Putin wants Ukraine Ceasefire on Current Frontlines | Reuters

MOSCOW / LONDON, May 24, 2024 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told Reuters, saying he is prepared to fight on if Kyiv and the West do not respond.

 PUTIN READY TO STOP WAR FOR NEGOTIATED CEASEFIRE RECOGNIZING CURRENT FRONTLINES - 

two presstitutes at Reuters are claiming. They are citing "four anonymous Russian sources", 

and are warning Putin is ready to fight as long as it takes if West refuses.

MOSCOW, May 24, 2024

Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin's entourage, said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's decision to rule out talks. 

 

War is diplomacy by other means. 

And it is the winner on all battlefields dictating the terms of 'peace'.

» Russia is ready if the West wants to fight for Ukraine. «

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

MOSCOW, May 13, 2024

 

"Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire – to freeze the war," said another of the four, a senior Russian source who has worked with Putin and has knowledge of top  level conversations in the Kremlin.
 

♫  He, like the others cited in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity given the matter's sensitivity. ♫ 

 

Under Hibatullah Akhundzada's leadership, the Islamic Republic 

was dissolved and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was re-established.

KABUL, August 15, 2021

 

Under General Abdourahamane Tchiani's leadership, the Republic of the Niger
resisted ECOWAS' invasion threats, kicked out all French and American
military, and called in Russian troops.

NIAMEY, May 3, 2024

 

Under Abdul-Malik Badruldeen al-Houthi's leadership, Ansar Allah overthrew
the previous regime in 2015, and took full control over the Republic of Yemen. 

SANA'A, May 24, 2024

On Realism and War with China | John Mearsheimer

Lex Fridman: The communication gap between China and the United States seems to be much greater than that of what was the former Soviet Union and the United States.

 

Mearchiavelli, Machiavelli's revenant.

 

John Mearsheimer: It’s an interesting question. A lot of people describe the Cold War as an ideological competition above all else.

Communism versus liberal democracy or communism versus liberal capitalism, whatever. I actually don’t believe that. The Soviets were realists to the core. Stalin was a realist par excellence, and ideology did not matter much in Stalin’s foreign policy. And if you look at Soviet foreign policy after World War II, throughout the Cold War, they were realists to the core. And in those days the Americans were realists. Sure, a lot of liberal ideology floating around out there, but the Americans were realists. One of the reasons we avoided a shooting match between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1989 was because both sides understood the basic balance of power logic.

 

The US-China competition is somewhat different. But first of all, the Chinese are realists to the core. I’ve spent a lot of time in China. I am basically a rock star in China. The Chinese are my kind of people. They are realists. They speak my language. It’s the United States that is no longer very realist. American leaders have a very powerful liberal bent and tend not to see the world in realist terms.

 

That’s fascinating. So the Chinese are pragmatic realists and think of the world as a competition of military powers?

 

Yeah, you are actually right. And I think we will avoid war. The problem with the Americans is, it’s not just their liberalism. It’s the possibility that we will pursue a rollback policy. During the Cold War the American grand strategy towards the Soviet Union was: containment, containment, containment. We now know from the historical record that the United States was not only pursuing containment. We were trying to rollback Soviet power to put it bluntly. We were trying to wreck the Soviet Union. And I would not be surprised moving forward with regard to China if the United States pursues a serious rollback policy.

 

So you’re saying throughout history the United States was always pursuing rollback policies? 

Look, you don’t respect the power of other nations. You fear the power of other nations.

 

Will there be a war with China in the 21st century?

 

I don’t know. But my argument is yes, there will be war with China. 

 

Quoted from:
Lex Fridman interviews John Mearsheimer - Nov 17, 2023. (transcript) (video)

 

 See also:
John Mearsheimer (2001) - The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.