#UkraineMustWin #StillBackingBoris #DefendBrexit #NeverLabour #IStandWithIsrael #TwitterIsNotRealLife #DefundtheBBC
Joined April 2009
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Beautiful 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
ElaineH retweeted
- Anne Applebaum:
"Steve Witkoff has no experience with Russia or diplomacy. I fear he imagines a US-Russia pact where he, his son, Trump's family or their circle benefit personally.
It's disturbing that American foreign policy conducted not for the US, allies or world peace, but for private interests.
Putin knows Trump is vulnerable to such deals ... that's why he keeps suggesting them.
Witkoff and Trump's entourage behave like Russians: capture the state, use it for personal wealth."...
ElaineH retweeted
How Russia negotiates:
Invade and occupy.
Play the victim.
Demand a reward.
Call it a new security architecture.
ElaineH retweeted
"There is a window of opportunity to end the war by the end of the year, but I have little faith in the outcome of the Americans’ negotiations with Putin." - Zelenskyy.
ElaineH retweeted
What should we expect from the Kremlin tomorrow? Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, gave us the answer after the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi: “Every square foot of land will be returned to Russia one way or another.”
ALL EYES ON PUTIN: U.S. envoys are heading to Moscow after “very substantive” but “pretty tough” Russia-Ukraine negotiations. Will Vladimir Putin make concessions, or will Moscow once again stand in the way of peace? NEWSMAX Correspondent @Shelby_Wilder has the latest.
ElaineH retweeted
This is just embarrassing. Why is the superpower crawling on its knees? Why is the beacon of democracy asking genocidal aggressor for permissions?
BREAKING: The U.S. is to seek Putin’s ‘blessing’ for Europe to join future peace talks for Ukraine.
vist.ly/5sbcu
ElaineH retweeted
⚡️BREAKING: The US believes Ukrainians must withdraw from their own territory to end the war
Washington is proposing that Ukraine give up Donbas, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
According to him, the American side keeps raising the issue and sees territorial concessions as a way to end the war.
“You cannot talk to us like that,” Zelensky bluntly responds to these proposals.
ElaineH retweeted
There is a lot of confusion about these negotiations with russia.
Here are some observations and analytics from me:
1⃣. Russia is not negotiating over Donbas, Zaporizhzhia, or Kherson.
Moscow considers these territories legally part of russia. From its perspective, their status is already settled. Their only question is whether Ukraine withdraws voluntarily or russia forces it out militarily.
Russia treats this as a done deal, merely a matter of time. Nothing offered in negotiations can change it, so Moscow sees no point in negotiating their status.
But there is a reason russia is currently focusing on Donbas. Putin believes he can potentially achieve Ukraine's withdrawal from the remaining Ukrainian-controlled territory through political pressure from Trump, without having to capture it militarily.
Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are simply further objectives. Bringing them into the current negotiations would only expose how far russia remains from actually controlling the territories it claims as its own, weakening its negotiating position.
2⃣. Russia wants to negotiate a new "European security architecture."
This includes:
- Political control over Ukraine, effectively stripping it of sovereignty.
- Rolling back NATO's military infrastructure in Eastern Europe to the conditions of May 1997, before NATO's eastward expansion.
- Restrictions on Ukraine's military capabilities and its relationships with Western countries.
In practice, such a settlement would also include Ukraine's withdrawal from Donbas. And creation a platform for destabilization of Europe via military and political tools.
But russia deliberately separates the territorial question from the broader security negotiations because, according to its own laws, the territorial question is already settled, they just need the USA to confirm it.
3⃣. The American delegation seems to believe this is a real estate deal.
Rubio himself described the entire war as being about Donbas.
That tells us a lot about how the American delegation approaches these negotiations.
Their consider that once russia gets what it wants in Donbas, everything else becomes an easy deal.
Shower russia with money, lift sanctions, offer lucrative business deals, and Putin will suddenly lose interest in further military aggression and geopolitical ambitions.
This is the same Trump who promised to end the war in 24 hours because he thought it would be an easy negotiation.
The fundamental misunderstanding is that russia isn't negotiating over a few pieces of Ukrainian territory. It's just russian intermediary target.
Russia considers the territorial issue settled. What it actually wants to negotiate is the political future of Ukraine and the security arrangements of the entire European continent. Essentially a platform for further geopolitical powerplay including military means.
Meanwhile, Trump wants a deal that opens the door to making money with russia, lets him declare himself a great peacemaker, and gives him another shot at the Nobel Peace Prize.
ElaineH retweeted
Ust-Luga is burning 🔥
Russia's top Baltic oil terminal hit. 3 helicopters lost defending it, likely to their own air defense.
Bonus: a Kalibr-capable ship is down in the Baltic. After the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Baltic Fleet is next.
#RussiaIsCollapsing #MakeRussiaSmallAgain #Putin #StandWithUkraine
ElaineH retweeted
Not much has been achieved in Abu Dhabi, but the framing of the talks has nevertheless been harmful, particularly for the Europeans. The Russians have achieved their goal of opening a discussion about the post-war European security order, which Kushner and Witkoff were ready to embrace.
1. The U.S. – clearly Kushner and Witkoff, with Trump’s blessing – wants to bring about not only peace for peace’s sake, but also an opening for business deals with Russia. They probably want a credible excuse for opening a business track with Russia. After the midterms, securing business opportunities for family members and friends might be one of their goals. And here Europe might be an obstacle to remove – EU sanctions will prevent the launch of some envisaged U.S.-Russian business ventures, such as gas deliveries to Europe.
It is probably beyond Kushner and Witkoff’s comprehension what Putin really wants. They do not understand Russian thinking or the implications of concessions to Moscow for European security. They have no understanding of Russia’s goals and policies towards NATO, the EU and within the OSCE, either now or in the past.
Kushner during the press conference: “Something is clearly not working…”.
They say they want to preserve existing institutions and make NATO stronger, at the same time as Russia wants to undermine them. It is good that Gen. Grynkewich took part in the talks, providing a link to the realities on the ground. And these realities include – according to the Polish Defence Minister – the Pentagon agreeing today to station troops permanently in Poland and not objecting to Poland acquiring land-based Tomahawk missiles.
2. The Europeans – are being drawn into a tricky game. Ukraine wants Europe on board in order to secure European backing in its difficult talks with the U.S. Europe wants to know what the U.S. is discussing with Russia regarding the end of the war and post-war Ukraine, and for all the right reasons. The problem is that both Russia and Kushner/Witkoff have just sprung a trap by opening up discussions on post-war European security with the Europeans. And this trap carries two major risks.
First, it broadens the scope of the discourse. Once the topic has been opened and the Europeans have been drawn in, Russia and the U.S. will push Europe further towards engaging in these talks, with an unpredictable outcome.
Second, Europe has the problem of not being a single entity, of having differing perspectives and representatives, some of whom – in the race to “represent Europe” – might be more willing to go beyond previously agreed common positions.
All in all, I hope there is enough sense within the E4, EU and NATO to understand where this is heading, as Russia is unlikely to shift its positions.
ElaineH retweeted
The American government now thinks Europe is a single country.
Ps Jared, we’re not interested in Putins ‘Negotiations’ because Ukraine don’t want to ‘Negotiate’ a surrender.
What happened to the US government ‘Not Negotiating With Terrorists’.
Now they’re Negotiating for a Terrorist.
ElaineH retweeted
Ukraine freed Kherson from Russian occupation four years ago, on 11 November 2022
Since then, Russia has been attacking its civilians, homes, and transport every day, while Ukrainian electronic warfare troops have kept jamming Russian drones to protect its residents
🎥 310th Electronic Warfare Regiment
ElaineH retweeted
⚡ "Ending this war without Europe's participation would be unfair and, frankly, impossible."
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Europe's role in peace negotiations.
ElaineH retweeted
We have concluded two days of negotiations in the United Arab Emirates.
The main result is that we reached an agreement on a large-scale POW exchange. We are now working to finalise the details and further practical realisation.
Bringing our people home remains one of our top priorities. We are doing everything possible to ensure that every Ukrainian returns from captivity as soon as possible.
In the trilateral Ukraine–US–Russia format, we discussed achieving peace and Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction. The first step — to end the war and ensure security guarantees for Ukraine.
Over these two days, the parties were able to present their positions directly. Significant differences remain. There is still a great deal of difficult work ahead, but there are opportunities to continue the negotiation process.
I thank the United States for its active role in organising and conducting the negotiations. Special thanks to @SEPeaceMissions Steve Witkoff and @jaredkushner for their personal involvement.
I am grateful to the United Arab Emirates for its hospitality and support for the negotiations, as well as to our European partners — the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and representatives of NATO and the European Commission — for their joint work in Abu Dhabi.
ElaineH retweeted
Appease an aggressor….
As they say in Russia, appetite grows while eating.
Russia’s top negotiator Medinsky says in Abu Dhabi that Moscow’s demands extend to all of Europe, far beyond Ukraine.
“The security system in Europe works very badly. The entire organism is sick. Ukraine is just an abscess that burst. The organism must be cured as a whole, a band-aid will not be enough.”
Dr Putin to the rescue of poor sick Europe…
The more Trump seeks to mollify Putin, the more megalomaniac the Russian demands become.
ElaineH retweeted
Since Labour came to power, the OBR’s forecasts haven’t mentioned Rosebank by name. Then came the October forecast. There it is, in black and white.
The Chancellor on one side, the Energy Secretary on the other.
Unlike Labour, the @Conservatives are united behind our plan to get Britain drilling.
ElaineH retweeted
The Security Service of Ukraine struck the Russian Buyan-M-class missile corvette Naro-Fominsk.
The vessel is capable of carrying Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles. It was launched in 2022.
📷: for illustration purposes
ElaineH retweeted
Kaja Kallas on the talks in Abu Dhabi:
What Russia wants out of these talks is the lifting of sanctions and also the release of the frozen assets.
These are European decisions. They can't be made by anybody else but Europe.
Of course, Russia does not want to talk to Europe, because it's easier to talk to the US.
Russia is returning to the playbook it used in Minsk before the full-scale invasion: using war to force the adversary to make concessions, and negotiations to lock those concessions in. Back then, Moscow sought to gain permanent leverage over Ukrainian politics through the Russian-occupied parts of Donbas. Now, Russia is striving to influence the security decisions of the whole of Europe.
The first common feature is the war continuing during negotiations. Following the signing of Minsk-2, Russian-backed forces continued the battle for Debaltseve. The OSCE recorded Russia's outright refusal of a ceasefire. Today, Moscow is conducting negotiations in a similar way while simultaneously launching strikes at Ukraine.
The second is the demand to change political rules in exchange for ending the violence. The Minsk agreements envisaged amendments to Ukraine's Constitution, a special status for certain areas of Donbas, and coordinating election issues with their representatives. Moscow wanted to return its controlled structures into Ukrainian politics while maintaining leverage over them. Russia counted on using these structures to limit Kyiv's independence. Now, it is trying to negotiate a veto power over European security policy.
The third is the imposition of a sequence of steps advantageous to Moscow. Under Minsk-2, Ukraine was to begin regaining control over the border only after local elections. Russia demanded political concessions while retaining levers of pressure. Today, Lavrov speaks even more directly: first we agree on a new security system, then we deal with the war. He even pushes a ceasefire off to the future.
The fourth is shifting the responsibility for the war. In the Minsk process, Russia called itself a mediator and denied being a party to the conflict. Now, hiding its involvement is impossible, so the explanation is different: the problem allegedly lies within the European security system itself, which failed to account for Russian interests. When Kushner talks about decades of mutual distrust and competing security interests, he is helping Moscow shift the conversation away from its aggression and onto grievances against the West.
The fifth is an attempt to force Western negotiators to pressure their own partners. During the Minsk process, Putin demanded that Berlin and Paris influence Kyiv. In August 2021, he asked Angela Merkel for this directly. Now, Moscow is trying to use Washington so that Americans persuade Ukrainians and Europeans to accept a framework advantageous to Russia.
The sixth is opposition to independent monitoring and strong guarantees. During the Minsk process, armed formations blocked access for OSCE observers. In 2021, Russia refused to extend the mandate of a separate mission at two Russian border checkpoints. Now, Lavrov rejects European stabilization forces in Ukraine after a truce. Moscow's shared interest is to retain the ability to threaten new violence and limit the presence of those who could prevent it.
It is important that the diplomatic process continues and remains constructive. Ukraine, more than anyone else, desires this horrific and unjust war to end as soon as possible. A very important achievement is the humanitarian agreement on preparing a new prisoner exchange - the humanitarian track. We will be able to bring some of our people home. I am grateful to the UAE for their help in organizing the negotiations. Thank you to everyone helping Ukraine achieve peace.
ElaineH retweeted
1/2 Donbass today...
There is no electricity, no water, gas pipelines are broken, many houses are destroyed, and roads are partially smashed. But despite all this, people continue to stay in their homes. They stay because they have nowhere to go, because their life, their memory, their land is here.
Local residents say that the electricity comes on very rarely, sometimes only for four hours a day, and there are times when there is no electricity for an entire day. Drinking water is drawn from public hand pumps located in the yards of some high-rise apartment buildings. Central heating in apartments is being promised... but whether it will be on or not, nobody knows - everything depends on the situation. In some districts of the city, the infrastructure is already destroyed, and there will definitely be no heating in those buildings.
ElaineH retweeted
The more Trump appeases Putin, the more Putin demands
As they say in Russia, appetite grows while eating.
Russia’s top negotiator Medinsky says in Abu Dhabi that Moscow’s demands extend to all of Europe, far beyond Ukraine.
“The security system in Europe works very badly. The entire organism is sick. Ukraine is just an abscess that burst. The organism must be cured as a whole, a band-aid will not be enough.”
Dr Putin to the rescue of poor sick Europe…
The more Trump seeks to mollify Putin, the more megalomaniac the Russian demands become.
