The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine began in 2014 and culminated in a full-scale invasion in 2022. It violates international law regarding the “inviolability” of European borders (Helsinki Agreement), “threat or use of force” (UN Charter and Budapest Memorandum) and war crimes, including attacks against civilians (Geneva Conventions). Moreover, Russia’s war against Ukraine is the biggest threat to European and world security, including the United States, since WWII.
Russian military casualties total over one million dead and wounded – Ukrainians know how to defend their country. Ukrainian military casualties total over 400,000 dead and wounded, with thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed or injured, and many Ukrainian cities and towns now rubble. Russian troops have also committed unspeakable war crimes against Ukrainian POWs and civilians.
The U.S. under Biden stood with Ukraine, extending over $61 billion in military aid. But Trump has ended most direct U.S. military aid. And, Europe has now surpassed the U.S. in total military aid to Ukraine. During the presidential campaign Trump asserted over 50 times that he would end the war in 24 hours (CNN). Perhaps he had the 1938 Munich Agreement in mind. That was when France and Great Britain began the process of handing over Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. British Prime Minister Chamberlain said it would guarantee “peace in our time.” Czech territory was just real estate to Chamberlain.
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It’s apt that Trump asked Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer, to be his primary negotiator with Putin, putting forward a 28 point deal. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators were briefed by Secretary of State Rubio. They quoted Rubio as having said it was a “wish list of the Russians.” Later Bloomberg published a transcript of a phone conversation between Witkoff and a top aide to Putin: Witkoff was “coaching Russia in Ukraine negotiations” (NYT). Nebraska GOP Representative Don Bacon said: “We hate appeasing Putin’s Russia and throwing Ukraine, (which) wants freedom and independence, under Putin’s bus. The … 28 point surrender plan was disgusting.”
The Witkoff-Putin plan called for Ukraine to give up all territory lost to Russia plus more land; agree to severe limits on the Ukrainian military, including a cap on the number of troops and no long-range weapons; never to join NATO; no European military force in Ukraine to guarantee its security; sanctions against Russia would end and it would be “reintegrated into the global economy” (NYT). Trump demanded Ukraine agree by Thanksgiving Day or lose any U.S. support.
Trump’s ultimatum encountered several roadblocks: Ukraine is unwilling to surrender; the European Union said “borders can’t be changed by force” and opposed limits on Ukraine’s military and said the deal didn’t provide security for Ukraine or Europe; and the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus denounced the deal as rewarding Putin “over the sovereignty and security of a democratic Ukraine.”
However, all Wisconsin GOP members of Congress mindlessly follow Trump and Putin. Their subservience to Trump and appeasement is appalling. They and Trump are Putin’s lapdogs. Putin, greenlighted by Trump, will not stop at Ukraine’s borders.
– Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.
