From the blog of John Helmer, Australian correspondent in Moscow since the Soviet era

Several hours after Witkoff had left meeting with Putin, Trump implied that he is blaming the Russians for the failure of the talks so far, and is planning a new ultimatum. “Russia has to get moving”, Trump tweeted.  

Source: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114319592702753512 

A well-informed source in Moscow says that Trump and his subordinates have been surprised by the Russian terms for ending the war. “The Russians have told Americans they will have Odessa and a land corridor to Moldova. They have offered ports on Dnieper River for access to the sea for the Ukrainians. There has been no demand about Nord Stream. Money is being discussed on the sidelines but not in the main talks. In the main room [in Riyadh on February 18] Lavrov and Ushakov brought no papers and asked Americans [Rubio and Waltz] to dust off the December 2021 treaty draft. The Russian positions shocked the Americans. They were told the Ukraine will be demilitarized and its forces will be turned into paramilitary and police. The Americans were also surprised how little Russians cared about Zelensky or his British and Europeans backers. The Americans were told there will be no Ukrainian paramilitary force east of the Dnieper – only police. A new Russian demand was tabled for autonomy of eight Ukrainian oblasts, with Kiev army forces removed. In general, the Russians propose turning the Ukraine into a genuinely federal structure with provisions that Banderites can never take power in Kiev and that the central forces will be limited in their capabilities, supplementing the police if and when Banderites take to the streets. The main purpose of any such force will be de-nazification and keeping it that way. There are demands also about the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”

If they want Odessa the Russians must first capture it, obviously. I hope to God they don't. 

 

The Daily Telegraph today says 'experts' say Russia has no chance of gaining Ukrainian territory this summer. 

You have to read a long way to find out who the experts are. They are Ukrainians plus a neo-con think tank in the USA. 

British media are pure propaganda propagating misinformation that emanates from MI6 about Ukraine and Gaza. The Telegraph and Times are the worst culprits but all mainstream media are propagandia. It's the same in Romania and probably in most Nato countries, Hungary and Slovakia excepted.

The experts are not interested in the truth but in winning arguments and power. One expert Fiona Hill so misunderstands what is going on that she thinks the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a 'land grab' (why isn't Mongolia in danger if land is what Putin wants?) and that 'globalist' is 'an antisemitic trope'. 

I am not sure what to make of Helmer, who thinks the Skripals were set up by MI6 and thinks the CIA were behind the Moscow concert hall attack, for which Islamists were blamed, but at least he isn't an expert. 

His lifelong hostility to England and America makes him view things in interesting ways, rather as I hope my dislike of modernity, progress, groupthink and cant does.