Trump talking about needing a new leader and elections in Ukraine isn't just the US throwing Zelensky under the bus.

It's part of it, but that's not the full story.

What's more important from the perspective of the power players...

It's both the US and Russia starting to converge on what they view as the appropriate time to end the war.

When this happens, who knows. Just know that they're eyeing the goal line.

More importantly, they appear to agree on the series of events that will trigger it.

Zelensky's removal simply marks the next phase of how both sides proceed when the shooting stops.

Once you put a new face in, that's when it's time to change the agenda. Similar to how there's the two-party system in the US, the same thing gets done in Ukraine. The average person associates the change of agenda with a new face to point to, rather than thinking about the interests at play.

But again (and I've said this many times before), both sides WANT this conflict to drag on for as long as possible.

Russia can continue to take incremental amounts of territory, profit from higher energy prices, and it can even demand concessions from the US.

Trump buying Russian diesel fuel is a signal that the APS/TPS* believes the Ukrainians can't keep this war going and is willing to offer Moscow better terms on things where their interests do conflict/diverge.

It's almost like a game of chicken with low risk for both the US and Russia, so to speak.

The US is saying, "We don't think Ukraine has much time, so we're trying to sweeten the post-war terms as much as we can and we'll enrich your energy sector if you agree to start winding things down. We have our own agenda regarding Ukraine, but it needs the kinetic phase to end. Fortunately for you, our agenda doesn't interfere with yours."

Russia has no problem with this either. The European Union is being further weakened, further dependent on the decisions Washington and Wall Street decide, and Russia has even started talks to normalize business ties with the US (on Russia's terms).

The US private sector (BlackRock, StateStreet, Vanguard, and multinational corporate asset managers, etc.) has zero interest in defeating Russia. All it cares about is being there to pick up the pieces once the shooting stops, but in the process is able to carve out a bigger chunk for itself without interfering with Russian demands.

Neither side intends to engage each other head on or to make negotiations hostile.

As a matter of fact, it should be obvious that the US is also keeping Ukraine on a short leash and Europe is being told to stay out of this on the sidelines. It's a good faith gesture by the US (as ironic as it may seem) so not to spoil the negotiations and lose out.

Putin, representing the nationalistic private sector interests of Russia that he has power over, responds in kind with the constant compliments of Trump.

That's not something you'd say about someone arming your rival on your doorstep. You say that when you want something and can get something out of the other side.

That's why there's talk of Zelensky not supposed to be targeting diesel refineries and plants, which is something that effects the global economy and the supply chains that the APS/TPS is susceptible to.
.....

*American Power Structure / Transnational Power Structure.

https://x.com/geopolitics_aoe/status/2109675253857235039

🎱 @Magic8BallRedux