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Trump just kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House after a public shouting match.
I've never seen anything like this. I sort of expected Trump to give him a hard time just for the cameras, but this seems to have legitimately hurt relations. Zelenskyy was in town to sign the much-anticipated minerals deal. From what I can hear the deal was not signed.
Ukraine needs the US much more than the US needs Ukraine. Could Zelenskyy not keep his pride contained for a few hours?
"Have you said thank you?" "Yes, frequently." "But have you said thank you today?"
This is the way you talk to a child, not a junior partner. The US has bought vast amounts of soft power in Ukraine and a permanent ally on the doorstep of its long-term geopolitical adversary, and is squandering those expensive gains for the sake of Trump's TV show.
Zelensky is asking for American boys to die on the steppe in Ukraine on the other side of the world. And he's spent years trying to get that to happen. Honestly, quite a bit more should have been required of Zelensky.
Hardly, Ukraine is losing the war and has no path to victory. The only question left is how much Russia wants to take. And the only thing which stops that is vast escalation by a coalition putting boots on the ground in Russia to stop them. The European militaries are little more than paper jobs programs with empty armories.
The only country which isn't is Poland and you notice their behavior lately? They have no interest either. This is all about Europeans trying to get Americans to fight their war for them against Russia. No thanks; if Europeans want sovereignty they're going to have to earn it. If they want to fight Russia, they're going to have to convince their populations to hop into the shredder like so many poor Ukrainians.
Trump was trying to get some deal where Ukraine gets the "soft security guarantee" of Americans have property and interest in the country which would mean ongoing American interest in the long-term which should deter Russians from taking the rest of the country. This is something the Russians may accept. They will not accept and will not end the war if any European troops or "peacekeepers" are on the ground there. They will just keep fighting.
Instead, Zelensky attempted to push for hard security guarantees in front of cameras, which means a promise for American boys dying in Ukraine. So now, that's all likely lost.
I thought he was still just asking for materiel. When did he request troops?
The US has already sent lots of material. Ukraine and Europe want American security guarantees which means American soldiers and military in Ukraine protecting it from Russia. In my opinion, this whole fiasco is trying to manipulate the US into giving a guarantee so that Europe and Ukraine can get the US to fight this war for them. First it started with Europeans talking about "peacekeepers," but only with American security guarantees. The Russians will not allow European troops in Ukraine which means they will bomb European troops which go into Ukraine which would trigger the security guarantees.
This is why both the Biden admin and the Trump admin refuse to give such guarantees.
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