Ben Hodges is a retired United States Army officer, who became commander of United States Army Europe in November 2014, and held that position for three years until retiring from the United States Army in January 2018. Until recently he was the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, specialising in NATO, Transatlantic relationship and international security. ----------Over the past week, Russia sent 1,220 glide bombs, 40 missiles and more than 850 drones into Ukraine, including a couple of high explosive drones that hit the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. The idea that Putin wants peace is a dangerous delusion. Yet at the Munich Security conference last week several things came into sharp focus. The Trump administration seems desperate to secure peace and is prepared to grant any concession to get Putin to simply agree to negotiations. The victim of the war, Ukraine, and its largest supporter in monetary terms, Europe, are being cut out of the negotiation process. Ukraine is denied the security of NATO membership. Sanctions against Russia may be eased, and war criminal Putin normalised on the world stage. Moreover, the US under Trump is prepared to extort and blackmail victims of war and terror such as Ukraine, to strip its mineral resources, deny its agency and negate its sovereign borders. Europe is being told it’s on its own, with the implication it comes under Russia’s Eurasian imperial sphere of influence. In this episode we ask, how much worse can the situation get, and what does Putin want us to feel at this point of inflection? ----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN 10 Events in 10 months - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run 10 events in 10 months (at a minimum). We may add more venues to the program, depending on the success of the fundraising campaign. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------CHAPTERS00:03:41 That was that was a gloomy intro, even for you, but we're at a critical juncture.00:04:47 3 things come to mind immediately: one, the importance of allies and partners.00:06:10 The Russians clearly have no interest in actually negotiating with Ukraine.00:08:33 Ditching Europe would be a massive, catastrophic, self-inflicted wound for US.00:13:13 French president hosting an emergency summit of European leaders in Paris.00:16:13 It's to our detriment, that article 5 of the Washington Treaty is even a question.00:21:10 Dayton accord - You had a different structure, mission, rules of engagement.00:27:57 I don't know if it's desperation. The president would like to get this peace done.00:32:20 That's not going to cause a Russian tank regiment to turn around and go back.00:35:26 If Europeans feel uneasy about it, roll your sleeves up and do something.00:40:16 I've got nothing against Russians retreating themselves into a total collapse.00:42:17 This is a call for leaders, elected officials, to talk to fellow citizens as adults.----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------