Politico's Playbook on Wednesday announced what could be the biggest world news story of the year. An end to the bloody Ukraine-Russia war via a peace deal negotiated by the Trump administration. So guess where the immediate focus of the story was? If you have been following the absurd obsessions of Politico recently you would know the answer despite not quite believing it: Jeffrey Epstein. In fact their obsession in the Playbook story by Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns, "A peace deal ‘as soon as this week’," came immediately after their joyous announcement:
PEACE IN OUR TIME? So this is one way to distract from the Epstein files. The White House is on the brink of unveiling a major new peace agreement with Russia that officials say will finally bring the three-and-a-half year war with Ukraine to an end. A senior White House official tells Dasha they expect a framework for ending the conflict to be agreed by all parties by the end of this month — and possibly “as soon as this week.”
Yes, when peace is in sight to end the largest war on the European continent since World War II which has killed hundreds of thousands of people doesn't one's immediate thoughts go to the Epstein files? Well, perhaps if you are partisan hack writing for Politico.
The rest of the story about the possible peace deal lists some of the details of the settlement that according to Politico is a distraction from their beloved Epstein files.
Here’s what we know so far: Things are moving fast. The news broke last night — via POLITICO’s defense aces Paul McLeary and Jack Detsch — of a highly unusual trip to Kyiv today by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, accompanied by two four-star generals and other senior U.S. military officials. They’re expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as other top Ukrainian figures, as part of the tour. Zelenskyy is due in Ankara later to talk peace with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, per Reuters. “We have some positions and signals from the U.S.,” is all that Zelenskyy would say.
So what are they all talking about? Last night, Axios’ Barak Ravid revealed details of a secret peace plan hammered out directly between the White House and Moscow. Ravid reports top White House envoy Steve Witkoff held three days of talks with a Russian negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, in Miami late last month; and that a 28-point peace plan is now on the table. Officials in the Trump administration told Dasha last night they are on the brink of a major breakthrough. This is big stuff.
But here’s the thing: This new peace plan has seemingly had no direct input from Ukraine, nor from America’s allies in Europe. And we have no sense yet of the details, of what’s been hammered out on the thorniest questions around Russia’s seizure of vast swathes of Ukrainian territory, the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children or the security guarantees being offered to Ukraine in the aftermath.
The mood inside the White House is bullish, and it seems the plan will be presented to Zelenskyy as a fait accompli. “What we are going to present [to Ukraine] is reasonable,” the senior White House official tells Dasha. The Trump administration thinks Zelenskyy, under pressure both on the battlefield and on the home front (due to a burgeoning corruption scandal), will have to accept what’s on offer.
More details on the possible peace agreement were listed until we get to what was probably irking the Politico duo all along:
And it would also be a big moment for Donald Trump, who famously pledged on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war on Day 1 — but who’s since admitted the task has been far harder than he expected. For a president hellbent on landing himself the Nobel Peace Prize, a peace agreement in Ukraine — perhaps any peace agreement in Ukraine — is coveted indeed.
Do you feel the snark in their observation about President Trump perhaps landing a very well deserved Nobel Peace Prize for finally brokering an end to Ukraine War? Oh, and also such an award would be a distraction from the Epstein files.
