Coming Attraction
Another Dumpster Fire
Mr. Big has promised to end the conflict over Russia’s invasion into Ukraine on or about Day One. If the past is prologue, this is a Dangerous Moment to Remember. Pass the popcorn.
It is hard to look away from a train wreck. Action films are addictive. Well, good news. Trump is so supremely confident of his grifting gift that he intends to treat We the People to a mandatory viewing of the sequel to his last criminal interaction with Zelenskyy—this time under protections provided to him by the Supreme Court in its ruling on Trump v. United States (2024). He retakes his seat at the negotiating table blessed with absolute criminal immunity for official acts under core constitutional powers, presumptive immunity for other official acts, and no immunity for unofficial acts.
What could possibly go wrong?
Glad you asked. Ready to guess.
Roll Reel One
Kate Nicholson reported in HuffPost on 11/27/24 that Mike Waltz (nominated to the position of national security advisor in the second Trump administration) said Mr. Big was “very concerned” that the Ukraine conflict could escalate and wanted the war to be brought to a “responsible end.”
“What we need to be discussing is who’s at that table, whether it’s an agreement, an armistice, how to get both sides to the table, and then what’s the framework of a deal.”
The Cast (Who’s at the Table)
For Russia— Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
He said in June that he wants Kyiv to drop its plans to join NATO and formally cede the land Russia currently occupies in Ukraine.
For Ukraine—Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Will only accept peace if its borders from 1991 are restored.
For the United States of America—Mr. Big
A guy who doesn’t like NATO and has publicly told Putin to “do whatever the hell he wants.”
Opening Scene
“The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War. These first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents and cyberwarfare.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War. It was in the interest of the United States and other NATO members to provide military aid to Ukraine to resist further land grabs by Russia.
The Last Deal
Was so clumsily executed that it exposed Trump to calls for his removal from office for cause (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_impeachment_of_Donald_Trump#. It was a scandal in those more conventional times. For those needing recall, here’s how our Transactional Genius in Chief conducted his last Ukrainian “deal” in 2019.
“Trump blocked payment of a congressionally-mandated $400 million military aid package, in an attempt to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Contacts were established between the White House and government of Ukraine, culminating in a call between Trump and Zelenskyy on July 25, 2019.
Trump released the aid after becoming aware of a whistleblower complaint, before the complaint was known by Congress or the public.[7] The scandal reached public attention in mid-September 2019 due to a whistleblower complaint made in August.[8] The complaint raised concerns about Trump using powers to solicit foreign electoral intervention in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.[9] The White House corroborated allegations raised by the whistleblower. A transcript of the Trump–Zelenskyy call confirmed Trump requested investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a conspiracy theory involving a Democratic National Committee server, while urging Zelenskyy to work with Giuliani and Barr (emphasis added) on this…
Records of the Trump–Zelenskyy call were moved from the system where presidential call transcripts are typically stored to a system reserved for the government's most sensitive secrets. The Trump administration had also similarly restricted access to records of Trump's conversations with the leaders of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. It was subsequently revealed that this placement was made for political rather than for national security reasons.” (emphasis added)
https://www.wikipedia.org/
This Deal
“On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War.
Mr. Big says he can resolve this conflict “easily”—one supposes by using his fabled negotiating skills.
Roll Reel Two (Is It an Armistice, An Agreement—What’s the Framework for the Deal?)
Mike Waltz is misleading you. The folks at the table are not negotiating an armistice or an agreement. That approach treats Ukraine as an equal voice and power. Appeasement at any cost is the “framework” for this “deal.” It’s no longer NATO nations and Ukraine against Putin’s ambitions. It’s Mr. Big and Putin against Zelenskyy.
For reasons that confound discovery or explanation, Mr. Big admires Mr. Putin. He trusts what Putin says more than information contained in daily reports from crack intelligence services of allied democracies around the globe, his own included. This open and willful desire to appease Putin worries some with memories stretching back to Neville Chamberlain.
“…a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party from May 1937 to October 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasement, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler. “ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville Chamberlain
Chamberlain famously defended his actions as necessary to secure “peace in our time.” A little less than one year after the signing of the Munich Agreement, Hitler invaded Poland on 01 Sept 39. Chamberlain declared war on Germany two days later.
It is worth noting that the Soviet Union took advantage of the land grab. Germany annexed the western portion; the Soviet Union annexed the eastern portion. And, here is where the story gets a little eerie.
“On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as a pretext to initiate the invasion….(sound familiar?) On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
It is estimated that World War Two cost the lives of about 60 million people, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians. Among the “civilians” were 6 million Jews and 1.5 million (out of 2.0 million) European gypsies. The Romani refer to the ethic cleansing of their lifestyle as “the great devouring.”
Reel Three
Is still in production.
Chamberlain alone cannot be held responsible for Hitler’s march and madness. Neville, however, was the Voice that appeased Hitler at a critical diplomatic moment. Mr. Big is not the only deterrent to Putin’s ambitions. His posturing as The Peace Keeper in Chief is an affront to serious diplomatic efforts and poises a real danger to NATO nations.
Just because the guy can escape conviction for his criminal Art of the Deal business tactics in the United States does not excuse the consequences of his blustering and bullying on the international stage.
My dearest country, what he does and what it allows—it ‘tis of thee.
My popcorn needs more butter. Yours?