If Trump will not support Ukraine … Europe must

It would be a gross understatement to say President Trump’s position on Ukraine is a disappointment.  It is enraging.

The facts are simple.  Ukraine is an independent nation with recognized borders.  It is a member of the United Nations (an unfortunately impotent and worthless diplomatic kiddie pool). 

Ukraine is – or has been – an ally of the United States and the other world democracies.  President Zelenskyy is a reformer, who won the presidency by ending the reign of corrupt predecessors who were pals with Russian President Putin.  Ukraine is critical to the interests, stability and security of the United States, NATO nations and the world. It has massive critical resources.

On the other side, we have Putin’s Russia.  He is a maniacal despot who murders political adversaries.  He has kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children.  He is an enemy of the United States and a close ally to other nations adversarial to America – most notably China, North Korea and Iran.  (Putin recently attacked Kyiv with North Korean missiles).

Putin is part of the new “axis of evil.”   He is the number one world aggressor with plans to create a new Soviet-style federation through military occupation.  He has a history of breaking agreements and commitments.  He – without any justification – invaded Ukraine — starting during the Obama administration when he took the  Crimea and now has launched a full-scale war of conquest.

America’s position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine should be simple.  Zelenskyy is the good guy, and Putin is the bad guy … period.

Not only is Putin wrong, but he is also a dangerous threat to the United States and the world democracies.  His unbridled ambition for conquering independent nations must be stopped.  Putin must be defeated in Ukraine and elsewhere.  It is in America’s and the West’s interest to do so.       

That is how I see the situation.

That is why I find Trump’s positions on the Ukraine war specifically – and Russia generally – to be inexplicable and dangerous — outrageous.  He bases his opinion on a huge lie – that Ukraine started the war.  He now lays the blame for the lack of a peace or ceasefire agreement on Zelenskyy.  That is absurd.  It is Putin who has not agreed to negotiate …  has accelerated the bombing … and has laid down excessive demands.

As part of a peace agreement, Putin wants all the land he currently occupies to be formally annexed into Russia.  He wants assurances that what is left of Ukraine will never be part of NATO.  Putin opposes any security agreement from NATO and the United States that might thwart his plans for a future invasion of Ukraine.  Putin also wants the sanctions removed. He wants it all.

Putin wants a temporary victory in this phase of his plans to expand the geography of his empire.  He will rebuild his military for the next phase that is sure to come.

If Trump has his way – and he cannot get Zelenskyy to surrender to the demands of Putin – Trump suggests he (the United States) will no longer support the Zelenskyy government.  That means that Europe and NATO must.  The European democracies have more than enough military might to crush the Russian war machine.  Europe and allies such as Japan and South Korea must take the lead. If Russia is appeased and placated in this war, the world democracies – including America – will pay a very high price in the future.

Trump is not seeking a just end to the conflict. He is siding with the bad guy.   And that is not in the interest of the United States.  It does not put America first.  We can only hope that our European allies have the courage to step up and defeat the bad guy.

So, there ‘tis.