Join Alexander Mercouris Live Stream Today 18th February 2026 at 14:00 EST, 19:00 London time
The most chaotic negotiations I can remember at a Great Power level - both on the Iran issue and on the Ukraine issue - have now ended in Geneva. The Iranians and the Ukrainians are furious at the way they were conducted - see Zelensky's splenetic interview with Axios - whilst the Russians (as always) maintain a disciplined silence.
I am totally unable to see the signs of 'progress' in either negotiation which some people - eg. Ben Aris, Anatole Lieven, in the case of the Ukraine talks - are seeing. On the contrary, it seems to me that the gulf between the sides if anything is widening.
As the Ukrainians are angrily saying, this was all a show put on for the benefit of Donald Trump, and there was nothing more to it than that.
War with Iran now looks to me all but certain, with Iran rehearsing the closure of the Straits of Hormuz. As for the Russians, they give impression of continuing work on their Spring offensive.
These and other, hopefully more cheerful, things to talk about.....