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Iraqi News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Trump flirts with Ukraine security, with narrow margins
Washington – Donald Trump's newfound if vague willingness to entertain security guarantees for Ukraine could be a game-changer, but the US president's right-wing base is already warning him not to go too far. After a campaign last year spent bashing predecessor Joe Biden over billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, and Trump's public upbraiding of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February, Trump has considered promises to Kyiv to end the Russian invasion. He has ruled out ground troops as well as NATO membership, siding with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in blaming Ukraine's aspirations for the Western alliance for the February 2022 invasion. But after Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska on Friday, Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said the Russian president had agreed to a 'concession' of the United States offering 'Article Five-like protection' for Ukraine, referring to NATO's binding promise that an attack on one is an attack on all. Some observers doubted Witkoff's understanding of Putin, noting that Moscow publicly has insisted on guarantees for Russia. But Trump has said 'we'll give them very good protection' and has spoken of providing US airpower to enforce any agreement. Little is known about what US airpower would entail, but it could support a deployment of European troops to Ukraine mulled by France and Britain. If the United States agreed to enforce control of the Ukrainian skies, it would be an 'incredible green light for greater ambition' by Europeans on security, said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. European leaders showed striking unity and solidarity by coming together to Washington on Monday to back Zelensky in talks with Trump, she said. 'For there to be a meaningful difference on the ground in Ukraine, it can't just be diplomatic alignment. It can't just be the heads of state being in lockstep for a few days at a time,' she said. 'Instead, they have to be ready to actually move and to show to Trump, 'We have everything ready; we just need x from you to make this work.'' – Vagueness on options – Trump, however, could also authorize a much smaller air deployment, such as one focused on reconnaissance that would see limited numbers of US planes in the Ukrainian skies. 'President Trump said some things in his meetings with the European leaders and Zelensky and I am betting a huge sum of money that there are people around Trump who are going to spend a lot of time walking that back,' said Debra Cagan, a former senior US policymaker now at the Atlantic Council. 'What I mean by that is that they're going to try a very de minimis approach to security guarantees, to do as little as possible to carry that out,' she said. She said that any successful strategy needed to have components on land and air as well as sea, including keeping the crucial Black Sea ports open for Ukraine. – Pushback from base – Trump retains a strong hold on the Republican Party, but has already seen some dissent within his hard-right base, which backed him in part for his dismissive attitude to foreign involvement. Outspoken Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who earlier criticized Trump for bombing Iran, said she believed voters would be 'appalled' by more support for Ukraine as they struggle with day-to-day concerns. 'America is broke,' she told conservative host Megyn Kelly. 'At some point we have to start saying no to the rest of the world.' Trump-aligned Senator Tommy Tuberville said it would be an 'impossible sell' to voters still shaken by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to start another long-term US military commitment, according to The Hill newspaper. Trump, however, has tried hard to portray the war as belonging to Biden and has spoken openly of his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize. 'He could probably sell to his base that this is about America keeping peace and not about America making war,' Berzina said.
New Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Trump dangles Ukraine security guarantees, risks backlash from own base
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's newfound if vague willingness to entertain security guarantees for Ukraine could be a game-changer, but the US president's right-wing base is already warning him not to go too far. After a campaign last year spent bashing predecessor Joe Biden over billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, and Trump's public upbraiding of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February, Trump has considered promises to Kyiv to end the Russian invasion. He has ruled out ground troops as well as Nato membership, siding with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in blaming Ukraine's aspirations for the Western alliance for the February 2022 invasion. But after Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska on Friday, Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said the Russian president had agreed to a "concession" of the United States offering "Article Five-like protection" for Ukraine, referring to Nato's binding promise that an attack on one is an attack on all. Some observers doubted Witkoff's understanding of Putin, noting that Moscow publicly has insisted on guarantees for Russia. But Trump has said "we'll give them very good protection" and has spoken of providing US airpower to enforce any agreement. Little is known about what US airpower would entail, but it could support a deployment of European troops to Ukraine mulled by France and Britain. If the United States agreed to enforce control of the Ukrainian skies, it would be an "incredible green light for greater ambition" by Europeans on security, said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. European leaders showed striking unity and solidarity by coming together to Washington on Monday to back Zelenskyy in talks with Trump, she said. "For there to be a meaningful difference on the ground in Ukraine, it can't just be diplomatic alignment. It can't just be the heads of state being in lockstep for a few days at a time," she said. "Instead, they have to be ready to actually move and to show to Trump, 'We have everything ready; we just need x from you to make this work.'" Trump, however, could also authorise a much smaller air deployment, such as one focused on reconnaissance that would see limited numbers of US planes in the Ukrainian skies. "President Trump said some things in his meetings with the European leaders and Zelenskyy and I am betting a huge sum of money that there are people around Trump who are going to spend a lot of time walking that back," said Debra Cagan, a former senior US policymaker now at the Atlantic Council. "What I mean by that is that they're going to try a very de minimis approach to security guarantees, to do as little as possible to carry that out," she said. She said that any successful strategy needed to have components on land and air as well as sea, including keeping the crucial Black Sea ports open for Ukraine. Trump retains a strong hold on the Republican Party, but has already seen some dissent within his hard-right base, which backed him in part for his dismissive attitude to foreign involvement. Outspoken Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who earlier criticised Trump for bombing Iran, said she believed voters would be "appalled" by more support for Ukraine as they struggle with day-to-day concerns. "America is broke," she told conservative host Megyn Kelly. "At some point we have to start saying no to the rest of the world." Trump-aligned Senator Tommy Tuberville said it would be an "impossible sell" to voters still shaken by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to start another long-term US military commitment, according to The Hill newspaper. Trump, however, has tried hard to portray the war as belonging to Biden and has spoken openly of his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Int'l Business Times
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Flirts With Ukraine Security, With Narrow Margins
Donald Trump's newfound if vague willingness to entertain security guarantees for Ukraine could be a game-changer, but the US president's right-wing base is already warning him not to go too far. After a campaign last year spent bashing predecessor Joe Biden over billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, and Trump's public upbraiding of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February, Trump has considered promises to Kyiv to end the Russian invasion. He has ruled out ground troops as well as NATO membership, siding with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in blaming Ukraine's aspirations for the Western alliance for the February 2022 invasion. But after Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska on Friday, Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said the Russian president had agreed to a "concession" of the United States offering "Article Five-like protection" for Ukraine, referring to NATO's binding promise that an attack on one is an attack on all. Some observers doubted Witkoff's understanding of Putin, noting that Moscow publicly has insisted on guarantees for Russia. But Trump has said "we'll give them very good protection" and has spoken of providing US airpower to enforce any agreement. Little is known about what US airpower would entail, but it could support a deployment of European troops to Ukraine mulled by France and Britain. If the United States agreed to enforce control of the Ukrainian skies, it would be an "incredible green light for greater ambition" by Europeans on security, said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. European leaders showed striking unity and solidarity by coming together to Washington on Monday to back Zelensky in talks with Trump, she said. "For there to be a meaningful difference on the ground in Ukraine, it can't just be diplomatic alignment. It can't just be the heads of state being in lockstep for a few days at a time," she said. "Instead, they have to be ready to actually move and to show to Trump, 'We have everything ready; we just need x from you to make this work.'" Trump, however, could also authorize a much smaller air deployment, such as one focused on reconnaissance that would see limited numbers of US planes in the Ukrainian skies. "President Trump said some things in his meetings with the European leaders and Zelensky and I am betting a huge sum of money that there are people around Trump who are going to spend a lot of time walking that back," said Debra Cagan, a former senior US policymaker now at the Atlantic Council. "What I mean by that is that they're going to try a very de minimis approach to security guarantees, to do as little as possible to carry that out," she said. She said that any successful strategy needed to have components on land and air as well as sea, including keeping the crucial Black Sea ports open for Ukraine. Trump retains a strong hold on the Republican Party, but has already seen some dissent within his hard-right base, which backed him in part for his dismissive attitude to foreign involvement. Outspoken Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who earlier criticized Trump for bombing Iran, said she believed voters would be "appalled" by more support for Ukraine as they struggle with day-to-day concerns. "America is broke," she told conservative host Megyn Kelly. "At some point we have to start saying no to the rest of the world." Trump-aligned Senator Tommy Tuberville said it would be an "impossible sell" to voters still shaken by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to start another long-term US military commitment, according to The Hill newspaper. Trump, however, has tried hard to portray the war as belonging to Biden and has spoken openly of his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize. "He could probably sell to his base that this is about America keeping peace and not about America making war," Berzina said.
Axios
2 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
MAGA isolationists brace for details of Ukraine security guarantees
MAGA is anxious for clarity on U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, torn between trusting President Trump's peace efforts and the movement's deep-rooted aversion to foreign interventionism. Why it matters: As an essential precondition for ending the war, Ukraine wants written, binding assurances that its allies — namely Europe, but preferably the U.S. — will defend it from future Russian attacks. The details of those security guarantees will be negotiated in the coming weeks, but could potentially involve European peacekeepers in Ukraine backed by U.S. air power. As leader of the "America First" movement, Trump must navigate a delicate balance: offering enough security to satisfy Kyiv without making military commitments that could fracture his base. What they're saying: "These are tripwires. This is where things go from regional conflicts to world wars," MAGA godfather Steve Bannon said on his "War Room" podcast, blasting U.S. security guarantees as a recipe for decades-long involvement in Ukraine. Driving the news: In his recent burst of diplomacy — beginning with Friday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — Trump has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine will not join NATO and that no U.S. troops will be on the ground in Ukraine. "You have my assurance, you know, I'm president," Trump told Fox News Tuesday morning when pressed on how he could ensure that U.S. troops wouldn't be patrolling the Ukraine-Russia border after he leaves office. Yes, but: White House envoy Steve Witkoff suggested Sunday that the U.S. guarantee could resemble "Article Five-like protection" — the core NATO principle that an attack on one ally is treated as an attack on all. That would open the door to direct U.S. intervention if Russia were to attack the peacekeeping mission of a NATO ally in Ukraine. Trump also told Fox that the U.S. "will help by air" — presumably meaning American pilots would be involved in the mission, and thus vulnerable to a potential Russian attack. How it's playing: Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow told Axios that there's "no reason to be a Panican at this point" — Trump's jab at Republicans who panic in response to media alarmism. But he warned that U.S. involvement could escalate quickly, and that questions remain about the potential for the U.S. to get sucked into a shooting war with Russia. "We know full well what happens if those [European] troops get attacked: all those nations will expect American forces to get involved. That's when things get complicated," Marlow said. Libby Emmons, the editor-in-chief of The Post Millennial and Human Events, said "there aren't enough answers yet as to what those guarantees will look like or what it means for U.S. involvement." But so far, she told Axios, the sentiment among MAGA is one of "cautious optimism." "The base is always willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, but it makes people anxious," added conservative commentator Ryan Girdusky. Zoom out: Trump still retains a deep well of goodwill from his base as he pushes to end to the yearslong war in Ukraine. While one MAGAworld operative acknowledged the "uncertainty" in negotiatoins, the movement finds it "reassuring" to hear confirmation from Trump that Ukraine won't join NATO. Past fissures between Trump and his base have almost always healed — either through policy pivots or the simple passage of time binding together two parties reluctant to part ways.
Mint
2 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Zelensky survives another episode of the Trump show
'I CAN'T BELIEVE it," said Donald Trump, America's president, as he greeted Volodymyr Zelensky, his Ukrainian counterpart, outside the White House on August 18th. 'I love it." Mr Trump was referring to Mr Zelensky's decision to bow to American pressure and wear a suit-like garment to the meeting, an issue that had contributed to an acrimonious blow-up in the Oval Office in February. It was a promising start to a pivotal summit, with a clutch of European leaders waiting in the wings to join the talks. The meeting in Washington was the result of another summit, between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, in Alaska last week. That meeting yielded what Mr Putin vaguely called 'understandings", with America giving up its demand for an upfront ceasefire in favour of a broader peace deal that would reportedly require Ukraine to hand over unoccupied territory in exchange for Russian promises to stop the war. An on-camera discussion between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office shed little light on the details of the deal on the table. But the mood between the two men was surprisingly positive. Mr Zelensky handed Mr Trump a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, to Melania Trump, the first lady, who last week had written to Mr Putin about the plight of children caught up in the war. Mr Zelensky traded jokes with the American journalist who had provoked the row over his outfit in February and teased Mr Trump that he, too, might like to suspend national elections. It was a far cry from the last meeting between the two men, which had ended with Mr Zelensky being booted out of the White House. The conversation was 'very good", said Mr Zelensky, this time, as Mr Trump nodded in assent. On substantive matters, both men deflected the hard questions, at least in public. Mr Trump said that he had indirectly spoken to Mr Putin prior to the meeting and that he would call the Russian president afterwards to arrange a trilateral meeting—one that Mr Zelensky said he would welcome. Mr Trump explained why he had changed his mind on the question of a ceasefire, which he said was no longer needed: it could 'disadvantage" one side, he suggested. 'We're not talking about a two-year peace, and then we end up in this mess again. We're going to make sure that everything's good." In his later meeting with European leaders, Mr Trump acknowledged that leaders would 'need to discuss…possible exchanges of territory." But that seemed to stop well short of dictating such swaps, as has been feared. Perhaps the most important signal from the meeting was Mr Trump's apparent openness to security guarantees for Ukraine. Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's envoy, who was also present in the Oval Office meeting, had suggested a day earlier that America was open to 'Article Five-like" guarantees and that Russia had accepted this idea. It is not clear what that would mean in practice. Mr Trump said Ukraine would have a 'lot of help" as part of any deal. European forces would be the 'first line of defence", he said, perhaps alluding to British-French-led plans for a military deployment in Ukraine, but 'we're going to help them out, we'll be involved." Mr Zelensky, having learnt from the acrimony earlier in the year, was fulsome in his praise of Mr Trump, avoiding any hint of disagreement. But in practice, he faces a difficult task. The notion of Ukraine voluntarily giving up the heavily fortified western sections of the Donbas, a region in the south-east of Ukraine, is anathema to a vast majority of Ukrainians. As well as worsening Ukraine's military position, it could also destabilise the country politically. Mr Zelensky said that he had shown Mr Trump 'a lot of details on the battlefield" on a map in the Oval Office. In contrast, Ukrainian officials are more open to the idea of a freeze. 'The baseline is stopping at the line of conflict," says a senior Ukrainian official. There is confidence that a short term deal is within reach, but many doubts over how long it will last. 'We will be in conflict with each other for a while, that's for sure," says the official. 'Hundreds of years of shared history tell us that." After Mr Trump's meeting with Mr Zelensky concluded, the two men walked out with no evidence of any disagreement in the Oval Office once the cameras had left. They were then joined by Mark Rutte, Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni, Friedrich Merz, Sir Keir Starmer, Alexander Stubb and Ursula von der Leyen, the leaders of NATO, France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Finland and the European Commission respectively—a significant show of diplomatic muscle designed to buttress Mr Zelensky's position and shape Mr Trump's thinking. Mr Trump lavished praise on each ally in turn. Negotiations over the exact nature of a security guarantee to Ukraine are expected to last for hours. But the prospect of an extraordinary meeting involving Mr Trump, Mr Putin and the man the Russian has sought to overthrow and kill, Mr Zelensky, could be drawing closer.
