Most people were stunned when, ahead of November’s mid-term elections, US President Donald Trump declared that he would allow Russia to sell him diesel in an attempt to reduce the price to consumers in the US, in an obvious attempt to shore up his voter base.
They should not be surprised. This declaration was in line with all other aspects of Trump’s policy towards Russia.
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Trump can’t square the circle
Trump has all along blamed Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war, since he could not care less about truth and he supports President Vladimir Putin and Russia.
On three occasions the US has voted with Russia and a dozen rogue states in the United Nations against condemning Moscow for its war of aggression against Ukraine. When Trump became president, he immediately stopped all financial aid and arms to Ukraine. Even more outrageously, he demanded Kyiv should repay for far more than the US had given.
Trump is simply an enemy of Ukraine.
Trump’s problem is that neither the US public nor the republicans in Congress share his love for Putin. He has to tread a careful line, hindering the republicans in Congress from helping Ukraine, while not antagonizing them too directly.
Lindsey Graham’s “Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act.” Was such an “egg of Columbus” [a brilliant, simple, and unexpected solution to a problem that once seemed impossible to solve.]
No less than 86 of 100 senators voted it through, compelling Trump to sign it into law in September. It might have appeared as if the president had to impose severe sanctions on Russia in line with this law, but as with so many US laws it grants the president authority to waive certain sanctions – which I was convinced he would do. The question was only how.
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Russia Strikes Ukrainian Power Plants After Trump Announces Energy Truce, Zelensky Says
Zelensky welcomed the announced agreement and said Ukraine was ready to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, but called for Moscow to do the same.
As so often, Trump attempted to turn the political tables with his decision to allow Russia to export diesel to the US and the world. The obedient US Treasury instantly issued a general license allowing this for half a year, although the US Treasury had prohibited all importation of Russian energy on March 8, 2022, in response to Russia having started its war on Ukraine.
A veiled attempt to circumvent the Graham act
Trump has claimed that this latest measure would reduce US diesel prices, even though the actual volumes involved are tiny in relation to US consumer demand let alone the rest of the world. I believe he has another aim – to see the Graham Act fall by the wayside.
Zelensky reacted by correctly saying that Trump’s new decision was a gift for Putin. It would allow Moscow to finance new military equipment to continue its war. He also said that in taking the deal the Kremlin meant Russia “can keep fighting, to mean they keep dropping bombs on cities.”
Trump has never in any way protested Russia’s terror bombing of Ukraine, its hospitals, schools or residential buildings in any way. He has not even complained when Russia has bombed US-owned civilian enterprises in Ukraine – Cargill, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Flex, Mondelez, etc.
Trump’s deranged reaction
Trump responded to Zelensky with fury. He claimed that Zelensky “wants to make problems for the world” by continuing to authorize attacks on Russian refineries. “He’d better damn well stop,” Trump said, before demanding that Ukraine should “get a new leader who can make a deal.”
His demand that “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” was yet another an anti-democratic statement by Trump. In comparison he continually praises brutal dictators such as Putin, China’s Xi Jingping, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Egypt’s Abdel Al-Sissi.
Trump proves US to be an unreliable partner
Trump has broken Western sanctions against Russia in a big way – but he wants to go further in his pro-Putin endeavors. As Trump talked to Putin and eased the sanctions on Russia, his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were meeting with a Ukrainian team in Miami. They threatened that the US would stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine unless Ukraine stopped striking Russian oil refineries.
The Ukrainian delegation appears to have ended their meeting after they were informed that Trump had gone behind their backs with his diesel agreement with Putin. But is any intelligence from the pro-Putin Trump administration reliable?
Why would anybody talk to Witkoff and Kushner? Neither is a real public servant. Neither works for the US national interests. They are dealmakers allegedly making hundreds of millions of dollars on dubious business deals in their own interest while posing as government representatives.
On Sept. 5, they met with Putin in the Kremlin. The New York Times reported that Putin offered them and their investment consortium Lukoil’s assets abroad, previously assessed at $22 billion, for a knock down price. The value would rise substantially if the Trump-controlled US Treasury eased sanctions on these assets. It is unclear what Putin wanted in return. Reuters reported that Witkoff and Kushner also discussed purchasing and reviving Nord Stream II for Russian gas deliveries to Europe.
It appears as if the Trump administration, notably Trump himself, Witkoff, and Kushner, have only one interest in Ukraine: to make money. They appear prepared to sell their country to the benefit of Putin while hoping that by ending Western oil and gas sanctions on Russia they will make billions.
The world should unite behind Zelensky
President Zelensky is doing the right thing. He needs to stand up against these crooks, who claim to represent the USA, without unnecessarily provoking them by calling them out for their perfidy.
Meanwhile, he needs to mobilize Ukraine’s true allies and supporters. Europe, Canada and Kyiv’s other friends need to stand up for democracy together with Ukraine.
It is a matter of diplomatic technique how to do this most effectively, but European unity and action are obvious needs.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.