What's just happened with regards Ukraine, Russia, the US and Europe is absolutely seismic.

It's seismic in terms of what it means for Western power and the global order.

What I'm going to try and do here is look at the criminal responsibility of Putinism

and also how the West, high on its own triumphalism after the end of the Cold War also helped pave the way for catastrophe.

Now, it's been well over a thousand days since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We've no idea how many

people have been slaughtered, but it's easily in the many hundreds of thousands. Overwhelmingly,

those are countless Ukrainian and Russian young men who have been thrown into a meat grinder.

Donald Trump has announced that there will be a negotiated peace settlement, but with that settlement

already baking in drastic concessions to Russia before negotiations began, such as significant squays

of Ukraine's own territory being handed over to its enemy. Now, we should be clear, that's a

straightforward Russian victory, with Ukraine now brutally defeated and facing being de facto

dismembered and exploited by two foreign powers. So come on to that. Now, you've got to see this in the

context of what is the biggest single story of the 21st century, which is the fall of Western

power. I should declare an interest. I'm currently writing a book entitled The Fall of the 21st century, which is the fall of Western power. I should declare an interest.

I'm currently writing a book entitled The Fall of the West, and the central thesis gathers

more and more evidence each day. I'll be talking more about that. So to be clear,

Trump declared he'd spoken to Russia's ruling autocrat Vladimir Putin to begin immediately

negotiating and enter the war. Let's talk about the terms of this deal.

Let's hear this from the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegzeth.

We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that

returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.

The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.

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