LOTS OF NEW MATERIAL FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!

Last week I covered CPAC, the annual DC conservative confab, for “System Update” with Glenn Greenwald, while Glenn is out voyaging in parts unknown. One of the hot topics was the pending Ukraine “minerals” deal that had been on the cusp of being signed. Steve Bannon, in an interview you can watch here, denounced the deal as a de facto US “security guarantee” for Ukraine, and agreed with my intuition that it actually represented a further entanglement of the US with Ukraine, which is contrary to what many likely expected from the new Trump Administration. Among other things, the deal codifies a “long-term financial commitment” by the US in Ukraine, and grants the US ownership of a wide array of Ukrainian state assets — not just “rare earth” minerals, but also oil, natural gas, and physical infrastructure like refineries and ports. In essence, Ukraine would be officially ceding much of its sovereignty to the US.

Every report indicated the deal had been agreed to in all but formalities, but then at the last minute, Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office this afternoon erupted into a heated debate with JD Vance, with Trump joining in. As of this writing, it now looks like the much anticipated “deal” will not be signed, at least for the time being — and perhaps Bannon will ultimately get his way. The exchange in the Oval Office was all the more bizarre and remarkable because Trump had, on several occasions, affirmed that US arms will continue flowing to Ukraine, which is probably the most acute policy issue from Ukraine’s perspective at the moment. “Yeah, we’re gonna be continuing,” Trump said. “We will have arms to Ukraine.”

But then, rather than just keeping his mouth shut, Zelensky chose to instigate a debate with Vance, and the whole thing went haywire. So now I guess “we’ll see what happens,” to quote a common Trump axiom.

Here are my full shows this week on CPAC. You can also watch individual interviews:

• Steve Bannon, part one

• Steve Bannon, part two

• Liz Truss, former Prime Minister of the UK

• Mateusz Moraweicki, former Polish Prime Minister

• Christine Anderson, member of the European Parliament for the AfD (Alternative for Germany)

• Israel Ganz, governor of a consortium of Jewish settlement organizations in the West Bank

• Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-WY)

• Leaders of the “Trump 2028” movement

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