Shepherd At War 👨‍🌾🪖

For many, even for me, recent statements like those of Hegset and Trump give hope that peace talks been Ukraine and Russia will take place soon, and that the outcome will be a fair and lasting peace. De Vance's criticism of European "democracy" seems to add further reason to believe that Washington has truly changed course. We're tempted to think that Trump really isn't at fault for anything that has gone wrong in Ukraine. Afterall, democrats were always in office when things went wrong in Ukraine; first Obama, then Biden. Or perhaps it was always Hillary behind the scenes stirring up trouble.

It would seem that the worst case scenario is now that the war will be put on hold for a decade or so, only to break loose again with renewed savageness once Putin is no longer at the helm.

In the short term, such a breather would seem, at first glance, to be a blessing. Hundreds of thousands trapped in the death trap into which Ukraine has converted itself could get a chance to safely escape. This is the only real benefit that I see potentially coming from a ceasefire. Ultimately though, all of the Ukrainian war criminals and their political enablers must be punished for peace to be possible in the long term.

For this to happen Kiev must be brought to its knees just as Hitler and his goons were in 1945. And all significant natural resources in Kiev's control, as of today, should be leveraged to pay for the damage that their dirty partnership with the US and Europe has inflicted on civilian life and infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia. Only Russia is truly interested in a prosperous future for Ukraine, as demonstrated by their ongoing reconstruction of Mariupol and other cities in Donbass, by their development of Crimea since 2014. The West including Trump have done far more than enough to prove that they are only interested in sucking Ukraine dry, or using it as a battering ram against Russia.

What has Washington done to deserve 500 billion dollars worth of rare-earth metals? Sponsor cut-throats and pickpockets from Kiev? What have they done to deserve the right to talk about democracy and freedom? Threaten the world with crippling tariffs if they try to move away from slavery to the US dollar and market?

War is awful, and Trump seems to be prying at the door at the end of the tunnel, but remember what they say about "when it seems to good to be true". It probably is!

As with any peace process, critically important are the promises that each side makes, and whether or not they are fulfilled. As of today, only Russia has earned the right to make any promises. If Washington wants a deal, let them gather up the criminals from Kiev and fly them to Moscow for trial first. Second, they need to stand with their tails tucked under and eyes lowered while Russia takes control of Ukraine east of the Dnieper river and all of its southern regions. Then and only then Trump should have the privilege to extend his hand to receive whatever rare-earth metals Putin sees fit, and not a single ounce more!

Needed to keep the recording phone farther away from the cameraman's face. Otherwise, we hear his breathing in the recording. Need to think about a place to get away from the sound of rain droplets hitting the roof of the vehicle too.

My comments about Trump's ultimatum made to Russia about two weeks ago weren't published in full. Here's the uncut version.