So much information is coming in that it’s impossible to track everything. Please give a link where Hegseth said this because I need to know what I’m responding to. In the video posted earlier, I discussed what Hegseth said yesterday. Then today he backtracked on that but from your comment it sounds like he went much further since today’s NATO presser? I looked but I’m not finding anything.
Please, whoever knows what this question is in reference to, leave links or, ideally, quotes.
While we wait, I can say that I’m grateful for everything Hegseth said yesterday and confused as to why he decided to backtrack today.
Clarissa's Blog 
“I’m grateful for everything Hegseth said yesterday and confused as to why he decided to backtrack today.”
Hegseth is backpedaling because today Trump is talking about Putin like they’re best buddies, and he (Trump) thinks that Ukraine’s representatives should sit down with Putin and negotiate a peace treaty on Putin’s terms (which means ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia).
I voted for Trump against Biden because I had no choice considering what a senile old man Biden was. But I’m old enough to remember the decades of the Cold War very well, and how important it was for NATO and the USA to stand up to Russia’s desire for territorial conquest.
Trump’s gutless betrayal of that promise to Ukraine — if it comes to that — literally makes me sick to my stomach!
LikeLike
I’m still waiting for a quote where Hegseth said what the anonymous question stated. I’ve looked everywhere. I wish people understood that this is a serious issue and didn’t invent things just for fun.
LikeLike
I keep checking back to see if anybody’s got a link or a citation or anything. I’m interested as well.
LikeLike
Still waiting. This is actually very annoying to me because I wasted time yesterday and felt very stressed looking for this information. And it turned out to be a hoax.
People should act more responsibly and think about what they are doing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OT: saw today that Reuters has joined the official list of state-sponsored govt propaganda outlets.
LikeLike
@methylethyl
Any links/references to Reuters item deeply appreciated. I used to be a journalist with them before my current incarnation as a teacher.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I saw it here:
https://peterhalligan.substack.com/p/the-cancer-that-has-been-grown-by
LikeLike
Halligan refers to this story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/thomson-reuters-9m-contract-with-us-defense-department-draws-ire-from-trump-musk/3481308
which is a Turkish source claiming Reuters was contracting with the DoD. Original source looks like Musk’s Xitter, but I’m not on X so I can’t search that.
LikeLike
That Anonymous is me, Avi.
LikeLike
I believe this may be the referenced statement from Pete Hegseth:
“We must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” Hegseth said, sketching out an initial position for any peace negotiations with Russia.
“Chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” he added, though this could be interpreted as effectively acknowledging the annexation of Crimea, and large parts of the Donbas by Russia.
The quotes and the text outside of quotation marks come from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/12/us-no-longer-primarily-focused-on-europes-security-says-pete-hegseth
LikeLike
But do you see how this is completely different from what the anonymous question alleged?
If people sincerely don’t see it, I can explain. Pre-2014 borders are the Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk. They have been under occupation for 10 years. Putin tried to make Ukraine take Donetsk and Lugansk back repeatedly. Ukraine refused. Because of this and other similar things, Russia invaded in 2022. It’s crucial to the survival of Ukraine that they don’t be returned in the state they are right now.
I can go into more detail but I wrote about it so often that I feel like a broken record.
LikeLike
“Putin tried to make Ukraine take Donetsk and Lugansk back repeatedly. Ukraine refused.”
What are you talking about? I swear I have never heard this anywhere before.
LikeLike
That was the major sticking point in the negotiations over the Minsk agreements. If Putin managed to foist Donetsk and Lugansk on Ukraine, he’d get control over the entire parliamentary process of the country. Imagine Girkin and Motorola in the Rada. That was Russia’s original plan.
This would be a nightmare and it’s why since 2014 Ukraine never tried to take them back. Even though it paid welfare payments (e.g. pensions) to the residents.
LikeLike
I also want to mention that I wrote about this as it happened. People should stick around if they want to know what’s actually happening.
LikeLike
There is no point in arguing anything about Ukraine right now.
Trump says one thing, Hegseth says another, then Vance says something completely different, then the next day they all say something different.
I think this is a Trump strategy to keep Putin and people guessing.
Very unconventional, but much better than being predictably slow and feckless like sleepy Joe.
LikeLike
It really does seem to be the MO.
After USAID they were talking about going after the DOE, got all the D congresscritters looking silly at the doors of the office… and then the auditors showed up at the IRS instead. The scene shifts daily, and what’s being telegraphed in public is often not what actually happens. So far, this doesn’t seem haphazard, and from the look of it: they’ve had a detailed plan and extraordinary opsec since well before the election.
So I’m willing to entertain the idea, about any major political piece in play including UKR, that there *is* a strategy, that we haven’t been told what that strategy is, and that whatever they’re saying in public about it may or may not have any relation to it.
Frustrating, but… the only thing that makes sense is to withhold judgement until stuff actually *happens*, and then see what the results are.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Trump strategy to keep Putin and people guessing”
Just had this conversation the other day with someone…. don’t pay attention to what Trump (or his team) say…. pay attention to what they do. I freely admit I have no idea what he’ll do but I intend to withhold too much comment until there’s more of a record.
Then the friend countered with “but… but… he said nice things about putin!” and I had to explain that’s normal when entering public negotiations. (I left off the second part… very often the nicer the things said about the other side… the worse you plan to screw them).
Again, I have no idea what he’ll do but so far he hasn’t done anything bad regarding Ukraine despite all the pearl clutching.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m facepalming all day over the endless “but he saids”. It’s not the injustice towards Trump that bothers me because Trump will be perfectly fine. It’s the idea that words are more important than reality. This is a very neoliberal idea and I hate it.
LikeLiked by 1 person