Washington,D.C. Drops Ukraine, Israel Backs Down On Hamas Demands by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2025-02-13 at 05:56:36 )

Washington,D.C. Drops Ukraine, Israel Backs Down On Hamas Demands by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

The two big stories in the news today are the Trump administration saying Ukraine is going to have to give up territory and NATO ambitions in order to secure a peace deal, while Israel appears to retreat from its ceasefire standoff with Hamas.

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the United States "does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome for a negotiated settlement," and that "returning to Ukraines pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective." This comes as President Trump announces that he is in talks with Vladimir Putin to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

Both NATO membership and recapturing all territory lost to Russia have been the goal of Ukraines President Zelensky and the NATO enthusiasts throughout the western world who adore him. Antiwars Dave DeCamp explains:

Restoring Ukraines pre-2014 borders has been a war goal of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, although there have been signs in recent months that he has accepted that is unrealistic. But he is still calling for strong security guarantees from the United States that involve the deployment of troops, which Hegseth also dismissed.

"Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission, and they should not be covered under Article 5," he said.

"There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact. To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be United States troops deployed to Ukraine," Hegseth added.

"Hundreds of thousands of people would still be alive had Biden been willing to say this three years ago," Aaron Maté wrote on Twitter regarding Hegseths comments. "Instead, Biden refused, fueled a proxy war, presided over Ukraines decimation, and then turned around and said that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO anyway. It was all a bait and switch with one goal only: use Ukraine to bleed Russia. Whoever went along with this epic disaster - and that sadly includes progressive lawmakers and media - should ask themselves if it was worth it."

And now the United States treasury secretary is meeting with Zelensky to negotiate a deal granting the United States access to Ukraines considerable rare earth mineral wealth - not to continue the war, but to pay for a post-war "security shield" that the United States would be supplying under President Trumps plan. Ukraine has been scorched, shredded and spat on by its buddies in Washington,D.C., and now it is being strip-mined.

Everyone who knew anything about anything said from the very beginning of the war that this would happen. Professor John Mearsheimer warned back in 2015 that the west was leading Ukraine down the primrose path and that the result would be Ukraine getting wrecked. Many other experts and analysts warned that NATO provocations would lead to disaster for Ukraine, long before the war began.

So much easily avoidable death. This war was provoked, and was provoked deliberately, solely to move a few pieces around on the grand chessboard to help the United States secure planetary domination. The United States and its allies refused off-ramp after off-ramp after off-ramp to this nightmare, both before Russia invaded and in the weeks immediately afterward.

Imagine being a Ukrainian fighting on the front lines right now as the United States secretary of defense says you are going to lose your territory and you will never join NATO while Kyiv signs over your nations rare earth mineral wealth to Washington,D.C.. I would desert so hard.

Other United States-aligned proxies take note: this is what happens when you put your country on the line for the advancement of United States strategic agendas. I hope Taiwan is watching these events closely.

Report: Israel Says Gaza Hostage Deal Can Continue If Hamas Releases Three on Saturday
by Dave DeCamp-DecampDave #Gaza #Hamas #Israel #Palestinians #hostages "please see here:" - Antiwar.com (Antiwarcom) February 12, 2025

The other major story today is that Israel appears to be backing down on its ceasefire brinkmanship in Gaza. Barak Ravid reports for Axios that according to an unnamed Israeli official, Israel has told mediators that it will abide by the ceasefire terms as long as Hamas releases three hostages on Saturday as originally planned.

This would be a significant walk-back from the Netanyahu regime, who shortly beforehand had been insisting that Hamas must release "all" hostages on Saturday, which went against the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

Additionally, the aid requirements Hamas had been demanding now appear to be flooding in from Israel. Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed reports from the Gaza Strip:

Thousands of tents and caravans have entered Gaza. The situation is becoming more stable, and aid has been flowing in consistently over the past hours.

The same is true in terms of medical aid as local reports indicate that at least five medical aid trucks have gotten into Gaza during the last 24 hours.

The ceasefire will likely hold as Hamas gears up to release the three Israeli prisoners on Saturday in exchange for dozens of Palestinian hostages.

Israel is beginning to allow a surge of aid instead of a trickle.

It is hard to see this as anything other than a win for Hamas. The ceasefire became jeopardized when Hamas announced it would be delaying the scheduled release of Israeli hostages until Israel began abiding by the ceasefire, and Israeli officials have been admitting to the press that Israel was violating the ceasefire while Hamas was not.

Hamas demanded Israel hold up its end of the bargain and Israel made some threats, but apparently eventually backed down. Perhaps Tel Aviv was just practicing the Israeli tradition of "shitat hamatzliah" - just trying to do whatever you want to do and seeing if you get away with it.

So all is not lost. Amidst all the madness of this world, peace may yet get a word in edgewise!

"This Ms Caitlin Johnstone article, its pictures, and its links are here:"

Thanks for reading!!

Everyone has my unconditional permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I have written) in any way they like free of charge.

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my "sweet merchandise", buying my new book "Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone", or my previous book "Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers". The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for "my website", which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I am trying to do with this platform, "click here".

Ah, the Buddha Ms Caitlin speaks the truth!!! - Cousin Lucky