Will Vlad and Volod kiss and make up?

Great wars always seem to hinge on obscure places. The end of the Putin War on Ukraine—or at least a cease fire—may rest upon Zaporizhzhia a metropolis of 700,000 people. Just because you may not have heard of it before does not make it unimportant.

Encyclopedia Britannica notes:

In 1770 the fortress of Oleksandrivsk was established to ensure government control over the Zaporozhian Cossacks, whose headquarters were on nearby Khortytsya (Khortitsa) Island. The settlement became a town in 1806, and with the coming of the railroad in the 1870s it became an important hub for the rail and river transport of goods. It suffered extensive damage in 1917–20 during the Russian Revolution, but its fortunes improved considerably with the construction in 1927–32 of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, then the largest in the world. In World War II the dam was destroyed, but it was subsequently reconstructed. During the Soviet era, construction began on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant southwest of the city near Enerhodar; it would become the largest nuclear energy complex in Europe.

The city remains in Ukrainian hands while Russia holds the nuclear plant, but it is run by Ukrainians. Russian is the primary language of two thirds of the people in Zaporizhzhia.

It’s as clear as floodwaters, ain’t it?

In looking at the map, five words are the key: “after three years of war.” All that fighting—all that death—all that destruction—all that disruption with millions of people fleeing Ukraine for other lands—have resulted in a stalemate just as the Great War did.

The only benefit for NATO has been the testing of drone technology. In that way, proxy wars are crucial in the development of methods and means to destroy things and kill people.

Ukraine is an extension of the Afghanistan War. Hear me out. In 2001, Dubya got NATO to support America’s war effort.

20 years later, Biden unilaterally surrendered. Heading up to the unvictorious vamoose, Politico reported:

NATO allies have made no secret of their frustration with President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw forces from Afghanistan unconditionally by Sept. 11. Now as he arrives in Brussels this week for his first NATO summit as president, Biden must confront allies’ lingering resentment over the drawdown and tackle the thorny issues involved in securing the country’s future.

European officials say they are frustrated by what they saw as the Biden administration’s failure to sufficiently consult with allies ahead of the announcement, and the decision to move from a conditions-based withdrawal to one based on the calendar. U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace echoed those sentiments last month, telling parliament that he “regrets” the decision to withdraw forces without setting conditions on the Taliban.

So Biden skedaddled out of Afghanistan in August, and Putin invaded Ukraine in February knowing that NATO could and would do nothing because its de facto commander-in-chief was witless and senile.

What Putin failed to take into account was how corrupt Biden is. Had Putin thought this one through, he would have realized that Ukraine had Biden on retainer, which gave him a reason to blow $100 billion on this war.

This prolonged the war and forced Putin to buy some troops from North Korea; all of them seem to have returned home in a box.

Trump miscalculated the depth of the corruption on both sides. He naïvely thought he could bring Zelensky and Putin in and hash out a deal. No one wanted a deal because the war served both of them and their backers well.

But the president kept getting back to the Putin War. Donald Trump man never gives up. Last week he broke through with what was reported as a 28-point plan. But after reviewing those reports, I doubt anyone in the press knew what the heck is going on.

And just like that Democrats began calling him Neville Chamberlain—ending a decade of calling the president Hitler.

It looks as if peace is coming to Ukraine.

The Telegraph reported:

Vladimir Putin could return to the world stage under a European peace plan that agrees to allow Russia back into the G8.

The offer was made in a counter-proposal to Donald Trump’s 28-point plan, which heavily favored Russia.

The European plan contains several concessions, including a cap on the size of Ukraine’s army and a commitment to elections that could see Volodymyr Zelensky removed from power—a key demand of Moscow.

Following an emergency summit in Geneva, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said on Sunday night that the US was now “making some changes” to its peace plan.

He added: “I think this is a very, very meaningful, I would say probably best meeting and day we’ve had so far in this entire process, going back to when we first came to office in January.”

Putin gets to keep what he has taken, including Crimea, which Obama handed Russia in his second term when he was more flexible than a bucket of wet noodles. Pink gay noodles with plenty of butter.

Zelensky will flee once Ukrainians elect a new leader. I suggest moving to Switzerland, although Monaco no longer requires ties. He must beware of any building more than two stories high. Putin ain’t giving up completely.

Newsweek reported:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X, in part: “Everyone is offering support, giving advice, providing information — and I am grateful to each and every person who is giving this help to us, to Ukraine. It is important to ensure that the steps to end the war are effective, and that everything is doable. Ukraine has never wanted war, and we will never be an obstacle to peace.”

A U.S. State Department readout of the peace talks sent to Newsweek, in part: “Today, Secretary Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff, Mr. Jared Kushner, and Secretary Driscoll held an extensive and productive meeting with the Ukrainian delegation to review the latest draft agreements under discussion. The conversation was candid, detailed, and conducted in a spirit of partnership and shared purpose.”

“Secretary Rubio and his team reiterated the United States’ firm commitment to ensuring that Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and future prosperity remain central to the ongoing diplomatic process. They emphasized that this work is driven by President Trump’s goal of ending a war that has taken the lives of millions of people and preventing further loss of life through a durable and enforceable peace. Both sides welcomed the steady progress made and agreed to continue consultations as the agreements move toward final refinement.”

The only good I believe that came of all this is Putin’s Invasion showed how obsolete and weak NATO is. The partnership between the USA and the anti-USA European Union countries needs dissolution. World leaders have cluelessly mocked the commander-in-chief of the most important military in the military alliance. That is job of the Democrats. Europe should stick to what it does best: putting American workers out of work and stop meddling in our affairs.

I also learned a little about Zaporizhzhia, which is a beautiful city. Very beautiful. Why aren’t our cities like this?