by Gilbert Doctorow via https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/02/11/waiting-for-the-munich-security-conference-to-open-what-peace-plan-is-team-trump-bringing/#comments

Has the lifting of U.S. pressure of state censorship on social media and video platforms like youtube since Donald Trump’s inauguration made a difference in what we see and hear on the internet? My intuitive judgment says ‘yes.’ Day by day, I am struck by the proliferation of disinformation and fake news now coming from online broadcasters in the alternative media as ‘yellow press’ sensationalism rises for the sake of attracting an audience and signing up paying sponsors. Platforms may change with technology, but human instincts remain the same. By curious coincidence, this is happening at the very moment when lying and propagandistic mainstream media like The New York Times and The Financial Times have cooled to the notion of Ukraine dealing a strategic defeat on Russia while retaking all of its territories lost since 2014 and are presenting more fact-based reporting on the daily setbacks of the Ukrainian forces and the approaching Russian victory.

A case in point about rumor mongering was delivered to my inbox a day ago by friends in Brussels who sent me the link to a just released podcast by Clayton Morris (Redacted) claiming to know the contents of the peace plan Trump’s team will present at the Munich Security Conference that opens in two days. This plan supposedly will provide for joint Russian-Ukrainian control of the contested Eastern Ukraine regions of Novaya Rossiya now held by Russian troops, while Ukraine’s entry into the European Union is foreseen. It will provide for an immediate cessation of hostilities. Moscow will be incentivized to agree by the release of their frozen assets to Russian oligarchs. Oh, yes, and at the start of a cease fire, the United States would halt all further arms deliveries to Kiev.

Who knows? Perhaps such an improbable plan is among the papers that General Kellogg, Trump’s emissary to Ukraine and Russia, Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are carrying with them to Munich. The notion that Putin can be moved to genuflect before Washington’s strong man by the self-serving dictates from his own Russian oligarchs is so utterly ignorant of Russian realities that it could easily have been put forward by Trump’s staff, who seem to be as poorly informed about what makes Russia tick as were Jake Sullivan and Tony Blinken in the Biden administration.

We can be left guessing, because Trump himself in his latest chats with Fox News reporters yesterday declared that he has made great progress towards a peace in the past week. He said he has spoken by telephone to Putin. He still hopes to bring together Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky for face-to-face negotiations.

Note that so far Donald Trump’s approach to negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine war has exactly the same elements of bravado, bullying, hubris as we see in all of his other opening moves on the international front, such as his threats of 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada, his demand that Denmark ‘sell’ Greenland to the USA and his imposition of what are intended to be crushing new sanctions on Iran so as to open talks on a comprehensive settlement of decades long confrontation from what Americans perceive as ‘a position of strength.’

Note also, that in the case of Iran, Trump’s tactics have so far failed completely. A week ago, the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khameini, flatly rejected entering into negotiations with Trump, saying that the Americans were not trustworthy and that Trump’s opening moves were ‘undignified.’

Exactly the same new crushing sanctions were imposed by Trump on Russia to show off his muscle to American admirers: namely sanctions directed against the so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers that Russia, like Iran, has assembled to take the delivery of oil to export markets entirely in its own hands, including provision of insurance coverage for the tankers. The intention of Trump in both instances is to reduce the exports and foreign currency earnings of both countries to nil.

All of the optimism coming from the Trump camp that it holds the high cards in relations with Russia flies in the face of the statements made yesterday afternoon by Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov that relations with the USA “are at the breaking point.” The war will end, said Ryabkov, only when the conditions set down by Vladimir Putin in June 2023 are satisfied. These conditions include the withdrawal of all Ukrainian military forces from the 4 Eastern Ukrainian regions that have been formally integrated into the Russian Federation, disavowal by Kiev on its hopes to enter the NATO alliance together with acceptance of neutral status without the presence of any foreign military personnel or installations on its territory. Let us remember that Ryabkov is the same official who announced in December 2021 Russia’s ultimatum to the USA calling for return of NATO to its borders of 1997, that is to say, before the multiple expansion waves that took in the former Warsaw Pact countries and the Baltic States.

Yesterday, Ryabkov also said that there are no prospects presently for successful discussions with the United States about limitations on medium range ground-based missiles or other items on the agenda in regulating strategic stability. Needless to say, Ryabkov’s very depressing message is not being reported by Western media. No one wants to spoil the party about to open in Munich.

When we look at the attendance list for the Munich conference, everyone seems to be present…except the Russians. What does the American delegation headed by the number two (vice president) and number three (secretary of state) officials in the U.S. federal government expect to achieve other than to ‘confer’ with its European allies who are in fact just vassals who will do whatever Washington tells them to do. Of course, Volodymyr Zalensky will also be in attendance, though here again, he is just dead weight on the talks since his opinion counts for nothing.

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on US President Donald Trump’s idea to buy and rebuild the Gaza Strip, said that it is necessary to wait for the details of this plan, as there are many questions.

“We need to wait for some details if you mean a coherent plan of action. There are almost 1.2 million Palestinians who live there, that’s the key concern. These are the people to whom the relevant [UN] Security Council resolutions promised a state solution to the Middle East problem, and so on and so forth. There are a lot of such issues. We don’t know the details yet, so we need to be patient,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

People have got to realize that Russia is an Israel-first country as much as the US until now. Despite the fact that one can justify Putin’s defensive actions in Ukraine and the fact that he’s finally doing something about saving the world from the “liberal” new world order, it does not mean we should overlook his unprincipled friendship with Israel. For years, Putin allowed Israel to bomb Syria. Iran better not put all its faith in Putin coming to their rescue against Israel. It will not happen.

Putin and China will talk about how what Israel is doing is wrong, but will not do anything concrete to protect or help the Palestinians. They are both invested in Israel. Every year, Russians hold Victory Day parades in remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and the millions of Russians lost, but how much did Russia do while Israel intentionally set out to starve and kill the Palestinians? Putin’s older brother died of starvation during the war, but what exactly did Russia do to try to force Israel to allow food into Gaza? Why does Russia, or, even more so, Putin, never call genocide “genocide”? Why does Russia condemn October 7 as a terrorist attack while it never condemns in stern words and actions the 70 years of Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinians?

No one should be surprised, Russia goes along with the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and that makes Putin’s Russia complicit to Israel’s crimes just as much as Biden.

Only the steadfast European Union stands up and backs up the ICC, calling attention to the murder taking place in full view of the complicit world.

If I am to venture an “intellectual’s” explanation of the surreal events around Gaza since Trump stepped onto the stage, here is my rationale of the most likely conspiracy.

Trump is being employed by the Masters of the Universe as the bearer of the so-called revolution, replacing Soros with a popular Master of Ceremony. While Soros could not achieve in controlling the virulently insane Nethanyahu, the “Trump phenomenon” did by riding over the plot to impose the total reversal in a matter of days, if not hours.

The Israeli army moved out of Gaza like they were under orders from god, blew up all their army posts in Gaza, including the dividing Netzarim corridor, to be followed by the much prized Philadelphi corridor.

Trump meanwhile is spinning a fairytale about the US owning and developing Gaza into some real estate El Dorado in some undefined future. Of course, not.

Once the Israeli army is out and the 3rd phase of the ceasefire is in place, we most likely will see the fall of Nethanyahu’s government. That’s Trump’s job at this stage as far as Gaza.

Israel is defeated by the Globalists, now in control of Trump.

Meanwhile Europe is slowly but inexorably moving into a war economy under the stirring of van Der Leyen. The Orban-Le Pen-Wilders pro Trump chorus will have a reality check.

Trump and sanctions.

1. Introduced against South Africa for racism against whites and Jews.

2. Introduced against Mexico. Customs tariffs. But postponed after Mexico agreed to the demands of the United States.

3. Canada. The same as with Mexico.

4. Colombia. The same.

5. China. Introduced duties of 10%. China responded in approximately the same way.

6. Europe. Threatens them with duties. Has not yet introduced them, but is thinking about it.

7. Russia. Threatens sanctions if Russia does not agree to peace in Ukraine on the terms of the United States.

8. Japan. Threatens duties.

9. This sanctions war will continue. Without a doubt.

USAID financed an entire media army: at least 6,200 journalists from 707 media outlets and another 279 special NGOs created to work with journalists and the media.

This is the largest manipulation of the information space in world history.

Why did all this information get disclosed now? Is that because Trump is angry, because this entire army lied about him and undermined him?

I think this is made available as a way by which the Globalists are working hard to restore trust in the system.

It is a form of discarding, throwing out and blaming the “Soros’s”, the “liberals”, the unsupervised USAID, the Woke movement, etc.

Trump is employed by the Masters to save the system and make it possible to rally the troops to the next phase in the Globalist’s war.

A number of foreign analysts believe that there is a contradiction between the political and military logic of the Russian army’s actions.

Here is a compilation of several sources discussing the myths of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Even a short history shows that in fact it was known since 1550s that the whole Abrahamaic story was copied from . . . India. Even Voltaire knew that.*

It should be of no surprise that Abraham never existed, Abraham is a blatant ripoff of an earlier religion out of India, Brahma marries his sister Saraswati, that myth is written as Abraham marrying his sister Sara. Sara(h)s maidservant Hagar is the Ghaggar River in India. King David is a metaphor for the Dravidian speaking peoples of South India. Isaac is also a ripoff, Ishaak, the great friend of Shiva. Yet modern people believe those OT stories literally. They are not, they are rewritten mythologies, fake the first time and double fake in the second rehashing. This implies the entire OT is fake, not literal, not historical. Thus there are no descendents of Abraham because he did not exist. Plus, no god chose no tribe, that is just tribal propaganda meant to establish dominance of that tribe over the goy.

*

Brahma is father of All (RV7.97b), while Abraham is father of many nations (Gen 17:5)

Brahma’s wife is his sister Sarasvati (SV7.96.2), and she was a great beauty (AV19.17; KenU3), while Abraham’s wife, Sarah, is also his sister (Gen 20:12) and is beautiful (Gen 12:14).

Saraswati is known for being a goddess of water, the name means something like retains water. The River Saraswati (PraU1.6) has a tributary named Ghaggar, reflective of the name of Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar. Sarah from Hebrew (שרר sharar) means ruler and / or retains water.

Brahma and Sarasvati lived together for 100 years, then had their first son, while Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when they had Isaac (Gen 21.5).

Brahma’s son (or grandson), Daksha, is killed as the offering sacrifice before all the gods, while Abraham almost offers his son Isaac. At the pleading of his father, Brihaspati (born from Brahma’s body, RV3.23.1) Daksha** is resurrected with the head of a ram, while Abraham finds a ram caught in a bush to sacrifice in place of his son Isaac (Gen 22:1-13). Brahma’s hidden offering (AV19.42.1-2), relates to Abraham’s offering of a ram caught in a bush.

There are many more overlaps. But it’s not just textual similarities. Aristotle*** says “Jews are derived from the Indian philosophers; they are named by the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians Judaei, and took their name from the country they inhabit, which is called Judea.” (Book I:22.) Further, Megasthenes, an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria to India, in 288BC wrote in his book Indika that the Jews were an Indian tribe or sect called Kalani.

It is quite possible and often speculated that some Jewish ancestors were of the priestly class of Brahmans that headed west, bringing with them writing abilities.

*

Excavations have found no trace of a settled population around Judea and Jerusalem during the 10th century BC, when the Kingdom of David and Solomon was supposed to have flourished. A community that could have supported a kingdom did not form in Judea until at least a century later, Professor Thompson said. Jerusalem did not become a large and politically influential city until about 650 BC.

He added: ‘It is out of the question that Saul, David, and Solomon, as described as kings in the Bible, could have existed. I think the biblical accounts are wonderful stories, invented at the time when Jerusalem was part of the Persian Empire in the 5th Century BC.’

The Israelite nation, he believes, was a creation of the Persian Empire and was formed around 450 BC. But the people who were moved to Jerusalem at that time were not the descendants of those who had been deported from the city after the Bablyonian capture in 586 BC. They were descendants of Syrian, Philistine, Phoenician, Judean, and other peoples who had also been forcibly deported to Babylon.****

Notes:

* https://www.eoht.info/page/Abraham%20and%20Brahma

** The Daksha story is present in the Shiva and Vayu Purana. Daksha’s head wasn’t sacrificed, he was killed to break the sanctity of the yagna. He was killed by Veerbhadra, an ansh of Shiva for being responsible for the suicide of Daksha’s Daughter and Shiva’s wife, Sati. Plus it wasn’t Brihaspati who revived Daksha, it was Shiva who revived him on the pleading of Brahma.

*** The quote by Aristotle, it is actually a quote from Josephus, who attributes it to Clearchus, who is said to attribute it to Aristotle.

**** https://www.independent.co.uk/news/leading-archaeologist-says-old-testament-stories-are-fiction-1500431.html

Selected References:

https://www.eoht.info/page/Abraham%20and%20Brahma

https://www.reddit.com/r/religion/comments/z3g3pf/brahma_abraham_and_sarah_saraswati_how_related/

https://vridar.org/2020/02/08/interview-with-thomas-l-thompson-1/

Boiling the Frog says:

I was sympathetic to this argument earlier in the war, but not any more. Putin’s ‘merciful’ conduct of the war is prolonging it and causing more death on both sides. Furthermore, his “red lines” have become a joke both in the West and inside Russia (Strelkov is in jail for saying so). Every time Putin draws one the enemy crosses it and nothing happens. This projects weakness almost as much as battlefield defeat would and it further encourages the enemy (NATO) to go further. Daily drone attacks on Russia’s critical energy infrastructure are now commonplace. Russians want to know why, in return, the Kremlin has not ordered the annihilation of Ukraine’s.

It seems inevitable that NATO forces will become involved directly in the war. My expectation, based on what has gone before, is that yet more Russian red lines will be drawn and then ignored. More importantly, NATO commanders are being encouraged to think this way by the precedent set so far. Ukraine will therefore likely end up flooded with NATO troops. At this point Russia is certain to lose the war according to the war aims Putin outlined almost 3 years ago. Putin has said that war with the whole of NATO would inevitably lead to the use of nuclear weapons, as Russia could not possibly win a conventional war. Why should NATO commanders not think this in not yet another meaningless red line?

Helmer’s latest piece seems an accurate description of the real decision-making structures in this war – one side’s oligarchs against the others’. The little people dying on both sides are irrelevant. Peace will come when the oligarchs decide among themselves that it should. The sad truth is Putin is not, as he is portrayed in the West, a nationalist leader who represents the interests of Russian patriots. He has always represented the oligarchs’ interests and short of a military coup, which seems an extremely remote possibility, the peace that comes will not be one that ordinary Russians will benefit from. Of course the same is true on the other side. An independent Ukraine was always an impossibility. BlackRock owns the country formerly known as Ukraine now.

IGOR STRELKOV /letter fragment/ (machine translation)

Of course, I was extremely worried about the messages about the events of the first half of January, which were sent to me on the 15th-16th (before that there was no mail for over two weeks). On the one hand, nothing unexpected happened – all the actions of recent “partners” and “friends” were predicted in advance. On the other hand, it is one thing to talk about the inevitability of a “volcanic eruption”, and quite another to “get caught in it”… Analytical “foresight” is of little help here, if there are no means to correctly and promptly respond to the “elements” (and I have not had and do not have anything like that, unfortunately).

So, on to the main news:

— I consider the most important news to be that China has shown its readiness to comply with US sanctions against our tanker fleet (blocking 5 tankers with Russian oil in Chinese territorial waters). It has been clear to me for a long time that China is far from supporting Russia in the current NWO and (at best) was ready to “benevolently tolerate” all the inconveniences associated with it for some time. It has also been clear for a long time that “China’s patience” in connection with the said inconveniences is either running out or has expired completely: the SMO has lasted for almost three years, and Russia’s victory (and the end of the military conflict on terms that suit Moscow) is not even on the horizon. Accordingly, Beijing is demonstrating its irritation and “transparently hinting” to Moscow that “it’s time to end it on any terms, otherwise…” It is not clear to me how to “get out” of this wonderful situation (having only North Korea as an ally). Especially considering that society is not mobilized at all, and is already very tired of the war and does not feel any enthusiasm for its further continuation.

However, Moscow is somehow unable to leave the SMO “under any conditions” (as they already tried to do in 2022 during the so-called “Istanbul agreements”). – I think I wrote somewhere before that the situation is almost like the joke about the hunter who climbed into the bear’s den: – “Kum! I caught a bear here!” – “Then drag him here!” – “I can’t – he’s holding me!” Kyiv will not submit to “Russian conditions” (i.e., the separation from “Ukraine” of not only Crimea and Donbass, but also Zaporozhye and Kherson) now (while its front is generally strong). It is even doubtful that it will “agree to the loss” of Donbass and Crimea. But how – even if Zelensky (suddenly) agrees to “make a deal” – how to “foist” on the Russians the return to the so-called “Ukraine” of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, already constitutionally annexed to the Russian Federation – I can’t imagine. No, of course, with certain propaganda efforts, the majority of the populace (under the slogan “as long as there is no war”) will “swallow” this, too, but two problems remain: 1) How will the army react to this? 2) (This is most important) Who will guarantee that – having occupied the south of the said regions, the “Kyiv partners” will not immediately “spit” on these very guarantees? – Personally, I believe that this is the only way it will be, and, as they say, “further everywhere”. The worst thing for “conditional Moscow” is for the population not to understand (in the indicated scenario) that: a) we lost the war; b) the war, although lost, is not over, “not even for now”. And that, in all likelihood, is how it will be, if we do not radically change our own (I emphasize) attitude to this very SVO and the confrontation with NATO / USA / the West as a whole.

In general, sitting in the Penal Colony, it would be difficult for me to give any recommendations on how to “return the favor of the Celestial Empire” – to develop such recommendations, I need a deep and comprehensive immersion in the history and practice of interstate relations for about 15 years (and this is the “very minimum”). Unfortunately, no one will give me such an opportunity in the near future. And without further at least “friendly neutrality” of China, the continuation of large-scale military actions seems very problematic to me. Well, unless we undertake (suddenly – with a delay of 3 years) sharp, fast and (most importantly) successful “super-efforts”. Which the Kremlin categorically did not want to undertake for the past 10 years.

Whether “crawling to Beijing on my knees and back” with the aim of “begging to wait a little longer” will produce any effect – I honestly don’t know – I’m not competent enough. Although I would probably “humble my pride and crawl – not for the sake of vanity, but for Russia.”
Very briefly – the situation at the front:

Our purely tactical successes (important only on the scale of Donbass, and not on the scale of the strategic goals of the SMO) are NO MORE THAN UNPLEASANT for the enemy: “Have they surrendered Kurakhovo and Toretsk? – so what… Will they surrender Pokrovsk / Krasnoarmeysk? – Also, as they say, “not a great loss.” – These are not even prerequisites for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to begin to fall apart and “open the front.” The enemy’s slow and organized retreat in the south of the DPR only shortens the front line, and is very “expensive” (for our troops). At this rate, we can “crawl” “to the Dnieper” for another 5-10 years. What am I getting at? – Because the enemy does not consider these territorial losses as something “irreparably important.” He continues to “trade territory for time” in Donbass, implementing the enemy strategy of “wearing down Russia”, drawn up for Kyiv from NATO headquarters. In the areas that are truly important to the enemy (Kharkov, Kursk, etc.), the Ukrainian Armed Forces are “hanging on by the skin of their teeth” and our offensive there is not even “crawling”, but frankly “stalling”. At the same time, we (with the persistence of clinical idiots) continue to “grind down in meat storms” those who are still (by the end of the 3rd year of the war!) still capable of moving forward in them and even winning at the cost of their lives (at least – health). But this is not an endless resource! Instead of “spending” it on a real breakthrough / breakthroughs of the enemy front with strategic goals – we generously “flood with blood” patches of land, “unknown heights”, forest belts and villages in areas that are purely secondary even for the enemy. And at the same time, he is accumulating his new strategic reserves for the spring…

I. V. Girkin
17.01.2025

Ed. Note: Are we witnessing the moment when Russia has reached its peak? Will we see the start of the reversal of Russia’s economic upswing and a start of its economic decline?

It appears that the war against Russia is rising to a new level, the level of economic war. Two years ago seemed as if Europe committed suicide by cutting itself off from Russia’s oil and gas, but now it looks more like a well planned trap for Russia. Europe is now on course to extricate itself from its dependence on Russia as the newly developed reserves in the East Mediterranean region can more than offset Russia’s reserves. Russia’s only remaining market for its energy resources is China. But China is also under attack.

by Simon Watkins via Oil Price

• Under Trump’s second term, the U.S. will boost efforts to replace Russian gas in Europe with alternative sources like LNG from Qatar, Egypt and Israel.
• Egypt and Cyprus are emerging as critical gas hubs.
• These energy strategies not only weaken Russia’s economic grip on Europe but also align with broader U.S. goals to counterbalance China’s growing global influence.

[ . . . ] with Donald Trump beginning his second term as U.S. President on 20 January, this part of the multi-pronged strategy to further diminish Russian influence in Europe is set to pick up pace. It is also a key part of the new Trump Presidential Administration’s push to destroy the financing at the heart of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ in the Middle East spearheaded by Iran and, in turn, to scupper the broader China-led strategy to replace the dominant influence of the U.S. and its key allies in the world with an alternative version in which China plays the dominant role.

The first reason why phasing out all Russia’s gas exports into Europe remains so critical is that the continent’s heavy dependence on these (and its oil exports too) led to a catastrophic failure to halt President Vladimir Putin’s vision to resuscitate the European Empire of the U.S.S.R. back in 2008 and then even more significantly in 2014…

However, the failure of the Putin-ordered full invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to secure the country within a week as he envisaged allowed the U.S. more leeway in moving to draw a line in Europe across which Russia should not venture. This was focused on cutting off as much as possible of the financing for its war in Ukraine that Russia still received from gas and oil exports into Europe. [ . . . ]

The pace of development of gas supplies in Egypt is spectacular. Not only does this country occupy a special political, economic, religious and cultural place in the Middle East and the Islamic world, but it also has huge gas reserves. They are very cautiously estimated at around 1.8 trillion cubic metres, and could be even higher if the assessments of those in charge of EU energy security are taken into account, contact de OilPrice.com in recent months. It is also the only country in the eastern Mediterranean region with operational LNG export capabilities and is therefore in an ideal position to become the main regional gas export hub. Equally important is its geographical positioning – the country controls the Suez Canal, through which about 10% of the world’s oil and LNG is transported.
It also controls the Suez-Mediterranean pipeline, which runs from the Ain Sokhna terminal in the Gulf of Suez near the Red Sea to the Port of Sidi Kerir, west of Alexandria, in the Mediterranean Sea. This is a crucial alternative to the Suez Canal for transporting oil from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. The importance of the Suez Canal to the global energy sector is also amplified by the fact that it is one of the few major transit points not controlled by China. The country has been through massive economic problems lately-it has not paid for a while the taxes due by its own national composition to foreign partners, but things are beginning to work out.
The attention of the same Western firms active in Egypt has also turned to the parallel gas hot spot in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, which is now considering a new round of licensing for offshore natural gas exploration, according to recent comments by its energy minister, George Papanastasiou. Cyprus estimates that current untapped gas reserves are around 450 billion […]

Read more here: Oil Price