Categories: ANALYTICS

Are we stepping onto the new Silk Road?

The information accompanying the Munich Conference, consultations in Paris, and negotiations in Riyadh clearly confirms the key points regarding the intentions of D. Trump and Putin, which I previously outlined in my publications.

Specifically, the potential partners of the US and Russia are in full and unquestionable agreement that Europe must be demonstratively humiliated by depriving it of its legitimate and natural right to participate in ending the war taking place on European territory.

For Trump, Europe is not the cradle of civilization but the source and intellectual center of liberalism, against which he has declared a full-scale jihad. Meanwhile, Putin cannot forgive Europe for—albeit slowly and hesitantly—supporting Ukraine and, most importantly, daring to gradually abandon cheap Russian energy, something the Kremlin’s little führer never expected. (Of course, this shift was not without a motivational push in the form of the Nord Stream explosions.)

Right now, Trump and Putin align in their desire to humiliate Europe, but in the future, competition between them is inevitable—each wants to control a weakened Europe on their own terms, meaning unilaterally.

Another alignment I previously warned about concerns Russia’s use of “soft power” to fully absorb Ukraine. Since 2022, Putin has been dragging along Ukrainian collaborators in the wake of his invading army, intending to install them as a new government in Kyiv. Meanwhile, according to leaks from the American negotiating team, their roadmap to “peace” looks as follows: first, a temporary ceasefire; then—pay attention!—elections in Ukraine; and only after that, some form of peace negotiations. In other words, Trump is willing to assist Putin in establishing a pro-Russian government in Ukraine, with which the Kremlin would then be ready to negotiate—whether a peace deal or Ukraine’s capitulation.

Where have I seen this before? Ah, in Minsk-2: first, elections held at gunpoint under Russian occupation, and only then the supposed “return” of Donbas—already under pro-Russian leadership. And this Donbas, infected with “special status,” would destroy Ukraine from within, like the Alien in the movie—Surkov was quite the inventive strategist, and his legacy lives on.

What is to be done? Immediately seek common ground with EU countries and start playing a game of corresponding scale—meaning, with China.

China was never pleased with a prolonged war in Europe, which it views as an extremely important market. And if the US and the crumbling empire begin tearing Europe apart, the New Silk Road—China’s crucial geopolitical project, ultimately aimed at reaching Europe—will collapse.

It is no coincidence that China has already officially stated that Europe must be involved in peace negotiations. In essence, this is an invitation to dialogue and a search for a common position. Moreover, China is currently the only country that, if necessary, can realistically dismantle Russia’s military-industrial complex—and its economy as a whole.

Alexandr Kochetkov