I am afraid the world has turned a corner and we are facing a huge amount of uncertainty as three megalomaniacs are currently running it: Putin, Trump and Musk. Ethics and morality do not factor in his thinking process. It is all about the deal, power and holding the cards for leverage in deal making. No references to what is the right thing to do in terms of the welfare of the Ukrainian people and the sovereignty of Ukraine. Worse: Trump agrees with Putin’s expansionist policies as he has the same desires. ” Trump’s plan to annex Greenland, make Canada the 51st state, as well as his plans for peace in Ukraine and what to do with Gaza amount to expansion.” – Daily Mail.
The world knows that Trump has told untruths about Zelensky in this round of peace talks in describing him as a dictator and that he started the war. Trump demanded a fresh election in Ukraine despite being in the middle of a raging war and the impossibility of completing fair elections under martial law.
Now, today, his side-kick and attack dog, Elon Musk has thrown his hat into the ring and strongly insulted Zelensky in the most distressing terms in saying:
Zelensky is a “massive graft machine feeding off the dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers”.
Musk added that:
“If Zelensky was actually loved by the people of Ukraine he would hold an election. He knows he would lose in a landslide. So, he cancelled the election.”
Musk also claims that the 57% approval rating of Zelensky was a “Zelensky-controlled poll”. Trump said that Zelensky has a 4% approval. Trump is a spokesperson for Putin in providing that figure. And it is impossible to hold elections in Ukraine at present.
To me – my opinion – this is all BS from Musk. But there is a purpose: to play mind games to undermine Zelensky to get him to agree Trump’s terms on a peace deal which is to hand over half the precious metals in the ground in Ukraine to the US as payment for the support provided thus far and in the future.
Trump has reduced peace talks to a commercial deal-making game. Like many business people before him he regards the Russia-Ukraine war as an opportunity to make billions of dollars for America and himself. Musk has the same mentality. They are carving up the world.
Trump has promised US prosperity under his ‘dictatorship”. Yes, using copious executive orders he is behaving like a dictator himself. What he is doing is impossible in the UK.
Trump and Musk have totally ignored the fact that Putin is the true dictator and that it is Putin who needs to stop having sham elections.
But Trump and Putin have decided to carve up Ukraine into two portions as if it is a joint of beef. Each is going to take 50% of the gas, oil, minerals and precious metals of Ukraine after Putin takes over the country in its entirety.
Russia and Ameria will form a strong commercial partnership in the future. Ukraine is irrelevant to them except in being a vehicle to greater riches.
Trump’s U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff secured the release from Russian imprisonment of American school teacher Marc Fogel. Witkoff said he had a long meeting with Putin during which they formed a friendship.
What did he promise? A lot: future cooperation between America and Russia and the lifting of sanctions etc. He promised everything that Putin wants which is why Fogel was released.
This is a paradigm shift in US-Russia relations. And in the concept of morality and ethics. In the dealings of Trump and Musk there is no referencing to morality and ethics. They are subsumed entirely by business dealings.
Poor Zelensky is now a pawn in billionaire business dealings on a grand and unprecedented scale and the world is a lot poorer for it.
What of the Ukrainian people? The UK could run a poll using smartphones asking them what they wanted. The people of Ukraine need to be consulted immediately. Do they want to be ruled by Russia or remain an independent sovereign state. Ask them.
And what of China. They will now seize the opportunity to invade Taiwan as they know that America will stand by and watch. Xi Jinping has made it his mission to reclaim Taiwan as if they are a wayward child who needs to be brought into the family fold.
Updating: Trump said that he is sick of Zelensky negotiating peace without any ‘cards’ meaning strengths. But he has right on his side: the preservation of sovereignty. What would Trump do if Russia invaded Alaska over the Bering Strait? Would he roll over?
Gerard Baker of The Times comments: “In siding with Putin over Zelensky, president has broken with the moral basis underpinning American foreign policy”. Agreed. He makes the same point that I am making: Trump’s lack of morality in the way he has approached the peacekeeping process. The US has now become the bad guy.
All Trump wants to do it to make money out of the Ukraine war. Peace will be a byproduct. He also wants the Nobel Peace Prize we are told! He won’t get it simply based on the way he operates.
America needs to ask the Ukrainians what they want. It is possible to do it as I believe that most retain smartphones and therefore could receive a polling questionnaire over the internet. The poll should be run by an independent, trusted provider. So far, they have been entirely left out of the negotiations by Trump. He is speaking over their heads.
Zelensky has often referred to the people of Ukraine and how for instance they need to be consulted on giving up mineral rights as under the constitution they own Ukrainian soil.
One last point! Trump lives on debt. He sees no problem with debt and therefore US national debt which has steadily grown to unprecedented levels with no signs of tackling it as the American people don’t want to accept the harsh reality that they are living beyond their means. American spends more on debt interest payments that in supporting the Department of Defense (well over 1 trillion dollars annually).
