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The Wish List

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Steve Witkoff with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev


It appears that someone forgot to tell Donald that the 28-Point Peace Plan for Ukraine was a draft, not a final plan. He was so happy to see his name emblazed on it that he brazenly told the world that it was time for the war to end. He gave Pres. Zelenskyy until Thanksgiving to sign it or the future wouldn't look so bright for Ukraine.

This plan was apparently written up at Mar-a-Lago in October. The alleged authors are Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Kirill Dmitriev. The Russian special envoy managed to sneak over on a flight to Miami without anyone knowing about it until afterward, as he and his investment firm were on the US Treasury sanction list. No matter, Russia denies having any involvement in the negotiations. Apparently, Kirill was there on his own cognizance to help Jared and Steve sort out the finer points of this agreement.

Thanks to Donald's big mouth no one got a chance to review the plan before it was "leaked."  Needless to say NATO countries were stunned by the conditions set, as they had no heads up. The plan explicitly calls for member nations to cease and desist in providing military support to Ukraine, especially jet fighters, which France recently promised. Not only that but the plan kneecaps Ukraine by limiting the size of its standing army and insisting the country make numerous territorial concessions including land they currently occupy.  Seems Vlad is not happy with only two-thirds of the Donbas region.  He wants the two oblasts in total after the Duma declared Donetsk and Luhansk autonomous republics back in 2022, precipitating this war. The only "concession" on his part appears to be a willingness to split Kherson and Zaporizhzhia with Ukraine along the Dnipro River, completing his land corridor to Crimea.

In a somber speech, Pres. Zelinskyy mournfully stated that his country had been given the choice of losing their dignity or losing a key partner in their ongoing war. While the US no longer provides much in the way of munitions, it provides key logistical support that allows Ukraine to monitor Russia's actions.

NATO allies have since responded to the so-called peace plan, as has the EU. Both were left out of discussions in Mar-a-Lago. They have tried to remain as diplomatic as possible under the circumstances, calling for a meeting in Geneva to iron out this agreement so that it is not so one-sided.  The "peace plan" currently reads like terms of surrender on Ukraine's part.

Sadly, I knew it would turn out this way. The Trump administration was just stalling for time as it tried to work out a mutually beneficial deal to split rare mineral assets in Ukraine between itself and Russia.  The Trump administration has no real interest in the fate of Ukraine, even calling for elections to be held in 100 days and the Constitution to be rewritten to formally bar the country from joining NATO and accepting its diminished state. If Zelenskyy agreed to this, he most assuredly would lose any support among the Ukrainian people who have weathered this brutal war for over three years. Since Zelenskyy most likely won't accept these terms, it puts us right back at square one when Trump first came to office and chastised the Ukrainian president for not agreeing to the great mineral deal his administration had proposed. It lengthy document had been previously delivered by courier to Kyiv and Donald couldn't understand why it hadn't been signed.

I'm not sure where we go next. I'm glad to see Europe stand up to Trump. I don't think we will get a replay of all that fawning we saw at the White House this past summer after Trump's "historic Alaska summit" with Putin. Everything is transactional with Lord Trump. Ukraine is nothing more than an annoyance to him. Something he no longer wants to deal with.

The only real hope is that the Republican party stands up to him as there are many within the caucus who are shocked by the one-sided nature of this document. US Senators were under the impression this was a Russian wish list not a final agreement. Several Republican Senators have condemned this "peace plan," calling on new advisors to lead the negotiations as Witkoff and Kushner have proven to be miserable failures. In response, the White House sent US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to deliver the plan to Zelenskyy. Yet another unproven emissary who is apparently a friend of JD Vance. Former Gen. Keith Kellogg was considered to chummy with Ukraine and has been relieved of his duties.

Not since Yalta has the US so actively conspired with Russia to threaten European security. At that time, FDR essentially gave Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union, dividing Europe into two spheres of influence and spawning the Cold War. In a speech on a cold winter's day in Vilnius in late 2002, George W. Bush promised "no more Yaltas!" It cleared the path for Lithuania and other Eastern European countries to join NATO in 2004, finally pulling themselves out of the Russian/Soviet sphere of influence.  Unfortunately, Ukraine was mired in chaos at the time, going through its Orange Revolution in an effort to breakaway from Moscow's control. 

These countries wanted their independence after decades of Soviet control. They didn't want to be part of any post-Soviet order symbolized in the Commonwealth of Independent States. NATO was a means of insuring their countries against future Russian aggression and the EU a means of rebuilding their economies. A very real fear as witnessed when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, seized Crimea in 2014, and intervened in Syria in 2015, which resulted in a massive wave of refugees to European countries that threatened their social stability and led to electoral chaos at the polls.

Trump is either completely oblivious to history or simply doesn't care. For him this is nothing more than a real estate transaction that he seems to think will bring an end to the war. For European countries it is an existential threat that has led to ramping up military budgets and stronger cooperation between states.  Maybe Macron was right when he called for a European army in 2018. It sounded a bit Napoleonic at the time, but more and more it makes sense if European countries can no longer rely on the US to have their back.


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