Date: 2025-04-03 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028136
TRUMP
A UKRAINIAN PERSPECTIVE
Trump moved closer to Moscow and anti-Western camp, says analyst
A UKRAINIAN PERSPECTIVE
Trump moved closer to Moscow and anti-Western camp, says analyst
A Ukrainian delegation led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the Oval Office meeting with
US President Donald Trump's team. February 28, 2025 (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Original article: https://english.nv.ua/nation/expert-explains-why-a-trump-zelenskyy-clash-was-inevitable-50494249.html
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
When I accessed this reporting on Saturday, it included an image of the Zelenski / Trump meeting at the White House. Today (Monday) as I am editing my notes and analysis around the events of Frady February 28th, I find that the image has been 'blacked' out. Maybe it is a technical problem at my end ... but more likely it is a result of Trump's malicious actors.
I am very much aware that what happens at high levels in international and corporate affairs is 'hard ball'. I have never been close to the 'top' of the USA, or any European country, but I have done high level work in many countries around the world as a member of international reams from the UN, the World Bank and others. I have been 'on he wrong side' of very powerful evil people in a variety of situations, and I nor happy with the position that Trump seems to be celebrating at this present time (Monday March 3rd 2025).
Trump could change the way he presents tomorrow, but the damage done this past Friday and weekend will take a generation or more to mend. What Trump and most Americans do not understand that Americans have not been 'liked' by the world at large in all my lifetime ... and I am now 85 years old.
Americans take credit for winning WWII, and they certainly helped. But without Britain ... and Churchill ... Nazi Germany would have won b efore the Americans actually got engaged.
The American people wanted nothing to do with the war in Europe ... but then there was Pearl Harbor ... and Americans flip-flopped and declared war against the axis powers ... Japan and Nazi Germany, and subsequently committed substantial resources to a world-wide war effort.
Not many Americans know much of history ... and much of what Americans are taught is history that I cannot recognise. I think I am right, but what is taught in American schools is determined at the State Level and much of State Level government has an unfortunate history of serious bias. So all of this is not a pretty sight.
I don't know what is going to happen in relation to Ukraine ... but I am encouraged that Europe as a whole (but with some exceptions) is getting behind Ukraine. A Trump dominated policy towards Ukraine will not be good for Ukraine, but there is the chance that it won't be good for America either. The big risk is that it will be good for Putin and Russia and really bad for the military and the civilians in Ukraine.
I grew up in a suburb of London during WWII in the blitz and have childhood memories of bombs and building destruction. Churchill was not going to give in and would fight and fight and fight ... and we did ... and we won.
Few people understand me when I observe in America that I still speak English and America still uses the English language. This is because we won the war against Nazi fascism.
We should now stand up and make sure that Ukraine wins its war against Russian aggression ... pushing back the Russians completely out of Ukraine including the Donbas and Crimea.
President Trump is quite clever, and it was interesting for him to invoke the idea of starting WWIII during the altercation in the Oval Office last Friday ... but in some ways Putin has already done this ... twice! The first time in 2014, there was little push-back from NATO and the allies, but a nearly a decade later in 1922, Ukraine has pushed back hard with substantial support from NATO.
I don't expect to get a reliable report of the conversations Trump has been having with Putin ... but Trump seems very happy,
Hitler made Chamberlain happy ... I think what Chamberlain did was called appeasement and there was celebration. Soon after War was declared and Chamberlain was replaced by Churchill. Most of the world thought that Hitler's juggernaut would roll over Churchill's UK in a matter of months ... but it never happered. It took 5 years and a lot of sacrifice, but a victory was won ... and I am still proud of what the British accomplished to make that happen.
80 years on from VE Day (Victory in Europe) ... most Americans have litle knowledge of what actually happened in order to have a win. The Battle of Britain and Dunkerk all happened well before the USA joined the war!
In the UK, everyone respected the rules of the 'Official Secrets Act' so a lot of important and courageous war stories never got told. Some of these have circulated after the time window of the law was opened decades later.
In some ways, Ukraine has woken me up to the wonderful fact that I was born British and my parents and key adults in my early life taught me a lot of important values and priorities.
At this point in time, I want to do all I can to make sure that Ukraine wins against the Putin aggression. It would be nice to have the strong support of a powerful country like the United States of America ... but frankly, probably not in the manner envisioned by Trump. This is not 'just another transaction' to be negotiated in a way that makes Trump look like a winner. In respect of this, I will speak out as much as I am able to encourage support for Zelinsky and Ukraine.
///////////////////////
Good news ... the image is back!
This may be a glitch at my end ... or somewhere else. I am aware that a lot of malicous actors are out there seeking to do damge ... and sometimes there are technical problems.
In my own experience just this last weekend, my bank stopped all payments out of my bank account because of what they thought might be 'malicious activity'. In fact, I had tried to make a payment on Sunday which their staff thought was suspicious so they blocked the account. At the same time the bank payment monitors sent me a slew of messages telling me about their suspicion. I knew payments had been stopped, and I thought this slew of messages was from the 'bad guys' so I avoided opening any of the messages as I thought they were potential 'bad guys' and did not respond to any of these messages ... which added to their suspicion. It was not until Monday when I got to talk to my bank ... a human being at the bank ... who sorted everything out. While I was in a panic during the weekend, I am gratified that they have a system in place that is pro-active and timely, albeit quite inconvenient!
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I am not a happy human being. The idea that a gaggle of seriously deranged human beings have got power in the United States of America is deeply unsettling.
I settled in the United States in the late 1960s. I had visited Canada and the United States as a student in the summers of 1969 and 1961 and was impressed by what I saw. During this time I travelled across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver ... Wast by car and back by Greyhound Bus to Toronto. And then by car to Florida and back to New York by bus.
Six years later when I migrated to North America my initial job in Canada paid me 6 times what I was able to earn in the UK ... and the differential increased when I started to work in the United States. I was an economic migrant!
Over time ... that is over a period of more than 60 years, I have come to learn a lot about the deep flaws in the American economy and society, not to mention the abuse of the environment. During the time I have been based in the United States, there has been soignificant progress in righting past wrongs but the work needed is far from done. Worse, what is now in play with Trump as President for the second time is a massive back-sliding on a lot of the socio-enciro-economic issues where progress was being made.
Peter Burgess
March 1, 2025, 10:04 AM
A Ukrainian delegation led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump's team. February 28, 2025 (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Hryhoriy Perepelytsia, director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, explained on Radio NV that differing positions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made their clash 'inevitable' on Feb. 28.
Hryhoriy Perepelytsia Director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies
What happened was unlikely to unfold differently.
Despite Zelenskyy’s efforts to convince Trump that he remains a partner of Ukraine, as before, Trump made it clear from the start that he is no longer on Ukraine’s side — or even aligned with the Western world.
He distanced himself from the Western coalition and aligned with Moscow’s anti-Western stance.
This shift extends beyond Ukraine to all of Europe. Though not as explicitly, Trump also distanced himself from [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [British Prime Minister Keir] Starmer, signaling his alignment with Russia.
At the same time, Trump positions himself as a negotiator, portraying himself as an arbitrator. Ukraine still sees the U.S. as a partner, but the so-called Kellogg plan — drafted by Trump’s special representative on Ukraine and Russia — outlines a different approach.
The plan prioritizes a ceasefire and settlement through negotiations, establishes a demarcation line along the current front, and proposes a demilitarized zone — without U.S. involvement, leaving it to the Europeans.
The plan also dismisses Western values, including human rights, as a basis for compromise. It argues that continuing the war is not in U.S. interests, warning of the risks of escalation, including nuclear conflict.
According to Trump’s stance, continued American military aid to Ukraine would be subject to broader strategic considerations.
Meanwhile, Ukraine sees the U.S. as a committed ally, expecting continued support because Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine the victim.
But Trump’s speech suggested the opposite: a focus on protecting Russia rather than condemning it.
These opposing positions made confrontation inevitable. Zelenskyy had no choice but to defend Ukraine’s security and future — because the survival of the nation is at stake.
- Read also: Zelenskyy thanked the US 33 times for support
- Read also: Political scientist explains how the Zelenskyy-Trump conflict affects U.S.-Ukraine talks
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Trump moved closer to Moscow and anti-Western camp, says analyst March 1, 2025, 10:04 AM 271 Exclusive Share: A Ukrainian delegation led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump's team. February 28, 2025 (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Hryhoriy Perepelytsia, director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, explained on Radio NV that differing positions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made their clash 'inevitable' on Feb. 28.
Hryhoriy Perepelytsia ... Director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies
What happened was unlikely to unfold differently.
Despite Zelenskyy’s efforts to convince Trump that he remains a partner of Ukraine, as before, Trump made it clear from the start that he is no longer on Ukraine’s side — or even aligned with the Western world.
He distanced himself from the Western coalition and aligned with Moscow’s anti-Western stance.
This shift extends beyond Ukraine to all of Europe. Though not as explicitly, Trump also distanced himself from [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [British Prime Minister Keir] Starmer, signaling his alignment with Russia.
At the same time, Trump positions himself as a negotiator, portraying himself as an arbitrator. Ukraine still sees the U.S. as a partner, but the so-called Kellogg plan — drafted by Trump’s special representative on Ukraine and Russia — outlines a different approach.
The plan prioritizes a ceasefire and settlement through negotiations, establishes a demarcation line along the current front, and proposes a demilitarized zone — without U.S. involvement, leaving it to the Europeans.
The plan also dismisses Western values, including human rights, as a basis for compromise. It argues that continuing the war is not in U.S. interests, warning of the risks of escalation, including nuclear conflict.
According to Trump’s stance, continued American military aid to Ukraine would be subject to broader strategic considerations.
Meanwhile, Ukraine sees the U.S. as a committed ally, expecting continued support because Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine the victim.
Read also: Zelenskyy thanked the US 33 times for support
But Trump’s speech suggested the opposite: a focus on protecting Russia rather than condemning it.
These opposing positions made confrontation inevitable. Zelenskyy had no choice but to defend Ukraine’s security and future — because the survival of the nation is at stake.
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