I think it is appropriate to undertake a very quick appraisal of who might be responsible for yesterday‘s debacle in the White House.
Let's be clear who is responsible for the war in Ukraine. Putin's Russia has invaded Ukraine twice in little over a decade. Crimea was seized in 2014, and he invaded again in February 2022. Both acts were those of an aggressor. Ukraine was not in any way responsible for provoking these wars.
I am not pretending that the recent history of Ukraine is beyond fault. It clearly is not. There has been discrimination, and there has been corruption. I also think it is fair to note that Zelenskyy was a fairly elected as president of the country, and the suggestion made by Donald Trump that he is a dictator borders on the absurd because he has not been able to stage elections during war time, just as we did not in the UK during World War II.
I am not, for a moment, presuming that the war in Ukraine has not produced atrocities on both sides. I suspect it has and would condemn whoever might have committed them. That said, there is very clear evidence of the deliberate targeting of civilians by Russia that would appear to represent war crimes.
President Zelenskyy did also present evidence of Russian mistreatment to prisoners of war to President Trump during his visit to the White House. Trump showed absolute indifference to this abuse.
Trump‘s own behaviour on this issue is quite extraordinary.
His suggestion that he could have prevented this war starting is completely unfounded.
The blame that he is heaping on President Zelenskyy for having permitted this war is completely unjustified.
The abuse that he is delivering against President Biden for his support for Ukraine during the course of this war is completely inappropriate.
His support for the aggressor in this war is wholly unjustified, and without political precedent in the USA, or elsewhere.
Trump‘s behaviour since coming into office has been extraordinary. In particular he has:
- Accused Zelenskyy of being a dictator, wholly inappropriately.
- Staged supposed peace talks with Russia to determine the future of Ukraine, to which he has denied both Ukraine and European countries access.
- Made false claims about the relative levels of support provided to Ukraine by the USA and Europe.
- Sought to exploit the current weakness of Ukraine for the benefit of the USA, and no doubt his commercial allies.
- Denied doing some of these things, including expressing surprise at the suggestion that he had said that Zelenskyy was a dictator during the course of his press conference with Keir Starmer.
In the process, Trump has demonstrated that he is:
- An aggressor.
- An ally of Russia's position on Ukraine.
- Wholly unrepresentative of US political and diplomatic traditions, whether they be right or wrong.
- An unreliable ally of NATO and its European partners.
In addition, he has as a consequence of his comments and diplomatic approaches to Mexico, Canada and Greenland shown that he, like Russia, desires the territorial expansion of his state, although there is no political justification for this action. As a consequence, he also has left a number of European states subject to aggression from Russia, and his particular lack of willingness during his press conference with Keir Starmer to support the Baltic states was notable in this regard. It would appear that he and Putin have a current nonaggression pact that will permit the other to annex territory to which they have no legal, political, ethical or other justifiable claim without condemnation of each other's actions, or any reaction.
At a more basic level, it was apparent that Trump quite deliberately stage-managed some of the events during the course of yesterday‘s White House meeting with Zelenskyy. In particular, the references to Zelenskyy‘s wearing of military drab, which he does to indicate that he is president of a country at war, from the moment that he arrived at the door of the White House, through to deliberately provocative comments made by a journalist, to the moment when Van addressed him on this issue, all suggested that there was a deliberate intention to annoy in Zelenskyy on an issue which has become a part of his personal identity, and with which many would sympathise. It is not as if he is alone in adopting such a style of dress. I note that Winston Churchill was inclined to do so on occasion. This deliberate provocation cannot be ignored when attributing blame for the diplomatic breakdown that took place yesterday.
In that case, and to return to my theme, whilst I am not suggesting that Ukraine is a country without issues that might need to be addressed, those must necessarily be addressed as part of a post-war settlement. They are not issues that can be resolved now. All that can be appraised at this moment is the position in which Ukraine finds itself, and the quite extraordinary pivot that has taken place in the US position towards the country.
I am, again, not suggesting that I think anything and everything that President Biden did is beyond criticism. He did, after all, supply weapons and political support to the government of Israel whilst Netanyahu directed a genocide, which fact was very obviously known to Biden‘s White House. Biden's administration is very far from being innocent of blame when it comes to its conduct of world politics and diplomacy.
That said, Russia's aggression towards Ukraine was unjustified. The diplomatic and military support that Ukraine has received since the start of that war has been justified, even if political errors of judgement have occurred, mainly outside Ukraine, on issues such as EU and NATO membership.
At present, no solution to the conflict in Ukraine that looks to be either politically or militarily deliverable without the imposition of external force has appeared to be available. Nothing that Trump has done has changed this.
What Trump has done has, however, been quite deliberately provocative to Ukraine and all traditional US allies whilst considerably enhancing the position of Russia as the aggressor within this conflict.
On the balance of probabilities there can, therefore, be no doubt that blame for the current political and diplomatic crisis that has developed falls fairly and squarely solely on the actions of President Trump and his government of the USA.
The result is that we are living in the time of considerable international risk, and even peril, where potential courses of action that states might pursue are very hard to predict, but with few of the possible consequences looking to be good at present.
I often conclude blog posts by saying that I am worried. I am much more than averagely so when concluding this one.
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There has not been any time during my lifetime when the USA has seemed a reliable ally. Now it is,worse.
Trump‘s behaviour … he thinks he is still on “The Apprentice” & is thus mostly performative. His character failings are numerous & well known. That he has been elected President again is a very poor reflection on both the republicans and the democrats who are both shambolic filled to the rafters with imbeciles and grifters.
As for Ukraine, this is for Europe & the UK, May 1940. Putins puppet is in the White House. Europe and Ukraine stand alone.
Thus Europe has a choice: help Ukraine win the war that Russia started or go down in ignominy. They have the means, both monetarily (Euro200bn of Russian assets) and their own weapon systems.
As for the USA? Under Trump it is part of the Ruzzia-North Korea-Iran axis of evil.
Under Johnson we saw this habit of far right politicians desperately leveraging the thinnest gruel of good news for their own benefit. A leveraging happily spread by corrupt media and sycophants.
So when Trump boasts that no wars were started on his watch to project the laughable idea he is a strongman rather than a coward, this deliberate conceit hides the fact this was an accident of timing and nothing to do with what he did (or mostly didn’t do) during the first 4 destructive years of his presidency. That clear lie was bought by far too many Americans though and in the year leading to the election, I saw it repeated far more than I saw the stuff about fuel prices or eggs.
I would like to disagree; if you don’t want to print this I would understand completely.
It is more complicated than Russia being the aggressor; the danger is that since the invasion, any other narrative has been dismissed as “Putin’s talking points”.
There are two issues. One is the great game. America and Russia are on the go all the time. America more so, with hundreds of interventions in other countries. Russia more limited since the collapse of the USSR, but it still invaded Georgia. America supported and organised the coup in Ukraine in 2014. Russia moved to take Crimea and keep its warm water port.
The other issue is borders. The rant from Pie the other day said that all that was happening was that “a country was trying to defend its homeland”. (Motherland? Fatherland?) But Ukraine has its eastern third almost entirely Russian speaking. The borders have shifted throughout history (perhaps we see borders differently as ours are so well defined). And they were defined by imperial powers, this is internal colonialism. The western part of Ukraine is now almost entirely Ukrainian, but the most western section was annexed by the Russian Empire from the Kingdom of Poland.
If you start from 2022, then Russia invaded “without provocation”. But western Ukraine was moving troops to the border with the eastern section. From the Russian perspective, they were intending to “take back” the eastern states, which had been allowed an internal independence after the coup. The western army did not fall back as demanded by the Russians.
The 2014 coup was against a Russian-leaning president, elected nationally. Great game American meddling, the desire to put missiles in Ukraine. But locally, memories of the USSR, World War 2. So, there really are fascists in Ukraine, we pretend otherwise and they have rebranded as nationalists. But they still want the “orcs” out of Ukraine. We are allied to the nazis, one of the weird changes of recent history. “Lest we forget.”
But, of course, go back a generation, the West of Ukraine still puts up statues to Nazi heroes because they fought the Soviet Union armies. The choice looks bad now (!!) – Stalin or Hitler? Before that, the Cossacks fought the revolutionary army. Before that, the Russian empire.
Then there is our unbelievable hypocrisy, but that would need another few pages. The stories we tell ourselves. We condemn a country for invading another country. Really? We banned all their sports people, even chess players unless they denounced the invasion. We should sanction ourselves, refuse to play sport with ourselves. Take Libya, without any of the justification of protecting the Russian part of the country.
Really, the borders are in the wrong place. It should not take a war to redefine them. That’s the most horrific, disgusting, way of resolving it. But ideas of “homeland” don’t work here, or a country’s right to defend itself. Not if the country is so split.
I know all this and have hinted at it.
Do you think that exonerates Putin?
Or Trump?
Why?
And what is Zelenskyy doing wrong now?
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend your right to say it”.
Hats off to both of you – an alternative narrative respectfully expressed…… posted by Richard despite his profoundly differing view.
This blog at its best.
Thanks
The situation is complex, Andrew, and thus things are said -“talking points”- which need elaboration to be understood.
The notion of a coup against the govt. The Government consisted of a President AND a Parliament. Having signed the association agreement with the EU in 2013, Pres. Yanukovych decided under Russia pressure (he visited Russia just before ) to reverse it. That lead to the Maidan protest which was resolved by appointing a new cabinet. Shortly afterwards Yanukovych fled to Russia, Within a few months elections were held; first for the Presidency and then for the Parliament. They elected pro EU representatives. Most coups stop elections.
You seem to take it for granted there was a coup organised by the US. Don’t the Ukrainians have any agency? The votes for the new cabinet were held in the Parliament and televised. The fact is Russia tried to influence the govt. of Ukraine since about 2000 and the Orange revolution of 2004 was a reaction to this. If one looks up Putin’s speeches, one sees he denies the validity of a separate Ukrainian nation. When he invaded in 2022 Rai Novesti put up a web page saying Ukraine had been returned to its rightful place. It is still available. Because some Ukrainians speak Russian, it doesn’t mean they want to be Russian. We hear this from Ukrainians.
The morality of using force in a region where many wish to secede is debatable. But not in Russia, when Chechnya tried to do the same they were ruthlessly crushed with tens of thousands of deaths. The elections in Belarus 2020 saw Lukashenko claim 80% of the vote. Massive demonstrations followed to be put down by force with Putin’s full endorsement. Ukrainians know what that would mean if they lost their independence.
The Nazi issue rightly demands attention. In the 1930s millions died of starvation due to Stalinist policies. When Hitler invaded many did welcome him as a liberator. Nazi racial theory saw Slavs as inferior and the result was many changed sides. Ukrainians have reason to hate both. One can’t understand the situation without it. Are there Fascists in Russia? Probably more so.
Since 1991 Ukrainians have been free to travel in the West and have the internet. They have chosen the West-for all its faults-over a rigid Russia. Can we know whether the majority of people in the Donbas and Crimea wanted to change their nationality? Access by western journalists or NGOs is restricted.
To cut this short. the borders should not be changed by force from a major power. The invasion is unjustified
There is a lot of history and I’m not convinced it helps to go back centuries to understand why Putin invaded. Each side can find pseudohistorical or irredentist arguments for almost any position they might want to take. At the trite level, the Soviets controlled the whole of Ukraine, but there was a Kievan Rus when Moscow and Muscovy was a provincial backwater.
Someone can speak Russian – even as a first language – without being a Russian national. Zelenskyy himself is from a Russian speaking family. Many proud Ukrainians speak Russian.
Secondly the only post-Soviet census in Ukraine in 2001 shows that people with Russian ethnicity are or at least were a minority in the eastern oblasts. Over 60% in Crimea, but less than 40% in Donetsk and Luhansk, and around 25% in Zaporizhzhia.
Yet the Russian claim to have annexed Crimea and four oblasts – including Kherson where ethnic Russians were below 15% in the last census.
The idea that ethnic Russians in Ukraine were facing any sort of genocide before 2022 is a laughable Russian fabrication. But Ukrainians in the occupied territories certainly have faced treatment that qualifies – the movement and reeducation of children, torture, rapes and murders, and the horrific treatment of prisoners of war.
Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians need and deserve our support. It we tolerate this, our children will be next.
Agreed
“America supported and organised the coup in Ukraine in 2014.”
I host a Ukranian family & have done for 3 years. The father was heavily involved in Maidan along with lots of other Ukrainian citizens. I have zero reason to believe that they have lied to me regarding what happened – Ukranian citizens forcing the Kleptocrat president to flee. If the USA was involved it was AFTER Yanukovitch fled. There is much talk about the US funding the Maidan demonstrators – the lady staying with us wonders why she, her husband and a load of his mates did not get any money.
The rest of what you read would be sneered at by the Ukranians that I know as Russian propaganda. Oh & the Donbass? not many men left there now – Putin used them as cannon fodder early in the war after all they were/are “only” Ukranians (ditto people from east of the urals). If you want to understand better the attitude of the Russians to the Ukranians – reflect a bit on English attitudes to the Irish or the Scots (& the latter’s desire for independence).
I did wonder to mention your last point in an earlier post..,.,
Mike
“English attitudes towards the Irish” reminds me of a conversation I had a few months ago with a friend who lived in Belarus for a few years. The ‘Moscowvites’ -people from Moscow and st. Petersberg -expected the first chance of promotion or bonus payments over the locals whom they looked down upon.
What about Cymru and Cymraeg too? I don’t think they’re very happy with the English! Especially second home owners! Though I believe a lot of them are starting to sell off these days.
Hardly a Coup.
“The events of 2014 in Ukraine, often referred to as the “Revolution of Dignity” or “Euromaidan,” were a pivotal moment in the country’s history. Here’s a closer look:
Protests Begin: The movement started in late 2013 when then-President Viktor Yanukovych decided to suspend an association agreement with the European Union, opting for closer ties with Russia. This decision sparked widespread protests, particularly in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square).
Escalation of Violence: The protests grew in size and intensity, with clashes between demonstrators and security forces. By February 2014, the violence had escalated significantly, leading to numerous deaths and injuries.
Yanukovych’s Removal: Amid the unrest, Yanukovych fled Kyiv on February 22, 2014, and was later removed from office by the Ukrainian parliament. An interim government was established, and new elections were scheduled.
Crimea and Eastern Ukraine: Following these events, Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, citing the need to protect Russian-speaking populations. This move was widely condemned internationally. Pro-Russian unrest also erupted in eastern Ukraine, leading to the ongoing conflict in the Donbas region.
These events have had lasting implications for Ukraine’s political landscape, its relationship with Russia, and its aspirations for closer ties with the West.”
It has to be said that in reality something left behind after WWII was going to cause problems for sure. And the ‘meddling’ that Andrew alludes to is significant. I support his post. Having read all of Tim Snyder’s output, I have my opinions.
Europe is really a mess. Europe – and never forget this – is mass graveyard of human misery. The Nazis – the defeated – have really left their mark. So much for being defeated I say. In my view, Hitler won the long game. Destroyers usually do win – the Thatcherite Tory party are winning the long game in the UK. Let us be honest here.
What was a colourful continent with nations that shared nationalities, languages and cultures is now a continent of artificially separated peoples, separated by maps and hastily drawn borders scribbled over what was the messy and peaceful reality of human interactions previously . Maps can change but people’s histories and cultures endure. Fact. Ask any Armenian.
Poland had the largest community of Jews once outside of the near East I think. It is now a pre-dominantly Catholic country. As Keith Lowe writes perceptively in ‘The Fear & the Freedom: How the Second World War Changed Us’ (2017) the degree to which the European peoples agreed with the post war map was not a done deal agreeable to everyone. This issue is echoed in so much writing about post war Europe and Germany. The argument goes that post war Europe was an attempt to homogenise the European peoples into neat little groups in neat little pieces of land and that all this has done is help the growth of nationalism and indeed, its brother in arms, fascism. Being not so intermingled is a disadvantage. Of course it is. How can you understand and build human relations with people who are different to you unless you live side by side in peace – hopefully?
I’m not fond of Ukraine as a country at all, I just see it as a killing zone – not a country. At one time it provided people who killed lots of Jews. It’s fertility has something to do with the huge amount of dead in its soiI. I have no empathy with it as a country. This sounds harsh but that is my view. Their nationalism is no better than anyone else’s, and if you know about nationalism you know that you are dealing with dodgy material – look at Serbia, look at the Balkans. Look at the resentment THEY harbour over ancient history. Ukraine a beacon of freedom? No. I’m not being manipulated like that – sorry.
And then there is the cynical use of the kill zone that is the Ukraine by the West – a buffer zone with the West’s fingers crossed behind its back. A zone of interest for corporations to keep the cold war military industrial complex going.
The pig in the poke though has got to be the U.S. It had a huge significant say in post WWII Europe. It acted in its own best interests and then helped formulate a Europe that it did not understand. But then, had Europe not mishandled the peace after WW1, there may never have been a Hitler. Everywhere the U.S. has gone they have caused trouble – look at Yugoslavia, where emerging nations were made to compete for U.S. investment which undermined cooperation and led to hell.
It is the U.S. who led the way when the USSR collapsed. Hubris over ‘liberal democracy’ took over instead of the practicalities of creating a democracy, bringing in Russia from the cold. Instead of democracy, Russia got the shock doctrine. Payback is hard. That is what this is. And poor old Zelensky is expecting the people who created this in the West to help him out. ‘Poor bastard’ that’s all I can say.
My concerns over this are not Russia. It is the West which is morally and in principle, vacant, it has none. There is nothing there. For if there were something there, Putin would not be possible in the first place and his reach into the UK and US would not be possible.
And where is this weakness , a weakness the canny Russians have exploited? Why Finance of course. Money. Read Katherine Belton.
As soon as Russian money started going through Western banks, Ukraine was toast. Toast. We have already lost Ukraine to history (a history of stupidity) and an obsession with money. It’s over. It would be best if Zelensky stepped down and let Russian take back Ukraine. Then, one day, Putin will go the way of us all. And maybe things will change again. That might be much better than the sausage machine we have to bear witness too at the moment.
If we want to have a war, let us declare war on the finance industry. It is the financial centres of the unprincipled societies of the West that are beacons of freedom for filthy lucre. Let us one fine morning wake up to seeing our security organisations in the U.S. ,UK, Switzerland etc., arresting the human scum who have hidden and washed Putin’s money; lets see forensic accountants at work uncovering how it was all done, and lets see exactly who has been involved shall we?
Now wouldn’t that be a better answer to it all? For me it would. And the findings would be startling I bet you.
And that is why that ‘one fine morning’ will not happen. And why the Ukraine ‘crisis’ must exist instead I’m afraid.
Oh well…………………
I don’t agree with all that
But one point from a conversation I have had this afternoon. How would I best describe myself ? European, without borders.
“It would be best if Zelensky stepped down and let Russian take back Ukraine”
Usually we are in agreement – not this time.
You are as wrong as it is possible to be. Ukrainians – faults like all people. Let Russia take back Ukraine? It would not be Holodomor 2 – but it would be like Bucha (all those slaughtered civilians). Russia as is, is evil, like North Korea or indeed Iran. Run by & for psycopaths. It is a mess, the only way is to push Russia back to its borders & hope that the country sorts itself out. Ukraine just wants to be left alone.
The country is vastly fertile due to black earth, rather than blood.
Hello, just back. I’m grateful for the replies. Yes, you can add layers to each layer of complication. But I don’t think you can treat Ukraine as a single entity, as the posters above are suggesting. (“What Ukrainians wanted.”) This simplification imposes its own narrative on the debate, where the majority gets to dictate to the minority. In particular it ignores that the west of Ukraine mistreated the east after the east declared an independence within Ukraine. (MInsk). We watched this play out in real time, long before the Russians threatened their invasion. Perhaps the east thinks that it owns the west (or in the single-entity perspective, this is simply a homeland keeping its territory.) Or perhaps it is residual hostility against Russians (again, orcs) because of the USSR, and goes back into history again.
Me, I think it would be a disaster if Russia took back all of Ukraine. For the same reasons: the western part of Ukraine does not want it and it would need a constant war for Russia to keep control. We can only hope that Russia limits its territorial claims to the Russian speaking part (but see next).
One poster said it is simplistic to say that the eastern part is entirely Russian, and this is true, or was true before the war. People living together, but mostly Russian. Like many places before wars start. There was another point that people in the eastern part with Russian language and culture might have wanted to stay independent of Russia. Maybe, but we won’t know now. (And it seems to me that the semi-independence of the eastern parts was exactly this – Russian areas within Ukraine – but they were attacked. Maybe that could have been the long-term answer: autonomy or even a new country. Whatever, it’s gone now.) But all of this: attacks, invasions, abuse, it’s a terrible way to resolve issues. So let’s not simplify our understanding of it so that war is the only solution we have.
In summary, are you suggesting a state has to respect the cultural identities of the major groups geographically located within it?
*Perhaps the west thinks it owns the east* !
Richard asks “In summary, are you suggesting a state has to respect the cultural identities of the major groups geographically located within it?” Look no further than the UK.
That was clearly what I had in mind, Ken.
“A state has to respect the cultural identities of the major groups geographically located within it.”
Yes, that’s neat and concise; and with majorities respecting the rights of the minorities. But what happens when they don’t, which is common, and when leaders use minorities to exploit resentments?
Also, the statement implies that the state is a fixed thing, but borders can be arbitrary, especially colonial ones. (And the Kurds didn’t get a state.) States don’t give up territory easily, so the tension is built in.
One more for your list of Trump’s demonstrable attributes: Bully.
There is a meme/poster currently popping up on Facebook labeling Zelinsky as “Person of the Year”.
For me, it is striking that, no matter who clicks “Like”, the people *sharing* that image (that I see in my feed) are those who I know have themselves been the target of a bully in the workplace. Even if we have successfully challenged the bully, the feelings of impotent anger never go away. We empathise with, and admire, Zelensky the person for his dignity in the face of that disgusting (in the visceral sense of that word) display.
The balance of “Shares” may change, but I think my early assessment holds some truth. What happens next? How strong is – not Zelinsky, but the European support for him?
Just a couple of very important points to add that very clearly prove that what we saw yesterday was a fix up of Zelensky.
First, it transpires that Trump admitted that he spoke with Putin earlier in the week, though there was no report from the White House on this, as is the convention.
Second, it turns out that the Russian government news agency – TASS – was live streaming from the press conference, despite the fact that they are not on an approved media list. When asked after the meeting why they were there, Trumps people basically said that they must have ‘sneaked in’, but were asked to leave as soon as discovered. But strangely, not before they’d live streamed Trump and Vance getting stuck into Zelensky.
See Rachel Maddow for full reports and details.https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
All I can add is that if anyone can now believe that Trump and key members of his cabinet (including Musk) are not working for the Russians then they must be seriously deluded.
It is staggering that TASS were there
Not staggering – planned.
It allowed Mango to show in real time that he is delivering on whatever deal he has with Pulter. & it will be a deal, because Mango is an owned-man. The kompromat exists, Mango knows it and is going along. Next steps… cut weapons supply & after that Starlink cut.
“..the references to Zelenskyy‘s wearing of military drab,” and “It is not as if he is alone in adopting such a style of dress. I note that Winston Churchill was inclined to do so on occasion.”
Quite right. I recall images of Churchill dressed in a siren suit at his meeting in Moscow in 1942 with Stalin and Averrell Hariman, Roosevelt’s special envoy. Not that’s it’s from personal experience – it was a year before I was born.
Maybe now NATO needs to be rebranded as the West European Treaty Organisation?
Kompromat, kompromat, kompromat.
That is what this is about. I’d love to see what the FSB has on Trump. Or maybe we wouldn’t?
Over the years, how many times have we heard that Trumps ’empire’ (bankrupted enough times) has only survived because of injections of Russian cash.
Someone somewhere in the States knows what is going on. And I bet its in the banking system. There is something deeply corrupt at the base of all this that has been done ‘in plain sight’.
Pilgrim, indeed: kompromat, and much more. Trump even has a KGB/FSB name – Krasnov. It’s well known in Russian government circles. And there are several accounts from ex KGB who fled to the West that confirm as much. I read yesterday that one agent described Trump as being one of the easiest targets they’d ever ‘turned’. That was back in the early 1990s, but the actual turn seems to have taken place in 1987, when Trump returned from Moscow and promptly spent $150,000 on anti NATO ads.
As you say Richard, all the evidence points towards the Putin’s ally in the White House and his mates setting this up deliberately. The ludicrous comment from one of Trump’s sycophants about Zelensky not wearing a suit… oh please, how pathetic and transparency dishonest.
Mike is right. Time for Europe to stop wasting its time expecting the USA to help repel Putin’s murderous imperialist campaign, and provide all the help we can to Ukraine. This is like 1940 now.
But I expect the coward Starmer and his crew of ‘special relationship lovers’ like Mandelson will still try and tell us we can keep the US on board by careful ‘handling’ (I e. Brownosing). And still refuse to countenance rejoining the EU because they are so scared of shouty know nothing right wing gobshites. I’ve already signed a petition calling for Trump’s visit to be cancelled.
So I far, Starmer has said nothing.
I suspect we’ll be with Russia soon
Zelensky not wearing a suit, and IMO with a good reason, is remarked on by whoever (and this or these ‘whoever(s)’ is/are clearly pro Trump) – but Musk can dress in t-shirt and whatever and gets no ‘appropriate’ comments from those who criticise Zelensky . At the least Zelensky looks smart and professional – whereas Musk looks utterly sloppy.
Very good point.
“The diplomatic and military support that Ukraine has received since the start of that war has been justified”
When, not if, the USA Military Industrial Complex turns against Trump it will be over for Trump!
What you have to understand is that the 15% of the USA electorate that won the election for Trump (die hard MAGAts) thoroughly believe that the current price of eggs, bread, cheese, milk and gasoline are all due to the war in Ukraine. They also believe that most of the Musk DOGE cuts are necessary due to the money being spent on the war in Ukraine.
Swing voters, those who voted for Biden in 2016 and Trump 2020, are turning on Trump and this will be reflected in the 2022 midterm elections. When Medicaid cuts cause momma the be “thrown out of the nursing home” these people will be out for the scalps of Trump and Musk.
Can we, and more importantly, Ukraine survive until then?
Tampa, as an American can I ask you a serious question. Do you honestly believe that Trump and his cronies are going to allow the mid terms in 2026? Seriously!
I know enough about US politics to know that Presidents often get a kicking at the mid terms, as Obama did. And this is going to seriously be the case for Trump. But now Trump and co have sieved power, and started their project to dismantle the federal government (not least because it was the only thing that could stop many of their actions), and, ultimately, turn the US into an autocracy, do you really believe they are going to let that little project – which the far right in your country have been planning for for years – disappear out the window.
Speaking as what I once was, an academic with a PhD in politics, there’s no way they are going to let this happen – unless a great number of your fellow citizens are prepared to take to the streets, and maybe the barricades.
Anyway, that’s my take. But just to add, there’s a reason Trump and his acolytes, and the far and religious right in your country, love Putin. They admire what he’s done to Russia, and they think Trump will deliver the same for the US. Period (as you yanks say :-))
I agree with you Ivan
They will only happen if they are rigged
One of the unreported actions that Pam Bondi, Trumps new AG, carried out on her first day in office was to disband all sections of the FBI and Dept of Justice involved in combating foreign influence in US election, taking action against foreign agents, and the anti kleptocracy unit, and several more. Basically making US elections from this point on completely open to foreign influence – and that’ll be Russia in support of Trump (or his successor), as in the past.
Add to that Bezos’s actions with Washington Post, Musk’s control of Twitter, Zuckerbwerg’s control of Facebook, and the mooted ‘nationalisation’ of Tik Tok (for obvious reasons), and I’d say most avenues for controlling the mid-terms are boxed off. Meanwhile, I’m sure any media that’s not on board will have been bought off or bankrupted.
But if that’s not enough, I’m sure the Justice Department can be relied on to lock a few leading people up, and finally, the Supreme Court will rule that everything Trump and co do is legal. Basically, what Orban’s done to Hungary over a decade but on steroids.
Wake up American – there’s a lot more at stake here than the price of eggs.
So much to agree with
So, the Trump/Vance attack on Zelensky highlights the urgent need to articulate an alternative societal model to Trump/Musks ‘strongman’ oligarchy which undepinned by a neoliberal wealth extraction pump, and to Putin’s mafia state
If you are a European Richard, then I’m just a human being. Geo-political labels do not work for me and I would not advise that they work for anyone at the moment.
I have no desire for me or my loved ones to die or be a casualty in history on behalf of a corrupt system – and being rewarded with lying in a ditch in some God-forsaken backwater in the Ukraine on the pretence that it is ‘European’. It is not European.
As much as I admire and want to be a European, I can also see that being ‘European’ does not work anymore. I’ve seen tent cities grow in places like Paris and Berlin and I’m left wondering what the hell is going on – it looks a lot like the U.S. to me. I’ve spent enough time in Croatia talking to local people about how Europeanisation works – for some mind (usually the better off) than ordinary people and makes the live of already well off European tourists so much easier. And I know what is going on – and so do you. It is the same old story, the oldest story in the world – it’s about who controls the money; it’s about private capital laying siege to and seizing power of institutions like the BoE and ECB. That is where battles are really lost and won now.
And in fact, that battle has been lost.
The history of places (slaughter house states) like Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania weighs them down too much to pick them up especially when you consider that the European project and its supposed ‘enlightenment’ is so flawed to begin with? How an earth can such a failing institution – where fascism finds fertile – protect these countries? In fact we are not there to protect are we? We are there to exploit and our soldiers will be sent to protect that exploitation so that corporations and their children might live forever. Sod us.
In ‘On Tyranny’ (2017) Tim Snyder’s 20th lesson is ‘Be as courageous as you can: if none of us are prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny’.
So, if being European means that you are willing to fight abroad, then off you go or fund or help out as you see fit.
If I have to die in protection of something, then of my choosing it will not be for King Charlie and his illicit lover and spoilt brood or for the Prime Minster or the Daily Mail. It will be in this country, my home, with my neighbours where I will fight and kill or die. Because in reality, it is all I have. It is all I really know? It is all I am certain of. It is my way of controlling the value of my sacrifice in a world where sacrifice is too often for artifice. That is what history and political economy has taught me.
That I and mine will be expended for others, but money will continue to flow smoothly though Bern, London and New York no matter what happens, and whilst people die. Putin is evil for sure. But what do you call the privileged evil at home in our financial systems who are not subject to the same rules as we are? Well, I will choose where and when I fight. And it won’t be in the Ukraine. Likely anywhere in the real Europe either for that matter either. Why die for failure? In support of hubris? For kissing Americas arse in the name of what – diplomacy?
Mike – forgive me for being wrong as you put it. You have supported Ukraine directly and my views could well be offensive to you. I understand. I admire your POV. It is just different to mine. I value your experience and knowledge ever-constantly here, whatever.
One small point however. Ukraine – and Europe – has made some very simple but hugely consequential errors of judgement, and one of those is courting Europe and NATO membership (if not earlier) from 2002 right under the nose of the dragon – Putin. That was wrong and ill advised. Ukraine maybe should have spoken less about this and made it a longer term objective. Nation building takes time. They had the time Mike. Putin will not last forever.
PSR
Do you really think war of the type ypu seem to enviage likely?
I admit, I don’t.
I could be wrong.
Richard
Thanks PSR for the considerate response. Your views are not offensive since I know they are genuinely held.
‘Be as courageous as you can: if none of us are prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny’.
I offered to Ukraine to go & help them in rebuilding their power systems – I am not afraid to die, having lived an relatively interesting life & the Russians (bullies?) don’t frighten me.
I offered a few other interesting suggestions to the Ukrainians – so far no uptake.
I agree re your comments about NATO – time it was closed and the Europeans formed their own defensive grouping.
And as for the rest – “privileged evil at home”… quite. I will pass over in silence my views, ideas and possible responses with respect to that point.
As a historian, I respectfully disagree with these assessments. Ukraine has a distinct history that, while at times intertwined with Russia and the USSR, remains its own. Even if we set aside ancient history, Ukraine has forged a new path since gaining independence in 1991. The people of Ukraine have clearly voiced their identity—not as an extension of Russia, but as an independent nation. Just as England once ruled the United States, that does not mean Americans today identify as English.
Regarding the argument about Russian-speaking populations in eastern Ukraine, the presence of native Russian speakers does not equate to rightful Russian ownership. While areas like Donetsk and Luhansk have historically had large Russian-speaking communities, linguistic and cultural ties do not override national sovereignty. This issue was debated in Ukrainian national polls and complicated further by the influx of Russian-backed separatists flooding the area leading up to the 2014 conflict (look at immigration records prior to that conflict which tell a different story). Accepting the idea that a country can claim territory based on language or past affiliations sets a dangerous precedent.
To put this into perspective, should the UK reclaim every country it once invaded or occupied simply because it once had a military base there and English remains widely spoken in that country? Of course not. So why apply that logic here? Russia already recognized Ukraine’s independence in the 1990s, with agreements like the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine surrendered its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the U.S., and the UK. The argument that Ukraine somehow “belongs” to Russia ignores the fact that Russia accepted its sovereignty decades ago. The real issue is that Russia, seeing Ukraine align more with the West, now regrets that decision. This is not about historical legitimacy—it is a clear case of an imperial power attempting to reclaim lost influence.
If none of these other matters work for you then lets simply look at the massive core issue and not complicate things: Ukraine is a sovereign nation that is recognized be EVERY country was invaded unprovoked by its neighbor. That fact alone is justification enough to support Ukraine. There is no need to overcomplicate it.
That does not strike me as a historical analysis, but it dies strike me as one that overly lies on extrapolation. I think political economy helps more.
Apologies, I must’ve removed the reply to AndrewR’s previous replay on March 1st which this was geared towards. Not the original article