Russia - Ukraine “peace negotiations”

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nycfan said:
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“… Steve Witkoff is due back in Russia this week for talks with the Kremlin leader. We don't know what kind of an offer he may bring with him. But some commentators in Moscow predict there will be more carrot than stick. It did not go unnoticed that on Sunday President Trump said Russia "seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions".

On Monday, Ivan Loshkarev, associate professor of political theory at MGIMO University, Moscow, told Izvestia that to facilitate dialogue, Mr Witkoff may present "advantageous offers of cooperation [to Russia] that would open up after a deal on Ukraine".

Might that be enough to persuade the Kremlin to make peace after three-and-a-half years of war?

There's no guarantee.

After all, so far in Ukraine Vladimir Putin hasn't budged from his maximalist demands on territory, Ukraine's neutrality and the future size of the Ukrainian army.

Donald Trump wants a deal. Vladimir Putin wants victory.“
 


If Trump views this as a genuine good faith gesture, well … good on you Team Putin for taking advantage of your gullible adversary, I guess.
 
Calheel said:
If we give Alaska back to Russia, it would help in flipping the senate back to Democrats. Maybe we hold onto a few key natural resource spots and say dasvidaniya to the rest of the state.
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This raises a question for me. Entirely hypothetical, but I was thinking about it when I was talking about gifting LA, MS and AL to another country.

Suppose we were to do that. The residents would still be citizens. Of which state would they be citizens? Like, could they not vote in any election? Could they vote in federal elections, but who would they elect? I have a sense that the courts might treat the state as like a government in exile -- the idea being that the state is more than land. You can get rid of the land, but the state would live on. Of course, that raises the question where does it live? How many residents would it have? How many EVs or Congressional Reps?

I mean, this is hypothetical but not impossible, and since low-prob events (or things we thought were low-prob some time ago, like SCOTUS deciding huge questions of law without *any* meaningful explanation) seem to be in vogue, it might not be a purely idle question. We bought land, and surely we could sell it. It's a foreign policy question, isn't it? An executive decision? If we fought a war, lost and had to surrender territory, would the surrendered regions still be states?

Fortunately most blue states are economically indispensable to the union, so they are not in danger of being offloaded. I suppose maybe Vermont. But I don't think Canada or any other country would take it because it would strengthen the GOP who is a menace to them.
 
nycfan said:


Wait, so to get Putin’s attention, Trump is punishing India?
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Reminds me of the funny but true Jerry Tarkanian quote :

"The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, they're going to give Cleveland State another year of probation."
 


“… Trump is open to meeting with his Russian counterpart and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the official added. It isn’t clear when and where the meeting would take place….”

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