Has President Trump Sold Out Ukraine?

President Donald Trump has announced a deal with Russia where they will provide two million barrels of diesal fuel. President Trump has lifted US sanctions on Russia so they can sell their diesel fuel to America and the global market. World wide usage of diesel is twenty nine million barrels per day. This deal would not affect global prices but it would provide Russia with billions of dollars, which critics say they will undoubtedly use to finance their war in Ukraine.

The United States currently produces more diesel than it currently uses which makes the purchase of Russian diesel unnecessary. In addition, the US could have bought additional diesel fuel from Canada as they do on a regular basis.

It could be that Mr. Trump is attempting to show states such as Nebraska and Iowa, that he is trying to help lower prices.

The backdrop to this is that President Trump had allegedly told President Zelenskyy not to attack Russian energy infrastructures. Zelenskyy, apparently ignored the dictate of the president and attacked the infrastructure. Mr. Trump has not criticized Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructures.

According to news reports, the president’s emissaries, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were meeting with the Ukrainian delegation, at Mar-a- Lago in Palm Beach, roughly an hour before the deal was announced to the Ukrainian delegation as well as on Trump’s social media. President Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian negotiators “had been used as a smokescreen for the deal.”

When questioned by reporters about the deal, Trump said the following about Ukraine President Zelenskyy “I suggest to get a new leader who can make a deal because he could’ve made many deals, but for some reason, he never does.“ Despite the president’s erroneous comment that blames Ukraine, it is similar to other comments that suggests the reason for the war lies elsewhere other than Russia. One of the theories suggests Russia invaded Ukraine because of the eastward expansion of NATO. This is a theory supported by John Merscheimer and Jeffrey Sachs, both highly erudite scholars. While that theory is not implausible, it is highly suspect given how Putin has changed the rationale for his invasion. In 2002, in response to a question about NATO, Putin, at a press conference in Rome, said the following “as for NATO expansion, you know our position on this issue, it remains unchanged. Ukraine is a sovereign state and has the right to choose its own path to ensure its security, I do not see anything special here or anything that could overshadow the relations between Russia and Ukraine.” According to the Brookings Institute, Mikhail Gorbachev made the following statement “The topic of NATO expansion was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years…Another issue we brought up was discussed: making sure that NATO‘s military structures would not advance and that additional armed forces would not be deployed on the territory of the then-GDR after German reunification. Baker’s statement was made in that context…Everything that could have been and needed to be done to solidify that political obligation was done and fulfilled… we need the agreement on the final settlement with Germany said that no new military structures would be created in the eastern part of the country. No additional troops would be deployed. No weapons of mass destruction would be placed there. It has been obeyed all these years.” Gorbachev continued “the agreement on the final settlement with Germany said that no new military structures would be created in the eastern part of the country. No additional troops would be deployed. No weapons of master destruction will be placed there. It has been obeyed all these years.” Gorbachev’s comments casts great doubt on the idea of Putin using NATO as the rationale for the war. Many people have forgotten that Putin has also put forth the denazification of Ukraine as a reason. The third reason is that Putin gave was to protect Russian citizens living in the Donbas, which is the same reason he used for the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

There is a tendency to forget that Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia in 2008, using some of the same rationale. Russia was subsequently found guilty of ethnic cleansing by the European Court of Human Rights.

Trump is now threatening to halt the PURL program (prioritize Ukraine requirements list) as well as intelligence sharing which could be devastating to Ukraine. Elon Musk has also called on President Zelenskyy to resign.

Let’s be clear. Ukraine has been a place where corruption has been rampant, although one could argue that it may pale in comparison to the corruption that is currently being experienced in the present American administration.

As President Trump lays blame for the continuation of the war at the feet of Ukraine, there are those who believe that the president has not gotten over President Zelenskyy’s refusal to initiate an investigation into former President Joe Biden.

This deal, which has been criticized by Democrats, Republicans and European leaders, only seems to benefit Russia. The question is whether President Trump has become this generation’s Neville Chamberlain as he continues to genuflect to Putin.