Well we reached a new low over this past week. We managed to berate a country that has suffered enormously for several years due to an unprovoked attack by Russia, while simultaneously parroting all Putin’s talking points (always a good negotiating strategy) and trying to extort mineral wealth from Ukraine. In exchange for this mineral deal, Ukraine was to get…..wait for it…….absolutely nothing. I wouldn’t bet they were even going to get paid for the minerals themselves but what I’m referring to is any type of security guarantee. Never mind that the greatest concentration of said minerals are in areas controlled by Russia, I’m sure our crack foreign policy team had that all figured out (or did they?). Don’t hold your breath on that.
Welcome to the new Imperialistic America where it’s our god given right to just take whatever we want, from whomever we can intimidate, just because we can. Of course we only pick on people that are really incapable of fighting back, just like a typical bully, while we strenuously avoid confronting any of our real enemies, starting with Vladimir Putin. Trump’s obviously scared of him.
Just to make it all wash down with a sweet taste, we then mimic North Korea with requiring unending praise of our “Dear Leader” for how strong and powerful and clever and blah, blah, blah he is. Step up Cabinet members sing his praises! What a negotiator! Oh wait, we haven’t negotiated anything other than to ensure no nation in the world will ever trust us again. All those that believe Putin will honor any promise made to any American President please raise their hands. You’re dismissed from class, since you’re clearly stupid. Want to know the last President Russia feared? Ronald Reagan, who would be absolutely horrified at the pretense that Putin is a “good guy” and “wants peace”. Bullshit. If America walks away from Ukraine (who represents the most effective deterrent to Russia we’ve funded in the last 30 years), let’s start the betting on when and where the next “provocation” occurs requiring Russian intervention. Moldova? The Baltics? It will be somewhere for sure.
What is despicable about this encounter isn’t the fact the Zelensky lost his temper (who can blame him), but we continue to build our case with blatant lies and Russian propaganda lines. Ukraine didn’t start this war stupid, Putin did. The Europeans have given Ukraine just about as much aid as the US has, and no they are getting paid back for any of it. Of course Putin wants to make a deal, the war is bankrupting his country and if he can get Trump to just hand him the spoils instead of fight for them who wouldn’t? Best supporting bullshit artist awards go to VP Vance (could you really suck up any more to the boss?) and “Little” Marco Rubio who sat there like he needed to take Pepto Bismol, followed by of course stating his unwavering support for Donald’s great strategy. In the “who cares what the hell they said” category, there was a unanimous winner in Lindsey Graham, the long term supposed Russia hawk who threw in his two cents that Zelensky should resign. Because he offended the “Dear Leader”. Thereby completing one of the greatest human transformations of all time. Lindsey has now managed to come out against everything he ever stood for, all to gain Trump’s favor, while Trump will in probability emasculate him again at the earliest opportunity, assuming there is actually anything left to do that to.
Are there valid points that could have been made by an intelligent foreign policy team? Sure. It’s highly unlikely Ukraine ever gets total control of their country back because Putin isn’t going to go home with his tail between his legs and face the music. Could Europe do more? Of course, they don’t even support NATO with the right amount of defense spending because they want “big brother” to do it for them. Could China exert pressure on Russia by stopping their tacit support? They could but have no incentive to do so since having Russia and the US spending money on a war they are far way from and could care less about is beneficial to their expansion in the Pacific.
The most important lesson? Why should ANYONE trust the US? Are you listening Gaza, or Iran or Panama or Greenland or Canada or Mexico? We are entirely transactional. What does that mean? We’ll sell you out in a heartbeat as soon as either someone makes us a better deal or it becomes actual effort for us to live up to our commitments. Isolationism and appeasement is the new norm. Forget how that worked out for us in the past (led to the last two World Wars).