Description:
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are back in Moscow, asking Putin to resubmit a European security architecture he already handed to Biden back in 2021. In this episode we break down the Axios report, the hardline Russian positions coming out of the Abu Dhabi talks, and why this push for deescalation and a Ukraine ceasefire looks like a rerun of the Minsk agreements. Will Putin fall for the same play twice?
Timeline:
00:00:00 Kushner and Witkoff head to Moscow
00:01:01 Why a new security architecture is a fantasy
00:02:34 Russia's December 2021 draft treaties
00:04:05 Witkoff, Putin and the ceasefire push
00:07:39 Kushner's game plan: resubmit and deescalate
00:10:22 Russia's hardline positions after Abu Dhabi
00:14:09 Nord Stream, Merkel and Minsk lessons
00:16:41 A rerun of Minsk with a twist
00:19:34 Why Russia is far stronger than in 2021
00:21:11 No good faith from Washington or Europe
00:24:35 Why a deal in weeks is impossible
00:26:06 What Putin should tell Kushner
00:28:19 Trump in a hurry, Putin is not
00:32:14 Inside Russia's Security Council
00:35:12 Biden, Blinken and broken promises