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By John Helmer, Moscow
@bears_with [2]
“Resilience,” declared [3] Kirill Dmitriev, after delaying his Twitter stream until the defeat of President Donald Trump was too obvious to ignore, “is needed to protect Western civilization.”
He then explained [4] Trump’s defeat as caused by barbarians, London ones. “British media worked hard to undermine President Trump and Republicans before the midterms and now rejoice. Yet by fighting migration and woke ideology, President Trump is the protector of Western civilization.”
This is not only a mistake in fact which no one in the Trump Administration is claiming. Trump’s alibi for defeat is himself [5]: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” The money, Trump has added [6], is still betting on him. “Stock Market just hit another Record High — 91 Days in just a short period of time — Less than two years. Your 401(k)s are through the roof. Record Setting All!”
Vice President JD Vance was precise [7]: “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone…1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel.”
The war Vance is saying that has cost Trump his political power now, his personal fortune and freedom later, is not the war against Russia in Europe. It is the war against Iran and Iran’s counter-attack which has struck at the cost of US fuel. It is not even the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, against the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is Israel’s part in the war which has raised the American cost of living.
Trump’s defeat is not the outcome of an anti-war movement in the US, Vance is acknowledging [7] after “ask[ing] the smartest data guy I know…The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night…But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”
Everyone knows – except Dmitriev, Putin’s principal advisor on the US, and the Kremlin national security advisor, Yury Ushakov, a former Russian ambassador in Washington, and the negotiator beside Dmitriev with Trump’s men, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Every knows except Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. “Russia sincerely hopes that US President Donald Trump will continue his efforts toward resolving the Ukraine conflict after the midterm Congressional elections, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said”, Tass has reported in the first Kremlin statement after the election. “ ‘President Trump continues to stay in office. We sincerely expect that he will continue his peace push as well,’ the Russian presidential spokesman told Life reporter Alexander Yunashev in a comment. ‘Another round of trilateral talks will be held pretty soon, and the peacekeeping efforts [of US First Lady] Melania Trump have been a success. We hope all this will be continued,’ he added [8].”
Two hours later, Peskov announced [9] that Dmitriev is rushing to Washington for a meeting on Thursday (November 5) with Mrs Trump. “ ‘We hope Kirill Dmitriev will be there. But the main participant, as I understand it, will be Yana Lantratova, if she manages to get there in time,” Peskov said. He clarified that ‘as of a couple of hours ago, not everyone traveling with her had received their visas. This is always problematic these days. If all the logistics fall into place, so to speak, Yana Lantratova and Kirill Dmitriev will be there.’” Lantratova [10] is the Kremlin’s human rights commissioner and negotiator on children who have lost homes and families in the fighting on the front, and the evacuations of civilians from Alyoshki.
The Kremlin troika is now standing alone among Russia’s strategic allies in failing to understand that US warfighting strategy has not changed, and will not change by negotiation with Trump; by bribes for his family and retainers; and by appeals to the traditional values of the white race. Dmitriev, Ushakov and Peskov are the last men in the Russian alliance to suspect Trump’s imperialism, let alone repudiate it.
For Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, announced [11]: “Those who still harbour even the slightest hope that the behaviour of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken.”
Asked by a US reporter if China sees “any fresh possibilities in U.S.-China relations,” the spokesman for Wang Yi, the principal Chinese foreign policymaker, said [12]: “The U.S. midterm elections are a domestic affair. China stands ready to continue working with the U.S. to uphold and deliver on the important common understandings reached by the two heads of state, enhance communication, properly manage differences, expand cooperation, and build a constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity.”
For the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Russia’s third strategic ally, Kim Yo Jong issued [13] a statement for her brother, the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un: “They [Trump Administration] talk about dialogue but do not abandon their confrontational policy; they speak of peace but prefer above all else war exercises and the strengthening of military alliances; they preach improved relations but avoid respecting the other side’s sovereignty and rights and interests…It is our clear position that there is no need to sit down with such untrustworthy and hostile people…We know no other way to respond to the hostile signals the United States continues to send.” She added, “Dialogue is certainly included among the options for defending peace, but for us it is not necessarily synonymous with the national interest.”
In the new Capitals Uncovered episode with Pelle Neroth Taylor (Sweden) and Martin Sieff (US), we discuss the next steps: Vance’s withdrawal from the 2028 presidential succession race; the rise of the Democratic candidate Alexandria Occasio-Cortez – currently heading towards the lead in the nomination polls [14]; and the Russian reaction.
The podcast was recorded on Wednesday at 8 am Washington time, 4 pm Moscow. Click to view or listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAgpbfO9P2c [15]