So, here we go again. We’ve seen this happen before. Trump is pushing Ukraine instead of Putin. He’s pushing Zelenskyy instead of Putin, probably because he isn’t achieving what he wants with Putin.
I do not doubt that Trump wants this war over. I am not sure how much he understands what Putin is about. He may understand and pretend not to as a negotiation tactic. He may feel that if we just pressure President Zelenskyy enough, there will be a deal Putin can sign off on. That may be the reasoning, and it is the most generous interpretation I can offer for this behavior.
My reaction to this is: keep calm and carry on.
My other reaction is that Europe needs to do more. The US needs to do more too. However, this is a European war. It is also aimed at the US, through Iran and directly. But it is primarily a war that Putin has been waging against Europe for a while now, and Europe needs to see this as its prime responsibility.
The US should support Europe and Ukraine, because Ukraine is our best ally. Europe is our best ally. And American soft power matters. American soft power is part of why the United States is as strong as it is. Damaging American soft power by wavering on Ukraine support is not a winning formula. Let’s put it that way.
So how do we know that Zelenskyy is not the problem? How do we know that Putin is the problem?
Putin shows every day, through the bombing of civilian targets, that he has no interest in peace. If you want peace, you act like it.
Ukraine is striking military or dual-use targets. Some of the attacks Ukraine has had to carry out have also hit the civilian sector. But because everything in Russia is interconnected by now, there is no clearly civilian use of data centers or refineries. All of these are mixed civilian and military. Ukraine’s strategy is to limit Russia’s ability to wage war against it and to defend itself from attacks on civilians. Ukraine is not doing a bad job, but it needs our help.
Zelenskyy has always said he wants peace. But what does peace mean? Peace cannot mean that Russia dictates terms, conquers territory, and occupies it. We know what Russia has been doing there. We know how Ukrainians’ lives have been made hell under Russian rule, if they even survive. We’ve seen the reports. We know what’s happening. We’ve seen Russia’s track record in Chechnya, in Syria, in Ukraine. It is very clear what a so-called peace with Putin would mean.
If Zelenskyy is a difficult negotiation partner, maybe it is because the party that needs things explained to them doesn’t want to listen. Maybe that’s part of the problem. And that doesn’t just go for Trump. It goes for the Europeans as well.
Make no mistake: the resistance to helping Ukraine and Europe is high. The seduction of helping Russia is high. The temptation to return to a normality where everybody simply worked with Russia, and where we don’t have to talk about Ukraine in Europe, is high.
So, to Europeans: don’t put all the blame on Trump. He deserves some of it, but Europeans are to blame too. It is because of European weakness and collaboration with Putin, who has always been who he is, that we are in this situation.
Putin has made some nice speeches, but politicians’ speeches are irrelevant. Politicians’ actions matter.
Does Putin want peace? No. There is no indication of it. When Russian officials talk about wanting a peace deal instead of a ceasefire, what they mean is capitulation. They don’t want to negotiate. They want Zelensky to come to Moscow, sign something, and probably never return to Ukraine. Lavrov openly said no ceasefire, because they don’t want Ukraine to have a breather, not even for elections.
Zelensky is democratically elected, and he is supported by Ukraine’s parliament and its people. By law, there cannot be elections in Ukraine during the war. That’s the law. And how would they organize elections? Part of Ukraine is occupied. Part of Ukraine’s population is abroad. In occupied areas, there cannot be free elections.
If Trump thinks anybody else would be a better negotiation partner, think again. Zaluzhnyi is one of Zelenskyy’s main competitors. Do you think Zaluzhnyi wants to become president and surrender Ukraine to Russia? Think again. Do you think Poroshenko, Budanov, or even Fedorov want that? No. Any change in presidential leadership in Ukraine will run into the same problem. If Ukraine wants to survive, it cannot give in to Russia. And Russia is locked into this because of Putin.
We know who the problem is. It’s not Zelenskyy. It’s Putin. And he proves it every day by making life in Ukraine unbearable: by bombing, by destroying, by annihilating people. That’s the problem.
I understand some people are afraid of certain upcoming elections. But maybe that means we all need to speak up.
One of the vulnerabilities of democracy is that real elections carry real stakes. Russia hasn’t had real elections for years. Whatever we saw recently, those weren’t elections. That was a sham. Putin is not elected. Putin is mock-confirmed by the powers that be in Russia, and he has eliminated all opposition. That’s not an election. If you want to complain about a president who isn’t elected, point to Putin.
Putin proves every day that he doesn’t want peace. Zelenskyy proves everywhere that he wants peace, but a real peace: a just peace, one that lasts and does not enable Russia to strike at Europe next. Keep calm about this, but stay determined. Thank you. Bye-bye.
[This was originally posted to YouTube as a video. This post is a slightly abbreviated transcript, preserving the oral style of the video.]
