Michael Weiss

So to go to Istanbul now in 2025, when Russia has a million soldiers either dead or wounded, much of its army has been hollowed out through attritional attacks. warfare over the last three years, you know, international sanctions regime on Russia still in place.

Russia does not control nearly, you know, as much territory as it did in 2022, and basically act as if Russia is still in that position of power. is ludicrous. And I think Zelensky, quite rightly, saw what this was about, and called both Trump and Putin's bluff and said, Oh, okay, great, I'll go to Istanbul. But I expect to negotiate with my direct peer, which is Vladimir Putin.

Russia does not control nearly, you know, as much territory as it did in 2022, and basically act as if Russia is still in that position of power. is ludicrous. And I think Zelensky, quite rightly, saw what this was about, and called both Trump and Putin's bluff and said, Oh, okay, great, I'll go to Istanbul. But I expect to negotiate with my direct peer, which is Vladimir Putin.

Russia does not control nearly, you know, as much territory as it did in 2022, and basically act as if Russia is still in that position of power. is ludicrous. And I think Zelensky, quite rightly, saw what this was about, and called both Trump and Putin's bluff and said, Oh, okay, great, I'll go to Istanbul. But I expect to negotiate with my direct peer, which is Vladimir Putin.

And you know, the Russians say, Zelensky is illegitimate. So Putin cannot sit across from Zelensky and treat him as a peer without completely undermining his own position. So they send, you know, Medinsky, former culture minister, propagandist, very low-level flunky, doesn't have a lot of wasta. They're sending the same team, basically, that they sent in 2022.

And you know, the Russians say, Zelensky is illegitimate. So Putin cannot sit across from Zelensky and treat him as a peer without completely undermining his own position. So they send, you know, Medinsky, former culture minister, propagandist, very low-level flunky, doesn't have a lot of wasta. They're sending the same team, basically, that they sent in 2022.

And you know, the Russians say, Zelensky is illegitimate. So Putin cannot sit across from Zelensky and treat him as a peer without completely undermining his own position. So they send, you know, Medinsky, former culture minister, propagandist, very low-level flunky, doesn't have a lot of wasta. They're sending the same team, basically, that they sent in 2022.

So it's just a reboot of what they tried and failed to do back then. Now, the danger here is, you know, Zelensky has a real, a proper team in place. He's got Foreign Minister there, he's got significant, you know, high level government officials, not least of all himself.

So it's just a reboot of what they tried and failed to do back then. Now, the danger here is, you know, Zelensky has a real, a proper team in place. He's got Foreign Minister there, he's got significant, you know, high level government officials, not least of all himself.

So it's just a reboot of what they tried and failed to do back then. Now, the danger here is, you know, Zelensky has a real, a proper team in place. He's got Foreign Minister there, he's got significant, you know, high level government officials, not least of all himself.

But what the Russians are trying to do is do this sort of Potemkin theater, and then say, well, we had our direct talks, the Ukrainians are intransigent, they will not come to the table, they will not make concessions, and then basically cajole Donald Trump into applying even more pressure on the Ukrainians, which he's very susceptible of doing, right?

But what the Russians are trying to do is do this sort of Potemkin theater, and then say, well, we had our direct talks, the Ukrainians are intransigent, they will not come to the table, they will not make concessions, and then basically cajole Donald Trump into applying even more pressure on the Ukrainians, which he's very susceptible of doing, right?

But what the Russians are trying to do is do this sort of Potemkin theater, and then say, well, we had our direct talks, the Ukrainians are intransigent, they will not come to the table, they will not make concessions, and then basically cajole Donald Trump into applying even more pressure on the Ukrainians, which he's very susceptible of doing, right?

He does not extract anything from the Russians. He signed off on this European-led initiative, which said, you have until this past Monday to do a 30-day ceasefire. If you don't, we will impose crippling new sanctions. Well, it's now Thursday. Where are the sanctions? Right. And so the Europeans, unfortunately, look a bit weak and humiliated by not sticking to their own guns on this.

He does not extract anything from the Russians. He signed off on this European-led initiative, which said, you have until this past Monday to do a 30-day ceasefire. If you don't, we will impose crippling new sanctions. Well, it's now Thursday. Where are the sanctions? Right. And so the Europeans, unfortunately, look a bit weak and humiliated by not sticking to their own guns on this.

He does not extract anything from the Russians. He signed off on this European-led initiative, which said, you have until this past Monday to do a 30-day ceasefire. If you don't, we will impose crippling new sanctions. Well, it's now Thursday. Where are the sanctions? Right. And so the Europeans, unfortunately, look a bit weak and humiliated by not sticking to their own guns on this.

They wrote the Americans, they wrote Trump into this. And then just with a bright, shiny new object that Putin threw out there, Trump said, amazing, you know, the potential for peace in our time and completely through his own plan or a plan that to which he was a party to under the bus in favor of a Russian active measure. So I don't, there's not going to be a breakthrough here. The question is,

They wrote the Americans, they wrote Trump into this. And then just with a bright, shiny new object that Putin threw out there, Trump said, amazing, you know, the potential for peace in our time and completely through his own plan or a plan that to which he was a party to under the bus in favor of a Russian active measure. So I don't, there's not going to be a breakthrough here. The question is,

They wrote the Americans, they wrote Trump into this. And then just with a bright, shiny new object that Putin threw out there, Trump said, amazing, you know, the potential for peace in our time and completely through his own plan or a plan that to which he was a party to under the bus in favor of a Russian active measure. So I don't, there's not going to be a breakthrough here. The question is,

where does Trump come out on all of this? And if history is our guide, he's going to say, well, it's the Ukrainians now that are being obnoxious and they should really, they need to look reality in the face here and they're not going to get back all of their territory. We're not sending our troops. They're not going to be in NATO. They need to bend the knee. We'll see.