Two Words That Could End The War In Ukraine

By Jack Buckby for 19FortyFive

Security Guarantees: How to End the Ukraine War?
Speaking to French television network TF1 in an interview recorded during his recent trip to the United States, Macron argued that Europe needs to begin preparing future security architecture with a view to making some guarantees for Russia.

“This means that one of the essential points we must address – as President Putin has always said – is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia,” the French president said.

“That topic will be part of the topics for peace, so we need to prepare what we are ready to do, how we protect our allies and member states, and how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table.”

It’s a suggestion that Macron has made before.

In February, the Russian and French presidents met to discuss security guarantees for Russia.

The discussions ultimately led to nothing.
#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
It appears, that certain smarties in the West eventually starts to understand something, but with a delay of about a year. Those "offerings" could have changed something when Russia about a year ago addressed US, EU and NATO with requests to ensure security guaranties as a legally binding document, which was arrogantly rejected.
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Scott Ritter - Ukraine Russia War Update with Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom
"Russians will achieve military victory by the end of the next summer," Scott Ritter.
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With the Ukrainian crisis beginning the second cold war, the West and Russia must conclude a new deal, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in an interview with the English version of the al-Jazeera channel (from 19:59).
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Protesters in Milan demanded to stop arming Ukraine
A rally against anti-Russian sanctions and sending weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine was held in Milan

ROME, December 4 - RIA Novosti. A procession was held in the centre of Milan to protest against the sending of Italian weapons to the Ukrainian authorities and the expansion of anti-Russian sanctions, Amedeo Avondet, one of the organizers of the action, a representative of the United Italy political organization, told RIA Novosti.
The march was organized by the former mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, who a week ago created the Stop the War Committee, advocating Italy's non-participation in the conflict in Ukraine.

The protesters stretched a multi-meter banner with the inscription "Enough weapons for Kyiv and sanctions against Russia" and walked through the streets with Italian flags and flares.
"Our country, due to the policy of the government, pays for the consequences of the crisis by paying the rich, multinational corporations and the United States <...> There were also Russian flags at the demonstration, but the main thing is that it had Italian flags, which show that, first of all, we are patriots, who love their people," Avondet said.
According to him, he used to support the Brothers of Italy party, which after winning the September elections raised the price of gasoline.

“The main interest should be the unity of the nation, regardless of political differences. Now Italy is occupied by the US and NATO bases, and one cannot be afraid to say that 17,000 soldiers are in Italy and keep our government at gunpoint,” the activist said.
He added that at the end of December he was going to visit Russia as part of a United Italy delegation, where he intended to meet with representatives of United Russia, and in early January to register his movement as a party.

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The Russian oil debacle
by Peter Doran for The Hill

The looming Russian oil price “cap” has all the hallmarks of a historic debacle in the making. For months, the United States and the G-7 have haggled over a complex plan to constrain the money that the Kremlin makes from some of its oil exports. With a looming deadline to loosen oil sanctions just days away, policymakers should dump the plan — as it will do little to hasten an end to the war in Ukraine.
...
The most obvious flaw in this scheme was Russian participation. What if the Kremlin refused to abide by the arrangement, as Russia recently hinted? A second snag was the price cap itself. If it was too high, Moscow would generate outsized petrol profits to fund its war against Ukraine. Technocrats from participating G-7 countries were tasked with determining a “capped” price for Russian crude and, at least in theory, updating it to follow changing market conditions.

Inside the European Union, however, this process created a diplomatic trench war. Poland initially blocked the EU’s proposed price, saying that a cap of $65 per barrel was too high. The EU countered with a price of $60 per barrel. However, this too is very lucrative for the Kremlin, since the cost of producing a barrel of Russian crude is between $20-$40 (depending on the well). The EU’s plan will still leave piles of money on the table for Putin to spend on his war.

Finally, there is a historic precedent. A previous international price-fixing scheme failed — spectacularly. In the 1990s, the UN’s disastrous Oil for Food Program inadvertently created a corrupt patronage system for artificially cheap barrels of Iraqi crude.
...
If the Russian oil price cap fails to materialize or work as officials intend, the United States and its allies should drop the scheme and keep to their previous, more aggressive sanctions policy. Washington should likewise prioritize efforts to fully open the taps of U.S. domestic energy production while holding together the coalition of countries that signed up for America’s sanctions regime on Russia in the first place.
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How naïve those experts are, thinking only for one side of a conflict...
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The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sending reinforcements to Artemovsk/Bakhmut.

More cannon fodder.

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Macron - to the question "What did I see in Putin's eyes?"
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Former French presidential candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan: France should distance itself and take the position of a judge. Because Zelensky’s goal is no longer to defend Ukraine, but to become an instrument of Russia’s destruction by sacrificing his people. And this is a very big mistake. Ukraine bombed Donbass for 8 years. Donbass is a Russian-speaking territory that is located on the border of the Slavic world of Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine was Russia until 1991. I just want to say that today both forces are running out and Europe is sinking along with them. Because don't forget that this conflict favors China and the US. Russia's push into the arms of China puts us in a situation of economic and social crisis.
We need to sit down at the negotiating table. We are the ones who pay the price and who have been destroying Europe for a long time. Ukraine must be defended, but we must not commit suicide with Europe and Ukraine. And I'll tell you that I'm not the only one who says this.

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Ukraine continues to shell residential buildings in Donetsk. This time - especially cynically - at night. We do not know who the terrorists were aiming at but the smallest and defenseless ones suffered from their actions.

A boy just rescued from a burning house was most worried that he did not have time to take his beloved cat with him.

@wargonzo
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Ukraine shells Donetsk 4 am, direct hit on the building on the street. Postysheva 21

@vargonzo
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The Church of the Nativity of Christ in Donetsk came under fire from Ukrainian troops, RIA Novosti correspondent reports.
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