It's Tuesday, February the 18th, 2025. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. Today's Daily

article is written by Denison Forum co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison, and narrated by Chris

Elkins. High-level delegations from the U.S. and Russia have begun meeting in what the Wall Street Journal calls the, quote, highest profile Russia talks since the Ukraine invasion.

Today's discussions in Saudi Arabia could lead to an eventual summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The State Department described the talks as an opportunity to explore Russia's intentions

on the Ukraine conflict and other central issues, rather than the start of detailed

negotiations over Kiev's future.

According to international relations scholar Michael C. Horowitz, Mr. Putin's intentions, center in his belief

that an independent, democratic Ukraine is a threat to him and to Russia.

Three years ago, he began the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II in response.

Mr. Putin alleges that NATO and the West broke promises in 1990 not to expand eastward beyond Germany,

acclaim Western leaders dispute. The flatlands of Russia's West have enabled several invasions

from Europe over the last five centuries. Putin therefore views NATO's, quote, encroachment into Ukraine as threatening his nation's security.

Ukraine and the West vehemently disagree, seeing Putin's immoral and illegal invasion as part of his meta-narrative to elevate Mother Russia and himself on the world stage.

In other news, Israel yesterday eliminated Muhammad Shaheen,

the head of Hamas' operations department in Lebanon.

According to Israeli security forces,

Shaheen was planning attacks not only against Israeli citizens,

but also against Jewish targets outside of Israel.

As with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, once again,

we see the power of a worldview to shape the world. Hamas is not only convinced that Israeli

citizens are complicit in a perceived theft of their land from its, quote, rightful Palestinian

...