Hendrix's Eccentric Commentary

2/13/2025

Apparently Donald Trump, President of the United States and Vladimir Putin, President of Russia are to meet and end the war in Ukraine. Ukraine is not invited.  I would like to suggest Munich as a suitable location.  On his return to the United States Trump can wave a paper copy of whatever agreement is reached and proclaim “peace in our time.”

If anyone misses the reference, this is a comparison to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s meeting with Adolph Hitler in Munich where Chamberlain essentially sold out Czechoslovakia in return for Hitler’s guarantee that he would make no more territorial demands in Europe.  One year later, Hitler invaded Poland.  As the saying goes, history does not necessarily repeat itself, but it does rhyme.  It is rhyming beautifully at the moment. 

Before the meeting has even begun, Donald Trump, abetted by Pete Hegseth has already conceded, without receiving anything in return, that Russia can keep the chunk of Ukraine it has captured, and they have stated that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO.  This is not the starting position for a negotiation, this is a capitulation that gives Putin everything he wants.   

Trump and Putin are recreating an ugly past when “Great Powers” sat down and settled the affairs of the world without any consideration or consultation with the people whose affairs they were settling.  This amounts to a vile betrayal. Ukraine is apparently not allowed to attend the conference that will decide its fate — nor is the rest of Europe.

In terms of the  security situation in Europe it is hard to see how this does anything other than let Putin get away with grabbing someone else’s territory and openly encourages him to do it again. Georgia perhaps?  Can NATO rely on the US to honor Article 5 and come to their aid if Putin try to grab or muscle a NATO member. Lithuania, Poland perhaps?  Would anyone trust US security guarantees again?  Would that be to America’s advantage?  The very fact that the questions will be asked answers them.  

Trump and Hegseth might want to lessen US involvement and Europe and focus on the Indo-Pacific, but America still needs a secure Europe to its east across the Atlantic before it deals with any situation emerging to the west across the Pacific. The US cannot simply turn its back on Europe and assume everything will be OK — especially if it suggest by its actions that it is prepared to leave Europe in the lurch.

Beyond this, Trump, Hegseth, and their minions correctly have identified China as perhaps the most dangerous threat the US faces in the world today.  War might not be a probability but it is unquestionably a possibility — one that must be prepared for.  What Trump, Hegsth et al do not seem to have grasped is that, if worst comes to worst, we cannot go it alone — we need allies, reliable ones and lots of them.  Taking action that effectively abandons Ukraine to the Russians and essentially stabs our NATO allies in the back can only make any current or potential allies doubt that the US can be relied upon and will be there when they are needed.  It strongly suggests that it might be necessary to make the best possible agreement with China that they possibly can and begin to separate their interests from those of the US. 

In short, the actions of Trump and company in attempting to cut Ukraine loose and settle the war on Putin’s terms are foreign policy malpractice.  Given the current political situation in the Unites States there seems no way to stop this disaster.

Perhaps the best epitaph for the actions of Trump and crew might have been uttered by Talleyrand describing the actions of an immoral dictator two centuries  ago:  “It was worse than a crime, it was a blunder.”