---
title: "Russia, US, Ukraine: Staking out positions. Aid cut and the Art of a Good Deal"
type: "post"
post_id: "8624"
slug: "russia-us-ukraine-staking-out-positions-aid-cut-and-the-art-of-a-good-deal"
canonical: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2025/01/24/russia-us-ukraine-staking-out-positions-aid-cut-and-the-art-of-a-good-deal/"
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txt_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2025/01/24/russia-us-ukraine-staking-out-positions-aid-cut-and-the-art-of-a-good-deal.txt"
published: "2025-01-25T00:29:53+00:00"
modified: "2025-01-25T00:35:24+00:00"
author: "penny2"
categories:
  - "Uncategorized"
tags:
  - "China"
  - "NATO"
  - "Russia"
  - "Ukraine"
  - "US"
site_name: "PFYT2"
publisher: ""
language: "en-US"
generator: "easyPress Markdown"
generator_version: "1.0.6"
---
**Below are links to 3 interesting articles- Read’em and share some thoughts**. The first and third pieces are extensive, so, you’ll have to get the full story from the included links

##### [And away we go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZZIDk2c_Y)!

[**The Guam Daily Post**](https://www.postguam.com/the_globe/world/ahead-of-the-expected-trump-putin-call-each-side-stakes-out-its-position/article_9f715b46-d9fa-11ef-9d57-b78df3925071.html)

Ahead of the expected Trump-Putin call, each side stakes out its position

> Amid **expectations in Moscow that President Donald Trump will speak by phone in the coming days with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian officials are staking out hard-line positions on the Ukraine war** ahead of any talks and playing down any imminent major breakthrough on U.S.-Russia ties.

> **Sensing (?) increasing progress on the battlefield amid the strong possibility that Trump will scale back military aid** to Ukraine, many in **Moscow appear to be doubling down, believing Russia can seize more territory and force Kyiv into submission later in the year.**

**Threats posed**

> The remarks followed threats posed by the president in a post on Wednesday on Truth Social, in which he warned of “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States,” unless Putin agreed to a peace deal with Ukraine.

> **“I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,” he added.**

> This formula, ***increasingly pushed*** by officials from Putin on down, involves a neutral, demilitarized Ukraine outside of NATO, with Russia keeping the territory it has already annexed. It may also encompass Moscow’s demands for broader talks on Europe’s security architecture and for NATO to roll back its military infrastructure from its eastern borders. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov earlier this week insisted that it “should be not some brief ceasefire, and not some respite, but a lasting peace based on respecting our objective interests.”

**This formula is not increasingly pushed. It’s the same formula it’s been for a very long time now- One might say it’s been the same since the beginning of the special operation. Admittedly, I find the language used is interesting, with an eye to having the audience, likely uninformed, believe this is a new or extreme request. It isn’t.**

**Pay attention to some of the analysts quoted in this article**

> “***said independent analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, of R.Politik, an analytical agency based in France.”***

**Not likely to be independent.**

> **Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s parliament, said during a plenary session that under Trump, `the United States would “seek to retain its hegemony.”`**

After all, these officials point out, in his first term**,` Trump’s administration increased sanctions on Russia `and `provided the first lethal arms to Ukraine.` Anatoly Antonov, the recently returned former Russian ambassador to the United States, told the Kommersant newspaper that T`rump’s first term saw “a consistent destruction of bilateral relations,” a collapse in diplomatic contacts and the “strangulation of Russia.”`**

According to Stanovaya, the maximalist demands circulated by pro-Kremlin hawks indicate Putin’s willingness to fight on in the war if he does not get what he wants from Trump.

**“They are not looking for negotiations for the sake of negotiations. `They are looking for understanding in Washington in the West that Ukraine has lost the war,”`** **(they have at a great cost to their future)** she said in an interview.

Stanovaya said **Putin was less concerned with international recognition of Russia’s annexations of Ukrainian territory than with establishing Russian dominance over Ukraine.**

**“The main thing is a friendly Ukraine. Kyiv should capitulate and admit that it has lost the war and stop resisting,”** she said.

**Do read entirely at the link provided, as it’s time to move on to the next interesting read!**

**[Forexlive](https://www.forexlive.com/news/did-the-us-secretary-of-state-just-cutoff-aid-to-ukraine-20250124/) Did the US Secretary of State just cutoff aid to Ukraine?**

> Politico is out with a very interesting [report ](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/24/state-department-foreign-aid-pause-00200510)after it obtained a report showing **guidance** from new Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

**Guidance; advice or information**

- A new executive order **suggests** that Ukraine is immediately cut off

**Let’s check [Politico](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/24/state-department-foreign-aid-pause-00200510)**

> Still, **the document leaves room for interpretation and does provide some exceptions.** It specifies tha**t foreign military financing for Egypt and Israel will continue** and allows **emergency food assistance and “legitimate expenses incurred prior to the date of this” guidance “under existing awards.”**

> **The guidance** states that “***decisions whether to continue, modify or terminate programs will be made following the review”*** from the secretary.

###### **It is not clear at all that the US cut off funding/aid for Ukraine.** In fact it is ambiguous.

**On to the last link for this report!**

[**CFR:** **The Art of a Good Deal: Ukraine’s Strategic Economic Opportunity for the United States**](https://www.cfr.org/article/art-good-deal-ukraines-strategic-economic-opportunity-united-states)

**Executive Summary**:

- As President Donald Trump seeks to negotiate a swift end to Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine**, he should take into consideration Ukraine’s compelling investment opportunity, rather than view support as a zero-sum drain on U.S. resources.**
- The country **possesses significant reserves of critical minerals and rare earth elements, has a cutting-edge defense industry, and a robust technology and cyber sector,** all of which can offer vast benefits for U.S. economic and security interests.
- **Ukraine’s economic and strategic potential aligns directly with U.S. interests in securing economic security and resilience amid ongoing tensions with Russia and China. Retaining control of contested or threatened resources should be a strategic imperative for the United States during peace negotiations to ensure access to those resources, as well as to deny Russia and China access to those same strategic materials.**
- As such, **protecting Ukraine’s economic assets and growing defense sector should be a key component of any negotiated settlement. Ensuring Ukrainian independence and sovereignty is not just the right thing to do, it is also a good deal for the United States.**

**Commodity Futures: Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements**

> **Geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China has put critical minerals at the center of the U.S. national security agenda. Access to critical minerals is now intrinsically linked to the escalating tech and trade tensions** that threaten to spill from the economic to the national security arena. **Ukraine’s vast reserves of critical minerals and rare earth elements, together with refining and production capacity, are of extraordinary value to modern technologies, advanced defense systems, aerospace, renewable energy, and manufacturing.**
> 
> Ukraine’s lithium and titanium reserves are estimated to be among the largest in Europe. They possess substantial deposits of cobalt and nickel, vital for high-performance batteries and aerospace superalloys used in the defense industry. Ukraine also ranks among the top producers of natural graphite in Europe.

**Ukraine**’**s Defense Industrial Base: A Global Powerhouse in the Making**

> Since the invasion, Ukraine has been forced to redirect much of its economy, innovation sectors, and talent into developing strong, low-cost, and flexible domestic defense capabilities. Those capabilities are now cutting edge and world class.

**Read the rest at the link provided. Lots to ponder. As always, share a thought or two. Have a good night or day depending on where you live 🙂**