ArcaMax

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A 28-point peace plan to square away the war in Ukraine recently leaked, prompting meltdowns by those who have been fed the fantasy that Ukraine could beat Russia on the battlefield.

The unofficial formula for Trump tackling any foreign policy question is almost always the following: Stay the course in favor of weapons sales to enrich the U.S. military-industrial complex, but only until a potential for personal profit emerges.

So when Russian sovereign wealth fund chief (and Putin’s special presidential envoy) Kirill Dmitriev appeared on the scene amid peace negotiations, it was only a matter of time before things were going to be wrapping up on the battlefront. If you squint a bit, you can almost see “Trump Tower Ukraine” on the horizon already.

The leaked peace proposal is basically one big business deal between Russia and the U.S. And that business deal ostensibly doubles as the security guarantee that the Europeans keep demanding, because the plan calls for Russia to contribute $100 billion to “U.S.-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine.” There’s no way that either Washington or Moscow is going to tolerate missiles flying around overhead while the bean counters and resource extractors move in to cash in.

Under the deal, all sanctions are to be dropped against America’s new partner, and Russia would be reintegrated into the Western-led G-8 institution of global governance.

And what does Europe get? Well, they’re currently all arguing on the world stage about how to straight-up steal frozen Russian assets being held in European banks, valued at around $225 billion, and then just hand it over to Ukraine. They can’t figure out how to do this without getting sued or spooking investors by acting like the colleague who eats the takeout that you stored in the fridge for later.

Noting this apparent desperation to blow more cash that they don’t have, and perhaps noting Europe’s chronic disinterest in actually extracting a return on investment for their own citizens, Teams Trump and Putin propose that “Europe will add $100 billion to increase the amount of investment available for Ukraine’s reconstruction,” the profits from which America gets 50 percent. It’s basically a global timeshare agreement.

Instead of pointing out their lack of return on investment, Europe has been complaining about the plan freezing Ukraine’s borders where the war has now placed them. They’re acting like children drawing lines in a sandbox with a stick. Because that’s totally how wars and borders work, right? You push a country to fight it out, then when it loses, you just say, “Hey, let’s just pretend this never happened.”

European leaders have insisted that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky be included in peace talks, because he’s a big boy who can call the shots for his own country. Which must be why they’re helicopter-parenting him. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Zelensky has indeed been contributing. But let’s face it — he isn’t picking up the tab. He can order the political equivalent of 25 steaks and the U.S. will just whisper over his head, “Actually, he’ll have the kid’s meal that comes with the toy.”

Worse for Zelensky’s efforts to keep the global fundraising charade going is the $100 million alleged kickback scandal currently unfolding in Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear energy sector, the centerpiece of which is a golden toilet found during a raid of one of Zelensky’s associates from his pre-political days of entertaining the masses by playing piano with his privates.

The fact that Zelensky’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, just resigned after his home was raided by investigators could be proof that Ukraine’s anti-corruption drive is working. Sort of how you know that your diet is working when you don’t feel like eating any more Twinkies — as you sit there atop a mountain of empty boxes of them.

We’re talking about the same anti-corruption bureau that Zelensky tried to defang and bring under his control last summer, under the pretext of it being a potential nest for Russian meddling

Looks like those “Russian meddlers” could end up saving Western taxpayers from having their aid cash flushed in style down golden thrones.

With the age limit for Ukrainian conscription now topping out at 25, and speculation about whom Western generosity is actually serving, it sounds like a good time to pivot to more widespread conventional profiteering.

The West is generally inept at parlaying its regime-change efforts into stable profitable ventures. The best the Europeans have been hoping for was to keep this conflict going long enough to be able to dump a ton of their own cash into their own economy under the pretext that Putin would be showing up in Europe right after he was done with Ukraine. Which is why they’re livid at this peace plan.

It’s a totally different business model from the one they cooked up, involving audience participation from European citizens who have been told to shove water and food in their purses for that fateful moment when Putin drops into town and all hell breaks loose. The Eurobozos in charge need you to give them all your money to protect you — by telling you how to fend for yourself.

Time for the farce to end and for corporatism to take over with its own system of corruption and kickbacks. This was always going to be the endgame for Ukraine — the dark reality behind all the fairy tales.

On the upside, with Uncle Sam and the Russian bear working side by side in Ukraine and elsewhere, it’s difficult to imagine a better system of checks and balances. It sure beats having the establishment of one country “policing” their own multinationals with which they’re curled up under the duvet. No doubt Russia and the U.S. will only be too happy to yank open each other’s kimonos and point out any corruption, particularly if it’s to the detriment of the other — which has always been the case in Ukraine.

The world is one big boardroom, and conflict zones are just profit centers. “Freedom” and “democracy” are marketing slogans for the establishment’s bidding wars. Real freedom and revolution belongs to those who see through it all and refuse to play along in the first place, reclaiming the game for themselves.