His economy, already teetering, would be in shambles, and he'd finally face real popular
02:02resentment, real popular resistance, real trouble maintaining his regime at home.
02:07So here's the thing, Trump can talk with Putin, should talk with Putin, I suppose, but it's
02:15up to Putin to propose terms that are acceptable to Ukraine.
02:20Ukraine has said it's willing to fight, it's willing to make compromises, bitter compromises,
02:26perhaps not recover for now territory that Putin has simply taken by conquest in a war of
02:32aggression.
02:33Some say, oh, Russia's never defeated in war, that's simply not true.
02:38Russia was in collapse in World War I before the Bolsheviks took over.
02:42No, you don't want to invade Russia, but nobody's looking to invade Russia here.
02:46Ukraine is only looking to defend, and a defensive war against Russia is eminently winnable, because
02:52the Russian army has no morale to speak of unless it's defending the motherland.
02:57They're not doing that now, and they won't be any time soon.
03:00So here's the thing.
03:02In Alaska, Trump has to make Putin satisfy him, satisfy the Ukrainians, make sure any
03:09ceasefire, any peace deal, Ukraine has the ability to defend itself should Putin try to
03:15invade again.
03:16He doesn't get to just have a ceasefire that lets him come back rested, ready, and eager
03:21to take the rest of Ukraine.
03:23That's what he's wanted from the start, from 2022.
03:26He thought he'd do it in a few days.
03:28He hasn't been able to do it in a few years, and he should never get it.
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