[Guns N' Coffee]

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/rus...-20251203.html

The Wall Street Journal nailed it last week with a headline that read, “Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine.”

That headline captures why the president is so eager to end Vladimir Putin’s war by sacrificing the Ukrainian victim to the Russian aggressor. And it helps explain why Donald Trump’s negotiators are returning home from Moscow empty-handed again.

Without this explanation, it’s hard to grasp how Trump endorsed a 28-point “peace” plan for Ukraine based on direct input from a Kremlin negotiator, without any Ukrainian or European consultation. (Although a “revised” plan still favors Moscow, Putin continues to demand even more than the initial version.)

Yes, Trump’s unending quest for a Nobel Peace Prize and his infatuation with the Russian despot figure into his kowtow to Putin. But I believe the Journal’s call to “follow the money” is right on the ruble.

Trump’s capitulation to the Kremlin shames our country even more than the U.S. killing of civilians clinging to a burned-out Venezuelan boat.

The Journal’s exposé details how Moscow’s representative sold Trump and his team on the idea they could get inside access to immense riches in Russia if the war were stopped quickly on Putin’s terms. Never mind that meant betraying NATO allies as well as Ukraine.

Indeed, the Kremlin has long dangled visions of lucrative deals before the White House in an effort to woo the president. Putin has used wealthy Russian businessmen to develop contacts with the Trump administration, dating back to 2016.

Kirill Dmitriev, the key Russian negotiator in Ukraine talks and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, is the main salesman for a grandiose future that enhances certain Americans’ wealth.

The Harvard-educated Dmitriev, a Goldman Sachs alumnus, has cleverly played on the greed and naiveté of Steve Witkoff and first son-in-law Jared Kushner, real estate moguls-turned-Trump peace negotiators. He persuaded the pair — at a secret meeting at Witkoff’s Miami waterfront mansion in October — to view Russia not as a military threat, but as a cornucopia of investment possibilities to which friendly U.S. investors would have early access.

That vision depends, of course, on the end of the war, the lifting of sanctions against Russia and the U.S. welcoming Moscow back into the global economy.

It was Dmitriev who provided much of the input into the infamous 28-point Trump plan that read like Russian talking points. The proposal made no demands on the Russian aggressor, but required Ukraine give up key defensive positions and land it still controls while shrinking and disarming its military.

Equally outrageous, however, were the points that called for using much of Russia’s $200 billion-plus of frozen assets in European banks to invest in a U.S.-Russian investment “vehicle” to implement “joint projects” (and much of the rest to facilitate U.S. investment in Ukraine, from which the Americans would take 50% of the profits).

This is the money the European Union still hopes to use as collateral for loans to arm Ukraine against further Russian advances, or to rebuild in peacetime. Yet, the Trumpers and Russians proposed to seize it — with no input from European allies — to feather U.S. and Russian business nests.

As for Witkoff, he is so deep in Russia’s pocket that he was recently heard on a leaked tape tutoring a Russian negotiator on how to win over Trump.

Meantime, the president, indifferent to the public revelation of U.S.-Russian complicity, continues to send Witkoff on repeated trips to Moscow to negotiate with Putin. Witkoff has never once visited Ukraine.

The Journal lays out how Dmitriev dangled before Witkoff and Kushner visions of joint U.S.-Russian exploitation of Arctic mineral wealth, and a potential joint mission to Mars with SpaceX, along with multimillion-dollar rare earth deals.

The Russian money man played brilliantly on Trump’s misguided belief that business deals matter more than sovereignty and can paper over messy and dangerous political disputes — or invasions. Especially if U.S. investors get an inside piece of the action.

Never mind that this crass theory has already been proven false in Gaza, where Trump still can’t grasp that grandiose visions of prosperity won’t come true when underlying political grievances remain unsettled. Although the Israeli hostages were returned, the rest of Trump’s peace plan is near collapse.

As for the Ukraine plan, the idea that U.S. investments in Russia (or in Ukrainian rare earths) would prevent further military action is an ahistorical delusion. U.S. investments in both countries did not prevent Moscow from invading Ukraine in 2014 or 2022.

Putin’s goal is to subordinate Kyiv to Russian domination. If he can’t do it militarily, he will be happy to advance this goal via a peace plan he will surely violate, as he has done with every accord he has previously made with Ukraine. Trump’s dreams of billions in profits will also go down the drain as Putin pursues his dream of conquest.

POTUS and his real estate pals may think they are New York tough, but Moscow is not the Big Apple.

Russia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world (154th out of 180 countries, according to Transparency International). Bribery, seizure of huge sums, or nationalization are employed at will by Putin and his oligarch cronies.

Just consider the experience of William Browder, an American-born British citizen who built up the Heritage Fund into the largest foreign investment portfolio in Russia in the 1990s until he protested government corruption. The Kremlin expelled Browder in 2005 and attempted to assassinate him abroad.

When Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, challenged a Russian attempt to steal $230 million in taxes that the fund had already paid, his offices were raided. Magnitsky was arrested, tortured and killed in prison in 2009.

I spoke with Browder by phone from London, and he had nothing but scorn for the ignorance of the Trump team. “Steve Witkoff and all his pals are not going to make a penny from the Russians,” he told me. “The Russians have a long history of enticing Americans and foreigners. They will defraud, arrest, cheat and even murder you to prevent you from making a penny.

“They are masters of expropriation. Every foreign investor has been burned.”

The tragedy is that Trump, Witkoff and Kushner are willing to burn Ukraine in their quest for more wealth.

[kellyhound]

With him it's always about himself and the money, especially for his own family business. Everyone can see that by now.

[Bloodmage]

wanting an end to an endless war is somehow GIB ME MOAR MONEY in the eyes of the leftists. Go figure

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Bloodmage ↗

wanting an end to an endless war is somehow GIB ME MOAR MONEY in the eyes of the leftists. Go figure

Key Findings: 2025.
Overall, six in 10 continue to support the United States sending arms and military supplies to Kyiv (62%, up from 52% in March) and providing economic assistance to Ukraine (61%, up from 55% in March)

The most substantial shifts are among Republicans (+9 percentage points for economic assistance, +21 military aid) and Independents (+7 economic, +10 military).

In fact, 51 percent of Republicans now support providing military aid to Ukraine.

Large majorities of both Republicans (74%) and Democrats (77%) support increasing sanctions against Russia.

The potential for Putin’s refusal of a peace deal does not seem to impact American public support for US policies toward Ukraine.

Six in 10 Americans (60%) express a favorable view of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; just 10 percent view Putin favorably.

There are also divisions within the Republican camp: those Republicans who self-identify as supporters of the “MAGA movement”1 are divided (49% support vs. 50% oppose) compared to a majority of nearly six in 10 non-MAGA Republicans who favor continued military assistance (57%, 41% oppose).

Nothing to do with left or right as most on this site are right, only not far right.

It's more of rewarding a dictator doing some land grab and killing civilians, hospitals, schools, kidnapping children etc. It's about under what conditions they want peace.

[scorpion9]

Originally Posted by Bloodmage ↗

wanting an end to an endless war is somehow GIB ME MOAR MONEY in the eyes of the leftists. Go figure

First, he doesn't want an end to war, he wants to focus on starting a new war, in Venezuela( like second iraq ).

Check out this comedy bit on the topic. Its supposed to be comedy, but most of the satire they have made has come true. So...

[Rikbikboo]

We seem to have an awful lot of talk here in the UK about preparing the public for war. I guess its pretty clear then that the leaders of Europe would prefer war over peace by the way they are carrying on.

I suppose its hard to trust Poo-tin when he says he is'nt interested in attacking anyone else when he lies over and over again.

Pretty sure the general public would prefer peace. And the way gen z seem to state they wouldnt fight for their country says it all/

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Rikbikboo ↗

We seem to have an awful lot of talk here in the UK about preparing the public for war. I guess its pretty clear then that the leaders of Europe would prefer war over peace by the way they are carrying on.

I suppose its hard to trust Poo-tin when he says he is'nt interested in attacking anyone else when he lies over and over again.

They do that, especially NATO, because there are signs they're preparing big time like cyber attacks, russian shadow fleet ships linked to drone sightings above military bases etc and circling they're vessels above undersea cables for electricity and internet.

Europe and some countries in particular are too slow being prepared themselves (some don't/won't spent enough money in their military) so exaggeration is used to wake them up.

It's not that russia will occupy Europe as a whole but NATO has article 5 meaning that an armed attack against one member in Europe or North America is considered an attack against all, obligating other members to assist the attacked party, including using armed force if deemed necessary.

With Trump in command they never know what he will do. What if he says you're on your own. So that's why Europe needs a stronger army and defence like they're doing in Poland and now in some other countries.

Putin has a war economy for several years now and f.i. building 150 tanks a month etc. What if he decides to take the Baltic countries or more.

Strategy documents prepared by the Russian president’s office show Moscow’s plans for maintaining influence in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. These include funding pro-Russian NGOs, efforts to keep Russian language in schools and oppose demolitions of Soviet monuments.

The LRT Investigation Team has obtained secret Kremlin documents revealing Russia’s ambitious plans to influence all three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

The documents were prepared by the Directorate for Interregional Relations and Cultural Contacts, which is directly under the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. An international team of journalists have previously reported on similar plans for Belarus and Moldova.

The Kremlin’s plans for the Baltics were drafted in autumn 2021. According to intelligence experts interviewed for this article, the drafters may not have aware of the impending invasion of Ukraine, as its potential consequences are not discussed in the plan.

There are many country leaders that think Trump will not join in on article 5 when the Baltic countries are attacked as they're of no (economic) importance to him. So NATO is useless than and that's why some European countries want to be more independant on U.S. arms, intel and logistics but that takes years.

[Faust]

[kellyhound]

In 2022 there were disagreements on issues like the size of Ukraine's peacetime army as Ukraine wanted 250,000 troops and russia proposed 85,000 and about missile ranges but there would have been better security guarantees from countries like the U.S., UK, France, China, russia and others with commitments for aid like no-fly zones or direct intervention in case of future attacks.

BUT revelations of russian atrocities in Bucha and Irpin in early April that year hardened Ukrainian resolve and public opinion against compromise and late russian additions, such as demands to repeal Ukrainian laws on language, culture, and Soviet-era history to align with Putin's denazification narrative also didn't help.

Putin claims Western interference derailed them, though experts attribute the failure more to mutual distrust, war crimes, and strategic calculations than outright sabotage.

[GoreGram]

Our tax money wasted in this Slavic war. It has nothing to do with US citizens. Why is our money going to Ukraine?