https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/contradictory-signals-from-the-kremlin
Contradictory signals from the Kremlin on the geopolitical scenarios to come
Published by gilbertdoctorow
Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels. View all posts by gilbertdoctorow
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Gilbert Doctorow 
Seeing what the presidents have “accomplished” or done and on what basis they were elected on and how they performed I don’t share the idea that Trump (or any other US president since Kennedy) has any meaningful influence of foreign policy and that “US foreign policy is dictated by the men in grey suits” to paraphrase Russian president Putin.
That said I found presidents Putin’s statement of the war coming to an end a bit perplexing within the context of increasing attacks on Russia hearth land far beyond even Russia’s capital. It would either mean Russia would go into peace negotiations or something more far reaching. Like Fico said, it’s crazy for the EU to buy hydrocarbons from the US at higher prices that the US itself also buys from Russia. The US empire has been on a rampage to monopolize and appropriate the global hydrocarbon flow (Venezuela, Middle East, Russia, …) to be able to manage and contain the EU, China, India. With Kaja Kallas, Merz and so on, it’s hard to believe Europe will suddenly (be able to) change course and find rapprochement with Russia.
That leaves the increasing bellicose course where Europe has transformed into Ukraine’s (up till now untouched) strategic rear. If president Putin says Russia has been fighting with 1 hand only up till now, the declaration that the war is nearing its end and the strategic Sarmat missile system had another test run yesterday and will be put into service before the end of this year, that declaration might more uncomfortable than we like to admit.
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