Marble Falls Four years of war in Ukraine over the Russian offensive is without a doubt four years too many. Peace is essential, but at what price? There are now headlines about various negotiating initiatives seeking to achieve peace, although with very limited transparency over the details, and many that have emerged look like appeasement by Trump administration to the Russian invasion.
It’s not easy to understand where we stand. Ukraine’s Zelensky says they are willing to engage the Trump plan constructively and operationally. No one quite knows exactly what the Trump plan is. Trump has Secretary of State Rubio and his personal representatives engaged and now has a military table moving as well to see what might happen on that front. Russia for its part says it hasn’t moved from its last position expressed to Trump when they had their red-carpet meeting in Alaska in August. European representatives have said flatly that there is no possibility of peace coming from bilateral US and Russia talks that do not include European countries and Ukraine. There are so many sides pulling at the pieces that it looks like this is a long shot, unless something becomes clearer. What has emerged doesn’t look good, and in fact looks like the US is giving away the store, or in starker terms appeasing Russia by caving in on its territorial demands in Ukraine, which is what the whole war has been about.
There are supposedly 28 points in the plan. Reports thus far indicate that many of the items involve Ukraine shedding territory and the US offering incentives to Russia and in many cases parroting Russian demands. There would be no peacekeeping force. Ukraine would be blocked from joining NATO. The Times reports the following:
A glimpse of what the plan might entail came in a post on social media by an opposition member of Ukraine’s Parliament…who listed 28 points ranging over sweeping issues, including European security, a redrawn map of Ukraine, and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO. He did not indicate how he had obtained the information. Some points touched on issues beyond U.S. or Ukrainian control, such as divvying up Russian assets frozen in European financial institutions. The plan …suggests that a portion of the funds go to rebuilding Ukraine and another portion to unspecified American and Russian joint ventures. To enforce the agreement, the plan described …proposes forming a committee chaired by President Trump, echoing a provision in a settlement for the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza that the Trump administration brokered earlier this year.
Zelensky, while claiming to support negotiations, did not indicate support for any specific items.
Reading between the lines, it looks a lot like the Trump administration is getting peace confused with business once again, or whatever might fall under “unspecified American and Russian joint ventures.” What does that really mean? Maybe if Ukraine had offered Trump and his gang the opportunity to build hotels and malls in the rebuild in the territory that Russia has seized, he would have been willing to hold out longer and play a more active role, as he imagines in Gaza now with the peace plan there.
The White House press secretary sheds little light on any of this other than that Trump’s attention span has shifted, and he’s tired and frustrated with both Russia and Ukraine. This is not the time for ADHD by the president. Throwing in the towel to Russia, either directly, as this so-called peace plan seems to envision. or withdrawing support to Ukraine to allow Russia to take whatever it wants, is nothing but appeasement or worse, since it emasculates the US and leaves Europe at the whim of whatever else Russia might want next.