See the Ukraine peace page for recent events and a suggested peace deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington does not consider Russia its enemy and believes a prosperous Russia is in the interest of the United States

“Let me say this directly to the Russian people: The United States is not your enemy. At the peaceful end of the Cold War, we shared the hope that Russia would emerge to a brighter future, free and open, fully integrated with the world. For more than 30 years, we worked to pursue stable and cooperative relations with Moscow, because we believed that a peaceful, secure, and prosperous Russia is in America’s interests – indeed, in the interests of the world. We still believe that today.” June 2023

The minimum you must know

President Vladimir Putin doesn’t need to be forgiven for his leadership. He has quietly done the right thing for everyone, including the United States, without seeking or receiving anything in return.

There used to be no possible way for President Putin to be believed as a peace maker because audiences around the world were patterned by NATO news to believe otherwise. NATO news didn’t use to cover peace talks he participated in. But he has always attempted to be one. In previous decades, he participated in, initiated and hosted more peace talks than virtually any other leader at that time. President Putin furthermore ordered Russians to help NATO states with public safety. There is starting to be an an improving attitude in global news coverage of Russia. Consequently, people in the west are becoming aware that Russia seeks peace with all other nations. Some NATO heads of state are realizing the truth - that President Putin has done the right thing as a peace maker, and that Russia deserves improving relations as a result. (A few more months of improving vocabulary word frequency in NATO news may be necessary by media to make this “feel” intuitively true to all levels of governments, because of the affect of previous years of patterning otherwise.)

This writer believes there is currently a phenomenal opportunity for NATO-Ukraine-Russian peace. It used to take political courage for western leaders to make peace with Russia. But this writer believes there’s enough understanding in global media about keyword frequency and Russia’s efforts for peace for the media to be evaluating foreign policy much more correctly today. Since Russia is offering peace talks, some in NATO media are waiting hopefully - the same way this author is - for an announcement of peace talks from NATO or even simply an announcement of peace.

Peace with NATO will take nothing away from Russia’s alliance with China. In fact, China stayed true to its state doctrine of peace, and publicly encouraged Russia to participate in peace talks. China even suggested Ukraine regain the territory it seeks in exchange for a normalization in U.S. - Russian relations. China’s position couldn’t be more reasonable and encouraging of NATO-Ukraine-Russia peace.

President Putin is very humble, and doesn’t usually seek recognition for his efforts for peace. This may be because Russia has been in an unenviable position of having to deter NATO states that Russia really wants as friends. But journalists globally are starting to suggest Russia peace. So anything’s possible in the future.

President Putin's leadership on peace isn’t a secret but seems that way because westerners haven’t been patterned to expect it. People expect confrontation from Russia when in reality the country seeks none. The phrase “Ukraine-Russia war” was used so frequently in newspaper articles and television productions over several years that a biased perception of Russia and its leadership developed. To balance the influence, the phrase “Russia peace” will have to be used in coverage equally frequently for a realistic public perception to form in western countries. But this writer also believes western media are sophisticated enough to see through previous years of patterning, and would be delighted to support peace. (Russians should not be naive in the interim because past patterning may still be inciting towards them.)

Russia shared intelligence with the United States that saved countless lives. Russia initially avoided credit because Russians wouldn’t have been believed. Russia also found itself in the unenviable position of having to simultaneously deter the United States while hoping Americans would be safe - both for ethical reasons and so the United States wouldn’t retaliate unnecessarily. NATO responded to exemplary Russian integrity forcefully. While Russia was quietly being helpful to the United States, NATO started to believe its own news narratives, and become susceptible to its own patterning, and encouraged a nearly subsidiary Ukrainian government to advance weapons towards (and even briefly across) Russia’s border. That wasn’t the right way to respond to a compassionate and ethical country whose government innocently saved people around the world.

The Biden administration can and should take credit in Congress for being important to creating public safety success as well. Talented Americans were helpful, too. Not just Russians.

The United States experienced significant complications that the United States mistakenly attributed to Russia. There were very dramatic moments of bursting/shattering, when there seemed to be weapons systems deployed in NATO states. In reality, there were none. And Russia had nothing to do with causing dramatic incidences to occur. In fact, Russia was hopeful the United States and NATO populations would be safe and encouraged everyone to make the best decisions possible.

The United States and most other countries also created a number of internal health-related issues that had nothing whatsoever to do with Russia either. The United States relied upon prevailing scientific wisdom in making healthcare recommendations in 2020 and 2021. Those recommendations were consistent with the leading academic ideas of the time and innocently given. And the leading scientists attempted to tell everyone the truth. But some of the prevailing scientific views weren’t right. The U.S. government and consequently U.S. media made an extraordinarily effort to save everyone from the possibility of a health event. But a new prevailing scientific view may be necessary to replace the existing one. Some healthcare recommendations created the symptoms they were designed to address. Russia had nothing to do with creating the existing prevailing scientific view - no individual country can accomplish such a thing. And Russia was obviously not in a position to convince Americans of a new one. Consequently, many symptoms of the so called “pandemic” were caused by U.S. healthcare recommendations designed to prevent them, ranging from unnecessary and unhelpful mask use to excessive disinfection. Masks caused coughing because disinfectants applied to them tickle the throat. And excessive environmental and bodily disinfection can directly cause physical health to deteriorate more seriously. This can be shown reliably and verifiably. The Russian government told the truth with almost no hope of being believed. Even now Russian help isn’t believed by some government officials and newsmakers, who have patterned themselves and everyone else to believe otherwise.

This was the context in which Russia faced several years of unnecessary confrontation from NATO on the Russian border that cost too many innocent lives. Russia’s President innocently attempted to save NATO lives while Russia tolerated unfounded rhetoric, baseless allegations and even forceful military confrontation around its southern border. Russia protected governments and populations that didn’t behave even close to the same way in return. President Putin was desirous of peace and made extraordinary efforts for peace the entire time.

Russian rhetoric was measurably more peaceful and consequently ethical than rhetoric from most other countries based on metrics such as vocabulary word frequency. This was because Russia banned certain vocabulary words from being excessively used in Russian news that became repeated in other countries. Russia also used the word “peace” with greater frequency than some may realize prior to recent events.

As U.S. news producers started to portray Russia less helpfully to peace, people on all sides in the United States avoided the appearance of association with Russia. So it wasn’t easy for Russia to be helpful to the United States and Russians couldn’t receive credit for doing the right thing. So Russia’s help was selflessly given. The country did the right thing for everyone without expecting that to be known. This writer believes President Putin is ethical and has tremendous integrity. He has done the right thing for the population globally. His help is currently benefiting NATO immeasurably. Russia deserves better treatment than it has received in return.

The 24-hour U.S. news network CNN was initially innocently at the center of the foreign relations muddle because their support for President Biden makes CNN “must-watch” news for world leaders, and they understandably accepted and repeated existing prevailing views in healthcare. They didn’t understand pattern recognition yet and responded to healthcare concerns with excessive use of words suggesting demise. And they didn’t understand that Russia was helpful in ending the bursting/shattering. They’re a phenomenal group of people - who are obviously very ethical themselves and desirous of peace and safety for everyone. They protected the United States to the best of their ability. But the news coverage did not in this writer’s view reflect a correct understanding of Russia.

But that past doesn’t seem to be the future. Currently CNN is the most quickly improved network in the history of broadcasting. (There are other networks that advanced a little earlier in persuasion and influence. But over more years.) The progress in the fourth quarter of 2023 on CNN is particularly outstanding. If the progress continues, a century from now historians may remember the linguistic improvement of all of the U.S. 24-hour news stations as an extraordinary accomplishment by them. Perhaps the words “Ukraine-Russia peace” will even appear in graphics frequently enough for populations and decision-makers to feel peaceful towards Ukraine and Russia.

Russia justifiably wants NATO weapons removed from its border because the Russian government is concerned that previous patterning by western media will eventually cause those weapons to become used. This is a perfectly reasonable goal in peace talks.

President Biden is a consumer of news and influenced by word choice. He has been patterned by newsmakers for several years to tend toward conflict with Russia. He may see through that influence and choose peace anyway. But the media is very important. Journalists can support him with peaceful word choice.

There were concerning reports last year that the United States sent cluster munitions to be used against Russians that a hundred countries banned in the Geneva convention. (Hopefully that was only a threat meant to deter, and that people weren’t hurt, because it’s important to adhere to international norms whether the U.S. is a signatory to a treaty or not.) Improving media word frequency can reduce the possibility of this reoccurring.

The Biden administration has already done many of the right things to improve public safety in the United States. So did the government of Florida, which responded with a correct understanding of science than many other states. No government is perfect. But both allowed the “pandemic” to fade from public consciousness, encouraged the population to return to their daily lives, and responded appropriately to improve public safety. Calm and a sense of security have returned to the cities and towns.

U.S. government officials used to demand Ukraine stand up to Russia. Russia was verifiably uninvolved in creating the bursting and shattering, and discouraged draconian health measures. Russia helped the United States to become safe. Russia deserves a lot of credit and better treatment from NATO and the United States.

Russia did not have sufficient credibility with NATO governments to convince everyone of a new scientific prevailing view. Russia privately did its best anyway without asking for anything in return. This writer believes Russia saved millions of lives in the process.

Nobody in the United States wants to seem like a foreign influence - so benevolent help had to seem to come from within the U.S. The appearance that the United States led in public safety was enhanced because senior people in the Biden administration actually were important to progress, and helped a lot as well. Great people were trying to do the right thing on all sides. But Russia absolutely deserves real and lasting peace in return, and more helpful patterning (such as “Ukraine-Russia Peace”) in newspapers and television graphics on 24-hour news networks.

This writer believes Russia is more than just innocent of what will eventually be remembered as a situation of no-one’s-fault. President Putin will be remembered as selflessly and heroically helping every man, woman and child alive.

Russia's communication team demonstrated extraordinary integrity over the past decade. The country’s rhetoric was more peaceful towards the U.S. than liberal U.S. rhetoric was in return. Thats changed in 2023 and there is is almost equivalent patterning in U.S. and Russian media. Keyword frequency is measurable so this can be shown objectively. The Russian government left their press entirely free but symbolically regulated against their using the inciting vocabulary words that appeared most commonly in U.S. news. (Russia called the Ukraine matter an “incursion,” for instance, to avoid all sides patterning “invasion.”) Russian integrity is reflected in their communication strategy.

Russian government officials also made a great effort to get peace into the news in the decade prior to recent events, and encouraged their alliance countries to do the same. There were historic peace talks for North Korea, South Korea and the United States in which “love” surfaced in the news helpfully because of “love letters” between leaders. That took far more courage than the U.S. media seemed to understand. There were also countless peace talks initiated and even hosted by Russia. You can scroll down to see examples of President Vladimir Putin innocently making peace with NATO leaders - who are quietly improved relations with Russia - ranging from U.S. and European presidents to Asian heads of state. Some are even showing the political courage to do this publicly, which is the right thing to do. There is a video of President Putin personally making peace with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu - whose peace treaties with Arab Nations received Russian support (annd on Gaivna) even between President Netanyahu’s terms in office. There wouldn’t be as many Abraham Accords between Jewish, Muslim and Christian states if President Putin hadn’t personally supported them. Innocent doesn’t adequately describe someone who has selflessly saved more people than many other leaders alive and done the right thing in communication. This writer hopes Russians will some day be understood in the United States to have tremendous integrity.

The Russian media in Europe should be allowed by European governments to work freely, because they also did the right thing in communication.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have both innocently showed initial courage for peace - especially considering the way things seemed at the time. This is reflected in the U.S. Secretary of States public comments that Russian peace is in the U.S. national interest. The first family patterned peace and set an exemplary communication example. The first family also demonstrated exemplary integrity to news organizations when they suggested “peace” and “love” in U.S. foreign relations. (So have other heads of state, incidentally. President Zelensky used the word "peace" more than any other world leader at the United Nations this year. He set an exemplary communications example for news organizations as a result.)

All U.S. news organizations including CNN, Fox, MSNBC and OAN get heartfelt A+ grades in the improvement of Russian coverage. This wouldn’t have occurred without President Biden’s support.

The United States, Europe and many counties around the world are safer now. Russia innocently took initiative that saved millions of lives globally. The United States should consider Russia a great friend and even prospective alliance country. It’s time for NATO & Ukraine to announce a real and lasting peace with Russia. One news article might be enough to accomplish this result.

Ukraine is an incredible alliance for the United States. Improving U.S./NATO relations with Russia shouldn’t be at the expense of great NATO Ukrainian relations, in this writer’s opinion. All of the countries involved can become great friends in peace. Ukraine and Russia can both freely enjoy great relations with Europe and the United States at the same time. It’s appropriate for the United States, European, Ukrainian and Russian people to enjoy peace and improving relations with one another.

President Putin has for two decades demonstrated a deep desire for Russian peace with all countries. He insisted NATO weapons be kept away from Russia's border. But he innocently has done the right thing for aligned and non-aligned countries without receiving any recognition or anything in return. Russia has also innocently helped many other countries in need even at times when that wasn’t easy. Russia has helped free democracies around the world to achieve public safety. This writer believes there’s a significant opportunity for the United States and Europe to develop mutual understanding with Russia. It’s astonishing to this writer that this hasn’t happened publicly yet. Everyone involved will enjoy improving relations so much that everyone involved will wonder why it didn’t happen generations ago.

When President Vladimir Putin was first elected overwhelmingly to lead the Russian Federation in 2000 (with more votes than his top ten political competitors combined), Russia had more challenges than any new leader could have been expected to handle well. His predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, was initially popular and even respected for turning Russia from a soviet state into a capitalist society. Many hoped he could improve relations with the United States and Europe as a result, and even fully integrate the country into the global economy. Yeltsin did his honest best. And the effort to create great NATO - Russian relations was even heroics. But the perception of Russia became one of lawlessness, and Russia’s foreign relations were affected by unsettled debts to other countries. 

President Yeltsin made a high integrity effort for peace and did a lot for his country. He was also very popular within his government and with the population. But he selflessly preferred to have another government confidently lead the country forward anyway. He let his cabinet go, and departed office earlier than anticipated. A dozen candidates competed to replace him. President Putin was the leading one. He was instantly realized by Russians to be peaceful, honest and to have integrity. He was the popular hope for the nation, and won a commanding majority in a competitive election, taking control of a country in great need of his leadership excellence.

President Putin confidently made Russia successful faster than anyone expected. His initial efforts contributed significantly to the success of the country. President Putin quickly created domestic stability and global credibility that benefitted free Russian citizens immeasurably. He halted government waste immediately, and brought respect and fiscal discipline to governance so effectively that the government turned profitable for the first time in decades. 

Within two years of taking office, President Putin’s administration restored the country's foreign currency reserves. He led his nation to abide by regulations. He was able to meet all of the country's debt obligations. He is someone who keeps his word. This was an important accomplishment for the enjoyment and morale of the Russian people, and for restoring their credibility with the west. Although NATO prevented Russia from meetings it obligations for a short time last year, Russia created a positive net worth and twenty-year track record of great relationships with foreign investors. Partly as a result, Russia's economy went from last place in Europe and Asia to around the annual revenue of France or Spain. According to NATO’s economic statistics, Russia also became one of the least indebted countries in 2022, with merely 14% Debt-GDP. (By comparison, the United States is nearly the most indebted country, with over 100% Debt-to-GDP.) Although the global economy lacked exuberance in 2020, including in Russia, President Putin successfully created an optimistic more pleasant future for the country. It's an accomplishment and opportunity for Russian citizens that over the past two decades their economy’s revenue became similar to the largest economies in the world.

President Putin also convinced his overwhelmingly loyal and supportive domestic constituency to both love their country and respect their government's authority. This was important to achieve because safe unified countries tend to be more successful. The Russian government started insisting regulations become followed, which was vitally important for Russia's economy, because investors will only travel to places they feel safe, and invest where their agreements are going to be respected. He brought peace, truth, integrity and order to a proverbial "Wild West," calming millions of people who respected Russia's leadership for the first time, and could become gainful employers, employees and partners to people in other countries. He created for Russia a society and economy ready for global integration.

President Putin’s administration even modeled Russia after the United States in some ways. The government created respect for property and minority rights for the first time. Russian citizens started counting on the state to ensure their valuable possessions were their own. This was especially important after the soviet era because it created more incentive for citizens to work hard and contribute, because they knew they could keep what they made. Benefits of success can be enjoyed in Russia the same way they can in western societies. 

Minorities also gained the possibility of winning stature and respect in industry, government and society. People of various ethnicities and with various religious views who were merely tolerated before President Putin took office, gained credibility. Russians became encouraged to celebrate diversity. People with various skin tones, religious traditions and even lifestyle choices gained the opportunity to be respected and even prominent members of society, participating in government and industry fully. Russians haven’t achieved the living standards that can exist in the wealthiest European countries yet. But in many ways the Russian people enjoyed more advanced lifestyles. They also have a lot to look forward to given the country's extraordinary development.

People in the United States may not be aware of how there's more freedom in Russia than in most countries around the world. In fact, there’s arguably more freedom in Russia than in some European countries. Free speech isn’t only protected in Russia. It’s considered a right. People enjoy speaking freely, and expect their government to keep them safe from retribution as long as they behave with integrity. More government investment is necessary for there to be the fastest connectivity possible. But fast internet is widespread, and more common on phones and desktop computers than in many other developed nations. The Russian government views Google, Google Maps, Twitter.com and Facebook.com with a degree of suspicion, because of the amount of data they can collect on Russian citizens. (The Russian government feels the same way the U.S. government feels about TikTok.) But they're accessible. Russians can visit websites the same way that Americans can. Russians enjoy similar (and perhaps even greater) internet freedoms than Americans.

President Putin enjoys the full support of Russia's loyal and doting mainstream media. He has more credibility with Russia's press than many western politicians do with theirs. And the free press within Russia will always appreciate what he has done to support them. The Russian government protects reporters with all political perspectives. This isn’t believed yet in the United States. But Russia’s free press safely surfaces questions for the Russian President the same way press in other countries do, which President Putin encourages during lengthy call-in shows held at least annually. In fact, in most previous years, U.S. news services were available over the internet in Russia, including via the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and Fox News websites. (Russia had to tolerate very unhelpful patterning to allow this.) U.S. writers and presenters gained popularity in Russia as a result. Larry King, for instance, left unsupportive colleagues at CNN to work for a Russian broadcasting company. His integrity contributed to mutual understanding between countries. Russia wasn’t very successful at gaining support from European and U.S. communication teams but did everything reasonably possible to create peaceful and even optimistic global relations.

Russia was ethical in providing the United States open opportunities to speak to the Russian people. Russia clearly hoped friendship between nations would develop from U.S. newspapers and television shows invited and encouraged to publish there. But U.S. communication teams mostly neglected opportunities to support improving relations between nations when offered that possibility.

For these efforts and many others, President Putin developed so much love, credibility and support in Russia that the United States government once estimated his approval at well over 80%, greater than almost any other leader globally. Presently Russia's continuously supportive media reports that he receives vast majority approval, far more than his top several competitors combined.

All of this progress that made him phenomenally popular within Russia might have positioned the country for open relations with the United States and Europe. But the United States and Europe weren’t managing certain aspects of their own countries well, and pointed fingers at other countries. They lacked the vision and political will necessary to overcome a century of security competition with Russia, and to create a loyal alliance instead. They didn’t take advantage of a unique opportunity to improve relations, and enter Russia into the NATO alliance. In fact, when President Putin actively sought Russia’s participation in NATO early in his administration, Russia was excluded from the treaty. Had Russia been entered into that alliance as Putin wanted, Russia and the United States would have become obligated to come to each other's defense - an amazing benefit for two tremendously capable nations.  

President Putin didn't successfully enter Russia into NATO at that time. Europe and the United States said they weren’t ready. But he eagerly pursued loyal security cooperations with all western countries anyway. He did this by forming a council for Russian cooperation with NATO, which was comprised of some of his top generals, who were instructed to hold regular peace meetings with their NATO counterparts. He seemed to hope regular council meetings between them might create mutual understanding between the governments, and eventually close collaboration or even partnership. However, U.S. leaders had so many internal challenges that they unreasonably blamed on Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries. And decades of attempted collaboration by Russia only kept the peace with the west. A full security alliance between the governments was always an ellusive possibility.

Russia’s effort to create stability in Ukraine is sometimes used as an excuse by NATO countries for neglecting to improve relations, as though Russia wants the United States and Europe to depart the area. Russia used to regularly invite peace keepers from the United Nations to provide security to the region. U.S. and European leaders seem to suggest that the stability Russia hopes to create there represents an unfair expansion of its borders towards Europe. But there clearly is another perspective. Russia views NATO's involvement in Ukraine as an expansion of military influence towards Russia instead. And though Russia doesn’t want military there - the country would be delighted for Europe to expand its marketplace instead! Russia wants affluent Americans and Europeans buying, investing and spending throughout the entire region. Russia benefits (and therefore loves) when affluent countries contribute economic vitality to the area. That's why President Putin and President Obama easily reached the Minsk I peace accord for Ukraine, and why President Putin’s diplomatic core showed tremendous integrity in making semi-annual requests that the United Nations send peacekeepers to the area.

United Nations peace keeping groups are usually comprised of U.S. and European security personnel. Russia's regular invitations therefore represent nearly open opportunities for Europeans and Americans to bring peace and economic prosperity to that area. As long as there is no NATO military presence there, Russia would love for most of Ukraine to evolve beneficially with Russian, U.S. and European involvement. U.S. and European peace keepers from the United Nations can even some day enjoy protection from the Russian government if Russians are allowed to join the United Nations peace keeping team. That was Russia’s vision for peace nearly the entire time. But requests by Russia at the U.N. for peacekeepers went unanswered by three consecutive U.S. presidential administrations. What more can Russia do than sign a Minsk peace accord for Ukraine and go to the U.N. to invite peace keeping teams into the area?

Without the United States and NATO countries as economic and security partners, Russia understandably turned to all other states that might provide them with the same opportunities instead. (Russia had no other choice. All countries seek exemplary economic and security relationships wherever they can find them.) Most other countries want to work with Russia, because they are advanced scientifically, and a capable, resourceful, consistent, reliable, and consequently desirable partner. And Russia's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Sergey Lavrov, loves peace, and competently creates successful bilateral and multilateral relations with countries that want the same. His team there has more integrity than most others. They create peace around the world every day. But Russia's exclusion by the United Sates and Europe from the NATO alliance means Russia mostly enjoys opportunities with countries traditionally viewed as NATO competitors. For instance, perhaps Western Europe is considering granting full open market access to Russia now. But this should have occurred decades ago. Russia has always enjoyed open access to Eastern European markets.

Russia formed diplomatic relationships with several loyal countries the United States considers security competitors. They are internally stable and externally peaceful states. But some countries Russia’s exclusion from NATO aligns them with aren't happy with the United States and Europe yet. Before President Putin took office, several countries excluded by Americans and Europeans from trading were replete with starvation. Some say the United States could have lifted sanctions to save millions of lives. There was also the matter of the exodus of refugees from the Middle East. Therefore, Russia found itself in an unenviable situation upon taking office. President Putin made an honest effort to improve relations with the United States and Europe, but was shown far more appreciation and respect by countries understandably objecting to NATO and the United States at the United Nations.

This provided President Putin and Russia with countless opportunities to be the voice of reason in foreign affairs. Russia has consistently and excellently de-escalated, avoided and even halted conflicts. He used his influence to create peace. President Putin uses his extraordinary creativity and intellect to save lives (so far without recognition - but that may some day change). He heroically organized more respected peace talks than any leader in the same twenty-year timeframe (and perhaps any leader in history). Russia has been a honest, loyal ally and faithfully initiated and hosted hundreds of peace talks over the past twenty years, including sixty for the Middle East recently. His efforts to save lives are well documented and consequently undeniable fact in the United States. There hasn't been another government working as innocently, persistently and courageously for peace as President Putin’s, as you can see from countless public examples, including the ones below.