LOS ANGELES.–Visiting Kiev on the eve of a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s military bases, 69-year-old Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said that Putin was preparing for more war not peace. Well, if 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thinks attacking deep inside Russia and destroying one third of its strategic bombers invites 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin to the peace table then Graham and Blumenthal are on a different planet. Both senators 100% backed former President Joe Biden’s proxy war with the Kremlin and push Trump to continue the war by slapping Russia with new economic sanctions. Both senators propose new legislation hitting the Kremlin with a new, more punitive round of economic sanctions. Graham and Blumenthal want to continue the war, not seek a peaceful end.
Calling Ukraine “ever resourceful,” Graham and Blumenthal praised Zelensky’s attack on Russia as a big success. But the attack on Russia comes on the eve of a second round of peace talks in Istanbul, making the peace process next to impossible. If Trump looks at the situation objectively, it’s not Putin that opposes peace in Ukraine, it’s actually Neocons in the U.S. House and Senate that want to continue the Biden proxy war strategy with Russia. Putin has begun speaking to the U.S. again but only because Trump has assured Putin that the U.S. under his watch no longer funds proxy war against Russia. Graham and Blumenthal would have Trump reverse course and join the European Union to hit Russia with more sanctions to force Putin to make concessions at the peace table. Trump is smart enough to know that it will only perpetuate an unwinnable war.
Why Graham and Blumenthal sees Biden’s proxy war with the Kremlin as good for U.S. foreign policy and national security is anyone’s guess. Biden wrecked decades of diplomacy, détente, arms control and global cooperation with the Russian Federation. Putin saw the U.S. as a mortal enemy trying to undermine his Kremlin regime. Biden actually said 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? Trump gets nothing but flack from Neocons in the House and Senate hoping his peace efforts fail. Trump got frustrated last week calling Putin “crazy” for continuing to strike Ukraine with drone and missile attacks. But looking at Ukraine’s recent attacks, what’s Putin supposed to do? All the U.S. fake news wants Trump to abandon peace plans and go back to war with Putin.
Graham, a fair-weather ally of Trump, wants to do anything to continue the war with the Kremlin. Whatever today’s budget deficits and national debt, Graham is perfectly content with spending untold billions propping up the Ukraine government and funding war with the Kremlin. “The ever-resourceful Ukraine used creative drone warfare tactics to successfully attack Russian bombers and military assets used to kill Ukrainian citizens and destroy their country,” Graham wrote on X. Graham is a died-in-the-wool anti-Russia, looking for any reason to continue the war with the Kremlin. Trump tried everything possible to normalize U.S.-Russian relations. If he listens to Neocons in the House and Senate, Trump would return to Biden’s failed proxy war against the Kremlin. So, Trump finds himself in a real dilemma trying to promote peace and deal with rebels in his own party.
Blumenthal is a Neocon rubber-stamp of Biden’s proxy war strategy with the Kremlin. Trump figure out it got U.S. foreign policy and national security nowhere backing war with the Kremlin while trying to make peace. “Russia indiscriminately kills men, women and children. It’s time for the world to act decisively against Russia’s aggression by holding China and others accountable buying cheap Russian oil that props up Putin’s war machine. If you want this war to end, push China to help end it,” Graham wrote on X. Graham’s logic has been tried-and-failed over three years of war. Zelensky has destroyed his country and lost 20-25% of Ukraine’s sovereign land since the war began Feb. 24, 2022. Graham now says Trump should return to the failed Biden proxy war strategy. Hitting Putin with more sanctions with reverse all of Trump diplomacy to normalize relations.
Trump has no one on his side of peacemaking with Putin to end the Ukraine War. Zelensky has done everything possible interfere with Trump’s peacemaking. Zelensky stabbed Trump in the back, telling the Munich Security Conference that Trump doesn’t care about European security. There’s plenty of anti-Putin sentiment in the EU, blaming him entirely for the Ukraine War and backing Ukraine. As Trump knows, backing Ukraine only destroys Ukraine and continues a perpetual war with the Kremlin. Graham and Blumenthal seek nothing short of returning to Biden’s proxy war strategy with the Kremlin. Trump’s foreign policy and national security team need to respond forcefully before it’s too late. Return to proxy war with the Kremlin would not end the Ukraine War it would only prolong the death and destruction into the foreseeable future.
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.
