Dust-Up
The war is going to go on for a long time.
President Zelensky
I really didn’t want to go there. But when an issue keeps popping up, perhaps it’s a message and you just have to deal with it.
Last week, I wrote about the three Rs. And since I’m Trinitarian in my soul and philosophically, I couldn’t ignore the repeated question, “Are you going to write about the Zelensky/Oval Office affair?”
Saturday morning after the Friday White House meeting, a friend in Bible study was the first to ask. Then, I received an email from a former medical student who is a pediatrician in Australia. He wanted the opinion of an average American. And then at Sunday morning worship service, another friend asked me what I thought about the Zelensky dust-up.
To cut to the chase, it is a mess. Negotiations for a ceasefire and an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia had been ongoing for months. It is undeniable that Russia invaded Ukraine to start the war. Furthermore, Putin is an ex-KGB officer, a ruthless tyrant and extremely dangerous with an arsenal of nuclear weapons. No one has the illusion that Putin is trustworthy or that any agreement could guarantee Ukraine’s security. But we are dealing with reality and no one has an alternative to President Trump’s plan to end the war.
When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, President Bill Clinton gave Ukraine a guarantee of protection if they would give up the nuclear weapons that had been stationed there by the Soviets. Unfortunately, Obama did little to support Ukraine when Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, infamously sending them blankets instead of armaments. Arguably, Putin was emboldened by Biden’s Afghanistan debacle in 2021 and began aiding ethnic Russians in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine, finally invading Ukraine in 2022.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers (on both sides) have been wounded or killed on the killing fields of Ukraine. The illusion that Ukraine could defeat superpower Russia, even with American and European support, ended with the collapse of the Ukrainian offensive last year. Now, the best outcome would be a peace settlement where Russia keeps the eastern Donbas region and Ukraine is not completely destroyed.
Obviously, the Ukrainians hate the Russians and I suspect Russians feel similarly for Ukrainians. At this point, it would be impossible to put the combatants in the same room. As a result, President Trump and his team have been negotiating with the separate sides. Reportedly, a deal had been struck with Russia, and a mineral deal had been approved with Ukraine, but apparently not with Zelensky, who continues to demand “reparations of $300 billion, return of conquered territory and armed security” rather than economic security, which the Trump team has proposed.
Oval Office presentations with the press are largely ceremonial after negotiations have been concluded. The world was shocked by the confrontation between Zelensky, Vice President Vance and President Trump. And the geopolitical ramifications of this dust-up extend beyond Ukraine and include questions about whether NATO is still relevant.
For years, we’ve heard that Europeans consider Americans in less than flattering terms. And apparently European leaders have different attitudes towards freedom than Americans, as recently pointed out by Vice President Vance. It has been alleged that Zelensky was encouraged to prosecute his demands in the Oval Office by European leaders. But more disturbing is the meeting of Zelensky with several senators led by Democrat Chris Murphy just before the Oval Office gathering. Could politics and TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) have led senators, Euros and the press to encourage Zelensky to blow up the deal and allow the killing to continue? It was telling that Zelensky gave a thumbs-up to the press corps as he left, while the Ukrainian ambassador buried her face in her hands.
Ukraine is the third European war in which America has been embroiled in the last 100 years. I feel sorry for the Ukrainian people who have been screwed by their politicians and oligarchs. Ukrainian politicians have made their country a corrupt money-laundering venue for decades. Obama knew of the rampant corruption in Ukraine and put VP Joe Biden in charge of dealing with U.S. aid and monitoring Ukrainian corruption reforms. That was a mistake. Hunter Biden traveled with his father to Ukraine and Hunter was ultimately put on the Burisma energy company board despite having no experience. Hunter brought his father’s name to the table and leveraged millions for the Biden family and the “Big Guy.”
Paul Manafort aided Trump in his 2016 campaign and knew of the money laundering and USAID funding of Ukrainian media organizations, one of which made up the “black ledger” hoax to discredit Manafort and hurt Trump. Then a Ukrainian politician proffered the Russian collusion hoax, paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Mueller investigation cleared Trump of the allegations. However, later, when President Trump called Zelensky about corruption and money laundering in his country, Ukrainian-born activist Colonel Vindman alleged that the president’s discussions with Zelensky were inappropriate. This led to the second bogus Trump impeachment. And Zelensky said nothing.
It may be irrelevant to pile on, but Zelensky has declared martial law and suspended elections and rival political parties. Zelensky has closed churches and taken over Ukrainian media. During the American Civil War, a presidential election was held in 1864. Lincoln thought he might lose to his fired General George McClellan, but fortunately, he did not.
The lessons of unwinnable wars like Vietnam resonate with me. Through blood and treasure, we won the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, but then Biden gave Afghanistan away. And a dangerous, resurgent Iran was the result of our defeat of Iraq, the mullah’s arch enemy.
Personally, I’m not willing to risk a third world war with a nuclear Russia over a corrupt Ukraine, which is more of Europe’s problem than ours. If there is a positive from this mess, the European Union is being forced to beef up their military and NATO contributions rather than spending money on social programs. Europeans need to step up to defend themselves and their region rather than depend on the United States to be the policeman of the world.
Quite honestly, America is out of money, dangerously low on munitions/weapons and out of patience with Zelensky and haughty Europeans.
