ARE RUSSIAN COLLABORATORS CALLING THE SHOTS FOR AMERICAN DIPLOMACY?

“Do I understand correctly that there is now a dispute within the administration about whether this ‘peace plan’ was written by Russians or Americans?”, posted a foreign affairs journalist over the weekend. Good question. Everyone involved appears confused over the 28-point plan for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine. After the plan was leaked by Putin ally Kirill Dmitriev VP Vance came out strongly in support of it. But once it became widely known that the plan was written by the Russians, Marco Rubio tried to back away from it, posting on social media on Wednesday that “[e]nding a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas. And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.” Yet Trump still said he expected Zelensky to sign onto the plan by Thanksgiving. On Saturday a group of senators, foreign affairs specialists, gathered in Nova Scotia, for the Halifax International Security Forum. They said they had spoken to Rubio about the plan. Sen Angus King said Rubio had told them that the document “was not the administration’s position” but rather “a wish list of the Russians.” Sen Mike Rounds said: “This administration was not responsible for this release in its current form.” He added: “I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” Rounds said. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.” But then a spokesperson for the State Department called the senators’ account of the origins of the plan “blatantly false,” and Rubio abruptly switched course, posting on social media that in fact the US HAD written the plan. Later that same day Reuters reported that the proposal had come out of a meeting in Miami between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Dmitriev, who leads one of Russia’s largest sovereign wealth funds. They reported that senior officials in the State Dept and on the National Security Council were not briefed about the plan. The Bulwark reported rumors that Vance was “key to US embrace of Russia plan on Ukraine, Rubio (and even Trump) out of the loop,” that relations between Vance and Rubio are “awful” and that Rubio did, in fact, tell the senators what they said he did. A WSJ foreign correspondent posted : “Foreign nations now have to deal with rival factions of the U.S. government who keep major policy initiatives secret from each other and some of which work with foreign powers as the succession battle for 2028 begins, is how one diplomat put it.” So tell us, is Trump still insisting Ukraine sign this Russian wish-list/Trump administration peace plan? And does he or anyone have a clue what’s going on? Because right now it all reads as an Abbott and Costello routine.