Russia-US Talks Amidst Deep State Blues and Forever War Crimes in West Asia
Dismantling the Deep State
An interesting statement from a former Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar:
“The challenge facing Trump is formidable, given the nexus between the Democratic Party and the Deep State, and the mischief potential of mainstream media which is largely under their control and hostile towards Trump.”.
In comment, I would add, that the misunderstandings, lies and confusion of the Russiagate Hoax will continue to poison political and international developments for some time to go
Bhadrakumar on progress on the dismantling of the Deep State, to be accelerated under Gabbard (DNI) and Patel (FBI):
“Trump has repeatedly expressed distrust of U.S. intelligence agencies. According to CNN, all employees (approximately 22,000 people) at the C.I.A. have received emails giving them two options: to continue his/her service without guarantees of job retention in the future or to leave under the so-called deferred dismissal program at their own request, while retaining salary and additional preferences until end-September.
“The disbandment of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which traditionally worked as the “B Team” of the C.I.A. to promote colour revolutions and regime changes, etc. can also be seen in the light. According to Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of U.S.A and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who closely studies this topic, Trump has declared war on the C.I.A., which he blames for his electoral defeat in 2020.
“Vasiliev estimates that so far, the fight against the Deep State in foreign and domestic intelligence is proceeding steadily, but will now “accelerate” with the confirmation of former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as head of national intelligence and Kash Patel as F.B.I. director”.
More War Crimes Proposed in Gaza Amidst War Crimes in West Bank
A good article by AS`AD AbuKHALIL in Consortium News (Gaza) on the history of attempts to “purify” Gaza for the benefit of Israel:
“There are limits to how far Arab governments will go to appease Trump. Saudi media only recently began providing unfavorable coverage of Israel and even mentioning plans for ethnic cleansing, as they had respected the secret rapprochement between Israel and the kingdom.
“After several years of muted coverage of Palestine, the Saudi regime was offended when Benjamin Netanyahu — elaborating on Trump’s plan — suggested that Saudi Arabia would take in the Palestinian population of Gaza.
“An Arab government that participates in Trump’s cleansing plans would not last long: Its population and the newly arrived Palestinians would mount armed insurrection against the regime
“Trump can continue to make statements about the beautification of the real estate of Gaza, but he won’t be able to find a state that will host ethnically cleansed Palestinians. The notion that the Palestinians would peacefully follow expulsion orders betrays an ignorance of Palestinian history….
“Arab governments are already working on a plan to rebuild Gaza without relocating Palestinians to neighboring countries. Trump will either abandon this ill-thought-out idea or he will have to clash with all of America’s Arab allies in the region.”
Surprise: Turkish and Western-Backed Terror Government in Syria Doesn’t Work
Even the Economist (Homs) has noticed, in its report from Homs where it concludes that “things are not going well.”
Surprise. Surprise.
Dozens of people have been killed or kidnapped in rural areas outside the city in recent weeks. Some, mostly Alawites seen as loyal to Mr Assad, have been targeted in sectarian revenge attacks; others by gangs hoping to extort ransom money. Crime is rampant. Alawite concerns are being ignored. The government’s attempts to impose order have been ham-fisted. The new leaders lack the manpower to police the city or ensure that the courts function. The economic malaise is making things worse. International sanctions on Syria’s financial sector remain in place, stalling economic recovery. The job market in Homs is dire.
The Impossibility of a Solvent USA
David Stockman (Stockman) outlines an astonishing pathway to a total national debt rising from its current $35 trillion to $60 trillion in 2035 and $150 trillion by 2050.
House GOP’s Deficit Increase Instructions for the next 10 years increase the total deficit by $6 trillion, of which the Ways and Means Committee for tax cuts involves an additional $4,500 billion. This would come on top of the $22 trillion of cumulative deficits already built into the baseline for the next decade.
Even before factoring this in, today’s $36 trillion public debt would be nearly $60 trillion by the end of the current 10-year budget window; and, even if the economy goes swimmingly for the next 25 yesars, the public debt would hit $150 trillion by mid-century.
Russia-US in Saudi Arabia: Agreeing to Talk
Russia Matters’ summary (Russia)of New York Times Report:
“Senior American and Russian officials agreed on Feb. 18 to establish high-level teams to work toward ending the war in Ukraine and finding a path toward normalizing relations, in the most extensive bilateral negotiations in more than three years, according to NYT. After the 4.5 hours of talks, U.S. Secretary of State Rubio described a three-step plan for what the U.S. and Russia planned to do next, NYT reported. First, he said, both countries would negotiate how to remove restrictions placed on each other’s embassies in Moscow and Washington. In addition, he said, the U.S. would engage with Russia about “parameters of what an end” to the Ukraine war would look like. “There’s going to be engagement and consultation with Ukraine, with our partners in Europe and others,” Rubio was quoted by NYT as saying. And finally, he said, Russia and the U.S. would explore new “historic” partnerships, both in geopolitics and in business.1
After the talks, Trump’s national security adviser Waltz suggested Ukraine's government would have a say, calling it "common sense" that "if you're going to bring both sides together, you have to talk to both sides,” according to CBS. "We are absolutely talking to both sides," Waltz said.
After the talks, Trump’s envoy Witkoff said the U.S has consulted Zelenskyy and Macron, and that the EU was “going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed.” But the Russian foreign ministry ruled out a role for Europe in the Ukraine talks and demanded NATO rescind an open-ended 2008 invitation to Kyiv, as it said Moscow was “categorically opposed” to a European peacekeeping deployment, NYT reported.
After the talks Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the discussions were “not bad,” NYT reported. Ushakov said the exact date of the meeting between Putin and Trump has not yet been determined, but it is unlikely to be next week, according to TASS.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that the parties "not only listened, but heard each other,” according to [///Users/anf742/Downloads/.%20https:/republic.ru/posts/115080]Republic.ru. Lavrov also announced that Russia-U.S. consultations on Ukraine would now be held regularly. Lavrov also said that he was unaware of a reported U.S. peace proposal for Ukraine that includes agreeing to a ceasefire, holding elections and signing a final peace deal. The so-called “three-stage peace plan” was allegedly proposed by both the United States and Russia, Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reported, citing unnamed foreign diplomatic sources.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said: “agreements were reached on establishing a dialogue to agree on ways to resume cooperation in the economy, including energy, space and other areas of mutual interest.” “The parties agreed to resume communication channels on other international issues, taking into account the special responsibility of Russia and the United States in matters of peace and security as nuclear powers,” the ministry said.
Russian deputy foreign minister Grushko said the Kremlin was “categorically opposed” to European troops deploying to Ukraine “no matter what their role is.” He added that such a move would be “a step towards escalation,” according to FT.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov said any deal should “take into account the possibility of disputing Zelenskyy’s legitimacy” after the Ukrainian president’s term expired last year, according to FT.
Pro-government Russian political analyst Markov claimed that the talks produced "no results" and that "all assessments are abstract,” according to [///Users/anf742/Downloads/.%20https:/republic.ru/posts/115080]Republic.ru. He noted that a Putin-Trump meeting has not been scheduled and that "
The New York Times has reported that Russia appeared to be using Tuesday’s talks to cater to Mr. Trump’s interest in profits and natural resources, arguing that American oil companies and others stood to gain hundreds of billions of dollars by again doing business in Russia. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said he would seek to restart economic cooperation with the United States to “rebuild communication, rebuild trust, rebuild success.” Mr. Dmitriev said he would present the American delegation with an estimate showing that American companies lost $300 billion by leaving Russia.
“U.S. oil majors have had very successful business in Russia,” Mr. Dmitriev said in a brief interview on Tuesday before the talks began, offering an example of how the countries could rebuild business ties. “We believe at some point they will be coming back, because why would they forgo these opportunities that Russia gave them to have access to Russian natural resources?”