Vladimir Medinsky is back in charge of Russian negotiations with the USA and Ukraine

The widely read Russian news outlet Аргументы и факты (Arguments and Facts) which had a vast audience in print form during Soviet rule in Russia and continues in the present era to enjoy a mass readership as an online purveyor of news and opinion today has put out a leading article on Russia’s delegation to the next session of the trilateral US-Russian-Ukrainian peace talks scheduled to be held tomorrow and Wednesday in Geneva. They inform us that the Russian team will once again be headed by Vladimir Medinsky, former Minister of Culture, adviser on international policy to President Vladimir Putin and until the last two rounds of negotiations, former head of Team Russia at the talks.

As we know, in the last two rounds of talks held in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, the Russian negotiating team was headed by the chief of Russian Military Intelligence (GRU) General Kostyukov. Those talks were said to center on security issues, which as I have said in recent essays, were about the modalities of Ukrainian withdrawal from all of Donbas in keeping with Russian preconditions for a cease-fire. I interpret the re-appointment of Medinsky as a tip-off that the talks will now resume at a higher level of discussion, meaning the overall contours of the peace settlement where the historical perspective that Medinsky brings to the task is critical.

In another article a day or two earlier, Argumenty i Fakty explained to its audience the significance of the selection of Geneva after Zelensky’s refusal to go back to Abu Dhabi considering the UAE’s treachery, from his standpoint, in handing over the accused would-be-assassin of Russian general Alekseyev to Russian authorities for interrogation and trial in Moscow. AiF tell us that Geneva was selected because of Switzerland’s centuries old neutral status in the heart of Europe. They also, very correctly, hint that this neutrality has been compromised in recent years. Indeed, allow me to hazard a guess that the Swiss authorities were keen to be hosts to the talks to demonstrate a return to neutrality after some recent missteps in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war when they have pandered to the pro-Kiev authorities in Brussels.

I take pleasure in ending this brief note with a hats-off to Argumenty i Fakty for reporting on my more substantive podcasts and in particular for reporting on my latest conversation with Professor Glenn Diesen. Their respective article was entitled Зеленского предупредили о потере Одессы и Харькова (Zelensky has been warned about the loss of Odessa and Kharkov). The opening paragraph of this article tells us: Aмериканский специалист в области международных отношений Гилберт Доктороу высказал предположение, что до завершения боевых действий Украина рискует лишиться контроля над двумя ключевыми городами — Харьковом и Одессой. Translation: “An American specialist in the field of international relations Gilbert Doctorow has suggested that before the military actions end Ukraine risks the loss of control over two key cities – Kharkov and Odessa.”

If I were Zelensky or some member of his regime, I might rightly ask, paraphrasing Stalin with respect to the Pope: and how many divisions does Doctorow command?

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2026

Promotional offer for new one-year paid subscriptions to my alternative web platform gilbertdoctorow.substack.com where I post analytical articles not shown on Word Press You will be eligible to receive a free of charge paperback copy of the historical novel on the Russian emigration of the 1970s, ‘Nadine’s Story’ by Larisa Zalesova. Subscribers must identify themselves by email to gsdoctorow@gmail.com to avail themselves of this offer. Information about the book is available on the various country websites of Amazon.

NewsX World (India) yesterday afternoon interview : Mark Rutte Reports Russia’s Oil Revenue Collapses While Troop Losses Mount

Yes, indeed, NATO Secretary General speaking in the context of the ongoing Munich Security Conference has gleefully declared that Russia is experiencing “crazy losses” of 65,000 soldiers killed or wounded in the past two months and that the Russian economy is reeling from a one-third loss of oil export revenues. These words are meant to prod Conference attendees to believe in a possible Ukrainian victory in the war and to maintain solid materiel and financial support to Kiev.

If only words could win wars, Zelensky and Co. would be carried aloft by proud patriots down the streets of Kiev.

Reality tells any neutral observer that Rutte’s figures are ‘crazy’ in the sense that they are totally fabricated in the febrile word shops of Kiev and have no substance to them.

NewsX World (India) morning interview : a potpourri of issues relating to the Russia-Ukraine war

This six-minute interview which begins at minute 4 on the podcast covers a number of different issues, some of which have arisen from discussions ongoing in the Munich Security Conference. We discuss British Prime Minister Starmer’s views on how Europe should bulk up its defensive capabilities while remaining in close association with the United States. We discuss the time frame needed for Europe to rearm and how the Russians may react to such a threatening development. We discuss Emmanuel Macron’s supposed agreement with German Chancellor Merz on a shared nuclear umbrella, which might just be in violation of the treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons to which both are signatories.

Promotional offer for new one-year paid subscriptions to gilbertdoctorow.substack.com, the web platform where I publish analytical essays which are not posted on Word Press You will be eligible to receive a free of charge paperback copy of th historical novel on the Russian emigration of the 1970s, ‘Nadine’s Story’ by Larisa Zalesova. Subscribers must identify themselves by email to gsdoctorow@gmail.com to avail themselves of this offer. Information about the book is available on the various country websites of Amazon.

Press TV (Iran): Chancellor Merz is the bearer of German Revanchism – see his speech to the Munich Security Conference

https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/135802

In this interview, I insist that Merz is the most dangerous German leader since Adolf Hitler and that his plans for making Germany the strongest military force in Europe is an incarnation of Hitler’s vision. On top of this Merz is in talks with Emmanuel Macron over making the French nuclear force de frappe mutualized, meaning that Germany would receive nuclear bombs from the French, something which will meet with violent opposition of the Russians as it violates the terms of the Non-proliferation treaty on nuclear arms.

The interview was framed by Merz’s speech to the Munich Security Conference today which reconfirms that he is taking Germany in the wrong direction by preparing it for an eventual open war with Russia in 2030. He has learned nothing from J.D. Vance’s rebuke at the Conference one year ago that suppression of free speech and of other liberties in Europe is a greater threat to European security than China or Russia. Instead, Merz insisted that Europe must act against disinformation, meaning in practice, censorship and trampling on free speech. The only progress of democracy from a year ago under American pressure was the admission this year to the Conference proceedings of the Alternativ fuer Deutschland representatives.

Russia Ukraine US Talks Set For Geneva February 17-18 | NewsX World

Breaking news indeed! This interview opens with the presenter saying that the Russian-Ukrainian-US talks on peace will recommence on 17 February where they were last held, meaning Abu Dhabi. Then half way through our conversation we learn that the talks will in fact be held in Geneva.

No matter! The essential fact remains that the two sides are very far apart insofar as Zelensky refuses to make any territorial concessions, refuses to face the reality that Ukraine has lost the war because he is being encouraged by Europe to keep on fighting and to rely on their arms and cash deliveries to Kiev.

Under the circumstances, the greatest likelihood is that the sides will not have an agreed text of a peace treaty ready for Trump’s deadline of 15 May and Mr. Trump will walk away from these negotiations lest his continued participation have an adverse effect on the Republicans’ campaigning for November mid-term elections. In that case the interesting question is whether Trump will stop all U.S. arms shipments to Europe for Ukraine, will he stop the U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine. If this happens, then the war will wind down in a matter of weeks whatever the Europeans may wish or say.

The commonalities between Europe’s road forward to reindustrialization and Trump’s domestic policies

In a remarkable speech yesterday to the European Industry Summit 2026 held in Antwerp, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever proved once again his role as intellectual leader for the EU waiting in the wings to replace the ideologically driven authoritarians today in power in the European Institutions who continue to implement the Green Agenda talking points at the expense of industry and of the broad economy on the Continent.

Follow this link to his speech in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHlObAAYeuE

Although De Wever indirectly took swipes at Donald Trump and MAGA for its ‘winner take all’ approach to global trade and global governance wherein there are only winners and losers versus the ‘win-win’ approaches of the EU, the commonality in thinking between Bart De Wever and Donald Trump is undeniable and rests on one word and concept: pragmatism.

Pragmatism was long ago the hidden strength of America in contrast to the very different, over-intellectualized operating principles on the Continent and among American elites. Whereas the American of yore asked about a new concept ‘does it work in practice?’ the average Frenchmen, by folklore, asked about a new invention ‘does it work in theory?’

However, over past decades pragmatism fell victim to various iterations of political correctness and was forgotten entirely among American elites. It took the brash and seemingly inarticulate Donald J. Trump to reject unhesitatingly and in clearest terms the illogic driving the Green Agenda that had taken hold of legislators and brought over-regulation and redirection of national wealth towards unworkable and/or vastly overpriced solutions to the needs of energy and industry.

When he joked during the 2016 electoral campaign saying “Marge, please tell me if the wind is blowing this morning. I’d like to watch some television’ Donald Trump encapsulated the return of common sense. Deregulation and application of the rule of pragmatism to the task of reindustrialization have been the calling cards of Trump’s domestic policies since he took office one year ago. These same principles were what Bart De Wever invoked in his speech last night in Antwerp.

To be sure, with typical Old World gallantry, De Wever tossed bouquets to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who sat on the dais, calling out her ‘incessant work’ and special efforts to conclude new and promising free trade agreements opening up new markets to European industry. But without question his words about the need for urgent action to implement the industrial recommendations of Draghi and other consultants to the Commission which have been realized at less than 10% in the past year spoke volumes about the wrong-headed priorities of the Commission.

To be sure, De Wever is willfully ignoring the need for pragmatism in foreign and defense policy if there is to be real progress in restoring the pillars of the European economy that he mentioned at the outset of his speech. Nota bene that his list of issues weighing negatively on the European chemical industry that lost 10% of its capacity in the last year began with high energy costs. And we all know the ‘why’ of those energy costs, namely the cut-off of cheap Russian oil and gas that had heavily supported the competitiveness of the EU domestically and on global markets for decades going back to the 1980s. The logic of De Wever’s words is to revisit the sanctions on Russia, to revisit the entire von der Leyen policy of erasing Russia from the European map and to practice instead self-serving common sense.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2026

Judging Freedom edition of 11 February

Was Ukraine acting alone in the attempted assassination of General Alekseev?

This question comes up as from minute 22.56 in the podcast below recorded with News X World this morning.

Last night’s News of the Week review hosted by Dmitry Kiselyov had a 20-minute segment at the outset dealing with the capture and forcible return of the prime suspect in the assassination, gunman Miroslav There was not a word to suggest that anyone other than the Ukrainian military intelligence was responsible for this attack.

However, I believe the Kremlin does not want to direct accusations at England or any country other than Ukraine for this act of terror so as to justify its new highly destructive revenge attacks on Ukraine and to avoid escalation and spread of the war.

Not everyone in Russian media buys that story. Today’s Channel 5 TV news online has as subtitle to its report on the assassination: ‘foreign special forces could be behind the attempted murder of the Russian military commander’ Regrettably they do not expand on that assertion in the report proper.

The missing link in the assassination attempt against Lt General Alekseev is probably sitting in London, in the MI6 offices

I am delighted that the Indians, given their complex relationship with their former colonial overlords in London, permitted me to set out the argument for laying the assassination attempt against Lt General Alekseev before the door of the British MI6. I took the liberty of speaking freely, thinking back at the remark I heard one Indian commentator make on air some years ago that the British concept of ‘fair play’ is a knee to the groin.

For this discussion go to minute 22 on the podcast above. I am saying that perhaps Kiev was right in denying that it was behind the plot to kill Alekseev. That the prime suspect was captured in Dubai suggests to me that the plotters had means and the logistical expertise of a higher level than you would find in Kiev’s military intelligence unit acting alone.

Earlier on the podcast, beginning at minute 16 you will find my discussion with the presenter of the reasons why both Kiev and Moscow are saying that Donald Trump is trying to accelerate the peace talks with a view to winding up the war before June.

Podcast for ‘IranTalks’ interview from 5 February on then pending Iran-US negotiations

I consider it an honor to have been invited to discuss such a sensitive and very timely issue with this Iranian broadcaster over the course of 41 minutes.

Though the viewer numbers are still modest, there was apparently some impact in the region because a day ago I suddenly had 126 Israelis inspecting my Word Press web site, a first time ever event. Who says that Israelis are indifferent to Iranian media?

Our conversation centered on Mr. Trump’s threats of military attack on Iran, his sending an aircraft carrier task force and numerous other military assets to the region for execution of such an attack and his demands that Iran essentially disarm and accept the position of US-Israeli vassal. I directed particular attention to how Trump has exercised great care to control all communications surrounding his foreign policy initiatives, including what he is doing over Iran. I describe in some detail the distinction between what we will hear in public space about any settlement of the Iranian crisis and the real moving parts which are kept secret because they would compromise Trump in the public arena. We will not hear, for example, about the eventual decision on disposition (shipment abroad) of the 400 kg of weapons grade enriched uranium that Iran evidently moved ahead of Trump’s bombing of nuclear installations and their supposed ‘obliteration.’

The presenter, Wesam Bahrani, asks about the possibility that Trump’s aggressiveness towards Iran is being driven by the control that Mossad may have over him going back to his relationship with Mossad-controlled Epstein. He asks why Witkoff goes to visit Israel each time before heading for negotiations with Iran. He asks if Trump really is in control of U.S. policy or is it being decided by far smarter people like J.D. Vance.

I leave it to viewers to follow my answers to these questions in the podcast. Here, however, I want to bring out a bigger point: I maintain that though Trump may have a vocabulary limited to 1,000 words (in contrast to the average educated German who is said to have a vocabulary of 50,000 words), Trump is no fool and has an idea or two in his head. To be precise, I emphasize that the relationship of Trump to, say, the very clever Vice President J.D. Vance is similar to the relationship that Richard Nixon had with Henry Kissinger, who was believed by the general public at the time to be the real brains of the administration. From the perspective of 50 years later, and notwithstanding Kissinger’s efforts to maintain that fiction in his memoirs, it is fairly obvious that Nixon was the author of the foreign policy moves and Kissinger was just the implementer.