US Betrayal of Ukraine Is Shameful

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There has been a lot of incoherent garbage flowing through the political tap of late, and most of it seems to be coming from the mouth of Donald John Trump.   This week Mr. Trump fouled relations with our European partner, Ukraine, by attacking the country's president and warrior leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a "dictator," while also accusing Ukraine of starting the war with Russia.  

Both of those statements are patently ridiculous, and both serve to show that Trump is trying to align our country not with the victim nation in the war, Ukraine, but rather with the aggressor, Russia, a nation with whom he once harbored personal business aspirations.

For his part, Zelensky responded by noting that Trump was parroting Russian talking points and seemed to be living in a "disinformation" bubble.

Trump made a vow during his recent campaign to quickly negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia shortly after assuming office.  Last week, still within his first month in office, Trump had two of his top administration officials on the ground in Europe taking about a peace deal.  There was a top level meeting in Berlin in which Vice President Vance proceeded to stir up our European allies - and not in a good way - by accusing our them of censoring free speech and doing nothing about immigration.

That was followed a few days later by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had also been at the meeting in Berlin, flying on to Saudi Arabia where he and his American delegation met with a top-level Russian delegation to discuss preliminary plans for ending the Russia-Ukraine war.  Absent from that meeting were any representatives from Ukraine or from any of the European countries, some of whom are at a direct risk of invasion from Russia.

Word quickly leaked to the press from the meeting in Saudi Arabia that a potential peace deal might include Ukraine ceding land that Russia had captured (grabbed) to Russia, and ceding some of its mineral reserves to the United States in repayment for US assistance during the war.  For Ukraine it was to be a lose-lose situation.

Then, to frost the cake,  Trump himself  took swipes directly at President Zelensky with his comments about Ukraine starting the war and Zelensky being a dictator.  If Trump wanted to create an open wound between our nation and our ally, Ukraine, he was successful.

Here is some truth:

Russia first invaded Ukraine, a former part of the old Soviet Union, in February 2014, and it was during that occupation and siege that Russia annexed the part of Ukraine known as Crimea.  Russia and Ukraine existed in a lesser state of conflict, with both still claiming Crimea, until February of 2022 when Russia launched a pre-dawn invasion of the nation, and that war continues to this day.   Many argue that Vladimir Putin, the political leader of Russia and a man for whom Donald Trump seems to have a great personal fondness, is trying to re-create the old Soviet Union, and that Russia poses a direct threat to several Baltic nations as Putin tries to achieve his land grab.

Putin and Russia started the war - not Ukraine.

As for Zelensky being a dictator, the Ukrainian leader was elected President of Ukraine in 2019 with 74% of the vote.  Donald Trump, on the other hand, has run for President of the United States three times and only won the popular vote once - and even then it was less than fifty percent of the total vote.  Trump's envy of Zelensky's popularity in his own country undoubtedly gnaws at him.

Trump, who is often truth-challenged, claimed this week that Zelenksy's current popularity rating in Ukraine is 4%, but a university poll within the country in December show it at 52%.  Trump's dictator remark is apparently based on the fact that Zelensky's five-year term ran out last year, but the elections have not been held because of the war which is still raging in Ukraine - and the postponement of elections is not uncommon in wartime.  Great Britain suspended their own elections during World War II while they were being bombed by Germany.

Turning our backs on Ukraine and Europe not only poses a big risk to our own long-term security, it is a betrayal of our allies who helped make the world safe for democracy in the Second World War.  Turning our national back on Europe is short-sighted, wrong, and very, very shameful.

Volodymyr Zelensky is a Ukrainian patriot, a freedom-fighter who has worn his country's uniform and knows the true price of freedom - and he has never been sidelined by bone spurs.

Why the hell don't people study history anymore?