The world establishment cries out for peace in Gaza. It is less keen on peace in Ukraine where more think Ukraine should fight on to try to wrestle some territory back from Russia.
President Trump wants Ā peace in both places. He is more determined by his own efforts to bring it about in Ukraine. In Gaza he is challenging the Arab states to draw up a plan that could work.
The outlines of the deal in Europe seems to be for Ukraine and Russia to accept much of the changed borders brought about by the Russian invasion. Ukraine would not be offered NATO membership now any US security guarantee. The European countries are split. France and the UK have offered peace keeping troops but need a US guarantee. President Putin has ruled out accepting such forces near his border.
If Presidents Trump and Putin do outline an Agreement based around current borders redrawn by war what should Ukraine do? European countries have no wish to join the war on Ukraineās side. They might be able to step up financial and military aid a bit, but cannot this year replace the US military contribution.
Meanwhile what would a peace settlement look like in Gaza?
March 11, 2025
Trump is driven by self gain, I wonder what benefits he personally is going to receive from Putin for brokering a halt to hostilities which is very much in Russias favour. USA plus the majority of European countries have clearly indicated the death of NATO. Britain would do well to concentrate on its own safety first and foremost but of course thereās no global glory in that for idiot Starmer.
March 11, 2025
ā President Trump wants peace in both places. He is more determined by his own efforts to bring it about in Ukraine. In Gaza he is challenging the Arab states to draw up a plan that could work.ā
I would question this verdict.
Trump is using a combination of power and realpolitik. In Ukraine he wants to disengage and apparently has the ability to do this without effective opposition at home. He can then use American money and forces elsewhere to combat China and defend the role of the American dollar.
In Gaza, American policy continues to be controlled by the mighty Israel Lobby. If anything it has even more of a free rein under Trump. Ethnic cleansing of the area has actually been suggested by an American president. A blind eye is turned to the behaviour of Israeli forces who now have bigger American bombs and permission to expand Israeli territory in The West Bank and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Criticism from the rest of the world does not bother either Israel or the current American administration.
March 12, 2025
Great comment, Peter. You are spot on
March 11, 2025
William,
A rather cynical anti-Trump view, perhaps influenced by the leftist media which would rather see continuing carnage on both sides than Trump’s interventions succeed. Your final sentence, however, is apposite.
March 11, 2025
Trump does not even take the Presidents pay – never has. This is an unfounded and vicious slur. Itās Zelensky who has become a billionaire in the last few years.
March 11, 2025
Absolutely correct.
March 11, 2025
I hardly think at his age he is driven by personal gain he surely has enough to seem him through! With the evil “democrat” lawfare attacks and several assassination attempts it is rather more likely that he actually wants to do what he (correctly in the main) sees as being good for the USA and the World in general.
March 11, 2025
Good Morning,
It’s clear, Tump is going to ‘give away’ Ukraine to Putin. Our foolish PM and the pearl-clutchers in the EU will still be talking about ‘defending Europe’ when Putin is relaxing in his new palace on the Crimea.
Europe left to defend itself had better get off it’s A..e.
March 11, 2025
Sergei Lavrov in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda,2/3/25,further driving a wedge between Europe and the USA:
“I do not want to be anti-European.But the current situation corroborates the idea expressed by many historians.Over the past 500 years-when the west more or less took shape as we know it today,with certain modifications,naturally-all tragedies in the world originated in Europe or occurred owing to European policies:the colonization,wars,the Crusaders,the Crimean war,WWI,Hitler.If you look at history in retrospect,the Americans played no seditious,let alone inflammatory role.”
Let’s all be done with Europe!
March 11, 2025
Putin has so far failed to defeat Ukraine militarily. Dr Felshsinsky, a Russian professor at Boston College, USA, thinks Putin wants to use Trump to defeat Ukraine diplomatically by forcing Zelinski into a political capitulation. That is the view of much of the European and British political and diplomatic class, see the recent evidence of former UK ambassadors to the USA in evidence to the HoL Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. They all back Ukraine. The best outcome is stalemate where Putin is fought to a standstill. Otherwise Russia will seek to expand up to and beyond the borders of Moldova, Poland, the Baltic states and elsewhere because that is the world Putin has stated he wants to create.
March 11, 2025
Yes, as the retired MI6 boss said, with Putin it’s not about land it’s about sovereignty; Ukraine cannot exist except as part of Russia. So why is Trump being so kind to Putin by forcing Zelinskyy to capitulate? What does Putin know about Trump?
March 11, 2025
Russia was forced to fight NATO which built up the Ukrainian armed forces to be the biggest standing army in Europe (which includes Russia). This is admitted – the USA admits Ukraine was a proxy for waging war on a reluctant Russia.
Russia has legally intervened to stop a genocide, it has consulted the people of the 5 ex-Ukrainian regions in internationally monitored Referenda. They voted to rejoin Russia and all the legal stages have been completed. Those territories must be vacated by Ukrainian troops, and be recognized as Russian territory.
The rest of Ukraine must become a neutral country. It can be included in a security treaty on Europe.
Germany must NEVER be allowed to militarise. She must always be a neutral country, or she must be broken into her constituent parts and never allowed to unite.
No aggressive Arab presence can be allowed in Gaza – they must move to their kith and kin in one of the other 50 Mozlem countries, with compensation for property surrendered in Gaza, and Gaza must become US territory so that Iran etc understand that attacking it and it neighbour, Israel, is a declaration of war on one of the Great powers. Russia must agree this settlement at the same time as the USA agrees the settlement in Ukraine. Itās quid pro quo.
The European Security Treaty will allow the USA to withdraw from Europe, NATO is no longer required. European security will depend on the European leaders having no ability to attack their neighbours.
Letās pray that leads to a major nuclear disarmament process.
If these things are achieved and all wars avoided, huge damage to the natural world will be obviated. Trump, Putin and Xi will go down as achieving the most humanitarian revolution ever. All migrants can return to their own nations and must be forced to do so, Britain can deploy it energy and treasure on improving the human condition.
This greatest of all opportunities cannot be allowed to be derailed by petty people of the anti-democratic institutions.
March 14, 2025
Sounds interesting.
March 11, 2025
Good morning.
One where Hamas is permanently removed from power.
As for Ukraine. People often forget that Europe has had many wars and has had its borders changed many times. Look at the map after WWI. Whole Empires let alone countries were destroyed and new ones created, only for this to change yet again in WWII. For example Germany and Poland have both moved west as the then Soviet Union wanted more land between Western Europe and Moscow.
To the victor goes the spoils, whether you like it or not.
March 11, 2025
No, where Hamas or any replacement terrorist organisation/government does not exist at all.
March 11, 2025
To the victor goes the spoils, whether you like it or not.
Not in a post modern world it doesn’t – Apparently if you will it, it will happen and “your truth” will out.
Oh for a return to good old fashioned pragmatism which is what President Trump is advocating.
March 11, 2025
āOne where Hamas is permanently removed from power.ā And Fatah?
March 11, 2025
+1
March 11, 2025
I’m not sure the world wants peace in either Gaza or Ukraine. Whilst Hamas are still active there can never be peace in Gaza. Any pause is just a chance to rearm and regroup. The Palestinians (Jordanians) want to go back to being permanent refugees to maintain their hostility to Israel.
If peace is brokered on the new defacto borders in Ukraine, Putin will see this as a massive win and after rearing will continue his mission. Europe is neither capable or willing to police the border, Germany in particular wants to get back to cheap fuel and supplying Russia with arms to offset the loss of the motor industry. Starmer struts around like he’s the new Messiah when he doesn’t have manpower or equipment to back him up.
Until net zero is binned we will continue our decline into oblivion. Only yesterday the clown millibrain was extolling the virtue of carpeting the country with pylons and mirrors at a cost of billions of pounds. The whole government is deluded.
March 11, 2025
If Trump and Putin offer an Agreement for peace it will depend on the terms of that Agreement. If they require that Ukraine demilitarised and surrender of more territory, a consistent Putin demand, I think Ukraine is likely to fight on. It would also signal that Trump was now pro Russia and confirm widely expressed fears that it would be a signal act of appeasement, 1938 style. Mistrust of the USA would be confirmed. The “coalition of the willing” countries would continue to support Ukraine with cash and weapons and push their rearmament programmes as best they could.
If the Agreement is for a ceasefire along the line of control, Korea style, to enable peace negotiations then Ukraine seems more likely to accept. It is not obvious that Putin would without significant concessions from Trump (end of sanctions and the like). I imagine the position of the “coalition of the willing” would be continued support for Ukraine and their own rearmament on the grounds that Putin will be back for more of Ukraine after his own regrouping and rearmament. This seems to me to be the more likely form of an agreement if an agreement is to be secured at all.
March 11, 2025
How on earth does a large container ship with a rather dangerous cargo drive straight into stationary one with another dangerous cargo given all the modern technology GPS and radar we now have. It seems it can record all this but raises no alarms to prevent it seems. Even my car has electronics to detect close objects and warm me of them – irritating though this can be. They can even pinpoint mobile phone positions. A shame the crews did not each have an alarmed app to show 30 odd phones all heading straight for them at 20 Knots or something. Assuming they had a signal as rather close to land
Vast numbers of regulations and regulators no doubt, but many sledgehammers all to mis the nut as Christopher Booker used to put it.
March 11, 2025
Maybe it was deliberate. Who stands to gain. As usual, follow the money.
March 11, 2025
The Lawyers and civil servants as usual – the ac[dent was entirely preventable at zero cost.
March 11, 2025
You are probably aware that your alarms in your car are only useful if you are awake, which may not be the case. If so then collision, and probably your death or serious injury, is assured. Your presence in the car is assured because it won’t motor on without you but that is not the case in ships at sea. Also your car’s alarms are relatively simple and therefore reliable. That is not the case with ships at sea. Third, the alarms in your car are switched on when the car is being driven. That is not assured in ships at sea.
Of course we don’t yet know why this accident happened but it is almost certainly human error, possibly with technical material failure as well, and almost certainly the result of more than one thing going wrong, probably several.
March 11, 2025
Well surely someone of the many on the ships could have been woken up by suitably load alarms. It was all being tracked over quite some time – but alas not in a way that avoided it. Some sort or “air traffic controller” was needed for the sea traffic (either an automatic one or a human one?) Also some dead man’s handle or system that cuts out if no one is looking at the radar regularly and is go handle!
Self driving ships should be rather simpler than self driving cars in cities though more complex than trains!
March 11, 2025
Might well not be n accident
March 11, 2025
True – quite possible but I think unlikely.
March 11, 2025
So the body instructing judges on how to formulate criminal sentences has hit back at the justice secretary’s call for it to revise/scrap their new racist/anti-white male/pro religion anti agnostic etc. guidance on sentencing!
Given this body’s stance they are surely encouraging sensible people to all to hold the UK’s two tier justice in contempt. Two tiers written into the laws, a police level, a crime reporting level at the DPP level, at the Two Tier Kier level and now at the sentencing level too!
A justice system that gave Lucy Letby 15 life sentences for murders and attempted murders and even denies the poor lass a first appeal when anyone with even half a brain can see there is not even enough evidence to show that any crimes at all were committed by anyone! Not even on the balance of probability let alone beyond reasonable doubt!
March 11, 2025
I am very sceptical of public opinion on whether Ukraine should fight on when the public’s own people are not doing the dying and the place where the killing is done is unkown to the vast majority of those wishing the war to continue. Nevertheless surveys in America show that US public opinion is firmly behind Trump’s efforts to stop the war. Britain, on the other hand is obsessed with Russophobia. It is as if Russia has no right to exist and nothing it does would ever be acceptable. All they can see is Putin. They want Russia defeated no motter how many Ukrainian lives it would take. Do they care how many?
However, according to the EU Barometer, public opinion in the EU is in favour of a strong unified EU defence by factors around 75-80%. Since the EU is inherently anti-democratic I see that as a very dangerous trend. Arming the anti-democratic, bullying, expansionist and grasping EU to the teeth is a very unfortunate consequence of Trump telling the EU to step up. It is the final foundation stone for it to form the Federal State of Europe. Germany is leading the charge, of course, still dreaming of its place in the sun, Europe its domain, arguing for QMV to replace unanimity in EU decisions on defence and security. It was Germany that led the blackmail on 27 Feb 2022 of Zelensky – German arms in exchange for EU sovereignty – to gain control of Ukraine’s vast reserves of critical minerals for its Energiwende and EU Green Energy. Ukrainian lives for the lunacy of EU Green Energy.
March 11, 2025
+1
March 11, 2025
Either European countries need to be prepared to fight Russia OR they need to keep out of it. Either way, this will stop the killing. What they are doing now is cruel as they are supporting Ukraine from the sidelines, prolonging death and destruction.
As for Gaza, I see no reason why we should be involved. We withdrew from there many years ago. It’s none of our business.
March 11, 2025
Kenneth – Britain was responsible for the Balfour Declaration 1917 which stsrted all of the palestinian troubles – Britain then carried on with the UN Mandate right up until 1948 before deserting the place leaving the palestinians to their fate – we can’t say it’s none of our business.
March 12, 2025
That’s exactly the problem.
Nobody is prepared to draw a line in the sand and everyone can point to somewhere in history for their favourite grievance.
How far back do we go? 2,000 years? 1948? 1967?
All foreign interference has done has prolonged the conflict, just as it has in Ukraine.
March 11, 2025
The Peace Treaty between Ukraine and Russia made it clear that Russia could invade Ukraine if they invited foreign military into their country. Ukraine did that with NATO, Ukraine started this war and has now been conquered. The law of conquest means they have now lost and must pay the price.
March 11, 2025
+1.
March 11, 2025
The world does not cry out for peace in Gaza. A great many cry out, literally, by chanting from the River to the Sea, for the extirpation of every single Jew in the middle east and the eradication of Israel. The ICJ does not cry out for peace. Neither does the UN, least of all UNWRA. Neither does Iran, or any of its proxies, nor Syria. Turkey would like Israel vanquished by force, although it is not too vocal about it. Egypt would not complain if it came about, neither would the Arab Gulf states. Universities across America would celebrate all night for months if only Israel and its Jews could be destroyed. Antisemitism is rife across UK, Europe and the West, especially on the Woke Left. Peace is not their purpose at all.
March 11, 2025
+1 especially when they donāt do the fighting.
Maybe Nordstream need to be switched of forever, Turkstream too?
March 11, 2025
We would all like Peace but..
Extremists can enter āour country at willā because of Sir Keir Starmerās open borders policies, the Tories have warned. The Prime Minister was accused of making the UK āthe soft touch of Europe on illegal migrationā as Channel migrant crossings continued at a record pace. As for the Tories warning about Labourās open border there having a laugh they had 14 flamming years to sort it but didnāt, anyone with a ounce of sense can see that unless we get this mess sorted we are heading back to the 60s 70s 80s of IRA threats without the telephone warnings because of the suspect illegals allowed in to roam free
March 11, 2025
In Ukraine there was a civil war between Ukrainian and Russian speaking sectors.
Culture is generally allied language.
Russia has engineered to annex the Russian speaking part of Ukraine.
March 11, 2025
To conflate two conflict simply because they are happening at the same time is a nonsense approach.
Ukraine with its present borders is a very recent construct. The post USSR map was about as crazy as it could have been imagined because it made the Russian naval interests in Crimea an anomaly.
Putin refused to leave those interests post 2014 when the political foundations of Ukraine were being driven to look to the West rather than the East. The Donbas region is simply a disputed region that was wrongly appropriated into Ukraine rather than Russia at the end of the cold war.
The situation there needs a pragmatic approach which the Trump administration looks to be progressing.
The Gaza issue is about religious dogma and blind allegiance to written instructions that were presented as absolute 1400 years back.
When people start to understand how pointless that all is, then the conflict there will stop. It may take a few more hundred years, who knows.
March 11, 2025
Peace in Ukraine will come when Putin says so. Trump is a fool playing into Putins hands. The feeble EU will not assist Ukraine for fear of all out war. There’s only one way to end Putins murderous action, but the last time I suggested it here, I got naughty-stepped.
March 11, 2025
For once Trump has come up with a sound idea. Ship the Palestinians out to a tent city in Jordan and develop Gaza for tourism. I see that the US administration – while denying Ukraine ammunition to defend themselves from Russian aggression – have delivered 50 huge bulldozers to the Israelis.
Mrs Gold and I look forward to a weekend in the forthcoming Trump Gaza Resort and Orchid House
March 11, 2025
Rather more than one good idea, he sensibly wants to ditch DEI, have only two sexes & genders, ditch the mad war on CO2 plant food, cut the size of the state, stop the wars… and he is actually working rapidly towards these goals. Starmer on the other hand is a complete disaster for the UK.
March 11, 2025
For once I agree with a Keir Starmer’s proposal – the Coalition of the Willing. Post peace agreement, every country with armed forces (NATO members or not) should deploy troops to Ukraine until it becomes a NATO member in the future.
Putin does not want them at the border and they wouldn’t be – they would be present in Ukraine. For countries who can’t afford to deploy armed forces Ukraine can lease them (sovereign loans, domestic assets, rare minerals etc?)
With armies present from dozens of countries and skies patrolled, Putin would likely be deterred from invading Ukraine again. But the crucial part is the ‘Willing’. Is there sufficient global leadership with armed forces who would temporarily deploy to Ukraine until it becomes a NATO member?
March 11, 2025
There will not be time for Ukraine to pay the first instalment, so Iām sure they will like your proposal. Perhaps NATO has to suffer unequivocal defeat, and be seen to be defeated – with Ursula signing the unconditional surrender before you dreamers wake up to reality.
March 11, 2025
Full marks to Trump on Ukraine: his approach is the right one and the only realistic one.
Zero marks to Trump on Gaza: why not put the same pressure on Israel that he’s put on Ukraine ? There would be a two-state solution (a neutral, demilitarised Palestine) that might end decades of violence.
March 11, 2025
The Arabs in Gaza repeatedly refuse the two state solution. Why donāt you go and make them see sense? Apparently there is space in the tunnels under Gaza now that many many hostages are dead, so they will be happy to entertain you.
March 11, 2025
Re Ukraine.
The reality is that Ukraine cannot continue fighting without American support. The UK (with 72,000 enlisted soldiers) and the Toy Town Armies in Europe with their pretty uniforms and no munitions, can’t replace the USA.
Trump has said he will not provide American Security Guarantees. Putin has said he will not accept American or NATO “peacekeepers.” So Two-Tier is just posturing and attempting to play Churchill for the cameras knowing full well that he’ll never have to deliver.
Konstantin Kisin, who is far more qualified to comment on the situation than many, believes the best result for Ukraine will be to cede territory to Russia in the Donbas (Crimea has gone for good) in return for long-term peace and security for the remaining territory of Ukraine, rather than try to recover the Donbas and continually face the threat of future conflict.
I agree.
The best hope for Gaza is if Putin can influence the Iranians to talk directly to Trump. It’s too soon to say what a permanent peace settlement might look like.
March 11, 2025
Firstly I think we need to set aside the rather unpleasing personality of Donald Trump and focus on the policy.
The US has a new President, and as I understand he has changed US foreign policy so that the US will no longer support further eastwards expansion of NATO and the EU. In my view that is the correct policy for the US, and for the UK as well, and the policy which should have been adopted at least two decades ago.
March 11, 2025
Secondly I think we need to remember that Russia has its own interests which it will try to defend.
There is much talk in the west about “appeasement” but that will also apply within Russia, where doing nothing about the three Baltic states, previous Soviet republics, joining NATO must be seen as “appeasement”.
Browsing on the internet I came across this written evidence that the Russian ambassador gave to a Commons defence committee in 1998, and while it is just one document on the subject it is still worth reading:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmdfence/39/39w21.htm
“Statement submitted by the Russian Ambassador on relations between Russia and NATO”
“Especially sensitive is the idea of admission to the alliance of former Soviet republics, in the first place the Baltic States. It is an open secret that if anyone of these states is enticed into the NATO we shall have to reconsider our relations with the alliance.”
The EU/NATO/US troika got away with a great deal, taking in the Warsaw pact countries and the Baltics, pushing and pushing against Russia, but as Putin made clear continuing to Ukraine and Georgia was going too far.
March 11, 2025
Thirdly this is the letter I have sent to our local newspaper, with relevant references:
“In George Orwell’s book “1984” one of the apparently paradoxical slogans fed to the masses was “War is peace”; something similar can be found in real life by Googling for “European Peace Facility”, where the official EU entry moves straight from its establishment in March 2021 to EU military support for Ukraine a year later.
How have we got into this ghastly position where the EU and the US, conjoined through NATO, have been fighting a proxy war against Russia, with casualties piling up on both sides, and now with a new US President withdrawing support for the further eastwards expansion of NATO and the EU into what was part of the Soviet Union?
Well, it may be recollected that in 2013 Tory Prime Minister David Cameron called for the EU to extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains, and he was in fact echoing a call made by his predecessor John Major at the time of the Maastricht Treaty; did they know what that meant, or were they a bit vague on the geography?
For the EU to extend to the Urals would require Russia to be broken up, with the quarter of its land west of the mountain range incorporated into the EU but the three quarters east of the mountains outside the EU: did they really think that the Russians would not notice their hostile intention, and take all necessary steps to frustrate it?”
March 11, 2025
Putin doesn’t want peace. He hasn’t achieved his objective of regime change in Ukraine. That was the point of the column of armour driving towards Kyiv at the beginning of the war. If he did indeed want peace, he could just issue the instruction to withdraw his forces back to the official Russian border. If Russia lays down its arms, no more war. If Ukraine lays down its arms, no more Ukraine.
If Putin does lament what he has done, he’s in it for the sake of personal pride now. Hundreds of thousands of casualties are an acceptable price to pay to save face in his mind.
March 11, 2025
Aren’t these conflicts in one particular way quite similar?
Ukraine land held by Russia would become the new buffer zone for Russia.
Gaza, with all terrorists removed could become a real buffer zone for Israel.
I cannot see the Arabs coming up with a viable plan that doesn’t give themselves some advantage over Israel — Wouldn’t it be better if Israel took over the land?
While terrorists live there it will always be a threat to Israel and peace in the region.
Ukraine needs to accept that it has lost and must pursue peace under a new leader with full democracy in place.
March 11, 2025
Israel won the land of Gaza in the war – (canāt remember the dates), and allowed Arabs to re-occupy. You always fall by generosity rather than the reverse.
Better that the USA is present in the Middle East – we can no longer accept being eyeless in Gaza.
March 11, 2025
In the debate about defending, or not, Ukraine against Putin we have to ask ourselves, surely, how dangerous is Putin to the UK (and the USA) mid to long-term (and the long-term affects long after Putin is gone) like Americans had to ask how dangerous was Hitler (and Nazis in general) to the USA (and long-term to its economy and security)? What would have happened if the Japanese hadn’t attacked Pearl Harbour? Why did they – really – attack Pearl Harbour? Also, how much of a threat to the UK is Putin compared to the Soviet leaders since Stalin? All crucial questions I think in the debate about Putin and Ukraine and British interests / geo-politics / defence / our long-term economy.
March 11, 2025
Those in power in Gaza are described as wanting to reclaim what they regard as their own territory, but to destroy all Israelis as their highest objective. President Putin is described as having similar territorial objectives, largely in what he perceives as a threat of invasion from the West heightened by wider NATO membership, but with death and destruction being a necessary part of the process instead of his ultimate purpose.
Independent third party negotiators could help identify most accurately what both sides in both conflicts would be most likely to accept in settlement, and formulate the most agreeable balance for formal enduring mutual approval.
Placing UK or French forces as peacekeepers in Ukraine appears prone to add risk and achieve nothing via power, tangible value, or agreement among European forces. It also risks adding hostility from Russiaās viewpoint.
So-called āGuaranteesā do not prevent further conflict but merely try to compensate a losing party after the unavoidable incident following has occurred.
The first sensible step must be to establish a ceasefire. Calling it āPeaceā before everything is settled is worthless hyperbole. President Trump presents that in part, claiming that Putin would not dare break what he calls his word and their mutual understanding. Even a āguaranteeā would have more substance than that.
March 11, 2025
If Biden was a lame duck we have another one now, a chancer, as the financial markets are starting to tell us – the emperor has no clothes. The Europeans will have to get to grips with this agression from Russia now because they have no choice anymore as Nato is bunched, the Americans under Trump have done an about face for whatever reason and hard to understand – could be the Krasnov factor
In the case of the ships colliding we do not know yet the composition of the crew makeup. Some of these ships are crewed with people from poor countries who are paid pittance and work six hours on and off in port and at sea – it could be the bridge watch officer was overcome became incapacitated somehow but more probably by lack of sleep
March 11, 2025
The Budapest Memorandum (signed in 1994 by the USA, Russia and the UK) includes the following commitments:
1. The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE [Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe] Final Act, to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.
2. The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine
except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
3. The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE Final Act, to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.
Russia already breached #1 and #2 back in 2014 when it annexed Crimea. There is a debate to be had over whether Trump’s current posturing around minerals deals and aid breaches #3.
Any peace deal must re-instate Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders to be in compliance with #1. If not, Russia, the USA and the UK will be seen to not be honouring an agreement willingly entered into in which Ukraine willingly gave up what was, at the time, the world’s third largest stock of nuclear weapons.
Trust is easy to lose and, once lost, much harder to regain.
March 11, 2025
So the treaty did not commit the EU to not arming Ukraine and using it as a proxy to attack Russia? Biden as we know āwas not very cleverā and indeed not very rich until he latched onto the Ukraine washing machine.
March 12, 2025
What a ludicrous comment. The memorandum was about removing nuclear weapons from Ukraine.
On what basis would the EU (or the UK) want to attack Russia? The only aggressor in this situation is Putin’s Russia. As I heard it said yesterday, “if Russia stops fighting, there is no war, if Ukraine stops fighting, there is no Ukraine”.
And where do you get your ideas on Biden’s wealth from? His published estimated net worth is $10 million. It was $8 million at the start of his presidency and $1.1million at the end of his term as VP. After being VP, he made over $11 million from his autobiography (which was published during Trump’s first term) and over $6 million from giving speeches over that same time period, which after taxes more than explains the increase in his net wealth.
March 11, 2025
Never mind peace in Ukraine and Gaza, are we going to continue to have peace in Western Europe with our governing elitesā policies of open borders, the acceptance and favouring of laws, cultures and practices alien and contradictory to those of Western Europe using the ECHR, whilst at the same time deliberately degrading our own culture and social cohesion and ability to prosper and defend ourselves with Far Left wokery and DEI replacing meritocracy even in the armed forces?
March 11, 2025
DEI does not seem to work in the Football world or in the Olympics team, where the majority of the British teams are non-white. Do the minorities really want DEI?
March 11, 2025
Trump is the only actor with appropriately bold ideas and the power to see them given effect.
From the moment the Russians invaded Ukraine was facing a new reality with the strong likelihood that its borders would be redrawn. Accordingly, faced with a Trump-Putin pact that shapes its future, Ukraine would do well to make the best of it. No alternative course is as appealing.
The U.K. should then focus on maximizing trading opportunities with both Russia and Ukraine.
As for Gaza, Trumpās riviera plan is the best prospect ever seen there. Clearly, Israel is not willing to risk a repeat of the 7th., October attack so restoration of Gaza unchanged is improbable. The Arab world has the opportunity to do something worthwhile for once for the Palestinians: it should respond to Trump with enthusiasm but will likely not.
March 11, 2025
It is reported at one point in the war Ukraine was on the point of breaking through Russian lines and Biden told them to stop because heād had a credible indication from Russia that theyād use tactical nuclear weapons. That threat is still there so any complete Ukraine āvictoryā will not be allowed by the West and the assorted āfight onā pundits are unrealistic. So, the West should simply accept the de facto new borders in the same way they accepted the annexation of Crimea.
March 11, 2025
An inaccurate report. Ukraine, in its spring offensive could not even reach the Russian lines much less break through. One Ukrainian tank ābroke throughā because it surrendered! There is tape of the instructions from the Russians guiding it through the minefield.
March 11, 2025
Gaza is a lost cause until Hamas is removed.
Ukraine seems to be merely a pawn in the arguments between great powers (which does not include the UK).
I have read that “The European political and financial elite knows that the war in Ukraine is lost but wants to use it as an opportunity to reach strategic independence from the United States.”
and
“..the idea among the EU elite is to make sure that the war in Ukraine does not end too quickly. That way the conflict can be used to justify artificially injecting much needed money into the moribund EU economies.”
…but what about peace for the Christians and others in Syria ?
March 11, 2025
A comment on social media:
“War is a place where young people who don’t know each other and don’t hate each other, kill each other, based on decisions made by old people who know each other and hate each other, but don’t kill each oither.”
March 11, 2025
Trump promised peace, Tommy “Just like that” Cooper; were he to become president. My impression is that his boast carried more weight than the complexity and difficulty of achieving it, let alone the willingness to back any peace achieved even with the support of european countries.
Peace at any cost does not have legs , historically or in any other cobbled together hasty peace arrangement. Maybe Trump’s long game is the normalisation of US Russian relations, increased trade, and a realisation by Russia that this route has far more positives than a growing relationship with China. I think Trump sees China as the major long term threat, hence his invitation to the largest Taiwanese chip manufacturer to take root in the USA. This is an area where we in the UK could flourish, because we have a talent for technical innovation. We just need to learn how to exploit it. Turning innovation into marketable product will in future involve a greater application of AI than the availability of cheap labour.
The only way to understand Trump is to follow the money.
.
March 11, 2025
Deceitful and Misleading
HMG have stepped over the mark regarding the new adverts for HEAT PUMPS.
https://youtu.be/bGmbLWgYulg
March 11, 2025
Indeed total B/S
March 11, 2025
The “government” gives you Ā£7.5 K not other tax payers give you more like Ā£15K and the government wastes about 50% in admin costs. So if we all fit on we will have to pay our own Ā£15K extra in tax and get have back. Plus we have no spare electricity to drive them and they cost far more to fit, run (electricity is 4 times the price of gas), finance & maintain.
Then there is the grid that need to cope with about 10 times current demand on some winter days as will the generation!
Totally insane!
March 11, 2025
Emma Pinchbeck announced as the new Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee – Climate Change Committee.9 Oct 2024 has a classics degree and Chris Stark a alleged British climate policy “expert” and public official, who specialises in the interplay between climate change policy and business he was recently announced as the head of a new “Mission Control centre” for clean (CO2 is not dirty) energy. He is also an Honorary Professor at Glasgow University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He has some sort of partial law degree!
March 12, 2025
I doubt if anyone will be persuaded by the blatant nonsense.
March 11, 2025
As far as the West is concerned, Zelensky speaks for Ukraine; as far as the Russians who live in the SE Oblasts are concerned, they have already voted to join Russia which is their natural home.Why is our government involved in this now that Trump has decided that the foreign policy of the likes of Victoria Nuland does not further the long term interests of the USA, now that the criminal conspiracy to overwhelm Russia via a war in Ukraine in order to break it up has been parried by Putin.
Zelensky’s diversion in Kursk is in the process of coming to a sticky end demonstrating further that his cosplaying as a great military leader is also being exposed as those of the antics of a bad actor. The Ukrainians would be well advised to forget the advice of Boris Johnson, a rotten PM, and seek a lasting, peaceful resolution of the conflict with Russia; this is made harder by the very poor quality of the leadership of France and Germany which our government will be very foolish to emulate.
March 11, 2025
+1.
March 11, 2025
Peace in Gaza is the total destruction of Hamas, the education system being changed to stop young children being taught to hate jews, and the flow of money to terrorists being stopped completely.
Peace between Russia and Ukraine is rather different. The US and Europe gave Ukraine enough weapons to defend itself, but not enough to attack Russian cities, Towns and Villages to force the Russians to retreat.
So Ukraine will have to accept that Russia will keep most, if not all, of the territory it has seized. No one trusts Putin, especially not the Ukrainians, so they expect he will regroup and try again 2 to 5 years ahead. That is why Ukraine wants an American guarantee. Leaders in the UK and Europe are an embarrassment, they talk tough but have no real forces to back it up. We should completely stay out of Ukraine under any circumstances!
March 11, 2025
261 criminals arrived in the UK yesterday; from the safe country of France ā¦the never ending story
March 11, 2025
GC: Appalling and continuous failure and all we get, day by day, is the standard UKG reply to media reports’ attempts to at least give us some degree of transparency, that we be reassured that all efforts are being made in the interests of our security. We must have balance after all. I suppose we should be grateful for the single reported arrest of an alleged wrong ‘un in the last day or two.
March 01 to March 10 inclusive: 2336 illegals crossed in 41 boats. ( UKG figures )
March 11, 2025
Two very big questions. On Ukraine, leave it alone. They need take a deal brokered by two global powers who want to come to an accommodation. This was a proxy war, which the Ukranians encouraged by going along with the 2014 coup, and subsequent following Western directions.
Gaza is a real problem. Letting the Arabs come up with a plan is a good idea. I should think many Palestinians would welcome a peaceful future, but they can’t articulate or explore that in such a turbulent society, where so many have died, been ruined and made homeless by the Israelis, under a succession of poor Palestinian leaders.
March 11, 2025
Let’s not forget the USA spent 6 trillion dollars in WW2 and their current Defence Budget is nearly 1 trillion dollars. And that so far, regarding Ukraine, their expenditure has mainly been essentially passing on old weapons to Ukraine and then replenishing them with newer, more–up-to-day ones with the Ukranians doing all the fighting – not American soldiers. Putin is on the rocks. But to give him and his seriously corrupt regime a lifeline, could cost the USA far more in the future in terms of military and the economy. For Putin is potentially powerful and very hostile to and jealous of the success of Western, open, free democracy and its form of capitalism tied to that. Most of Russia is relatively poor – except for Moscow and St Petersburg. To let Putin off the hook now would be crazy.
March 11, 2025
Word is that the USA canāt find UDS 3 trillion (which has gone to Ukraine one way or another).
Why donāt you just suggest the west keeps fighting, if Russia is hours away from defeat, why is NATO and van der Leyen suggesting that Russia could push through to St Davidās in a matter of months? To stop that we have to pivot to a war footing.
You canāt have it both ways. Which is it?
March 12, 2025
Apparently the word “Russophrenic” has entered the dictionary.
Definition:”A condition where the sufferer believes Russia is both about to collapse and take over the whole world at the same time.”
March 12, 2025
That’s a straw man. No-one is arguing that (except you in your head). What people are saying is that Russia is powerful in terms of its nuclear threat, heavy spending on military, threatening in terms of espionage and related activities and run by a rogue group of gangsters. But that it is now much more on the ropes that it was before. And if we appease it, then we give it the opportunity to regrow – and come back in every quarter bigger and stronger – ultimately affecting (both directly and indirectly) the UK – our economy and security. You have no idea about geopolitics if you think that.
March 11, 2025
O/T: Isnāt it refreshing to read that since DJTās inauguration seven weeks ago the five billionaires present at the inauguration have lost $209 bn of their personal fortune:
Musk -$148 bn, Bezos -$29 bn, Brin -$22 bn, Zuckerberg -$5 bn, Arnault -$5 bn.
And DJT who during his first term was referring every other day to the power of the markets is now strangely reticent to talk about them.
āItās the economy, stupid!ā.
March 11, 2025
Letās keep watching the Markets. The reset put Mrs Thatchers Govt on the back foot for a while, but the USA canāt continue subsidising Canada, for instance, to the tune of 200 billion a year. Canada imposes tariffs of between 250% and 390% on USA farm produce. Makes Trumps 50% look like softball.
March 12, 2025
You would really say anything!
USMCA, the treaty that DJT āintroducedā to replace NAFTA (to give the impression he was doing something about trade with Canada and Mexico during his first presidency) never had tariffs like that.
factcheck.afp.com 06/03/2025
Barley seed, raw sugar, peanut butter, footwear, bovine meat, rice, cars, vacuum cleaners, aluminum, tobacco ā¦ have no import fees
People should read the full report and understand where and how people like LA can claim these exorbitant tariffs. Sheās unable to read the proper USMCA and reports directly from biased accounts.
Sir John, I blame you for letting this disinformation coming every day, multiple times, without you ever commenting on this type of hyperbolical misrepresentations.
March 11, 2025
I’m puzzled (not an unusual problem for me).
Abu Wadel has been arrested “for knowingly arriving in the UK without leave” – which is exactly what I would expect to happen. However, why aren’t the others arriving by boat also being arrested?
I guess they must have arrived “unknowingly” ?
March 11, 2025
šš¤£ they thought they were boating on the Sein!
March 11, 2025
Easily done. they looked around them and thought they were still in the ME.
March 12, 2025
As I’ve been saying for some time, the Government almost certainly has a “secret agreement” that we’ll take our fair share. That’s why.
March 11, 2025
For once Trump has come up with a sound idea. Ship the Palestinians out to a tent city in the Yemen desert and develop Gaza for tourism. I see that the US administration ā while denying Ukraine ammunition to defend themselves from Russian aggression ā have delivered 50 huge bulldozers to the Israelis.
Mrs Gold and I look forward to a long weekend in the forthcoming Trump Gaza Golf Resort and Levant Orchid House
March 11, 2025
“Mrs Gold and I look forward to a long weekend in the forthcoming Trump Gaza Golf Resort and Levant Orchid House”
Presumably drinking your eponymous Egyptian lager if it becomes available in Gaza?
March 11, 2025
The Russians are burning through their savings. Interest rates are 21% so the economy is flat-lining. The Saudis are minded to increase oil production so that will lower oil prices. India is the primary buyer of Russian oil so if the global price goes down they will demand further price reductions. Russia’s export revenues this year will be much less than last year’s. Russia has had to resort to pulling 1950s armoured vehicles out of storage to replace losses – the Ukrainians find these easy to destroy. In my view Ukraine should keep shooting and killing until either the Russians or the Americans offer them better terms.
March 11, 2025
I should have added that I neither understand in any detail nor care in any particular way about what’s happening in the Gaza strip. It’s small beer compared with Russia/Ukraine.
March 12, 2025
Unfortunately the war in Ukraine has a predictable outcome! All the young men and women who cannot flee the country will be press ganged into the meat grinder and die. What fools would choose to fight Russia on its borders.