Warning: You may not like what you are about to read and if you don’t think you can handle it, now might be a good time to stop. However, what is written below follows our principle expressed in every article: AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM – HEAR THE OTHER SIDE.
Russia and Ukraine
President Trump sent shockwaves around the world in early 2025 when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russia and to hold talks about the future of Ukraine, without the involvement of European allies or Ukraine. Trump had adopted much the same position which he took during his first term in office, of improving ties with Russia when he was called a “Putin Puppet” and criticized for “cozying up” to Putin. Trump’s recent actions have reversed the Biden efforts to isolate Russia and Trump has also moved away from labelling Moscow’s war with Ukraine as an “unprovoked aggression.” Trump positions himself as a dealmaker, willing to negotiate directly with Putin with the clear aim of ending the war. It could just be that the puppet is now pulling the strings!
On 28 February Ukrainian President Zelensky met with Trump and his VP JD Vance in the Oval Office. The meeting played out in a crowded room full of cameras. Zelensky had flown in to sign a deal granting the US access to Ukraine’s rich deposits of critical minerals. However, the meeting descended into chaos with Trump saying Zelensky was not ready for Peace, while adding, “I want PEACE”. Trump warned Zelensky, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with WWIII. You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out”. The meeting ended without the minerals deal being signed and Zelensky being asked to leave the White House.
In response to a question about whether he was too aligned with Putin, Trump responded that his softer approach was necessary and, “You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say ‘Hi, Vladimir. How are we doing on the deal?’”
Zelensky had vowed not to sign any deal reached without Ukraine’s input. The upheaval in the Oval Office has put pressure on European leaders to tread the finest of diplomatic lines, wanting to support Ukraine, but without upsetting Trump. Zelensky later softened his approach saying, “American people helped save our people. We are truly thankful. We want only strong relations with America, and I really hope we will have them.” Zelensky also said the minerals deal was ready to be signed.
Zelensky met British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London the next day, on the eve of a summit with 18 European leaders in London on 2 March. The leaders meeting was followed by an announcement by Sir Keir of a “coalition of the willing” to be involved in the future protection of Ukraine. He added that Europe had to do the heavy lifting to support peace and that European countries would keep military aid flowing.
The European leaders rushed to pledge their support for Zelensky. The only dissenting voices were those of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban who wrote “Strong men make peace, weak men make war”, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte who told Zelensky, “I think you have to find a way to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American Administration”.
According to Tom Switzer, executive director of the Centre for Independent Studies, Trump’s proposal to end a war that Ukraine and the West cannot win is in Kyiv’s best interests. The US and its allies should have supported the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in March-April 2022. Instead, Joe Biden and Boris Johnson undermined those negotiations, encouraging Kyiv to keep fighting, saying the West would support Ukraine “as long as it takes”. Trump’s goal to end the war and stop the slaughter on the battlefield makes strategic and moral sense.[i] As the editor in chief of Asia Times wrote, “The critically important role the US plays in NATO will not be replaceable for many years. Europe has no military capability to defy or undermine the Trump peace plan”.[ii]
An Important Piece of History
When the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, Moscow still had thousands of troops in East Germany. To convince Gorbachev to relinquish that position, US Secretary of State, James Baker said, “What if you let your part of Germany go, and we agree that NATO will not shift one inch eastward from its present position?” Gorbachev agreed to this proposal and to German reunification.[iii] However, when the Soviet Union ended in December 1991, President H.W. Bush declared that “By the grace of God, America won the Cold War”, adding that there was now “One sole and pre-eminent power, the United States of America.” That statement has since shaped every major Washington policy towards Moscow including the ongoing expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders.
It is true that Russia launched an “illegal war”, but it is not true that Russia was “unprovoked”! On the contrary, Russia has consistently cited Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO as the main reason for the conflict. There is strong evidence to support this narrative in the National Security Archive at George Washington University, entitled “NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard.” Declassified documents show that assurances against NATO expansion were given to the Soviet leadership by Baker, Bush, Genscher, Kohl, Gates, Mitterrand, Thatcher, Hurd, Major, and Woerner.
The mainstream media persistently claims that Putin seeks to restore the Soviet Union at the expense of Russia’s neighbours. However, that view is false and is unsupported by even a shred of evidence.
Looking Back
When Henry Kissinger visited Moscow in 2016, he observed that “Russia should be perceived as an essential element of any new global equilibrium, not primarily as a threat to the United States”. In 2017 Donald Trump spoke about building good relations with Russia. However, he faced constant opposition from US Cold War protagonists. Trump met with Putin in July 2018 saying that his goal was to improve relations between Washington and Moscow and he suggested that Russia should be readmitted to the G7. He believed it would be an asset to have Russia back.
When the US Senate approved NATO expansion in 1998, America’s Russian scholar George Kennan wrote, “I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever”. Kennan warned that this violated assurances which had been given by Western officials to Soviet leaders prior to Germany’s reunification, especially the pledge that NATO’s jurisdiction would not move “One inch to the east.” Kennan described NATO’s expansion as “The most fatal error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era”.
If the US and NATO had negotiated in good faith on Russia’s proposals in December 2021, seeking to address Russia’s core security concerns, the war could have been avoided without thousands of deaths, refugees, widows and bereft children. The reality is that Ukraine continues to suffer horrendous casualties.
The undertakings given to Russia not to enlarge NATO were broken when Bill Clinton offered membership of NATO to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in 1997. The process of enlargement of NATO then continued and, in 2008 the Bush administration called for membership for both Georgia and Ukraine. NATO confirmed its intention to include Ukraine. In December 2021, Moscow demanded that Ukraine remain neutral and out of NATO.
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched its “special military operation”. Then, days later, on 8 March 2022, Zelensky announced that he was ready to compromise regarding Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea and was willing to renounce Ukraine’s bid to join NATO. Russia and Ukraine announced progress towards a peace agreement but, in April 2022 then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that even if Ukraine was ready to sign an agreement with Putin, the UK and US were not. The Asia Times reported on “Washington’s determination to destroy the Putin regime, if necessary, by prolonging the Ukraine war long enough to bleed Russia dry”.
In 2022, Sen Lindsey Graham said that the mission was to “use Ukraine to fight to the last person”. California representative, Adam Schiff said, “The US aids Ukraine and her people so that we (the US) can fight Russia over there and we don’t have to fight Russia here.” Congressman Dan Crenshaw tweeted that “Investing in the destruction of our adversary’s military, without losing a single American troop, strikes me as a good idea.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal asserted, “We are getting our money’s worth on our Ukrainian investment because we have enabled Ukraine to degrade Russia’s military strength without a single American service woman or man injured or lost”. Former NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg argued that defeating Russia and using Ukraine as a bulwark against Russia “Will make it easier for the US to focus on China”.
The War Goes On
After Keir Starmer talked about a “coalition of the willing” to help secure a peace agreement, Zelensky said his understanding was for this coalition to include America! However, that does not reflect Trump’s position. Furthermore, not all European countries are willing to participate in a peacekeeping force with boots on the ground. The Italian leader Georgia Meloni ruled out supporting the UK-France peacekeeping proposal saying, “You can go – not with my soldiers.”
Despite Trump’s wish to bring the war to a speedy end, Zelensky seems to be in no hurry and has instead said, “An agreement to end the war is still very, very far away”. He proposed a series of measures that could be implemented as “first steps” after which, “We want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal”. Zelensky’s remarks enraged Trump who described what Zelensky said as “The worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky”. Trump added, “This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing”.
A few hours later, Trump ordered a pause to all military aid to Ukraine including weapons already in transit, escalating pressure on Kyiv to agree to peace negotiations.
AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM – HEAR THE OTHER SIDE
[i] Trump's goal to end Ukraine war makes moral sense, The Australian, 4 March 25
[ii] Europe's dangerous delusion of defence without the US, Asia Times, 2 March 25
[iii] Not One Inch by M.E. Sarotte 2021
[iv] On Russia, Nov 2017; When Washington meets Moscow, July 2018;
NATO, Russia, Ukraine – Promises made and promises broken, December 2021;
Russia – a history lesson and another bitter pill, February 2023;
Ukraine – Provocations, propaganda and lies, August 2023;
Russia's election-democracy at the crossroads, April 2024;
The outgoing Biden Administration pours oil onto the flames of war, November 2024
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