🇺🇸❌🇪🇺 — 🇬🇧 The Economist | Donald Trump’s assault on Europe | His invitation to Vladimir Putin to make a deal over Ukraine has thrown the transatlantic alliance into turmoil | February 16, 2025:

"For europe, the shocks came in quick and bewildering succession. First Pete Hegseth, America’s defence secretary, told America’s allies that his country was no longer the “primary guarantor” of European security. Hours later Donald Trump said he would open talks with Russia over the head of Ukraine and Europe. Then on February 14th, at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering, J.D. Vance, the vice-president (pictured), unleashed a stinging attack on Europe, in effect backing the hard-right Alternative for Germany (afd) party, nine days before the country’s election. After looking to America as its ally for decades, many leaders and officials wondered whether Europe’s security was crumbling in front of their eyes.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine almost three years ago, America has worked according to two principles: that Ukraine’s future should be not decided without the involvement of Ukraine; and that America and its Western allies must strive for unity in the face of Vladimir Putin. Leaders at the conference were thunderstruck to see Mr Trump and his team abandon both so carelessly—and, in so doing, to scrap decades of diplomacy that has underpinned nato as the most successful military alliance in modern history.

The question is whether what comes next will most resemble a different Munich conference, in 1938, when Neville Chamberlain buckled to the ambitions of Adolf Hitler; Yalta in 1945, when America, Britain and the Soviet Union carved up Europe; or something better. The good news is that Europe and Ukraine still have everything to strive for.

Fears of a Munich-like cave-in to Mr Putin were inflamed by the way that Mr Trump began his bid for peace in Ukraine. The president and his defence secretary offered a blizzard of unilateral concessions to Russia: reciprocal visits to Washington and Moscow, which have not taken place for nearly two decades; a suggestion that Russia should re-join the g7; and a public acknowledgment that Ukraine would not restore its pre-war borders, join nato or enjoy the alliance’s protection for any European peacekeeping forces there.

To add to the injury, when Keith Kellogg, Mr Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, was asked whether Europe would have a seat at the negotiating table, he was blunt: “That’s not going to happen.” Steve Witkoff, another one of Mr Trump’s multiplying envoys, drove home that point when he travelled to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russia. He will be joined there by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. Russia is thought to have circulated a list of draconian demands based on drafts passed to Ukraine in early 2022—which include capping the size of Ukrainian forces and imposing neutrality—and international recognition of the parts of Ukraine that are part-occupied by Russia."

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😵‍💫💬📺 — 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky:

"For us and for everyone, NATO is the cheapest security guarantee. The cheapest for us. The cheapest for Europe. The cheapest for the United States. And the cheapest, in fact, for Russia. If we are not in NATO, it means that we will build NATO in Ukraine. Otherwise, we will not recognize the security guarantee.

In an interview with NBC News, he [Zelensky] spoke about Russia's threat to NATO and Europe, the unacceptability of a peace agreement without Ukraine's participation in the negotiations, the influence of US President Donald Trump on Putin, the importance of Ukraine's territorial integrity, and cooperation with the United States on rare earth metals."

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👤🛬🇦🇪 — 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky:

"Visit to the United Arab Emirates. Meaningful conversation with President Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

One of our key topics today is the return of our people from Russian captivity. The UAE's mediation has saved many lives. Thank you for this important cooperation, and today we discussed how we can continue it.

Today, an important economic agreement was signed between our countries. The document maximally liberalizes access to the UAE market for almost all Ukrainian goods. It will be easier for our companies to sell their products in the UAE.

The work of the first lady was also active. Important issues of humanitarian cooperation: rehabilitation, support for large foster families, support for our people.

Thank you for your cooperation, which saves lives and helps our nations become stronger.

Ukraine must have clearly defined security guarantees: NATO or a reliable alternative.

If we don't have NATO, then, conditionally speaking, NATO should be built in Ukraine. Conditionally speaking, but not conditionally, but substantively. That is, a million-strong army. And here we need money, and who gives money for it. In addition to money, weapons. If a contingent, then the size of this contingent, where they will be, from which countries, with what and how they are armed. And if a contingent, then it is very important not to lose the USA in one form or another.

I spoke to journalists via video conference during my visit to the UAE. I spoke in detail about our meeting with President Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, about the agreement that was signed today, about the negotiations aimed at bringing peace closer, about Europe and its support for Ukraine, as well as about the security guarantees that our country needs."

#Ukraine

🏳🛬🇸🇦❕👤🛬🇦🇪 — 📰 Politico | US’s Rubio in Riyadh, Russia’s Lavrov en route, with Ukraine talks expected | Kremlin says U.S.-Russia meeting expected on Tuesday in Riyadh “will be devoted primarily to the restoration of the entire complex of Russian-American relations.” | February 17, 2025:

"U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was on his way to the country, amid expectations that peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine are about to begin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) late Sunday.

The Kremlin on Monday said Lavrov and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov were heading to Saudi Arabia and will meet with U.S. representatives in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Rubio is in Riyadh with U.S. President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House has not disclosed who exactly the American officials will be meeting in the Saudi capital.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Lavrov and Ushakov "are flying to Riyadh on behalf of" Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“It is expected that on Tuesday in Riyadh they will hold a meeting with their American counterparts, which will be devoted primarily to the restoration of the entire complex of Russian-American relations," Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Rubio's trip follows last week's call between Trump and Putin. The two leaders agreed to have their teams start negotiations "immediately" as they announced a prospective face-to-face meeting in Saudi Arabia."

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🏳🛬🇧🇾 — 📰 The New York Times | A Quick, Quiet Trip to Belarus Signals a Turn in U.S. Policy | After years of the U.S. trying to isolate Russia’s closest ally, a meeting with Belarus’s president points to better relations, raising hopes of loosening his repression and his embrace of Moscow | February 15, 2025:

"The senior American diplomat slipped quietly into Belarus, a police state run by a strongman reviled for decades in the West, traveling by car across the border for meetings with President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko and the head of his KGB security apparatus.

It was Mr. Lukashenko’s first meeting with a senior State Department official in five years, and the start of what could be a highly consequential thawing of frozen relations between the United States and Russia’s closest ally.

The below-the-radar American visit to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, on Wednesday came just a day after President Trump had a long telephone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Both events signaled Washington’s departure from a yearslong policy of trying to isolate leaders out of favor in the West because of their repressive policies and the war in Ukraine.

(...)

The next step, Mr. Smith told a gathering of Western diplomats on Thursday in Vilnius, according to people who attended, is a possible grand bargain under which Mr. Lukashenko would release a slew of political prisoners, including prominent ones. In return, the United States would relax sanctions on Belarusian banks and exports of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer, of which Belarus is a major producer.

(...)

Belarus, which usually gloats over any sign that it is breaking out of its isolation, has also been mostly silent, though an anchor on state television, Igor Tur, introduced a note of mystery, suggesting that Mr. Smith was not the real leader of the American delegation and that a more senior official also took part."

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🇺🇸💬🇺🇦🤝🪖 — 📰 Reuters | NATO membership for Ukraine not off the table, US official says | February 13, 2025:

"MUNICH, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official on Thursday said the United States had not ruled out potential NATO membership for Ukraine or a negotiated return to its pre-2014 borders, contradicting comments made this week by the U.S. defense secretary ahead of possible peace talks to end the Ukraine war.

"Right now, that is still on the table," said John Coale, President Donald Trump's deputy Ukraine envoy, when asked whether the U.S. had ruled out possible NATO membership for Ukraine. Speaking in an interview with Reuters in Munich, he added that a possible return to Ukraine's pre-2014 lines was also still on the table.

On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a different message, telling Ukraine's military allies in Brussels that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that the U.S. does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the nearly three-year-old Ukraine war. His comments sparked concern that the U.S. had made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin even before the start of talks."

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🇺🇸❗️🇪🇺— 🇬🇧 Financial Times | Vance’s real warning to Europe | Europeans need to reduce their dangerous dependence on an adversarial America | February 17, 2025:

"When JD Vance took the stage at the Munich Security Conference last week, he issued a stern warning. The US vice-president told the assembled politicians and diplomats that free speech and democracy are under attack from European elites: “The threat I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s . . . the threat from within.

(...)

Trump clearly intends to cut a deal on Ukraine with Putin over the heads of Zelenskyy and the Europeans. That could have tragic consequences for Ukraine, which may soon be asked to accept loss of territory without security guarantees for the future. The alternative would be to try to fight on without American help.

The implications for the rest of Europe are also alarming. Putin wants Nato troops removed from the whole of the former Soviet empire. European officials believe Trump is likely to agree to withdraw US troops from the Baltics and perhaps further west, leaving the EU vulnerable to a Russian army that Nato governments warn is preparing for a larger conflict beyond Ukraine."

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📰🥴🗯🗣 — - #VÆ: Remember, most of all theses so-called "journals" are just liberal-green-globohomo mouthpieces crying out loud because of Trump's team cold water on their globalist agenda, like in this quoted piece, in which they're just guessing what negative outcomes could happen — and, without our watch, will be took as 100% true for sure with no reliable base on any actual fact.

👤🛬🇹🇷 — 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky:

"Official visit with the First Lady to Turkey. Meetings with President Erdogan and First Lady Emine Erdogan.

Exchange issues: all efforts to bring our people home will continue. Food security issues. The First Lady's educational and cultural diplomacy.
Welcome to Turkey!"

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February so far in Europe:

🇳🇱 Moroccan stabs an 11-year-old girl to death in the Netherlands

🇧🇪 Three separate AK-47 shootings near the same subway station in Brussels

🇮🇪 Brazillian migrant stabs three strangers at their doors in Dublin

🇩🇪 Afghan asylum seeker drives a car through a crowd in Munich, killing a 2-year-old girl and her mother

🇫🇷 12 people injured by a grenade thrown into a bar in Grenoble

🇬🇷 2 stabbed by Palestinian asylum-seekers in Athens

🇮🇪 African stabs a man to death in the center of Dublin

🇦🇹 Syrian asylum seeker stabs a 14-year-old to death and injures five others in a terror attack in Austria

We can't go on living like this. Nothing but mass-remigration will save Europe.

🔗 Keith Woods

🇷🇺🇪🇺 Russia says no point in inviting Europeans to Ukraine talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he saw no reason for Europeans to take part in Ukraine truce talks, accusing them of wanting to “continue war” in Ukraine.

Lavrov’s comments came ahead of his visit to Saudi Arabia to meet US officials and as European leaders convene in Paris for an emergency summit on Ukraine, amid alarm at Washington’s diplomatic outreach to Moscow.

https://insiderpaper.com/russia-says-no-point-in-inviting-europeans-to-ukraine-talks/

🇺🇸🇷🇺The negotiations between Russian and U.S. delegations have begun in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

🔗 Clash Report

🇩🇪🇺🇦🇬🇧Germany to reject Starmer’s plan for troops in Ukraine as Europe splits over peace deal

Germany is likely to reject Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to deploy a European peacekeeping force to Ukraine, throwing the proposals into disarray.

As European leaders prepared to meet on Monday afternoon in Paris, a split emerged. The UK and France were set to propose sending soldiers to Kyiv, with Germany and Poland more likely to not participate. Other countries, including Italy and Norway, are so far undecided.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister announced that he was “ready and willing” to put British boots on the ground to enforce any peace deal.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/17/germany-reject-starmer-plan-troops-ukraine-russia-war-trump/