MAGA: More Like the Mafia

Do our European leaders have the same spunk as this brave wee Ukrainian boy?

So, that is what Make America Great Again means: lecture, bully, browbeat, scorn, insult the President of country that has been pulverized by Russia and tell him to obey in signing what is still an unknown deal, or his nation will be hung out to dry. What we saw in the White House on Friday was Trump the ignoramus, making a mockery of the idea that he is fit to be called the leader of the free world. More Mafia Boss than statesman.

Ignoramus is an accurate description of Trump. He seems to know nothing about the legal principles and rules that underpin relations between states, or the obligation upon the USA as the world hegemon that set out those principles and rules, to uphold them. Since Bretton Woods in 1944 the Western democracies, led by America, have sought to build institutions that would bind nations to those rules so that Might no longer translates as Right. Trump has brought Might is Right back into world affairs.

Twice this week the MAGA President has delivered political victories to the man in the Kremlin. First, the US vote with Russia and North Korea in the UN General Assembly against a Ukraine sponsored resolution recording wo invaded, the devastation done, and calling for a de-escalation. Then the hiding dished out to Zelensky in the White House. Nothing in return from Putin. The Donald is not as good deal maker as he claims.

It is true that Ukraine has few cards to play. President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are in the same weak position now as they have been all along, relying on others to provide civil and military aid, with one important difference: continued support from the USA is no longer guaranteed. Indeed, he has been threatened with its withdrawal, and there are reports in the US media that Trump has already put a stop to any more transfer of weapons.

NATO Western Nations Need to Step In

That does not immediately put Ukraine in an impossible position in holding off Russia’s attacks. It has, according to reports, enough weapons on hand to last until the summer. So, what is to be done in the next few months if at the end of summer Ukraine is to be saved from a Trump organised humiliating capitulation to Russia? The Western nations in NATO need to step in, because there is no other source of meaningful support available.

They may wish Friday had never happened. But it did. European leaders are now on the spot. Either they step up to the plate, or they sell-out Ukraine by continuing to cede leadership to Trump, who will impose a deal he makes with Putin.

That performance in the White House, the good television as Trump described it, was a wakeup call for Europeans who thought the USA was a reliable ally. Does anyone now believe that the USA would comply with Chapter 5 and go to war in defence of European NATO member, say Estonia with its 30 plus per cent of Russians in situ, if Russia attacked? There is now more than Ukraine at stake as a consequence of the MAGA doctrine. Europe’s security stands exposed. As does NATO.

So far, no European leader has rebuked Trump for what he did to Zelensky. They have signalled their soft disapproval with a flood of messages to the Ukrainian President. That will have no influence on Trump. Rather will it confirm the view held by him and his Vice President that Europe is a submissive dependency, in mortal fear of America leaving them all alone in the world.

We shall see in the days ahead. Starmer’s summit is the first test. Perhaps from it we shall discover that from the NATO members of Europe a statesman has emerged who has grasped the full import of Trump’s message; has got the gathering to declare that Zelensky should continue refusing to give away his country’s mineral wealth; that whatever portion of Russia’s $300 billion assets are held in Europe will be taken and used to fund Ukraine’s military needs, and make up for any shortfall in US aid; make an unambiguous statement that Ukraine is no longer a proxy for European defence, but is central to it; and that support ‘for as long as it takes’ means exactly what those words say with a continuous flow of arms at levels, and new rules in their use, that will enable Ukraine not just to hold Russia, but to force it backwards.

If our leaders, particularly UK, France, Germany and Poland, do not now take a hard line with both the USA and Russia, and declare Ukraine as the major strategic issue for Europe’s security, we shall ultimately pay a heavy price for being citizens in a busted flush continent.

A Brave wee boy: Do our European Leader Have the Same Spunk?

On 17^th February, Chatham House hosted a meeting on Ukraine. The speaker was Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize-laureate. She set out the reasons why Ukraine has the right to its independence and security, and the implications for other nations in Europe if those rights are not upheld. She also detailed the war crimes committed by the Russian military. The lecture and Q&A follow up is available on the web.

She also told the true story of one 10-year-old boy who was among those kidnapped and taken to Russia, the war crime that the ICC have sought to indict Putin for. Russian policy is to make those children Russian.

One way to assist in making this so, is to have them sing the Russian national anthem at the start of the school day. One wee boy did not sing. He was taught the Russian anthem, and next day was taken out in front of the class to sing it. He sung the Ukrainian national anthem. Do our leaders have the same spunk?