If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck!
I thought of this old adage, when I saw the moralistic outrage that followed shortly after President Trump called Ukraine’s President Zelensky a “dictator.” The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reacted with an editorial entitled Trump Tilts to a Ukraine Sellout. Similarly, WSJ Contributor William A. Gaston, opined Trump Betrays Ukraine and American Values. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vehemently disagreed, saying: “It is simply false and dangerous to deny Zelensky democratic legitimacy".
Maybe it depends upon how you define the word dictator. We have written about this before, but it is factually true that Zelensky refused to leave as President, and he is still in charge one year after his five-year term ended. It is also factually true that Zelensky declared martial law in February 2022 and has banned elections since then. He has also banned eleven political parties; jailed his biggest political opponent; passed a law in 2022 to censor journalists; combined all news shows into one government station; seized the properties of Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church and banned some of its worship services.
To us, it seems like the old adage fits: Zelensky has done what all dictators do. He looks like a dictator and acts like a dictator, so maybe he really is a dictator.
However, it really doesn’t matter whether he is a dictator or not. To quote another old saying, “we’re at the fork in the road.” Do we continue on the path chosen by former President Biden, which basically was that we were engaged in a “proxy war” with Russia? The goal, as enunciated by Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, was “to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.” In order to achieve that goal, Biden promised to spend “whatever it takes,” Ukraine’s part of that deal was to do all the fighting and dying.
That path has been decisively closed by now President Trump. In contrast, Trump wants to immediately arrange a cease fire to stop the killing and then negotiate to end the war. The U.S. does not have a defense treaty with Ukraine, and he does not see Russia as an existential threat to the United States. Furthermore, to the extent that Russia is an existential threat to Europe, Trump wants the Europeans to spend “whatever it takes,” instead of the United States, and if needed, to contribute a defense force, outside of NATO, to protect against any further Russian aggression in the Ukraine.
In our opinion, the President’s vision is much larger than a cease fire, and it can be seen in the terms of the mineral deal that was “blown up,” on live TV, in the White House a few days ago. According to the Center for Strategic International Studies, “the agreement establishes a reconstruction investment fund with joint U.S. and Ukraine ownership. Ukraine will contribute 50% of all revenues earned from the future monetization of all Ukrainian government-owned natural resource assets into the fund…This means, the profitability of the fund is entirely dependent on the success of new investments in Ukraine’s resources.”
These investments from the fund intend to spur further private sector interest in investing in Ukraine’s resources and attract the necessary capital for Ukraine’s reconstruction and development of resources…The agreement includes little to guarantee Ukraine’s security or reaffirm U.S. financial and military support in the ongoing conflict. However, the idea is that with joint U.S.-Ukraine investment in the nation’s resources, the United States will continue to have a stake in Ukraine’s security, stability, and lasting peace and therefore be incentivized to uphold and defend Ukrainian security.
But wait, there’s more! In our opinion, President Trump’s vision extends far beyond Ukraine. The President not only wants to end Biden’s “proxy war,” but he also wants to actively work with President Putin to constructively engage and cooperate in mutually beneficial activities. We note that recently President Putin, in a wide-ranging new interview with Russia 1 TV, stated that "Some Russian and American companies are in contact and discussing major projects." In addition, President Trump, in a Truth Social post also revealed that major "economic development transactions, which will take place between the US and Russia" are in the works. He said that ongoing discussions are "proceeding very well."
Despite what the Wall Street Journal and many Democratic (and some Republican) politicians are saying, we think Trump’s approach is a more realistic way of looking at the world, and it is a better way of thinking. The United States is too deeply in debt, and we can no longer financially support endless wars that basically destroy the societies which we are trying to save.
Since the fall of the Berlin War, we have tried to “take the high road” to promote “democracy” all over the world. We intervened both militarily and financially in the internal affair of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. We also have many military bases in Africa. What have we gotten in return? The loss of life and serious injuries to our young men and women in the military, the waste of hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions, and the mass migration of millions of civilians impacted by these endless wars.
It's time for a new approach. Let’s stay strong militarily but also seek to cooperate with our enemies when it actually benefits our country and the world.
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