He is offering vague security assurances to protect the country, ones that would not include U.S. troops on the ground and depend on the Europeans.
Trump believes that Ukraine should accept the deal because Russia is a big superpower and they are not. Just a few years ago he said that you can't blame Putin because he loves his country and wants to make it bigger. Watch your back, Canada.
The deal would mean that Ukraine could never join NATO, nor could there ever be European troops residing in the country. It would become another Russian satellite like Belarus.
When it comes to a security guarantee for Ukraine, there’s a divergence between what Russia wants and what the West is willing to accept.
Lavrov said earlier this week that Russia categorically rejects “any scenarios that envision the appearance of military contingents of NATO countries in Ukraine, which would be fraught with uncontrollable escalation of the conflict and unpredictable consequences.”
Yet the European Union’s ambassador to the U.S., Jovita Neliupšienė, told reporters Friday: “Russia cannot have the veto for E.U. or NATO membership, and decisions on territories are solidly Ukraine’s decisions and international borders must not be changed by force.”
I would tell Trump and Putin to pound sand. Because this is not the first time we have pledged to come to the Ukraine's aid. We also said that after they were cajoled into getting rid of their nuclear arms arsenal:
At the time of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including an estimated 1,900 strategic warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and 44 strategic bombers. By 1996, Ukraine had returned all of its nuclear warheads to Russia in exchange for economic aid and security assurances, and in December 1994, Ukraine became a non-nuclear weapon state-party to the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
Looks like the previous security assurances didn't amount to much, did they? They were fools to trust both Russia and the United States and should never have given up their arms. Some in Ukraine rue the day.
...Ukraine’s nuclear arsenal included a variety of tactical weapons, with ranges between 100 and 1,000km. “As it turned out, the enemy was much closer,” Oleksandr says.“We could have kept a few dozen tactical warheads. That would have guaranteed security for our country.”
You think Russia has the balls to pick a fight with Poland or Finland now? They are NATO members on Russia's flank too. Anyone who thinks they can trust Putin and Russians is clearly delusional. And with friends like Trump...
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