RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 22.02.2025
Including geopolitical issues affecting the balance of power in the ongoing end game war to establish our common future, a closely monitored prison planet or tolerance for diverse modes of governance.
STARMER & MACRON WILL ARRIVE IN WASHINGTON DC SOON ENTICING DONALD TRUMP TO EMBROIL HIMSELF IN THEIR PLAN TO INSERT NATO FORCES IN UKRAINE.
USA | RUSSIA | CHINA | UKRAINE | EU | NATO
BEN NORTON: Trump's Ukraine talks aim to divide Russia from China. Can he do it?
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS: Zelensky Squeezed: US Threatens Starlink Switch Off, Demands Minerals, Investigations, Russia Talks.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU: DUDA dumps on Elensky. TRUMP doubts rare earth value. MACRON MAD at Russia. Annalena WARNS USA.
THE DURAN: Q & A: Russia-US rapprochement begins in Saudi Arabia.
SEBASTIAN SAS: Macron's PLAN To Change Trump's Mind.
PROFESSOR JEFFREY SACHS: Jeffrey Sachs Brings Real Politics to the EU Parliament.
THE NEW ATLAS: Is There a Real US-EU Split? Or Simply "Division Of Labor" for US Primacy?
GLENN DIESEN: Ukraine War & US Hegemony Have Ended?
LEVAN GUDADZE: Ukrainian Air Force lost another MiG-29.
LEVAN GUDADZE: USA - Ukraine Divorce and Threats. SMO Progress. Berlin attacks Washington. London for War (Part -1).
Ukrainian MPs Protest Against Zelensky’s 'Dictatorship'.
DANIEL DAVIS - Dr. MICHAEL SAVAGE: What 'Democracy' Have We Been Defending in Ukraine?
DANIEL DAVIS: Trump Admin Mixed Signals on UKRAINE PEACE PLAN.
EMIL COSMAN: Rus mass 160 Drone+Iskander strike. Rus says NO to NATO troops. US' Preconditions for Trump-Putin.
THE GAGGLE: Team Trump And Zelensky--Is There A Way Back From The Rift?
TUCKER CARLSON: Human Rights Lawyer Exposes Zelensky's Brutal Assault on Christianity.
DIMITRI LASCARIS: Trump Administration Demolishes Project Ukraine.
INTEL Roundtable w/ Larry Johnson & Ray McGovern : Weekly Wrap.
LARRY JOHNSON: Trump DESTROYS Zelensky in RUTHLESS Attack.
AMBASSADOR CHAS FREEMAN: Amb. Chas Freeman: EU FUMING! Zelensky PANICS as Trump ABANDONS Ukraine!
SEBASTIAN SAS: Trump ADMITS He Can't Perform Miracles In Negotiations With Russia.
JAMARL THOMAS - GARLAND NIXON: Trump Admin Slams Zelensky For Disrespect Any Lying, Germany Stands Up" To Trump.
RUSSELL BRAND: Even CNN Are Starting To See It...
DUE DISSIDENCE: Trump GOES OFF on Zelensky After Weeks of Rising Tensions.
EMIL COSMAN: US-Rus Secretly met for months. UK FM talks sh*t. Churchill-Zelensky likeness: Ruined 2 Countries.
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS: German MP: Germany Must Ditch NATO & Stop Serving US Oligarchs.
MEGYN KELLY: Trump vs. Zelensky and How Ukraine and Russia Get to the Table Immediately, with NSA Michael Waltz.
MEGYN KELLY: How the Trump Admin Can Bring a Permanent Peace Between Russia and Ukraine, with NSA Michael Waltz.
MEGYN KELLY: Michael Waltz on Russia-Ukraine Peace.
Sanctions, Regime Change, Proxy Wars; the decline of U.S. hegemony, with Trita Parsi.
GARLAND NIXON: BAD HISTORY FOR US PUPPETS & M.I.T. IS A WAR MACHINE - W/ JEREMY KUZMAROV - COVERT ACTION EXPERT.
GLENN DIESEN - PROFESSOR RICHARD SAKWA: End of the Political West.
EMIL COSMAN: US follows Putin's "evil" lead, declares "Mother" is Female and "Father" is Male." 1 in 10 US= LGBTQ.
BORZZIKMAN: On CAM: A Large Group of POLISH Mercenaries and UKRAINIAN Soldiers Was Torn To PIECES in 'BOROMLIA'.
Rubio explains purpose of Russia-US talks.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia aimed to revive diplomacy between nuclear superpowers, according to the US secretary of state.
US-Russian talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 18, 2025.
The US and Russia sought to restore normal diplomatic relations during this week's talks in Saudi Arabia because global nuclear powers must communicate to resolve conflicts such as the one in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
Senior officials from both countries met in Riyadh on Tuesday in what Moscow and Washington both described as a productive dialogue. According to Rubio, who led the US delegation, the primary objective was to restore normal communication channels, which were almost completely severed under the previous administration of President Joe Biden.
”Even in the worst days of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union maintained communication,” Rubio said in an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge on Thursday. He underscored that political disagreements should not impede statecraft, asserting that mature leaders must engage with nuclear-armed nations.
”Whether we like it or not, Russia is a power, a global power,” Rubio added. “We’re going to disagree on a lot, but we can’t work on the things we might potentially agree on or deconflict on things that could lead to dangerous confrontations as long as this Ukraine impediment stands in the way.”
READ MORE: Trump ‘very upset’ with Zelensky – Rubio
According to Rubio, Washington remains cautious about Moscow's stated intentions to find a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict, but that future discussions would bring more clarity. No details about potential territorial concessions by Ukraine or the lifting of sanctions against Russia were debated in Riyadh, the US official added.
Rubio rebuffed claims that the US was sidelining Kiev and its European allies, stressing that their involvement would be essential in any agreement with Russia. He characterized such suggestions as exaggerated, driven by “hyperbole” and “hysteria,” and urged a recognition of US President Donald Trump’s peacemaking efforts, noting that previous Western strategies had not been successful.
”There was an effort in Istanbul a couple years ago, and it involved a number of European countries, and it failed,” he noted.
READ MORE: Dmitry Trenin: Russia’s long-term play is much bigger than Ukraine
In 2022, Türkiye facilitated Russian-Ukrainian peace talks, resulting in a preliminary agreement for a treaty that would have seen Ukraine become a neutral nation with a limited military, backed by security guarantees from major world powers, including Russia. However, Kiev later withdrew from the deal after then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged it to continue fighting.
Lavrov Lauds Trump's Policy of Pragmatism for Abstaining from UN's Anti-Russia Resolution.
The non-participation of the United States in a draft anti-Russian resolution of the UN General Assembly shows the pragmatism of the policy of President Donald Trump's administration, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
The United States did not co-sponsor an anti-Russian draft resolution of UN General Assembly on Ukraine for the first time since 2022 amid the recent talks in Riyadh, according to a document obtained by Sputnik.
"This shows pragmatism as the essence of the Donald Trump administration's policy. He emphasizes in meetings with leaders of a number of countries, exactly absolutely in his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for sure and in contacts with other representatives of the world majority that his main slogan is common sense. This is the only change I see in the list of co-authors of this next aimless, dead-end resolution," Lavrov told reporters following the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers.
More sensible voices on issue of Ukraine are coming from the US, the minister added.
The issues of the preparation of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are confidential, Lavrov said.
"When [the meeting] will take place, you will, of course, find out about it. What issues are we working on — well, confidentiality is an integral part of the preparation of any diplomatic process. So, I am sure that we will inform you in a timely manner. But first of all, the Kremlin's press service will inform, of course," Lavrov told reporters.
All participants of the G20 ministerial meeting welcomed Russia-US talks in Riyadh, Sergey Lavrov said.
“Everyone welcomed our [Russia and US] meeting, everyone understands that it is not the end of confrontation between Russia and the West, but everyone admits that the start of the dialogue itself is return to normalcy, and everyone welcomes it,” Lavrov said at the G20 meeting.
Ex-Pentagon Insider: Riyadh Meeting Shows Trump Aims to Bring Realism Back to US Foreign Policy
At the same time, the EU and NATO leaders consider the fact that the representatives of the two great powers sat at the negotiating table and talked, and outlined their positions, as “betrayal of the West’s interests,” Lavrov said, calling such attitude "unhealthy."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government absorbed millions of dollars in aid, which could have been used for international humanitarian needs, Lavrov said.
"Of course, the blatant example is the Zelensky regime, which is absorbing, well, or has absorbed at least hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars in military aid, which of course could have been spent on vital development assistance programs around the world, most notably in Africa," Lavrov said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is instructing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to continue fighting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"According to our information, he [NATO Secretary General] is instructing Zelensky, pointing out to him the need to continue fighting before the start of negotiations. And it emphasizes the inadmissibility for Kiev of even hints of softening its position, especially, as they say, territorial concessions," Lavrov told reporters following the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers.
This is an abuse of functional responsibilities on the part of Rutte, and not all NATO members take such a position on Ukraine, the minister added.
Moscow does not touch upon the topic of lifting sanctions as part of the Ukrainian settlement, Lavrov said on Friday.
"We do not touch upon this topic [lifting sanctions]. We proceed from the fact that this is a flagrant violation of all those principles that the West itself laid down in the global economy," Lavrov told reporters following the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers.
G7 Has Been Marginalized With Advent of G20 and BRICS
Russia is generally satisfied with the outcome of the G20 meeting in South Africa, although some disagreements remain, Lavrov said.
"Overall, we are pleased with the outcome of the meeting. Disagreements, of course, have not disappeared, but the conversation continues — it is always useful," Lavrov told reporters following the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers.
In Johannesburg the G20 has managed to set a positive vector for further cooperation in the group, and to increase attention to acute problems, primarily on the African continent and other countries of the Global South, the minister said.
Lavrov added that he was not aware that South Africa has set the goal of "achieving consensus on Ukraine" at the G20 meeting.
Russia should only allow Western companies into sectors that do not pose a risk to the country's economy in case someone "wakes up on the wrong side of the bed" again, Lavrov said.
"The new state [of the Russian economy] has made it possible to realize how useful it is for our economy to master its own technologies, which in a number of cases are superior to Western analogues. The same logic should guide us when we are not talking about the return of Western companies to Russia, probably we should not discourage them from doing so, but we should only let them into those sectors that will not create risks for our economy in case someone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed again," Lavrov told reporters.
USA - TRUMP | MUSK | DOGE
SABBY SABS: Trump FLOATS DOGE Stimulus Check, Medicare And Pentagon CUTS.
TUCKER CARLSON - PROFESSOR JEFFREY SACHS: The Real Estate Guy Who is Brokering All of Trump’s Peace Deals.
DANIEL DAVIS: Trump fires CQ Brown as Joint Chiefs Chairman.
The Grand Bargain: Can Russia and the US rewrite history?
There’s an irony of fate as the old rivals again look for common ground.
By Andrey Kortunov, Ph.D. in History, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, RIAC member
The US president Donald Trump portrait is shown on a computer screen against a Russian Federation flag displayed on a mobile phone screen © Getty Images / Getty Images
For years, Russian-American relations seemed to be in an irreversible coma. Diplomacy was dead, overtaken by hostility, sanctions, and a growing risk of military confrontation. Many insisted that nothing could break this trajectory — Moscow and the Washington were locked into an unchangeable course of conflict.
Yet today, the pace of change is astonishing. The recent high-level meeting between Russian and American officials in Riyadh, followed by Donald Trump’s latest statements, suggests that nothing in geopolitics is predetermined.
This turn of events brings to mind an iconic scene from Terminator 2, in which Sarah Connor carves “No fate” into a wooden table. Her son, John, expands on the thought: “There is no fate except the one we make for ourselves.” The message is clear — our future is shaped by choices, not by destiny.
For years, analysts and politicians in both Russia and the West insisted that the US-Russia standoff was inevitable. Some American strategists viewed Russia as an irredeemable adversary, while Russia’s “turbo-patriots” warned that any engagement with Washington would be a trap. The more extreme voices on both sides even suggested that the confrontation could only end in nuclear catastrophe.
But the events unfolding now suggest otherwise. If there is no fate but what we make, then the choices before Moscow and Washington today are of historic significance.
The Illusion of a Monolithic West
The Riyadh talks have already begun to dismantle long-standing assumptions about the supposed unity of the “collective West.” For years, Russian policymakers believed that global politics were controlled by a single, centralized “Anglo-American” power structure, operating seamlessly from Washington to Brussels. The reality, as the Trump era has repeatedly demonstrated, is far more fragmented.
EU leaders fear America more than they fear Russia
Trump’s America is not Joe Biden’s America. Even within Washington, deep divisions are evident. Meanwhile, Western Europe — long assumed to be unwaveringly aligned with the US — now finds itself struggling with internal disagreements and resentment over American pressure.
For Russia, this fragmentation is an opportunity. The unraveling of transatlantic consensus presents openings that did not exist even a year ago.
Compromise vs. Capitulation
Of course, skepticism remains. Critics will argue that any agreement with Washington is a trap — that the US will make grand promises only to renege on them later, as it has in the past. That once Russia lets its guard down, the West will revert to its old habits of betrayal and broken deals.
This is not an unfounded concern. History has taught Russia to be cautious. But diplomacy is not about guarantees — it is about opportunities. There is no such thing as an ironclad agreement in geopolitics. Every deal can be broken, every promise can be reversed. The real question is whether Russia is prepared to seize the moment when a rare opportunity presents itself.
And this moment may be precisely that.
Even if Trump’s envoys — Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff — are skilled negotiators, it is difficult to imagine that they possess a superior grasp of diplomacy than figures like Sergey Lavrov or Yury Ushakov. Russia has experienced diplomats who have spent decades navigating the complexities of global power politics. If the US team believes it can outmaneuver Moscow, it is sorely mistaken.
A Moment of Historic Opportunity
The road ahead is uncertain, and there will be voices insisting that Russia should reject any engagement with Washington outright. But refusing to negotiate out of fear would be a mistake. Russia is not in the position it was in the 1990s — it is stronger, more self-sufficient, and recognized as a global power. This time, Moscow enters negotiations not as a supplicant but as an equal.
Opportunities in diplomacy are rare. It is easy to let them slip away; far harder to seize them. If Russia and the US can move toward a reasonable compromise — one that secures Moscow’s core interests while de-escalating tensions — it may be the moment that reshapes the geopolitical landscape for years to come.
There is no fate — only the choices we make.
TRUMP | BRICS
DANNY HAIPHONG - PROFESSOR RICHARD WOLFF: The End of the US Empire is HERE, Trump Just Made it WORSE as BRICS & China Hit Back.
GLENN GREENWALD: Economist Ha-Joon Chang: It's Too Late for U.S. to Push Back Chinese Competition.
SEAN FOO: US to Cut Off Global Semiconductor Imports - MASSIVE Mistake, China's Economy Benefits.
EUROPE | BRITAIN
SENATOR RICHARD BLACK: EU LOSES IT?! Desperate Moves as US Turns Its Back!
REDACTED: Europe’s DOOMSDAY is fast approaching as economic COLLAPSE from Ukraine war looms.
GARLAND NIXON - JAMARL THOMAS: EUROPE RAGES.
NON-ENGLISH NEWS
LIU SIVAYA: ÚLTIMA HORA!! DECLARACIONES HISTÓRICAS QUE LO CAMBIAN TODO (y a las que Zelensky no podrá responder).
Elon Musk will Star Link abschalten - Ukrainer ohne Internet bald? Frontbericht 22.02.2025
러-미 관계 - '우호적'? | 트럼프, 유럽에 우크라 패배 인정 강요
MAPPING CHANNEL UPDATES
Ukraine War Update: This Is Huge! Russia Opens ANOTHER Bridgehead Across Oskil River.
❄️ Cold War II🛑Second Rejection⚔️Russia Prepares To Cut Off The Salient📅 Military Summary 2025.02.22
[ Conclusion + SITREP ] Bryansk Offensive? Zelenskyy SNAFU? Russia cancelled out Ukr Kursk captures.
Another Ukrainian Stronghold Falls Into Russian Traps | Nadiivka Has Fallen.
Ukraine Faces Complete Disaster As US Threats To Cut Communications Lifeline.
Zelensky Trapped🎯 EU Raises The Stakes💶 Russians Continue The Offensive🚀 Military Summary 2025.02.22
[ Frontline Changes Report ] When will Russia get sick of winning...? HUGE amount of land.
GROK PICS
RUSSIA / BELARUS - EXPATS IN RUSSIA
AMERICAN IN CRIMEA: Trump vs. Zelensky: Power Plays, Peace Proposals, and Global Shifts in 2025.
SASHA AND RUSSIA: Russian Arctic Adventure: Komi Republic. 🗻
TRAVELLING WITH RUSSELL: I Went to Russia's NEWEST SHOPPING MALL: Botanica Moscow.
SAM’S RUSSIAN ADVENTURES: Trump Says Zelensky To Blame For War - My View From Russia.
VICTORY BELONGS TO RUSSIA: IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Each day that passes makes a conclusive Russian victory in the Donbass and beyond more certain. As Russia bolsters her forces, and weaponry, those of Ukraine decrease. Russian forces gain ready access to rest and recuperation as troop numbers increase. The increasingly exhausted and demoralised Ukrainian troops have an ever decreasing prospect of such respite. This situation is likely to bring them to complete breakdown as Russia unleashes the firepower of the more modern and advanced weaponry that is arriving with the newly mobilised Russian troops.
The various Ukrainian offensives are now weak when confronted by the reinforced Russian lines. A few futile efforts achieve quite miserable results before fire reigns down on the Ukrainian troops and they are forced back to their starting positions.
And now, all this being said, we have arrived at the wet, and later, freezing conditions where these pathetic Ukrainian forces will be subject to myriad forms of abject misery with death and injury all around them while they lie sodden or frozen, abandoned to their fate by Kiev.
The pitiable young and old of Ukraine have been frogmarched to their deaths as cannon-fodder while the bestial elites of the collective West urge their "president" to add more to their number there at the gates of Hell and their doom. We must feel for the majority of them as they are not the Nazis we revile, in most part they are decent men, fathers, sons, brothers, husband and uncles, who no doubt saw through the coup of 2014 for what it was. But sadly, their fate seems sealed.
Nothing will stop Russia now. Every factor favours them. Victory will be Russia's. In Donbass and beyond and in due course across the world.
Victory belongs to Russia: It is now only a matter of time.
STARMER & MACRON WILL ARRIVE IN WASHINGTON DC SOON ENTICING DONALD TRUMP TO EMBROIL HIMSELF IN THEIR PLAN TO INSERT NATO FORCES IN UKRAINE.
