Senate Intelligence Committee Report: "Manafort hired and worked increasingly closely with a Russian national, Konstantin Kilimnik . Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer. Kilimnik quickly became an integral part of Manafort's operations in Ukraine and Russia..."
"Manafort briefed Kilimnik on sensitive Campaign polling data and the
Campaign's strategy for beating Hillary Clinton . AtManafort's direction , Gates used an
encrypted messaging application to send additional Campaign polling data to Kilimnik ."
"Manafort also discussed with Kilimnik a peace plan for eastern Ukraine that benefited the Kremlin. At Yanukovych's direction, Kilimnik sought Manafort's
assistance with the plan. Manafort continued to work with Kilimnik on the plan until at least
early 2018."
"The Committee obtained some information suggesting Kilimnik may have been connected to the GRU's hack and leak operation targeting the 2016 U.S.election."
Then a lot is redacted.
"The Committee found that Manafort’s presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for the Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on , the Trump Campaign."
"The Committee assesses that Kilimnik likely served as a channel to Manafort for Russian intelligence services."
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Incredible that Trump does not understand that Putin will refuse to see Zelensky until the bitter end.
Putin's reasons are many. 1. On July 12, 2021, Putin published his big declaration of war on Ukraine: ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“...
Its essence was that no Ukrainian nation existed, since it was merely part of Russia.
But, of course, Trump got rid of Alexander Vindman, Fiona Hill & John Bolton who understood what this meant and went for Witkoff et al who know & understand nothing.
/2en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
2. For those faint-hearted who did not read or understand Putin's first declaration of war, he issued two more on December 17, 2021, calling for the elimination of Nato's whole enlargement from 1997 etc.
The Biden administration understood but should have armed Ukraine more. /3
Thoughts on Alaska one week later: 1. Trump's invitation of Putin to US soil remains a massive betrayal of everything that the US stands for. 2. His invitation did nothing positive: Putin won & Trump appears his obedient servant. /1
3. Yet, Putin's victory was limited. Trump did not do 3 things (that I had feared).
A. He did not clearly side with Putin.
B. He did not end the US sanctions on Russia.
C. He did not instigate big US-Russia economic cooperation. /2
4. The August 18 Trump meeting with Zelensky & 7 top European leaders was a surprising success.
Uncharacteristically Trump was courteous as were the Europeans, but they held firmly in favor of Ukraine.
Trump was impeded in expressing his love for Putin. /3
A few observations on the US-Russia-Ukraine-EU discussion on the war in Ukraine. 1. Witkoff has outstandingly understood absolutely everything & knows nothing about Russia. Incredible that Trump does not fire even him. The dumber & morte naive you are, the more Trump likes you.
2. Lavrov has made clear that Russia has made NO concession (couldn't he help us by saying that Witkoff is an idiot?). Russia denies Ukraine's right to exist as a nation. Only Trump & Witkoff appear dumb enough to miss that point. The other Trump people just go along.
3. Positively, Ukraine & Europe (minus Hungary) understand & arm as fast as they just can. 4. Impressively, Ukraine has developed lots of new arms, notably long-distance missile Flamingo 3000km. Ukraine needs to hit Russian key targets, oil, electricity & Moscow.
Whoever writes that "all wars end with negotiations" should be refuted by an decent foreign affairs journal, because it is not true in modern times. 1. World War I ended with revolution in Russia in1917 and Germany in 1918. /1
2. World War II ended with the capitulations of Germany & Japan, because from January 1943 at their Casablanca summit Churchill & Roosevelt agreed not to negotiate with Hitler. /2
3. After World War II, a large number of imperialist or colonialist wars have taken place & in every major case, the imperialist power has lost:
France in Vietnam & Algeria;
The UK in India;
The US in Vietnam & Afghanistan;
The USSR in Afghanistan. /3
Various madhatters try to claim that I oppose diplomacy by opposing the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska.
No, try to understand! 1. Trump is not defending Ukraine, the US or the West but submitting to Putin as we know from Helsinki 2018. That is not in the interest of the West. /1
2. Trump is not only subservient to Putin but as dumb & uninformed as they come. 3. The whole idea of the meeting is based on Witkoff's misunderstanding that Putin was prepared to give up parts of the Zaporizhzhe & Kherson oblasts Russia holds. Wrong idea, no basis. /2
4. Trump has not formulated any idea what he wants to achieve apart from trading territories, which is a Witkoff misunderstanding. Why hold a meeting without purpose? 5. Putin has clear aims:
A. Claim that Russia is still a great power.
B. Be allowed into the US. /3
The incompetence of the Trump administration is incredible.
Witkoff has now met Putin five times in long meetings without any own interpreter or assistant.
He seems to have misunderstood everything. 1. The US demand was full ceasefire, but Putin offered only partial ceasefire. /1
2. Putin demanded Ukraine withdraw from the rest of Zaporizhzhe & Kherson oblasts, but Witkoff thought he offered Russia to withdraw. 3. Witkoff thought Putin agreed a trilateral meeting with Trump & Zelensky, but he did not. /2
The only thing Witkoff appears to have understood was that Putin wanted the well fortified remaining Ukrainian-held quarter of Donetsk oblast (Sloviansk & Kramatorsk), which would be a major blow to Ukraine's whole defense. /3