By now everyone is probably aware of the blow up in the Oval Office between President Trump, JD Vance, and Ukranian President Zelenskyy on Friday, February 28th. However, if you get your news from the mainstream media, or the far-left talk shows alone there is no way you have the entire picture of what actually happened. Let's examine what the media is portraying versus the actual facts, is one takes the time to do a little investigative digging.
First, the contentious part of the meeting, the only part aired on media outlets, was preceded by about 35 minutes of the three, Trump, Vance, and Zelenskyy in a meeting where Trump and Vance were continually gracious toward Zelenskyy despite his continued comments and barbs about not doing the mineral deal without military security promises, despite the deal being all done except for the signatures. Military security guarantees were not part of the negotiated deal, which had already been accepted and ratified by the Ukraine government and signed by their Minister of State. The only thing lacking was Trump's signature. However, Zelenskyy wanted to be a signature also and Trump agreed. Zelenskyy first agreed to sign it before the Munich conference, but after leaving a US delegation waiting well over an hour he showed up, (claiming to have overslept), and refused to sign it, saying he would sign in Munich. Again, in Munich he refused to sign with Secretary of State Rubio, saying he would come to the USA and sign with Trump.
After traveling to the US and prior to his Oval Office meeting Zelensky met with a bi-partisan group of US Senators. The rumor started that those Democratic Senators present convinced Zelenskyy to reject the minerals deal, a claim hotly denied by those Democrats present. It flowed from a post made by Senator Chris Murphy where he said, "Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine." So, whether they encouraged Zelenskyy to reject the deal or not, it is abundantly clear they were aware Zelenskyy was going into the Oval Office meeting with no intention of signing a deal he clearly didn't like, despite its acceptance by his government. It wasn't Trump and Vance "bushwhacking" Zelenskyy, as the mainstream media screamed, it was Zelenski who Bushwacked America. His intention was to bypass The President and make his case directly to the American people, believing his position considerably stronger than it was. Instead, he ran into a buzz saw, for Trump was not the same easy pushover as Biden had been, even when there were arguments.
Second, Trump ran on a platform of "strength through peace" and promised to end the wars that were started under the previous administration. Zelenskyy took umbrage at Trump for not calling out Putin and aligning himself firmly on Ukraine's side. We saw how effective Biden was, calling Putin virtually every negative name in the book, and it didn't get us any closer to peace or a resolution to the war. Trump tried to explain that, as a peacemaker, an arbiter, he was trying to stay impartial in the middle, to bring both sides together. Zelenskyy said he wasn't interested in peace several times, I believe thinking that Putin would get concessions that he wanted for Ukraine. Zelenskyy had no intention of signing the mineral treaty unless it was on his terms, especially after the European Union approached him the week prior, after the deal was all but ratified by the US and Ukraine and offered to make a minerals deal "mutually beneficial" to both the EU and Ukraine. This was a direct slap in the face to the US for we had supplied about three and a half times the money and resources to Ukraine as the total EU combined, and their monies were in the form of loans, while we just "gave" under the previous administration.
Trump made the comment in the Oval Office that the US was going to pursue peace and, after Zelenskyy said he didn't want peace, said that if Zelenskyy and the Ukraine didn't want peace, they could go it alone, or with the Europeans backing them. Personally, I think this is the stand we should take, toward Ukraine, toward the EU, until they affirm the deal with the US that was originally proposed. After the Oval Office fiasco Zelenskyy went to the UK where the leaders of the EU declared their unwavering support and puffed their chests and acted like we don't matter. However, after their meeting they said that "they couldn't do this thing "without the aid of America. The bottom line is America is done funneling billions of dollars and weaponry to Ukraine without any attempts at peace. And Zelenskyy and his oligarchs are balking at peace, claiming that Putin needs to retreat out of all their country, but the reality is probably far simpler. Zelenskyy is in the 6th year of his 5-year term, after canceling elections because of the war, and his popularity is at an all-time low in Ukraine. Compound that with the news that, without an audit, they cannot account for over 60 billion dollars of monies given them and you get a real good reason to keep the war machine running. Someone is getting that money! But now President Trump has turned off the money spigot, halted all weapons sales and deliveries. It will be difficult for Ukraine to maintain their war footing without US weaponry, especially because Russia is out-producing the total out-put of the entire EU.
Third, where is Russia getting all the money to fund their war economy? This is hard to believe, but after scrapping our own oil/gas pipeline, the last administration okayed the Russian pipeline, which has supplied energy to Germany and other EU countries. The EU has paid more for gas and oil to Russia, literally making Russa rich, than they have given to the Ukraine war effort. So, for all their puffery, for all their blustering support for Zelenskyy and Ukraine, it's easier to make the case that the EU has done more damage than good to Zelenskyy's war effort, and a big part of that blame is directly on President Biden's shoulders, for shutting down American energy production and exports and emboldening Russia's energy development.
If Trump holds his line on his peace talks, and the mineral deal that would help repay America for the billions we've invested in this war, and Zelensky and/or the EU don't come around then I hope America decides to withdraw from the ensuing endless war (with our support) to a much shorter war without it. However, there will be no Ukraine without America's support. Perhaps Putin will strike a mineral deal with the US after the war is over...
Food for Thought...
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