Putin wants new 'grand bargain' with the West, says Turkish official

[DFW]

27. I have such a deal for you! It's a grand bargain!

In essence, it goes like this: "I get what I want, you do what I want, and everybody's happy. Whaddya say?"

Yep, that sounds pretty grand alright. It sounds like a Russian version of the "Contract With America" put forward by Gingrich in 1994. "We get to dictate everything, and you are happy with it. Договорились? (Do we have a deal)?"

Putin wants territorial, trade and political concessions from the west, and in return, he offers to be content with some of what he got, and will be back to negotiate the rest. Such a deal!

Such proposals are usually made expecting a counter-offer. Here's mine:

Putin leaves office, severs all connections with government, withdraws from all occupied Ukrainian land, including the Crimean Peninsula, and lets Russia attempt to have true civilian rule. To show his good faith, he donates a meager portion of his secret personal fortune, say $100 billion, to Ukrainian reconstruction. In return, the Ukrainians agree to be part of a customs-free trade zone with Russia that promotes trade and economic activity. Instead of a zone of deadly peril, the border area between the two countries becomes a hotbed of commercial trading activity, with the former secret police eliminating mafia bosses instead of political dissidents. Like today's border between France and Germany, two generations from now, the people who live there will wonder WTF fighting a war between the two was ever for in the first place.

Somehow, I don't think VVP will go for it. Oh, well, it's just a suggestion.