Description:
In this episode we break down a new Atlantic article confirming that CIA director John Ratcliffe is running Project Ukraine, while Elon Musk accuses Zelensky of violating Starlink's terms of service and draws a hard line between Starlink and the Pentagon's Starshield. As the Starlink fight exposes a deep power struggle inside the Trump administration, Putin keeps betting on Dmitriev, Witkoff and Kushner to deliver a new European security architecture that Rubio insists is only about Donbas. Who is really running Washington's Russia policy, and does Putin's unusual diplomacy stand any chance?
Timeline:
00:00:00 Atlantic article: CIA and Ratcliffe run Project Ukraine
00:01:57 Power struggle in Washington: CIA vs Musk
00:04:43 The Starlink Wars explained
00:06:48 Ratcliffe's close ties to Trump
00:09:06 Ratcliffe's Moscow trip and Putin message
00:11:16 Tulsi Gabbard sidelined and the neocon faction
00:12:47 Bessent, Vance and Musk on the other side
00:14:03 Starlink vs Starshield: civilian and military
00:16:31 Musk's X posts on Ukraine terms of service
00:20:10 Provisioning issue and Russian jamming risk
00:23:18 Did the CIA tell Ukraine to ignore the rules?
00:26:43 Ukraine caught between the CIA and Musk
00:28:38 Putin, Dmitriev, Witkoff and Kushner talks
00:31:08 Putin's push for a new European security architecture
00:35:56 Why Lavrov and Rubio sat out the talks