.

Dr. Farrell produced this podcast the day before the summit.
He speculated something else might be going on besides the usual.
As it was, we didn’t learn that much about the Russia/Ukraine saga and Trump did say the meeting lasted for three hours.

So I tried to find the podcast-transcript on Farrell‘s website, but it was not there.
It is available on Apple Podcasts.

I have copied select pieces of it here for your reading pleasure .

( It’s interesting to me anyway, and I learned something new about the purchase of Alaska ).

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“Hello, everybody, this is Joseph P. Farrell with News and Views from the Nefarium on Thursday, October 14th, 2025. And today, I have some really off the end of the twig, nosedive like Wile E.Coyote into the Canyon of Speculation about the upcoming Putin-Trump Summit in Anchorage, Alaska tomorrow.

(Snip )

“Why Anchorage, Alaska? Well, many people know, few people have commented on the ultimate background for this, but most people know that Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 during the presidency of Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln's successor, and that it was Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State, whom Johnson inherited and kept in that position, William Seward, that made the bargain and the agreement and negotiated with the Russians. And hence, the purchase of Alaska ever since that time was known as Seward's Folly.

“What most people do not realize is that the purchase was taking place amid the backdrop of the emerging technology of railroads and against the backdrop of the building out of transcontinental railways. In this country, the transcontinental railroad at that time was nearing completion. And of course, several other routes were soon to be added, making that one narrow railroad line ultimately adding several more to it, of a transcontinental nature.

Canada was building its own version of a transcontinental railroad. And of course, the big transcontinental railroad project was just beginning in Russia, called the Trans-Siberian. Now, amid that backdrop, there were a number of Americans and Russians who began to think and flirt and propose the idea of a transcontinental, transglobal railroad connecting the Eurasian landmass and North America via the Bering Strait.

Russia did feasibility studies of this with American, Russian, and even French engineers. And the governor of Colorado in the United States, Governor Gilpin, actually was one of these people that proposed the idea that this was ultimately the reason for the Alaska purchase from Russia. And then finally, Tsar Nicholas II himself often proposed doing this type of railroad.

And just stop and imagine, folks, the geopolitical consequences of what may have happened if such a railroad had been built. It would have given the United States and Russia much more of a common cause and a common financial and geopolitical base of cooperation than we see now. And of course, the danger of that possibility was sensed by the other major player of that era, Great Britain, which of course was dependent upon sea power and whose chief geopolitical theorist, Sir Halford McKinder, was warning about the ability of railroads and then eventually air travel to integrate the Eurasian landmass in a way that sea power was unable to interdict.

And this is precisely what we've seen happening with the Chinese Silk Road projects, with Russia's projects to open up a Northern Trans-Siberian, an Arctic Trans-Siberian railway, and so on and so forth. In other words, Britain knew a century ago, over a century ago, that all of these moves on the world stage were a threat to its own hegemony based as it was on sea power. So, what did Britain do?

It transferred enormous amounts of its naval technology to the only other country
“in the region strong enough to interdict that whole project, and that of course was Japan. And we saw as a result of that technology transfer, we saw Japan rise as a naval power and eventually become powerful enough to challenge Russia's domination of Manchuria, which they did. They seized Manchuria from Russia during the Russo-Japanese War early in the 20th century.

And of course, that forced the Russians to rebuild that part of the Trans-Siberian Railway that went through Manchuria. They had to rebuild that whole link to Vladivostok going around Manchuria. So, in other words, the geopolitics of that day was being played out against Seward's Folly, the Russian sale of Alaska to the United States and so on.

So, in other words, we're looking at the possibility of a long-range plan that could conceivably have knit the United States and Russia together in common financial interests. It was kind of a Northern Silk Road. Now, I suspect that this may be the backdrop for the reason that this summit is occurring at all and the reason why it's occurring in Alaska.

Because it's absolutely vital to the peace and stability of the world for the United States and Russia to at least be talking with each other regardless of whatever differences they may have over the silly proxy war in the Ukraine. It's absolutely vital. And it's absolutely vital to conduct those talks in a background of, well, let's see where we can cooperate.

Let’s see where we can do something together that will benefit both of us. So I strongly suspect lurking in the background, there may be private, very secretive discussions about, well, hey, let's see and talk about reviving this project. Now, if that were the case, and again, this would be a very long-term thing.

In other words, this is a summit that's not ultimately limited, really, to just the Ukraine being on the agenda. I strongly suspect there will be private discussions about some other very long-range projects that this may be the beginning of. We won't know for several years if my speculation here is correct.

That's my guess. It will be several years. We might be surprised and they might come out and just say tomorrow, oh, we decided to appoint a committee, a special committee to explore the possibilities of building a channel underneath the Bering Strait and a rail link between Asia and North America.

Who knows? I don't know. But let's look at another geopolitical problem if that's the case.

If that is indeed lurking in the background of this summit, then the other thing that it would fulfill is Mr. Trump's previous statements that he's made in his previous administration and also prior to coming into office during this administration, that do we really need NATO? You'll notice that more recently, it's the European powers that want to persist in funding and providing weapons to the Ukraine much more than America. And I think Mr. Trump has been trying to find a way out, rather unsuccessfully, because he could easily do it by cutting off all aid, and that's that.

But I think the other part here is, if such a summit were to occur, and if all sorts of proposals, reasonable proposals come out of this summit, and Europe still says no, then this gives Mr. Trump a reason for a much more divisive and decisive break with Europe than we've seen with his tariff policy vis-à-vis Europe and other things. So that's my really high octane speculation nosedive like Wile E. Coyote into the canyon below.

I don't think we can entirely dismiss the historical background of the Alaska Purchase and the ultimate railroad geopolitical reasons that underwrote it during the 19th century. It's an idea that has been voiced repeatedly since that time, and it may be lurking in the shadows during this summit. So that's it for today's News and Views.”

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From News and Views from the Nefarium: NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE NEFARIUM AUGUST 14 2025, Aug 14, 2025
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/news-and-views-from-the-nefarium/id1167252097?i=1000721979610&r=915

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Dr. Farrell’s website :

https://gizadeathstar.com/2025/08/news-and-views-from-the-nefarium-august-14-2025/

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