Is it Steve Witkoff’s turn to be sacked after Mike Waltz

After the sacking of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff in February and nominating a political appointee retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as chairman, currently the most powerful general in United States military hierarchy is Gen. Alexus the Grynch, who is simultaneously wearing three hats: as combatant commander EUROCOM; as ex officio SACEUR, an acronym for Supreme Allied Commander Europe since World War II; and as NATO’s top general by virtue of being de facto head of NATO’s military committee, comprising all 32 Chiefs of Defense of the transatlantic alliance.

Thus Gen. Grynch has the effective authority to make or break Ukraine peace deal, not the commander-in-chief who is being tactfully hoodwinked by Pentagon’s top brass. Not surprisingly, Gen Grynch is pushing Keith Kellogg’s Ukraine peace plan, asking for deployment of NATO’s peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

Mr. Kellogg is a retired general embodying deep state logic. He has already been effectively replaced by Mr. Trump’s close confidant Mr. Witkoff as de facto special envoy for Ukraine, who should be credited for arranging the historic Alaska summit. The irony is that Mr. Kellogg’s so-called peace plan was crafted not by him but by Gen. Grynch’s predecessor Gen. Cavoli who served as chief architect of Ukraine’s proxy war under Gens. Mark Milley and CQ Brown.

The central rationale of Kremlin’s vehement opposition to Ukraine’s NATO membership is that it comes with inherent right of deployment of NATO troops and military assets in member state. Now if NATO’s peacekeeping force is deployed in Ukraine, with or without Ukraine’s NATO membership, it essentially means the same thing.

Kremlin would never allow the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine right next to Russia’s western borders come what may. How would United States react if Russia deploys troops and military assets in Cuba or Venezuela a stone’s throw from maritime borders of United States?

What the Russian delegation understood by “security guarantees for Ukraine” was that Ukraine could have NATO’s Article 5-style collective defense treaties with European states that they could provide military support to Ukraine if it is invaded by a hostile power.

Ukraine has a capable and organized military force that has quite effectively been defending the country in the Russo-Ukraine War for over three years. It’s not some backward African country needing peacekeeping force for maintaining law and order. Therefore it doesn’t need the deployment of NATO troops on its soil, which is clearly a deal breaker.

Even an incorrigible hawk blinded by lust for blood, such as John Bolton and Lindsey Graham, would tell readers that confidence-building measures are essential for any peace deal to succeed. Cavalierly flouting the serendipitous peace process that began after the historic Alaska summit, however, Ukraine mounted a brazen airstrike on Russia on the Independence Day on August 24, deploying 95 drones that struck the Kursk nuclear power plant forcing a 50% reduction in the operating capacity of a reactor.

In addition, Ukrainian drones were intercepted across more than a dozen Russian regions, also causing a massive blaze at a large fuel export terminal at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia’s Leningrad region. But not a word was spoken about Ukraine’s deliberate provocation scuttling the nascent peace process by establishment media, in fact many European diplomats lauded Ukraine’s audacity in mounting the drone strike on Russia on the Independence Day.

But as soon as Russia responded with retaliatory strikes yesterday, dubbed the largest airstrike in history since Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe attack in the Battle of Britain during World War II, the chorus of European lickspittles chimed in, even though the lead American vocalist hasn’t delivered the opening lines yet, shedding crocodile tears over minor damage to irreplaceable archaeological monuments of British Council and European consulate.

What’s even more surprising is that today Reuters picked up an Onion’s risible anecdote and made it an exclusive report that Mr. Witkoff misunderstood Mr. Putin’s terms for ending the Ukraine War. I wonder why credits weren’t given to the Onion that conjured up the hilarious scoop, or to the Daily Mail and the rest of tabloids that first published the comical spoof on August 10. I considered Reuters to be a relatively credible news outlet, but it has proved that in the desperation to thwart Ukraine’s peace process, it could stoop as low as security establishment’s mouthpieces, Times, Post and Journal.

What Mr. Putin precisely proposed to Mr. Trump’s trusted confidant and seasoned real estate attorney and dealmaker Mr. Witkoff in the August 6 meeting in Moscow was that if Ukraine agreed to withdraw from the eastern Donetsk region, Russia would freeze the frontlines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, in addition Russia would also be prepared to return tracts of Ukrainian land it had occupied in the northern Sumy and northeastern Kharkiv regions. That’s what Mr. Trump had in mind when he alluded to land swapping in Ukraine, and these proposals have now been enshrined in the Ukraine peace process after the momentous Alaska summit.

Predictably, Politico and Reuters have simultaneously published the Onion’s risible spoof that Mr. Witkoff misunderstood Mr. Putin’s terms for ending the Ukraine War, and the rest of mainstream news outlets might soon follow the suit. In fact, there’s no new revelation in the fabricated report as the Daily Mail and other tabloids first published the ludicrous news on August 10, but little attention was paid to it three weeks ago.

Clearly, the security establishment back then didn’t want to spoil President Trump’s summit with Mr. Putin scheduled in Alaska on August 15, therefore a gag order was issued to establishment media about reporting on the story. But after Ukraine and Russia’s tit-for-tat airstrikes against each other, beginning on the Independence Day of Ukraine on August 24, spelling an abysmal end to Ukraine peace process that began after the Alaska summit, the deep state appears to have issued fresh instructions to mainstream news outlets of filling old wine in new bottles in order to mount a smear campaign against Mr. Witkoff for arranging the historic Alaska summit.

It’s worth recalling that similarly in March, the Atlantic’s editor Jeffrey Goldberg was the central figure in Signalgate scandal, after which Mike Waltz was sacked as NSA. Although a former special forces officer, Mr. Waltz ran afoul of deep state after he met Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 18, alongside Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff.

That meeting was meant to pave the way for a summit between Trump and Putin. After the talks ended, Waltz said he thought the summit could be arranged in the coming weeks. Thus, Mr. Waltz ruffled the feathers in security establishment by actively working to arrange a meeting between US and Russian leaders.

This transgression was deemed a sacrilegious assault on national security domain. No wonder deep state assigned the task of doing a hit job on Mr. Waltz to its trusted and most experienced operative, Mr. Deep Throat of Watergate fame, who artfully hatched the plot to kick Mr. Waltz out from key NATSEC appointment.

After Mr. Waltz, it is now Mr. Witkoff’s turn. The score is now two down, one more to go. Let’s see for how long anti-establishment Team Trump could stick together. But I’d still bet on Mr. President’s characteristic determination and defiance against the odds.

Alaska Summit: There is no Deal until there is a Deal

After the historic Alaska summit on August 15, harking back to Cold War-era meet-ups between Soviet and American leaders, Ukraine is getting coveted non-NATO collective security guarantees from US and European powers. What more could Mr. Zelensky conceivably ask for. It never was a question of winning territory, as Mr. Trump wisely pointed out, because advancing Russian troops would conquer the remaining tiny sliver of Donetsk one way or the other.

It’s noteworthy that in early days of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, in Feb-March 2022, Russia not only captured most of Donbas but its troops also reached the outskirts of capital Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, before withdrawing back after the commencement of Istanbul peace initiative by end March 2022. Thus it never was a question of winning territory, as Russian forces have demonstrable capability to occupy entire Ukraine, and the casus bellum of the war was to liberate Russian-majority Donbas from onslaught of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi terrorist groups following the Maidan coup in 2014.

Moreover, Mr. Trump’s heir apparent Veep JD Vance, who certainly has the charisma and ideological underpinnings to carry forward Mr. Trump’s political legacy, has astutely warned the Europeans that US was done funding the war. Now it’s up to Europeans to collects alms and provide billions of dollars of military assistance to Ukraine’s perpetually hungry military brass.

Biden admin’s needless, forever war has already cost trillions of dollars to American taxpayers. Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent only on providing weapons to Ukrainian proxies and deploying and maintaining additional US troops and military assets for over three years in Eastern Europe. But the indirect opportunity cost of the war runs into trillions. Russian oil, gas and rest of exports were excluded from global economy for over three years. In addition, Western multinational corporations had to wrap up their lucrative businesses and leave the Russian market immediately after the onset of the war. Quite a few such companies in fact became bankrupt after losing business in Russia.

Notwithstanding, momentum of the epic battle for Donbas is unmistakably in Russia’s favor. Intrepid Russian warriors are currently scaling the fortifications of strategic town of Pokrovsk. Once the town is captured, the remainder of Donetsk will fall in Russia’s lap like ripe fruit. Therefore halting the ground offensive was never an option, although Mr. Putin did propose freezing the frontlines in Kherson and Zaporizhia during the negotiations.

Before the Alaska summit, however, a partial ceasefire was discussed in which Russia and Ukraine could’ve halted airstrikes against each other. But the Pentagon vetoed that proposition on Ukraine’s behalf, because a limited ceasefire would’ve favored Russia. Since the foiled Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023, Ukrainian troops have been retreating on the ground in the face of Russia’s fierce assault in Donbas.

Hence Ukraine’s only option is to mount occasional drone strikes inside Russia to give it a sense that it’s still in the game, and thus keep receiving billions of dollars in assistance from American and European patrons on that pretext. It’d be prudent of Mr. Zelensky to read the clearly visible writing on the wall and agree to generous peace terms offered by Trump admin. Because Ukraine is a pygmy caught in the fight between two giants, and it could become a flashpoint for the doomsday scenario that could spell end to humanity.

Besides Obama admin’s purported “humanitarian intervention” in Libya in 2011 causing nothing but chaos and destruction all over the hapless country still being run by two parallel gov’ts, Biden admin’s proxy war in Ukraine was another instance of liberal interventionism. This was the central rationale all the Europeans libs gathered around Mr. Zelensky to lend moral support in tough negotiations with conservative Team Trump on August 18.

Throughout American history, from FDR and Truman down to Obama and Biden, Democratic administrations have fought many more wars than Republicans, though slick libs often shrewdly qualify warmongering with benign epithets, such as necessary, justifiable and defensive.

Military strategists, not only of Russia but the rest of the world too, are at a loss to fathom Mr. Zelensky’s military objectives in insisting on still waging the lost war. Ukraine can certainly not win back territory, as is evident from the foiled Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023. It can’t even defend territory, as is obvious from Russian blitz in Donetsk and Luhansk during last several months.

Thus it appears the only reason Mr. Zelensky is refusing reasonable peace terms proposed by Russia and endorsed by United States is to keep receiving billions of dollars in assistance from American and European patrons on the pretext of waging war against Russia. War is indeed a profitable business, not only for military-industrial complex but also for greedy Ukrainian oligarchs thriving on American and European taxpayers’ money.

Unsurprisingly behind the back of Mr. Trump, Commander EUCOM Gen. Alexus the Grynch has essentially fallen back to Keith Kellogg’s Ukraine peace plan, a retired general representing deep state logic. Mr. Kellogg has no place in Trump admin. He has already been effectively replaced by Mr. Trump’s close confidant Mr. Witkoff as de facto special envoy for Ukraine, who should be credited for arranging the historic Alaska summit.

Mr. Kellogg was playing the role of a spoiler in peace negotiations and his nefarious plan has unequivocally been rejected not only by Russia but by Trump admin itself. It’d be prudent of Mr. Trump to avoid distractions of domestic politics for a while and pay more attention to Ukraine peace process that will be the defining moment of Trump presidency for all times to come.

Although Mr. Putin graciously accepted the proposal of non-NATO collective security guarantees for Ukraine at the Alaska summit, the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine right next to Russia’s western borders is a redline for Kremlin. What the Russian delegation understood by “collective security guarantees for Ukraine” was that Ukraine could have NATO’s Article 5-style collective defense treaties with European states that they could provide military support to Ukraine if it is invaded by a hostile power.

Ukraine has a capable and organized military force that has quite effectively been defending the country in the Russo-Ukraine War for over three years. It’s not some backward African country needing peacekeeping force for maintaining law and order. Therefore it doesn’t need the deployment of foreign mercenaries on its soil, particularly wimpy European draft dodgers and malingerers reporting sick all the time while facing baptism of fire. There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip, therefore Mr. Trump should keep spoilers at bay and lead peace negotiations himself.

Palestinian Statehood: Bargaining Chip to Extort Concessions from Trump

Of all duplicitous politicians in the world, French Bonapartist Macron does not earnestly intend to recognize Palestinian statehood. He has given September deadline simply because he is using Palestinian statehood as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Trump admin.

After judging him to be an incorrigible sycophant, Mr. Trump has repeatedly insulted Macron, even calling him a publicity-hungry lickspittle following G7 summit after Macron broke fake news of imminent ceasefire during Iran-Israel standoff.

In addition, Trump has been pressuring Macron to stop the witch-hunt against the most popular conservative leader of France Marine Le Pen and let her contest elections. Therefore, the slick Frenchman is cunningly playing the Palestinian statehood card to shun Trump admin from endorsing his political nemesis.

Macron isn’t the only conman using the unfolding tragedy in Palestine for political ends. Ramaphosa gov’t of South Africa instituted the Gaza genocide case against Israel in ICJ in December 2023 as electoral gimmick because elections were due in May 2024 in which ruling African National Congress was predicted in opinion polls to lose its majority, though despite losing popularity, it eventually managed to form a coalition gov’t.

Similarly, President of ICJ Nawaf Salam, who pronounced the vague judgment that it was plausible that Israel's actions in Gaza Strip could amount to genocide, was appointed as PM of anti-Hezbollah gov’t in Lebanon in January 2025. It’s obvious that nobody is sincere with Palestinians, least of all duplicitous politicians, and the Palestine cause is being co-opted for moral posturing to obtain political dividends.   

Nonetheless, Macron and Starmer have instigated a full-fledged mutiny against Trump’s authority. No European leader, liberal or conservative, would have dared defy the authority of Obama or Biden admin. Clearly, European leaders are frightened by universal appeal of Trump’s alt-right movement, and Trump’s unequivocal support for Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage in particular.

Being paramount leader of US-subjugated “Free World” is similar to leading a pack of wolves. A slight hint of weakness would tempt blood-thirsty wolves to tear Trump apart. Macron and Starmer must be harshly taught to be obedient, because if they get away by defying Trump’s authority with impunity, then others would follow suit. These are a few steps that Trump admin could take to re-assert its authority:

United States has deployed over 80,000 troops and military assets in Europe, including 8,000 troops, military equipment and thermonuclear weapons in Britain, costing hundreds of billions dollars annually to American taxpayers to ensure Europe’s security. Mr. Trump should immediately convey to European leaders that he intends to draw down US forces by half.

Trump admin has recently appointed Gen. Alexus the Grynch as Commander EUCOM. He is also ex officio SACEUR, an acronym for Supreme Allied Commander Europe since World War II, who is the de facto chief of NATO’s military committee comprising 32 chiefs of defense staff of European armies. Gen. Grynch should be forthwith ordered to convey to chiefs of defense staff of France and Britain that all military co-operation with these countries will be suspended until their governments align their foreign policy with Trump admin’s guidelines.

Moreover, United States provides security to oil-rich Gulf Arab States by deploying troops and military assets in the Persian Gulf to ensure uninterrupted flow of crude oil to the industrialized world, and in return, Gulf’s rulers award lucrative oil contracts to Western companies. Trump admin should convey to Arab princes that oil contracts with France’s Total, Britain’s Shell and BP should be re-negotiated and awarded to American oil companies instead.

Furthermore, While I concede India’s tariffs are among the highest in the world, as Mr. Trump sagaciously pointed out, and India is one of the largest buyers of Russian oil and military equipment, in fact excluding the fleet of French Rafale aircraft, the rest of India’s military hardware is exclusively Russian built, still Trump admin’s reaction of imposing 25% tariffs on Indian products was unusually stern.

But there appears to be an entire sequence of events involved that compelled Mr. Trump to take Modi gov’t to task. In 2023, Canada’s then-PM Trudeau accused Indian intelligence agencies of assassinating Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen of Indian Sikh origins. Later, FBI uncovered an Indian plot of mounting assassination attempts on leaders of Sikh independence movement residing in United States.

Subsequently, last November, Dept. of Justice implicated Indian billionaire businessman and Mr. Modi’s political ally Gautam Adani of orchestrating a bribery and fraud scheme, involving raising more than $250 million in United States to be paid as bribes to Indian government officials.

But on top of all that, despite calling Mr. Trump his friend, Mr. Modi stabbed Trump in the back by endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in American presidential elections last November due to her Indian origins and secretive Hindu faith. Now, Mr. Modi is paying the price for betting on wrong horse in the race.

Regarding Trump admin’s trade deal with EU, I knew it after Mr. Trump delayed imposition of 30% tariff on EU products by several months that he won’t be able to follow through on the electoral pledge to American constituents. Anything below 25% is a sellout, and merely 15% tariff will ruin domestic industry and make entire United States a rust-belt state.

Behold the irony that most ingrate EU leaders too are lamenting the agreement. It appears nothing would satisfy the greed of freeloaders beside 0% tariff. There’s no substitute to avant-garde American military equipment. EU states would’ve bought it anyway, unless of course if EU leaders have agreed to bankroll billions of dollars worth weapons sent to Ukraine.

Similarly, most American oil is shale oil and limited reserves will run out in several years. The agreement appears to have been struck under immense political pressure, it clearly favors EU and it’s a stab in the back of Mr. Trump’s American constituents.

Notwithstanding, Director National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has done an outstanding job by exposing Obama admin’s Russia hoax that Kremlin interfered in American presidential elections of November 2016 on Trump’s behalf. Her next task is to diligently scrutinize secret internal documents of intelligence community in order to conclusively determine who was responsible for plotting to cause mayhem during Capitol protests.

The storming of the Capitol by a frenzied mob on January 6, 2021, was clearly a conspiracy orchestrated by the US deep state in connivance with the political establishment to undermine Trump’s leadership of the Republican Party and forestall his re-election bid in 2024. Rumors abound that then-Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and Chairman JCSC Gen. Mark Milley restricted the authority of the commander of the D.C. National Guard to send reinforcements ahead of the Capitol riots.

Mr. Trump’s obvious intention in motivating the crowd was that demonstrators would stage a protest in front of the Capitol to exert moral pressure on then-Veep Mark Pence and the electors to refuse to certify Biden’s confirmation, following rigged elections in which postal ballots played a central role and countless dead Americans, including founding fathers such as George Washington, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, also cast their ballots favoring Democratic presidential candidate.

The Capitol’s security was overwhelmed by the size and fervid passion of the crowd. The chief of the Capitol Police acknowledged on the record that his repeated requests to send reinforcements were denied. According to an informative report by the Washington Post following the protests, security establishment restricted the authority of the commander of the D.C. National Guard to send reinforcements ahead of the Capitol riots that could have prevented the ensuing violence and bloodshed.

The report notes: “The commander of the D.C. National Guard said the Pentagon restricted his authority ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, requiring higher-level sign-off to respond that cost time as the events that day spiraled out of control. Local commanders typically have the power to take military action on their own to save lives or prevent significant property damage in an urgent situation when there isn’t enough time to obtain approval from headquarters.

“But Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said the Pentagon essentially took that power and other authorities away from him ahead of the short-lived insurrection on Jan. 6. That meant he couldn’t immediately roll out troops when he received a panicked phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that rioters were about to enter the U.S. Capitol.”