Fox News rattles NUCLEAR war sabre on Ukraine’s behalf even as negotiations make progress [Video]

Before I opine or comment, I want to give you selections from the direct reports I have obtained. Square brackets indicate my own edits for the sake of clarity.

[UPDATED] – Fox News is presently reporting that Ukraine is seeking some sort of backup from nations “with a nuclear component” will assist Ukraine if it is attacked. In other words, the American narrative has edged up another notch, even as the events reported below are covered by multiple sources around the world. We will keep watching this development as the hyperbole in the American media is something I am personally expecting to see as the narrative appears to be collapsing. – ASH

The first is from Sputnik News:

The delegations of Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul earlier today [March 29, 2022] for a new round of negotiations to end the special military operation that Moscow launched on 24 February.

[The] Russian delegation received a “clearly articulated position” from Ukraine during the negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey on 29 March, chief Russian Negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has stated. He added that today’s negotiations were “constructive” in their nature. He noted that Kiev’s written proposals signalled Ukraine’s readiness for compromise.

“We have received written proposals from Ukraine confirming their readiness for a neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status, along with a refusal to produce and deploy all types of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and bacteriological ones, and a ban on the presence of foreign military bases and foreign troops on the territory of the country”, Medinsky said.

The head of the Russian delegation also revealed other proposals discussed with the Ukrainian delegation:

• Russia will not object to Ukraine joining the European Union.
• Ukraine will reject the idea of returning Crimea and Donbass using military means.
• Ukraine presented a list of guarantor-states that will ensure its security.
• The Ukrainian proposal on international guarantees for its safety does not include the territories of Donbass and Crimea.
• Kiev will not allow foreign troops or foreign military bases to be deployed on its territory without the explicit consent from all guarantor-states. The same goes for holding military drills.

The Ukrainian delegation proposed making the permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany, Canada, Poland, Israel, and Turkey the guarantor states that would ensure Ukraine’s security.

Medinsky elaborated that the position of Kiev will be reviewed by Moscow and presented to President Vladimir Putin. After that, the Kremlin will give its response on whether it agrees to include Kiev’s propositions in a final agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the negotiator explained.

Medinsky said that the Russian delegation is leaving Istanbul on 29 March and that further negotiations between Ukraine and Russia will continue via video conferences for now.

That news segues to this below, which appears to be very significant:

Russia to Take De-Escalation Steps

The Russian chief negotiator also announced Moscow’s plans to take military and political de-escalation steps. The military de-escalation will take the form of a “significant reduction” of military activities in the Kiev and Chernigov directions. The political de-escalation step suggests the possibility of a personal meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents at the stage of preliminary approval of the final version of the agreement.

“The proposed format was as follows: first, a treaty is prepared, then the treaty is approved by the negotiators, endorsed by the foreign ministers [of Russia and Ukraine] at a meeting, after which the possibility of a meeting of the heads of state to sign this treaty will be discussed”, Medinsky said.

The Russian Defence Ministry explained the decision to de-escalate the military situation by the fact that negotiations on Ukraine’s neutral and non-nuclear status, as well as security guarantees for the country, have become more “practical”. The ministry stated that the step was necessary to increase a level of mutual trust in negotiations and ultimately to sign an agreement.

The head of the Russian delegation later noted that military de-escalation does not entail a ceasefire in the Kiev and Chernigov directions. At the same time, he noted that Russia understands that decision-makers are located in Kiev and thus does not want to put Kiev at greater risk.

Medinsky, in turn, said that Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky could discuss political details of the agreement when they meet for the initialling of the agreement.

During the previous rounds of talks, the delegations only managed to agree on opening humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens from Ukrainian cities where the country’s military and nationalist battalions were fighting troops of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as Russian forces taking part in the special military operation. The latter was launched on 24 February by Putin in response to a request from the DPR and LPR to defend them against continued attacks by Kiev’s forces.

Here is a video chronicling this development, reported by Sky News. I present the video and have comment after it:

Note that during the narration of the video, the reporter says that it would be very difficult for Russia to call this a “win” (assuming this negotiation leads to the end of the war), because “Russia did not take over Ukraine in a matter of days.”

It is necessary to correct the reported perspective because it is wrong.

The special military operation / war / invasion had the following purposes:

• to denazify Ukraine (get rid of the Azov Battalion fo example, and like ultranationalist groups)
• to demilitarize Ukraine
• to get a committment that Ukraine will not ever join NATO, but will be a neutral state
• to recognize Crimea as part of Russia
• to recognize the Donbass region as independent of Ukraine (Lugansk is now thinking of joining Russia, and both Lugansk and Donetsk were officially recognized by Russia as independent republics on February 23, 2022, the day before the invasion began.

These conditions have been set as non-negotiable since the war started. Now, let’s look at the reported points of agreement again. [This time I am going to edit and reformat the news that was reported:]

“We have received written proposals from Ukraine confirming:

• their readiness for a neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status, along with a refusal to produce and deploy all types of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and bacteriological ones, and
• a ban on the presence of foreign military bases and foreign troops on the territory of the country”, Medinsky said.

The head of the Russian delegation also revealed other proposals discussed with the Ukrainian delegation:

• Russia will not object to Ukraine joining the European Union.
• Ukraine will reject the idea of returning Crimea and Donbass using military means.
• Ukraine presented a list of guarantor-states that will ensure its security.
• The Ukrainian proposal on international guarantees for its safety does not include the territories of Donbass and Crimea.
• Kiev will not allow foreign troops or foreign military bases to be deployed on its territory without the explicit consent from all guarantor-states. The same goes for holding military drills.

If agreed to, and assuming this results in a cessation of hostilities, how is this not a win for Russia? The only unmentioned issue here is the neo-Nazi one, and we may yet see this issue addressed.

Like all news about the war, this is a reported development; it seems to be true as it does have confirmation from non-Russian and non-Ukrainian sources alike, but the fly in the ointment remains to be addressed.

That fly is named Joe Biden. He is accompanied by a very large and deeply-placed “warmonger” establishment that affects almost the entire American government. Perhaps we should call this not a colony of les flies but a very dangerous hornets’ nest.

These folks appear to have Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky on strings. Take a look at this readout from Interfax.com, with his most recent statement to date:

30 Mar 2022 08:59

Kyiv committed to resultative talks with Russia, to achieving actual security – Zelensky

KYIV. March 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine will continue the negotiations with Russia, hoping that they will be resultative, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that Kyiv seeks actual security guarantees.

“Certainly, Ukraine is committed to the talks and will continue the negotiating process to the extent actually dependent on us. We are hoping for a result. There must be actual security for us, for the state, for the sovereignty,” Zelensky said in a video address on Tuesday.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine must be guaranteed,” he said. “No compromises on our sovereignty or territorial integrity may or will take place. These are clear principles, a clear vision of a possible result,” he said.

This is a good example of how Mr. Zelensky prevaricates. He says here that there will be no compromises on Ukraine’s sovereignty or “territorial integrity.” What does that mean? Ukraine has been insisting that Crimea is its own land, and that Donbass is its own land. But the bullet points earlier apparently concede these places according to Russian claims.

We must keep in mind what is increasingly evident. Biden and those running him want this war to continue. Biden and those running him want this war to get worse, even if that means a nuclear-tipped confrontation with Russia.

While it is evident that this is a bit too much for even America’s European allies to get with, it is nevertheless the fact that the warmongers think they have this situation in hand. They will look for any excuse to act on their desires and perpetuate this conflict, and Mr. Zelensky will act as their mouthpiece.

At least until he himself gives up… and the warmongers realize they have no further use for him, in which case the Magic Polonium may well appear in Mr. Zelensky’s tea. It won’t be a parting gift from Putin. And it may be that Mr. Zelensky knows this, and that he is trying, quite frankly, to save his own arse.

We will just have to see.