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Irish Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
The Irish Independent's View: As Trump appears to give in to Putin, Europe must prepare for the worst
Today's meeting with the US leader presents similar dangers, but the Ukrainian president, and Europe, cannot be caught on the hop. The pressure may be more subtle and exerted by stealth, but it may feel equally overwhelming. As predicted, US president Donald Trump appears to have bowed completely to Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands. For Kyiv, this would mean handing over huge chunks of eastern lands which Moscow has been unable to capture. Under what was mooted by the Russian president when the two leaders met in Alaska on Friday, it effectively means Ukraine surrendering its sovereign status, and becoming a client state. How this fits in with any framework of democracy, or the integrity of international borders as we understand them, is a question with which Europe must now grapple. Neither Mr Trump nor Putin can decide the fates of independent states. The summit was unsettling for many reasons. For someone who is wanted by the International Criminal Court – to answer for war crimes – to be treated with full honours was troubling, not only for Ukrainians, but for all who decry its invasion. Mr Trump seems to have succumbed to the persuasive skills of his expertly KGB-trained interlocutor in dropping all demands for a ceasefire and an all-out agreement to end the war. Ireland's participation in a phone call with the Coalition of the Willing – involving European leaders planning to police a future peace deal – speaks to the new risks. Mr Trump's impatience with the process, and his intention to accelerate dialogue to move to a full peace deal, sounds well-meant. What alarms Ukraine and Europe is that Moscow will again be let dictate terms, endorsed by Mr Trump, while Mr Zelensky will find himself with his back to the wall. That is why the Coalition of the Willing must stand firm and use all its combined weight to hold Mr Trump to his word to underwrite security guarantees. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will also be meeting Mr Trump today. French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni are also reportedly travelling to Washington for the meeting. The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon But the view expressed by the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to 'drag out negotiations' with no commitment to end the bloodshed, suggests talks are now aimed more at damage limitation, rather than securing agreement, based on what's on the table. 'The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon,' Ms Kallas said. If last February's disgraceful humiliation of Mr Zelensky was a boon to Moscow, the Alaska summit was an unexpectedly extravagant bonus. So Europe no longer has any excuse for not preparing for the worst, even if it maintains a fragile facade of hoping for the best.
Malaysia Sun
3 days ago
- Politics
- Malaysia Sun
Western media in frenzy over Putin-Trump summit Moscow
Red carpet treatment for the Russian president has undermined the Russia is isolated narrative, the foreign ministry has said Western media have erupted in hysteria over US President Donald Trump's cordial welcome for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Zakharova weighed in on the three-hour negotiations in Anchorage that brought Putin to US soil for the first time in more than a decade. The Russian leader was greeted at the airport with a red carpet and a flyover of US fighter jets. He and Trump then rode together in the US president's limousine to the summit venue. While the sides did not announce any deal on Ukraine, Putin described the talks as constructive, with Trump calling the meeting "warm" and suggesting that Moscow and Washington "are pretty close" to settling the Ukraine conflict. Zakharova noted that Western media had plunged into "frenzy bordering on complete madness" over the honors given to the Russian leader. "For three years they spoke of Russia's isolation, and today they saw a red carpet rolled out to meet the Russian president in the US," she said. Western media is attempting to frame the Alaska summit as a diplomatic win for Moscow. The Washington Post wrote that "the warmth of the welcome sent shock through Ukraine and Europe" while pointing to a stark contrast with the reception of Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky at the White House in February, when Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of disrespect, ingratitude over US aid, and of "gambling with World War III." Sky News correspondent Ivor Bennett, a former RT reporter, voiced surprise that Putin was first to speak at the media conference "as if he was the host rather than Donald Trump." Another Sky News reporter had suggested prior to the talks that Putin would "use his KGB-trained powers of deception and seduction" on his US counterpart. Bloomberg reported that "by inviting the Russian president onto American soil and giving him an audience, Trump had already delivered a diplomatic win" for a seemingly isolated leader. The agency also published a separate piece headlined "US-Russia Summit Shows How Little Europe Matters in Trumpworld", referencing the fact that no EU leaders were invited to the summit. Politico ran the headline "Putin's Alaska triumph," while CNN said: "Putin's isolation ended when his plane landed in Anchorage," adding, the Russian president "[is] back in from the cold." (
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump undercuts Zelenskyy — but Americans are not abandoning Ukraine
What America's barely-elected president is trying to do to Ukraine and the world order is a disgrace. Most Americans are horrified. Even as Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Vladmir Putin conspire to force their naked oligarchy on the world, most of us have grandparents who remember how fascism works, and we don't like strongmen. As our hearts break for Ukraine, America, and every democracy now fighting for its life, millions of people have reached out to President Zelenskyy in solemn solidarity. Democracy is under threat around the globe, and, though it took longer than it should have, the educated half of the US is finally paying attention. We know Putin is a KGB-trained thug who disappears his critics, and that Trump admires him for it; we also know that Trump keeps declaring national emergencies to give his criminally unqualified Secretary of Defense on-the-job training. Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host with white supremacy ink all over his body, needs to learn early which military commanders will go along with Trump's second violent coup, and which ones he needs to terminate (or worse). We also know Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around; hundreds of millions of people around the world have seen the videos and won't be gaslit, despite Trump's shameless lies. Please, whatever you think of Americans, do not think we are all as stupid as Trump assumes we are. As Trump tries to demean Ukraine with Putin's false claim that President Zelenskky's approval rating is at 4%, keep in mind that Trump barely won. He won 49% of the vote compared to Harris' 48%, a difference of 1%. America's biggest challenge isn't MAGA, but the plurality of 90 million qualified voters who didn't bother to vote at all in November's election despite the stakes. American apathy has many root causes, that's another thing on our to do list, but love of an unhinged strongman isn't one of them. We also have a media problem, thanks largely to Trump/Musk/Putin's relentless efforts to flood the zone with disinformation. The right wing controlled media (Fox, OAN, Newsmax, X, and nearly 2000 right-wing radio stations) runs pure Trump propaganda. That's because, under our current legal system, corporate-owned media is not required to tell the truth. It's not like in the UK where the law requires fairness and impartiality in reporting the news; Fox and X are more like Putin's State TV, where corporate owners dummy down their viewers and prop up politicians for their own corporate interests. Restoring truth in the news is another thing on our to do list. Like white on rice, Trump is all over President Zelenskyy. It's not a new obsession. Perhaps, like France's Macron, he locked eyes with Melania and kissed her, I wonder? Trump really is that small, but in his defense, any playground bully would be aggrieved. Too many people love Zelenskyy and admire the Ukrainian people's struggle. Zelenskyy's youth and good looks surely don't help in Trump's grievance department. Zelenskyy's 2019 refusal to manufacture 'evidence' to hurt Joe Biden no doubt still chafes. Trump got caught trying to blackmail him with funds Congress had already approved, and he's still blaming the victim, as any abuser would. His efforts this week to demand half of Ukraine's rare earth minerals, like they owe something to the mob boss because presidents before him had principles, was next-level embarrassing. All I can say is I'm sorry. Not only is he mentally unwell, he is laughably but dangerously petty. He nurses old grudges like a dementia patient and lives to hurt anyone who shows him up, and right now, tag, Ukraine is it. The problem in America is that extremely wealthy men have orchestrated a coup to further enrich themselves and their greedy families. Back when America really was a great superpower on the rise, the wealthiest industrialists paid their fair share of taxes. The Rockefellers and Vanderbilts built the nation and shared their wealth, and the nation benefitted for decades. At the apex of our rise, wealthy Americans paid effective income tax rates as high as 94%. But Republicans changed all that starting in the 1980s and insisted that deep tax cuts for the rich would trickle down. They never did. Today, men like Elon Musk pay an effective tax rate of 3%, and his companies, like Tesla, pay almost nothing in taxes. That is why they spend so much to get Trump and other Republicans elected: to keep their unjust tax cuts and write their own regulations. Republicans' tax cuts to the rich morphed into selling election outcomes. In 2010, Citizens United held that the uber rich could select our national leaders by donating undisclosed millions to candidates who would do their bidding. After Musk paid $48 billion to ruin Twitter and another $300 million to get Trump elected, Republican Congressmen today are frightened, afraid to do their jobs. Musk has credibly threatened to primary any Congressman who criticizes Trump's power grab, and when the world's richest man aims his money at your head with the trigger cocked, you freeze. When he ran for re-election, Trump promised $1 billion fossil fuel donors that they could ruin the environment without regulations, and here we are. We have entered the final stage of Citizens United's oligarchic takeover, with its infectious spawns Musk, Vance and Trump at the helm. As the world's wealthiest men team up to impose maximum harm on the world by embracing Nazism and partnering with Putin, one of the world's most lethal dictators, please take heart. It's obvious violence is coming to the US, but America will sort itself out. We always do the right thing, as Churchill reportedly said, after other possibilities have been exhausted. I close here in shared weariness in knowing there really are evil men in the world who will do anything for power and wealth. Also, in sympathy and apology, heartbroken for both our countries, but not defeated. I just want Ukrainians fighting for their freedom and their lives, and democratic forces around the world to know: Most Americans see Trump. And we see you.
Chicago Tribune
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Haake: Americans support Ukraine even if Trump does not
Dear President Zelenskyy: What America's barely-elected president is trying to do to Ukraine and the world order is a disgrace, and I want you to know that most Americans are horrified. Even as Trump/Musk/Putin conspire to force their naked oligarchy on the world, most of us have grandparents who remember how fascism works, and we don't like strongmen. As our hearts break for you, America, and every democracy now fighting for its life, millions of people have reached out to you in solemn solidarity. Democracy is under threat around the globe, and, though it took longer than it should have, the educated half of the U.S. is finally paying attention. We know Vladimir Putin is a KGB-trained thug who disappears his critics, and that Donald Trump admires him for it; we also know that Trump keeps declaring national emergencies to give his criminally unqualified Secretary of Defense on-the-job training. Secretary Pete Hegseth, a Fox News airhead with white supremacy ink all over his body, needs to learn early which military commanders will go along with Trump's second violent coup, and which ones he needs to terminate (or worse). We also know Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around; hundreds of millions of people around the world have seen the videos and won't be gaslit, despite Trump's shameless lies. Please, whatever you think of Americans, do not think we are all as stupid as Trump assumes we are. Trump has no mandate Also, as Trump tries to demean you with Putin's false claim that your approval rating is at 4%, keep in mind that Trump barely won. He won 49% of the vote compared to Kamala Harris' 48%, a difference of 1%. America's biggest challenge isn't MAGA, but the plurality of 90 million qualified voters who didn't bother to vote at all in November's election despite the stakes. American apathy has many root causes — that's another thing on our to-do list — but love of an unhinged strongman isn't one of them. We also have a media problem, thanks largely to Trump/Musk/Putin's relentless efforts to flood the zone with disinformation. The right-wing controlled media (Fox, OANN, Newsmax, X, and nearly 2,000 right-wing radio stations) runs pure Trump propaganda. That's because, under our current legal system, corporate-owned media is not required to tell the truth. It's not like in the United Kingdom where the law requires fairness and impartiality in reporting the news; Fox and X are more like Putin's State TV, where corporate owners dummy down their viewers and prop up politicians for their own corporate interests. Restoring truth in the news is another thing on our to-do list. Trump's pettiness and lust for vengeance are un-American Like white on rice, Trump is all over you, President Zelenskyy. It's not a new obsession. But too many people love you, and admire your people's struggle. Your youth and good looks surely don't help in Trump's grievance department, and, no doubt, your 2019 refusal to manufacture 'evidence' to hurt Joe Biden still chafes. Trump got caught trying to blackmail you with funds Congress had already approved, and he's still blaming the victim, as any abuser would. His efforts this week to demand half of Ukraine's rare earth minerals — like you owe something to the mob boss because presidents before him had principles — was next-level embarrassing. All I can say is I'm sorry. Not only is he mentally unwell, he is laughably, dangerously petty. He nurses old grudges like a dementia patient and lives to hurt anyone who shows him up, and right now, tag, you're it. Educated America knows we are in a coup The problem in America, as you've surmised by now, is that extremely wealthy men have orchestrated a coup to further enrich themselves and their greedy families. Back when America really was a great superpower on the rise, the wealthiest industrialists paid their fair share of taxes. The Rockefellers and Vanderbilts built the nation and shared their wealth, and the nation benefitted for decades. At the apex of our rise, wealthy Americans paid effective income tax rates as high as 94%. But Republicans changed all that starting in the 1980s and insisted that deep tax cuts for the rich would trickle down. They never did. Today, men like Elon Musk pay an effective tax rate of 3%, and his companies, like Tesla, pay almost nothing in taxes. That is why they spend so much to get Trump and other Republicans elected: to keep their unjust tax cuts and write their own regulations. Musk is end-stage Citizens United Republicans' tax cuts to the rich morphed into selling election outcomes. In 2010, Citizens United held that the uber-rich could select our national leaders by donating undisclosed millions to candidates who would do their bidding. After Musk paid $48 billion to ruin Twitter and another $300 million to get Trump elected, Republican Congressmen today are frightened and afraid to do their jobs. Musk has credibly threatened to primary any Congressman who criticizes Trump's power grab, and when the world's richest man aims his money at your head with the trigger cocked, you freeze. When he ran for re-election, Trump promised fossil fuel donors that they could ruin the environment without regulations, and here we are. We have entered the final stage of Citizens United's oligarchic takeover, with its infectious spawns Musk, JD Vance and Trump at the helm. As the world's wealthiest men team up to impose maximum harm on the world by embracing Nazism and partnering with Putin, one of the world's most lethal dictators, please take heart. It's obvious violence is coming to the U.S., but America will sort itself out. We always do the right thing, as Winston Churchill reportedly said, after other possibilities have been exhausted. I close here in shared weariness in knowing there really are evil men in the world who will do anything for power and wealth. Also, in sympathy and apology, heartbroken for both our countries, but not defeated. You may never see this, President Zelenskyy, but it will be published with national reach. I just want you, the Ukrainians fighting for their freedom and their lives, and democratic forces around the world to know: Most Americans see Trump. And we see you.
