THE NEWS

The Friday meeting between Ukrainian and Russian officials, the first direct engagement of its kind in some three years, has ended, according to Turkey’s foreign ministry, and lasted a little under two hours.

Each side will in the aftermath convey to the press its version of things, and Ukraine has been right out the gate telling CNN that there was nothing meaningful to come out of these first talks.

A Ukrainian source said the Russia delegation “did not have a mandate to make important decisions” and that “they are not ready to decide anything meaningful to end the war.”

Many international headlines Thursday described the team of junior officials sent by the Kremlin as an ‘insult’ to the peace process; however, it’s also the case that no matter who President Putin sends, he is the one who will ultimately make the decisions.

Wall Street Journal has described that “The talks, in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, came about as the result of President Trump’s pressure, so far mostly applied on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to find an end to the war.”

But, “Just as the negotiations started, Russia struck near the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a salvo of ballistic missiles, according to local officials.”

And Reuters agrees in its assessment that there are “no apparent sign of progress so far in narrowing the gap between the sides, and a Ukrainian source called Moscow’s demands ‘non-starters’.

Neither side has so far offered no major concessions, and issues like permanent control over Crimea and the four eastern territories remain sticking points for Moscow. 

During the Istanbul meeting, according to WSJ’s foreign correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov:

Russia demanded in Istanbul that Ukraine withdraw its troops from four regions — areas that Moscow has been trying to conquer but failed since 2022 — as a precondition for ceasefire. That’s an area twice the size of the country of Lebanon and home to more than a million Ukrainians. Not going to happen.

Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson were annexed in 2022, declared part of the Russian Federation, but Moscow forces still don’t have 100% control over them.

The talks in Istanbul lasted fewer than 2 hours and led nowhere, it looks. Russia demanded that Ukraine surrender, Ukraine refused. https://t.co/WR5A5jcI4e

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) May 16, 2025

And it doesn’t look like there was any progress on achieving a Trump and Zelensky-backed 30-day ceasefire. Moscow sees this as a tactic for Ukraine forces to simply rearm and regroup, at a moment they are in dire need of more manpower and artillery. 

President Zelensky has meanwhile been making clear that Ukraine will not surrender its territory as “this is Ukraine’s land” – and he isn’t so much as ready to even offer Crimea. Zelensky and European leaders are reportedly holding a phone call with US President Trump in the wake of the Istanbul meeting.

They will likely try to convince the US leader that attempts to negotiate an end to the war with Putin are futile. This seems to have been Zelensky’s aim all along: getting Washington and Trump back on his side, and securing the unending flow of weapons, cash, and intelligence.

Charter Communications has agreed to acquire Cox Communications in a blockbuster merger that will create the largest cable TV and broadband provider in the U.S., surpassing Comcast.

The transaction values Cox Communications at $34.5 billion, including $21.9 billion in equity and $12.6 billion in net debt and other obligations. According to a press release, the valuation aligns with Charter’s enterprise value-to-2025 estimated Adjusted EBITDA multiple of 6.44x. 

Charter, the second largest publicly traded cable company behind Comcast, was up 3% in premarket trading in New York from its Thursday close of $419.57. The Cox family privately holds Cox. 

Charter will acquire Cox’s commercial fiber, IT, and cloud businesses and contribute Cox’s residential cable assets to Charter Holdings. 

Cox Enterprises will become the largest shareholder of the combined entity’s fully diluted shares outstanding with a 23% stake and have seats on the board. 

“This combination will augment our ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced products, delivered with outstanding customer service, to millions of homes and businesses,” Chris Winfrey, President and CEO of Charter, said in a statement.

Winfrey said, “We will continue to deliver high-value products that save American families money, and we’ll onshore jobs from overseas to create new, good-paying careers for U.S. employees that come with great benefits, career training and advancement, and retirement and ownership opportunities.” 

The combined company will remain headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and keep a “significant presence on Cox’s Atlanta, GA campus following the closing,” according to the press release.

The merger with Cox follows Charter’s announcement of an all-stock acquisition of Liberty Broadband, with both transactions expected to close concurrently.

Charter expects $500 million in annualized cost synergies within three years of closing the deal. 

Bloomberg added context to the merger, describing it as part of an escalating “turf war” in the telecom industry:

Cable and phone companies have been engaged in an intense turf war, seeking to win over customers in areas that others have dominated. Cable providers have been selling their own mobile phone plans by leasing network access from major carriers. At the same time, phone carriers have been poaching home internet subscribers from cable companies.

The bet is that customers will in the future prefer to buy their internet and mobile phone services from the same provider — a trend referred to as convergence. A combination of Charter and Cox would position them to better compete in that environment by allowing them to bundle offerings and more efficiently invest in infrastructure.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts noted:

“Charter is aggressively marketing its converged mobile fixed bundles at competitive rates to improve subscriber acquisition and retention.

“Regardless, the entire cable sector is being hurt by intensifying telecom competition from both fiber coverage and fixed wireless access.”

Axios pointed out:

Some layoffs are expected to result from the merger. Other Cox Enterprises businesses, including Axios and Autotrader, are not directly impacted.

Just like that, the combined entity is set to become America’s largest cable TV and broadband provider. 

Recall one of the heirs to the Cox empire is a far-left radical…  

Fergie Chambers is the heir to the Cox Media empire. He is also a devoted Communist and a fan of Mao (see tattoo on his thigh). He is spending his fortune from capitalism on a proletariat Revolution to overthrow capitalism.

How was he introduced to Communism? By a history… pic.twitter.com/V0KeJutqr7

— Xi Van Fleet (@XVanFleet) December 7, 2023

Sigh.