Despite Republican Congressional losses at the polls on Tuesday, the Trump administration remains in place for another two years, and there is work to be done. The White House crew can lick their wounds later; right now they have a sensitive meeting to mediate.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to arrive today, where they will reportedly be hosted by Melania Trump, who has also been credited with having brokered the recent six-day ceasefire and evacuation of survivors at Oleshky, Ukraine.

Today’s participants are expected to be parliamentarian David Arakhamia and human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets from Kyiv, and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev and human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova from Moscow.

While this is a preliminary session, intended to iron out the details of next week’s higher-level negotiations at Abu Dhabi, it seems odd that no U.S. officials have been identified as taking part — at the very least, as a matter of diplomatic protocol. U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are already slated to attend the Abu Dhabi meeting, but reportedly will not be present today. So, has the White House merely been offered up as a venue for today’s planning session, with Melania Trump — neither a government official nor a trained diplomat — sitting in and . . .

. . . and what, exactly? What is she qualified to add to the discussions? Why has she suddenly been dusted off and pressed into a very public role after two years of keeping an extraordinarily low profile?

And why have the representatives of the two principal governments traveled all the way to Washington when other neutral locations could have been found closer to home?

To quote the fictionalized Siamese King Mongkut in “The King and I” whenever he was stymied by modern Western ideas:

“It’s a puzzlement.”

So, as always, we wait to see what happens next. I’ll certainly be watching.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/5/26