Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the US-Russia peace talks, IRS latest in jobs firing line

The US and Russia will meet in Saudi Arabia over the coming days to discuss peace talks around the war in Ukraine. 

United States officials have said Europe will be excluded from discussions. 

How will this end? 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold talks to Mike Hosking. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rich and anold good Monday morning, very good morning, make
peace talks? Who's there? And how's it all in? Do
we reckon? Well?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
They're good questions, don't have all the answers. The Ukraine
War of Plemacy really is off to a confusing starting place,
with the Trump team headed to Saudi Arabia supposed to
begin these talks, but without Ukraine, with who knows who
on the Russian side. Marco Rubio, the new US Secretary
of State, is being pretty vague right now about what
is intended.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
One meeting isn't going to solve it.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
But I want to reiterate the President made clear who
wants to.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
End this war.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, aw Ukrainian official says this announcement of Saudi talks
is a surprise to them. They have no plans to
send the delegation. There are also no plans for reps
of major European powers to join talks. This after the
Trump foreign policy crew well pretty much teed off European
political and military leaders in Munich, didn't they? As Vice
President J. D. Vance on his first big foreign policy

(00:52):
joint left n allies stunned when he attacked European policies
and made no mention of the Russia Ukraine war at all.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
The threat that I worry the most about visa the
Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any
other external actor. And what I worry about is the
threat from within.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Those comments went down like a rock. Germany Chancellor Olive
Schultz said there will be no dictated peace for Ukraine,
and he slammed the United States Corps for Germany to
open the door to neo Nazi style politics and politicians.
In an interview with America's NBC Network Today, Ukraine's President
Zelenski is offering his own rebuke about seemingly being sidelined.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
I will never accept any decisions between the United States
and Russia about Ukraine. Never and our people never an
our adults and children and everybody. It's kind be so
this is the war in Ukraine against us, and it's
our human losses.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
The Trump team drew heated criticism, even from some Republicans,
for endorsing Russian talking points on the future of Ukraine
and its demand for security guarantee. Says Zelenski, they don't
have a real because they can't have it with Altars.
Zelenski says Putin, simply, in his view, is playing political
games and biding his time in his sports.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Because he brilliant now mobilized forty five thousand people each month,
but he was to prepare where he trained well trained people.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
So we're not even at the starting box with Zelenski
now is calling for what he describes as an army
of Europe to take on Russia without the United States.
So what does that say for NATO, which has been,
of course force for peace since the end of World
War Two. Ukraine also has rejected an American corps for
a fifty percent stake in Ukraine's earth minerals. Trump team
floated this sort as part of their peace efforts. Lenski's

(02:37):
saying no Russian security agreement, no deal.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Then we come to the jobs per g irs IRIS
next in line.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, the Eland must campaign by doze or doggies take
it to calling it so he could be focused on
the tax office. They planned to sack thousands of tax
office workers. This is the IRIS is big season. The
last could start this week. We don't know exactly how many.
As they moved to downsize government, tax workers thought that
they would be fine with this, but they've been told

(03:07):
they cannot accept any job buy out effort from the
Trump team until after this year's tax filing deadline in
mid April. Fourteen states challenging the authority of Musk's minions
to do all of this, But so far, got to say,
legal system continues to grind very slowly.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Good on you, mate, We'll catch up on Wednesday. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
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Speaker 1 (03:28):
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