by Christopher Black, 28 February 2025

Hopes and reality: On February 27 President Putin, in an address to FSB security officials, stated that the initial communication with the US administration “inspires certain hopes.” The world can understand what these hopes are, faint as they presently appear, the hope that the new American administration under Donald Trump has recognised its defeat in its war against Russia and, therefore, is ready to engage in negotiations to extricate itself from the disaster it has created in Ukraine.

The Russian leadership is not naïve, and knows that the Americans will try to use any negotiations to extricate itself on terms as favourable to themselves as they can bargain for, yet the fact the Americans came begging for a meeting does signal their recognition that Russia has the upper hand and that out of this can come a secure and lasting peace for Russia, for what remains of Ukraine, and for the world.

But if one just turned one’s head to look in the direction of Washington over the past few days and take in the talks between President Trump with President Macron of France, and Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom, a completely opposite scenario appears. President Trump, knowing the firm position of Russia on all the issues, openly approved the proposed French-British gambit of inserting their troops as “peacekeepers” into Ukraine. He approved it and even went further and stated that because the NATO puppet, Zelensky, is going to sign a deal to hand over all the rare earth minerals in Ukraine to the USA, that this will naturally require US protection to guard the companies going in to take out these minerals.

But then when Zelensky met with Trump and JD Vance on air on Friday, the 28th it was apparent that Zelensky had refused to sign the mineral deal unless he got explicit guarantees of more military assistance against Russia. Trump refused to give any explicit guarantees or any guarantees at all unless Zelensky first signed the deal. But Zelensky was not content with vague assurances that security would be provided once the deal was signed. He doesn’t trust Trump to do it.

The disagreement broke out into the open on live television for the world to see as Trump and Vance angrily lectured Zelensky, dressed him down like a truant schoolboy while Zelensky tried to stay calm and kept asking about guarantees of security, which drew more angry comments from Trump and Vance. It was quite the public spectacle. But again showed, the waning of American power, the real objectives of the Americans, and the thorny path of the road to peace since even Zelensky, their puppet does not trust their word. His relatively calm demeanour in the encounter must reflect the backing he has of Europe and the UK.

Trump cannot be relied on to keep his word

Trump cannot be relied on to keep his word. For months he told President Putin and the world that no US forces would ever be placed in Ukraine under his administration, that no EU or NATO peacekeepers would be inserted either. Now he says the opposite. He even made the bizarre claim that President Putin had approved of peacekeepers-a blatant lie which he threw out, not because he is a big mouth who does not know what he is saying, but because he wanted to embarrass President Putin and to undermine the trust the President holds with the Russian people and General Staff by making such a claim. President Putin said no such thing and Foreign Minister Lavrov the same day had to repeat that Russia rejects the idea out of hand. But this is how underhanded and dirty Trump is going to play this negotiation game, and it is a game for the Americans, it is clear. Not for the Russians, who take it seriously.

Trump is lying about Putin and their conversations, thereby insulting him publicly, and pretending to be for peace when he has only one thing in mind, restoring American hegemony and power at the cost of everyone else, finding another way to defeat Russia. The American plans and intention to defeat Russia and seize its resources are still in effect. The flow of US arms to Ukraine continues. The flow of money continues. The attacks on Russia continue.

Selling a nation with illegal deals

And now we have the spectacle of the alleged deal to hand over resources, which are no longer in Ukraine’s control. They are under Russian control. It is in this vein that President Putin expressed Russia’s openness to developing those resources with foreign companies, making it clear that he is referring to Russian resources under Russian control, not Ukrainian. But this deal with Zelensky, is an illegal deal, void before it is even signed, since Zelensky is not a legitimate head of state for Ukraine, not only because there have been no elections in Ukraine since 2022, but because there have been no free and fair elections in Ukraine since the coup-d’état of 2014 when the NATO puppet government was installed, which was the immediate spark that began this war.

Nevertheless, Trump hopes to waive this deal in the face of the Russians and demand that they be given access to these resources or else more war. He is going to say, “they’re ours, we own it.” And when Russia replies, “you own nothing, but a piece of paper, but if you conclude a durable peace maybe we can do something,” he is going say that is not good enough.

Secret Treaties

I wrote some months ago that it is probable that the security treaties Ukraine made with several NATO members to provide Ukraine with security, and which are still in effect, and cannot be ignored, entail secret treaties giving those nations payment in kind as their reward, in the form of Ukraine resources, but also in the form of a piece of the bigger Russian pie they hope to carve up for dinner. Trump said, sitting next to Macron, that,

“Russia has lots of things we want, and we want to get them.”

The grand scheme of breaking up Russia has not been abandoned. Not at all.

What we are witnessing is the theatrics of a gang of thieves who attacked a nation to defeat and loot it, who now, bruised and reeling from the fight, realise they have bitten off more than they can chew, have been defeated, and are bickering among themselves, the lieutenants and their captain in charge, about how to come up with a new strategy which can succeed in bringing down their prey where they have so far failed and bickering over who is going pay what and who is going to get what loot if they can succeed. It’s all out in the open and shameful to see.

Trump’s true character

Trump claims to be for peace, to be concerned about the casualties of the war. He was not concerned when he was President and sabotaged the Minsk Accords and built up the Ukrainian Army to attack Russia. He is not concerned now. How can a man who has declared his intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza, to invade and seize Canada, the territory of Denmark in Greenland, to invade Panama, to invade Mexico, who relisted Cuba as a terrorist state, who threatens Iran and wants war with China, be for peace? It is ridiculous on the face of it.

He could not care less about the casualties in Ukraine. This is all for the public. He cares only about money, loot and power. Has he made any gestures to Russia that he really wants peace, any that count? Has he withdrawn the Aegis systems in Poland and Romania that threaten nuclear attack on Russia? Has he closed Camp Bondsteel in Serbia? Has he withdrawn US forces from Germany? Has he agreed to dismantle NATO or withdraw it to its 1990 borders? Has he told Canada, the UK and EU, all of which bizarrely face new US tariffs themselves, to rescind the new sanctions they just placed on Russia? No. On the contrary, he threatens more sanctions against Russia if Russia does not go along with his playbook.

Internal intrigues in the USA

There are rumours circulating that Trump is purging the Pentagon and command structures of the US forces not for efficiency reasons but to ensure a loyal military to back him in a coup to seize all executive power in the United States. One can argue this was already accomplished in 1963 with the coup d’état that took place against President Kennedy. But then democratic structures were allowed to remain in place, to make it seem as if nothing had changed. It seems that even those structures are now seen by some elements of the US establishment as an impediment to restoring US hegemony.

The world wants a serious peace, not a phony one

The world wants peace, not a phony peace touted by phony men but a real and enduring peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, a peace that only serious men who are serious about their purpose can accomplish. We see the serious men, and women in the leaders of the BRIC nations and their partner nations. We see the phony me and women in the former and present colonial countries of the USA and Europe, of the UK, of Canada, Australia, Japan, whose ambitions to steal what they don’t have, and to kill those that get in their way are, as strong as ever.

Basic requirements for a real peace

If Trump wants peace then he has to agree to the following two requirements of any durable peace, requirements set out long ago by one of the great minds of his or any other time, Immanuel Kant, in his essay of 1795, Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch, which sets out several other requirements. I select these as the most immediately relevant to the war in Ukraine.

1. 1. No Treaty of Peace shall be held valid in which there is, tacitly reserved, matters for a future war. Otherwise a treaty would be only a truce, a suspension of hostilities, but not peace, which means the end of all hostilities. Russia wants to work out a real peace. Does Trump seek anything but a truce?
   2. No independent states, large or small, shall come under the dominion of another state by inheritance, exchange, purchase or donation. For a state is not a piece of property but a society of men and women. In other words, a nation cannot be bought and sold like a commodity, which is what Trump is proposing and which Russia rejects because for Russia, Ukraine is its people, not the resources they happen to be sitting on.

Let us hope, as President Putin does, however faintly, that Trump really does want to secure a lasting peace, a durable peace. But President Putin is a sincere and serious man, Donald Trump is a blowhard and a phony. Can such a man be other than what he is? Like President Putin, we hope the seemingly impossible can occur, for if not, we face more and dangerous war.
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Christopher Black is a Toronto-based lawyer specialising in international criminal law. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases. He writes essays on international law, politics and world affairs. Recently he has published his novel Beneath the Clouds. He is a member of the World Union of Freethinkers and has been nominated for a seat on its board.

This article was written for the journal New Eastern Outlook