Narativ with Zev Shalev

Narativ with Zev Shalev

NEW ANALYSIS: The Trump-Putin Alaska Summit Is a Global Emergency

Why Friday's meeting in Anchorage is about carving up the Arctic, not ending the Ukraine War and why the world faces its greatest test.

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Zev Shalev
Aug 13, 2025
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Four months ago, I warned that Putin was manufacturing historical narratives to justify Trump's territorial ambitions in the Arctic. Today, as they prepare to meet in Alaska – Russia's former territory – that warning becomes reality. This is a global emergency that threatens the world order and requires an unequivocal united response by the world. They're planning to dismantle the post-WWII order and redraw the Arctic map.

The April Warning Nobody Heeded

In April, I exposed how Putin delivered a speech in Russia's Arctic capital that Western media ignored, but Russian disinformation networks aggressively seeded across social platforms. Putin wasn't rambling – he was constructing historical "precedent" for Trump's Greenland obsession, framing it as consistent American policy dating to the 1860s rather than dangerous imperial overreach.

The glaring omission? Canada. Putin pretended the country with the world's longest Arctic coastline doesn't exist. Same reason Pete Hegseth's Pentagon document avoids naming Canada while targeting "our hemisphere." You don't name what you're planning to take.

Now they're meeting in Alaska – the very territory Russia sold to America for $7.2 million in 1867. Russian state media is pumping out propaganda about children singing songs for Alaska's return to Mother Russia. Putin's domestic audience is being told he's marching to Alaska to reclaim Russian territory and tell Trump "what's what."


Here’s the April post which includes the entire speech.

Putin Births an Arctic Narrative

Zev Shalev
·
Apr 1
Putin Births an Arctic Narrative

Vladimir Putin appears distressed that his recent speech in the Arctic North hasn't hit mainstream Western media - so his disinformation networks are now aggressively seeding it across X and other platforms. The speech itself is lengthy, typically impenetrable, and few journalists would have ventured to the remote Arctic capital to witness it.

Read full story

The Arctic Council Power Play

The Arctic isn't just ice and polar bears – it's the future of global trade and resource extraction. As climate change opens new shipping routes and exposes vast mineral deposits, control of the Arctic becomes control of the 21st century's most valuable real estate. The Arctic Council – comprising the US, Canada, Russia, and Nordic nations – has managed this peacefully for decades.

Putin wants to blow it up.

When Putin references working with "friendly nations" in his Arctic speech, he's signaling Russia's partnership with China to create an alternative Arctic governance system – a "Polar Silk Road" operating outside established frameworks. This is where Putin's mask slips: China is his silent partner-in-crime, fully aligned but preferring to hide its aggression toward the West.

The Land Swap That Isn't About Ukraine

Trump keeps mentioning "land swaps" for Friday's summit. Everyone assumes he means Ukrainian territory for peace. But what if the swap involves Alaska for Greenland? Or coordinated pressure on Canada from both sides – Russia from Alaska, America from the south? This makes Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler look quaint by comparison – we're watching the potential handover of American territory to a hostile power while simultaneously threatening NATO allies.

Mark Carney isn't waiting to find out. At CFB Trenton last weekend, Canada's likely next Prime Minister announced massive military investments specifically for Arctic defense. He cited the Arctic as Canada's biggest security concern, scrapping the F-35 contract for cold-weather fighters that can actually defend northern territory. Carney knows something we're just beginning to understand: Canada is the real target.

Think about it strategically. If Putin reclaims Alaska and Trump takes Greenland, they control the Arctic's key chokepoints. Canada becomes surrounded, its Arctic sovereignty crushed between two authoritarian powers. The Arctic Council collapses, replaced by a Russia-China-Trump axis controlling the world's most important emerging trade routes.

The Manchurian Summit

After years of investigation, I have high certainty that Putin views Trump as a geopolitical instrument – a way to use American military strength to achieve Russian objectives. Putin isn't just providing historical cover for Trump's territorial ambitions; he's using his Manchurian president to fight Russia's battles with American blood.

The pattern is undeniable: Trump threatens Greenland; Putin provides historical justification. Trump's Pentagon documents outline hemispheric domination; Putin frames it as historically consistent. Trump meets Putin in Alaska; Russian media celebrates reclaiming their territory.

This is the Ukraine playbook repeating – creating historical justifications, claiming to respond to rather than initiate aggression, gradually normalizing the unthinkable. We saw it with Crimea, then eastern Ukraine. Now we're seeing it with the Arctic.

The Global Response: Isolate America

Democrats and Republicans have 48 hours to stop this summit from taking place. If Trump and Putin execute this Arctic carve-up, the world has one option: complete American isolation. Expel the US from NATO. Remove America from the Arctic Council. Impose sanctions on American companies. Treat the United States as what it would become – a rogue state threatening the sovereignty of democratic allies.

Europeans who lived through fascism's rise are already sounding alarms. A German couple told Dean Blundell in France: "We've been through this before. We know where it goes." They're not being dramatic. They're recognizing the playbook – manufacture crises, create enemies, redraw maps, normalize aggression.

The Bottom Line

Friday's summit in Anchorage isn't about ending the Ukraine war. It's about beginning the Arctic war. Every American parent whose child might die defending Trump's imperial ambitions should understand: they won't be dying for American values or security. They'll be dying for Putin's territorial dreams and Trump's narcissistic delusions.

The choice of Alaska tells us everything. It's not just geographic convenience – it's symbolic declaration. Putin gets to stand on former Russian soil while discussing the future carve-up of the Arctic. Trump gets to play strongman while surrendering American interests to his handler.

Canada, Greenland, and every Arctic nation should be on highest alert. This summit isn't diplomacy – it's conspiracy. Two aging autocrats are planning to undo 70 years of peaceful Arctic cooperation and replace it with might-makes-right territorial conquest.

For years, I've been reporting about the Arctic as the strategic goal of Russia's attack on democracy and the Russia-China alliance. My reports often land on deaf ears. I can only do as much as I can – if people in positions of authority want to hear more, I'm always available. I take no comfort in being right about all these things for 8 years, but I wonder when people will begin to pay attention.

Perhaps when Russian troops are in Alaska and American troops are dying for Putin's territorial ambitions, they'll finally listen. By then, it will be too late.

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This investigation builds on my April 2025 analysis "Putin Births an Arctic Narrative," which first exposed the coordinated Russia-Trump strategy for Arctic domination. Read the original warning here.

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