‼️ Michael Hudson: Note 1 on the planned Alaska meeting

It is a distortion of reality for the press to depict Russia as at war with Ukraine. It is at war with NATO; Ukraine is the battlefield for this war, the arena.

NATO uses the old police tactic of Good Cop (now ironically played by Trump for the dominant US side – that’s usually the lead cop), with the EU (Britain, Germany and France) being the bad cops, good type casting.

As a passive arena for NATO expansion, Ukraine has no right to be represented, except to augment the bad-cop contingent for “peace talks.”

The talks in Alaska will be in two parts. Part I is whether the U.S. will acknowledge that the trajectory of the current fighting is for a total Russian victory, on the terms that Putin has been explaining for two years: no NATO membership, no foreign arms supplies, Nuremberg-like trials of the Banderite leaders, and perhaps reparations by Ukraine and NATO for the rebuilding of formerly “Ukrainian” Russia.

Russia may give a sop to depict the $300 billion that the EU has confiscated to rebuilding what was Ukraine’s Russian-speaking East. That would be a concession that’s not really a sacrifice.

The real discussion will determine the aftermath, starting with whether a new atomic missile and arms treaty will be put in place.

If it cannot be enacted, Putin’s position logically will be as follows:

“We don’t want an atomic war with the United States. Let’s agree that if a German or other EU/NATO missile hits Russia, when we retaliate it will only be against Britain, Germany and France, not North America.”

The US will be told to keep its submarines away from Russian borders, and to stay out of the Black Sea altogether.

That’s the “peace” proposal. Peace in the Ukrainian arena will be (or will have been) established on the battlefield, now that the outcome is obvious.

A new Ukrainian government will be a Russian proxy, not Poroshenko or other NATO puppet oligarch.