‘We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,’ Trump says

The diplomatic tango between Washington and Moscow is underway, but Trump’s promise to bring a quick end to the war in Ukraine on Trump’s terms appears more unlikely with each passing day. Prior to the conversation between the two leaders during the last four days, diplomats representing Moscow and Washington in their respective embassies did the detail work of arranging the phone diplomacy. But, according to Borizzkman, there were two, not one, conversations (this is Borizzkman’s concise eight-minute video presenting the latest developments):

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/MOSCOW, Feb 9 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he believed the United States was making progress in its talks to end thewar between Russia and Ukraine, but declined to provide details about any communications he had had with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Goods and services can be sanctioned, or they can receive a tariff, but it makes no sense to do both in succession. While Donald Trump is liberal with threats of tariffs, there are fresh reports that the US is planning further sanctions on Russia unless it comes to the negotiating table. The Kremlin has dismissed this as “nothing new”.

Moscow believes it has the resources and manpower to keep up the fight

At least Trump is willing to give peace a chance with Russia over Ukraine, Peter Kuznick says.

Economic Pain Won’t Turn the Tide in Ukraine

“In the natural sciences, some checks exist on the prolonged acceptance of nutty ideas, which do not hold up well under experimental and observational tests and cannot readily be shown to give rise to useful working technologies. But in economics and the other social studies, nutty ideas may hang around for centuries. Today, leading presidential candidates and tens of millions of voters in the USA embrace ideas that might have been drawn from a 17th-century book on the theory and practice of mercantilism, and multitudes of politicians and ordinary people espouse notions that Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and others exploded more than two centuries ago. In these realms, nearly everyone simply believes whatever he feels good about believing.” – Robert Higgs

Vladimir Putin has seemed unusually amenable of late. In November, Kremlin sources revealed the Russian President’s openness to discussing a ceasefire deal and, earlier this month, Putin said he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in talks with incoming US president Donald Trump.

How did Vladimir Putin rise into power? What is the truth about Vladimir Putin? Not many people know the story of how Putin came into power, but the US government made a colossal mistake after the fall of the Soviet Union, paving way for a leader like Putin to rise up into power. In today’s video we break down what went wrong, how Putin rose, and what happens next in Russia