This morning Danny Davis began his video monologue by stating that, since Trump took office, all focus has been on “diplomatic” efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Now, however, he says, it looks like war is escalating and Trump is joining in, by proposing new arms shipment to Ukraine that go beyond the Biden ones (and likely more sanctions).
My view has always been that Trump’s actual aim simply continues the long held Anglo-Zionist goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia—by moving Ukraine irretrievably out of the Russian sphere of influence, thus turning the strategic Blacks Sea, effectively, into a NATO lake (along with the Baltic). Trump’s rhetoric uses the word “peace”, but the reality has been to simply stop the fighting without addressing Russia’s long held and clearly enunciated security concerns. Russia has always been clear that this “solution” is unacceptable, but Trump has continued with various ploys designed to somehow snooker Putin into that longed for strategic defeat.
These ploys have taken various forms—notions of a halt in war supplies to Ukraine, supposed negotiations, threats. One that some commentators, like Ray McGovern, have swallowed hook, line, and sinker has been the sincerity of the Witkoff “diplomacy” and the Rubio “normalization” of relations with Russia. Witkoff, of course, is a non-diplomat—a real estate lawyer with quite minimal understanding of Russia whose only qualification is that he’s a friend-of-Donald. Putin appears to have tired of that Trump ploy long ago—a ploy in which a Trump “insider” Witkoff would try to talk Putin into believing that Trump’s talk of “peace” means what it sounds like, rather than being just the self defeating (for Russia) ceasefire.
As for “normalization,” Tass has published an article that features Russia’s diplomatic attack dog—the guy who says the hard truths out loud—Sergey Ryabkov explaining that there actually hasn’t been any normalization, and that the problem is on the American side:
Ryabkov’s remarks begin with a dismissal of additional US sanctions, which Russia expects soon. Then he turns to normalization issues:
On Russian property in the US
Russia "will keep pushing" the US regarding the return of diplomatic properties: "There is clearly a lack of meaningful response from the American side on this matter. We will keep pushing."
The situation involving unjustified seizure of Russian properties in the US remains unacceptable.
On US relations
Russia continues to steadily and clearly pursue a course "for the normalization of our relations."
Contradictory actions and statements by US President Donald Trump’s administration complicate matters: "The Trump administration is inconsistent in its actions and statements. This isn’t making work easier."
There is still no confirmation regarding the candidacy of the US ambassador to Russia: "They did not apply for an agreement, there is still no clarity."
On restoring direct flights
US response to Russia’s proposal to restore direct flights: "We have raised this with the American side - frankly, the response is minimal."
However, this does not mean "the matter is being shelved" because both sides have "certain ideas on how to proceed."
The picture we get here is that the Russian side sees no progress because the American side makes statements that it then systematically declines to follow up on. Which leads inescapably to the conclusion that those statements that supposedly heralded a normalization of relations with Russia were no more than carrots designed to draw the Russians into strategic concessions. Clearly the Russians see that it’s Trump who’s the one who’s talking “a lot of bullshit.” Again, as I keep repeating, Putin and the Russians will talk and talk, but they won’t budge from their principled positions on Russian security.
Closely related, MoA features a link to a useful substack (where I found the Tass link), which includes a translation of an article from the influential Russian publication Kommersant (we’ve referred to Kommersant at least 4x in the past). The article, in effect, presents the Russian view stripped of diplo-speak. Russia understands that it’s engaged in a long war to defend its existence against an aggressive Anglo-Zionist led West.
Regarding Trump’ failure to “normalize”, the author states:
So, the most basic, fundamental step Team Trump could take to rebuild trust with Russia—return the diplomatic properties stolen from Russia—has yet to be done, with the bolded text saying that zero has happened on that issue. So, Trump’s hundreds of pre-election boasts that he’d end the war in his first 24 hours were not only empty, but he’s made no effort to try and soften relations as he said he would. And there are many more points of evidence I could compile to show it’s Putin who’s disappointed with Trump for his lack of action—let’s call it procrastination. Meanwhile, Putin and Russia’s position hasn’t changed one iota since June of 2024—13 months now—and from what emerges from Trump’s mouth, he still doesn’t comprehend Russia’s unshakable position.
No doubt Putin also understands that the only thing that prevents Russia from the attacks that Trump has perpetrated on Gaza, Yemen, and Iran is Russia’s formidable nuclear arsenal. Even there, the sneak attack on the strategic bomber leg of Russia’s nuclear triad signaled—as clearly as Trump’s sneak attack on Iran during negotiations—that Trump cannot be trusted and will go for whatever he thinks he can get away with.
Which brings us to the article by a pretty high level Russian observer:
Dmitri Trenin, Director of the Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy at the Higher School of Economics, wrote an op/ed for Kommersant, “The War Will Be Long,” ...IMO, Trenin makes clear that Putin knows the Outlaw US Empire’s plans, which is the basic reason why Putin doesn’t yield anything to Trump.
The article also contains some interesting observations that reflect Russian views of American politics and how it looks from the perspective of Russia’s SDO—Special Diplomatic Operation:
The verbal shuffling of the current American president is Donald Trump's signature style. They need to be monitored but not overestimated: neither in a more favorable or less favorable direction for us. It should also be understood that Trump is not the "king" of America and that the "Trump revolution" that was talked about at the beginning of the year seems to have been replaced by the evolution of Trump himself towards rapprochement with the American establishment.
From this position, it makes sense to look at the intermediate results of our "special diplomatic operation"–-six telephone conversations between the presidents, talks between foreign ministers and foreign policy aides of the heads of state, as well as communication at other high levels.
The positive part includes, first of all, the restoration of dialogue between Russia and the United States, interrupted by the Joe Biden administration.
It is also important that this dialogue is not limited to discussing the war in Ukraine. Potential opportunities for cooperation in a number of areas are outlined, from geopolitics to transport and sports. So far, this is not very relevant, but it may be useful in the future. After all, the resumed dialogue, most likely, will not be interrupted under Trump, although its intensity and tone will change.
The next paragraph illustrates that Russia takes actions based on its own perception of interest. Thus, Russia expected nothing at all to come of the talks in Istanbul, but thought that participation in the Trump initiated charade was useful in demonstrating to the world that Russia is reasonable and interested in political solutions. This is all part of Russia’s “talk and talk” tactic. And Russia knows that the war will continue:
Dialogue with the United States led to the resumption of negotiations with the Ukrainian side in Istanbul. The negotiations themselves have no political sense now, and prisoner of war exchanges took place without them. It is important, however, that the fact of direct contact with Kiev reinforced the key thesis of our diplomacy about Russia's readiness for a political solution to the conflict.
These acquisitions are, of course, technical and tactical in nature.
From the very beginning, it was obvious that it would not be possible to agree with Trump on Ukraine on terms that would meet Russia's security requirements.
And of course, no one would negotiate with Trump at the expense of Russia's security. It would also be naïve to assume that Trump will completely "surrender" Ukraine, unite with the Kremlin against the European Union and go to a "new Yalta" in the form of a renewed Big Three, already consisting of the United States, Russia and China.
So, the page has been turned. What's next? Trump is likely to sign the new sanctions bill, but at the same time he will leave himself the opportunity to apply it at his own discretion. The new measures will add instability to world trade, but will not have an impact on Russian policy. Trump will transfer the remnants of weapons from the "Biden packages" to Ukraine and, possibly, will be forced to add something "on his own", but in the future, the bulk of military assistance to Kyiv will come from Europe or through Europe (Berlin and others will purchase American systems and transfer them to the Ukrainians). The United States will continue to transfer intelligence to Ukraine that is critical for strikes, especially deep into Russian territory.
And now comes the bottom line of Russian realism—the long war of Anglo-Zionism against Russia will continue:
The war will not end in 2025. It will not end after the end of hostilities in Ukraine.
We need to realize that the current conflict is not about Ukraine as such.
This is a proxy (so far) war of the West against Russia. And this confrontation itself is part of an ongoing world war, in which the West is fighting to maintain world hegemony. This will be a long war, and the United States, with or without Trump, will remain our adversary. At stake for us in this struggle is not the status of Ukraine, but the existence of Russia.
We were first told that not a single Iranian missile had hit the US base. Then satellite images emerged showing that there had been at least one hit. Now, the Pentagon admits it.
The Pentagon confirmed an Iranian ballistic missile hit a dome at a Qatar air base that houses equipment the US uses for secure communications.
Uncommon Sense @Uncommonsince76
“During the second Iraq war, there had been a promise from the neocons to build an oil pipeline from northern Iraq to Israel. So it’s not completely incorrect to say we went to war for Iraq for oil, it just wasn’t for us.”
-Tucker Carlson
Stephen Miller has for years been one of the top advisors to Trump on, really, just about everything. An absolute top White House insider’s insider, inner circle guy. As such you’d think he’d be fully occupied in the White House. And yet he found time to get involved—repeatedly—with day to day stuff at the departmental level, which is what cabinet secretaries are for. Or so one would think.
Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal
Stephen, can you clarify whether you collaborated with Israeli intelligence in your crackdown on Palestine solidarity activists in the US?
And can you explain why your political priorities seem so overtly influenced by your ethnoreligious loyalty to a foreign apartheid state?
9:53 AM · Jul 11, 2025
Here’s a link to the full Times of Israel article. The article contains a discussion of the extremist Jewish Nationalist organizations (Betar, Canary Mission) that were providing targeting information on people Jewish Nationalists want deported from America—a top Trump priority.
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Seems like double crosser Trump’s entire diplomatic effort was to engender plausible deniability for the gullible MAGA public in the pursuit of a hot war.
In an odd Twilight Zone kind of way, Trump's erratic statements and behaviors have proven to be extremely beneficial to both Russia and Iran. Russia needs to finish the job in Ukraine and that can only be done militarily. They need to stay the course, and Trump's psychosis is the perfect camouflage and justification for doing so. There is no longer any real danger that they can be derailed by legitimate negotiations. Ditto for Iran. Trump has made it easy for Iran to focus on strengthening its military and defense capabilities, and not get bogged down in more phony negotiations. They have clarity on what they must do, and it centers on improving their deterrent via hypersonic ballistic missiles and the will to use them decisively when attacked again. Iran has now moved from wishy-washy mullah leadership to firm conviction via its military command structure. Was this Trump's goal all along? Is he intentionally undermining Ukraine and Israel? Both countries are now worse off than they were when Trump was elected in January.
Seems like double crosser Trump’s entire diplomatic effort was to engender plausible deniability for the gullible MAGA public in the pursuit of a hot war.
In an odd Twilight Zone kind of way, Trump's erratic statements and behaviors have proven to be extremely beneficial to both Russia and Iran. Russia needs to finish the job in Ukraine and that can only be done militarily. They need to stay the course, and Trump's psychosis is the perfect camouflage and justification for doing so. There is no longer any real danger that they can be derailed by legitimate negotiations. Ditto for Iran. Trump has made it easy for Iran to focus on strengthening its military and defense capabilities, and not get bogged down in more phony negotiations. They have clarity on what they must do, and it centers on improving their deterrent via hypersonic ballistic missiles and the will to use them decisively when attacked again. Iran has now moved from wishy-washy mullah leadership to firm conviction via its military command structure. Was this Trump's goal all along? Is he intentionally undermining Ukraine and Israel? Both countries are now worse off than they were when Trump was elected in January.