http://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-speak-putin-zelensky-monday-toward-ending-ukraine-bloodbath
All the blather from all the sources about how well Ukraine is holding up is going silent. I've been following sources on the ground for some time and it has been very evident, for many months now, that the ground story and the main-stream media story couldn't be reconciled...one or the other had to be delusion and propaganda.
I am going to go out on a limb a bit and project Ukraine + Zelensky are running out of options, and BS 'spin', really fast. I won't be surprised if the "ceasefire" happens within the next 1-6 weeks.
Zelensky will doubtless stick with his story about how this is only a ceasefire, and that Ukraine still expects to get "all" its territory back..."someday"..."somehow". But the TERMS of the ceasefire will be all, or nearly all, what Russia has been requiring from the beginning: All Ukraine troops out of eastern regions, no NATO, no foreign troops, TERRITORY RUSSIA HAS CLEARLY CAPTURED WILL STAY WITH RUSSIA (that is sort of a standard part of allwar ending treaties, isn't it? Since when did the US surrender territory it had clearly captured from a foreign power?).
As I said, I am going out on a limb here, calling the outcome as something likely to happen within the next few weeks.
If, for any reason, this gets dragged out, I will stick with my earlier forecast that Russia will take Odessa and be knocking on Kiev's door within a year or so. Although, honestly, I don't see how Ukraine can drag this conclusion out that long.
One last thing: This will officially be counted as a "win" by Trump, because it is -- versus Biden and the alternatives. Especially if Russia becomes a major trading partner of the US in the aftermath.
But for the Deep State and the US Military Industrial Complex this is a huge, historic, loss. (Which will make it a huge win for most of the American people, who never wanted to go die in foreign lands to begin with). And -- please lets pray -- the illusion of the US as "the world's military "superpower" and "policeman of the world" will suffer considerable PR loss.
FWIW, I *do* want the US to remain a country you don't want to START a war with. But our nuclear arsenal, and a vastly smaller, but more highly skilled and motivated US military service, can continue to provide that deterrant.
Anyway, I am going out of my way to call this, as another war down -- and another example of why the US military should NEVER be looking for a fight in a foreign country, but fighting, instead, a lot harder to defend the US Constitution from enemies DOMESTIC or enemies which attack us first. Hopefully NATO can be handed over the European losers, soon, and the US can just walk away from that totalitarian dictatorship.
I imagine I will get all manner of ridicule for posting this well in advance. But I have my fingers crossed and think there is finally a good chance we are at an end of the kinetic conflict, and the senseless slaughter of innocents.