President Volodmyr Zelenskyy: The Trump Peace Plan

"President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine has to confront the possibility of losing its dignity or risking the loss of a key partner as it figures out how to respond to a U.S. peace proposal to end Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Produced by Elaine Carroll)." 

Source:Associated Press with a look at President Volodmyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

From the Associated Press

From the Center on American Progress: 

"The Trump administration’s 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine that leaked this week does not create a path out of the war; it merely repackages the Kremlin’s long-standing demands and presents them as diplomatic breakthrough. The Russian proposal speaks for itself: It demands that Ukraine surrender territory, accept limits on its armed forces, and curb Western military assistance. It punishes the victim and shields the aggressor from any cost—a dynamic that leads to more instability, not peace.

European officials understood the danger immediately. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen captured the central flaw when she warned that the plan “completely ignores the principles of the UN charter.” Her point reflects an underlying truth: Peace at any cost is no peace at all; it formalizes the outcome that Russian President Vladimir Putin spent years trying to impose on Ukraine by force, signaling that borders can be changed at will and that diplomatic settlements will invariably reward territorial seizure when the victim lacks the capacity to resist.

The proposal also removes Ukraine’s ability to deter a future invasion. A diminished Ukrainian military cannot defend the country, and restrictions on Western weapons give Russia the time and space to rebuild its forces. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called the plan a “creeping capitulation” because it locks in Russia’s territorial gains, cedes additional unoccupied territory in the Donbas, prohibits NATO membership by legal statute, and strips Ukraine of the long-range strike capabilities it needs to blunt another offensive. Such a deal guarantees only one outcome: a future attack by Moscow where it can truly finish the job.

Such a deal guarantees only one outcome: a future attack by Moscow where it can truly finish the job... 

From the Center On American Progress

I'm going to tell you the 3 key elements of the "Trump peace plan" and explain why this is completely unacceptable not just for Ukraine, but Europe as well and then I'll do a little speculating about why President Trump is proposing this. A little spoiler alert about the latter: it's not what you might think it is. This is not about Donald Trump doing Vladimir Putin's dirty work, or taking his side. It's something else. 

So under this "peace plan": 

Ukraine has to give up the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, which make up the region of Donbas. 

They will also have to reduce the size of their current military, which along with western aide are the only things that are keeping Ukraine from becoming part of Russia right now, along with their President, Volodmyr Zelenskyy. And they will also get less military aide from America in the future. 

And Ukraine still would not be allowed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (That some people know as NATO) 

So why do I call this the so-called Trump peace plan and put "Trump peace plan" in quotes? 

So imagine someone kidnapping your child or your spouse and the kidnappers tell you that if you give them a million dollars, for each, you can have both your wife and child back. And the cops and FBI tell you that you only way you are going to get your wife and child back, is if you pay off the kidnappers and they don't arrest them and just let them go. If you were to take that deal, you are just inviting future kidnappings against your family, because the future kidnappers will think they can just kidnap this man's wife and kid, they'll get paid off for that, and be able to walk away for free. 

What Vladimir Putin's Russia did to Ukraine back in 2022, was essentially a foreign kidnapping, as much as it was an illegal invasion. But they didn't kidnap just 1 man's wife and kid. They kidnapped thousands, if not 10s of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands (maybe more than that) of Ukrainians and took them to Russia to be kept as their prisoners. Along with all the Ukrainian territory that they stole. 

So for Ukraine to just give up Donbas and reduce its military, and get less foreign aide in the future, to not be able to join NATO... sure, Russia will temporarily pull out of Ukraine, except for Donbas. But now they've just been rewarded (by the United States, of all country's) for their illegal invasion and kidnappings. And now they'll be able to do this again to Ukraine in the future and perhaps other vulnerable Slavic countries in the future. 

So why is Donald Trump doing this? 

Do I think Donald Trump like Vladimir Putin? Perhaps. But I think its President Putin's power and be able to control an entire country, especially a country as large as Russia, that is what President Trump respects the most about Putin and is probably jealous of that. And along with the past and I'm sure the current business and financial interest that The Donald has in the Russian Federation, that makes it harder for him to take a strong stance against the Putin government. Because it's not America that The Donald cares about, but it's The Donald. 

But I think what's really going on here, is Putin is making Trump look really bad and really weak. Mr. Trump when he was running for President in 24, promised that he would end the War in Ukraine on day 1 of becoming President. He's now been President for about 10 months. And guess what? Ukraine is still fighting to keep Russia from completely taking over its country. 

And along with the President' weak political situation at home, the struggling economy, low 40s approval rating, the Republican Party in position to get politically wiped out next year... the President sees this as an opportunity to look like he's trying to make peace and be a peacekeeper and long like a great man. 

Blog alert: The New Democrat is off next week for Thanksgiving. But TND will be back the following Monday after Thanksgiving. And I'll be back in about 3 weeks.

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