Little Marco's Mixed Signals On Russia, UK's Wallace Off Meds; More

In his Senate confirmation testimony Marco Rubio delivered some mixed signals. RT presents his testimony as a reality check, and certainly there were some refreshing notes:

Trump’s State Department pick delivers Ukraine reality check

So, for example:

“I think it should be the official position of the United States that this war should be brought to an end,”

The US Congress has appropriated almost $175 billion in aid to Ukraine since the conflict escalated in February 2022, of which about $65 billion has been direct military assistance. Yet the outgoing administration “never clearly delineated what the end goal of the conflict was,” Rubio told the senators.

“What exactly were we funding? What exactly were we putting money towards? On many occasions it sounded like ‘however much it takes for however long it takes’. That is not a realistic or prudent position,” he said.

It’’s impossible to argue with that, and Rubio offered a fewe more statements along similar lines. And yet, even as he appeared to acknowledge—as above—that this war is America’s war, he was also careful to maintain the fiction that America is somehow capable of being an honest broker of peace, an impartial referee. After instigating and funding the entire war on Russia, directing a coup in Kiev to get the ball rolling downhill, using US resources to attack targets inside Russia, etc. And to top it off, Rubio thinks that Russia—the winner of the war—should somehow make concesssions to the Ukro-Nazi regime:

According to Rubio, negotiating a peace will be “hard work” and require “bold diplomacy,” with concessions being made by both Ukraine and Russia.

Got that? No mention of concessions by the US—the true main party to the war on Russia, the nation without which there would be no such war. Note, too, the suggestion that the US will be more or less kibbitzing from the sidelines, enabling the negotiations—Ukraine and Russia will be the parties at the table. Problem: The Russians, quite sensibly, are saying they won’t talk to anyone except the US.

There’s also worse—or just as bad. Rubio suggests—in line with Waltz’s recent statements—that before negotiations the US will seek to “stabilize” (Waltz’s word) or “balance” (Rubio’s word) the conflict. That’s so Ukraine can have “leverage.” No explanation why Russia would accept that or how a “balance” it could, in any event, be achieved, with Ukraine, by Rubio’s admission, running out of bodies.

“It’s also important that there be some balance on both sides. In essence, it will be difficult to achieve this objective of a ceasefire and ultimately a peace settlement unless both sides have leverage,” he concluded.

The repeated Russian position is that there must be what amounts to an unconditional surrender to Russia’s terms before there can even be talk of a ceasefire. Thus, “hard work” hardly seems to describe the impossible task that Trump’s appointees have assigned to themselves. How can these delusional ideas find any common ground with the positions enunciated by one of Putin’s key advisers, Nikolai Patrushev. We quoted Patrushev yesterday, and today, in speaking with Judge Nap, Gilbert Doctorow offered some expanded summaries of Patrushev’s interview:

Now let's consider something else. Yesterday's news was the remarks of Nikolai Patrushev, who was the head, the secretary, of the Russian National Security Council. Patrushev was removed from that position--he's three years older than Putin--and he's moved into a quieter place, but he remains a close advisor to Vladimir Putin. He was interviewed by Moskovskij Komsomolets--this is a Soviet era title for a daily newspaper that still has a very large following [daily circulation 1 million] and very good quality journalists. The key remark he made is that Ukraine may cease to exist during 2025. Now we have the other side of the story. It's a very clear message to Washington: 'The problem can be solved much more quickly in our favor than you imagine.'

Woops! That sounds very much like a heads up to Rubio and Trump that they better come up with a deal very quickly, because Russia has its own plans that will not wait. And, in fact, Patrushev offered specifics:

He didn't explain exactly what he meant by 'cease to exist' but he gave us a hint. He said, 'You know, several cities are Russian oriented and we could take them over.' The first one he mentioned was precisely Dniepropetrovsk, which is where the Russian army is headed right now. Then he added Kharkov, which they're also closing in on--that's in the northeast right, on the Russian border, from which these assaults on Belgorod region and Kursk region have been staged--and then he said, 'Oh, and by the way, Nikolayev and Odessa--these are Russian cities and where there's resistance to the the regime in Kiev that was installed by an illegal coup d'etat.' Well, if you look at the map, what he's saying is not his personal opinion alone. The cities he named are very widely discussed among Russian patriots as how they want the war to end--which is with Russia holding the entire Black Sea littoral of Ukraine. That would give them a direct line of supply to the Russian populated eastern part of Moldova that's called Transnistria. The last thing I'll say about Mr Patrushev is that he said another country may disappear this year--a country called Moldova. It may just disappear pure and simple--which means the Russians gobble it up--or it may disappear into another state, which is what the Russians really would prefer, the other state being Romania, which Moldova was always part of Romania until Mr Stalin had a different idea. So it's quite conceivable that Moldova will, in fact, depart to Romania and the Russians will get what they want.

See? No mention of waiting while Ukraine somehow achieves “balance”, no mention of “concessions.”

In the UK Daily Telegraph former Defense Minister Ben Wallace published a shockingly deranged article, just to pour fuel on Russia’s Anglophobia, one surmises.

We must put Russia in a prison and build the walls high

If the past few years have taught us anything it is that all our societies are more fragile than we believe and that dictators can fall

The title tells you pretty much all you need to know. Wallace repeats the entire laundry list of Anglo-Zionist Russophobic talking points, with no apparent sense of irony regarding his own country’s past history. And he blames the Russian people, which is why he wants to put them all—all 146 million of them—in that prison with high walls.

Again, one can only suppose that the purpose of this stunning screed is to discourage Trump from negotiating. As for the UK itself, Patrushev and Lavrov have explicitly excluded “London” from any negotiations. Only Trump need apply.

The whole problem boils down to this. The Russians want a solid and enforceable peace treaty—not another farcical delaying tactic. They will force this, or there will be no peace. No smoke and mirrors arrangement like the one that may be going on with Gaza and Lebanon.

---

Turkey’s Erdogan continues to up his rhetoric:

Erdogan: Israel must withdraw from Syria or risk ‘unfavorable outcome for everyone’
The Times of Israel ^ | Jan 15, 2025 | ToI Staff and Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.”

“The aggressive actions of the forces attacking Syrian territory, Israel, in particular, must come to an end as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting of his party in Ankara.

“Everyone should take their hands off Syria and we, along with our Syrian brothers, will crush the heads of Islamic State, the YPG and other terrorist organizations in a short time.”

(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...

Stay tuned.