Tag: russia

  • Are We The Bad Guys?

    Are We The Bad Guys?

    After Donald Trump and JD Vance’s embarrassing outburst at Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the White House last week, the potential for peace, which once seemed within reach, was jettisoned into the distant future.

    Trump doubled on his way to another weekend trip in Florida, stating that if Zelenskyy wanted peace, he was the one who needed to change. As expected, Speaker of the House Johnson, Senator Lindsey Graham, and other vocal Republicans defended Trump’s actions while criticizing the ambushed Ukrainian President.

    The immediate fallout from Friday’s spectacle was Zelenskyy leaving the United States without a signed mineral rights deal—a deal Trump had been aggressively pushing for. However, the long-term impact was even more significant. As we outlined in our coverage last week, America’s influence on Ukraine’s future is far greater than most other countries’.

    As the days passed, Trump and his administration continued to make bold claims against Ukraine, with more Republicans rallying behind him. Even mainstream media coverage has framed the incident as a “shouting match,” implying equal blame for the debacle.

    But Friday was just the beginning. Trump has clearly decided to leverage the incident to justify actions he was already planning.

    On Monday, Trump paused U.S. military aid to Ukraine while pressuring Zelenskyy—but not Putin—to find a quick resolution to the war. He cited “insufficient gratitude” for the $180 billion in military aid the U.S. had provided, most of which predated Trump’s presidency.

    When Zelenskyy pointed out that the U.S. position and the U.N.’s failure to hold Russia accountable made near term peace unlikely, Trump grew more agitated. He even claimed, “this guy doesn’t want peace as long as he has America’s backing,” despite Trump’s apparent willingness to withdraw that backing.

    Meanwhile, Trump instructed his staff to draft a plan for easing sanctions on Russia, aiming to strengthen U.S.-Russia ties. This included the White House asking the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for discussion with Russian representatives in just the coming days.

    The word ambushed, which I used earlier, appears to be the accurate descriptor here. Trump’s admiration for Russia—and specifically for Putin—has clouded his ability to collaborate with Ukraine and Europe. Making it hard to believe Friday’s events were mere coincidence.

    Thankfully, Europe has nearly unanimously rallied behind Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas declared, “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine,” a sentiment echoed by leaders from the U.K., Germany, France, and others.

    While the U.S. has halted aid to Ukraine, Europe has renewed its commitment, with some nations pledging even greater support. Additionally, European leaders are urging their countries to seize $218 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets held in Belgium. Believing these funds could bolster Ukraine’s defense and recovery efforts.

    Despite Europe’s efforts to fill the void left by the U.S., the core issue remains unchanged.

    Russia initiated this war, violating a peace agreement and invading Ukraine with the intent of redrawing borders. Zelenskyy was right to assert on Friday that without safeguards to punish Russia for such actions, Putin will simply repeat them.

    During his 2024 campaign, Trump and his allies made bold guarantees. Trump claimed Kamala Harris’s incompetence “would get us into a World War III guaranteed,” and vowed to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine within 24 hours or even before he took the oath of office.

    Now, well past Trump’s first 24 hours in office, it seems he is fanning the flames of Russia’s aggression. Under his leadership, not Harris’, the U.S. edges closer to World War III, standing apart from Europe and Ukraine.

    When Trump blindly follows Putin into World War III, most Republicans will ask, “Why did Zelenskyy let this happen?” But the real question should be, “Are we the bad guys?”

    The answer is, indubitably, yes.

  • Zelenskyy Refuses To Bend A Knee

    Zelenskyy Refuses To Bend A Knee

    The geopolitical landscape across Europe and the Middle East is fraught with tension, and the current U.S. Administration’s role in it is a topic of much debate. Amidst this turmoil, one President who has been fighting for his country’s very existence refused to bend a knee on Friday (February 28th) to the United States’ wannabe dictator, Trump.

    Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, has an intriguing background with a somewhat non-traditional path to any country’s presidency. Although he graduated from law school, a fact often omitted by the press, he never practiced law. Instead, Zelenskyy pursued a career in comedy, eventually landing the role of the fictional Ukrainian President in the wildly successful “Servant of the People” from 2015 to 2019. This skyrocketed his popularity and paved the way for his actual presidency in 2019.

    I’m going to divert off topic for a paragraph, because I think it’s also important to point out that Zelenskyy voiced Paddington the Bear in the Ukrainian voiceover for Paddington and Paddington 2; one of the world’s most beloved film characters of all time.

    Zelenskyy’s rise to prominence took a dramatic turn when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The tension between the two countries had been building for over a year, reaching a boiling point as Russian soldiers amassed at the border.

    We all know about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it’s still a waging war with far-reaching implications. Most of us are also aware of Trump’s recent comments on the war as his administration tries to broker a peace deal that includes talks with Russia but omits Ukraine. After some back-and-forth displays of manliness, the seemingly fearless leader of Ukraine and the person in charge of the United States finally got things moving in the right direction with a mineral deal that was supposed to be the first step toward peace.

    Then there was the Oval Office meeting between the two.

    Before I dive into that, let’s backtrack a bit. The history is important due to what Zelenskyy laid claim to during February 28th’s Oval Office confrontation.

    In 2014, Vladimir Putin and Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine. Russia knew they had no right to claim this land, and that was made clear by the fact that Russian soldiers did the seizing without insignia. This conflict lasted until February 12, 2015, when the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany agreed on a 12-point peace plan that proposed, among other terms, the removal of foreign troops from Ukrainian territory. Zelenskyy was not in power in Ukraine at the time, but Putin was very much in charge of Russia.

    After that, Putin backed off Ukraine for a bit so he could meddle in Syria in 2015, interfere in the 2016 United States Presidential Election, and change the Russian Constitution to remain in power much longer than he was previously legally able. But Putin got bored and ignored his own signature on that 2015 peace plan, and a subsequent 2019 peace deal, to re-invade Ukraine in 2022, bringing us back full-circle to where we are today: the Oval Office.

    About 40 minutes into a tensely political but progressing press conference in the United States’ White House Oval Office, JD Vance decided to use this moment to attack President Biden and declared that it was time to move to diplomacy. Zelenskyy politely interrupted and referenced the 2014 invasion, most notably that Putin would not respect diplomacy unless there were stout terms in place to protect Ukraine. This did not sit well with Vance, who then demanded that Zelenskyy figuratively take a knee and bow to Trump.

    Zelenskyy essentially refused. This set Trump off, who made sure that while he showed his frustration with Zelenskyy, he also insulted and name-called President Biden while separating his own administration from other United States Presidencies. JD Vance, now seeing daddy mad, doubled down and went after Zelenskyy, claiming that the Ukrainian President was on a “propaganda tour” and that his country was in trouble.

    Trump interrupted a few more times, including to correct Zelenskyy about the 2014 invasion by declaring the wrong year, and more importantly waving his finger in Zelenskyy’s face as if he were a scorned parent correcting a child.

    But the real issue arose when JD Vance was speaking (4 minutes into the CNN video), when he noted that Zelenskyy said nice things about President Biden but has yet to thank Trump for having Ukraine’s back, which at this point is still up in the air whether Trump does or not.

    Zelenskyy wouldn’t back down, and this set Trump off.

    Trump, as he has torn through Americans’ freedoms and livelihoods, has still seen praise by the very people surrounding him. Just this week, Trump’s first cabinet meeting, which included the unappointed and unelected Elon Musk, was even a love fest as the entire group bowed to their king.

    So here we are, consequences well in hand, and the far-right will frame this to be Zelenskyy’s fault and problem. And if you don’t believe that, revisit the video where Trump makes it clear that nothing that happens in Ukraine, good or bad for either side, will impact the United States.

    What’s next? That’s a tough one. We all know Trump won’t budge. And with his good little soldier, JD Vance, by his side, he’ll be reminded he is in the right and if he doesn’t stand his ground on Zelenskyy and Ukraine, then he’ll look weak.

    America’s influence on what happens in Ukraine is much larger than what happens in a meeting with Putin or Zelenskyy. At the direction of Trump, the United States voted with Russia, breaking from Europe, during a United Nations hearing earlier this week. And at the more influential and powerful 15-member UN Security Council meeting, an unamended US resolution—which called for an end to the conflict but contained no criticism of or terms for Russia—was passed by 10 votes.

    As long as the United States turns the Russian invasion of Ukraine into a “how can the United States win the most and Trump look the best,” the war will wage on, or even worse, Russia will come out on top. Being a founding member of the United Nations, and a veto-carrying member of its powerful Security Council, makes the United States’ voice too strong to be wielded by a cowardly man who cannot take criticism or be opposed.

    Although it didn’t gain ground for Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s firm stance in Washington DC should motivate those who see Trump for what he really is. It should remind everyone that people can only be bullied so much and pushed so far before they stand back up and push back. If anything, Zelenskyy’s stance might not get Ukraine to a peaceful state sooner, but it might help the rest of Europe grow a spine and stand up to the Putin-Trump alliance. Something that is needed sooner rather than later.

    Zelenskyy, real Americans salute you today! Hopefully Europe does too.