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The admission was shocking. In an interview with an American journalist Victoria Nuland more or less admitted plainly that the reason why Boris Johnson was flown into Istanbul at the end of the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia was to scupper the deal, so that U.S. arms manufacturers could go ahead with their intended mega deals supplying the country, aligning it to NATO standards. She tells Ryan Grim of DropSiteNews that the peace deal – which gave Ukrainians land back which the Russians held – would have effectively neutered Ukraine blocking massive deals in the pipeline which would have reaped scores of billions of dollars for U.S. arms makers.

The admission is important for two main reasons. First it shows just how disingenuous everything that western politicians tell their voters about Ukraine is. Yes, there is an ideological rationale there of America and its allies wanting to hit Putin but it is not very convincing and at best looks increasingly lame as the months and years pass. Do senators in the U.S. like Lyndsey Graham really hate Russians so much? Or is it that they love money so much more and profit themselves from those megadeals coming together? The second point about the Nuland admission is that it casts a long shadow over western governments and their relationships with the military industrial complex and leaves the observer feeling that we have reached a new peak now with that sector and the ruling elites. The former no longer lobbies or informs the latter but controls it. Completely.

A third point which is possibly a parenthesis to the whole story is that slowly we are seeing the truth emerge, like repugnant liquid excrement oozing out of an old sack. And it stinks. Biden is just one more U.S. president who allowed the military industrial complex to control him and his erroneous so-called foreign policies which can really be summed up in a few words: wherever possible, go to war. We need wars.

But we in the West bit off far too much more than we could chew. In the early days of the Russian invasion the euphoria and confidence of Biden and Boris, not to mention Macron, was palpable. They genuinely believed that the war would be over in a matter of weeks. And that Russian sanctions would grind the economy down over a longer period of time bringing Putin to his knees.

Today, nobody acknowledges privately how futile and stupid these notions were more than the Ukrainian president. And nobody appreciates how shallow and self-serving this initial policy to go to war with Russia in the first place is, more than President Zelensky himself. Put yourself in his shoes. He is counting the days now to the U.S. presidential election, wondering if Trump gets in, how many days will pass in January 2025 before the Donald falls out with him? If Trump does get in, the future is unclear as we know from history that Trump is capricious, unpredictable and driven by ideas and values which few can understand but usually relate to him on a personal level. It is likely though after he pulls off a ceasefire in his first week of office – which both sides want but can’t admit it openly – it will be very hard indeed to thrash out a deal that both can agree on, particularly knowing that the martial law, which keeps Zelensky is in office, is over, during peacetime he must call presidential elections which he will certainly lose. Trump also knows this. The war itself is Zelensky’s oldest friend and greatest supporter.

The problem with Zelensky is that he is constantly in “play mode”. Every move, statement, decision and action seem to be theatrical. That’s important because for peace talks to be serious, everyone has to take him seriously. His peace formula is a joke.

Speaking at a press briefing in Riyadh, Foreign Minister Lavrov stressed that the West’s insistence on sticking to Zelensky’s so-called “peace formula” suggests that it does not intend to negotiate with Moscow on equal terms, according to RT.

“[Zelensky’s] initiative has long been known, it has become a pain in the neck for everyone, it is a pure ultimatum,” Lavrov said. “The fact that the West is clinging to this ultimatum means only one thing: the West does not want to negotiate honestly,” the foreign minister added.

He might be right about the disingenuous gesturing, but the very fact that Germany’s foreign minister is now making public statements that now is the time for peace talks means at least the West – certainly Europe – knows that the game is up and that the last-minute stunt in Kursk is going to end horrifically for Ukrainian troops. The Germans have been so gung-ho for war for so long, while remaining a supreme proxy poodle of the Americans that it has left their industries desecrated. People there have been tired of the war for a long time, according to polls. And now finally it is the political elite who want to beat Trump at appearing to be the peace broker. Looking at the last batch of reservists who were sent to the front in Kursk, someone will have to invent a new take on the much-used phrase “meat grinder”.