I’ve Said It Before – The Realtor Who Sold My House Could Do Better Than This

We have a transcript of an Oct. 14 phone call between Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s most senior foreign-policy adviser. It is from Bloomberg, and here is a link that is said to be good for the next seven days.

The story here is twofold: 1) How the call was recorded, and 2) Who leaked it to Bloomberg. But lacking those pieces of information, let’s look at what the substance of the call tells us.

A case can be made that Witkoff is being very nice to Ushakov and his boss because that is what you do in negotiations. A hint of how to talk to Witkoff’s boss is not out of line. My realtor made suggestions to me about how to talk to various people. Yes, he was my guy, but I can see him making suggestions to buyers too, if they had talked to me. As is done in real estate, if there is a realtor involved, buyers and sellers usually don’t talk to each other. But I wasn’t dealing with a multimillion-dollar property. That may be different.

What does shine through is Witkoff’s intense ignorance and inability to envision a “deal” that isn’t exactly like what he has negotiated in real estate.

And I believe the question is — the issue is is that we have two nations that are having a hard time coming to a compromise and when we do, we’re going to have a peace deal. I’m even thinking that maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza. We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you. 

This is kindergarten level thinking. Of course there must be a plan. The 20 points seem to be what’s important to Witkoff, rather than any substance they might contain.

Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things — to explore what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done. Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere. But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here. And I think Yuri, the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.

“I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere.” It’s all about land and location, location, location! Witkoff fails to understand that Russia has breached one of the most fundamental tenets that has kept a relative peace for 80 years: Nations do not take land from their neighbors just because they want to. He fails to understand that Putin sees this as a quasi-religious struggle.

…so if we can create that opportunity that after this I talked to Yuri and we had a conversation I think that could lead to big stuff.

Get those 20 points, bring them to our guys, and we’ve got a deal! Big stuff!

Ushakov doesn’t come across as particularly bright or strategic either, but he’s working Witkoff too, so coming across that way may be useful. Or Putin doesn’t care because he knows he will continue the war and none of this matters. Russians sent Kirill Dmitriev to work with Witkoff and Jared Kushner on those 28 points. The ignorance slops over on the reporters, too, who continue to call that shopping list a “plan.” It’s a random set of points, at least some of which is clearly translated from the Russian. Rob, Dan, and I discussed that on our podcast. Another interesting question is why Dmitriev, who is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, rather than a diplomat. One answer to that question is that he’s very ambitious and would like Sergei Lavrov’s job as Foreign Minister.