No, President Zelenskyy did not Cave

In the aftermath of the historic debacle in the Oval Office last Friday, February 28, and before last night’s State of the Union address by President Trump, the airwaves, cyberspace and newsprint were filled with speculations about President Zelenskyy’s next steps. Afterall, Ukraine did not achieve what it hoped for, Trump was visibly upset, and he basically asked the Ukrainian delegation to leave the White House. What’s Ukraine to do. It certainly needs Washington’s moral support at least and fully loaded military aid at most.

The following is Trump’s passage about the Russian war against Ukraine that places both and victim and assailant on equal planes. Trump refuses to admit that there is one guilty, criminal party in this centuries-long Russian war against Ukraine.

“I’m also working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict with no end in sight. The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense with no security, with no anything. Do you want to keep it going for another five years? Yeah. Yeah. You, you would say. Pocahontas says yes.

“Two thousand people are being killed every single week. More than that. They’re Russian young people. They’re Ukrainian young people. They’re not Americans. But I want it to stop. Meanwhile, Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine by far. Think of that. They’ve spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have defending, and we’ve spent perhaps $350 billion—like taking candy from a baby, that’s what happened—and they’ve spent $100 billion. What a difference that is. And we have an ocean separating us and they don’t. But we’re getting along very well with them and lots of good things are happening. 

“Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent by billions and billions of dollars. It’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t have stopped it and said at some point. ‘Come on, let’s equalize. You gotta be equal to us.’ But that didn’t happen. Earlier today. I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The letter reads, ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians.’ He said, ‘My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine, maintained its sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.’ I appreciate that he sent this letter. Just got it a little while ago.

“Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

That would be beautiful if Moscow would demonstrate its peaceful intentions. Throughout, and even in the course of yesterday’s events, Russia has continued bombing Ukrainian cities and killing Ukrainians.

Nothing in President Zelenskyy’s statement implied an apology. He did express regret that the situation had deteriorated.

The BBC has been reporting the following:

Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to work under Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” to achieve a lasting peace days after their explosive Oval Office meeting.

The Ukrainian president described the White House showdown as “regrettable” in a lengthy social media post in the wake of the US announcing a pause in military aid to Kyiv.

Zelensky said “it was time to make things right,” after Trump had accused him of not being ready to come to the negotiating table.

The Ukrainian leader also outlined the first stages of how the war could be ended.

“We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky – ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure – and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same,” he wrote. “Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.”

Zelenskyy poignantly said that Russia will have to undertake the same peace-driven steps that Ukraine will.

The following is his statement to the Ukrainian nation about what happened and his hopes regarding Ukraine’s relations with the United States:

Dear Ukrainians,

Today, many people have the same question: what will happen next with U.S. assistance?

I have instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, the heads of our intelligence agencies, and our diplomats to contact their counterparts in the United States and obtain official information. People should not have to guess. Ukraine and America deserve a respectful dialogue and a clear position from one another. Especially when it comes to protecting lives during a full-scale war.

Of course, in Ukraine, we have been receiving various signals for weeks now, and there has already been a precedent for aid being halted. There was a suspension of humanitarian aid, of energy aid. There was also a halt in military aid – at the end of January, but at that time, everything was quickly resumed. We saw the risks. Therefore, our agencies – both military and special services – managed to develop action algorithms for any developments in the situation. This is not 2022 anymore. Our resilience is stronger now. We have the means to defend ourselves. But for us, maintaining normal, partnership-based relations with America is essential to bringing the war to a real end. None of us wants an endless war.

Ukraine will always be grateful to the U.S. for all the support that has been and is being provided, and which is working to preserve the now rather fragile foundations of security in Europe. After all, this is not just about our country. It is about everyone in Europe. We seek constructive cooperation. Partnership-based relations. We can only regret what happened at the White House instead of our negotiations. But we must find the strength to move forward, to respect one another, just as we have always respected America, Europe, and all our partners, and to do everything together to bring peace closer. And I thank everyone who is supporting Ukraine in this effort.

Today, I have already spoken with the President of Finland, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister of Greece, the Prime Minister of Croatia, the NATO Secretary General, and the leader of Germany’s CDU party, Friedrich Merz – the very party that won the recent Bundestag elections. Clear support for Ukraine. Thank you. There is very important news from the European Commission about significant funds for Europe’s defense. For us, this primarily means additional air defense – more systems, more missiles, and increased ability to protect our cities and villages, our positions. And all of this creates a solid additional foundation for efforts to bring the war to an end. We will continue consultations, and new joint steps will follow. Ukraine deserves peace. Ukrainians deserve respect.

And one last thing.

We know that the Russians have not changed their positions or demands regarding Ukraine. They will insist on reducing our army, they will seek a legal renunciation of our territories, as well as a significant political deformation of Ukraine with the weakening of the Ukrainian Constitution. But I will say that, in fact, as long as we all in Ukraine stand together and stand strong, as long as we are here, no one will succeed in this – peace will be dignified.

Glory to Ukraine!

Questions remain about America’s resumption of military aid to Ukraine, when will both sides meet again and who will be present at the talks.

The last paragraph in Zelenskyy’s remarks is every important in that it emphasizes what Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials as well as their supporters have been saying for months and years. Russia is hellbent on establishing circumstances that will allow it to seize all of Ukraine and return it to its prison of nations or else it will continue bombing Ukraine and its people back into the Stone Age. What divine or human power can guarantee that Russia will not continue that in a year or in a decade?

Russia Overestimated Its Strength & Oval Office Duo’s Intelligence

Just three days after President Trump and Vice-President Vance experienced a meltdown in the presence of President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s chief parrot expressed the terrorist regime’s horror at the inept behavior of its assets and suggested that others must be found to force the Ukrainian leader to accept its peace terms.

After the clash in the Oval Office, European leaders leapt to Zelenskyy’s defense, which also angered Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin associates. At a summit in London on Sunday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said they had agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan, a Coalition of the Willing, to present to the United States. Starmer also announced a new British 1.6 billion pounds ($2 billion) deal that would allow Ukraine to purchase 5,000 air-defense missiles. Basically, no country in Europe has supported President Trump’s position, which is only matched by Putin.

Responding to the summit, the Kremlin said the London summit was an attempt to continue the war, not to seek peace, but also noted the divisions between Europe and the United States.

As further evidence that Putin and his American assets achieved very little in the Oval Office, the meeting’s demeanor quickly deteriorated and came to a sudden conclusion at Trump’s insistence. It seems that the Kremlin overestimated the mental ability of Trump and Vance to ridicule Zelenskyy into submission. The Ukrainian president held firm with his points, noting that the Kremlin has not ever fulfilled any accord that it has signed. Trump declared that Zelenskyy would not be invited back to the White House until he demonstrates that he wants peace.

“We see that... a fragmentation of the collective West has begun,” Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin’s chief liar said. “There remains a group of countries that rather constitutes the party of war, which declares its readiness to further back Ukraine in terms of supporting the war and ensuring the continuation of hostilities.”

Following Moscow’s playbook, Trump placed the onus of peace on Ukraine, the country that is fighting for its existence after being invaded by Russia. The aggressor, a term which will not be heard from White House officials, in Trump’s mind has done nothing wrong and does not have to reply to any questions.

Sunday’s meetings in London with 18 European countries as well as a photo session with King Charles was icing on the cake for Ukraine. It showed that European countries, the Coalition of the Willing, as they called themselves, support Ukraine for the long run. The peace proposals were palatable for the key players but they were despised by Moscow and Trump.

Zelenskyy noted that a deal to end the war between Ukraine and Russia “is still very, very far away,” adding that he expects to keep receiving American support despite his recent fraught relations with President Trump. “I believe that Ukraine has a strong enough partnership with the United States of America” to keep aid flowing, he said hopefully at a briefing in Ukrainian before leaving London.

Sadly, however, today Trump ruled to cease all military aid to Ukraine, an act of punishment that was forced by the Kremlin.

Dmitry Peskov praised U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump , saying it “largely coincides” with Russia’s vision in a reversal he said was previously “impossible to imagine.”

The comments from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov come as Trump has upended the U.S. approach to Russia's war in Ukraine by holding peace negotiations with Russia, without representation from Ukraine or its European allies. 

“The new (U.S.) administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations,” Peskov said in an interview aired Sunday on Russian state media. “This largely coincides with our vision.”

The assimilation of American leadership by the evil empire is moving apace.

Polish Hero ‘Disgusted’ by Trump’s Treatment of Zelenskyy

Lech Wałęsa, the world renowned Polish hero, statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland in 1990-95, in a letter to President Trump expressed his “horror and disgust” with the White House’s “offensive” treatment of President Zelenskyy of Ukraine last Friday.

The full translated text of the letter follows:

Dear Mr. President,

We watched with horror and disgust the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We find your expectations of respect and gratitude for the material assistance that the United States has provided to Ukraine, which is fighting Russia, offensive. Gratitude belongs to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood defending the values of the free world. They have been dying on the front lines for over 11 years for these values and the independence of their homeland, which has been attacked by Putin’s Russia.

We do not understand how the leader of a state that is a symbol of the free world cannot see this.

We were also outraged by the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation, which reminded us of scenes of interrogations by the Security Service (the Polish communist KGB) and the courtrooms of communist courts. Prosecutors and judges, led by the all-powerful communist political police, also explained to us that they held all the cards, and we held none. They demanded that we cease our activities, claiming that thousands of innocent people were suffering because of us. They deprived us of our freedom and civil rights because we did not agree to cooperate with the authorities and did not show gratitude to them. We are shocked that you, Mr. President, treated President Volodymyr Zelensky in this way.

The history of the 20th century shows that every time the United States tried to distance itself from democratic values and its European allies, it ultimately became a threat to itself. President Woodrow Wilson realized this when in 1917 he decided to enter the United States into World War I. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood this when, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he decided that the war to defend America would be waged not only on the Pacific front, but also in Europe – in alliance with the states attacked by the Third Reich.

We remember that without President Ronald Reagan and US financial support, the empire of the Soviet Union would not have been destroyed. President Reagan was aware that millions of enslaved people were suffering in Soviet Russia and the countries it conquered, including thousands of political prisoners who paid for their devotion to democratic values with their own freedom. His greatness lay, in particular, in the fact that he did not hesitate to call the USSR the “Evil Empire” and began a resolute struggle against it. We won, and today a monument to President Ronald Reagan stands in Warsaw opposite the US Embassy.

Mr. President, material aid – military and financial – cannot be equivalent to the blood shed for the independence and freedom of Ukraine, Europe, and the entire free world. Human life is priceless, it cannot be measured in money. Gratitude belongs to those who sacrifice their blood and freedom. For us, the people of Solidarity, former political prisoners of the communist regime that served Soviet Russia, this is obvious.

We call on the United States to fulfill the guarantees provided together with Great Britain in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, which expressly states the obligation to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine in exchange for the abandonment of its nuclear arsenal. These guarantees are unconditional – there is not a single word in it that such aid should be considered an economic exchange.

Signed by: Lech Walesa, former political prisoner, Solidarity leader, President of Poland and other former political prisoners, opposition figures and Solidarity representatives (list of signatories left unchanged).

Ukraine Must be Turned into ‘Steel Porcupine’

What a difference attitude makes. Two days after being insulted by President Trump and Vice-President Vance at the ambush at the Oval Office, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy flew to Great Britain to meet with obliging European and NATO leaders in an historic summit at which the participants demonstrated a genuine desire to help Ukraine persevere against Russia.

Europe is “at a crossroads in history,” Great Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer was quoted as saying as he hosted 18 leaders at a Lancaster House summit in London to discuss a new plan for peace in Ukraine after three years of war.

The UK, France and others pledged to work with Ukraine on a plan to stop Russian aggression across Ukraine, and discuss that plan with the US, “and take it forward together,” the prime minister said. 

Addressing  Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was sitting alongside him, Starmer added: “I hope you know that we are all with you and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes. Everyone around this table.” That was certainly a dramatic change from what the Ukrainian team felt in the White House.

Among those in attendance in London were the French president, Emmanuel Macron; the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the Canadian prime minster, Justin Trudeau; the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni; and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.

The participants expressed a sincere desire to preserve Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty as it fights to stave off Russia’s invasion.

Many Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians expressed their deep indignation and condemnation of America’s callous abandonment of independent Ukraine in favor of terrorist Russia, the enemy of mankind. Relations between the USA and Ukraine began to deteriorate earlier in the week, when Trump asked why Ukraine didn’t give in to Russia’s invasion for the sake of peace and why it started the war, and it culminated with American president’s accusation that the Ukrainian president is a dictator.

Since the end of World War Two, the United States has been recognized for championing the aspirations of Ukraine and the other captive nations as a bulwark against Russian imperialism. The United States has stalwartly supported their objectives beginning with the 1959 Captive Nations Week Proclamation and gratefully culminating in their independence and sovereignty in 1991.

President Trump today laid waste to this policy in the trap in the Oval Office on Friday, February 28, 2025, that ensnared President Zelenskyy. President Trump and Vice-President Vance violated all diplomatic protocols by insulting President Zelenskyy, demanding that he surrender Ukraine to the designs of Moscow and even questioning why he didn’t wear a business suit. To be sure, President Zelenskyy deserves an apology from the White House for the Trump’s calling the Ukrainian president a dictator.

It should be noted that Ukrainian American voters, wholeheartedly support the Ukrainian nation in its fight to survive and its President Zelenskyy in his Herculean task of convincing the Western alliance of the nation’s righteous, existential fight.

The emphasis on negotiations to resolve this latest iteration of Russia’s war is a nonstarter as President Zelenskyy said because the Kremlin has violated every agreement it was party to in the past three years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Furthermore, how do you negotiate with someone who wants you dead – as President Zelenskyy pointed out – and you want your people to live. What is the negotiable midpoint between death and life.

Starmer, who welcomed a visibly shaken Zelenskiy on Saturday with a warm hug, said Britain, Ukraine, France and some other nations would form a “Coalition of the willing” and draw up a peace plan to take to Trump. “As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom,” Starmer said. “We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”

Coming out of the summit meeting, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe must put Ukraine in a position of strength, which included economic, energy and military resilience.

She emphasized the “importance” of providing security guarantees to Ukraine to turn the war-torn country into a “steel porcupine” that would be “indigestible for potential invaders” like Russia.

Then, she spoke about the need to “urgently” rearm the European Union and unleash a  “surge” in defense spending that can meet the new geopolitical situation.

“We really have to step up” and “prepare for the worst,” she said. Von der Leyen said she would present a “comprehensive” defense plan to EU leaders when they all meet on March 6 for an emergency summit in Brussels.

Here are some key takeaways, according to Britain’s The Guardian:

1. Ukraine must be put in strongest position for future negotiations.

Starmer added another £1.6bn in UK export finance for Ukraine to “buy more than 5,000 air defense missiles, which will be made in Belfast,” on top of the £2.2bn loan he had announced on Saturday. This would be vital for protecting critical infrastructure now, and strengthen Ukraine in securing the peace, when it comes, he said.

2. There will be a “coalition of the willing.”

Any deal must be backed by strength so Russia cannot breach it, Starmer said.

“Not every nation will feel able to contribute but that can’t mean that we sit back,” the UK prime minister said. “The UK is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air together with others, Europe must do the heavy lifting,” Starmer added.

3. The plan must have strong US backing.

While Europe would do the “heavy lifting,” backing from the US was needed. “We are working with the US on this point after my meeting with President Trump last week,” Starmer said.

“We agree with the president on the urgent need for a durable peace, now we need to deliver together.”

The US was not seen as an “unreliable” ally, Starmer said when asked. It was a “strong and reliable ally” to the UK, adding that he had spoken with Trump on Saturday night.

“The discussions we have had today, particularly on the coalition of the willing is on the basis that this is a plan that we will work on with the US. That is the purpose of the plan.”

4. Leaders agreed to keep military aid to Ukraine flowing.

Starmer said they agreed that any lasting peace must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security “and Ukraine must be at the table.”

He added: “In the event of peace deal we will keep boosting Ukraine’s own defensive capabilities to deter any future invasions.”

5. Leaders will meet again very soon

Starmer said: “We are at a crossroads in history today, this is not a moment for more talk, it’s time to act, time to step up and lead. And united around a new plan for a just and enduring peace.”

6. NATO chief says talks were ‘really positive.’

The NATO chief, Mark Rutte, said that “more European countries will ramp up defense spending” but did not go into specifics. He described increased defense spending as “very good news” and reiterated the need for “more of a fair balance” with the US. He told reporters the first step was to make sure there is a peace deal before there are discussions about how to guarantee it.

The future of humanity and American decency not to mention the Ukrainian nation’s democratic existence is in the free world’s hands. The only answer is for the United States of America to support Ukraine’s victory in this fight against Russian aggression. Wishful thinking and fake belief in Putin’s humanitarianism will never succeed as its national mission is to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians. Ukraine must have the wherewithal to negotiate from a position of strength with its loyal allies.

The Specter of Vile Jingoism Raises its Ugly Head

Vile jingoism reminiscent of the likes of Gary Birdsong, known for his fundamentalist and accusatory style, has not been heard from the White House since perhaps the mid-19th century. Sadly, today, it has found a welcome home in the highest office of the land.

Vice-President JD Vance became unwittingly and offensively embroiled in the dispute about US support for Ukraine in its existential war against Russian aggression by urging the latest wave of Ukrainian immigrants, those who left their native Ukraine after the war began in February 2022, to forget about their homeland and become Americans. His observations that were reported in American newspapers such as the New York Post as well as overseas’ ones demonstrated Vance’s callus disregard for America’s best tradition of embracing immigrants from any part of the world that is etched on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Vance’s antipathy toward today’s new immigrants to America was thought to have gone out of style along with the false belief that the United States is a melting pot. In his seminal 1972 work, “The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics,” Michael Novak disparaged the concept of immigrants or refugees abandoning their languages, cultures, traditions, heritages at America’s shoreline. On the contrary, he argued, the vast immigrant populations added to the strength that has become America.

Vance went on to elaborate that during his Senate campaign in 2022, he met a Ukrainian American man in northeast Ohio, home to many Ukrainian Americans, including Ukrainian Greek-Catholic faithful of the Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma, Ohio.

“He was very angry about my views on the conflict, and my desire to bring it to a rapid close,” Vance said on social media, adding that the man told him, “You are trying to abandon my country, and I don’t like it.”

“‘Sir, I replied, ‘your country is the United States of America, and so is mine,’” Vance wrote.

The Vice-President added that he finds it “offensive” when individuals use American influence to try to end conflicts at home.

Vance continued: “I always found it offensive that a new immigrant to our country would be willing to use the power and influence of their new nation to settle the ethnic rivalries of the old. One of the most important parts of assimilation is seeing *your* country as the USA. It’s part of the bargain: if you’re welcomed into our national family, you ought to look out for the interests of the United States,” Vance continued in his lengthy X post.

“I know many immigrants who have the right perspective, and I’m grateful to them. For example, I met many Ukrainian Americans during that campaign (and since) who agreed with my views, or at the very least, asked the right question: what is in the best interests of the United States?”

The Vice-President’s elaboration raises more substantively damning questions rather than answering any. The visible one is the lack of the hyphen. Ukrainian Americans are not hyphenated. They are not half of one and half of the other. They are equally Ukrainian and American.

It also sadly shows Vance’s insensitivity to the needs of the Ukrainian American community or Ukrainian American voters regardless of when they or their ancestors left their native Ukraine and arrived in the land of the free and the home of the brave. All Ukrainians are one; they are not divided into strata. They regard spiritual nationality as being greater than a passport consequently the Ukrainian American children of the first settlers are equal to the latest Ukrainian refugees who will commune in the same churches and in time become citizens and voters.

The implied assurance of the United States is that it would stand up for the legitimate claims and aspirations of all its citizen-immigrants and citizen-descendants. In return, Ukrainian immigrants, those who settled here in the 19th century and contributed to America’s betterment, their descendants and the newest arrivals—the war refugees have demonstrated a high degree of citizenship. Afterall, the community has been guided by what is called its three commandments:  Be loyal citizens of your new land; help your community in the United States; and don’t forget about your brothers and sisters in the native land. What’s offensive about that?

To be sure, Ukrainians from all regions of Ukraine came to the New World to escape foreign oppression and captivity be it Russian, Austro-Hungarian or Polish. They picked up the banner of liberation from George Washington whose teachings they embraced.

In the Jubilee Book of the Ukrainian National Association (UNA) in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of its existence published in 1936, the historical, ideological and philosophical primer for Ukrainian Americans, we read many references about liberation, freedoms and social welfare found in the United States that inspired Ukrainian immigrants.

For example:

Long live the memory of George Washington!

Long live freedom!

Long live the revolution!

Long live the republic-Ukraine!

Indeed, Russia, among others, has always been the oppressor that Ukrainians most feared. The Founding Fathers of the Ukrainian American community also wrote:

Russia – is rape and violence.

Russia – is national captivity.

Russia – is hell for farmers and laborers.

Russia – is darkness, oppression and national death for our people.

The UNA’s newspaper, Svoboda, the first Ukrainian-language one in the United States, opposed forced loyalty and separation of the immigrant from his and her native land as Vice-President Vance would have it. “Svoboda stands against the attempts to forcibly assimilate. It argued that national separation of immigrants does not contradict the ideals of Americanism. Svoboda pointed out that the immigrant would sooner come to accept this ideal if he or she is given the opportunity to speak his own language and read his own newspaper,” the Founding Fathers wrote. It should be noted that these concepts were enunciated ahead of World War One.

“Ukrainian immigrants! Remember your obligations toward the Free Land of Washington, upon which you found safety and social welfare. Remember that we should be loyal toward our adopted Free Homeland. Remember that America has not been a stepmother to us but rather nurtured us as blood relatives. Ukrainians! Remember that your sacred obligation is to love free America and to defend the glory of the American flag.”

The fatal behavior of the MAGA movement is its complete disregard for the person, persons or national group’s raison d’etre. “The discussion of almost any aspect of the situation of Ukrainians in America – if it is to contain genuine knowledge rather than an assemblage of emotional phraseology, mere hopes or platitudes – demands at least an elementally concise definition of what ‘is behind the term ‘Ukrainian,’” Stephen W. Mamchur wrote in the Jubilee Book. “What particularistic meaning the world ‘Ukrainian’ has to any specific individual depends on his experiences. But there is a common denominator, as it were, of these subjective conceptions, and that common denominator is that the term stands for a certain group of people – to use layman terminology. Just what is it, then, that fundamentally distinguishes Ukrainian from non-Ukrainian?”

Exactly! No one, especially the occupants of the White House, cares about Ukraine, Ukrainians and their history. If only the MAGA movement would take the time to learn about Ukrainians and Ukrainian American voters and the latest refugees who will become voters and understand their pain points, then the Russian war against Ukraine would find genuine allies and come to an end.

The social structure that is America nurtures both Ukrainianism and Americanism. Accept it. Embrace it. Cherish it. Don’t belittle Ukrainians by demanding that they surrender their heritage at the door or the demand will backfire.

If you are unaware of these tenets of Ukrainianism, then it’s best for you not to venture an opinion and awaken the specter of jingoism.

 

United States Joins Terrorist Russia on the Dark Side of International Affairs

It has taken three decades since the dissolution of the Russian empire with its notorious prison of nations for the United States of America, the historical defender of nations oppressed by Moscow, to reveal its shameless support for the enemy of humanity, freedom and democracy.

This week, the US has twice sided with Russia in votes at the United Nations to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the Trump Administration’s change of stance on the war and Ukraine. The White House’s policy of supporting Russia rather than beleaguered Ukraine has been on a downward slope toward hades since Donald J. Trump assumed the presidency. He put Ukraine, the victim, on the same level as Russia, not only dividing guilt between both countries but absurdly declaring that Ukraine started the war. The international community arose in shock and offered its support for Ukraine. Finally, Trump denounced Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as a dictator.

The language and words expressed by the American president fit hand in glove with age-old Russian diatribes against Ukraine, its national leadership and patriotic citizens. This prompted many to research and uncover claims, most from European and notably East European sources, that Donald J. Trump became a Soviet asset in the mid 1980s.

At the United Nations, first, the US opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity – voting the same way as Russia and countries including North Korea and Belarus at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Then the US drafted and voted for a resolution at the UN Security Council which called for an end to the conflict but contained no criticism of Russia.

The Security Council passed the resolution, but two key US allies, the UK and France, abstained after their attempts to amend the wording were vetoed.

The UN resolutions were tabled as French President Emmanuel Macron visited President Donald Trump at the White House in an attempt to address their sharp differences over the war. On Thursday, last week, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was to visit the new American leader.

Trump’s White House has upended the transatlantic alliance and the post-World War Two security structure, currying favor with Moscow and casting doubt on America’s long-term commitment to European security.

That rift was laid bare on the floor of the 193-member UNGA on Monday, February 24, as American diplomats pushed their limited resolution mourning the loss of life during the 

“Russia-Ukraine conflict” and calling for a swift end to it. The parity they hoped to achieve was in reality a pro-Russian propaganda gambit to erase Russia’s stigma of culpability and the strong international support Ukraine has garnered in three years since Russian launched the war against Ukraine.

European diplomats tabled a more detailed text, blaming Russia for its full-scale invasion, and supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“However, reducing the Assembly’s position to merely stating this desire is not enough. We need to reconfirm that the aggression should be condemned and discredited, not rewarded. Our position must include substantive elements and ensure that any future peace initiative aligns with the principles of the UN Charter.” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa, who spoke in the hallowed halls of the UN.

“We need clear guidelines – not just to silence weapons temporarily, but to achieve a sustainable and just solution. A solution that guarantees there will be no repetition of what happened three years ago, on February 24, 2022. Neither in Ukraine, nor elsewhere.

“For us, for Ukraine the path forward is clear: the only way, as our President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated, to ensure comprehensive, just and lasting peace is to reaffirm our commitment to the UN Charter and to agree that principles enshrined in it – the principle of sovereignty and the principle of territorial integrity of states within its internationally recognized borders – must serve as the foundation,” she continued.

Betsa told the member-states that the way Russian aggression is answered today “will define the future of Ukraine…Europe and our common future.”

UNGA members backed the European resolution by 93 votes but, extraordinarily, the US did not abstain but actually voted against it, along with Russia, Israel, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus, Hungary and 11 other states, with 65 abstentions.

The UNGA also passed the US resolution but only after it was amended to include language supporting Ukraine, which led to the US abstaining.

Republican Sen. John Curtis said he was “deeply troubled” by the vote “which put us on the same side as Russia and North Korea.”

“These are not our friends. This posture is a dramatic shift from American ideals of freedom and democracy,” he wrote on X. 

The vote was “contrary to our long-standing support of democracy,” said former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At least two generations of Americans have grown up believing that the United States does indeed support the aspirations of the captive nations only to be awakened by a new reality.

Kowtowing to Russian complaints has been avoided for decades until now. Special envoy Steve Witkoff oddly said Sunday that Russia should not necessarily be blamed for sparking the war in Ukraine — a position that aligns with Trump’s recent claims with Vladimir Putin against Zelenskyy as the three-year anniversary of the fighting looms.

“The war didn’t need to happen — it was provoked. It doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians,” Witkoff said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Witkoff suggested that Ukraine’s desire to join NATO instigated the war, demonstrating a phenomenal lack of knowledge about the history of Ukraine and Russian aggression.

“There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. ... That didn't need to happen,” he said. “It basically became a threat to the Russians and so we have to deal with that fact.” 

In an interview on ABC News’ This Week, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), a senior member of the armed services committee, castigated Trump’s recent verbal attacks on Zelenskyy and increased alignment with Russia.

“Essentially, this is President Trump surrendering to the Russians,” he said. “This is not a statesman or a diplomat. This is just someone who admires Putin, does not believe in the struggle of the Ukrainians and is committed to cozying up to an autocrat.”

How to return to a time in history when the United States is visibly standing on the front line of defending Ukraine and the other x-captive nations can only be determined by the occupant of the Oval Office. The current inhabitant, sadly, is ready to sleep with the enemy until the next elections, which can’t come to soon.

PS: In reply to Trump calling Zelenskyy a dictator without support, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada or parliament voted unanimoulsy in support of its national president.

Rape and Murder in Front of Eye Witnesses

America’s reaction to what is happening to Ukraine today is incomprehensible and immoral while being encouraged by the so-called leader of the free world.

Thus far the international community, notably Europe, the former captive nations, Canada and a few others been incapable of stopping Russia from ravaging Ukraine for the sake of its imperial expansion and protecting Ukraine. Then add to this President Trump’s latest misguided expressions of support for the perpetrator rather than the wretched victim that goes against the grain of 249 years of righteous American history, including the 1959 Captive Nations Week Proclamation.

How can this be taking place in broad daylight in the 21st century? Hasn’t anyone read history? Certainly not President Trump and his assortment of myopic politicians pretending to be world class government leaders. Isn’t the catastrophic conclusion obvious? To most voters yes but not to this sorry group.

Thinking about this, my thoughts drifted to a tragic event that had its place in the borough of Queens in New York City six decades ago and to my blog of May 13, 2015. A young woman was killed in full view of her neighbors who actually witnessed the gruesome event from the comfort of their high-rise apartment windows and couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything to stop the assailant or protect the unfortunate woman.

Here is an excerpt from Martin Gansberg’s article in The New York Times of March 27, 1964.

For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.

Twice their chatter and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out, and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead…

Twenty-eight-year-old Catherine Genovese, who was called Kitty by almost everyone in the neighborhood, was returning home from her job as manager of a bar in Hollis…

The entrance to the apartment is in the rear of the building because the front is rented to retail stores. At night the quiet neighborhood is shrouded in the slumbering darkness that marks most residential areas.

Miss Genovese noticed a man at the far end of the lot, near a seven-story apartment house at 82-40 Austin Street. She halted. Then, nervously, she headed up Austin Street toward Lefferts Boulevard, where there is a call box to the 102nd Police Precinct in nearby Richmond Hill.

She got as far as a streetlight in front of a bookstore before the man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on in the 10-story apartment house at 82-67 Austin Street, which faces the bookstore. Windows slid open and voices punctuated the early-morning stillness.

Miss Genovese screamed: “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”…

The assailant stabbed her again.

“I'm dying!” she shrieked. “I’m dying!”…

Gansberg concluded his article by writing: “It was 4:25 A.M. when the ambulance arrived to take the body of Miss Genovese. It drove off. “Then,” a solemn police detective said, “the people came out.”

Kitty’s neighbors offered a variety of excuses why they allowed her to be killed in their voyeuristic presence.

“I didn’t want to get involved.”

“We thought it was a lovers’ quarrel.”

“I didn't want my husband to get involved.”

“We went to the window to see what was happening … but the light from our bedroom made it difficult to see the street … I put out the light and we were able to see better.” Asked why they didn’t call the police, the wife shrugged and replied: “I don't know.”

“I was tired."

“I went back to bed."

On a personal, human level, the murder of Kitty Genovese and the callous disregard for her life by her neighbors was crass and inhuman.

On a national level, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate killing of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers along with the callous inability to stop the perpetrator from spreading bloody terror is also devastating and inhuman. 

The murder 60 years ago does bear resemblance to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On a global scale, thanks to all sorts of technological advances, Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine is being witnessed by the same callous, immovable, unconcerned, indifferent neighbors who witnessed Kitty’s murder five decades ago. Their apathetic explanations are identical to those who saw Kitty killed in cold blood. Their character, excuses and specious accusations are abetted by the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was undeclared and unexpected, the subsequent occupation of Crimea and Donbas, and Moscow’s advances westward did not occur without some sort of spy in the sky warnings. Remember the 40-mile-long Russian armored column approaching Kyiv? Furthermore, there has been a centuries long track record of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine that today has not been slaked. 

The latest fallout has already begun. The United States will not co-sponsor a new United Nations resolution backing Ukraine. The draft UN General Assembly resolution condemns Russian aggression, backs Ukraine’s territorial integrity, diplomatic sources told Reuters on Thursday, February 20. This is the first UN about face regarding Ukraine in at least the past decade and another check mark for Russia’s global political victories spearheaded by Trump, who is apparently operating under the influence of a Russian kompromat.

In the past week, America’s desertion of Ukraine caught Ukraine and the free world by surprise even though Trump has been briskly walking down that path even before he was elected to the White House. Clearly, the United States is not supporting unequivocally Ukraine in the manner that it has in the recent past. Trump first put equal blame and responsibility for the war on Kyiv and Moscow and then the scales tipped in favor of Russia. Trump accused Ukraine of launching the war because it didn’t do anything to stop it early on when it, Kyiv, had a chance to do so.

Take a moment digest this. Three years ago, Russian cutthroats and armor were already approaching Kyiv from the north, Bucha has been destroyed, innocent men, women and children have been raped and murdered. Was this the moment in time, when Kyiv could have ended the war? What would it have taken for Ukraine to end the war then against a brutal invader? According to Trump and Putin, only Ukraine’s surrender. That would be national suicide.

Then Trump accused Zelenskyy of being a dictator because he had not called national elections. You should recall that during World War Two, Winston Churchill also suspended elections for the duration of hostilities. Trump continued to belittle Zelenskyy saying: “The leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% approval rating.”

Actually, Zelenskyy “retains a fairly high level of public trust” — about 57 percent, according to a report released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

An analysis of Trump’s rhetoric reveals that word for word, phrase for phrase, concept for concept, the American president is repeating Russian anti-Ukrainian propaganda going back to the Cold War. Gabrielius Landsbergis, former minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania, a former captive nation and NATO member, alluded to this when opined that Trump’s and Putin’s plans and goals for Ukraine are aligned.

Regarding this latest wave of Trump lies, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress issued the following statement:

“US President Donald Trump’s recent statement that Ukraine is to blame for Russia’s genocidal invasion is as revolting as it is false. Russia invaded Ukraine for no reason other than to destroy the Ukrainian state and annihilate the Ukrainian people.

“Trump’s insults directed at Ukrainian leaders and the undermining of Ukrainian sovereignty will only encourage Russia to further aggression against Ukraine and Ukraine’s neighbors.

“Moreover, to demand that Ukraine hold elections while Russian rockets and missiles rain down on Ukrainian homes, hospitals and schools is absurd and contrary to international law and norms, concepts that are foreign to Donald Trump.

“Trump has demonstrated that he is a willing instrument of the Kremlin and the war criminals who run Russia today.  They are certainly rejoicing today. And well they should.

“It should by now be crystal clear to the EU and all other NATO leaders that the United States under President Trump is no longer a reliable ally – neither in the defense of Ukraine’s freedom nor in the guarantees of the Alliance.

“It is critical that Canada and other European allies dedicate far more resources to our collective defense and to supplying Ukraine with armaments and ammunition. The $300 billion of frozen Russian assets in European banks must be confiscated immediately and used to arm Ukraine.

“That would be a good place to start.”

As the war of words evolves, it is becoming apparent that the United States will remain the sole opponent of Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, having taken sides with the Kremlin, which regularly reminds the world of its nuclear capabilities. BBC News on Thursday, February 20, reported that the United Kingdom, in the wake of Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine, among others, has reaffirmed its unshakable support for Ukraine.

Trump’s harsh words for Zelenskyy and Ukraine drew criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress, where Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression has had bipartisan support. Zelenskyy said Trump was falling into a Russian disinformation trap — and was quickly admonished by Vice President JD Vance about the perils of publicly criticizing the new president.

Vance told the Daily Mail that Zelenskyy’s criticism of Trump was not helping his cause. “The idea that Zelenskyy is going to change the president’s mind by bad mouthing him in public media, everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vance said.

Former Vice-President Mike Pence reminded Trump in a Tweet that Ukraine didn't start the war but rather Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion that claimed hundred of thousands of lives. "The road to peace must be built on the truth," he stated.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was appalled that Trump was blaming Ukraine for Putin’s invasion.

“It’s disgusting to see an American president turn against one of our friends and openly side with a thug like Vladimir Putin,” Schumer said.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said he disagreed with Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine was responsible.

“I think Vladimir Putin started the war,” Kennedy said. “I also believe, from bitter experience, that Vladimir Putin is a gangster. He’s a gangster with a black heart” who has Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s “taste for blood.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Trump’s words were insulting to the thousands of Ukrainians who have died in the war, and he accused the president of parroting Putin. “I would call on President Trump to apologize to the people of Ukraine, but it would be a waste of breath,” Durbin said. “Donald Trump is a pushover for Putin.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota is among the Republican lawmakers who have supported Ukraine over the course of the war. He said the Trump administration needed space as it seeks a resolution. “The president speaks for himself,” Thune said about Trump’s sharpening rhetoric toward Zelenskyy. “What I want to see is a peaceful result, a peaceful outcome.”

As the war of words in the free world grinds back and forth, individual countries should do something while they still have time. Returning Ukraine to Russia’s prison of nations, even a part of Ukraine, will have dire consequences for all of civilization. It would mean that the West can be browbeaten into submission, invasions are legitimate and Moscow can win without firing a shot. Ukraine and the other former captive nations are pleading for us to do something before it’s too late.

The global village must consider what will be its steps when they hear: “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”… “I'm dying!”