Shaken Not Stirred

Briefly Disoriented,

Gilbert Doctorow explains the Russian view of Gorbachev: Donald Trump: the Gorbachev of our times As of last night, panelists on this talk show were still comparing Trump to Gorbachev but in a very different, much more favorable way. They now focus on Trump’s apparently genuine efforts to bring about peace and also to his remarkable political skills which no one, in Russia or here in the West ever suspected... ..Kellogg and several others in the Trump entourage said that the war was at a stalemate and that lives were now being lost daily for no purpose.
At a stalemate? we in the Opposition to the Washington narrative asked. This suggested that Team Trump was receiving the same Kiev propaganda from their daily CIA input as had the Biden administration before it... ..All of these suppositions about Trump have in the past week been proven to be dead wrong. What we have seen is the Donald Trump 90-minute phone conversation with Vladimir Putin agreeing on the path to a summit meeting that will resolve the Ukraine war in the context of a full re-set of US-Russian relations. We heard Pete Hegseth tell the Ukraine Coordinating organization in Brussels that NATO membership for Ukraine is improbable and that return of the country to its pre-war borders would not happen. We watched as Vice President J.D. Vance directly criticized the European Union member states for undermining their own security by their authoritarian, Soviet-like attacks on free speech at home, by their denial of political legitimacy to their own populist parties on the Right and on the Left, who represent millions of their fellow citizens, by their encouraging the Romanian authorities to cancel their latest presidential elections because the candidate favoring normal relations with Russia came out first… ..The rift that Vance opened with the Europeans was widened to a broad chasm when matched with breaking news that US and Russian delegations would be meeting in Riyad yesterday to prepare the way for a resolution of the Ukraine war and that neither the Ukrainians nor the Europeans were invited to the table. Nor would General Kellogg be present, because he was sidelined by Trump to look after relations with Ukraine and with the Europeans, while the presidential emissary to the talks with the Russians would be Trump confidant and recent facilitator of the Israeli-Hamas truce Steve Witkoff.
As Vance and Trump surely anticipated, the Vice President’s speech left the European high officials in the Munich Conference flustered, unbelieving, horrified... ..There was the realization that Europe is on its own in its defense on the Continent, that the U.S. now is a questionable friend and an unreliable ally.
Washington did not invite the Europeans to the talks, but by way of ‘consultation’ invited them to fill out a questionnaire that demanded figures on troops and equipment that they were prepared to send to Ukraine as ‘peace-keepers’ to provide for Ukrainian security following conclusion of a peace treaty. This prompted Emmanuel Macron to invite the leaders of the key European supporters of Ukraine to a meeting in Paris on Monday to issue a joint statement on their contribution to peace-keeping... ..As we now know, the European leaders, plus von der Leyen from the Commission, De Costa from the European Council and Mark Rutte representing NATO all failed to agree in Paris on putting together a contingent of peace-keepers. Most remarkably Germany, Poland and Spain all said Nyet... ..At the press conference in Riyadh at the conclusion of their four and a half hour talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and with Presidential Foreign Policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, Rubio, Waltz and Witkoff spoke very well. They were very diplomatic, very much in control of the discourse with aggressive, unfriendly journalists from the press. They showed themselves to be loyal, shall we say deferential to the President whose will they were carrying out. They also appeared to be fully up to the task.
From what the American negotiators said and to what Lavrov added in his own remarks to Russian journalists when the talks were over, we understand that the first issue that they addressed was to restore normal staffing and operating procedures at the respective diplomatic missions in Washington and Moscow which had been cut to nearly zero under the Biden administration. This begins with the appointment and confirmation of ambassadors on each side... ..Evidently the repair work on state-to-state relations will proceed in parallel and not be held up by talks on ending the war, which is now acknowledged as something that will take some time. The U.S. side recognizes that a permanent and broad relationship with Russia is essential to deal with global issues of interest to both nations.
This will bring the relationship to the third phase of talks: about ‘geopolitical’ issues. Here we may expect the U.S. to try to drive a wedge between Russia and China, and to try to agree on what role BRICS will have in the coming multipolar world while not fundamentally threatening U.S. interests.
The cherry on the cake was the press conference later yesterday that Donald Trump held at Mar a Lago. In answer to reporters’ questions on why Zelensky was excluded from the talks, he said that Zelensky had been at the table for three years, with no positive results. As even today’s Financial Times recognizes in its article on the press conference, Trump was wholly dismissive of Zelensky and clearly wants to see him gone... ..What sense do I make of all the foregoing?
The negotiating methods that Trump used from inauguration day to present are a perfect example of the alternating feint to the right, feint to the left methods that Mikhail Gorbachev used from early in his presidency to keep his fellow members of the collective Soviet leadership submissive. This is what the panelists in Solovyov’s show understood from their close experience with this at home... ..Those in the alternative media, just like those in mainstream who try to kick the tires, saying that Trump is motivated by narrow financial interests or other personal considerations that come from his vanity are being small-minded and are intentionally missing the big picture. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/02/19/donald-trump-the-gorbachev-of-our-times/

It was really Victoria Nuland, huh? ‘You should have never started it’: Trump suggests Ukraine to blame for war US president says he will ‘probably’ meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this month. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/19/trump-says-he-will-probably-meet-putin-this-month-hits-out-at-ukraine

Trump Trounces "Modestly Successful Comedian... Dictator" Zelenksy After Ukraine Leader Revives Debunked Russiagate Narrative https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/reviving-debunked-russiagate-narrative-zelensky-says-trump-lives-russian

​ Not fair? Wasn't this Nuland's call too? Puppet gets blame and payoff? Musk blames Zelensky for death of US journalist The Ukrainian leader “killed” Gonzalo Lira, the close ally of President Donald Trump has claimed https://swentr.site/news/613039-musk-zelensky-gonzalo-lira/

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Political updates in First 5:20 min. Zelensky Insulted Trump A New Offensive Instead Of Elections Military Summary For 2025.02.20​

​ Russian delegation member Ushakov: “The main thing is to begin a real normalization of relations between us and Washington.” —> The negotiations are not about Ukraine, but about restoring relations with America!... ..The Kiev born Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund came to negotiate economical details. l and he in the CNN interview explains the approach. Dmitriev said he had already held several meetings with Trump's team: "We've had several meetings with members of the Trump team, and all I can say is that they are great problem solvers. And I think President Trump is a great negotiator, as is his entire team” -> In short, Russia and USA are about to work on the global order, not about Ukraine in isolation. That’s bad news for Ukraine, as it’s a bargaining chip in this equation … not the main actor. Hence EU is also not needed https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1891753063456592158

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John Helmer says that Russia is insisting on proper diplomacy, step by step. TRUMP TRIES GRANDSTANDING IN RIYADH – RUBIO STEPS DOWN It was obvious from the slow descent of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, stepping down the stairs from his aircraft, watching his shoes until they hit the ground in Riyadh, that the US side in Tuesday’s talks lacked a confident mandate from the White House for negotiations with the Russians.
​ Rubio was there– inexperienced and nervous​.​..–to arrange a grandstand display by President Donald Trump at the summit meeting he wants with President Vladimir Putin. No more, no less.
​ Rubio ended up with less. To the uncomprehending Trump, speaking at his own press conference in Florida fifteen hours later, Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz are unable to explain.​.. ..Lavrov meant that the Americans were coming to the meeting with no agenda except for what Trump and Putin had said during their telephone call of February 12, and no agreement among the Americans themselves on what to say to the Russians behind closed doors.
​ “We didn’t just listen”, Lavrov said in briefing the Russian press after the meeting, “but we also heard each other…This does not necessarily mean a convergence of positions.” ​... ​..The points agreed are the appointment of ambassadors in Washington and Moscow; removal of restrictions the US has imposed on Russian diplomatic operations in the US, including at the United Nations in New York; and the expansion of the bilateral agenda for talks to come. These were undertakings to continue talking – there was no agreement on more because the US side came unprepared for more.​.. ..Lavrov said more — Trump would not be getting his grandstand soon with Putin.
​ Instead, Lavrov said, “the foreign ministers, the national security advisors were tasked with meeting and seeing what needs to be done before the presidents can begin to negotiate a specific date and date for the summit.” The key term Lavrov emphasized for Trump’s men was “before” – перед тем — that’s process before PR.​.. ..In Riyadh, Lavrov also revealed a split on the US side. He told Russian reporters that he had asked Rubio and Waltz what end-of-war settlement plan Trump’s emissary on Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, had been discussing in Munich last week with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, according to Sikorsi’s public disclosure and the video record. “I asked US Secretary of State Rubio and Waltz what it means. They said it was a fake.”​... ..Rubio then telephoned the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, together with the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to reassure them on what had not been agreed with the Russians. The text of the release reveals the political precedence Rubio gives to the Europeans ahead of the UK and the EU.​ https://johnhelmer.net/trump-tries-grandstanding-in-riyadh-rubio-steps-down/#more-91124

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"I will meet Donald with pleasure" – that's what President Putin expressed Wednesday in a brief televised interview with RT. He further outlined some conditions for such a meeting, saying that it can't just involve sitting for some tea or coffee, but both the Russian and American diplomatic teams which met in Riyadh the day prior must thoroughly prepare to negotiate issues most important to each, particularly the Ukraine crisis.​.. ..Putin also called the Trump team 'completely different' in terms of positive openness and willingness to work with Moscow, in contrast to the prior Biden administration, and given the Riyadh meeting took place without bias and on "friendly" terms, and with no "condemnation of what had been done in the past" – meaning the two sides showed willingness to move forward and not rehash a blame-game.
Of the Tuesday Saudi-hosted talks, which lasted four-and-half hours, Putin described: "It is impossible to solve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing trust between Russia and the United States" – and stressed that the process is about restoring this trust, toward a resolution of the conflict.
He was further quoted in Interfax saying of the talks: "Yes, I have been informed. I rate them highly, there are results."
As for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, his follow-up assessment after leading the delegation in Riyadh was as follows: "Moscow and Washington need to clean up the legacy of former US President Joe Biden's administration, which ruined the foundation of long-lasting cooperation between the two countries."​... ..Putin's spokesman on Wednesday remained cautiously optimistic:
“Maybe. Or maybe not,” Peskov said, responding to a question about the possibility of the Trump-Putin summit in February.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-i-will-meet-donald-pleasure

Probationary period civilians again... Incoming! DOGE Poised To Strike Defense Department With Mass Layoffs https://www.zerohedge.com/political/incoming-doge-poised-strike-defense-department-mass-layoffs

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One month into Israel’s West Bank offensive, violence and uncertainty are the new normal
Israel has killed 55 Palestinians after one month of its ongoing “Iron Wall” offensive in the West Bank Killings, mass displacement, and uncertainty are the new normal.​ .https://mondoweiss.net/2025/02/one-month-into-israels-west-bank-offensive-violence-and-uncertainty-are-the-new-normal/

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UN chief slams Israeli police raids on UN schools in occupied East Jerusalem UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday “strongly” condemned Israeli police’s raid on schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reports.
​ “The secretary general condemns the breach of inviability of United Nations premises in occupied East Jerusalem, including the UNRWA training center and the attempt to forcibly enter three UNRWA schools and seek their closure,” said spokesperson Stephane Dujarric during a news conference
​ According to witnesses, police stormed the UNRWA-run Jerusalem Elementary School in Silwan town and interrogated its management members on Tuesday.
The raids also targeted another school in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood and a vocational training center in the Qalandia refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250218-un-chief-slams-israeli-police-raids-on-un-schools-in-occupied-east-jerusalem/

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'Pure Evil': Hamas Hands Over Remains of Dead Israeli Mother, Toddler & Infant Thursday was a somber and tragic day for Israel as the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages were returned by Hamas, 503 days after they were initially kidnapped in the Oct.7, 2023 raids on southern Israel and massacres.
​ "Hamas had said earlier in the week that it was handing over the bodies of Shiri Silberman Bibas, her two young sons Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 at the time of his abduction," Times of Israel writes.​.. ..It's unclear how precisely the captives died, also in terms of when or where in captivity, but what's clear is the young had been taken alive:
​ ​The mother and children were taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Video of the abduction, with a terrified Shiri Bibas seen swaddling her two redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men, ricocheted around the world in the hours after the attack.... ..Israel's Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli blasted the whole handover ordeal of small coffins, saying "a society that cultivates a culture of murder and death has no right to exist."...
..Hamas has claimed it was actually Israeli bombs and attacks on Gaza which in the end killed the slain hostages, which they emphasized in propaganda posters featuring a bloody, monstrous Netanyahu..​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/tragic-day-hamas-hands-over-remains-dead-israeli-mother-toddler-infant

​ 11 more bodies found in south Lebanon after Israeli withdrawal
​ Truce pausing Israel's war on Gaza — which has reportedly killed over 48,297 Palestinians, a figure revised by officials to nearly 62,000, having added thousands who are missing and now presumed dead — enters its 32nd day.​ https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/live-blog-israel-abducts-30-palestinians-in-occupied-west-bank-raids-18266444

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Israel Creates Directorate to Oversee Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
​ On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the creation of a directorate in the Defense Ministry tasked with overseeing the implementation of the plan announced by US President Donald Trump to ethnically cleanse Gaza.​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-creates-directorate-oversee-ethnic-cleansing-gaza/5880302

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Another Blackwater? Nearly 100 U.S. Mercenaries Are in Gaza Right Now​;​ 96 former U.S. special forces veterans are currently stationed in Gaza.
​ These mercenaries have been hired by UG Solutions, a North Carolina based military contractor, to patrol the intersection that Israel used to separate the north from the south of Gaza. What the Occupation called the “Netzarim Corridor” split Gaza with a fortified wide road to re-supply weapons and tanks as well as providing a vantage point to launch attacks on both the north and the south.​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/another-blackwater-nearly-100-us-mercenaries-gaza/5880286

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Satellite Imagery Reveals 7 New Israeli Army Outposts In Syria The new sites are equipped with living quarters and command centers and aim to reinforce an indefinite Israeli presence in Syria​ https://thecradle.co/articles/satellite-imagery-reveals-seven-new-israeli-army-outposts-in-syria

Choking the tanker trade between Iran and China to hurt both geopolitical rivals:​ Trump’s No-Prisoners Approach to Iran-China Oil Crackdown​ https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/trumps-no-prisoners-approach-to-iran-china-oil-crackdown.html

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Lots of these people are working for cheap in the US. Trump Signs Executive Order Terminating All Federal Taxpayer Benefits Going To Illegal Aliens The cost of welfare programs for noncitizens is estimated to be in the billions.
​ The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimated that federal expenditures on illegal aliens in 2023 totaled nearly $66.5 billion, including more than $23 billion in federal medical expenditures and $11.6 billion in welfare benefits from Food Stamps, child nutrition, SSI, and other programs.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-signs-executive-order-terminating-all-federal-taxpayer-benefits-going-illegal

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Shades of Teddy Roosevelt: Trump Enforcers Affirm Lina Khan's Approach to Antitrust New Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson and acting Antitrust Division chief Omeed Assefi endorsed the 2023 merger guidelines. There's a new bipartisan consensus.​

Trump Enforcers Affirm Lina Khan's Approach to Antitrust

Trump Confirms Fort Knox Audit, But Gold Slips As Bessent Downplays Revaluation Rumors​ https://www.zerohedge.com/precious-metals/trump-confirms-fort-knox-audit-gold-slips-bessent-downplays-revaluation-rumors

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RFK Jr. Lays Out His HHS Agenda: 'Nothing Is Going To Be Off Limits'​ “Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized,” Kennedy told HHS staff, Tuesday morning. ​“I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science.”
​ Some of these previously taboo concerns, he said, include “the childhood vaccine schedule, electromagnetic radiation, glyphosate, other pesticides, ultra processed foods, artificial food additives, SSRI and other psychiatric drugs, PFAS, PFOAs, microplastics.”
​ RFK Jr. reminded HHS staff that an “overwhelming majority” of our Founding Fathers were “citizen scientists,” including “Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, a physician, Julian Bartlett, a physician, Matthew Thornton, a physician, and Oliver Wolcott, a physician.”​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/rfk-jr-lays-out-his-hhs-agenda-nothing-going-be-limits

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Two birds with one stone.. Go ACOG! ​ Peer-Reviewed Study Confirms mRNA Injections Cross the Placenta and Reach the Fetus
Intramuscular mRNA-1273 injection rapidly crosses the placenta within one hour, accumulates in fetal organs, translates into Spike protein, and persists in fetal tissues after birth.​

BREAKING - Peer-Reviewed Study Confirms mRNA Injections Cross the Placenta and Reach the Fetus

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Trump Could Be About To Ban COVID Vaccines; Report Trump health officials could be about to recommend a complete stop to covid vaccines for all age groups in the US, according to a report.
​ The move would effectively ban the vaccines amid widespread suggestions that they are having expansive side effects and causing a spike in excess deaths.
The Daily Mail outlines how Dr Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s nomination to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has backed a petition calling for the mRNA vaccines to be paused and retested.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/trump-could-be-about-ban-covid-vaccines-report

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The modified mRNA in the Pfizer and Moderna "vaccine" products causes some people's cells to keep making toxic spike protein without end. NEW STUDY - Circulating Spike Protein Detectable 709 Days after COVID-19 mRNA Injection
Participants with post-vaccination syndrome had significantly higher circulating Spike protein levels compared with the control group.​

NEW STUDY - Circulating Spike Protein Detectable 709 Days after COVID-19 mRNA Injection

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A Midwestern Doctor has more on that: Yale Just Proved COVID Vaccine Injury Exists and Spike Production Persists for Years Inside The Body Reviewing the consequences of the reckless steps used to make the vaccines and the immunological damage which followed​

Yale Just Proved COVID Vaccine Injury Exists and Spike Production Persists for Years Inside The Body

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The probability of Earth-impact will likely increase until it suddenly goes to 0% (or 100%). Why “city-killer” asteroid YR4’s impact probability keeps increasing Asteroid 2024 YR4, which could devastate a city’s worth of humans, has gone from 1.2% to 2.3% to 2.6% to 3.1% chances of impact. Here’s why.​ https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/city-killer-asteroid-yr4-impact-probability/

​Monitoring Threats (featuring this picture of Jenny with apple blossoms before the freeze)