Foreign Policy Decisions

BACKGROUND

1) Alan Rappeport (Traveling with the secretary of state), “Ukraine Must Cede Territory in Any Peace Deal, Rubio Says
The secretary of state, heading to talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, said future talks with Moscow will be needed to determine what Russia is willing to give up to end the war,” New York Time, March 10, 2025 (Updated 4:18 p.m. ET);

2)Jonathan Chait, “Trump Drops the Mask; The president’s latest positions on the Russia-Ukraine war reveal that he is indifferent to ongoing slaughter—indeed, he is willing to increase it,” The Atlantic, March 10, 2025 (3:28 pm ET);

3) Macarena Vidal Liy y Cristian Segura, “EE UU y Ucrania afrontan en Arabia Saudí una cita crucial para el futuro de la guerra; Donald Trump asegura que está a punto de terminar la pausa en la ayuda de inteligencia al país invadido,” El País, el 10 de marzo, 2025 (00:40 EDT);

4) Macarena Vidal Liy y Cristian Segura,”The US and Ukraine face a crucial appointment in Saudi Arabia for the future of the war; Donald Trump assures that he is about to end the pause in intelligence aid to the invaded country, El País, March 10, 2025 (12:40 a.m. EDT);

BACKGROUND

1)”

2) Stéphanie Maupas (La Haye, correspondance)”Gaza : pourquoi le plan de Donald Trump est contraire au droit international; Selon les experts, les propos du président américain sur l’enclave palestinienne pourraient être constitutifs d’une « incitation directe à commettre un crime contre l’humanité’,”Le Monde, le 6 février 2025 (modifié à 14h23);

3) Stéphanie Maupas (The Hague, correspondence), “Gaza: why Donald Trump’s plan is contrary to international law; According to experts, the US president’s remarks about the Palestinian enclave could constitute a “direct incitement to commit a crime against humanity’,” Le Monde, February 6, 2025 (updated arc2:23 pm).

BACKGROUND

1) Ohillips, P. O’Brien, “Weekend Update #123: The Week The USA Started Killing Ukrainians; Part 1: The Trump Plan to Damage Ukraine and Help Russia,” Phillip’s Newsletter, March 7, 2025;

BACKGROUND

Lluís Nassets, “¡Europa, no te rindas!; El trecho recorrido es notable, pero más rápido ha corrido el tiempo histórico hasta precipitarse en el súbito deshielo entre Washington y Moscú,” El País, el 18 de febrero 2025(12:0e EST);

2)Lluís Bassets, “Europe, don’t give up!; The stretch traveled is remarkable, but historical time has run faster until it rushes into the sudden thaw between Washington and Moscow,” El País, February 18, 2025 (12:93 EST);

3)Phillips Payson O’Brien and Eliot A. Cohen, “Russia Is Losing the War of Attrition; Ukraine is not on the verge of collapse. That makes the Trump administration’s decisions particularly shortsighted and tragic,” The Atlantic, March 7, 202 (11:13 a.m. ET);

4)Jacques Follorou, “Les périls cachés derrière des pourparlers de paix sur l’Ukraine, selon les renseignements baltes; Les services d’Estonie, de Lettonie et de Lituanie estiment que « la Russie se prépare à une confrontation à long terme avec l’OTAN »., Le Monde, le 7 mars 2025 (modifié à 16h20);

5)”The hidden dangers behind peace talks on Ukraine, according to Baltic intelligence; The services of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania believe that “Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation with NATO,” Le Monde, March 7, 2025 Updated at 4:20 p.m.);

6)Dana Milbank, “Trump is fast dismantling the free press. We all have to stop him; It’s part of a broader crackdown on the civil liberties of those who disagree with the president,” Washington Post, March 7, 2025 (7:15 a.m. EST);

7) Erwin Chemerinsky,”The One Question That Really Matters: If Trump Defies the Courts, Then What?” New York Times, March 7, 2025;

BACKGROUND

1)”‘People Are Going Silent’: Fearing Retribution, Trump Critics Muzzle Themselves; People say they are intimidated by online attacks from the president, concerned about harm to their businesses or worried about the safety of their families,” New York Times, March 6, 2025;

2) Michel Guerrin (Rédacteur en chef au « Monde »), “Donald Trump fait cent fois pire que ce qu’ils avaient imaginé et les artistes américains restent muets. Par peur et par intérêt; Alors que les acteurs de la culture attaquaient haut et fort le républicain lors de son premier mandat, ceux-ci ne prennent plus la parole aujourd’hui, craignant en partie de déplaire aux classes populaires qui regardent leurs films et écoutent leur musique, relève, dans sa chronique, Michel Guerrin,” Le Monde, le 14 mars 2025 (modifié à 09h46);

3) Michel Guerrin (Editor-in-chief at Le Monde), “Donald Trump is doing a hundred times worse than they had imagined and American artists remain silent. For fear and interest; World”
While the actors of culture attacked the Republican loudly and clear during his first term, they no longer speak today, fearing in part of displeasing the popular classes who watch their films and listen to their music, notes, in his column, Michel Guerrin, editor-chief of Le Monde,” Le Monde, March 14, 2025 (updated ar 9:46 am);

President Donald Trump, according to all tge evidenve, appears to be Russian agent.

Read tgat line again.

Try to digest the significance of tgat fact.

Think for few minutes about the implications.

Take a few minutes to write down the implications that occur to you.

Trump has directed tge head of tge Cyber Command of the armed forces to desist from developing countermeasures directed against Russia.

Yesterday Trump vut off all foreign assistance to Ukraine.

Should these moves come as a surprise?

Absolutely not!

What else would you expect a Russian agent under the control of Vladimir Putin to do?

Putin’s Puppet and all age little Russian puppets who serve under him are just beginning.

What can patriots do to defend the country from the Russian onslaught?

Take a few minutes to think about that. Write down your thoughts.

Share them with other readers in the Comments section.

BACKGROUND

1)Julian E. Barnes, David E. Sanger and Helene Cooper, “Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Stop Offensive Cyberoperations Against Russia; The defense secretary’s instructions, which were given before President Trump’s blowup with the Ukrainian president, are apparently part of an effort to draw Russia into talks on the war,” New York Times, March 2, 2025 (5:21 p.m. ET);

2) Minho Kim, “Rubio Attacks Zelensky, Firmly Defending Trump and Vance; Facing a wave of criticism from his former Senate colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the complaints lobbed by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance against Ukraine’s leader,” New York Times, March 2, 2025 (Updated 2:43 p.m. ET);

BACKGROUND

1)”Marc A. Thiessen, “Zelensky must mend the breach with Trump — or resign; Zelensky’s stubbornness has badly hurt Ukraine,” Washington Post, March 2, 2025 (6:07 p.m. ET);

2)Minho Kim, “Rubio Attacks Zelensky, Firmly Defending Trump and Vance; Facing a wave of criticism from his former Senate colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the complaints lobbed by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance against Ukraine’s leader,” New York Times, March 2, 2025 (Updated 2:43 p.m. ET);

Marc A. Thiessen, a right-wing columnist who can be reliably counted on to shill for Donald Trump and the Republicans, though he occasionally come up with a balanced opinion, is a strong contender for First Place in this week’s “the Best of the Worst” contest.

After the brutal assault on Ukraian President Wolodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday, February 28, 2025, by Vice-President J.D. Vance and President Donald Trump, in which they heaped massive “disrespect” on the elected President of Ukraine charging him with disrespecting the President and the Oval Office, Thiessen has offered up an op-ed opinion which almost as shameful and sickening as the blow-up which is the subject of the column.

Who disrespected who, Mr. Thiessen?

Thiessen wrote:

The blowup was Zelensky’s fault. To understand why, one needs to watch the entire 50-minute meeting unfold. Trump greeted Zelensky graciously, praising the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people, and dismissed their earlier rift as “a little negotiations spat.”

Even after Zelensky refused a White House request to wear a suit, Trump praised his outfit, saying, “I think he’s dressed beautifully.” Trump extolled the minerals deal they had reached and said, “We look forward to getting in and digging, digging, digging.” He publicly pledged to continue military aid to Ukraine and even held out the possibility that he “could conceivably” commit U.S. troops alongside British and French troops to provide security after a peace deal was reached.

This should have been music to Zelensky’s ears. He should have taken the win. Instead, about 24 minutes in — long before his terse exchange with Vice President JD Vance — Zelensky started criticizing Trump in front of the assembled reporters.

Zelensky’s intervention was reckless and unnecessary. He was in Washington to heal a breach that began with his public suggestion that Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation space” — a suggestion that prompted Trump to lash out and call Zelensky a “dictator without elections.” Why would he do it again? You could see Trump’s demeanor stiffening with every public contradiction from Zelenski.

So, according to Thiessen, Zelensky was at fault because he provoked the blow-up by speaking forthrightly about the history of the Russian aggression against his country, and the failure of diplomacy to stop Putin’s war aimed at the elimination of Ukraine.

Moreover, he dared to refer to the facts, which Vance took to be the ultimate offense of criticizing the Kin in the presence of the King–the ultimate expression of lèse majesté.

Not to be outdone by Thiessen, Secretary of State Marco Rubio debased himself by doubling down on J.D. Vance’s and Donald Trump’s shameful attack on Zelensky. If the U.S. doesn not become a completely fascist state, if the Republican Party is ever recaptured by non pro-Russian Republicans, Rubio’s Sunday morning TV appearance may foreclose any ambitions tge Secretary of State may have for higher office.

Trump us a grand master of the art of inciting supporters to debase themselves in a career-ending manner.

On ABC’s Sunday Morning” talk shiw, Rubio asserted:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday fiercely defended President Trump’s sharp turn against Ukraine’s leader, accusing President Volodymyr Zelensky of trying to derail the peace process with Russia by openly challenging Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance in a heated televised exchange from the Oval Office.

“What Zelensky did, unfortunately, is that he found every opportunity to try to ‘Ukraine-splain’ on every issue,” Mr. Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Then he confronts the vice president.”

Mr. Rubio was in the Oval Office when Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance launched a public attack on Mr. Zelensky on Friday after the Ukrainian president, seeking to underscore Ukraine’s need for U.S. security guarantees in any cease-fire agreement with Russia, began running through Russia’s repeated aggressions on his country since 2014.

Mr. Vance interrupted, characterizing Mr. Zelensky’s efforts to elaborate the Ukrainian perspective in front of reporters and television cameras as “disrespectful” and scolding him for not being sufficiently grateful for U.S. support. Mr. Trump, his voice raised, then accused Mr. Zelensky of “gambling with World War III.”

BACKGROUND

1)”U.S. votes against U.N. resolution condemning Russia for Ukraine war; Washington’s shift on the conflict marks a major break with Europe and coincides with the Trump administration’s bid to repair relations with Moscow.,” Washington Post, February 24, 2024, ( 2:46 p.m. EST);

2)David Frum, “At Least Now We Know the Truth; It’s ugly, but necessary to face,” The Atlantic, February 28, 2028;

3)”Garry Kasparov, The Putinization of America; Trump’s deference to the Russian dictator has become full-blown imitation, The Atlantic, February 28, 2025 (7:00 a.m.ET);

4)Thomas L. Friedman, “This Never Happened With an American President Before,” New York Times, Februaty 28, 2025;

What will it take to remove a lawless pro-Russian president hell-bent on tearing down the rule of law and our democratic institutions, and programs enacted by Congress through our democratically-elected Congressmen and Senators?

What will it take?

The questiin assumes, of course, that the near comatose democratic body politic of American can becwoken up.

It assumes tgat fascism ant tyranny in America can becreversed.

But what swaits us if tgey cab’t be reversed, at least in our lifetimes.

As in Germany in tge 1930’s, things may roll along for a number of years rithout life changing fir most people in significantvways.

Of course, some people were affected. Hews and gypsies, forvexample.

Some political and military leaderscwere killed, but that didn’t affect most peopke.

Is tgere a road back to democracy and tge rule of law?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Today the United States u der Trump voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia for its invadpsiin of Ukraine three years ago, on February 24, 2022.

The vote was ________?

***

The General Assembly then voted to adopt three amendments by European countries, adding language to the U.S. resolution that called out Russia as the invading aggressor, and reiterated the U.N. commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and prewar international borders under a “just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”

The Assembly then approved the amended resolution by a vote of 93 to 8, with 73 abstentions. The United States abstained on the amended version of its own resolution.

Voting against were Ryssua, Belarus, NotyjKLorea, Venezuela abd Cuba.
…
In addition to Haiti, countries voting against Ukraine’s resolution included Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Hungary, Israel, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Niger and Sudan.
…
Sixty-five countries abstained, including China, the Persian Gulf nations, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Yemen, Vietnam and much of Africa.

We are fighting a gydra-headed fascist monster.

Stop hacking at the arms.

strike at the directing brain. Destroy tge minster at its core.

Impeach Trump now.

We know, or should know, things are no going to get get so long as Trump us President.

House Democrats should immediately table a bill of impeachment.

They should then add particulars, in tge operative form of a motion that can be voted on.

What are they aiting for?

Are they waiting for a mikitary coup to actually take place, after Trump has replaced all our mikitary leaders with hus lackeys?

By then it may be too late.

What are we waiting for America?

Do you not yet understand what us going down?

Trump and the fascistscare building a totalitarian government, and tgey intend to seize power through unconstitutional means.

Wake up, America!

Call and write your Congressman, and demand tgat a biklof impeachment be tabled now