It is already certain that the high-level Russian-American meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh will have a place in the history books.

Together with a recent telephone conversation between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and statements made in Germany by US vice president JD Vance and secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, the Riyadh talks show that something very dangerous has ended: namely the bizarre period of non-communication between the world’s two largest nuclear powers that had been imposed by US obstructionism.

Shutting the EU and Ukraine out of the talks is the only way to peace
With Russia and the US finally sitting down for negotiations, we now live in a slightly more normal world

BY Tarik Cyril Amar

This is the first of two commentaries examining what the writer reads as President Trump’s unfolding offensive against the institutions and agencies comprising the deep state — or, if you prefer, the administrative state or the permanent state or the invisible government. The second in this series will follow shortly.

Patrick Lawrence: Trump vs. the Deep State

Top Russian and US diplomats are holding talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to find a way to restore diplomatic relations, set the stage for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, and pave the way for resolving the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian delegation is led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and includes Yury Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, and Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). The American side is represented by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for the Middle East.

Neither Ukraine nor the EU is attending the meeting, with Kiev signaling that it won’t recognize the results of the talks unless it is included.

18 February 2025

The presentation criticizes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for insisting on Ukraine's direct involvement in peace negotiations with Russia and the U.S. regarding the war. It argues that Zelensky lacks the leverage to demand a seat at the table and portrays him as an irrational actor with a history of poor military and diplomatic decisions.

Zelensky's HARD (dicky) STAND...

The speaker highlights past opportunities Zelensky allegedly had to prevent or end the war but claims he rejected diplomatic solutions due to arrogance and unrealistic expectations. The presentation also critiques Ukraine's military strategy, suggesting that Zelensky's decisions led to unnecessary losses. It contrasts Russia’s strategic retreats with Ukraine's persistence in doomed battles.

In Australia at the federal level of government, we have some of the shortest election cycles in the world: often barely three years. This mitigates against even medium-term planning. A new government takes a year to learn the ropes of office, another year to govern before preparing for re-election in the third. And even if a government survives that long, the odds are its leader won’t.

As a government minister, why forward plan and propose large national projects which might take more than a decade to complete if you are not in office to take the credit for them?

Key European leaders arrived Monday at the Élysée Palace in Paris for an emergency summit called by French President Emmanuel Macron to agree on a coordinated response to a shock policy shift on the Ukraine war by the new US President Donald Trump. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were among the heads of state greeted by Macron, who had a phone call with Trump just before the summit. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.

An emergency summit of European leaders is gathering in Paris on Monday to discuss the Ukraine war and Europe’s security as the continent scrambles to address the fallout of the US-Russian bilateral agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has said Europe would not be directly involved in talks on Ukraine, though it would still have "input".

Has Vladimir Putin ever had a better few days in Washington? Donald Trump, just four weeks into his second term, has executed a breathtaking pivot toward Moscow, reversing course after years of ruptured relations between the U.S. and Russia that resulted from Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

It Took Trump Only Twenty-four Days to Sell Out Ukraine
Amid the chaos in Washington, the President’s phone call with Putin has Moscow filled with glee.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced that the UK is ready to play a “leading role” in providing security guarantees to Kiev and deploy troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission, should a ceasefire agreement with Russia be reached.

In an article for The Telegraph on Sunday, Starmer described the Ukraine conflict as a “once-in-a-generation moment” and an “existential” issue for Europe, justifying the potential deployment of British personnel.

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves”. 

                        CONFUCIUS.

The Orphan of Zhao is a Chinese play from the Yuan dynasty, attributed to the 13th-century dramatist Ji Junxiang (紀君祥). VOLTAIRE ADAPTED IT TO THE TIME OF THE MONGOLS AND GENGHIS KHAN… THIS IS A BRIEF STORYLINE :

Duke Ling is the ruler of the Jin state.

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.” Marcus Aurelius

If you have made even a cursory study of empires of the past, there are a number of signs of the flaws of those empires that are reasonably common, generally when they are in decline, but not always.

It no longer requires any intellectual effort to recognize the fatal failure of German foreign policy since 2022. With the so-called Zeitenwende of that year, the turning point, elements of German foreign policy that had made Germany a respected and recognized player in international relations in recent decades have been abandoned: the peace imperative enshrined in the Basic Law, the German commitment to dialogue, moderation, and understanding, the will to establish good neighbourly relations across all dividing lines.

Current German foreign policy

Balance of a failure

by Petra Erler, Potsdam*

"Come to the edge, he said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, he said. They came. He pushed them and they flew." 

           Guillaume Apollinaire

WE ARE PREPARED TO BELIEVE ANYTHING. WE ARE MOSTLY CONDITIONED TO BELIEVE ANYTHING. 

SHOULD WE ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION, WE ALWAYS END UP IN THE IMPASSE OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

WE INVENT GOD. SOLVED. 

BUT THERE IS SO MUCH PAIN AND SO MANY BAD THINGS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD THAT WE NEED TO INVENT EVIL. SOLVED. 

HOW COME GOD WHICH WE BELIEVE IS SO OMNIPOTENT CAN ALLOW EVIL TO EXIST? THE CHURCH WILL TELL US IT’S TO TEST OUR BELIEF THAT “HE” (THEM/HER/WHOOPO) WILL MAKE US LIVE TO “THE END OF ETERNITY” IF WE BELIEVE.

WE BELIEVE. WE COME TO THE EDGE. WE ARE PUSHED. WE FLY…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K30vixF8cBw

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 105 times to 142 Nobel Prize laureates between 1901 and 2024, 111 individuals and 31 organisations. Since the International Committee of the Red Cross has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize three times (in 1917, 1944 and 1963), and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize two times (in 1954 and 1981), there are 28 individual organisations which have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Click on the links to get more information.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has urged European members of the bloc to stop complaining about getting sidelined in peace talks and discussions on Ukraine’s future, and to take action instead.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday, Rutte emphasized the need for actionable ideas, including on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the bloc’s effort to ramp up its defense spending.

“Get into the debate, not by complaining… but by coming up with concrete ideas,” he stated.

Rutte also urged the bloc’s members to ramp up their military spending, pointing out that despite previous commitments, many countries have yet to meet agreed-upon defense expenditure targets. The NATO chief also confirmed the US-led bloc was expected to reach a new agreement on spending targets during the upcoming summit of the organization scheduled for June.

Musk took to his social media platform, X, on Sunday, reposting a video of synchronized drone swarms in elaborate formations and adding, “Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”

This is not the first time Musk has expressed skepticism about the continued use of manned fighter jets. Back in 2020, Musk declared that the era of traditional fighter jets was coming to an end, stating that the F-35 should have a competitor in the form of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

https://defence-blog.com/elon-musk-slams-f-35-calls-for-drone-replacements/