LOS ANGELES.–When 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was asked to leave the White House Feb. 28 for blowing up in the Oval Office, the knee-jerk reaction of the European Union was to blame 78-year-old President Donald Trump. No world leader would tolerate Zelensky’s outburst in friendly territory, with a close ally that’s spent over $300 billion defending Ukraine from the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion. Yet Democrats and the corrupt U.S. press used it to slam Trump when he simply reacted to Zelensky’s atrocious behavior. EU officials called emergency meetings in Paris and London, all to discuss next steps in the Ukraine War, recognizing its three years anniversary. Trump has been working feverishly with 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin to find a compromise to end the war and restore peace on the European Continent.
Certain members of the EU used Zelensky’s disaster that the White House to give moral support to the beleaguered leader that has managed in three years to collect billions from the U.S. and EU to wage war against the Kremlin. Former President Joe Biden virtually gave Zelensky a blank check for the last three years, knowing that all his promises of vanquishing the Russian Federation didn’t come true. Biden and his former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in 2022 that the aim of the U.S. mission in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. If that’s not a declaration of war, then what is? Biden came to eat his words as Putin doubled down saying he was fighting an existential crisis against the collective West, trying topple this government. Biden and Zelensky told each other that all Ukraine needed was more cash-and-weapons to beat Russia.
EU officials went along with Biden’s requests to sanction Putin for his Ukraine invasion, ending in some places Russian oil and natural gas sales to the EU. Biden went a step further, calling for a Russian oil embargo, which boomeranged on the U.S. driving oil prices through the roof, fueling the worst inflation seen in the U.S. in over 40 years. Biden never acknowledged the damaging economic effect of removing Russian oil from the U.S. and EU, causing shortages and skyrocketing prices. Today’s inflation still lingers no matter how much the Federal Reserve intervened to hike interest rates, leaving rates at a 20-year high. Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer jumped at the chance to grandstand, insisting that the EU would pick up the slack if Trump decided to stop funding the war. Trump has signaled he plans to restore normal U.S.-Russian relations.
Zelensky couldn’t control his anger in Trump’s presence knowing that, unlike Biden, Trump was seeking to make amends with the Kremlin. Zelensky never really understood that the U.S. had a long history of diplomatic relations with the Kremlin since the end of WW II. U.S. officials recognized Russia’s sacrifices to stop the Nazis in WW II, losing a staggering 28 million Russians compared to the U.S. losing about 400,000. Germany certainly understands the damage caused to Russia in WW II, presenting problems for Germany considering directly going to war with the Kremlin. Macron and Starmer also want nothing to do with financing Ukraine’s war with the Kremlin. It was one thing to support Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine, still another to have a direct link to the EU. No matter what sympathy they have for Ukraine, EU officials have real objections to funding war against the Kremlin.
Zelensky said he regretted his furious row with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office. EU officials need to take Zelensky seriously an let him make amends with Trump to move the peace process forward with Russia. Macron doesn’t help anything saying he sees Russia as an implacable threat to the EU in the future. “Indeed, if a country can invade its neighbor in Europe with impunity, then no one can be sure of anything anymore, and it is the law of the strongest that applies, and peace can no longer be guaranteed on our continent itself,” Macron said, in a nationwide address. Macron has gone over the deep end not recognizing that Biden was arming Ukraine to the teeth over Kremlin objections. Macron has gone overboard in taking Ukraine’s side, not recognizing that U.S. arming Ukraine was a mistake. Putin tried to reason with Biden but he ignored Putin’s requests for talks.
Demonizing Russia has gone on for too long in the U.S. and now the EU, not looking at the big picture in Ukraine. Ukraine was not really part of Europe, it was a former satellite of the Soviet Union. So when Macron talks about dangers to Europe, he’s ignoring the history. Biden violated every promise made to Russia after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia was promised that NATO wouldn’t encroach on its territory, yet that exactly what happened with Ukraine. Zelensky kept pushing for NATO membership provoking Putin into taking defensive actions. When you add to that, all the lethal weapons supplied by Biden to Zelensky, that was enough to trigger Putin’s “special military operation.” Macron knows that the EU isn’t going to underwrite Ukraine’s war with the Kremlin. Instead of dividing the EU and U.S., Macron would be better off telling Zelensky to fix his relationship with Trump.
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.
