A traitor and his warmonger ally

 

The figure above was posted by someone in an American thread on Twitter.

One of the largely repeated promises during Trump's presidential campaign was that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war "in 24 hours". He never said how he would do that, but since he said it would be "for humanitarian reasons", many of us were led to believe he was being truthful.

He has now been in power for a month and the only thing he has effectively done so far is to announce the end of the U.S. military aid to Ukraine, a torn-apart country that is now being served on a silver plate to Russia.

I have just seen Trump say that "Ukraine should have given up land three years ago" in order to put an end to war, and he also called President Zelensky a dictator. Volodymyr Zelensky was voted by the Ukrainian people in general elections, that is why he is president. 

Those words might be an indication that Trump may be in the early stages of dementia. In 2022, Ukraine was invaded by Russia without a warning and under the false pretext of "joint military exercises" with puppet-state Belarus. 

Was Ukraine not supposed to defend itself? What Trump would do if the Chinese, for example, invaded Hawaii? Would he give up land to avoid war?  

Russia did not win the war, on the contrary, in spite of announcing that its "Special Operation" would end in a couple of weeks, for the last three years it has been fighting hard to maintain approx. 20% of the unlawfully  invaded  Ukraine's territory. 

Russia has inflicted Ukraine severe losses, but cannot claim victory, not just yet. 

Notwithstanding, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth was sent to a Munich meeting to tell Europeans they had no part in negotiating the end of the war, and that they will have to pay the costs of "rebuilding Ukraine". 

Also, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sent to Saudi Arabia (?) to meet with Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister "to discuss the end of the war". I saw the images and had the impression that Mr. Rubio didn't have a clue of what the hell he was doing there. 

Such initiatives without the presence of either Ukrainian or European negotiators, however a bold U.S. move, is rather weird and not likely to work. Why? Because it does not touch the main issue: the continued Russian threat on Europe.

At this point it's impossible not to remember the meeting Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler and Mussolini had in Munich in September 1938, the practical result of which was not peace, but to send the Sudetenland, the alleged German-speaking portion of then Czechoslovakia, in Nazi Germany's lap. 

In a footage that can be seen here, on his return to London, Chamberlain, then British PM, proudly shows the paper signed by Herr Hitler as an assurance that, in his words, it would avert the danger of war.

Poor Neville Chamberlain truly believed that piece of paper signed by Herr Hitler was a guaranty of piece. He was greeted at the time as the man "who saved Britain from war". No one seemed to remember that just six month earlier, in March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria in what is known in history by its German name, Anschluss (Annexation).

The same may be happening today to Ukraine. It does not make sense to "discuss peace" with only one of the contenders, Russia, in Saudi Arabia, and without the Europeans at the table. The Saudis have not volunteered to mediate in the conflict, and since the kingdom is a close U.S. ally, I don't see how they could do so.

Europe has been caught in the crossfire but can't say it came as a surprise. During his previous term (2017-2020), Trump repeatedly complained that NATO's European members were not investing their fare share in the continent's defense, and that too much of the effort was on U.S. shoulders. He was/is right on this one.

This did not change with the Russian invasion of Crimea (2014) nor with the genocidal invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022. Highly dependent on the imports of Russian oil & gas, Europe, and especially Germany, were afraid of the post-Soviet bear.

Putin did a good job by threatening to cut the supply and with "nuclear war" every time Europe wanted to step up his aid to Ukraine. The Russian president even threatened to send his missiles over London.  

Right now Europe is in a much weaker position than before, but nevertheless needs to take courageous decisions. As Europe is struggling to solve its own internal economic and social problems, the external threat posed by Russia remains. Just like Herr Hitler in 1938, Putin cannot be trusted, and he has given enough proof of it.

If with the help of the Trump administration Putin has it his way in Ukraine, the security of the entire European continent will be even more in danger than before. Poland, Finland, and the three Baltic republics may be the next targets. 

Europe needs to react before it's too late.