This column on the Russia-Ukraine quagmire was written before President Trump’s “invasion” of Venezuela. There is an obvious parallel between Putin’s power plays against his neighbors and Trump’s muscling our former allies in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Like Putin, he believes that might makes right.
This piece is to start the New Year with an apology to our friends in Ukraine, a former ally of sorts of the United States.
As I look back on the generally good times over the holidays in Wisconsin, my mind runs to our friends and relatives in Ukraine who are being pounded daily by Russian missiles and drones – in their homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure for heat and light.
The contrast was between a Merry Christmas here and a very sorry one over there. First, recall that Ukraine gave up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons, culminating in the signing of the Budapest Memorandum on Dec. 5, 1994, when Russia, the U.S., and the U.K. provided security assurances and pledged respect for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and borders in exchange for Ukraine transferring all nuclear warheads to Russia for elimination.
We now know that international agreements and laws mean nothing to Vladimir Putin. He proved it in 2014 when he annexed Crimea. And four years ago he proved it again when he, without provocation, launched a full invasion of Ukraine.
Putin proved he can’t be trusted, ever, and now Trump has proved he also can’t be bothered by international law.
With arrogant, unstable Pete Hegseth as his “Secretary of War,” Trump has created by his actions and inactions what amounts to an anti-Ukraine foreign policy. Congress has had no voice in that departure.
Zelensky’s long flight to Mar-a-Lago, the White House South, last week was another dry hole. Trump proved one more time that his alleged charm doesn’t cut it to reach a deal between Putin and Zelensky.
Zelensky asked for a 50-year security agreement from the U.S. and Europe. Trump offered a non-starter at 15 years, and he is demanding 50% of Ukraine’s oil, gas and mineral profits.
Such a deal!
Meanwhile, instead of strengthening Ukraine’s bargaining hand of cards with war support, Trump and his mini-me Hegseth have cut supplies of artillery shells and weapons to Ukraine’s front line. That puts Ukraine’s back against the wall, not a great bargaining position.
Granted, Trump has supplied Ukraine with some longer range missiles for attacks on Russia’s heartland. But he is so inconsistent in his negotiations day-to-day that no one knows if he will honor the elements of his proposed deal.
And he doesn’t do math like President Biden did in war management. Biden averaged about $40 billion per year in war support for three years, about 4-5% of our national defense budget. That’s peanuts compared to the enormous damage done to Russia’s military and economy.
Reality: Russia is still our biggest enemy, going as far as to meddle in our democratic elections. Putin is Trump’s puppeteer, not his buddy.
There are many Ukrainian-Russian descendants in the U.S., three million from Russia and 11 million from Ukraine, including me. Those Americans of Russian blood should be pushing Trump to aid Ukraine.
My reasoning? In several dimensions, Putin is at war with his own people. He has trashed their economy to support his unnecessary war. He has run down his nation’s natural treasure by selling off its dwindling oil reserves.
He has trashed his young military recruits. They are cannon fodder. An estimated 200,000 have been killed in near suicidal attacks on the tenacious Ukrainians fighting for their homeland, and 800,000 have been injured.
The New York Times has dug deep into Russian records and has conducted hundreds of interviews with soldier family members to prove that Russian officers have beaten, tortured, robbed soldiers of their pay and sent some severely wounded men to the front lines.
Mothers, wives and grandmothers have complained bitterly, to no avail, that their men have been stuck into pits and tied to trees to force compliance with deathly orders.
If our U.S. Congress members can’t stand up to Trump on his misbegotten European strategy, do it for the Russian and Ukrainian people. The brave Ukrainians are doing the dirty work for us.
We don’t need to send our troops. But we do need to send our dollars. We will never make a better investment. The Ukrainians have Putin in a stalemate.
Once Putin sees himself as a loser, or not winning, he will get to the bargaining table and cut a deal for “peace.”
