By Lemuel Chyme
Aug 13, 2024
In his high profile interview with Elon Musk yesterday Trump could have used it to premier his new pro-Ukraine (as claimed by Mike Pompeo) policy. Instead he used the platform to rehash all his old pro-Putin/anti-Ukraine talking points.
From the DT today :
“Trump often returned to boasting about his relationship with autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and China’s Xi Jinping during the chat and insisted America would be safer under his stewardship.
“One of the things we’re going to do is we’re going to build an Iron Dome,” he said, referring to Israel’s missile defence system.
“We’re going to have the best Iron Dome in the world… because it just takes one maniac to, you know, start something.”
So why does he need an iron dome when he’s such good friends with Putin, Jinping and the Korean fat kid?
“Trump also suggested Ms Harris would struggle on the world stage when dealing with Xi, Putin or Kim.
“They’re at the top of their game. They’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country,” he said.”
Agreed they are vicious, but for Trump that’s a characteristic that he appears to see as admirable. The phrase “they’re going to protect their country” is very telling. He clearly believes that Putin was “protecting his country” when he unleashed a full scale genocidal invasion of Ukraine. On February 23, 2022, in a notoriously stomach-churning interview with a couple of characters named Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, he said :
“This is genius,” he said of Putin’s decision on Monday to officially recognize the breakaway provinces and authorize the use of Russian military personnel to assist them. “So Putin is now saying it’s independent — a large section of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace, all right.”
Yahoo:
“Trump is a long-standing fan of Putin’s. In 2013, he wondered on Twitter if the Russian autocrat would attend his Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and whether the two would become “best friends.” Putin did not show up. In the following years, Trump repeatedly spoke highly of Putin’s strategic acumen, noted the strongman’s intention to “re-build the Russian Empire” and defended Putin’s habit of killing dissidents and journalists, arguing that the United States does the same thing.”
“Trump went on to heap more praise on Putin and to claim that Russia would have been less aggressive if he were still in the White House.
“No, but think of it,” the former president continued. “Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. I know him very well — very, very well. By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. This would never have happened. But here’s a guy that says, ‘You know, I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent.’ He used the word ‘independent.’ ‘And we’re gonna go out, and we’re gonna in, and we’re gonna help keep peace.’”
The above was all said on Feb 23, 2022. On Aug 12, 2024 with Musk, he said:
“Addressing the war in Ukraine, Trump said of Putin: “Ukraine was the apple of his eye”. But he claimed he told Putin “don’t ever do it”, in relation to commencing an invasion.”
He just unintentionally revealed that his advice (probably fabricated anyway), was ignored.
Trump has never walked back on, let alone apologised for those shocking words said to Travis and Sexton. Neither has he apologised for stating on live TV in 2023 that “Putin’s gonna take all Ukraine.”
He never apologised for star guest Ted Nugent stating at his rally that :
(Referring to Zelenskyy) “I didn’t authorize any money to Ukraine to some homosexual weirdo!”
He never apologised for DT Jr saying that Zelensky was “an unthankful international welfare queen” on Twitter.
Yahoo again in Feb 23, 2022:
“Trump subsequently claimed — without evidence, and at odds with all the evidence gathered by U.S. intelligence officials — that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that had interfered in the 2016 election. In Trump’s elaborate conspiracy theory, Ukraine did this in order to frame Russia. And what was Trump’s source for these claims, according to one senior government official who spoke to the Washington Post? “Putin told me.”
He has never walked back that claim either.
Trump returned again to Ukraine in yesterday’s Musk interview:
‘Ukraine doesn’t have enough men’
“Many more people have been killed in Ukraine than you read about,” Donald Trump claims. “You don’t read about how bloody it is.”
He continues: “Ukraine now doesn’t have enough men. They’re now using young men and very old men to fight.”
Note how he has phrased it gloatingly as kremlin propagandists would. No trace of compassion whatsoever. There is no indication that his Ukraine policy has changed. Indeed he seems to have hardened up on it: appointing the openly contemptuous of Ukraine Vance as VP and authorising Elbridge Colby to announce that Ukraine would be abandoned in favour of Taiwan.
Footnote : March 16, 2022, Reuters:
“The eccentric Tesla Inc CEO on Monday tweeted: “I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat”, with Ukraine as the stakes.
However fatuous that was, it revealed Musk to be a supporter of Ukraine. But not long after that, he became an Alex Jones-type conspiracy theorist and endorsed Trump.
It would be interesting to learn the inside story behind this sudden reversal, which instantly transformed him from a hate figure inside the kremlin regime, to being as beloved there as Trump is.
…………….
Drivel about Ukraine. Even putler-groveller Ingraham is not impressed :
I can’t help it but to picture a snot-nosed teenager whenever Trump opens his big trap. There’s nothing adult by the way he articulates himself, much less educated.
“It would be interesting to learn the inside story behind this sudden reversal”
It doesn’t seem like a big mystery. trumpkov was not that long ago asking for a billion dollar bribe from the oil companies. He was against electric vehicles. Then muskovitz, who owns an electric car company, sucked up to him, and now trumpkov is in favor of electric vehicles.
I believe you have an account with the NYT Larry?
If so, can you post a paywalled article :
“Putin Has Victory in His Grasp” : Aug 13.
I think it may be of interest; albeit not in a good way.
Putin Has Victory in His Grasp
By Anastasia Edel
Ms. Edel is the author of “Russia: Putin’s Playground: Empire, Revolution, and the New Tsar.”
On July 9, as the world stared at the blood-splattered rubble of a children’s hospital in Kyiv, Russia celebrated its rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council with a lunch in New York. On the menu was “Chicken Kiev,” a popular Russian dish of thin pounded cutlet filled with garlic butter. Before tucking in, the lunch’s host and Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, denied Russia’s responsibility for the bombing that killed two people and wounded seven children. If the diplomats choked on their chicken, they did so quietly.
The incident is a perfect summation of the world we live in now. As the West watches on, seemingly impotent, Russia grows ever bolder, like a bully who realizes the teacher isn’t coming. Russians’ fear of NATO, palpable at the start of the invasion, is now tempered by the impunity their leader enjoys no matter the atrocities committed on his watch. Why be afraid? Despite having the resources to end this war on Ukraine’s terms, the West clearly lacks the will to win. For Vladimir Putin, victory is now firmly within reach — irrespective of who is in the White House next year.
In the past two and a half years, Western leaders have reiterated that they “stand with Ukraine.” Yet despite saying the right words, those leaders continue to treat the war as a localized conflict in which they have few obligations. Promised military aid arrives late and in insufficient quantities to match Russia’s resources — and restrictions, like those against targeting military assets in Russia itself, limit the aid’s effectiveness. The recent Ukrainian advance into Russian territory shows what could be possible if the shackles were lifted. But the West is wedded to its too-little-too-late approach, justified by the risk of provoking nuclear escalation from Russia. Ukraine’s application to join NATO is a moot point for the same reason.
Nor has the West managed to cut off the sources of Russia’s economic might, despite rounds of sanctions. The economy is growing healthily, and the assets of Russian oligarchs remain safe in the West, even if frozen. Most important, Russian oil is being bought and sold with minimal difficulty around the world as Western leaders can’t seem to decide what they want more: to meaningfully punish Russia or keep things as they are. Tellingly, the U.S. Treasury’s proposal to impose penalties on tankers that help Russian oil evade sanctions has stalled over the White House’s fear that higher gasoline prices won’t play well at the polls in November.
One person not worried about the American election is Mr. Putin. Unlike the equivocal West, Mr. Putin is playing seriously. He has put his country and his economy on a war footing, dedicating at least a third of the state budget to the military and enticing tens of thousands of Russians to join his war machine with generous salaries and payouts. He has expanded the theater into NATO’s territory, financing pro-Russian parties and politicians, spreading misinformation and directly targeting Western individuals involved in sending weapons to Ukraine. When confronted, Russia simply shrugs off the evidence.
This setup — an adversary with the will and resources to fight to the end and allies that deliver just enough aid to stop the front from collapsing tomorrow — leaves Ukraine in a bleak place. At a certain point Ukrainian resolve, already tested to the limit, will wear thin and a peace deal with Mr. Putin, on whatever terms, will become preferable to dying. This moment may come sooner if Donald Trump wins the American presidential election and ends the war “in 24 hours,” as he has promised, by forcing Ukraine to negotiate on Mr. Putin’s terms. Or it will come later if the Democrats keep the White House and continue their halfway-house strategy.
Mr. Putin is already planning for victory. His latest so-called peace proposal — in which Russia keeps occupied territory and Ukraine is banned from joining NATO — was dismissed as propaganda by many Western leaders. But it is, in fact, the most realistic scenario for how this war will pan out. Voices ranging from Kremlin supporters to Nobel laureates and even the pope are advocating a “peace” that would give Mr. Putin what he wants. Ukraine has rejected the proposal, of course. But Russia, after pounding the country’s infrastructure, people and army, will almost certainly make it again. Eventually, anything that stops the bombs will be viewed as an improvement.
Every war has winners and losers. If Mr. Putin wins this war, Ukraine and its allies, by definition, will have lost it. But defeat won’t be distributed equally. A peace deal on Mr. Putin’s terms will be bad for Ukraine. It will lose nearly 20 percent of its territory and around five million people. But that loss will be mitigated by the remarkable thwarting of Mr. Putin’s original plan to take over Kyiv and destroy Ukraine as a nation. War will stop. There will be dead to mourn, wounded to heal and a country to rebuild. Ukraine’s reputation on the global stage will be higher than ever and membership of the European Union will be in sight.
The West, on the other hand, will be hard-pressed to find any positives. The failure of its leaders to prevent war in Europe, or to successfully punish the aggressor, will signal to others that borders are no longer inviolable. Frozen conflicts will unfreeze and old grievances will resurface, with institutions like the United Nations simply recording the damage. Russia, backed by other openly anti-West states like Iran and North Korea, will be further emboldened. The next conflict may well occur on NATO soil. If nuclear saber-rattling proved enough to hold NATO in check in Ukraine, why wouldn’t it work were Mr. Putin to invade a member of the alliance, such as Estonia? The European continent will no longer be safe.
Ukraine and Europe won’t be the biggest losers of this war, though. In any alliance, the brunt of responsibility is carried by its leader. By first casting its lot with Ukraine and then failing to follow through, America has lost its place as the bulwark of the West that can guarantee protection and peace to its allies. Last year, its hesitant, piecemeal approach for lending weapons undermined Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive. This year, its political dysfunction held up the critical aid and muddled American public opinion on the urgency of helping Ukraine. In a matter crucial to the world’s stability, America flunked the leadership test. Anyone subscribing to the idea of America’s greatness will find this a hard pill to swallow.
Depending on who’s in power in Washington, this reputational disaster will either be downplayed as a regrettable necessity or celebrated as a triumph of isolationism. But even in the world of “America First,” you need seconds and thirds to have your back. Will Europe stand with America in its looming geopolitical standoff with China, now reinforced by the natural resources that Mr. Putin has mortgaged to President Xi? Will the Middle East be as obliging in matters of oil prices?
Time will tell just how severe the security and economic consequences will be, but one thing is already clear. A small war far away from America’s borders has reshaped our world — and made America’s place in it smaller.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/opinion/russia-ukraine-west-war.html
Thank you!
I will post it.