Russia invaded Ukraine with predictable results. Hundreds of thousands of deaths, unimaginable damage to property and extremely high costs for everyone involved. It is easy to push all the blame on Russia. The MSM is pretending that this was a classic case of the evil dictator, Putin, trouncing on a democratic Ukraine. But, as is always the case, there is more to the story.
There is no doubt that Russia was the invader and that should never have happened. But the reason it happened is that Putin took one look at Biden, just like he did at Obama, and said now is the time. In the case of Obama, he invaded and kept Crimea. In the case of Biden, he invaded Ukraine gained valuable seaports on the Black Sea. He knew neither Obama nor Biden was a serious threat to his plans. He did not invade Ukraine when Trump was President and he has admitted he would not have done so if Trump had been re-elected.
The truth about Ukraine is a lot more complicated than what is reported on the MSM. The following article in townhall explains this well:
Anyone remotely familiar with Hunter and Joe Biden knows that Ukraine has been famous for fraud. This is supported by the following article in https:www.foreignpolicy.com:
How Deep Does Corruption Run in Ukraine?
It is noted that Ukraine has always had strong ties to Russia. While most of the people speak Ukrainian, a high percentage, over 1/3, also speak Russian. In addition, a person who speaks Ukrainian can understand Russian, but Russian have difficulty understanding Ukrainian.
Ukrainian vs Russian: How Do These Languages Differ?
The real problem here is that when Russian invaded, the U.S. and its allies did very little to change results. Granted we sent a ton of money along with gun and ammunition to Ukraine, and they fought bravely, but there was never a strategy to actually defeat Russia, and Russia threatened massive retaliation against the West if it even tried. The result was a lose-lose situation, where costs in terms of lives, money and property were enormous, but no one even predicted any result much different that the status quo. Russia occupies much of eastern Ukraine and there is little evidence that this will change anytime soon. The UN wanted to pass a resolution blaming Russia for the invasion and demanding they abandon Ukraine to the original borders. Trump was criticized for vetoing that, but in reality, it never had a chance of working. Instead, it would have created a very real potential for an escalating war possibly including nuclear weapons.
Trump comes in with a very different approach. First, he has made it clear he wants to settle this war, but he is also sending a strong message to Putin. If you want peace, you can have peace, but if you choose war, it will not be confined to Ukraine. This is nearly identical to how President Eisenhower ended the Korean war.
In addition, Trump is offering Russia a chance to rejoin the world community. In doing this he is separating the ties between China and Russia, isolating China in the process. Putin is a lot of things, but he is not stupid. He knows his life and the life of the Russian people will be much better being friends with the U.S. than being enemies. Being enemies with the U.S. is a lose-lose proposition. But being friends changes everything. This will not happen overnight, but if it works, the results would be spectacular.
It is too early to know if this will or even can work. But the rest of the world is taking notice and they are paying attention. French President Macron came to visit with Trump and said he was in communication with about 30 other leaders in Europe. Earlier Trump and Macron participated in a Group of Seven leadership call. The bottom line is that Macron told Trump the European nations will do their part in Ukraine. Perhaps the most interesting comment from Macron was this: “You can’t be weak in the face of President [Vldamir] Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest. How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?”
The bottom line is we are watching a game of Russian Roulette with unbelievable consequences. We all better pray Trump gets this right. But if he does, this actually has the potential to make this a safer world for everyone.
TDM
Right on as usual, Terry, I have felt that way that we would be better off by far by being “friends“ with Russia, then at odds with them. We both nations would be far better off economically if we were to have a working treaty for trade and other with Russia. Sounds like Trump is on the right track.