Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Here’s how that WSJ article starts: 

Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine

Three powerful businessmen—two Americans and a Russian—hunched over a laptop in Miami Beach last month, ostensibly to draw up a plan to end Russia’s long and deadly war with Ukraine.

But the full scope of their project went much further, according to people familiar with the talks. They were privately charting a path to bring Russia’s $2 trillion economy in from the cold—with American businesses first in line to beat European competitors to the dividends. 

At his waterfront estate, billionaire developer-turned-special envoy Steve Witkoff was hosting Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund and Vladimir Putin’s handpicked negotiator, who had largely shaped the document they were revising on the screen. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had arrived from his nearby home on an island known as the “Billionaire Bunker.” 

Dmitriev was pushing a plan for U.S. companies to tap the roughly $300 billion of Russian central bank assets, frozen in Europe, for U.S.-Russian investment projects and a U.S.-led reconstruction of Ukraine. U.S. and Russian companies could join to exploit the vast mineral wealth in the Arctic. There were no limits to what two longtime adversaries could achieve, Dmitriev had argued.

  https://apple.news/Af96_2kRQT1GagF3vGGnzWg

So the president’s son in-law is intimately involved in peace negotiations with a foreign adversary that could benefit the family enormously. Par for the course these days.

No need to blow up refineries when you just have to turn off the tap at the port. More bang for your buck 😁

A meeting between US and Ukrainian officials in Florida was "very productive", US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said, but more work remains to be done towards ending Russia's war in Ukraine.

"There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there'sanother party involved here that will have to be a part of theequation, and that will continue later this week, when [Donald Trump's special envoy Steve] Witkoff travels to Moscow, although we've also been in touch invarying degrees with the Russian side, but we have a pretty goodunderstanding of their views as well," he said.

US and Ukrainian officials talked for roughly four hours.

Later this week, Trump's special envoy, Witkoff, will travel to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.

And round and round we go. Ukraine won't budge on conceding land, Russia won't stop until they have said land

Tough.

Kherson and Zappy for Donetsk and Lusack needs exploring.

Could be a deal there to be done.Both give up land, for an equal loss.

Russia never talked of wanting Kherson and Zappy before war started.

Apparently, it’s the location of Euroclear which is not a proper answer:

Often described as a bank for banks, Euroclear traces its roots to the late 1960s, when it grew out of the Brussels office of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, which later became JP Morgan. At a time when financial transactions were speeding up, Euroclear enabled the electronic exchange of cash and securities (a stock, a bond or some other instrument to raise capital), rather than moving around piles of paper.

Today, Euroclear handles a mind-boggling amount of money – every four weeks it claims to process transactions equivalent to global GDP, or €1.3 quadrillion (meaning 1.3 plus 14 zeros) a year. None of this is held in cash. But Euroclear is security conscious. At its headquarters a pair of security cameras are trained on every corner.

Euroclear’s agreement with the Russian government dates back to October 2012. A few months earlier Vladimir Putin had secured a third term in office and cracked down brutally on opposition forces that had mounted unprecedented protests against his rule, but Russia’s integration into the global economy was marching on.

At the time Russian banks were looking for connections to western investors. “Probably all Russian brokers, banks, and even the Russian state held funds through Euroclear,” said Roeland Moeyersons, a business lawyer based in Brussels.

When it comes to dodgy Russian assets, though, which country has clean hands?

As mentioned by Ardillaun, it's because Euroclear is based in Brussels.

They are one of only two central securities deposits in the world and therefore hold an insane amount of securities for clients worldwide. If those clients would lose trust in Euroclear (because for example assets are used for something else than their intended purpose) it could potentially have devastating effects on the banking sector worldwide.

It's been used as somewhat of a threat for years now to avoid using Russian assets to help Ukraine, so in the meantime Belgium has used the taxes generated from those assets instead.

It's clear that it's the countries that know what Russian occupation means who are the most ardent supporters of Ukraine.

Indeed.

Here are the dragons teeth deployed in Palanga airport 2 weeks ago… also, once I got to the airport, the only mobile data I could get was an Edge connection… I’ve flown from
Palanga airport about 20 times over the last 3 years and never had no 3G/4G/5G there…

Does anyone think the theory Russia blew it up could be true? Some interesting theories in the replies too.

Well they have to say that. Hopefully they will do nothing of consequence.

Polish President has scrapped visit to Hungary amidst differences on Russia/Ukraine. The Law and Justice party used to be very close to Orbans Fidesz party because of similar views on cultural issues.

A Norwegian report finds the cost of a Russian victory is double the cost of helping Ukraine.

It's clear that Ukraine is reducing the Russian drone threat to Europe. Ukraine is being hit by 500 drones per day, while 16 out of 24 drones fired at Poland were not shot down by fighter jets.

Zelenskyy coming to Ireland tomorrow for a state visit…

https://www.thejournal.ie/zelensky-visit-ireland-tomorrow-schedule-6889897-Dec2025/

This French frigate also arrived today in Cork with what looks like some decent air defence radar systems… I wonder is it related to the visit?

And in addition…..

(the restrictions are from Sunday (yesterday) to Wednesday)