Trump Regime: Herding NATO Separatists

The warmer airs of Easter are on their way.

Published: 2025-03-17

---

Introduction

Recall that in April, 2024, France and Britain declared “The world is safer for a renewed entente” with a joint article by its foreign ministers published in The Telegraph.

In mid February, 2025, the US admitted defeat in the NATO-Russia Ukraine war when US Secretary of Defense Hegseth addressed the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. It was formerly run by the US, but "Trump proofed" to have the UK lead it by the former (Biden/Sullivan/Blinken) US administration. For the war, Hegseth declared: no troops and no NATO Article 5 support for any ally's involvement in it.

Since, then the US re-established diplomatic relations with Russia, hosted meetings at the Oval Office with the UK, France and Ukraine, and then a meeting with Ukraine in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at which an offer for a 30-day ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was produced. The UK's National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, had traveled to Kiev to advise his Ukrainian counterpart Yermak, before the Jeddah meeting, to insert British language into it. Days previously at Chatham House, the heart of Britain's foreign policy establishment, former Ukrainian Chief of Staff (Commander), currently Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, Zaluzhny attacked the US, accusing it of destroying the "world order". Zaluzhny had been convinced to act on behalf of the UK. His attack was a UK signal of its intended influence over the direction of the war and its settlement.

Russia's response to the 30-day ceasefire, on Thursday 14th March, was nuanced in its diplomatic language. President Putin welcomed the US & Ukraine's efforts to find a peace, and highlighted that some elements of the proposal require further definition. He accepted the spirit and rejected the lack of details of the proposal. On Friday 15th, after another significant meeting in the Oval Office, NATO Secretary General Rutte informed member states that Ukraine will not be joining the military alliance.

On Saturday's [2025-03-15] UK leader Starmer held a video conference with 29 national leaders. He issued an agreed statement on behalf of what can best be described as "Separatist NATO". The statement re-issued of the exact same policies and narratives of the previously united NATO, for a continuance of the war but draped in the language of peace.

Separatist NATO, led by entente partners France and Britain, are riling against an end to a war on their continent which is being coordinated by the US with Russia and a resistant, but changing, Ukraine.

[BBC (archived). Note that the last section of the last sentence re-expresses a collective determination to complete the theft of the $300 billion of Russian Central Bank foreign reserve assets impounded in European, British, US and Japanese banks.]

The Field

A window into the strategy of the Trump administration behind the ceasefire was offered on The Duran with Prof. Diesen, A. Mercouris and A. Crooke on the Friday (see sources) before Separatist Starmer addressed the media after his consultation with the Separatists.

The current collection of important players around the war are: Ukraine and its NATO Separatists backers, Russia and its quiet, strategic ally China, and a militarily disengaged, diplomatic US.

The question on the table at The Duran was:

Why has the US offered to Russia a 30-day ceasefire when everybody understands from Russia's clear and repeated language that it will reject it?

To understand the diplomatic play, one needs first to understand the positions of the field. Not only had Hegseth made the US position for the war clear, US Vice President Vance had, at the Munich Security Council, attacked Europe's record in civil rights and democracy. This prompted a reflexive herd response from the EU Commission and the Entente. The accusations of interference in elections, particularly in Romania, were too close to the bone. They fell back into established positions by issuing the same narratives of "freedom" and "democracy", to support the war. These narratives are their unity. Ukraine, under expired President Zelensky, is their proxy, their lead singer.

Rotating the Board

The US had two opponents to reposition, Zelensky and the NATO Separatists.

Crooke noted that US negotiators were warned in advance of elements which the Separatists wished included the ceasefire package. These were the "no fly zone" type traps which the Entente had been promoting. They were rejected outright and stripped from the language of the agreement. The negotiations in Jeddah occurred without Zelensky in the room, diminishing his role and optics. Ukraine, however, agreed to the negotiation, creating a new position for it, a willing participant in a ceasefire. This was the diplomatic achievement which the US sought, maneuvering Ukraine to the peace table and clearing the Separatists' traps. The US offered to Russia, on behalf of Ukraine, a clean ceasefire to be rejected.

Mercouris noted the re-establishment of US-Russia diplomatic relations. He suggested that due to Trump's mistrust of both the US State Department (CIA) that discussions with Russia must be occurring via auxiliary channels. This, in turn, blinds the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (MI6).

A week or so ago Crooke introduced a new collective noun, the Meta State, to represent the "two eyes" of the foreign intelligence services of Britain and the US. This newsletter has hypothesized that Trump, with the support of his administration, is running a vendetta against this group, and some of its other arms in the US, like the FBI and USAID.

The new board positions are:

• the US is seeking an end to the war diplomatically (change from Biden administration, consistent with Trump's)

• Russia is seeking an end to the war which achieves its minimal objectives by diplomacy or military victory (no change)

• Ukraine has accepted a ceasefire proposal (softening of position)

• the NATO Separatists have re-issued their belligerent position, poorly dressed up as supporting a ceasefire (no change)

The ceasefire "offer" rotated the board. The Separatists are now isolated.

Flipping a Piece for Peace

Crooke offered another window into US thinking. He noted a casual observation by US Secretary of State Rubio when was asked what could be done during a ceasefire? An election.

This year is somewhat unusual because both the Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches will celebrate Easter on the same day, April 20th. This is late in the range for Easter and places it close to the day Russia celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (WWII in Europe). Russia has offered short ceasefires over religious holiday previously during the NATO-Russia Ukraine war, notably over Christmas. These have been rejected by Ukraine.

A potential confluence of events is approaching. Easter Friday (April 18th) to May 9th is a three weeks and one day period. Could a Ukrainian election be scheduled? Possibly not. How else could it be utilized before the year's "fighting season" gets under way after the ground dries out in Novorossiya?

Would Easter not be the best time of year to force the NATO Separatists to rejoin their former sponsor and talk peace? Would not a joint statement from Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill support this?

The NATO Separatists are on very thin political ice, having smashed the European economy (with plenty of help from the US), and now advocating for around $1 trillion in defense spending to magically create a European army to fight Russia in 5 or 10 years. A warm Spring breeze from Rome and Moscow might melt their icy grip on the war.

Is Spring not a time of rebirth, renewal? How will the Separatists argue for democracy and freedom and against elections in Ukraine?

or support this work via Buy Me A Coffee or Patreon.

Sources

Putin Signals He's Open to Ceasefire as Witkoff Arrives for Talks; Dave DeCamp; Antiwar; 2025-03-13

NATO Chief: Membership for Ukraine Is Off the Table; Kyle Anzalone; Antiwar; 2025-03-14

Military planning for Ukraine peace moves to 'operational phase', says Starmer; Bbc; Archive.today; 2025-03-15

Trump’s presidential diplomacy is surging; M. K. Bhadrakumar; Indian Punchline; 2025-03-14

The world is safer for a renewed Entente; telegraph.co.uk; Archive.today; 2024-04-08

The Phony Ceasefire; Joe Lauria; Consortium News; 2025-03-16

• Joe Lauria has a different read on the diplomatic goings-on. He saw Trump succumbing to flattery and European political games, offering the “ceasefire” and resuming arms and tactical intelligence, leaving Russia to withstand the PR games which the European leaders are playing.

[US] NATO v Russia: 2014 - 2025; YesXorNo; 2024-03-08

Hegseth Leaves Healey Floggin' a Dead Horse; YesXorNo; 2025-02-12

Wipeout in Washington; YesXorNo; 2025-03-02

Ukraine: Speculation, Shakedown, Narrative & Reality; YesXorNo; 2025-03-05

Russia Defeated NATO; YesXorNo; 2025-03-09

The War for the Peace, Continues; YesXorNo; 2025-03-13

NATO is Dead; YesXorNo; 2025-03-14

Europe and Israel Decline & Fragment - Alastair Crooke, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen; Christoforou and Mercouris; The Duran; 2025-03-15

Criminalizing Diplomacy: When War Is Peace; Glenn Diesen; Glenn's Substack; 2025-03-16

Russian Representative to the UN: Diplomacy with the US & the Ceasefire Proposal; Diesen interviews Polianki & Mercouris; Glenn's Substack; 2025-03-16

Ukraine Falling Apart: Military Could Side With Ultra-Right Wing | Dr. Nicolai Petro; Pascal Lottaz; Neutrality Studies; 2025-03-15

• Petro is an expert on Ukraine. Here, with Lottaz he addresses the Russia/China partnership, and BRICS+ in the context of the current crisis (for Europe) in Ukraine.

---

Copyleft: CC0