Washington and Moscow are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia’s occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Archive arcticle:https://archive.is/UwWhm#selection-2291.0-2291.210
There seems to be one key party missing from this deal.
It’s a lesson they learned from Israel: make inacceptable demands. When the enemy predictably says no deal, you can point to that, then turn to the world and say: “See? That’s what you get for trying. Now we can carve them up with a good conscience.”
This is trump’s MO. He did the same thing with Afghanistan, meeting with just the Taliban and leaving the Afghan government out of the negotiations.