Timothy Birdnow

Volodymyr Zelensky,having put his foot in his mouth when trying to embarrass and shame President Trump in the Oval Office, has gone on a tweet storm, inserting not just his foot but both of his legs as well.

This guy doesn't know when to shut up.

You do not demand, insult, and insist when you are asking somebody for lots of money.

After offering a perfunctory thanks to America he goes on to rail about how Putin breaks his ceasefire promises and so apparently there should be no deal with him. He may have broken the deals in the past (or did Zelensky?) but if the U.S. brokers this it's a different matter entirely. (The Russians are great legalists and usually have a legal point when they do something even if we do now always like it. To blame them for breaking a deal is fine and dandy but often they have a reason that justifies such actions.)

Be that as it may, the fact is what Zelensky is calling for when he said "lasting peace" is a Russian surrender and the return of all territory, including Crimea, and maybe some extra territory to boot.

Zelensky and the American media forget that the Minsk Agreement was violated repeatedly by the Ukrainians. They damed the Dneiper to cut off water to Crimea. They closed pipeline access. They regularly shelled Russian forces in Crimea. They are not clean in this by any stretch.

If Putin violates the cease fire then it will trigger greater Western involvement. He knows that; he's not stupid. Zelensky knows it too. But zelensky doesn't want to pay for the war and for the peace; he's hoping to suck the U.S. in without giving any concessions to us. The mineral rights deal was wtered down to become very favorable to Ukraine but Zelensky STILL blew it up, and probably because he figures he can force the U.S. into the war anyway.

As they author of this piece points out, Zelensky basically took a cease-fire off the table, which took any negotiations off the table. Then he told Trump the U.S. was going to keep underwriting what is becoming HIS war.

Apparently Zelensky doesn't remember Versailles; after the First World War the Germans met with the Allies to discuss terms for peace. With Clemenceau and Wilson involved it morphed into a dictation of complete surrender by Germany, which only led to the rise of Naziism and the Second World War. But the point is the Germans would never havee accepted a surrender in the first place had those terms been made. Zelensky would have simply prolongued the war had he been one of the negotiators. (That wouldn't have been a bad thing; the war would have ended in a stalemate had the U.S. not stuck it's nose in and a stalemate would have left the governments that ran Germany and Austria in power, thus preventing the rise of Hitler. But this is a different situation and if Russia doesn't have something to gain to save face it will fire Putin - literally, with guns - and a far worse leader will take power there. Putin's possible replacements make him look positively Jimmy Carter-esque.)

Zelensky figures what has worked on Biden and on the leaders of Europe will work on Trump. He has another thing coming.

After spending $200 Billion to prop up his corrupt regime Trump may just pull the plug. Ukraine won't last long without aid. Zelensky is willing to lose his whole country out of personal pique and a misguided idea that he can actually win the war with Russia. He's like the dark knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who, after Arthur cuts off all four of his limbs, says "O.K. - we'll call it a draw!" The fool doesn't know he's already lost.

BTW Zelensky was rolling his eyes and mocking Trump nonverbally throughout the discussion, and making it clear he didn't respect the current President of the United States. He didn't walk out on his own either but was "escorted" out aka tossed out on his rump.

This was the right thing to do. In a tough negotiation you have to be ready to walk away from the table, or kick the other guy out.

Oh, one more thing; Zelensky met with Congressional Democrats just before his cocky up-yours to Trump. Coincidence? I think not.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 739 words, total size 5 kb.