LOS ANGELES.–Sending billionaire Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, 63, half-way around the world to pick up a signed agreement in Kiev on rare mineral mining in Ukraine, Bessant was met with 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensly sleeping.  Trump called the treatment of Bessent rude, but, more importantly, didn’t walk away with the rare minerals deal designed to repay the U.S. for its $300 billion investment in Kiev’s government and war with Russia.  Zelensky isn’t happy about Trump proceeding to reset U.S.-Russian relations, something he didn’t expect with, for four years, 82-year-old former President Joe Biden did everything to alienate the Russian Federation.  Biden thought funding a proxy war with the Kremlin and economic sanctions would force 72-year-old Russian President Russian President Vladimir Putin into removing his troops from Ukraine.

            Zelensky was used to Biden doing everything possible to punish the Russian Federation thinking it would somehow win the war in Ukraine.  Biden believed Ukrainian propaganda when it said Putin suffered from a terminal illness and his military was near collapse. Three years later, Zelensky fights a perpetual war with no end in sight with Russia making steady progress on its 600-mile battlefront seizing more sovereign Ukrainian territory.  Biden said he would lead a vast coalition to stop Putin but found out that China, India and many other countries took a neutral stand on the war and continue to do business with Russia. Putin got to the point where he realized that the entire Western Alliance was fighting to topple his government with Biden declaring the object of the war in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war.

            So, when Trump came into the picture Jan. 20, it threw Ukraine and European allies for a loop, not realizing that Trump was dead serious about ending the Ukraine war and resetting normal diplomatic relations with the Kremlin.  Zelensky complained at the Munich Security Conference last week that he was excluded from U.S. peace talks with the Russian Federation, but, more importantly, that Trump had abandoned European security, encouraging the EU to form its own army to defend Europe.  Zelensky has been trying to get NATO membership for years, knowing that it defends European security.  But now, after told several times by NATO because Ukraine doesn’t’ qualify, Zelensky urges the EU to form its own army.  National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said that Bessent came to Ukraine with a generous proposal to mine rare minerals and provide security.

            Zelensky obviously wasn’t ready to sign then but he’s gradually coming to his senses after insulting 78-year-old President Donald Trump.  Zelensky said Trump lives in a Russia “disinformation space,” meaning he was duped by Putin, the same message once given in 2016 by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton while running for president.  “Why we’re getting this pushback and certainly this, kind of, as the vice president said, “bad-mouthing in the press for all the administration has done, in his first term as well, and all the United States has done for Ukraine, it’s just—it’s unacceptable,” Waltz said.  “They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal,” Waltz said.  Zelensky misinformed his European allies that Trump excluded him from talks with Russia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Talks in Riyadh were about restoring normal diplomatic relations.

            Vice President J.D. Vance said Zelensky’s approach of insulting Trump in public would not result in anything beneficial to Ukraine.  “The idea that Zelensky is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media . . . everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to with the administration,” serving notice to Zelensky that his disparaging comments must stop.  Trump wants Zelensky to sign the rare earth minerals deal that will help with post-war security by having the U.S. vested in the rare earth mineral industry sending a strong message to Putin about U.S. business ties.  Waltz rejected in the strongest possible terms that the U.S. has not consulted Ukrainians about the status of any peace talks or U.S. efforts to reset normal diplomatic relations with Russia. Zelensky knows Trump is committed to ending the armed conflict.

            Waltz disputed Zelensky’s claim that he and the EU have not been consulted about U.S. peace plans or attempts to reset normal diplomatic relations.  French President Emmanuel, 47, Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, 62, are due to meet with Trump next week at the White House.  But both have been kept apprised to U.S. plans to end the war and reset normal U.S.-Russian relations. “This notion that the Ukrainians haven’t been consulted, I have to push back on that,” Waltz said, saying he’s been speaking with his Ukrainian counterpart frequently.  “So we are consulting our allies.  We’re consoling the Ukrainians.  There’s a term for this in diplomacy, it’s called shuttle diplomacy, because bringing everybody to the table at once just hasn’t worked in the past,” Waltz said.  Zelensky’s propaganda team needs, as Waltz says, to tone it down.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.