Vladimir Putin is pushing a three-way summit with Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war—and the mere prospect of peace is sending the military-industrial complex into a panic.
A negotiated settlement that carves up spheres of influence without a blank check for Kyiv is the establishment's worst nightmare. If peace breaks out, the defense contracts dry up, the foreign aid spigot shuts off, and the lobbying class loses its favorite slush fund. That is why the usual suspects are howling.
According to the Washington Examiner, Putin floated the idea of a trilateral summit during an October phone call with Trump. The proposed meeting would include the U.S., Russia, and China—but exclude Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European allies entirely. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed the pitch. A senior U.S. official told the Daily Beast that while Trump has not agreed, he is open to the idea because he is desperate to broker an end to the war.
The establishment reaction was swift and predictable. The Daily Beast highlighted a New York Post editorial warning Trump that agreeing to the summit would trigger an "all-out rebellion by much of the GOP" and pave the way for impeachment if Democrats take Congress. The Murdoch-owned tabloid compared the summit to the 1938 Munich Agreement, warning Trump would be "outnumbered by our determined foes" and risk going down in history as one of the world’s "greatest chumps."
The Post's hyperventilation tells you everything about where the war lobby's priorities lie. They aren't worried about American security; they're worried about midterm politics and protecting a proxy war that has drained U.S. arsenals and fattened defense contractors. The idea that the U.S. would negotiate a peace deal favoring our interests—rather than blindly funding a stalemate—terrifies a bipartisan establishment that profits from forever war.
Trump promised to end this war on day one. The question is whether he will face down the neocon wing of his own party, or let the threat of another impeachment keep American tax dollars flowing into a foreign meat grinder.
