Trump lays a predicate for a Ukraine takeover, Putin looks for a tall building with open windows...
To no one’s surprise, except for a few naive Russia Hawks in Congress, Donald Trump has begun the process of undermining American support for Ukraine in its battle against Vladimir Putin’s Illicit land grab. Within weeks of his taking over as president, Trump announced plans to meet with Russian emissaries separately from Ukrainian interests to “negotiate” peace terms. It sounds more like Trump has agreed to rescue his buddy from the opprobrium of the Western democracies He has decided to ignore the condemnation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague that had charged Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova with war crimes:
Charges
Allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).
Donald Trump, a man well-acquainted with charges and court decisions, has decided to rescue his puppet master by inferring that Ukraine, not Russia, was the actual aggressor in the war and that the Ukrainian president and not Putin was responsible for the death and destruction visited upon his nation. In an eye-opening news conference, Trump voiced his displeasure at the Ukrainian president’s disappointment after learning that Ukraine was not invited to the negotiations that will determine his nation’s future. Trump’s immediate response was predictably over the top and disingenuous:
"I hear that they're upset about not having a seat, well, they've had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily… you should have never started it. You could have made a deal," he later added.
"I could have made a deal for Ukraine. That would have given them almost all of the land, everything, almost all of the land - and no people would have been killed, and no city would have been demolished."
— BBC, “Trump says Ukraine could have made a deal earlier,” by Bernd Debusmann
Yesterday, he called Zelenskyy a dictator, ignoring the elephant in the room—neither he nor his friend Putin particularly like free and fair elections. Except for the first ten words, the rest of his diatribe was filled with lies—convenient ones that echoed Putin’s declaration of war on February 25, 2022. This leaves us with the more poignant question: What explains the bromance between Putin and Trump, and why are Republicans in Congress allowing this?
“Today, I again consider it necessary to come back to the tragic events taking place in the Donbas and the key issue of ensuring Russian security. Let me start with what I said in my address of February 21. I am referring to what causes us particular concern and anxiety – those fundamental threats against our country that year after year, step by step, are offensively and unceremoniously created by irresponsible politicians in the West…
(W)e constantly faced either cynical deception and lies, or attempts to pressure and blackmail, while NATO, despite all our protests and concerns, continued to steadily expand. The war machine is moving and, I repeat, it is coming close to our borders.”
As many times as we are warned that the comparisons are lazy and overstated, the Trump-Putin Axis is an evil one steeped in fascism. Their collaboration is much too similar in both style and substance to a time when the status of world order was threatened by another arrogant despot whose opening gambit was to blame Poland for its impertinence in starting a war with Germany in 1939. The comparisons are far more analogous than many here would like to admit. The media is covering the events as news when, instead, Trump’s indulgence in Putin’s criminal war is a portent to the destabilization of world order not seen since World War II. This isn’t just news, it is history on the verge of repeating itself.
Read as Adolf Hitler whined to the world about the belligerence of his neighbor to the east on the day he decided to invade Poland:
For months we have been suffering under the torture of a problem which the Versailles 'Diktat' created. A problem which has deteriorated until it has become intolerable for us.
Danzig was and is a German city . The [Polish] Corridor was and is German. Danzig was separated from us. The corridor was annexed by Poland. As in other German territories [outside Germany] the east German minorities have been ill-treated in the most distressing manner... I attempted to bring about, by making proposals for revisions, an alteration in this intolerable position.
It is a lie when the outside world says that we only tried to carry our revisions through by pressure. I have, not once but several times, made proposals for the revision of intolerable conditions.
— Adolf Hiler, September 1, 1939
Putin has laid out a predicate that would restructure the nature of the conflict he started with the unlawful acquisition of Crimea in February 2014. Putin and his puppet Trump allege that Volodymir Zelenskyy is a war criminal and Russian children are the victims of Ukraine aggression— against all prevailing evidence. He wants the world to forget how his enemies conveniently die when they oppose his interests, and how blatant— like Hitler— his assailing of the truth poisons reason and distorts reality.
In each case, these tin-pot despots, Hitler, Putin, and Trump acquire power for its own sake and use it for their purposes. While fools are oblivious to the echoes, the rest who ignore them become willing or unwilling collaborators with our indifference.
If I were President Zelenskyy, I would ignore the reassurances of a shape-shifting convicted felon who lies through his dentures and avoid tall buildings with open windows at all costs. Trump’s actions this week, covering for Putin and blaming Ukraine for its own destruction, are a nod to his Russian master and a grim jog to our cultural memories. It can happen here.
It is time for the Americans to rise up before it is too late. There will be no resistance from Trump to restrain Putin— no protection for Zelenskyy or the Ukraine people. Within the new Axis of Evil, no nation is safe, no life is secure.
The predicate has been laid.