The older I get the more I simply don’t understand things that are going on. Take the “war of words”, harsh exchanges between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Here’s a report by David L. Stern and Ellen Francis at the Washington Post:
KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Donald Trump’s envoy on Thursday, as barbed exchanges between the two leaders deepened uncertainty about the future of U.S. backing for Kyiv.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy on the war in Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv soon after the spat erupted, with Trump describing the Ukrainian president as failing and blaming him for Russia’s 2022 invasion of the country. Zelensky countered that Trump was repeating misinformation about him and the war.
I don’t want to psychoanalyze President Trump’s remarks about Ukraine starting the war with Russia. Maybe that’s what he meant and maybe it isn’t. I’ve been saying for years that Donald Trump puzzles me. Maybe he’s just misinformed. Maybe he meant something else. Don’t ask me.
And I’m equally puzzled by President Zelensky’s rejoinders. If I were in his position I would be doing my level best not to alienate the president of my largest supporter. What audience was he addressing? A domestic one? The Democrats? The Europeans? What does he intend to accomplish by it? I have no idea.
Let’s do a quick little quiz. What should the U. S. posture with respect to Ukraine and support for Ukraine in its war with Russia be?
- Anything that kills Russians and uses up Russian munitions is good for the U. S. If Ukrainians are killed in the process it’s just too bad.
- We should do everything in our power to support Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s unjust and illegal invasion because of our shared values.
- Ditto to above with the exception of committing U. S. troops.
- We should provide military and humanitarian support to Ukraine because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a violation of its treaty obligations.
- A conclusion to the war should be negotiated as soon as possible to preserve Ukrainian and Russian lives even if it means Ukraine’s surrendering some of the territory it held in 2022.
- We don’t give a damn about Ukraine.
My view is roughly D. Something like E seems to be the Trump administration’s view. BTW I’m not just pulling those alternatives out of thin air. I’ve heard all of them expressed by somebody at one time or another.
D. Ukraine has suffered horribly at the hands of the Russians over the years. Russia agreed to guarantee their security when they gave up the nukes. Instead, Russia invaded Ukraine. Hard not to understand why Ukraine wants to fight. Supporting them is the right thing to do. When they decide they dont want to fight they can negotiate a treaty.
Why the equivocation on Trump? You dont do that with others that I can remember. It’s basically sane washing the guy and there are more than enough people in the media who already do that. He clearly said Ukraine started the war.
Steve
Dave Schuler: I’ve been saying for years that Donald Trump puzzles me. Maybe he’s just misinformed.
Truth and honor mean nothing to the man.
Good grief! What arrant nonsense.
The current situation for both Belarus and Ukraine is historically anomalous. Neither has any history as an independent country. They have always been part of some other country. The eastern parts are Russia. Kiev and Odessa and other Ukrainian cities are Russian, founded by Russians. The westerns parts have been variously Lithuania-Poland, Germany, Austro-Hungary. Eastern Ukraine has been part of the Russian heartland since the mid-17th Century, a time when the Spanish and Portuguese empires were at their peak, when France ruled Canada and the Mississippi basin, when there wer only a few small scattered English colonies on the Atlantic coast. Ukrainians and Belarusians speak Russian dialects.
This current war did not start in 2022. It began in 2014 when the US attacked and removed the democratically elected Ukrainian government and installed the current Banderite/Nazi junta. The junta is illegitimate and was so from its beginning.
It is historical fact that from its inception the junta has attacked ethnic Russians, civilians, women, children and old men, in an attempt to drive them out of their homes an into Russia itself. In case you don’t understand, this is called genocide and ethnic cleansing, both are war crimes, and the US is up to its snout in both. (Also in Palestine)
US and UK special forces were discovered operating in the Donbas as early as 2014, and were likely there earlier.
From 2014 until 2022 Russia actively supported the Russian resistance in eastern Ukraine with arms, money, trainers, etc. Three times Russia tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement: Minsk I and II and Istanbul 2022. The first two were deliberate frauds perpetrated upon Russia by France and Germany. The last was squashed by the US and UK.
The US, UK, NATO, EU wanted this war, and moved Heaven and Earth to get it. Now they are losing it.
As to Trump, he is the only sane, honest leader in the entire West, at least with respect to Ukraine. In Palestine he is in thrall to the Zionists.
He did not say Ukraine started the war. That is a fabrication of the Western news media.
This is an American war against Russia. It was started by America. It is a war in which Americans target and kill Russian civilians. (Dresden, Hamburg, Berlin, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Wounded Knee…) We desperately need Trump to settle this business.
bob sykes: Eastern Ukraine has been part of the Russian heartland since the mid-17th Century
Eastern Ukraine was primarily populated by ethnic Ukrainians until the Holodomor. While they sometimes aligned themselves with Russia, Ukrainians also mounted repeated revolts against Russian imperialism.