Trump’s Appeasement of Putin - Guest MINDSETTER™ James Sheehan
James Sheehan, Guest MINDSETTER™
Trump’s Appeasement of Putin - Guest MINDSETTER™ James Sheehan
President Zelenskyy had offered to make a deal to share his country’s rare earth minerals with the United States in exchange for a desired security guarantee for Ukraine. Trump’s position was that the rare earth minerals deal itself would constitute a “security guaranty” because, he claimed, Russia would not attack Ukraine if American businesses and workers were in the country.
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President Zelenskyy, doubting that an American business presence alone would deter another Russian invasion, openly questioned how President Trump could be so sure that an American business presence would thwart Russia from invading Ukraine in the future. Given its track record, Zelenskyy argued that Russia could not be trusted; Russia would only respect Ukraine’s national sovereignty if it were backed by military force. At this point Vice-President J.D. Vance derided Zelenskyy for being disrespectful for publicly “litigating” the issue of the security guarantee. Both Vance and Trump then proceeded to berate Zelenskyy for not being thankful enough for American support even though Zelenskyy regularly thanks US officials and the American people.
After the contentious meeting, President Zelenskyy was directed to leave the White House. Later that same day, President Trump declared that Ukraine was not ready for peace and that President Zelenskyy could come back when he was ready to move forward with the rare earth minerals deal and cease-fire talks.
Several days later, President Trump ordered a halt to US military assistance to Ukraine to bring Zelenskyy back to the negotiating table [assumingly on Trump’s terms]. Zelenskyy, under intense pressure due to daily bombardment of his country by Russia, wrote Trump that, “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.” While Trump was pleased with Zelenskyy’s acquiescence, he nevertheless delivered another blow to Ukraine by ordering a pause to America’s strategic intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This latter development immediately handicapped Ukraine’s ability to strike and defend itself against Russian assaults, which assuredly will lead to more destruction and loss of life in Ukraine. While Zelenskyy was dealing with Trump’s hobbling of his nation’s defenses, Trump dealt a third blow to Zelenskyy by sending envoys to Ukraine to meet with opposition leaders to seek [unsuccessfully] leadership change in Ukraine. Those actions were devastating, but keep in mind that even these came on the heels of Trump falsely labeling Zelenskyy a dictator and claiming Ukraine had started the war.
As Trump has taken extreme measures against Ukraine by undermining its defenses as well as weakening its bargaining position in future peace negotiations, Putin has refused to make any concessions whatsoever for peace. While the Trump Administration has paid lip service to making demands on Russia, it has already laid the groundwork for normalization of relations with Russia. In short, Trump has his finger on the diplomatic scale decidedly tipped in favor of Russia. For decades, America has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with freedom-loving nations around the world. However, in under two weeks, Trump has turned American foreign policy on its head by pursuing an apparent policy of appeasement with Russia versus a peace through strength policy.
History has taught us time and again that giving in to dictators only encourages more aggression, not less. This was the lesson that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's learned in 1938 when he attempted to appease Adolf Hitler’s hunger for “Lebensraum” (territorial expansion) by agreeing to permit Germany to seize part of Czechoslovakia, only to see Hitler conquer the entire nation thereafter. Just as it was then, Trump’s appeasement of Russia today will not work to stop Putin’s imperialistic aim to control or conquer Ukraine.
No matter what the eventual terms of the peace settlement are, the United States and its European allies must guarantee Ukraine’s national sovereignty. Not just because it is the right thing to do but also because it is in our national interest to do so. An unchecked Russia will continue its march of imperial expansion and/or influence over its other neighboring states in Europe, which risks drawing the United States into an eventual war with Russia!
